Molly's birthday cake

I made a banana cake with cream cheese icing for Molly's surprise birthday party!  We had a great time last night celebrating Mole's birthday at Gravers Lane Gallery, where Molly works.

The first time I made this cake I brought some to Molly at work.  She told me it was her new favorite cake and she wanted it for her birthday.  That was months ago, but I didn't forget.

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Adapted from White On Rice Couple

Cake Ingredients:

• 3 c Flour 1 T Baking Powder
• 1/2 t Salt 
• 1/2 t Nutmeg 
• 1 c (2 sticks) unsalted Butter, room temp 
• 1 1/2 c Brown Sugar 
• 8 Egg Yolks 
• 1/2 c Canola Oil 
• 1 T Molasses 
• 8 ripe Bananas

Icing Ingredients:

• 8 oz. package of Cream Cheese
• 2 sticks Butter
• 3 c Powdered Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour two 9" cake pans and one tall 4" wedding cake top if you want the double layer look like I did for Molly's cake.
Mash bananas and set aside.
Mix flour, b powder, salt, and nutmeg and set aside.
In the bowl of your stand mixer beat the butter on high until fluffy.
Add sugar and cream with the butter.
Add egg yolks and mix just til combined.
Add canola and molasses and mix til combined.
Add dry ingredients to mixer and mix just til combined.
Add bananas and mix just til combined.
Pour batter into cake tins.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, the cakes are done when they are firm to the touch and a knife comes out clean from the center.  My little 4" took a bit longer than the 9" cakes because it was so thick.
While the cake is cooling make your icing.
Beat the butter and cream cheese in a mixer until fluffy, then add powdered sugar one cup at a time beating well and then add vanilla.
Once the cake is cool cut the 4" cake top into 2 separate layers.

Ice your cake and then decorate with some icing chocolate (melted semisweet chocolate chips and a little butter) in your piping bag.  My mom threw on a little mexican heather and some lantana for color.

Daphne's 1st birthday cake

I made this cake for my friend Sylvia's daughter's 1st birthday party.  It's lemon curd with cream cheese icing.  I like this cake because it's nice for summer and everyone really loves the zing of the lemon curd.  The cake itself is a pretty simple orange juice cake that is very moist and tastes great with any kind of icing.  In this case it really lets the lemon curd shine.  And who doesn't love cream cheese icing?  That also goes really well with lemon curd.  They have a complementary tang.

This cake needed to feed 25 people and I'm not super keen on double stacked sheet cakes so I used
2- 12" rounds and 2- 9" rounds.  I tripled the cake recipe, made one batch of lemon curd, and doubled the icing recipe.  I had the perfect amounts of everything- I like to have a little bit of everything left over in case I need to touch something up or just to save in the freezer.

I layered lemon curd in between the 2- 12"s and the 2- 9"s but between the 12" cake and the 9" cake I just spread a nice layer of cream cheese icing.  One thing that I did to make serving the cake easier is I put a tinfoil covered cardboard cake round in between the 9" and 12" cake layers.  This way the top cake can be cut and served, they can remove the cardboard round and then cut the bottom cake.  I put lemon curd on the very top, piped dots around the edges with the cream cheese icing, and wrote on top of the cake with melted butter and semisweet chocolate chips.  Lastly, I threw on some sliced strawberries for color.

Lemon Curd Cake
Recipe from The Night Kitchen Bakery

• Lemon curd
• Yellow cake
• Cream cheese icing

Phil's birthday cake

It's Phil's birthday!!  Happy birthday to one of the greatest dads I know.  For this special occasion I made one of the Keitel-Sosnov family's favorite cakes, the chocolate mocha cake.  It's a simple classic chocolate cake with a coffee kick and one of the greatest chocolate icings ever.

Chocolate Mocha Cake with Mocha Icing
Recipe from the Chestnut Hill Spice Shop

Ingredients:

(cake)

• 3 1/2 cups ap flour
• 1 1/2 cups cocoa
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp b powder
• 4 tsp b soda

• 2 cups milk + 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 4 eggs
• 4 cups sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup canola oil
• 2 cups hot coffee

(icing)

• 1 stick butter
• 1 stick margarine
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp coffee
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 2 c powdered sugar
• splash of milk

Method:

(cake)
Preheat oven to 350 and grease and parchment 2- 9" cake pans plus at least one 12 cup muffin pan.  Sift together dry ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.  In the stand mixer mix oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients alternating with the buttermilk in a few additions.  Add hot coffee all at once and mix til combined.  Pour batter 3/4 full into the cake pans and muffin tins, don't over-fill.  Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until cakes bounce back to the touch and a knife comes out clean.  Try to let the cakes cool completely before removing them from the pan.  Loosen the sides with a knife because this cake tends to stick- hence the parchment paper.

