Chai-Spiced Pound Cake

This is straight-up fantastic. This highly spiced cake is like a cross between a pound cake and sponge cake ... so we could just call it a bundt cake and be done with it. That said, the texture is just heavy enough to be substantial and the cake has a lovely, moist texture. I was surprised to find there was a bit of a bite at the end which felt as if I'd eaten fresh ginger. Turns out the spice mixture has black pepper as an ingredient.

I've never liked chai-spiced drinks but then I saw this recipe in the King Arthur Flour catalog which looked so enticing that I bought their chai spice so I could make it. Of course, I don't love to drink chai but I might like to eat it in a dessert. As it turns out, the investment was well worth it.

I first posted this recipe in 2017. Since then the chai spice has been hard to get sometimes so I just make the mixture below in quantity. There are some almond chai cookies that I use this blend for so it's handy to have around. I'll need to post that recipe soon!

But until then — enjoy this one!

Chai-Spiced Pound Cake

16 tablespoons (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons chai spice OR 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 2 teaspoons ginger, 2 teaspoons cardamom, 1-1/2 teaspoons allspice, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups flour
1 cup sour cream or yogurt, full-fat preferred
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and honey until smooth and somewhat lightened in color; this will take about 2 minutes at medium speed of an electric hand or stand mixer.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for a minute or two and scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl between additions.
4. Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and chai spice blend (or spices).
5. Measure the flour by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Gently but thoroughly stir half the flour into the butter/egg mixture. Add the sour cream (or yogurt) and vanilla, stirring to combine. Finally, stir in the remaining flour. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat briefly, to incorporate any sticky residue.
6. Thoroughly grease a 9- or 10-cup Bundt pan. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until a cake tester, bamboo skewer, or long toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Remove the cake from the oven, and cool in the pan for 15 minutes before turning it out onto a rack to finish cooling.
8. Cool completely before slicing. Store any leftovers, tightly wrapped in plastic, at room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage.

Sour Cream Pound Cake

From Perfect Cakes by Nick Malgieri; I edited these instructions for simplicity's sake.  

I first ran this recipe in 2004 and all these years later it is still my go-to pound cake. It isn't fussy but it is simply delicious.

It never fails, it lasts a long time and my husband has found that a thin slice is almost as good as a donut with his breakfast. Plus you will impress your friends who didn't know people made pound cake anymore.

Sour Cream Pound Cake

Step 1:
2 cups flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
Preheat oven to 350°. Butter and flour 12-cup tube or Bundt pan. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Step 2:
½ pound butter, softened
2¾ cups sugar
Beat on medium speed until very light, about 5 minutes.

Step 3:
½ t. lemon extract
½ t. orange extract
½ t. vanilla
Beat into batter (I also have used 1½ t. vanilla instead of the above combination).

Step 4:
6 large eggs
Beat into batter, one at a time, beating until smooth after each addition.

Step 5:
8 ounces sour cream
On low, alternately beat in flour mixture and sour cream, beginning and ending with flour. Scrape into pan and bake for 1¼ to 1½ hours or until cake tester comes out clean. Let sit in pan 10 minutes and then turn out on rack to cool completely.

Black Forest Cake

Rose has been interested in this recipe for a while and it turns out that the best time to make it was for her birthday! So it was an experiment and a celebration at the same time. It is from A Baker’s Life by Paul Hollywood. You can find the original recipe here.

Making this cake it struck me that, much like Tiramisu, the cake acts as a conductor to all the cream, cherries, and kirsch. Though the chocolate, of course, is a definite presence.

The cake part of this didn't work well for us. Looking around, I saw that Mary Berry's Black Forest Gateau didn't have any butter and, therefore, might not have been quite as hard as the Paul Hollywood version. Or I just didn't do a good job with his chocolate sponge. That's a definite possibility.

