Tuesdays with Dorie: Coconut Black Sesame Tea Cake
March 30, 2010 at 5:54 pm | Posted in bundt cakes, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 29 Comments
Between the time I wrote this and now, I’ve left my job, gone to Florida and back and gone to Seattle and back. Whew! I just got home last night, hence the delay in posting (and my poor showing in the comments department over the last couple weeks).
I’m really glad that Carmen of Carmen Cooks picked this Coconut Tea cake for TWD— it’s been on my “would someone hurry up and choose it?” list like forever! I couldn’t resist doing one of Dorie’s “playing around” variations, so I added black sesame seeds to mine…I just know that when my husband sees it, he is going to ask me if I baked a cake with fleas!
I also used rum, in addition to vanilla, and toasted, unsweetened coconut (I get this at the healthfood store, and I think it helped to temper the sweetness of the cake…there’s a lot of sugar in the batter, afterall!). I made half the recipe in a six-cup bundt pan, and it was done in 35-40 minutes. This is just the type of cake I love: easy-peasy to make, in bundt form, moist and tastes like coconut! I haven’t tried it with tea yet…that’ll be tomorrow, when I sit down with a cuppa to watch episodes of The Ricky Gervais show on HBO On demand. Yes, I have a lot going on now that I’m not working…
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Carmen Cooks. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
The Cake Slice: Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
March 20, 2010 at 1:01 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 15 Comments
The Cake Slice Bakers are flipping out some Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes this month. Sounds good, right? Looks good, too, I think. The taste…ehh. I used fresh pineapple and dried cherries in my topping, and boy was that yummy, all baked up in buttery brown sugar. But the cakey bit seemed heavy and doughy. It was a relatively lean cake, with only four tablespoons of butter and just one egg…maybe that had something to do with it. I dunno, but I think I’ll stick with this recipe, which I remember liking quite a bit.
If you do want to give it a shot, here’s a printable link to this month’s recipe. Or get your hands on a copy of Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott. To see if anyone else had setter success with this recipe, cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Milk Chocolate Bundt Cake
February 2, 2010 at 10:45 am | Posted in bundt cakes, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 41 Comments
Although Kristin of I’m Right About Everything chose Dorie’s Milk Chocolate Mini Bundts for TWD this week, here I present you not with multiple mini bundts, but with one mini-ish bundt. I do actually have a mini bundt pan, but it’s one of many, many things that have been boxed up in storage since we moved back from Australia. Our apartment is just not big enough for too many non-essentials, so I made do here by baking the full amount of batter in my 6-cup bundt tin. Still kinda mini, but really cute!
I don’t often bake with milk chocolate. It doesn’t give you that in-your-face chocolate flavor, but instead something more subtle and light. Sometimes that’s all I need, though, and much like when I made milk chocolate brownies, I found the flavor of this cake to be quite pleasant. I left out the nut swirl in the original recipe and used buttermilk instead of regular. My glaze started out a little wackadoo (something I think many of us experienced), but I smoothed it out with a couple spoonfuls of hot water. When I’m finally able to retrieve that mini bundt pan, and I make this again, I’ll try a ganache-style glaze instead.
I have to say that in terms of both looks and taste, this reminded me of a big fat chocolate cake doughnut, and I can’t say that I minded one bit! For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read I’m Right About Everything. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Cocoa-Nana Bread
January 26, 2010 at 1:00 am | Posted in breakfast things, cakes & tortes, groups, muffins/quick breads, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 36 Comments
Wow–super-busy week at work. If I hadn’t made this Cocoa-Nana Bread, chosen for TWD by fellow Steph of Obsessed with Baking, early last week, it just wouldn’t have happened for me. The bakery I work for was featured in a segment on national TV a few days ago, and it sent mail orders for our brownies pouring in all weekend. Terrific for business, but the owners neglected to give the kitchen the heads-up that it was airing! Saying we we’ve been in the weeds would be an understatement, and my arms are about to fall off from so much brownie mixing. Anyway, back to matters at hand…
A healthy dose of cocoa powder makes this loaf pumpernickel-dark. And bananas make it moist. It’s really much more cocoa than nana….and also more loaf cake than bread. Dorie intends it to be for breakfast, but we thought it made a fine dessert. Leftovers are a yummy trifle base, BTW.