(icing) 
Once the cakes have cooled beat the butter and the margarine in the stand mixer until light and creamy. Add vanilla, cinnamon, coffee, and then one at a time add the sugar and cocoa.  Beat to combine in between additions.  Last add the milk just to loosen up the texture.

I drew a fish on top of my cake with some melted semisweet chocolate chips mixed with butter in my piping bag.  Phil caught us a lot of delicious blue fish when we were at the shore last week and cooked us an amazing meal of baked blue fish with garlic and fingerling potatoes.  Thanks for the fish Phil, I hope you liked your cake!!

Big yellow cake

I actually went out and bought tumeric for this big yellow cake.  This recipe was so simple I had to try it even though I had no clue who would actually eat it.  It's vegan and it has a really earthy taste from the turmeric.  My cake came out a little less sweet than it should have because I used unsweetened coconut, so I suggest sticking with the sweetened.

Vegan Turmeric Cake
Adapted from May I Have Hat Recipe?

Ingredients:

• 3 cups self rising flour (**see note for recipe)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 1 ½ cups unsweetened shredded coconut
• Pinch of salt

• ¾ cup vegetable oil
• 1 ¾ cups SWEETENED almond, coconut or soy milk (here we used Silk Pure Almond)

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease and flour a 10" spring form pan.  (The original recipe uses an 11x7" pan).  In a small bowl mix the dry ingredients, in a larger bowl mix the soy milk and the oil, add the dry to the wet and stir just til combined.  Pour into the pan and smooth down with your spatula.  Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until done in the middle.  Lastly, after the cake cooled I sifted a little powdered sugar on top.  

**Note:

• 3 cups ap flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Nora's baking too!

My sister Nora sent me this recipe and a picture of the cake that she made for her friend's birthday.  Nora likes very complex desserts, like when she made the tye-dye cake or this cake which has cookie dough baked in the middle!  The recipe calls for cupcakes but Nora just made it as a cake instead.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake
Adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients:

(for the cookie center)

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

(for the cake)

• 1 (18.25 ounce) box chocolate cake mix
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 3 eggs

Method:

Make the cookie batter

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and sea salt; set aside. Beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Add 1 egg and the vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips; mixing just enough to evenly combine. Form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls; place onto a baking sheet, and freeze until solid, about 2 hours.

Make the cake batter
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans, set aside.
Beat 3 eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer to break up. Add the cake mix, water, and canola oil; continue beating for 2 minutes on medium speed. Pour batter into prepared cake pans. Place some frozen cookie dough balls on the top center of each cake.  Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the cake portion of the cake (not the cookie dough ball) comes out clean, about 30-35minutes (check cake box for cooking time). Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

Assembly

Using your favorite fudgey choclate icing (home-made or store bought) frost the top of one cake layer and then place the second cake layer on top, then frost the top of the second layer and the sides.  Decorate with peanut butter chips, like Nora did, and write your happy b-day message on top.

More fun with cherries: a coffee cake

I have been obsessed with blueberry cakes recently.  I keep downloading all of these recipes for thick fluffy blueberry coffee cakes.  Is it because it's blueberry season or am I just in a cake phase?  It's probably because the pictures of these cakes are amaaaaazing!!!  So basically I got stuck on this one recipe for days because the photos were so gorgeous.  I switched out the blueberries for cherries because I still had some left over from my very dense cherry brownies.  I also changes from lemon zest to orange zest because I didn't have any lemons.

Cherry Buttermilk Coffee Cake
Adapted from Cooking Bride

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest (zest from 1 large orange)
• 3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups pitted and quartered cherries
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour a 9x9 pan.  Cream the butter, zest, and all but one tablespoon of sugar in your stand mixer.  Add the egg and vanilla to the mixer and beat just til combined.  In another bowl mix the flour (minus 1/4 cup reserved for later), b powder, and salt, set aside.  Toss the pitted and quartered cherries in the reserved 1/4 cup of flour, set aside.  Measure out the buttermilk and then add 1/2 the flour mixture to the mixer, alternating with 1/2 the buttermilk, mixing slightly in between, until all flour and milk has been added.  Add the cherries and beat on low til just combined.  Pour batter into prepared pan, sprinkle reserved 1 tablespoon of sugar on top, and bake for 45-55 minutes or until top is getting browned and a toothpick tester comes out pretty clean from the center.  

Strawberry cake with jam and lemon curd

Question: What to do when you have a ton of fruit salad that's taking up all the room in your fridge? Aaaaaand you need to make a birthday cake for someone at your mom's work?

