Great Big Birthday Cake!
May 7, 2009 at 4:33 pm | Posted in cakes & tortes, layer cakes, sweet things | 20 Comments
I spent most of this rainy afternoon decorating a birthday cake for a friend’s little guy. A fun project, but glad it’s behind me. Doing something like this just seems so much harder at home than at the bakery…not enough space, not enough bowls and, most importantly, no one to wash the dishes for me!
It’s a simple vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream, but I’ll post recipes when I assemble a small cake I plan to make with the leftovers. The tiger face was made with white chocolate, and was by far the part that made me most anxious!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Tiramisu Cake
May 5, 2009 at 3:21 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 48 Comments
Tiramisu may mean “pick-me-up,” but to me it’s more like “give-me-some,” so I had a smile on my face and a fork in my hand when I saw that Megan of My Baking Adventures chose Tiramisu Cake as this week’s TWD recipe. I’ve made plenty of tiramisu at home– in fact, my version of it is the very first recipe that appeared on this little blog (although I don’t think anyone actually read it!). This one’s a bit different, though…a re-interpretation of the classic dessert into a layer cake.
Rather than ladyfingers, a yellow cake acts as the sponge for an espresso-liqueur syrup (Myer’s rum, in my case). I like my tiramisu full of coffee and full of booze, and while this cake did have great flavor, I do think the layers could have been a bit more saturated with the syrup. (If it looks fully soaked in the top photo that’s only because, when I put the cake away the night before, I brushed the exposed sides with a little extra syrup to keep them from drying out.) I’ll try and figure that out if I make it again (which I probably will)…maybe poking the layers with a skewer before brushing on the syrup, or pouring the syrup into a pie plate and quickly dunking the layers would work?
The frosting, part mascarpone and part whipped cream, was silky smooth and light as a feather. Truly delicious, and easy to work with, too. That smile on my face is still there, just thinking about it.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read My Baking Adventures. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Daring Bakers in April: Goat Cheesecake
April 27, 2009 at 2:16 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, cheesecakes, daring bakers, groups, sweet things | 48 Comments
I was this close (picture me squinting while holding my thumb and index finger about a milimeter apart), this close to skipping this month’s Daring Bakers’ challenge. See, I have done cheesecake one, two, three, four times here already. One of those was even with the DBs last year. I thought about it for awhile, and then I decided that since Jenny from Jenny Bakes basically gave us free reign to modify her chosen cheesecake recipe, I may as well make some tweaks and play along.
I’ve had goat cheesecake in restaurants before, but never at home, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Fresh goat cheese is pretty similar in consistency to cream cheese, and I figured I could do a straight-out swap with the two. I settled on a combo of half goat cheese and half cream cheese…that way it wouldn’t taste too barnyardy.
R and I are just a family of two, so we didn’t need a several pound cheesecake on our hands (or our hips). I scaled back the recipe to a third of its original size, and decided to bake off little individual cakes. I used 4-ounce aluminium foil cups, and got four servings from the batter.
I think cheesecake is quite a heavy, rich dessert, and I don’t like it further bogged down with too many add-ins. A little fruit sauce spooned on top suits me just fine. Here, I made an easy spiced cherry compote. I simply took a jar of tart cherries in light syrup, stained the syrup into a pot and reduced it a bit with half a cinnamon stick and a couple of cardamom pods. Once off the heat, I fished out the spices and stirred the cherries back in.
This was quite a nice change of pace. The cheesecakes had what I would call a “delicate goatiness.” Not too overpowering, and nice with the cherry sauce. Check out Jenny Bakes for the original recipe, and visit the new Daring Kitchen site to see what everyone else is up to!
