Red, White, and Chocolate

Here is my offering for a Fourth of July dessert - an all-American chocolate cake with cherries, whipped cream, and chocolate buttercream. The cake alone would be perfect with just a dusting of powdered sugar, but dressed up for the holiday it is a perfect collaboration of moist cake, sweet chocolate, tart cherries, and fluffy whipped cream.

Flour's Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

For those of us who grew up on pineapple upside-down cake made with Duncan Hines cake mix and canned pineapple rings with a maraschino cherry in the middle, Joanne Chang's Flour Bakery version represents everything good about adapting a 1960s recipe to today's trends. The combination of fresh pineapple and "real" caramel with a rustic butter cake simply changed my mind forever about pineapple upside-down cake.

This was my first attempt at caramel, and the richness and flavor it imparted to the cake was amazing. The cake baked into the caramel/pineapple mixture, creating wonderful caramelized bites of buttery goodness--I know that sounds hokey, but it's the best description I have.

Apple Pecan Bundt Cake

This recipe is from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook, which has some great recipes and is one of my most frequently used dessert cookbooks. The ingredients include apple brandy, which I did not have. I substituted Pumpkin Spice liqueur, and it was delish! The Magnolia bakers made this cake into a two-layer affair complete with yummy-sounding Caramel Cream Cheese Icing made with homemade caramel. I made a Bundt cake and left off the icing, and the cake can definitely stand on its own!

Please pardon the iPhone photo, but I forgot to take a photo of the cake when it was "intact"; I sent the remainder of the cake to my husband's office this morning, and the sun was not yet up when I took the photo!

The recipe below is my adaptation of Apple Walnut Cake with Caramel Cream Cheese Icing, and I have included the original ingredients in italics.



Apple Pecan Bundt Cake

2 cups flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (WW flour)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cup oil
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
3 Pink Lady apples, shredded (3 cups Golden Delicious apples, cut in 1" pieces)
3 tablespoons Pumpkin Spice liqueur (apple-flavored brandy)
1/2 cup cinnamon chips (my addition)
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (walnuts)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

I greased and floured a 10-inch Bundt pan, or you can grease and lightly flour two 9x2 inch round cakes pans, then line bottoms with waxed paper.

Cake:
In large bowl mix together flours, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

In large bowl, on medium speed, beat oil with sugar until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and beat until light, about 1-2 minutes. Add dry ingredients in thirds, beating after each addition until smooth. Batter will be extremely thick and doughlike. With spoon, stir in \apples, nuts and liqueur or Brandy until just blended. Pour batter into Bundt pan and (depending on your oven) bake for 55-60 minutes, or divide \batter between two cake pans and bake for 45-55 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes then remove from pans onto wire rack.

Icing (optional):
In medium bowl on medium speed, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth, about 3 minutes. Gradually add in caramel and beat until well incorporated.

When cake has cooled, ice between layers, then ice top and sides of cake. Drizzle remaining caramel over top of cake, and using small knife, swirl caramel into icing, forming decorative pattern. Garnish with nuts.

Couples' Shower and A Dessert Bar

This week's events included goodies for a couples' shower and a catered church dinner with three "bars"--potato bar, salad bar, and a dessert bar.

The couples' shower hostess requested intertwined hearts made of Vanilla Bean Cream cake and Vanilla Bean Cream frosting.

A square Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake and a 6-inch Strawberry Bliss Cake along with Butter Crumb Lemon Bars completed the order, and I included complimentary Chocolate Guinness Sweet Bites adapted from the recipe by Nigella. I love Nigella's description of the cake:

This cake is magnificent in its damp blackness. I can’t say that you can absolutely taste the stout in it, but there is certainly a resonant, ferrous tang which I happen to love.

I topped them with a buttercream made from powdered sugar, salted butter, and Bailey's Irish Cream.

For the dessert bar at the church dinner, I baked jumbo Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, which are based on Alton Brown's recipe, Strawberry Bliss and Chocolate Guinness cupcakes, and Brown Sugar Peach Cobbler.