Answer: Strawberry cake with home-made strawberry and blueberry jam and lemon curd left over from the blueberry cake you made on Saturday!!

Strawberry Cake with Jam and Lemon Curd
Recipe adapted from Cooking by Moonlight

Ingredients:
(for the cake)

• 2 cups ap flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp baking powder

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups strawberries, mashed

(for the jam)

• 2 cups strawberries and blueberries (you can pretty much use any berry combo)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• water

Lemon Curd Recipe Here

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour 2 9-inch round cake pans.
Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder and set aside.
Mix together the softened butter and sugar until combined. (I let my butter soften in a dish on the stove while it's preheating). Then add the eggs and vanilla and stir to combine.
Pour the dry into the wet and stir until there are just a few small lumps. The batter will be stiff compared to many cake batters, that's okay... the strawberries will loosen it up.
Wash the strawberries and remove their green tops. Using a potato masher or fork mash the strawberries into strawberry soup. Pour the crushed strawberries, juices and all, into the cake batter and stir just until evenly distributed.
Pour the batter evenly into the two pans and use a knife or spatula to spread the batter evenly in the pans.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out with just a few small crumbs attached.

Make the lemon curd according to the directions in the above link.

Make the jam by putting the berries, sugar, and a splash of water in a saucepan and cooking over medium heat for about 25 minutes, stirring pretty often. Don't put the heat too high or it will burn the bottom of the pan.

Once the cake, jam, and curd are cool, cut each cake layer in 2 to yield 4 layers. Put lemon curd in between two layers and jam in one layer and on the top of the cake.

I think tomorrow I am going to sift a little powdered sugar on top just to be fancy, this cake really doesn't need an icing, it's got all kinds of delicious spreads going on. I could see a ganache or something since strawberry and chocolate go so well together but I'm going to let this one be for now.

Blueberry lemon curd cake

I made this cake for my friend's BBQ. It didn't last long!  Instead of the lemon cream I used lemon curd and it was what made the cake. I got a little confused by this recipe and ended up reading it wrong and not baking enough cake to make all 4 layers, so I suggest doubling this recipe and baking it in two 9-inch pans, then cutting each one in 2 to yield 4 layers.

Blueberry Lemon Curd Cake
Adapted from Lu Lu's Sweet Secrets


Cake Ingredients: (makes 1/2 the cake- double this recipe for 2 cakes/ 4 layers once cut)

• 1 1/2 cups flour, sifted
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 4 large egg whites, room temperature
• 2 cups fresh Blueberries

Lemon Curd Recipe Here

Whipped Cream Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavycream, cold
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 and grease two 9" cake pans.
Mix flour, b powder, and salt in small bowl, set aside.
Mix 1/4 cup of the sugar, milk, oil, vanilla, lemon juice, and zest in, bowl set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer beat egg whites until foamy then slowly add the remaining 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar, beat until the eggs hold stiff peaks.
Fold half the flour mixture into milk mixture, then fold in 1/3 of the egg whites, then more flour, then whites and flour two more times until all folded in.
Add blueberries and divide the batter between the 2 prepared pans.
Bake for 30 minutes and test the center with a toothpick.
Add addition time in 3 min intervals until toothpick comes out clean.

Make lemon curd while cake is baking.

Once cake layers are completely cool you can cut each in half horizontally and spread the cooled lemon curd between each layer.

Make the whipped cream by beating the cream until it starts to stiffen.
Add the 10x sugar and vanilla and beat until it is firm.

The whipped cream gets dumped on top of the cake and then with a long off-set knife grab some from the top and apply to the sides. It doesn't have to be perfectly smooth, leave it a little lumpy and rustic.

Red Velvet Cake a la The Cheesecake Factory

A friend asked me to make him a red velvet cake. Of course I started searching recipes on taste spotting and food gawker, looking for a recipe first based on the pictures of the cake and then the ease of the recipe and the availability of ingredients. But this weekend someone told me that the best red velvet cake they've ever had came from The Cheesecake Factory of all places. I've never even been there but I hear that it's pretty generic food and the menu is overwhelmingly large. The only thing I know about that place is that there is never less than a mile-long line at the one in the King of Prussia Mall and Chris Rock once said that his favorite sandwich is their shrimp and bacon sandwich. That sounds so gross. Anyway, I googled this cake and of course someone has broken it down for me and duplicated it.

I should have known that it is a red velvet cake with a cheesecake layer in the middle (duh- it's from The Cheesecake Factory). Then it gets a cream cheese icing and voila- Elias Grimm's own personal heaven. I decided to bake this before this Wed/Thurs 105 degree heat wave we're about to get when the oven will be shut down until further notice. Marie has declared- "cooktop and bbq cooking only- no oven Sam".