Goat Cheesecake- makes 4 individual-size cheesecakes
modified from Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake
Note: I used Anna’s Almond Cinnamon Thins in the crust and 1/3 less fat cream cheese (that “Neufchâtel” stuff) in the cheesecake base.
for the crust:
2 oz graham cracker or wafer cookie crumbs
1/2 oz butter, melted
1/2 t sugar
pinch of saltfor the cheesecake:
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
4 oz fresh (not aged) goat cheese, room temperature
1/3 c sugar
pinch of salt
1 egg
1 t lemon juice
1/3 c heavy cream
1 t vanilla extract (or small amount of vanilla bean seeds)
-Preheat oven to 350°F (Gas Mark 4 = 180°C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.
-Spray four 4-ounce ramekins or aluminum foil cups with non-stick cooking spray. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into the bottom of the cups. Place cups on a sheet tray and bake for about 8 minutes, just to set the crusts. Remove sheet from oven and set crusts aside.
-Process the cream cheese and goat cheese in a food processor until smooth (don’t forget to scrape!). Add the sugar and pinch of salt; mix and scrape again. Do the same with the egg, then add the lemon juice, heavy cream and vanilla bean seeds or extract and process until smooth and fully combined.
-Spoon batter into prepared crusts and gently tap the sheet tray on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Remove the cups from the sheet tray and place them in a small roasting pan or a baking dish. Pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake cups.
-Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until they are almost done – this can be hard to judge, but you’re looking for the cakes to hold together, but still jiggle in the center. You don’t want them to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for another 20 minutes. This lets the cakes finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that they won’t crack on the top.
-After 20 minutes, remove pan from oven and lift the cups carefully out of water bath. Let them finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, they are ready to serve.
The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.
The Cake Slice: Chai Cake with Honey-Ginger Cream
April 20, 2009 at 2:23 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 32 Comments
Oh my gosh– I made this cake weeks ago, but my heart still skips a beat looking at these pictures. It’s not from sugar shock, either…it’s from love…true love! Really, this cake will make you (and by “you” I mean me) forget that silly obsession with those achingly sweet iced chai latte thingies from Starbucks.
I am so glad that The Cake Slice group voted to make this cake. I’ve had my eye on it since I got my copy of Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes, and the only disappointing thing about it was that I only made half a recipe! The cake itself is made with chai tea-infused milk. The flavor is delicate, and reminded me more of a well-balanced spice cake than of tea.
And the frosting…oh, the gloriously thick, honey-sweetened cream cheese frosting, dripping it’s way down the side of the cake. Does it get much better? Add a little Bollywood-inspired sparkle on top, and I think not.
Look for a printable link to the recipe, courtesy of Gigi Cakes. Better yet, get your hands on a copy of Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alicia Huntsman and Peter Wynne. Don’t forget to cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers— I guarantee that I’m not the only one who loved this cake!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Amaretti Torte
April 14, 2009 at 2:55 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 40 Comments
Much like the Chocolate Armagnac Cake from last month, I actually made this Chocolate Amaretti Torte while we were still living in Sydney, and I’d been keeping it in my pocket ever since. Hmmm…do we see a pattern here with me jumping the gun on the luxurious chocolate cakes?? I am so glad that Holly chose it for TWD this week, because now I can say out loud that this is one of the best Dorie recipes we’ve made (thank you!)!
Since I was in London last week, I was pretty pleased to have the TWD recipe be one that I’d already made. On the other hand, if I had been home, I would definitely have baked this torte again. It is seriously…soooo…good. And so easy, too, that Dorie dubbed it “fifteen minute magic.” All the ingredients need is a quick whiz in the food processor, and the batter’s done. The cake that comes out of the oven is a low-rider…not very high, but really intensely flavored with chocolate and almonds. (And, by the way, I just used cheapo grocery store armaretti cookies with no problems.) Don’t skip the bittersweet chocolate glaze or the almond whipped cream– with very little effort, you’ll have a dessert that’s fit for a swanky dinner party!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (she also has a take on it here on Epicurious), or read Phe/MOM/enon. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Blueberry Crumb Cake
March 24, 2009 at 9:02 am | Posted in breakfast things, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 47 Comments
Homemade crumb cake for breakfast is something I definitley could do with more often. One small problem…I don’t know about you, but it’s awfully hard for me to put together a cake in the morning that takes almost an hour to bake! Solution…make it the night before, have some for dessert and heat the rest up for breakfast the next morning.