Be that as it may, we liked the rest of the recipe very well. So we'll be making it next time using our own Easy Chocolate Buttermilk Cake. It's easy, it's foolproof and our son-in-law who loves Black Forest Cake says that a deep chocolate flavor is his favorite here ... and it's got that flavor for sure. We'll use Mary Berry's formula of baking in two 9" cake pans and horizontally slicing them in two, resulting in four layers.

BLACK FOREST CAKE
Serves 12

For the cake
One recipe Easy Chocolate Buttermilk Cake 

Bake in two 9" cake pans, horizontally slicing them in two, resulting in four layers. (Or just use three of the 4 layers if that's how tall you want the cake.)

For the filling and topping 3 layers
(increase as needed for 4 layers)
3 tbsp kirsch
4 tbsp cherry jam
900ml (32fl oz) double cream, whipped
400g (14oz) tin pitted black cherries, drained and halved

To decorate
60g (2¼oz) dark chocolate (60-70%)
A handful of fresh cherries

To assemble, carefully cut the cake horizontally into three even layers (see tip below). Place one sponge on your serving plate and sprinkle evenly with 1½ tbsp kirsch. Spread half of the cherry jam over the sponge then apply a layer of whipped cream on top, and spread it out with a palette knife.

Scatter over half of the cherries. Place another sponge on top, sprinkle with the rest of the kirsch, then repeat the jam, cream and cherry layers. Place the last sponge on top. Load a palette knife with cream and spread it all over, covering the entire cake in a thin layer of cream.

Press finely grated chocolate around the sides and top.

Pipe rosettes of cream around the edge and sit whole cherries on them.

Pineapple Sage Cake

This is one of my favorite last-minute recipes for an easy offering for book club or a dinner party. I found it when we moved into the house we're currently living in and I discovered the flowering bush in the front planter was an herb called pineapple sage or tangerine sage, which is a type of salvia (salvia elegans). It will put out tons of flowers as long as you water it, and attracts bees, butterflies, and even hummingbirds. I think they die off in winter in colder areas, but this is Texas and mine appears to have been here for at least a few years now. I'm not sure cuttings of this herb are sold anywhere, so if you want some you may have to grow your own. Trust me, it's worth it.

I found this Jamie Oliver recipe while searching for uses for the large bush of it we have. I've never put the pineapple in the recipe, partly because I've never felt it was worth purchasing just for this and partly because I dislike most cooked fruit. I also have baked this in everything from one larger loaf pan to four mini Bundt cake pans to muffin tins. Don't worry if you don't have the specific pan size he wants.

1 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey (light wildflower or sage preferred)
5 eggs
2 tablespoons chopped pineapple sage leaves (small, new leaves have the most flavor)
3 tablespoons chopped pineapple sage flowers (optional) [these pepper the cake with red/pink confetti]
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
4 tablespoons well-squeezed, chopped pineapple
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in honey.

Add eggs one at a time, making sure to beat one minute after each addition.

Beat in sage leaves, flowers, and lemon peel.

Stir dry ingredients together and add to butter mixture. Fold these together gently until just blended.

Pour into 4 mini loaf pans (6"x3"x2"). Bake for 45 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

From The Cake Mix Doctor which has some really terrific frosting recipes. Never, ever use frosting from a can.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

8 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoons salt

Beat the butter and cocoa powder until well combined. Add remaining ingredients and beat until frosting lightens and is fluffy. Add additional milk or sugar if necessary to achieve desired consistency.

Mom's New York Cheesecake

My very favorite. The one I always requested for birthdays when I was growing up.

And I can't believe I never shared it with y'all! Well, that is now remedied. Enjoy!

Mom's New York Cheesecake


Step 1:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1cup sifted flour
1/4 teaspoon lemon rind
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Make the crust: Preheat oven to 400°. Cream butter and sugar, add egg yolk. Then add other ingredients. Pat 1/3 of dough in bottom of springform pan. Cook for 6 minutes, cool completely. Meanwhile, raise oven temperature to 475°. Butter sides of pan and put remaining dough around the sides of the pan. Crust will only come up 1/3 of the sides of the pan.

