On Beauty

Weekends are beautiful.

Market blooms are beautiful.

And three layer cakes are beautiful.

No matter how many crumbs get in the icing.

Let’s hold these truths to be self-evident.

To make a three layer yellow cake with lemon curd and lemon frosting, which is a riff on Deb’s, you will need:

• 1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 C sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3 C sifted self rising flour (make your own by removing two tsp. from each C, and replacing with 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder, and 1/2 tsp. salt)
• 1 C milk (I used skim, but I’d go buttermilk if you have it)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

For the filling:

• 1 jar lemon curd (or homemade)

For the frosting:

• 1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 T lemon zest
• 3 T lemon juice
• 3 C powdered sugar

To make the cakes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour 3, 8-inch cake pans.

Cream butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, till light and fluffy.  Beat in sugar, until incorporated.  One at a time, add eggs, and mix till incorporated.  Beat in flour and milk in alternating increments, starting and ending with flour.

Divide cake batter among 3 pans, and bake 25-30 minutes, or till tester comes out clean.

*A note:  If you worry about lopsided layers, you can raise the prepared pans high above the counter, and drop them straight down, to release air bubbles and ensure a more even cake.  I don’t worry about lopsided layers.

Let cakes cool completely, and remove from pans.

Place one cake layer on cake stand, and spread thin layer of lemon curd on top.  Place the next layer on that, and spread another layer of lemon curd on top.  Place the final layer of cake on top.

To prepare the frosting, beat butter and lemon zest in bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment.  Add powdered sugar slowly.  When the mixture looks like it won’t hold any more powdered sugar, add the lemon zest.  Add remaining sugar and beat till smooth.  If it looks like you don’t have enough frosting, increase the speed of the mixer, to whip more frosting.

Spread frosting over cake, and serve as soon as possible.

 

I’ll Try Anything Once

When Tracy Shutterbean posts a recipe that requires soaking a bowl of chocolate chips in half a teaspoon of bourbon, for the record, I’m in.

I had no idea what happens when you soak chocolate chips in bourbon, nor a clue about why one might want to soak chocolate chips in bourbon.  But it can’t be bad, right?  I’ll try anything once.

I love cakes baked and frosted in 9 x 13 pans.  They look so much like a picnic to me–perfect for sharing.  They’re always best served in little squares on brightly colored paper plates.  Typically, these cakes are also the easiest to make.  This one is a little different in that there are a couple steps going on in the making of this cookie-cake hybrid.  None of them are particularly difficult, but there are a couple more than usual.

The end result, though, a cake that tastes like a beloved cookie, topped with swirls of cream cheese frosting, is the best I’ve made in some time.  It already feels like an instant classic; something I know I’ll make for years to come.

To make an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie cake for sharing, you will need:

For the cake:

• 8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 C + 2 T all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. bourbon
• 1 C rolled oats
• 1 stick butter, unsalted, at room temperature
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 3/4 C sugar
• 1 1/4 C brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

For the frosting:

• 4 T salted butter, at room temperature
• 6 T cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 C powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Butter the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 cake pan.

Place chocolate chips in a small bowl, and pour bourbon on top.  Toss with 2 T flour to coat, and let sit.

Heat 1 1/4 C water till boiling.  Place oats and butter in  bowl.  Pour boiling water over oat mixture and stir till butter is melted.  Set aside till water is absorbed, about 20 minutes.

Whisk eggs, sugars, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon in large bowl.  Fold in oatmeal mixture till incorporated.  Fold in remaining flour till incorporated.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour batter into pan and bake 35-40 minutes, till a tester comes out clean.

Let cake cool completely in pan.  To make frosting, combine butter and cream cheese in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix till creamy, about 3 minutes.  Slowly add powdered sugar and vanilla, and mix till smooth.  Frost cake and serve as-is.

 

Passion Cake

For my most recent entertaining escapade, I had my in-laws over for lunch.

This was the star of the table, at least as far as our meal was concerned.

Dessert was another story.  A story about passion.

My sister-in-law took one quick look and this cake and asked, “Is is passion cake?”

“Ummmmmm….It’s carrot cake.”

Turns out, passion cake is what they call carrot cake on the other side of the pond.  Who knew?  (Nigella knew.)

This passion cake has always been called carrot cake.  And “always” is a long time in this case, as this passion cake is one of those family recipes I say I never have, when really, I do have just a couple.  My aunt gave me this recipe ages ago, but until Saturday, I had never made it.  I made the completely foolish mistake of trying another recipe once, and that was funny.  Why would you mess with a family classic?  Honestly, no matter how much experience I gain in the kitchen it’s amazing the rookie mistakes I still make.