A Church Affair

On Valentine's Day, my church offered a reaffirmation of vows ceremony for married couples and asked me to create a "wedding reception" for the event. I made 9-inch, 8-inch, and 6-inch Vanilla Bean Cream layer cakes filled and frosted with Vanilla Bean Buttercream, as well as a "groom's cake" that was an 8-inch square Chocolate Fudge cake filled and frosted with Chocolate Fudge Buttercream.

To create a tiered effect, I placed the cakes on cake pedestals of varying heights.


I scattered tiny pearlized hearts and silk rose petals on the tables, and placed candles in crystal candlesticks to create a romantic glow. Since families were invited, faux champagne and plastic flutes made the reception kid-friendly.

Lemony Yogurt Cake and Lemon Curd

Although I am not one of the blogroll members of Tuesdays with Dorie, I do follow their adventures for inspiration. I am also influenced by the blogs of my cooking friends--their quest for the best is infectious. This week my incentive for baking was sparked by TWD's French Yogurt Cake, as featured by HoneyB, and LadyJayPee's Meyer Lemon Curd.

HoneyB gave the French Yogurt Cake an "eh", but her hubby, Grumpy, liked it. In spite of my respect for HoneyB's assessment, I know she does not have the carbo-sweet tooth that I do, and if Grumpy likes it, it must be good.

The recipe is from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home To Yours, and I located the recipe using Amazon's Click-to-Look-Inside feature. My only change was to reduce the oil to 1/3 cup. I loved the instruction to "rub the zest into the sugar until the sugar is moist and aromatic" and would highly recommend incorporating this step into any recipe with sugar and zest. The aroma is heavenly.


The cake baked for the full amount of time, and the only flaw was a very slightly deflated center--probably due to my opening the oven door too often to check on it!


HoneyB found the cake to be a bit too sweet (is there such a thing?) with her special icing, and I did not have lemon marmalade to make the glaze specified by the recipe, so I decided to brush on Tart Lemon Glaze, recipe found on the Sunkist website. The glaze is wonderful, but the cake is perfect unadorned.


I would recommend eating this cake the day after baking. The first day it was a bit dry, and the predominant taste was of baking powder. However, today is another matter. Overnight, the baking powder flavor mellowed out, moistness has spread throughout, and it has become, as my Daddy used to say, "good cake". The texture is a mix of sponge cake, pound cake, and quickbread, with a medium crumb that will be perfect for strawberries and whipped cream. The sweetness is subtle, and the loaf-shape makes it entirely too easy to keep cutting small pieces to snack on.


To add another lemony dimension to my day, I made lemon curd from the Eating, Etc blog. I juiced a lemon and a lime to compensate for not finding Meyer lemons in my area, and I used Plugra butter. I followed Lady JayPee's instructions to the letter, even pulling out my Mom's old double boiler.


The curd came together perfectly, and after cooling it for a total of 30 seconds I tasted it--it was eyes-rolling-back good! After cooling, it thickened beautifully and became perfect for filling or eating with a spoon. It is delicious on the Yogurt Cake.


Here is the recipe for the cake, with my modifications:

French Yogurt Cake with Marmalade Glaze
1-1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup plain yogurt
3 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup lemon marmalade, strained
1 teaspoon water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter 8-1/2 X 4-1/2 inch loaf pan and place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

Put sugar and zest in mixing bowl; rub zest into the sugar till sugar is moist and aromatic. Add yogurt, eggs and vanilla and whisk vigorously till mixture is very well blended. Still whisking, add dry ingredients; fold in oil with spatula, blending very well until oil is incorporated. Batter will be thick and smooth. Scrape batter into pan and smooth top.

Bake for 50-55 minutes or until cake begins to come away from sides of pan—should be golden brown and cake tester inserted will come out clean. Transfer pan to rack and cool for 5 minutes, then remove. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, right side up.

Lemon Marmalade Glaze:
Put marmalade in small saucepan and stir in teaspoon of water. Heat till jelly is hot and liquefied. Using pastry brush, brush cake with glaze.