Step 2:
2-1/2 pounds cream cheese
5 eggs
3 tablespoons flour
1-3/4 cups sugar
1 lemon rind
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup cream

Make the filling: Beat cream cheese until soft. Mix in all remaining ingredients. Pour filling into crust.

Bake at 475° for 7 minutes, lower temperature to 200° for 2½ hours. Turn off oven and let cake sit in oven with the door slightly ajar for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool, refrigerate overnight.

Lemon Cake

This cake is from Betty Crocker's Cake Decorating. Following the tradition from when we were little, I got this book so the girls could choose whatever cake they wanted for their birthdays. Yes, I even made a Dinosaur Cake one year. It didn't look half bad either.

The great thing about Betty Crocker cookbooks is that they really have been tested well so the recipes are foolproof. This cake is the Spring Flower Cake which has Yellow Layer Cake with Lemon Butter Frosting. Between the layers I used Lemon Filling from the Umbrella Shower Cake, which was similar to a lemon pie filling and quite deliciously tart. (Quite meaning "very" in the American sense, not the British usage ... which I found out a while back when listening to CraftLit means "so so." Language use is so interesting, isn't it?)

Anyway, back to the recipe. All the above use of pieces from here and there was because I dislike White Mountain Frosting (a 7-minute boiled frosting that is similar to ... maybe melted marshmallows? ick!) which is what was called for in the Lemon Allegretti Cake that Tom chose. Also, it would have white cake layers which are all right, I suppose, but yellow are just as good and I didn't feel like separating eggs. Not a big deal, but just felt fiddly to me.

So, there you are. All that considering took me several enjoyable days as I thought about options. I knew that Tom wouldn't care as long as he had a lemon cake.

The verdict?

Absolutely delicious and very lemony.

Tom said that the lemon filling was too tart on the first day but felt it had calmed down by the second day. I didn't notice any calming down but loved the tartness on both days. Perhaps his expectations were different on the second day?

The filling was rather loose and I would have added a bit more cornstarch or a bit less lemon juice perhaps so it was firmer between the layers. No matter what, make it the day before so it is cooled down in the fridge and as firm as possible.

I must also admit that I completely missed the part where I was to split the cake layers so that the cake had four layers total. I think that would have made the cake more elegant and also spread the lemon "hit" more effectively throughout the cake. Ah, well. There's always next time.

Am I right? Of course I am!

Yellow Layer Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup milk
3-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 round 9" cake pans. Beat all ingredients in large bowl on medium speed, scraping bowl constantly, until blended, about 30 seconds. Beat on high speed, scraping bowl occasionally, 3 minutes. Divide batter between pans.

Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 30-35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans. Cool completely.

Lemon Filling
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel
1 tablespoon butter
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 drops yellow food color (I didn't use this)

Mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt in saucepan. Stir in water gradually. cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 5 minutes. Remove from heat; add lemon peel and butter. Stir in lemon juice and food color; cool. If filing is too soft, refrigerate until set.

Lemon Butter Frosting
6 cups powdered sugar
1-1/2 cups butter, softened
1/4 cup lemon juice

Beat all ingredients on high speed until frosting is smooth and spreading consistency. If necessary, stir in additional lemon juice, 1 teaspoon at a time.

Note: I downsized this since the recipe is to also fill a cake. I used 4 cups powdered sugar, 1 cup butter, and 3 tablespoons lemon juice. If you plan on decorating cake then you may want to make the entire amount.

To Assemble
Split cake to make 4 layers.

Fill layers with Lemon Filling.

Frost cake with Lemon Butter Frosting. If decorating, put extra frosting into cake decorating tube and swirl away!

Cheryl's Red Velvet Cake

A loooong time ago, when I was on Fausta's podcast, Siggy brought up Red Velvet Cake. I have been holding onto the fruit of Cheryl's research into the subject for far too long. She has a recipe and two frosting recipes. Now, that's service! Thanks Cheryl!

Here is the scoop, straight from Cheryl...