Why am I going on about crumb cake? Well, Sihan of Befuddlement chose Dorie’s Blueberry Crumb Cake for TWD this week. It is loaded with berries (I went with the standard blue ones, but next time I just may try cranberries), and has a crumb topping that is sweet, nutty and crisp. I swapped out a little bit of AP flour for whole wheat in both the crumb and the cake. How healthy, right?! Also, I made a half recipe and baked it in a loaf pan. It’s just perfect with coffee.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Befuddlement. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
The Cake Slice: Triple Lemon Chiffon Cake
March 20, 2009 at 3:12 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 44 Comments
What’s three times as good as a lemon chiffon cake? A Triple Lemon Chiffon Cake, of course! The Cake Slice group chose to go for a lemon trifecta this month– three layers of lemon chiffon, filled with rich lemon curd and frosted with lemony whipped cream.
I don’t think that chiffon cake itself has a tremendous amount of flavor, but it has an amazing spongy, moist texture that makes me want to take huge bites! This one one of the most successful chiffons I’ve made…nice and tall, with no shrinkage. When making chiffons, the cake pans are often ungreased so the batter can really climb up the sides, and the baked cakes are left to cool completely in the pans. I’ve learned to (gingerly!) run a thin knife around the edges of the pans about five to ten minutes after the cakes have come out of the oven. This helps the cakes to not tear away from the sides as they cool, which I think can cause them to lose some oomph.
Lemon curd must be one of the tastiest things of all time. Even though I made a six-inch cake (half a recipe), I did a full recipe of the curd…intentional leftovers that were then sandwiched between cookies and used as a dip for fresh strawberries. The frosting is just a simple whipped cream with a portion of the curd folded in. Jodie rightly notes that almost every recipe we’ve made from this book (Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes) has used a whipped cream frosting. It’s a little tricky to work with, and you can see in my photos that even though I took care not to whip it too much, by the time I had smoothly frosted the cake, it looked overworked. Oh well, it happens…at least I didn’t turn it to butter! I realized that while I was freaking out about getting the frosting on as quickly as possible, I had not given a single thought to how I’d decorate this cake, so I just went with a squiggle of curd and some pastel sprinkles. OK, it wasn’t my finest decorating effort, but let me assure you that the cake really did taste great!
Here’s a printable link to the recipe, courtesy of Gigi Cakes. Better yet, get your hands on a copy of Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alicia Huntsman and Peter Wynne. Don’t forget to cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our lemon cakes this month.
Tuesdays with Dorie: French Yogurt Cake with Marmalade Glaze
March 17, 2009 at 2:50 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 56 Comments
I always have yogurt in the fridge (a granola/yogurt mush-up is my standard pre-work brekkie), but sometimes the expiration date does sneak up on me. A yogurt loaf cake is the perfect use-it-up recipe, so I’m no stranger to Liliana’s (of My Cookbook Addiction) pick for TWD this week. I’ve actually made a similar version of Dorie’s French Yogurt Cake before. There was also the time I made Ina’s lemon yogurt cake. Oh, and I even did yogurt cupcakes awhile back. See– these cakes have saved a lot of yogurt from the bin!
A yogurt cake is kind of like a pound cake, but without that nagging, butter-filled guilt. I used low-fat (2%) yogurt and cut back on the oil in the recipe by a couple tablespoons. My cake still stayed nice and moist for a few days. Dorie flavors hers with lemon, but since TWD just did lemon custards last week (and I’m doing something else lemon at the end of this week, too), I used orange zest and orange marmalade in mine. Any citrus works great here, to tell the truth.