Recipe Rustlers

When I lived in Texas, I became fascinated with the Texas rose rustlers, who find and "rescue" roses that have thrived for many years, with little or no attention, in a forgotten place such as an old cemetery or outside an abandoned house or along an fence. One of my favorite rose catalogs comes from this nursery, The Antique Rose Emporium, which was founded with rustled roses.

Many of these roses are antiques, old roses from the past that have survived in spite of neglect. The idea of propagating these roses--bringing these survivors out of the past and into the 21st century, thus preserving the variety--is honorable, in contradiction to the negative connotation of "rustling". But what a great name--The Rose Rustlers.

Some of us have become recipe rustlers. We find an old recipe in a forgotten cookbook, recognize its value, and bring it into our contemporary kitchens, where it again becomes a treasure to share with others.

One such recipe is from one of my oldest cookbooks, Better Homes & Gardens Cakes and Pies, which I received as a wedding gift in 1969.


Recently I spotted my old treasure at the top of my bookshelves and started thumbing through the browned, familiar pages. Several pages are stained with use, evidence of happy hours spent poring over and trying the recipes as a young bride.

Unlike many of today's recipes, I found that most of the cake recipes specified shortening and/or shortening and butter. Although I love using butter in my baking, shortening does provide a tender crumb that is not always present with the use of butter alone.

The recipe I chose to rustle was one for Buttermilk Cake, and the result was such good old-fashioned flavor and texture. The instructions are different from the usual "add dry ingredients to wet" and employ the use of an electric mixer rather than the KitchenAid. And with 6 egg whites, it was a mile-high cake!

Buttermilk Cake

3¾ cup flour
2¼ cup sugar
1½ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoon soda
1½ teaspoon baking powder
3/8 cup butter
3/8 cup shortening
2¼ teaspoon vanilla
1½ cup buttermilk
6 egg whites

Sift dry ingredients into large mixing bowl. Add butter, shortening, vanilla, and 3/4 cup buttermilk; beat 2 minutes at medium speed on electric mixer. Add remaining buttermilk and egg whites (I whipped until soft peaks formed then folded into the batter.); beat 2 minutes longer. Bake in 2 greased and lightly floured 8 X 1-1/2 inch round pans in 350F (177C) for 30-35 minutes. Cool and frost.

Gimme Some of That Eggnog - Cake That Is

This is actually about Christmas spirit--no, not the liquor kind of spirit. Although I did find some REALLY good pomegranate liqueur the other day; but I digress.

This is about the Christmas spirit I didn't have this holiday season. You know, the kind that is precipitated by warm childhood memories, the Clydesdale horse commercial, It's a Wonderful Life reruns, and the rich, nutmeg-y smell of eggnog. I didn't have the Christmas spirit that I expect every Christmas season, and it was beginning to bother me.

Even the normal kitchen activities--baking those great cranberry-dotted breads, big thick, soft sugar cookies, melting chocolate for candies--enjoyable as they were, didn't bring it on. In fact, all my warm fuzzy memories of Christmases past were making me downright melancholy.

What finally coaxed my lazy spirit into being was not hearing Bing sing "White Christmas" or the ambrosial steam from a glass of wassail or placing the old quilt as a blanket under the Christmas tree. It was a comment from an acquaintance about some discouragement she was experiencing. With my heartfelt "buck up--it'll get better", my elusive Christmas spirit came bouncing back, as comfortable and familiar as my favorite pair of musical Christmas socks. My gift to her was encouragement, and with that humble gift, my spirit was gifted in return.

Not finding my Christmas spirit in nostalgic expectations led to something infinitely more lasting for me.

And getting back to the eggnog...although I don't bake with cake mixes as much as I used to, this is a nice recipe for Eggnog Pound Cake that I found on Allrecipes.com.

Eggnog Pound Cake

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 cup eggnog
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

In a mixing bowl, combine ingredients and beat on low until moistened, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Pour into a greased and floured 12-cup fluted tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes; invert onto a wire rack.

I drizzled an icing of powdered sugar, butter, eggnog, and butterscotch schnappes (now that's Christmas spirit!)