I may officially switch the name to passion cake, however.  Shouldn’t affect the final product.

To make a 2-layer carrot cake, you will need:

• 2 C shredded carrots (this was from about 6 or 7, straight through the food processor)
• 1 1/2 C flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. allspice
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 C canola oil
• 1 1/2 C sugar

For cream cheese frosting:

• 2, 8 oz. package cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 lb. powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour two 8 or 9-inch cake pans.  Stir flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and salt together in a small bowl.  Whisk egg yolks in large mixing bowl.  Add carrots, oil, and sugar, and whisk till combined.  Stir in flour mixture until just combined.  Beat egg whites till they hold soft peaks and fold into other ingredients.  Pour half mixture into each prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes, until tester in center comes out clean.

Let cakes cool at least 10 minutes before inverting to remove from pans.  Let cool completely before frosting.

To make frosting, cream cream cheese and butter together till smooth, 3-5 minutes.  Slowly incorporate sugar.  When it looks like the mixture cannot hold any more sugar, beat in vanilla and salt.  Finish adding sugar, and beat till smooth.  Frost cake, and garnish with pecan halves, if desired.

The Cookies I Was Too Busy Eating to Blog About.

Or, buttermilk makes everything better.

These cookies are long gone.  They’ve had their day in the sun.  Wooden Nickels got some.  CV(D) got some.  So did AGOMYR.  So did Hey Girl Hey.  Sorry we didn’t save any for you.

They’re completely random cookies, that I pinned, from a new-to-me blog.  I made them because I really wanted to make cookies, and because they called for buttermilk, and because I had buttermilk I needed to use.

And isn’t that always how you stumble on the best recipes?  Completely by chance?  These took me by surprise. I expected a standard chocolate cookie, one that would satisfy my need to make cookies, and let me move on with my life.  Instead I was finding excuses to eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner desserts.  They blew me away.

To make 4 dozen, you will need:

• 2 C flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 C butter, melted
• 3/4 C cocoa powder
• 2 C sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2/3 C buttermilk
• 2 C chocolate chips
• kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk first three ingredients in a small bowl.  In a large bowl, melt butter.  Stir in cocoa powder till smooth.  Beat in sugar, vanilla, and buttermilk till combined.  Fold in flour.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Drop cookies in one-inch balls on parchment lined baking sheet.  Top each with a sprinkle of kosher salt.  Bake 10-12 minutes, until cookies look set around edges.

Vanilla

It’s no secret that my husband doesn’t love sweets.

How we ended up together is anyone’s guess.

The unfortunate part of all this is that every year, my husband has a birthday.  And it’s not a birthday if there’s no cake.  But what cake does one make for someone who doesn’t like cake?

Vanilla.

With chocolate frosting.

The quintessential birthday cake.

This one looked beautiful.  I used every trick in the book to get the perfect frostingy sheen.

But it tasted vanilla.

It was good.

It wasn’t great.

It served its purpose.

And CV(D) got to enjoy the leftovers.

Thanksgiving Prep – Applesauce Cake with Caramel Glaze

Remember when I asked you to make applesauce?  Here is why I made mine:

So I could make Food 52′s applesauce cake with caramel glaze.  Isn’t it beautiful?

Although I had this flagged as a Thanksgiving possibility, it could work at absolutely any point in apple season because why would you wait to make a cake like this?  It’s an everyday cake, with a little panache.  And it helped me conquer my fear of caramel.

Making caramel is a process in which a daring home cook lets sugar sit on a burner until it starts doing things that are likely caused by one chemical reaction or another.  Making this sauce isn’t quite as intimidating, as it requires stirring, creating the illusion that you are somewhat in control of what is happening under your eyes.

Earlier this week, my interpretation of hunkering down for a hurricane meant that I would cook my brains out while I still had power and days off of work.  This would ensure my husband and I would not starve.  And if worse came to worst, I would have a little container full of extra caramel sauce to see me through.  The lights are still on here, dear readers, but the sauce is long gone.

Now how did that happen?