I did find a recipe in my box and I started to type it out and noticed that the cake part had no chocolate in it--I must have had a brain freeze when I copied it. This recipe below is from foodtv and the cake recipe is the same as mine (only theirs has chocolate!!) They have a traditional cream cheese frosting recipe with it, but I still like the idea of the Whipped Cream Frosting I wrote about above. Enjoy!

Red Velvet Cake

Vegetable oil for the pans
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1-1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring (1 ounce)
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows
Crushed pecans, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil and flour 3 (9 by 1 1/2-inch round) cake pans.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In another large bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla.

Using a standing mixer, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined and a smooth batter is formed.

Divide the cake batter evenly among the prepared cake pans. Place the pans in the oven evenly spaced apart. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through the cooking, until the cake pulls away from the side of the pans, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Remove the cakes from the oven and run a knife around the edges to loosen them from the sides of the pans. One at a time, invert the cakes onto a plate and then re-invert them onto a cooling rack, rounded-sides up. Let cool completely.

Frost the cake. Place 1 layer, rounded-side down, in the middle of a rotating cake stand. Using a palette knife or offset spatula spread some of the cream cheese frosting over the top of the cake. (Spread enough frosting to make a 1/4 to 1/2-inch layer.) Carefully set another layer on top, rounded-side down, and repeat. Top with the remaining layer and cover the entire cake with the remaining frosting. Sprinkle the top with the pecans.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 pound cream cheese, softened
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup), softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand-held electric mixer in a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar, and butter on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to high, and mix until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (Occasionally turn the mixer off, and scrape the down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.)
Reduce the speed of the mixer to low. Add the vanilla, raise the speed to high and mix briefly until fluffy (scrape down the bowl occasionally). Store in the refrigerator until somewhat stiff, before using. May be stored in the refrigerator for 3 days.

Yield: enough to frost a 3 layer (9-inch) cake

Whipped Cream Frosting
In MA/NH we have whoopie pies, the frosting recipe I have for those is called Whipped Cream Frosting and is made like this:

Cook 4 tbsp flour and 1 cup of milk until thick, stirring constantly; let cool completely. Beat 1/2 c butter, 1/2 c shortening and 1 1/4 c sugar. Add to flour mixture; add 2 tsp vanilla, beat for 3 minutes.

This frosting is the closest to the stuff they put in a red velvet cake. I have never tried adding in the cream cheese, but I bet it would be delicious!

Chocolate Festival Cake

One person took a bite and said, "Peanut butter! I love chocolate and peanut butter!"

Another sampled his slice and said, "But it isn't just peanut butter and chocolate. There's some other flavor in there."

I told them, "Bananas. It has bananas in it."

Yet a third person said, "Is this technically difficult to make? Because I really want the recipe."

The first two people chorused, "Us too. We want that recipe."

What makes this an unusual conversation is that this was at a birthday party and the speakers were all college sophomores. If you don't have any college aged kids, just think back to your own late teens to realize how unlikely this request for a recipe actually is, to say nothing of the entire conversation. Needless to say, this cake was popular.

Hannah's friend, Jenny, picked out this cake from Maida Heatter's Cakes. I had never seen a cake with such a combination of dominant flavors: chocolate, peanut butter, and bananas. We were all intensely curious to see what it was like.

It is hard to describe the taste, as you really can taste all those dominant ingredients, however, as reported above it was a huge success. Give it a try.

Notes:
Heatter is well known for exhaustive instructions in her recipes. I revised a few of her technique notes for simplicity's sake ... and have adapted the recipe below to reflect those changes.

The icing contains a raw egg which would have worried me about salmonella if all I listened to were the sound bytes of major media. Here is a link which talks about food risks and raw eggs, which are much slighter than you would know from the way it is generally presented.

Serves 24

For the cake:
Step 1:
3 cups (12 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare 10 x 4" tube pan by buttering pan and then dusting all over with unsweetened cocoa powder. Tap excess cocoa out of pan and set aside.