I love the addition of almond meal in this version of the cake…très French, I think. The marmalade glaze gives it some bittersweet stickiness. Dorie says to strain the marmalade first. I’m not sure why…I like the zesty bits, so I didn’t bother.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read My Cookbook Addiction. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Applesauce Snack Cake
March 6, 2009 at 6:05 pm | Posted in cakes & tortes, simple cakes, sweet things | 27 Comments
No one is jonseing for spring more than I am. I was plucked from the Sydney winter and plopped right into the New York winter, so I am completely sick of the cold at this point. Spring may be just around the corner, but we had a mountain of snow dumped on us earlier in the week, so I’m still eating like I’m prepping for hibernation. Until I see the first rhubarb at the greenmarket, apples and warm spices are what I’m wanting.
I saw the America’s Test Kitchen crew make Applesauce Snack Cake on TV awhile back, and have been thinking about it ever since. No time like the present whip one up, I’d say. Their recipe contains a fair bit of butter, so it’s certainly not one of those low-cal applesauce cakes, but it’s moist and nicely spiced…perfect for snacking or, in my case, for desserting. A little sugar and spice mixture sprinkled over the top before baking makes every thing truly nice (“nice” taking the form of a crispy, crackly, sweet crust). I made half a recipe, which is the right amount for two people, and it fit nicely into a loaf pan.
Applesauce Snack Cake– makes one 8-inch square cake
adapted from Cooks Illustrated (September 2006)
3/4 cup dried apples (2 ounces), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup apple cider
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (7 1/2 ounces)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup sugar (4 3/4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup unsweetened applesauce , room temperature
1 large egg , room temperature, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), melted and cooled slightly
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 325 degrees. Cut 16-inch length parchment paper or aluminum foil and fold lengthwise to 7-inch width. Spray 8-inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and fit parchment into dish, pushing it into corners and up sides; allow excess to overhang edges of dish.
-Bring dried apples and cider to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat; cook until liquid evaporates and mixture appears dry, about 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
-Whisk flour and baking soda in medium bowl to combine; set aside. In second medium bowl, whisk sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Measure 2 tablespoons sugar-spice mixture into small bowl and set aside for topping.
-In food processor, process cooled dried-apple mixture and applesauce until smooth, 20 to 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl as needed; set aside. Whisk egg and salt in large bowl to combine. Add sugar-spice mixture and whisk continuously until well combined and light colored, about 20 seconds. Add butter in three additions, whisking after each. Add applesauce mixture and vanilla and whisk to combine. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients; using rubber spatula, fold gently until just combined and evenly moistened.
-Turn batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with rubber spatula. Sprinkle reserved 2 tablespoons sugar-spice mixture evenly over batter. Bake until wooden skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.
-Cool on wire rack to room temperature, about 2 hours. Run knife along cake edges without parchment to release. Remove cake from pan by lifting parchment overhang and transfer to cutting board. Cut cake and serve.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Armagnac Cake
March 3, 2009 at 2:44 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 58 Comments
I’ve been waiting for more than a year for someone to choose Dorie’s Chocolate Armagnac Cake for TWD! Not just hoping it would be chosen for the sake of trying it…it was actually the very first recipe I made from BFMHTY, when I was still living in Sydney and I hadn’t yet joined TWD. A couple of weeks later, I signed on to the group and have been waiting patiently, holding on to the picture, ever since. Finally LyB of And then I do the dishes came through and picked it for this week’s recipe!
It was my brother who requested this cake. I was looking for something to make for dessert while he was staying in Sydney with us, and asked him to choose a recipe from the book. I think he did it on picture alone, because he sure was surprised to see me chopping up prunes! That’s right, prunes. Armagnac-flamed prunes are part of what gives this cake it’s little something-something, and a great texture. I actually didn’t use Armagnac here but used Jameson instead, which thanks to my father (yeah, please don’t ask), I had already had on-hand.
This is another dense, chocoholic type of cake. (There have been a lot of those lately, right?) Really good, as far as I can remember, and a bit of glaze puts it over the top. If you are baking for someone who’s anti-prune, sub another dried fruit, like raisins, or just keep it hush-hush…they’ll probably never pin it down.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (read Dorie’s funny story about the cake, too). It will also be on And then I do the dishes. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll.
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