To make cake for 12, you will need:

For the cake:

• 2 C flour (I have a hankering that swapping out some white for wheat would be a great idea, but haven’t tried that yet)
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper (I couldn’t taste it at all–some of the comments on Food52 say readers have upped the quantity and loved the results)
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. allspice
• 2 large eggs
• 1 C sugar
• 1/2 C light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 C unsweetened applesauce
• 2/3 C vegetable oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla

For the glaze:

• 4 T unsalted butter, cut in chunks
• 1/2 C packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 C heavy cream
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 C sifted confectioner’s sugar (and I never sift, but I did here, so my sauce wouldn’t be lumpy)

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, pepper and spices and set aside. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the eggs with both sugars until light. Mix in the applesauce, oil and vanilla until smooth.
2. Using a spatula, fold in the dry ingredients, being careful not to over-mix. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 45 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake for 10 minutes in the pan on a rack before turning it out and cooling completely on the rack — make sure the cake is not at all warm before you make the glaze.
3. TheRunawaySpoon wisely advises that you put a piece of foil or paper under the cooling rack to catch any drips before you start the glaze. Put the butter in a medium saucepan with the brown sugar, cream and salt and set over medium heat. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil for one minute exactly, and then pull it off the heat.
4. Leave the pan to cool for a couple of minutes, and then gradually whisk in the powdered sugar until you have a thick, but pourable consistency (you may not need all the sugar). If the mixture seems too thick, just add a splash of cream to thin it out a little. Immediately pour the glaze over the cake, moving slowly and evenly to cover as much surface area as possible. Let the glaze set before serving the cake.

Pumpkin Season

Happy first day of October.  Happy first day of food blogs throwing more pumpkin in your face than you know what to do with.  I’m going to contribute to the problem, but first a disclaimer:

I’m actually not that crazy about pumpkin.  I enjoy it here and there.  But I don’t need to dedicate the month of October to it.  Nor does it need to invite itself into my beverage that comes in a little white cup with a little green circle on it each morning.  Pumpkins are for carving.  And the occasional muffin.

But, they are also, apparently for coffee cake.

Which I found out by way of a coworker whose baking skills put my own to shame.

The brilliant thing about this is that it’s not over-spiced.  So instead of screaming pumpkin it just whispers it.  Which is perfect for the first day of October.

To make a 9 x 13 coffee cake, you will need:

• a yellow cake mix
• 1 can pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 C water
• 1 T vanilla
• 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (or 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. each nutmeg and ginger, and 1/4 tsp. cloves)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 C brown sugar, divided
• 1/2 C flour
• 1/3 C walnuts, chopped (I left these out because I never bake with nuts, and I ended up regretting that choice)
• 4 T butter, melted
• 1/4 C granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 C heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 9 x 13 cake pan.  Mix first 7 ingredients thoroughly with whisk.  Pour cake batter into prepared pan.  In small bowl, combine 1/2 C brown sugar, flour, walnuts and melted butter.  Crumble this mixture over top of cake batter.  Bake 25-30 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.

While cake is baking, prepare glaze.  Combine remaining sugars, heavy cream, and vanilla in small saucepan.  Bring to simmer and stir, constantly until sugars dissolve.  Your biggest mistake is taking this off the burner too soon, as the glaze will be grainy.  No one likes a grainy glaze.

When cake is finished, use skewer, dry spaghetti, or fork to poke holes all over top.  Pour glaze on cake, and let it soak up all that syrupy goodness while it cools.  Cut into slices and embrace fall.

Poke 2.0

Speaking of desserts, which I swore off of in my last post, I have one to show you.

It’s a variation on last summer’s Jello Poke Cake.

Only this one is So.  Much.  Better.

This is Oreo Poke Cake.  I’m not crazy about Jello.  But I am crazy about pudding. And Oreos.  This cake has both.

And when you eat the leftovers, you’ll find the Oreos get all gushy and smushy, and it’s all just too good to be true.  Everything has the consistency of the creamy center, which is the only reason anyone eats Oreos anyway.  Right?  This is one of those gussied-up cake mixes that you want to pretend you’re too cool for, but let’s keep it real, you’re so not.

Is that just me?

To make Oreo Poke Cake, you will need:

• 1 box chocolate cake mix
• Whatever oil, eggs, and water it calls for
• 2, 4 oz. packages Oreo pudding mix
• 4 C milk (2% or higher)
• crushed Oreo cookies

Prepare the cake according to the directions on the box.  Just before cake is done, prepare pudding by mixing pudding mix and milk.  Let pudding sit in fridge for 2 minutes to firm up.  No, that is not how long it will suggest on the box, but you don’t want things fully set.  Take the handle of a wooden spoon, and drill holes all over your cake.  Yes, you could totally do this with the handle of a fork, but the thicker the holes, the more pudding that seeps into the cake.  And that’s a win.  Spread the mixture evenly over the cake, and set aside to let cool a bit more.  When it’s not piping hot, put in refrigerator to chill till set.  Remove cake from fridge and sprinkle with crushed Oreos before serving.
p.s.  How good does this Boston Cream Poke Cake look?