To all my Aussie friends–happy Australia Day! I’ll be celebrating here with homemade sausage rolls, a Cooper’s Sparkling and some good tennis!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Obsessed with Baking. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie (on Thursday!): All-in-One Holiday Bundt Cake
November 26, 2009 at 2:50 pm | Posted in bundt cakes, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 Comments
I’m up to my elbows in stuffing and cranberry sauce right now, but just wanted to quickly wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving! This is the Holiday Bundt that I’m serving up for dessert tonight. It really is all-in-one: pumpkin cake with spices, pecans, apples and cranberries. I sneaked a tiny taste, and I can tell you that it’s moist and fully of yummy chunks. Can’t wait to try a proper slice later with the maple glaze!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here on Serious Eats). Read The Nitty Britty, as it was Britin’s choice for TWD this week, and don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
The Cake Slice: Cinnamon-Pecan Coffee Cake
October 20, 2009 at 4:34 pm | Posted in breakfast things, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 30 Comments 
The Cake Slice Bakers have shifted gears, and we’re now baking from the book Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott. I’ve actually had this book for quite sometime, so it will be nice to do more than just admire its words and pictures. Although I’ll miss making a fancy layer cake each month just for the heck of it, this book has cakes of all types– like this here Cinnamon-Pecan Coffee Cake, for instance.
This was a nice cake to wake up to (it freezes well, so you really can make it ahead and save it for a weekend morning). It has a whopping amount of cinnamon and pecans, so you know right there that it’ll be tasty. I replaced the raisins in the recipe with dried wild blueberries (they came from TJ’s and I was surprised at how flavorful they were!), and subbed in a bit of whole wheat flour for some of the AP. Makes me feel better about eating cake in the morning if there’s a little whole wheat in there! And it didn’t seem to harm the nice texture of the buttery crumb at all. So that I wouldn’t be tempted to gobble up too much cake, I made a third of the recipe and baked it in a loaf pan.
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 coffee cakes this month!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Applesauce Spice Bars
August 18, 2009 at 1:23 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, cookies & bars, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 27 Comments
Apples, cinnamon and brown sugar…these are flavors that make me instantly think of fall, but, really, I enjoy them anytime of year. Karen of Something Sweet by Karen must, too, because she’s picked Dorie’s Applesauce Spice Bars for this week’s TWD.
These bars weren’t exactly what I expected, but I mean that in a good way. I was thinking they’d bake up into something chewy and kind of dense, but they were actually like a snack cake..super moist and with a cake-style crumb. A toffee-like glaze sweetly seals the deal. I couldn’t just stop at the itty-bitty bar-sized potions Dorie suggested, so we ate bigger squares. We enjoyed them so much that next time I’ll make more than just a third of a recipe (which baked up nicely in a loaf pan).
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Something Sweet by Karen. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Classic Banana Bundt Cake
August 4, 2009 at 1:21 am | Posted in bundt cakes, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 49 Comments
At the end of every month, just before the new list of TWD recipes comes out, I do a little dance in the hopes that a Bundt cake will be chosen. My efforts to summon the cake gods have gone unrealized every time, but leave it to Mary The Food Librarian, herself a lover of all things Bundted (seriously, she has made a bazillion of them), to finally chose Dorie’s Classic Banana Bundt. Yay!! (Now I am doing my happy dance!)
I love Bundt cakes, and this banana one is no exception. It’s dense and moist, not unlike a banana bread. It’s full of banana flavor, and the inside is full of those little black squigglies…do you know what I’m talking about? Those fascinate me, and I must study them in every slice.
