Dark Chocolate Caramel Cake with Dark Chocolate Buttercream

Finally.  Finally, she posts the recipes for that birthday cake.  From last week.  It's starting to seem like I never post anything new around here, isn't it.  I usually do my recipe testing and experimenting on the weekends, but lately, it's feeling as if I'm just drained by the time the weekend rolls around.  No bueno!  And as you read this, I'm en route to Ohio for a work trip.  (Ohio in February?!  Brrrrrrr!)

But after all the sugar from last week, I'm feeling fairly icky and my teeth are pretty much screaming for me to lay off the sweets.  So my hope is that these cravings for all things green and crunchy will translate to finding some awesome recipes to post in the very near future.  Til then, I'm just reveling in the fact that I finally got all the sugar out of the house.  Go me!  (Or, don't go me.  Because you know how I ultimately got the sugar gone, don't you?)

Making a Wish

psst!

Today is my birthday(!).  And this is the cake I made.  Even though Bo will make me another cake today.  Yeah.  I get two.  It's pretty fantastic.

Smiles,



p.s.  Dark chocolate cake with caramel sauce and dark chocolate buttercream.  Recipe for this bad boy will get posted soon!  You need this in your life.

Halloween Idea: Silly Spider Cupcakes

Hello from Syracuse!  Yep, I'm travelling again.  But, this should be my last trip for October, and then..... we move into our new house!  I'm so, so, so excited that I can't even hardly talk about it for fear I'll jinx it all.  We have 22 more days until we get our keys, because we close on our house on HALLOWEEN!  How fun is that?!

Doggie Birthday Cake

Yep, you read that right!  Today our dog, Rory, turns a sprightly 8 years old, and I thought I would finally give her a proper birthday cake to celebrate.  And a little party with her toys, naturally :)

(We're forever putting things on Rory's head and snapping photos.  It's to the point now where she freezes her poses when she sees me put the camera to my face.  It's a little cruel, but totally awesome at the same time.  If you want to see more of Rory with things on her head, go here, here, here, here, or a video here!)

This little cake recipe is a cinch to mix up, and it actually doesn't taste half bad.  (Of course, I sampled it!)  It's basically a regular cake recipe with not enough sugar.  Rory wasn't sure what to do with it at first, because it was such a big treat and full of amazing smells.  But once she started licking off the peanut butter frosting, she didn't stop until we took half the cake to save for tomorrow.  She loved it!

Woof!

         

Doggie Birthday Cake
adapted from Allrecipes

1 c. (120g) whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
pinch salt
1 egg
1/4 c. (64g) natural peanut butter
1/4 c. (54g) vegetable oil
1/3 c. (104g) honey
1 c. (100g) shredded carrots

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Spoon cake batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until cake passes the toothpick test. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes; then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.  Optional:  Cut into a bone shape and frost with additional peanut butter.

         

Ingredient Lineup:

Allow the cake to cool completely before you cut it into a shape.

{  sniff, sniff  }

Dogs with peanut butter tongues will never, ever not be funny to me!

Neapolitan Cake with the Best Whipped Frosting

As promised, I'm back with recipes!!

Whew, I had to take a bit of a breather because I've just been pooped all week.  I suppose that staying up past my bedtime to catch back up from being gone isn't helping much in that department.  Anyway!  I'm back.  Back to my ways of dreaming about recipes to try out and tweak and photograph.

Of the recipes I used for this massive (I'm not kidding - the assembled cake easily weighed 5 pounds) cake, the one that should snatch your attention and reel you in is the frosting.  This frosting is pretty dang amazing.  It's fluffy yet incredibly silky and just tastes like heaven.  It doesn't overpower your cakes, yet it's got a delicate vanilla flavor that will make you melt into a helpless puddle. You. Must. Make. This. Frosting.

You must.

Dreaming About That Frosting,

         

Vanilla and Strawberry Layer Cakes
adapted from Martha Stewart

1/4 c. all-fruit strawberry jam
1/3 c. diced strawberries
drops of pink food dye, optional
3 c. (390g) cake flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
2 c. (400g) sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. milk
8 large egg whites
1/4 c. (50g) sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter or spray two 9-by-2-inch round cake pans; line bottoms with parchment paper rounds. Set aside.

