Tag Archives: cake

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Orange Cake with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting

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These days I can’t let a birthday pass without baking something festive. Something homemade and tailored to the birthday girl/boy’s specific taste. If there is ever a time to bust out a layer cake and sprinkles, it’s on a birthday.

I thought about Sean’s birthday cake for months–chocolate is always a given, and the orange was added because the dude loves the zesty-ness of oranges juxtaposed against deep, dark chocolate. I made this cake for my guy because it’s his favorite. Because he is the best guy who makes me laugh every single day, and he doesn’t even get annoyed by my constant stream-of-consciousness singing…seriously, I’m pretty sure it’s like living in a really bad musical about the minutiae of life…and in my book that’s more than enough to deserve a birthday cake.

The cake is easy to put together, with a nice crumb and perfect tenderness. Lots of orange zest makes it bright and flavorful. The chocolate frosting has sour cream that brings a bit of tang to cut the dark richness–it spreads across the cake like a dream and takes on a fudgey quality once it’s set. A heavy dose of sprinkles make it the perfect party cake. Candles and tall glasses of milk are optional, but highly recommended.

Orange Cake

Adapted from How Sweet It Is

2 3/4 cups cake flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup orange zest (I used 6 oranges)

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3/4 cup orange juice

1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350*F. Line two 8inch round cake pans with parchment circles, grease the pans and the parchment, set aside.

In a bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large measuring cup whisk together the vanilla, orange juice, and sour cream. Set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, rub the orange zest into the sugar until fragrant. Add the melted butter and beat until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping the bowl after each addition.  Add half of the dry ingredients, mix gently to combine, followed by the orange-sour cream mixture to combine, followed by the remaining dry ingredients, mix until just combined. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and bake in the center of the oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool in pans on a cooling rack about 10 minutes before turning out and cooling completely.

Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting

Adapted slightly from Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes

I subbed the corn syrup for golden syrup and added extra sour cream where the recipe called from half and half. 

12 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped or in chips

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter

2 Tablespoons golden syrup

pinch of salt

3/4 cup sour cream, room temperature

Melt the chocolate, butter, golden syrup, and salt over a double boiler until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in the sour cream. Continue to whisk until spreadable, but still soft–use to frost the cake immediately. The frosting will set up to a fudge-like consistency at room temperature.

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Double Chocolate Doughnuts w. Chocolate Sprinkles

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It’s no secret we’re fiends for chocolate around here–Sean especially…and today is his birthday! Yay! I made these doughnuts with my favorite dude in mind, piling chocolate on top of chocolate with a sprinkling of more chocolate for good measure.

These doughnuts are of the baked variety–cakey and tender with an intense chocolate flavor. The glaze is a super simple mixture of powdered sugar, cocoa, and milk. The chocolate sprinkles are actually chocolatey, not just brown, adding that extra little bit of decadence.

Double Chocolate Doughnuts

Adapted (lightly) from Shutterbean

I used a heart shaped doughnut pan, making 1 dozen doughnuts–if you use a regular doughnut pan you should yield about 6 doughnuts. 

1 cup cake flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 egg

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350*F. Lightly spray a doughnut pan with cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, and sugar. In a large measuring cup whisk together the buttermilk, egg, butter, and vanilla. Mix the wet mixture into the dry until just combined. Scrape the batter into a plastic bag, cut off the tip, and pipe batter into doughnut pan wells–about 1/2 way up the sides. Bake for 10 minutes (heart shaped) or 13 for regular doughnuts. Allow to cool about 5 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a rack to cool. Glaze and sprinkle once doughnuts have cooled.

Chocolate Glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 Tablsepoon unsweetened cocoa powder

3 Tablespoons milk

Whisk all ingredients together until combined well. Add more powdered sugar to thicken or milk to thin, to desired consistency.

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Gingerbread Cake with Lemon-Ginger Cloud Frosting

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What can I say about this cake?

It’s a pretty, delicious, mess.

See, the heady spices of the ginger go so amazingly well with the super-light lemon-ginger frosting. But, slicing it is a test of patience for sure. This cake don’t slice pretty, it just is what it is. It’s one of those cakes that leans toward the rustic with it’s appearance and slice-ablility. The flavors are magic–I mean, citrus and spice is so magical! The cake is full of warm and fragrant spice–it’s sturdy and totally holiday appropriate. The frosting is like eating a lemony, gingered, tangy cloud. It just melts on the tongue and the tarteness of the curd cuts through the rich spice of the cake. The flavors are all the best parts of the season and I could totally see this cake as part of a holiday spread, in all its messy glory.