Combine above dry ingredients and set aside.

Step 2:
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 pound (2-1/4 cups, packed) dark brown sugar
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 cup (about 2) finely mashed, fully ripened bananas
6 eggs
1 cup strained unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until soft. Beat in the peanut butter and vanilla, then the sugar, scraping bowl as necessary with a rubber spatula. Next, mix in melted chocolate, then bananas, and then the eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition. On lowest speed, add cocoa, still scraping bowl as necessary, and beat until smooth.

Step 3:
1-1/4 cups milk

On low speed, beating until smooth after each addition, gradually add about a third of sifted dry ingredients, the half of milk, then another third of dry ingredients, then remaining milk, and then remaining dry ingredients.

Turn mixture into prepared pan. Briskly rotate the pan a bit, first in one direction, then another, to smooth the top.

Bake for 1 hour, then cover the top loosely with foil to prevent overbrowning, and continue to bake for an additional 25 -30 minutes until a cake tester gently inserted into the cake comes out clean (total baking time 1 hour, 25-30 minutes). The top of the cake will crack during baking.

Cool in the pan on a rack for 20 minutes. Then cover with another rack, turn the pan and rack over, remove the pan and let the cake cool upside down on the rack.

For the icing:
16 ounces milk chocolate, broken up
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped coarsely
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" pieces
1 egg
12 ounces (1-1/2 cups) smooth peanut butter

Melt both chocolates. Add butter a few pieces at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon until smooth.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg just to mix, then add the peanut butter and the chocolate mixture (which can be warm or cool) and beat until very smooth. As this mixture cools it will thicken; you might want to chill it quickly by putting it in the freezer or by placing the bowl in a larger bowl of ice and water. Or just let it stand a while. When it is thick enough to hold its shape beat it again for a moment.

This is a lot of icing and makes a thick layer. Spread it first on the sides and then on the top of the cake. With a long, narrow metal spatula, smooth the sides first and then the top.

Mom's New York Cheesecake

I think I remember Mom saying that this recipe is an amalgamation of pieces she put together to recreate her favorite cheesecake. I tend to prefer a graham cracker crust but am leaving her crust here for those who do not as it is quite tasty as well.

Step 1:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 cup sifted flour
1/4 teaspoon lemon rind
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Make the crust: Preheat oven to 400°. Cream butter and sugar, add egg yolk. Then add other ingredients. Pat 1/3 of dough in bottom of a 10-inch springform pan. Cook for 6 minutes, cool completely. Meanwhile, raise oven temperature to 475°. Butter sides of pan and put remaining dough around the sides of the pan. Crust will only come up 1/3 of the sides of the pan.

Step 2:
2-1/2 pounds cream cheese
5 eggs
3 tablespoons flour
1-3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon lemon rind
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup cream

Make the filling: Beat cream cheese until soft. Mix in all remaining ingredients. Pour filling into crust.

Bake at 475° for 7 minutes, lower temperature to 200° for 2½ hours. Turn off oven and let cake sit in oven with the door slightly ajar for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool, refrigerate overnight.

Chocolate Cheesecake

When we had our company last weekend I made a Nutty Chocolate Cream Cheese Pie which the Dallas Morning News had printed from Paula Lambert's new cookbook.

However, it was much too intense, even for Tom, which is really saying something. He, Rose and I all agreed that we'd have preferred this Chocolate Cheesecake. I no longer remember where I got the recipe but it is really a winner. Simple, chocolate and cheesecake at the same time, and serves a lot of people. The slices can be small. It is rich.

Step 1:
1-1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
4 tablespoons sugar

Make the crust: In a small bowl stir together all ingredients. Press mixture onto the bottom of a 10” springform pan. Make the filling (below).

Step 2:
12 ounces chocolate chips
1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter

Melt chocolate and butter, stirring until mixture is smooth.

Step 3:
1 cup sour cream at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla

Stir in sour cream and vanilla and let cool.

Step 4:
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar

Beat eggs and sugar together until mixture is thick and pale and forms a ribbon when beaters are lifted.