In a small bowl, stir together the all-fruit jam, strawberries, and optional food dye.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in three parts, alternating with milk and beginning and ending with flour; beat until just combined. Transfer mixture to a large bowl; set aside.

In the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on low speed until foamy. With mixer running, gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar; beat on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 4 minutes. Do not overbeat. Gently fold a third of the egg-white mixture into the butter-flour mixture until combined. Gently fold in remaining whites.

Pour half the batter (about 830g) into a prepared pan, smoothing with an offset spatula.  Fold strawberry mixture into remaining cake batter and pour into second prepared pan.  Bake until cakes are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool 20 minutes. Invert cakes onto rack; peel off parchment. Reinvert cakes, and let them cool completely, top sides up.

Chocolate Layer Cake
adapted from Martha Stewart

1/2 c. (46g) cocoa, pref. dark cocoa
3 oz. strong coffee, boiling
1/2 c. milk, room temperature
1 1/3 c. + 1 Tbsp. (179g) cake flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 c. (250g) sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter or spray one 9-by-2-inch round cake pan. Line with parchment paper round.

Sift cocoa; whisk in boiling coffee and milk. Let cool. Whisk together cake flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Using a rubber spatula, mix the butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add sugar and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Pour in the cooled cocoa mixture. Mix until fully incorporated.

Add the sifted dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture, stirring until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 35 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean when inserted into the center.

Remove the cake from the oven, and allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes on a cooling rack. Carefully run a small offset spatula around the edge of the cake to loosen from the pan. Remove cake from pan, and invert onto a wire rack. Let cool completely, about 1 hour.

Best Whipped Frosting
adapted from Can You Stay for Dinner

2 c. milk
10 Tbsp. (80g) flour
1 Tbsp. vanilla
2 c. unsalted butter, very soft
2 c. (400g) granulated sugar (not powdered sugar)

In a medium saucepan, whisk milk with flour until completely dissolved. Heat over medium until the mixture begins to sputter, whisking constantly. Continue to whisk as the mixture thickens. You will know it’s done when it reaches the consistency of thick cake batter, after about 7 total minutes of heating and whisking. Stir in vanilla set aside to cool completely.

Now, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment beat softened butter with granulated sugar until light, fluffy, and white in color, about 5 solid minutes of beating on medium-high speed (Kitchenaid speed at 8). You want the sugar to be totally incorporated into the butter.  If you're adding food dye, beat it in now.

Be sure that the milk/flour mixture has completely cooled, and add it to the butter/sugar mixture. Beat all ingredients for about 3 minutes on high speed, scraping down the bowl often, until they are smooth and well blended. The frosting should be as light and fluffy as whipped cream.

Note:  This recipe makes a ton of frosting.  You'll need it to frost a cake with three layers.  But if you're making this for a standard cake or cupcakes, divide this recipe in half.

         

The frosting's cooked flour and milk mixture will be thick, with the consistency of a thick cake batter.

After the flour and milk mixture is completely cooled, add it to the creamed butter and sugar.

And beat the heck out of it with your mixer's whisk attachment.

Slap some of the frosting on the chocolate cake layer and spread evenly to the edges.

Top with the strawberry cake layer.

Slap on more frosting, and spread to the edges.

Top with the white cake layer.

Notice that my hands are exactly like my mom's.

Smile :)

Dump all remaining frosting on top of the cake.

Spread frosting to the edges.

And continue spreading the frosting down the sides of the cake,

until cake is completely covered and frosting is even and smooth.

I eat my cake layer by layer.  What up!

Neapolitan (Birthday) Cake

Happy Birthday to meeeeee,

Happy Birthday tooooo meeeeeee,

Happy Birthday, dear Saraaaaa

Happy Birthday to meeeee! 