Gingerbread Cake

Makes 1, 8inch round cake. 

Adapted from this recipe. 

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temp.

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1/2 cup molasses

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 Tablespoon fresh grated ginger

2 cups cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground, dried ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350*F, grease an 8inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment. Set aside.

Melt butter–in a saucepan or microwave. Set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl whisk together the buttermilk  eggs, molasses, sugar, vanilla, and ginger. Whisk in the cooled butter, mix well to combine.

In large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt ginger, cinnamon, pepper, cardamom, nutmeg, and allspice. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture and whisk until just combined and there are no longer any dry streaks of flour. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the center of the oven for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool one a rack for 10 minutes before turning out and cooling completely. Can be stored wrapped well in plastic for 3 days.

Lemon-Ginger Curd

adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours

1 Tablespoon fresh grated ginger

3/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 1/4 cups sugar

6 egg yolks

1 egg

pinch of salt

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Combine everything in a saucepan and whisk to break up eggs. Whisk over medium-low heat, until butter is melted and everything is well combined. Continue to whisk over med-low heat until the curd has thickened and coats the back of a spoon. Curd will thicken a bit as it cools. Scrape the curd into a mesh sieve over a bowl, press the curd through the sieve. Press plastic wrap onto the surface of the curd. Cool to room temperature and then cool in the refrigerator until ready to use. Can be stored, covered well in the refrigerator, for about 1 week.

Seven Minute Frosting

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

This frosting is best the day it is made. 

2 large egg whites

2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup

2 Tablespoons corn syrup

1/2 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons water

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine all the ingredients in a heatproof mixing or mixer bowl, set over a pan of simmering water and whisk quickly and continuously until the mixture begins to get light in color, foamy, no longer has any sugar granules when rubbed between two fingers, and is just hot to the touch. Remove the bowl from the pan of water and beat with an electric mixer or stand mixer with the whisk attachment for about 6-7 minutes or until the frosting is bright white, light, and holds a stiff peak.

To Assemble:

For the Lemon-Ginger Cloud Frosting, take about 1/3 of the Seven Minute Frosting and whisk it with 4 Tablespoons of lemon curd. Fold the frosting/curd mixture into the remaining Seven Minute Frosting.

When I next make this cake, I will definitely not cut it into layers. Cut your cake into layers, if desired, and create a dam using the Lemon Cloud Frosting about 1/4 inch from the edge of the cake using a piping bag. Fill the center with lemon curd. Top with second layer, chill to set up. Since, I am not going to do this layer thing again, I would do the same thing with the frosting dam and curd, but on top of the cake. Then, cover the top with the remaining Lemon-Ginger Cloud Frosting. It’s pretty messy, but this cake is best at room temperature. It would be nice to frost it just before serving.

 

 

 

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Marble Cake

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Marble cake speaks to the gemini and the indecisive-crazy-person in me. I mean it’s two different cakes in ONE CAKE.

There really isn’t a way to lose.

This cake is dense yet tender in the crumb and manages to be moist yet sturdy. The light batter is fragrant with vanilla and butter, the dark batter is rich and dense with dark chocolate. I think it’s key not to go too crazy with the marbling, so you can taste the two distinct flavors–just a few swirls with a knife or a toothpick through the batter give you just enough marble, leaving you with dedicated sections of vanilla and chocolate cake. This cake has the character of a pound cake–it’s dense and rests well, getting even better the 2nd and 3rd day. It’s totally the kind of cake to have around for impromptu coffee dates and, I have a hunch, would probably ship well–a theory I plan to test this holiday season.

Marble Cake

Adapted from Baking: from My Home to Yours

The original recipe calls for a little less butter, but I was being a bit of a space-cadet and just chucked two whole sticks of butter into my mixer–the batter was made before I realized my mistake, but the cake definitely didn’t suffer from the extra butter. I used an 80% dark chocolate bar–this made for a super-dense and rich chocolate batter–use a good quality chocolate, whatever is your fave will work great.

2 cups, plus 2 Tablespooons, all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg

2 sticks unsalted butter (8 ounces), room temperature

1 cup sugar

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

1/2 cup milk

4 ounces dark chocolate, melted and cooled

Preheat oven to 325*F. Grease and line a 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan with parchment, place the pan on top of a sheet pan. Set aside.