This recipe comes from Recipe Girl. I've never made a cheesecake before so this was new for me. Turns out they are incredibly easy. A little more expensive with all the cream cheese, heavy cream, and sour cream that I usually buy fresh for each recipe, but this is a special cake so I made an exception.

The only thing that I changed for this recipe was to use all egg yolks instead of whole eggs. However I left the original recipe alone and pasted it below with the whole eggs. I also used a gel food coloring instead of the bottled liquid kind listed below.



Cheesecake Layer Ingredients:

Two (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated white sugar
pinch of salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Red Velvet Cake Layer Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups vegetable or canola oil
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup (two 1-ounce bottles) red food coloring
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons white vinegar

Cream Cheese Icing Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted lightly to remove any lumps
Two (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Method:

1. Prepare the cheesecake layer: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place a large roasting pan on the lower third rack of the oven. Place a kettle of water on the stove to boil. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick spray and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper. Wrap a double layer of foil around the bottom and up the sides of the pan (you want to seal it so the water from the water bath doesn't seep into the pan). In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to mix the cream cheese- blend until it is nice and smooth and creamy. Mix in sugar and salt and blend for 2 minutes, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Add eggs, one at a time, blending after each addition. Finally, mix in sour cream, whipping cream and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Set the pan into the roasting pan in the pre-heated oven. Carefully pour the hot water from your kettle into the roasting pan (it will fill the pan surrounding the cheesecake). Pour enough water so that there is about an inch of water coming up the foil along the sides of the cheesecake pan. Bake the cheesecake for 45 minutes. It should be set to the touch and not jiggly. Remove the cheesecake from the roasting pan and let it cool on a wire rack for at least an hour. When it has cooled, place the pan into the freezer and let the cheesecake freeze completely. This can be done in several hours- or overnight.

2. Prepare the cake layers: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round metal baking pans (or spray with nonstick baking spray with flour). In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add eggs, oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla and vinegar to the flour mixture. Using an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat for 1 minute, until blended. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pans, dividing equally. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pans, then invert cakes onto a rack to cool completely.

3. Prepare the frosting: In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat powdered sugar, cream cheese, butter and vanilla until it is smooth and creamy (do not overbeat).

4. Assemble the cake: Place one cake layer into the center of a cake plate or platter. Remove the cheesecake from the freezer, take off the sides of the pan, and slide a knife under the parchment to remove the cheesecake from the pan. Peel off the parchment. Measure your cheesecake layer against the cake layers. If the cheesecake layer turns out to be a slightly larger round than your cake, move it to a cutting board and gently shave off some of the exterior of the cheesecake to get it to the same size as your cake layers. Place the cheesecake layer on top of the first cake layer. Place the 2nd cake layer on top of the cheesecake.

5. Frost the cake: Apply a crumb coat layer to the cake- use a long, thin spatula to cover the cake completely with a thin and even layer of frosting. Be sure to wipe off your spatula each time you are about to dip it back into the bowl to get more frosting (this way you won't be transferring any red crumbs into the bowl of frosting). Don't worry at this point about the crumbs being visible in the frosting on the cake. When your cake has a thin layer of frosting all over it, place it into the refrigerator for 30 minutes to "set" the frosting. Once the first layer of frosting is set, apply the 2nd layer. Start by adding a large scoop of frosting onto the top of the cake. Use a long, thin spatula to spread the frosting evenly across the top and then spread it down the sides of the cake too. Because you applied a crumb-coat layer, you shouldn't have any red crumbs floating around in the final frosting layer. Decorate, as desired.

*A little chocolate ganache drizzled around the edge never hurt!!*

Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Fresh Whipped Cream and Chocolate Ganache

That's a mouthful. This recipe comes from Plump Me Up. A perfect cake for a BBQ to share with friend and neighbors.

Cake Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon

4 eggs
3/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup apple sauce

3 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chocolate chips

Whipped Cream Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Chocolate Ganache Ingredients:

1 cup heavy cream
4 tsp instant coffee
16 oz (2 1/2 cups) semisweet chocolate chips



Method:

Let's start with the cake shall we? No mixer required here! Preheat oven to 350. Combine all dry ingredients into one bowl and eggs, oil, and apple sauce in another bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until almost combined. Add the zucchini and the chocolate chips to the batter and mix to combine. Pour into two greased and floured 9 inch round cake pans and bake for 50 minutes or until a knife comes out almost completely clean from the cake. It's ok if there are still some moist crumbs on the knife because zucchini is a little wet any way. You want this cake to stay nice and moist, right Molly? (We like a moist cake around here) Let the cakes cool for a bit in the pan and then run a knife around the edges to remove them from the pan. Once they are room temp you can cut them each into two layers giving you a total of four layers.