Disaster, or, I Should Have Known

I should have known this cake was going to be a disaster.

I took one too many shortcuts with it.

I used a boxed mix (2, actually), I cooked it in cake pans I don’t like (the sides don’t go straight up), and, really, I just sorta slopped the whole thing together.

And then, when the first layer didn’t want to come out of the pan, there was no excuse for me not to know.

As I was using this cake to serve 9 people, I didn’t even really take my time slicing it.  So you missed the whole ombre effect.  Unless you squinted your eyes and really looked closely.

The one aspect of this cake that managed to look quite smashing, if you ask me, was the decoration on top.  Which was my idea on a whim.  Red sanding sugar for the Terrapin Beach Bums.  OBX for, well, duh, the Outer Banks.

I penciled the block letters in on a square of wax paper, cut them out, and layered the paper over the cake.  Then I went to town with the sanding sugar.  And peeled back the paper.

Voila!  Good to know this cake has a redeeming quality.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to try this whole ombre thing again.

 

The Basics, Now With Kitsch

A funny thing happened on the way to these kitschy cupcakes.

I created them based on a recent pin, and knew they’d be a hit on my annual beach vacation.

And they were.

But what I didn’t know was that in making them, I’d find yellow cake nirvana.  Courtesy of Deb, and her flag cake recipe.

I whined, several posts ago, that this little old blog was 500 posts strong, yet still without a fail-safe recipe for what should be a staple in any good home cook’s repertoire.  A solid yellow cake is something you can stack to the sky to celebrate another year of life, something you can spin into cupcakes at a moment’s notice, and most importantly, something you can tweak, in any number of ways, when you are dreaming up flavor combinations.  It’s also something that has eluded me for far too long.

Forty-four posts later, here we are.  I don’t know enough about the science of baking to tell you whether it’s the cake flour, the buttermilk, or the simple ratio of butter to flour to sugar to eggs, but when you set to whisking, something will happen in your faithful mixing bowl that makes the ingredients come together just so.  The cake is dense enough, moist enough, and crumbly enough to satisfy anyone’s sweet tooth.  It reminds you that, when made just right, yellow cake is not a boring choice, but a timeless classic.*

To make 30 cupcakes, or a 9 x 13 cake, or 2 or 3, 8 inch layer cakes (I’m guessing 3 with the amount of batter I had), you will need:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 2 C sugar
• 4 large eggs at room temperature
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 4 C cake flour (or 3 2/3 C all purpose flour and 1/3 C cornstarch)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. table salt
• 2 C buttermilk, well shaken

For the cream cheese icing:

• 2, 8 oz. packages cream cheese
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 4 C powdered sugar

And if you wanted to decorate them like I did:

• Blue food coloring or gel (for the icing)
• 4 of those little blue food gel tubes you can buy in the grocery aisle
• Gummy Life Savers

To make the cake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  If you’re making a cake, grease the pan(s) you’re using, add a layer of parchment to the bottom, and grease again.  Alternatively, spray the sucker(s) with cooking spray.  If you’re making cupcakes, set paper liners in your muffin tins.

Beat butter and sugar together in large bowl till light and fluffy, at least 3 minutes.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down bowl after each addition.  Add vanilla.  Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in bowl till combined.  Add half to butter mixture, and mix just till combined.  Scrape down bowl again, add buttermilk, and mix till combined.  Add remaining flour mixture, and mix till combined.  Pour batter into prepared pan(s).

I was working with a funky beach oven, but my cupcakes were done in 18 minutes.  I’d expect an 8 x 8 cake to take 30ish minutes, and a 9 x 13 pan to take longer than that.  Check this cake when it’s had less time than you think it needs, because you can always let it go a little longer.

Remove cake from oven and let cool completely before frosting.

To make the icing, beat cream cheese and butter till thoroughly combined and smooth, about 3 minutes.  Add vanilla and beat till combined.  Add sugar and beat till combined.  If you’re going for beach cupcakes, stir in blue food coloring or gel till you reach the color you’re looking for.

If you’re decorating the (cup)cakes, all you have left to do is pipe on some waves, and add a well-placed Gummy Saver.

*It may also remind you, two days later, when you reach for a boxed mix because you only want your cake to look a certain way, that you are crazy not to set out the butter ahead of time, and wait for it to soften.  A good homemade cake is always worth it.  Look for this disaster story soon.