In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.

Working with a stand or hand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and beat another 2 minutes. Scrape the bowl and beat in the eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. The batter may look curdled at this point, but that is okay. Scrape the bowl and beat in the vanilla and almond extracts. Reduce speed to low and alternately add flour and milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Place 1/2 of the batter in a separate bowl and fold in the melted chocolate so you have a vanilla batter and a chocolate batter.

Alternately drop spoonfuls of batter into the loaf pan until the pan is filled with the batter and plunge a butter knife into the batter, making a zig-zag pattern from one end of the pan to the other. Do this only once for a perfectly marbled batter. Bake in the center of the oven for 40 minutes uncovered. Cover loosely with foil and continue to bake another 30-40 minutes, until the vanilla batter on top is golden brown, the top is cracked, and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on a rack for about 10 minutes before turning out and cooling completely. Wrap cool cake well with plastic. Can be kept, wrapped well, at room temperature for several days.

 

 

 

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Applesauce Spice Cake with Brown Butter-Cream Cheese Frosting

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I love an easy weekend and I especially love an easy weekend in early fall. The air is cool, but the sun still shines warm. There’s good, fresh stuff to be had at the farmer’s market, and the trees are just turning. Everything is vivid and bright, yet warm and comforting. This weekend Sean and I took a farmer’s market stroll, rode our bikes to the library, walked the pups through our favorite foliage filled park, lounged plenty (key to easy weekending), and finished up this cake.

I made this cake late last week and sent two slices to a friend. She ate both slices for lunch, that same day. Being irresistible is almost always a good trait to have in a cake. This cake is a dream to me, lightly apple-y, spiced, and redolent with browned butter–both in the cake itself and the nutty-tangy frosting. The cake part is only lightly sweet and incredibly moist from the unsweetened applesauce. It’s dense but not heavy, and with a slick of frosting, makes the quintessential fall snack cake. It’s the kind of cake to tuck into lunch boxes or share with a cup of something warm and good conversation.

Applesauce Spice Cake w/ Brown Butter-Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from Gourmet.com

The original recipe calls for creaming butter with sugar, I adapted it to use melted, cooled browned butter. I also upped the spices and switched up the frosting a bit, creating a nutty, buttery, slightly tangy frosting. It’s my new favorite.

Cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1 stick unsalted butter, browned

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce

Frosting:

1 stick unsalted butter, browned

3 ounces cream cheese, soft

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup powdered sugar

pinch of salt

To brown the butter: I did each stick separately, since I made the cake a several hours before the frosting. You could do them together and divide evenly in half. Place butter in a small skillet and melt over medium-low heat until the butter becomes foamy, continue to heat until foam subsides and milk solids begin to brown at the bottom of the pan. The solids will become a toffee-colored-brown and smell intensely like toffee and toasted nuts. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl and set aside to cool to room temperature. Butter should be cooled, but still liquid.

Preheat the oven to 350*F. Butter and line an 8x8inch baking pan with parchment paper. I like to leave and overhang on two of the sides, secured with small, metal binder clips.

In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice.

In a large mixing bowl whisk together browned, cooled butter with the brown sugar and vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl between each, until completely incorporated. Whisk in the applesauce. Finally, using a rubber spatula, fold in the dry ingredients until just combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and bake in the center of the oven for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on a rack for 15 minutes before removing from the pan and cooling completely. Frost once the cake is completely cooled.

To make the frosting:

Beginning on low speed, using an electric mixer (hand or stand), beat together the browned butter and softened cream cheese. Add the vanilla, salt, and powdered sugar. Beat until completely combined and spread evenly over the cooled cake.

 

 

 

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Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

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If you follow me on Instagram, you may have already heard that this weekend was my birthday. This year I turned 28…which marks 10 years, ONE DECADE, since high school.

Oh, man, has so much changed!

In the past 10 years I went to and gradated from college, met Sean and MARRIED him, learned how to bake, became a blogger, became a dog-mom, became an aunt, held a few very different jobs, lived in various dorms/apartments/houses/seedy-abodes, moved to Michigan from Nevada, and, throughout, I was mistaken, right, prideful, and humbled. There was excitement and fear, loss and new life, goodbyes and a lot of celebrations. 18-year-old me and 28-year-old me are different in so many ways! Life is both what I wanted it to be and different too, and I am super thankful for that. I mostly just feel gratitude that I’m a bit older and wiser, that I’m no longer 18, so insecure, and weirded out by life.