I made half a recipe of this cake in my treasured six-cup Bundt pan. I switched out a quarter cup of the AP flour for whole wheat, and added in a sprinkle of nutmeg. I also used half sour cream and half yogurt in the batter. The coolest thing about any Bundt is how pretty it is, no thanks to me– it just comes out of the pan that way (provided I spray it well)! I drizzled a quick and easy milk chocolate ganache over this one, because hey– bananas and chocolate are great together!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read The Food Librarian. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Yogurt Cake with Currant-Raspberry Sauce
August 2, 2009 at 7:27 pm | Posted in cakes & tortes, simple cakes, sweet things | 15 Comments
I’ve racked up a pretty extensive collection of layer cakes here, and while I love the challenge of prepping multiple components and the decorating practice, every now and again I just want a no-brainer. I need to simply plop on the couch and eat a giant slab of sheet cake straight from the pan. Okay, so I probably wouldn’t ever actually do that, but I do enjoy the mental image, and the fact that I could if I wanted to.
When I saw a picture of this yogurt cake in the August issue of Gourmet, I knew I had to make it right away. Soft cake, sweet icing and bright red sauce on mismatched vintage plates– how pretty! Never mind that I don’t have any mismatched vintage plates…I knew this would taste just as good on plain white ones.
I eat yogurt pretty much everyday. Usually it’s mixed into my granola or whizzed into a smoothie, but I love to bake with it, too–just feels like it healthies-up the butter! This cake has a really light, moist crumb that is seriously fluffy. I think adding a little citrus zest would work nicely in it, but I’ll save that for next time. And there will be a next time, too, because it came together in a snap– just the no-brainer I wanted! The sauce is gorgeous, and the red currants make it a wee bit tart. I was pleased to have both berries already in the fridge (leftover from my adventures in blanc-manger), but you could easily use all raspberries (and frozen ones, at that) if you can’t find the currants.
Just a couple notes from my kitchen…I used 2% yogurt instead of whole-milk, and I made half a recipe of the cake in an 8-inch square pan, checking it about ten minutes early just to be safe. I also thought that the original amount of icing was a bit of a sugar bomb, so I only made a sixth (using 1/2 cup of powdered sugar), and I used honey in place of the corn syrup. But you do as wish, even if you wish to eat it straight from the pan!
Yogurt Cake with Currant-Raspberry Sauce– makes a 13×9-inch cake
from a recipe in Gourmet (August 2009)
Notes: If you can’t find red currants, you can substitute 2 more cups raspberries.
Sauce keeps, chilled, two days. Cake can be baked and iced one day ahead and kept in a cake keeper (or covered with an inverted roasting pan; do not touch icing) at cool room temperature.
for the cake:
3 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs, warmed in shell in warm water 10 minutes
2 cups plain whole-milk plain yogurt (not Greek-style) at room tempfor the sauce:
2 cups fresh red currants (1/2 pound), stemmed
4 cups fresh raspberries (16 ounces), divided
2/3 cup granulated sugarfor the icing:
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy cream
scant 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Make cake:
-Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter cake pan, then line bottom with a rectangle of parchment paper and butter parchment. Dust with flour, knocking out excess.
-Sift together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
-Beat together butter, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, at medium speed. At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with yogurt, beginning and ending with flour mixture, and mixing until just combined. Spread batter evenly in pan and rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles.
-Bake until cake pulls away from sides of pan and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge. Invert onto a rack and discard parchment. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
Make sauce while cake bakes:
-Stir together currants, 2 cups raspberries, sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan and let stand until juicy, about 15 minutes. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until fruit breaks down, about 8 minutes. Force through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, discarding solids. Cool sauce.
Make icing and assemble cake:
-Stir together confectioners sugar, corn syrup, cream, and vanilla until smooth.
-Put cake on a platter and spread icing on top in a thick layer, letting it run down sides. Let icing set at least 15 minutes. Serve with sauce and remaining 2 cups raspberries on the side.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Cinnamon Squares
June 2, 2009 at 2:17 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 50 Comments
I’ve often wondered when Cinnamon Squares would have their fifteen minutes of TWD fame. Thanks to Tracey of Tracey’s Culinary Adventures, their time has come.
Chocolate, coffee, and, of course, heaps of cinnamon join forces here to form simple squares of cakey goodness. Add frosting, and it becomes simply outrageous. As an aside, why do I always accidentally stick my finger in frostings, and then notice only after I’ve taken pictures??
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Tracey’s Culinary Adventures. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Baked Fresh Weekly
Blog at WordPress.com.
Entries and comments feeds.
a whisk and a spoon 