Psst!  Today's my birthday!!  Which means I'll be eating far too much cake and refusing to share with anyone, woohooo!  We were out of town all weekend, so the recipe for this amazing confection will come later in the week.  I just wanted to share exciting (-for-me) cake photos on my big day :)

Making A Wish,

Vanilla Pound Cake Cupcakes with Raspberry Filling and Cream Cheese Frosting

Ok, I'm about to share some of my favorite recipes with you here.  Favorite.

Favorite.

Favorite.

This little cupcake was dreamt up when a friend and I were testing recipes for her wedding.  And these babies made their debut at her wedding reception.  They're that good.

You start with a Pound Cake Cupcake.  We chose a pound cake recipe because my issue with standard cupcake recipes is that they end up a little on the dry side, and don't even think about trying to eat them the next day - you'll need 4 glasses of water to get them down.  Not so with pound cake.  It maintains its moisture over a couple of days, and the flavor is just so buttery and delicious.  Another thing that makes my heart flutter is the easy measurements for the recipe.  It's a cinch to 1/2 or 1/3, or even 2/3 the recipe!  When I made these last weekend, I made 2/3 the cupcake recipe below to end up with 2 dozen cupcakes.

The Raspberry Filling is perfectly raspberry-punched without being overly sweet.  I choose to leave a few of the seeds in (rather than strain them all out) so that the filling doesn't look imitation.  I like it to look a little jammy and definitely homemade.

And, that Cream Cheese Frosting is a hybrid of a standard buttercream frosting and a full-on cream cheese frosting, like you'd expect on a carrot cake.  It adds a little bit of tart to contrast with the sweetness from the cupcake and filling, but it isn't so tangy that it overpowers the rest of your cupcake.

I'm seriously so excited to share these recipes with you.  They're so pretty and just perfect for Valentine's Day.  They're a bit over the top, but definitely have that homemade, homestyle flavor that I think is essential for baking up treats to share.  I hope you love them just as much as I do!

Sugar Rush!!!!!

         

Vanilla Pound Cake Cupcakes

1 1/2 c. (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 c. (603g) sugar
6 eggs
3 c. (336g) cake flour
1 c. milk (2% or whole)
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Cream butter and sugar together, until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in one cup of the flour, then 1/2 cup of the milk. Continue alternating (flour-milk-flour), ending with the last cup of flour. Beat on medium-high for two minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Fill cupcake liners 1/2 full. Place on middle rack of cold oven and set temperature to 275 degrees. Set timer for one hour, and bake until cupcakes pass the toothpick test. Makes 36 cupcakes. (Half recipe yields ~19 cupcakes, third recipe yields ~12 cupcakes.)

Raspberry Filling for Cakes and Cupcakes

12oz. package of frozen raspberries
2/3 c. water
3/4 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. cornstarch, dissolved in 1/4 c. water

In a saucepan, combine the raspberries, water, sugar, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the raspberries have broken down. Remove the mixture from the heat and strain with a fine mesh sieve. Return the strained mixture to the heat. Whisk the cornstarch slurry into the raspberry mixture. Bring the mixture back to a boil and simmer 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and cool completely. Will thicken like a jelly as it cools. Makes about 1 ½ cups and fills 48 cupcakes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

2, 8oz. packages cream cheese, softened
1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 c. sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

In a large mixer bowl and using the whisk attachment, cream together the cream cheese and butter until light and creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually beat in the powdered sugar until smooth, scraping the bowl often.  Will generously frost 24 cupcakes.

         

 To fill cupcakes:

I've used those cupcake filling tools, but my favorite tool is an apple corer.
They work better, and you probably already have one on hand.

Place end of apple corer over the center of the cupcake and twist downward, to about 2/3 of the way down the cupcake.  Twist back upward and push the cake plug out of the corer.  Optional:  Snack on all the cupcake centers until you feel woozy from the sugar overload. (Just me?)

Pour your room temperature raspberry filling into a disposable pastry bag or large ziploc.

(You can store the filling for about a week in the fridge, so it can be made ahead.)

Fill cupcake centers just until level with their tops.

Frost, and then take a bite and swoon from the amazing creation you just put together.