With all these years under my belt, I’ve learned that homemade cakes/cupcakes are what most people secretly want for their birthdays. Sometimes though, when your the only baker in your gang of peeps, you have to make your own birthday treats. It’s all good though, since as the designated baker of your gang, you’re probably used to it. The advantage is that you can make ANY treat you’d like for your birthday. The disadvantage…there are so many choices, it can get a little overwhelming. That’s what happened to me this year, I was overwhelmed by all of my options! So, when this sort of thing happens, I usually revert to a classic. Nothing says classic birthday like moist, vanilla-scented yellow cake, chocolate frosting, and a flurry of sprinkles.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting and Sprinkles

This recipe bakes exactly 12 cupcakes. I almost never have a need for more than a dozen cupcakes, so this recipe was perfect! The frosting is super easy to whip up and makes just enough to ice all of the cupcakes. The sprinkles are just a mix of things I had on hand…you can use whatever you want or do without. 

Cupcakes

adapted from Joy the Baker

1 cup all-purpose flour

scant 3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350*F

In the bowl of a mixer, or a large bowl with a hand held mixer, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and butter. Beat ingredients together on low until a sandy consistency is achieved. Mix in half of the buttermilk until just incorporated.

Whisk together remaining buttermilk with egg and vanilla to combine well. Add to the flour mixture and beat just to combine, scraping the bowl as needed. Do not overmix.

Divide the batter among 12 paper lined muffin tins. Bake for about 20 minutes, until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks before frosting.

Chocolate Frosting

adapted from Honey and Jam

5 ounces good quality dark chocolate

8 Tablespoons unsalted, room temperature butter

pinch of salt

3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

4-8 Tablespoons half and half

Fashion a double boiler and melt chocolate. Set aside until cooled completely.

In the bowl of a mixer beat butter until creamy. Add melted, cooled chocolate and mix to combine. Add salt, sugar, cocoa, and vanilla. Beat to combine and add half and half 1 Tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.

 

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Recipe: Hazelnut Pound Cake

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Sometimes there are things in life that seem to follow you around. Needling, restless things that haunt your brain.

Like, last week, I ran into the biggest spider I have ever seen in our bathtub. Normal sized spiders FREAK ME OUT, but this one was abnormal. It was the size of my palm and it’s legs stretched over the edges of the drain. It was a monster…and the memory of it is haunting me. I can’t stop thinking about it and I’m sure it’s friends are lurking somewhere in my home. Big sigh.

Pound cake is something else that has haunted me…for years! I have made pound cake after pound cake and none of them have turned out. Either they sink in the center, come out way to dense and wet, or just lack flavor. I want the perfect crumb and flavor–dense while still being light, buttery, and better after resting a day or two.

I found this pound cake recipe via Orangette. Not only is it the perfect texture, it comes with a heavy sprinkling of hazelnuts, my favorite–the original recipe call for pistachios, which I believe would make one special cake. So, even though I am still haunted by the spider encounter, I can get over my pound cake issue… finally.

Hazelnut Pound Cake

Adapted from Orangette

The original recipe calls for citrus zest, which I left out, but I think this version would be lovely with some orange zest. 

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

5 eggs

4 Tablespoons half & half or whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and chopped coarsely

Preheat the oven to 325*F. Spray a 9x5x3 inch pan with cooking spray and line with parchment, leaving an overhang on two edges.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer or with electric beaters, beat butter until creamy and light, 2 minutes. Add sugar and beat to incorporate, 1-2 more minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, to incorporate well, scraping the bowl as needed. Add extracts and half&half and beat to combine. Fold in the flour mixture and 1/2 of the hazelnuts. Scrape batter into the prepared pan, smooth top and sprinkle with remaining hazelnuts. Bake in the center of the oven for about 1 1/2 hours (I started checking it at about 60 minutes). Remove from oven and cool completely on a cooling rack. Can be kept, wrapped in plastic at room temperature, for a week.

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Recipe: Chocolate Cake w/ Whipped Ganache

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Last week was my husband’s birthday. Sean turned 27, which makes us the same age now…as I am the older woman by 7 months.

Scandalous, I know.

There are many things about this dude that I love, for example:

He’s a major dork, for one…which is perfect, because I am prone to being a total weirdo myself.