While the cake is in the oven you can make the ganache by heating the cream until little bubbles form, but don't let it boil, then stir in the coffee until it is combined and then add in the chocolate chips and remove from the heat. Stir in the chocolate chips until you have a smooth ganache. Yum.

Right before you are ready to assemble the cake (once the cake layers are cool so the whip doesn't melt) make your whipped cream. With the whisk attachment of your electric mixer whip cream, sugar, and vanilla until it looks like whipped cream, duh.

Assemble the cake by layering cake then whipped cream, using all four pieces of cake with whip between layers. On the top pour ganache and spread it with an off-set knife until it drips over the sides. Put a strawberry on top and you're done!

Lemon Curd Cake

Happy Birthday Jenn!!

This is the quintessential spring cake. For some reason it's a big hit at baby showers. If you like lemon, this is the only cake for you. The flavor combinations are perfect, the cake is subtle and lets the lemon curd and cream cheese icing shine. And you know I love that it's the easiest damn cake in the entire world to make. I made the lemon curd, cake, and cream cheese icing in an hour plus baking time. AN HOUR. Just get yourself organized and use your kitchen aid well and you too can bust out the perfect cake in one hour. This doesn't include my favorite part though- assembling the cake and decorating it. That can take me about 30 minutes. It all depends on how fancy we're getting with the decorations.

Yellow Cake Recipe Here

Lemon Curd Recipe Here

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

8 oz cream cheese
8 oz butter (2 sticks) @ room temp
1 tsp vanilla
3 c powdered sugar

Method:

Cream the butter and cream cheese in your electric mixer.
Add the vanilla.
Add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Watch out cuz it's going to blow all over the place. That's why you're adding it 1/2 cup at a time. I add it when the mixer is off and then turn it on low and mix between each addition.

Assembling the cake:

Everything should be room temp or slightly still chilled from the fridge- basically don't ice a hot cake and don't use hot lemon curd. Let it all cool down.
Cut each of your cakes in 2 horizontally giving you 4 total layers. (I've been really into 4 layers lately).
Give the cream cheese icing a quick beat in the mixer to get it nice and fluffy- don't just ice with it right out of the fridge.
Ice the sides with a light layer of icing first- a base coat if you will. Just get it all covered.
In between each layer of cake spread cream cheese icing and then lemon curd on top of that.
On the very top, again, icing then lemon curd so that the top is yellow and we can write on the curd with icing.
I'm leaving the sides of this cake un-iced so you can see the layers.
Then I just did a little piping around the top edge and embellished a little.

The traditional way to assemble this cake is leave it in 2 layers, put lemon curd in the middle, ice the outsides and the top with cream cheese and then put a final coat of curd over the top of the cake. The white icing under the curd makes it look very yellow.

Have fun with it, decorate with strawberries or fresh flowers or icing roses. Swiss dots are fun too. You can also add a little food coloring to some of the icing and write on the cake, cream cheese icing is a good consistency for that.

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Mom texted me today and said she needed a cake for a birthday at work. Right away I remembered this banana cake I've been wanting to try...

This cake is from White On Rice Couple. I changed the original recipe by adding nutmeg and molasses and halving the sugar. 3 cups of sugar AND 8 bananas? You're joking right? I also left out the pecans and the butterscotch sauce all together because I didn't have the time to get in to all that fanciness.

Cake Ingredients:

3 c Flour
1 T Baking Powder
1/2 t Salt
1/2 t Nutmeg

1 c (2 sticks) unsalted Butter, room temp
1 1/2 c Brown Sugar
4 Egg Yolks
2 whole Eggs
1/2 c Canola Oil
1 T Molasses
8 ripe Bananas

Icing Ingredients:

8 oz. package of Cream Cheese
2 sticks Butter
3 c Powdered Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 and grease two 10" cake pans or use two 9" pans and make a couple of cupcakes too.
Mash bananas and set aside.
Mix flour, b powder, salt, and nutmeg and set aside.
In the bowl of your stand mixer beat the butter on high until fluffy.
Add sugar and cream with the butter.
Add eggs and mix just til combined.
Add canola and molasses and mix til combined.
Add dry ingredients to mixer and mix just til combined.
Add bananas and mix just til combined.
Pour batter into cake and muffin tins depending on the size you are making.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, the cakes are done when they are firm to the touch and a knife comes out clean from the center.
While the cake is cooling make your icing.
Beat the butter and cream cheese in a mixer until fluffy, then add powdered sugar one cup at a time beating well and then add vanilla.
Once the cake is cool cut each layer into 2 horizontal pieces making 4 pieces all together.
Layer each piece of cake with cream cheese icing in between and then ice the top and decorate with walnuts.