Step 5:
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened

Beat in cream cheese until smooth.

Step 6:
1 cup chopped pecans

Stir in chocolate mixture and fold in pecans.

Step 7:
Pour the filling into the prepared crust and bake in the middle of a preheated 325° oven for 1 hour or until just set. It may fall in the middle. Cool in the pan on a rack, chill overnight, covered loosely and remove the side of the pan.

NOTE: This can be made in a 8½” springform pan by halving the crust ingredients and baking for two hours at 325°.

Doboschtorte - New and Improved Technique

I'm reposting this to share the improved technique for getting even cake layers with less fuss. Much thanks to Rich for the photo and all the scoop.

For those who were drooling over Hannah's Birthday Cake, here is the recipe from Time Life Foods of the World: The Cooking of Vienna's Empire. As I mentioned I didn't make the top caramel layer but just frosted it all with the chocolate filling. No one complained. However, I am giving the complete instructions here. This may look daunting but is simple although it does require a candy thermometer ... and enough time to not rush through anything.

The Cake
1/2 pound unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cream butter and sugar by beating them together against the side of a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon. Beat in the eggs, then stir in the flour and the vanilla extract. Continue to stir until the mixture becomes a smooth, firm batter.

(Classic layer technique from cookbook)
With a pastry brush or paper towel, butter the underside a 9" layer cake pan, then dust it with flour. (I can never get 7 layers out of the 9" pan so I always use 8" pans.) Strike the pan against the edge of a table to knock off the excess flour. With a metal spatula, spread the batter as evenly as possible over the underside of the pan to a thickness of 1/8". Bake in the middle of the oven 7 to 9 minutes, or until the layer is lightly browned around the edges.

Remove from the oven and scrape off any batter that has dribbled down the sides of the pan. Loosen the layer from the pan with a spatula, put a cake rack over it and invert. Wipe the pan with a paper towel, butter and flour it again and repeat the baking process with more batter. (You may, of course, bake as many layers at a time as you have cake pans.) Continue until all the batter is used. You should have 7 exactly matching layers.

(Improved technique for easier cake layer execution as well as increased number of layers -- thanks to Rich for this.)

I just get a suitable pan or bowl to mark an 8-9" circle and two cookie sheets.

Butter and flour the cookie sheet, then turn the bowl upside down, place it on, and give it a slight twist to mark a circle in the flour.

Then, with a spatula (I have a fairly rigid plastic one that I fond works better for this than rubber ... metal is even more accurate), place a dollop of cake batter in the middle of the circle, and spread it out with the spatula. Just keep spreading with a circular motion until the circle is filled.

(I find placing the initial dollop with a bit of a thump helps it stick so I can spread it.)

Then - and this is the trick - keep using the spatula to scrape the layer down to a uniform thickness. You can get it very thin this way! Just use the same circular spreading motions, but return what sticks to the spatula to the batter bowl.

The last layer is a bit tricky, as you don't have much excess material to work with, but you've just had practice, so it's not too bad. It'll end up being a bit thicker than the others, and makes a good bottom layer.

The layers won't exactly match, but they'll be quite close. You can cover that up with the filling and break off any bits that stick out more than they should. The result looks and tastes fine!

By keeping two cookie sheets going, I can prepare one while the other bakes, thereby getting one layer done every 8 minutes.

Actually, it takes be about 10-11 minutes per layer, and if you make them thin, 7 minutes is all the cooking time they need. so the last one has to come out a few minutes before the next one is ready to go in.

The other advice I have is to lay each layer on a perfectly flat surface while it cools, before stacking it. This reduces the amount of ripple in the layers tremendously.

And if you make more layers, you have to use thinner layers of filling (obviously), so it helps to press each layer flat with a small cutting board or something after placing it on.