He totes rids our home of all the spiders for me. This is key, since I become paralyzed with terror every time I come across one–from the tiniest little guy to the biggest ugliest ones. It’s irrational, I know. I just can not handle it though.

We hate all the same stuff. This is a totally negative and cynical way to look at things, but it’s true. And important. It just is.

He is a huge supporter of my blogging/baking/cooking endeavors. He manages all the technical stuff with this website AND manages business at his engineering job. Pro-fesh.

We both love to geek out about all sorts of things–nature, geology (I secretly/not so secretly now, love geology), music, the mountains, etc.

Speaking of geek-outs…we both LOVE food.

We love to splurge on quality over quantity. Trips and vacations, when we do travel, are centered around what we’re eating. I mean, we planned our honeymoon specifically to eat in a great food city–btw, Vancouver, BC is not only an amazing food city, but it is just so dang beautiful.

We share a lot of favorite foods–oysters (omg, omg), burgers of all sorts, korean food, mexican food, and oh-so-many more…but, the one that we both love…the one that he probably (somehow) loves more than me, is chocolate. That man (I have said it before), is a certifiable choco-saurus. So, every year (for the past 7 years), it’s always a chocolate cake for his birthday in some form or another. This year, it was pure and simple chocolate pound cake iced with whipped ganache. It really can’t get much more chocolate-y than that.

So, I guess my point is…after all that rambling…Sean is a great dude. My favorite in fact. We go together like birthdays and cake. I love him to bits and pieces and he can always count on me to make him the best chocolate birthday cake I can muster. Always and forevs.

Chocolate Birthday Cake w/ Whipped Ganache Frosting

cake adapted from Alice Medrich’s Bittersweet.

This cake recipe is actually a pound cake recipe that makes the perfect amount of batter for a 6-inch layer cake…which in my opinion, is a great size cake for smaller gathering (in this case, 2 people). The crumb is fantastic, tight and dense without being heavy. The whipped ganache is about as easy as it gets and is perfect for the choco-saurus’ in your life. Use any leftover ganache to roll into light and airy truffles. Another note about this cake, it is best served at room temperature, the frosting and cake will feel dry and hard if served cold–if you make it ahead and refrigerate, just let it sit out on the counter for 30-60 minutes. 

1 cup + 2 Tablespoons sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder (I used Valrhona)

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 Tablespoons room temperature, unsalted butter

2 large eggs + 1 egg white, cold

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare 2, 6-inch round cake pans by buttering and lining bottoms with parchment. Alternatively, butter and flour a 6 cup capacity tube pan.

In a large bowl or the bowl of a mixer, combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt, stir to combine.

Add the butter, egg, and white. Mix on medium-high for 2 minutes. Scrape bowl as needed. Combine milk, espresso, and vanilla. Add to the batter, mix for 2 minutes, scraping as needed. Scrape the batter into 2, 6-inch cake pans or into a tube pan.

Bake the cakes in the oven for about 25-35 minutes (it may take a little longer in the tube pan). Cool 10 minutes in the pan before unmolding to cool completely on cooling racks.

Once cooled completely, cut the cakes in half to make 4 layers.

Whipped Ganache Frosting

adapted from Martha Stewart.

1 lb. chocolate coarsely chopped, or chips (I used ghiradelli)

2 1/2 cups heavy cream

pinch of salt

Place chocolate and salt in a medium bow or bowl of a mixer, set aside.

In a saucepan, heat heavy cream just to a boil. Remove from heat and pour hot cream over the chocolate. Cover the bowl with a tea towel or plate and let sit for 5 minutes. Whisk ganache until smooth and allow to cool to room temperature.

Beat cooled ganache until fluffy. Use immediately.

 

 

 

 

 

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Recipe: Cranberry Eggnog Coffee Cake

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On a holiday like Christmas, the morning can be a little hectic. Especially if there are little ones around, or dudes like my brother–a child trapped in a mans body–with their minds on what’s under the tree and not what’s in the kitchen. For my family, this isn’t the time for long, lingering breakfasts…it’s a time for coffee and something to snack on whilst tearing through that paper and cozying up on the couch for a few hours before heading to my aunts house for an extended family gathering and feast session.