Revani: Turkish Semolina Cake

For my fam's mother's day dinner I made an awesome semolina cake layered with lemon curd and topped with fresh whipped cream and berries. I doubled the original recipe from Food For Poems to make two 9 in round cakes and instead of soaking the cake in simple syrup after it was cooked, I used orange juice. I thought the cake had enough sugar baked into it and I think the orange complimented the lemon curd nicely. This was really just a spin on a summery strawberry short cake that is one of my favorite cakes to assemble.

For the Cake:

Dry:
1 cup semolina
1 1/3 cup flour
2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet:
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 eggs

Lemon Curd Recipe Here

Whipped Cream:

2 C Heavy Cream
4 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla or lemon- your choice

Method:

Preheat the oven to 375 and grease and flour two 9" cake pans.
Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl and all wet in another bowl.
Combine dry into wet and mix until just combined.
Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for about 25 minutes or until they are firm to the touch and a knife comes out clean from the center.
Let the cakes cools in the pans on wire racks.
Once cooled, loosen around the edge with a knife and knock the side of the pans with the heel of your hand until you can feel the cake is loose from the bottom.
Flip onto wire rack.
Cut each cake into 2 layers making 4 layers total.
Starting with the first layer soak the cut side up with OJ and then put a layer of lemon curd. Keep soaking with OJ and spreading with lemon curd for each layer until all 4 are assembled.
Make the whipped cream by combining all 3 ingredients and whipping with whisk or beater until the cream holds a nice shape and is stiff with incorporated air. Pile the entire batch on the top of the cake- about an inch and a half to 2 inches thick- wow I know.
Layer the very top with fresh berries.

Lauren's Birthday Cake

This cake is a standard at our house. When you just feel like making something easy and delish this is the cake for you. It's always a big hit and it has so many possibilities. Sometimes we do layers of ganache, this time I did ganache and raspberry jam. You can definitely do lemon curd layers, whipped cream and fruit, a mousse, yadda yadda...

Here's the recipe for the cake and ganache, and here is the lemon curd recipe should you choose to go that route.

Rustic Apple Cake

In celebration of Game of Thrones' premiere last night I made yet another apple cake recipe to bring to Jen's house. The original recipe can be found at Eat Good 4 Life's blog- I made a few changes.

So for some reason I decided to get fancy and I tried baking this in a small bunt pan. Well I oiled the pan but I didn't butter it and so the top third of the cake stuck to the pan. So this cake is really ugly- but reaaaaally delicious. I might make it again for Easter dinner, but use the right pans next time and grease and flour the pan!!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil (canola oil or vegetable oil will also work, olive oil has healthier fats)
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

3-4 apples, thinly sliced
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup OJ
powdered sugar (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour a 9 inch round pan.

In a bowl, beat eggs and sugar for 2-3 minutes. I do this with the hand mixer.

Stir in oil, and vanilla and combine. Then stir in flour and baking powder alternating with the milk. Stir in apples, coating every piece with batter. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 55-65 minutes or until cake pulls away from pan and is brown on top.

Cool for 20-30 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar if desired.

Yellow Cake with Queen 'Mo Icing

This is a recipe that my mom has been making forever- she would like me to specify that she made this cake and I just took the pictures. Whatever Marie. Anyway, there's nothing like a simple yellow cake to make queen mo icing (queen mother icing- but we call it mo) have all the glory. Here's how we did it:

Yellow cake (from the Silver Palate cookbook)

Ingredients:

2 C Sugar
4 Eggs
1 C Veg Oil
1 C OJ (original recipe calls for dry white wine)
2 1/2 C AP Flour
1/2 Tsp Salt
2 1/4 Tsp B Powder
1 Tsp Vanilla

Method:

1. Preheat 350, grease 2 9" round cake pans
2. Sift all dry ingredients- flour, salt, b powder, set aside.
3. Combine OJ, oil, and vanilla in bowl and set aside.
3. Beat sugar and eggs until combined with mixer. Then to the mixer add 1/2 dry and beat, 1/2 wet and beat, then last of dry and last of wet, mixing in between.
4. Pour batter into pans and bake for 30 mins or until the center bounces and a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Let cakes cool for 5 mins and then turn them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Queen Mo (from the queen herself, Maida Heatter)- we make this while the cake is in the oven

Ingredients:

1 C Heavy Cream
4 Tsp Instant Coffee
16 Oz Semisweet Chocolate Chips

Method:

1. Heat the cream over medium heat until little bubbles form around the edge of the pot.
2. Add the coffee and whisk until it dissolves.
3. Add the chocolate chips and whisk for 30 secs, then remove from the heat and whisk until smooth.
4. Leave in the pot until the cake is totally cool so that you can gently reheat it if you have to.

