a whisk and a spoon

The Cake Slice: Lemon-Poppy Seed Cake with Almond-Cream Cheese Frosting

I almost forgot to bake this cake.  That’s not quite true…I didn’t forget about the cake, I just didn’t realize the 20th is already here!  For the month of May, we Cake Slice Bakers have mixed it up a bit and are throwing back to last year’s book, with a recipe for Lemon-Poppy Seed Cake with Almond-Cream Cheese Frosting from Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes.

It’s pretty, isn’t it?  Something about this cake seems so sweetly charming and old-fashioned…like something my grandmas might bake (except for my grandmas have never been much into baking).  Underneath the almond-cream cheese frosting is a light white cake, flecked with lemon zest and poppy seeds.  I added a few drops of lemon oil to the batter, just to enhance the lemon flavor.

The lemon oil was my only tweak to the recipe (also not quite true…I cut back on the almond extract in the frosting just a tad), although I did a wackadoo two-fifths of the original amount of batter and frosting (I only wanted to use two egg whites).  I baked the cake in a quarter sheet pan, then cut it into three strips for frosting and stacking.  I like the change from the usual round layer cakes, although I do find squares and rectangles to be a bit trickier to frost.

Poppy seeds are so freakin’ cute!  Their amazing ability to get absolutely everywhere, though, really isn’t.

Here’s a printable link to the recipe…it’s really a keeper.  Better yet, get your hands on a copy of Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alicia Huntsman and Peter Wynne.  Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our mile-high cakes this month.

The Cake Slice: Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting

This is the second time I’ve made a banana cake with The Cake Slice Bakers.  The two are quite different, but my reaction is the same:  bananas make for a darn good cake!  The cake itself was so moist and flavorful.  I can see it being great with a little cinnamon or espresso powder mixed in, or re-engineered as a snack cake.  It’s one I’ll make again, for sure…

…The chocolate frosting, though was a different story.  It turned super thick after I added the last addition of powdered sugar.  So thick, that I couldn’t spread it.  Rather than toss it in the bin, I put it over gentle heat until it just started to soften.  Then it was use it or lose it time, so I immediately swiped it on the cake in one pass.  I think I did a reasonably good job, all things considered, but can you see how the frosting looks a little dry and crackly?  It tasted good, and had quite a fudgy consistency, actually, but I think I’ll go with a tried-and-true chocolate frosting next time and save myself the stress.

Here’s a printable link to the recipe.  Or get your hands on a copy of Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott.  Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our banana cakes this month!

The Cake Slice: Red Velvet Cake

The Cake Slice Bakers are baking up a true slice of Americana this month– Red Velvet Cake.  Even though this cake has been super trendy in recent years, and I even though make a giant batch of it at work every day, I’ve never been so enthusiastic about red velvet.  All that food coloring makes me a bit uneasy.  A good thing about making it at home, though, is that you can control how much Red 40 does or does not go into it.  Just like the other time I made red velvet here, I used only a couple drops of gel coloring…more of a “rust velvet,” I guess.

I generally think cream cheese frosting and red velvet go hand-in-hand (although where I work, we use a cinnamon buttercream), but this recipe has a boiled milk frosting with coconut and pecans.  That’s new to me, but I really do think the frosting made it the best red velvet I’ve ever had (probably because it reminded me of my most favorite cake, German chocolate)!  And the texture of the cake’s crumb was great, too…soft and, of course, velvety.

Here’s a printable link to the recipe. Or get your hands on a copy of Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott.  Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our red velvet cakes this month!