We try to have something for breakfast that can be baked while the coffee is brewing. It can’t be anything that requires anyone to be sequestered in the kitchen for long, that’s just not right, and it has to be able to bake while the coffee is brewing. Meaning, it can’t take more than an hour, because it doesn’t matter how early my mom and I rise…the rest of the house will soon follow and a battle like that isn’t fit for Christmas morning.

I suspect that this year will be even more of a challenge since my niece is a toddler and we will all be anxious to see her react to the tree, and the gifts, and all of the festive, magical glory that is Christmas. She’s already at an exciting age and this exciting time of the year is sure to be a good memory for us all. I really cannot wait!

This cake would be a perfect Christmas morning treat. It’s pretty and full of holiday flavors–eggnog, cranberries, vanilla, and nutmeg–plus it has a little crumble on top. The jeweled cranberry layer takes on an almost jam-like quality, while the vanilla and nutmeg make the flavor of the eggnog sing. The cake is moist and a little dense in that coffee cake way. It’s delightful, albeit messy, served still a bit warm from the oven, though it keeps well overnight and can be baked ahead…further freeing up your morning for the fun stuff.

Cranberry Eggnog Coffee Cake

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

I have made this cake before, with buttermilk instead of eggnog and without the nutmeg. I loved it the first time, but I may like this festive version even more. This cake can be made year-round too with any flavor of jam standing in for the cranberry layer. 

1 vanilla bean split and scraped (save the pod for extract or sugar)

1 3/4 cup sugar

6 ounces fresh or frozen cranberries

2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 plus 1/8 teaspoon fresh, grated nutmeg, divided

1 stick (4 ounces) plus 1 tablespoon softened butter, divided

2 large eggs

1/2 cup eggnog

confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 375F, placing the rack in the middle. Butter a 9-inch springform pan (or cake pan) and line the bottom with parchment. Set aside.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, process sugar with vanilla bean until combined well. Pour vanilla sugar into a separate bowl. Add cranberries and 1/2 cup of the sugar back into the processor bowl and pulse a few times until finely chopped, but not puréed.

In a medium bowl whisk together 2 cups of flour, baking powder, salt, and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. Set aside.

In a small bowl combine 1/4 cup of vanilla sugar with 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1 tablespoon each of butter and flour. Blend well with fingers, set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer or with electric beaters,  beat together 1 stick of butter and 1 cup of sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape the bowl well and alternately add flour mixture and eggnog, beginning and ending with flour, until just combined.

Spread half of the batter into the bottom of the prepared pan, smoothing as best as you can. Spread the cranberries over the batter, leaving a 1/2 inch border around the diameter. Gently spread the remaining batter on top of the cranberry layer, all the way to the edges, and sprinkle with crumble topping.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake (not the cranberry layer) comes out clean and the cake begins to pull away from the pan–40-50 minutes. Remove from oven and cool 30 minutes before releasing from the pan.

Dust with confectioner’s sugar before serving.

Can be made 24 hours ahead, stored cooled and tightly wrapped at room temperature.

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Recipe: Chocolate Cupcakes with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

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15

Happy Halloween (and, happy Nevada Day, Nevadans)!

I hope everyone had a fun, spooky-scary weekend. Maybe you dressed up and hit the party circuit, maybe you handed out candy or just ate it by the handful, maybe you just lounged around and watched scary movies (guilty!)…whatever you did, I hope it was fun and festive.

I hope there were sweet treats involved and trickery of the good-natured variety.

Until next year ghoulfiends!

(bahaha, I’m totally cracking up about that one!)

One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

from Martha Stewart

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3.4 cup warm water

3/4 cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 large eggs, room temp.

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 24 cupcake wells (2 tins) with paper liners or grease well.

In a medium bowl sift together all of the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt). Set aside.

In a large measuring cup whisk together buttermilk, water, eggs, oil, and vanilla, to combine. Pour wet mixture into dry and fold until just incorporated. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake in the center of the oven for 16-20 minutes (mine were perfect after 17 minutes). Remove from oven and cool on rack completely before frosting.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

This frosting is pretty soft. I chilled it and then stirred vigorously before frosting. 

1, 8ounce bar cream cheese at room temperature

4 tablespoons room temperature, unsalted butter

1/4 cup pure pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon bourbon (optional)

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

pinch of salt

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Using a mixer beat cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add pumpkin, vanilla and bourbon and mix to combine. Beat in spices and then gradually add powdered sugar until completely incorporated. Beat on high until light and fluffy. Refrigerate, covered, if not using immediately.