So when your cake is done just pour on the queen mo and smooth it gently with an off-set spatula. Leftover icing can be stored forever in a tupperware in the fridge- not that it will last that long. Marie eats it with her ice cream every night.

We did 2x 9" rounds and a 4" wedding cake top to make a tiered cake. Then just poured the icing over each layer and let it fall over the sides for a nice dribbled look.

I'm Having A Craving...

...for Carrot Cake Muffins. And I just so happen to have some low-fat buttermilk in the fridge. I started keeping that, yogurt, sour cream, and cream cheese stocked in the fridge when I find it on sale for just this reason. Oh well I have to go to Produce Junction tomorrow anyway, I may as well pick up a bag of carrots.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup raw brown (turbinado) sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup golden raisins tossed with 1 teaspoon unbleached all-purpose flour, or 2/3 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups grated carrots

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees with the rack in the upper third of the space. Oil or butter muffin tins.
2. Sift together the whole-wheat pastry flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, oil, buttermilk and vanilla. Using a whisk or a spatula, stir in the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Do not beat; a few lumps are fine, but make sure there is no flour at the bottom of the bowl. Fold in the raisins or pecans and the carrots.
4. Spoon into muffin cups, filling them to just below the top (about 4/5 full). Place in the oven, and bake 25 minutes until lightly browned and well risen.

America's Test Kitchen: Scones and Spice Cake

So finally America's Test Kitchen stopped being totally cheap and stingy and let us have some content for free- I'm exaggerating but they do charge you to look at their recipes. STINGY!! Here is a link that they emailed me on Oatmeal Scones- a video no less on how to make them.

I love America's Test Kitchen- you pretty much know that the recipe is going to be perfect. However, they are rarely simple. THey usually have a million steps and call for weird ingredients that no one has or use expensive equipment- like $100 meat thermometers- that I'll never own. But they do have good tips and they tell you why things need to be done a certain way- the science behind it, which is cool for those of us who are always asking- WHY???

They have a bangin spice cake that I want to make which you can find here but if you click this link one time and can view the recipe- copy and paste it in a word doc or something because the bastards will block you from viewing it after a few clicks. Then they want you to pay to see more recipes- BASTARDS!! If you get locked out you can find it here too, some kind citizen reposted it for us for FREE. Yay. And I even copied and pasted it here for you, because I love you, and hate Christopher Kimball for not sharing his secrets with me.



Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

To save time, let the eggs, buttermilk, and butter come up to temperature while the browned butter and spice mixture cools. To prevent unsightly air holes in the finished cake, be sure to follow the instructions for removing air bubbles in the batter (see illustrations below). Leftover cake can be stored, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. The cake should be brought to room temperature before serving.
Serves 12 to 14

Cake
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (11 1/4 ounces), plus extra for dusting pans
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
16 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs at room temperature
3 large egg yolks at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar (12 1/4 ounces)
2 tablespoons light molasses or mild molasses
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 cup buttermilk , at room temperature

Frosting
5 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 5 pieces, softened
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar (4 1/2 ounces)
8 ounces cream cheese , cut into 4 pieces , softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted (optional)

1. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 13- by 9-inch baking pan. Combine spices in small bowl; reserve 1/2 teaspoon for frosting.

2. Heat 4 tablespoons butter in 8-inch skillet over medium heat until melted, 1 to 2 minutes. Continue to cook, swirling pan constantly, until butter is light brown and has faint nutty aroma, 2 to 4 minutes. Add spices and continue to cook, stirring constantly, 15 seconds. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

3. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. In small bowl, gently whisk eggs, yolks, and vanilla to combine. In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream remaining 12 tablespoons butter with sugar and molasses at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down sides and bottom of bowl twice with rubber spatula. Reduce to medium speed and add cooled butter and spice mixture, ginger, and half of egg mixture; mix until incorporated, about 15 seconds. Repeat with remaining egg mixture; scrape down bowl again. Reduce to low speed; add about one-third flour mixture, followed by half of buttermilk, mixing until just incorporated after each addition, about 5 seconds. Repeat using half of remaining flour mixture and all of remaining buttermilk. Scrape bowl and add remaining flour mixture; mix at medium speed until batter is thoroughly combined, about 15 seconds. Remove bowl from mixer and fold batter once or twice with rubber spatula to incorporate any remaining flour.

4. Transfer batter to prepared pan; following illustrations at left, zigzag tip of metal spatula through batter, pulling it to pan edges. Lightly tap pan against counter 3 or 4 times to dislodge any large air bubbles; smooth surface with spatula.

5. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 32 to 37 minutes. Cool cake to room temperature in pan on wire rack, about 2 hours.

6. For the frosting: In bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter, sugar, and reserved 1/2 teaspoon spice mixture at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add cream cheese one piece at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add vanilla and beat until no lumps remain, about 30 seconds.

7. Run paring knife around edge of cake to loosen from pan. Using spatula, spread frosting evenly over surface of cake. Sprinkle cake with walnuts, if using. Cut into squares and serve.

Photo Credit: America's Test Kitchen

Jewish Apple Cake

Last week on my Spring Break the only thing that I wanted to accomplish besides studying endocrine and renal nursing stuff was to get together with Jen, Matt, and Elias to bake and hang out at Jen's house like old times. Those guys love anything with apples in it so we decided to do a Jew Apple Cake. This was one of my favorite things at The Night Kitchen when I was a kid. I found this simple recipe from Grateful Prayer Thankful Heart's blog.

We ran out of canola oil so we used a couple of Tbsp of butter to supplement. Also, we made an amazing crumble for the top rather than just layering apples. On top of the apples I made a brown sugar oat crumb that basically just fell off when we knocked the cake out of the pan, but we ate it off the counter anyway. We also used 8 apples and made an apple layer in the middle of the cake and on top. We like apples. And our cake took forever to cook. At least 1 1/2 hours. So put it in for an hour and check it, then give it another 8 or so mins until a knife comes out mostly clean of batter.

Ingredients:

5 or 6 Apples, pared, cored & sliced
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
5 tablespoons Sugar
3 cups Flour
2 cups Sugar
1 cup salad Oil
4 Eggs
¼ cup Orange Juice
3 teaspoons Baking Powder
2½ teaspoons Vanilla
1 teaspoon salt

Method:

Sprinkle apples w/ 2 tsp. cinnamon mixed w/ sugar. Combine all other ingredients and beat to make smooth batter. Pour half into greased and sugared angel cake pan. Arrange half of the apples over batter and cover with remaining batter. Top with the rest of the apples. Bake 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees. Turn out and stand to cool on rack.
Note: To make mini-loaf cakes, I used 6 5 x 3-inch pans and baked 1 hour 5 minutes to 1 hour 10 minutes.

Photo Credit: Grateful Prayer Thankful Heart

Mini Jewish Honey Cakes

I have made this recipe three times in the last two weeks- it is getting rave reviews. Originally from Brown Eyed Baker, this cake is moist and spicy. I've made it exactly as the recipe says, on time with molasses and one time with orange zest and chocolate chips. Next time I'm going to add pumpkin somehow. It's also good with all kinds of nuts- I'm thinking pecans would be nice. This time I actually made some in giant muffin pans and some in my new mini-donut pan. So the giant muffins came out like individual cakes which was kind of fun.

This recipe can be made in three standard loaf pans, two 9-inch square or round cake pans, one 9- or 10-inch tube or bundt cake pan, or one 9×13-inch sheet cake. I made mine in a 9-cup bundt pan (a bit smaller than standard) and baked the leftover in an 8-inch loaf pan.

Yield: 14 to 16 servings

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Bake Time: 40 to 75 minutes (depending on pan size)

3½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup honey
1½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup brewed coffee, warm
½ cup orange juice
¼ cup whiskey
½ cup slivered or sliced almonds (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously grease pan(s) with non-stick cooking spray. Even if your pan is non-stick, still spray!

2. In a large bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer), whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and allspice. Make a well in the center and add the oil, honey, white sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, coffee, orange juice and whiskey, if using.

3. Using a strong wire whisk or with an electric mixer on slow speed, stir together until all ingredients are well-blended, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl, making sure that no ingredients are stuck to the bottom.

4. Spoon batter into prepared pan(s). Sprinkle top of cake(s) evenly with almonds, if using. (If you are using a bundt pan, sprinkle the almonds into the bottom of the pan before pouring the batter in). Place cake pan(s) on two baking sheets, stacked together (this will ensure the cakes bake properly with the bottom baking faster than the cake interior and top).

5. Bake until the cake springs back when you gently touch the cake center and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs, almost clean. For tube and bundt pans, this will take 60 to 75 minutes, loaf cakes, about 45 to 55 minutes. For sheet style cakes, baking time is 40 to 45 minutes.

6. Let cake stand fifteen minutes before removing from pan. Serve warm or at room temperature. Leftover cake can be stored at room temperature, covered tightly.

Photo Credit: Brown Eyed Baker