The Filling
1-1/3 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2/3 cup water
8 egg yolks
1/2 cup dark unsweetened cocoa
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups (1 pound) unsalted butter, softened

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cream of tartar and water. Stir over low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved, then turn the heat to moderately high and boil the syrup without stirring until, if tested, it registers 238 degrees on a candy thermometer, or until a drop of the syrup in cold water forms a soft ball.

Meanwhile, in a mixer, or by hand with a rotary or electric beater, beat the 8 egg yolks for 3 or 4 minutes, or long enough to thicken them and lighten them somewhat in color.

Pour the hot syrup into the eggs, continuing to beat as your pour in the syrup in a slow, steady stream. If you are using a mixer, beat at medium speed until the mixture cools to room temperature and changes to a thick, smooth cream. This usually takes from 10 to 15 minutes. (If you are beating by hand, set the mixing bowl in a pan of cold water to hasten the cooling and add the syrup a little at a time.)

Continue to beat until the cream is cook, thick and smooth, then beat in the cocoa and vanilla extract. Last, beat in the butter, adding it in small pieces until it is all absorbed. Refrigerate while you make the glaze.

The Glaze
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup water

First, place the most attractive of the cake layers on a cake rack set on a jelly-roll pan, then mix the sugar and water together in a small heavy saucepan. Without stirring, cook until the sugar dissolves, boils and begins to darken in color. Swirling the pan, continue to boil until the caramel becomes a golden brown, then pour it over the layer. With a buttered knife, quickly mark the glaze into 16 equal wedges, cutting nearly, but not quite, through to the bottom of the glaze. This mirrorlike layer will be the top of the Torte.

Assembling the Torte
Place a cake layer on a serving plate and, with a metal spatula, spread chocolate filling over it to a thickness of 1/8 inch, then top with another cake layer. Continue with the other layers, finishing with a layer of filling and the glazed top. Use the rest of the chocolate filling to cover the sides of the cake, smoothing it on with a spatula and refrigerate. To serve, slice along the lines marked in the glaze.

Tags:Food

Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

Chris sent this to me with a ringing endorsement (see below). I can see why ... this sounds wonderful doesn't it? At least it does to anyone who likes pumpkin and cheesecake as much as I do. I'm a whipped cream freak so I'd substitute that for the Cool Whip.

I'm wondering if I'll get the time to whip this up for my book club which will meet on the Monday after Thanksgiving. That's my goal anyway ...

Since you post so many recipes for all to try, I thought I'd shoot one of my favorites that my wife makes around thanksgiving/Christmas. I hope you like it!

Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

2 pkgs 8oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
6 dashes of ground nutmeg
1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup thawed cool whip

Mix cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla with electric mixer on medium until well blended. Add eggs, mix until well blended, but do not overbeat.

Remove 1 cup batter. Stir in pumpkin & spices.

Spray 9 inch pie plate with PAM (or other non-stick spray). Sprinkle the bottom of the pie plate with the graham cracker crumbs.

Pour pour plain batter into crust. Top with pumpkin batter. Bake at 325 for 40 min or until center almost set. Cool.

Refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Serve with cool whip.

Tags:Food

Chocolate Mint Cake

Can you believe I actually remembered to take a photo of my birthday cake? Of course, it only took me two weeks to get it posted with the recipe ... but better late than never (my motto as of late).

I didn't have the original recipe, which my mother says was from a Better Home & Garden cookbook. I recreated it using layers of Easy Chocolate-Buttermilk Cake and then frosted them with this.

MINT BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
From The Cake Mix Doctor. There is not a bad frosting recipe in this book. They are all homemade as opposed to the cake recipes which fix up cake mixes. I don't use the cake recipes from this, preferring the texture of home made cake, but I do use it for inspirations on cake/frosting pairings. This is the basic buttercream frosting with mint extract substituted for the vanilla.

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter at room temperature
3-3/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
3-4 tablespoons milk
1/2 to 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
Green food coloring

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and add the confectioners' sugar, 3 tablespoons of milk, and vanilla. Blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1 minutes more. Blend in up to 1 tablespoon milk if the frosting seems too stiff. If you like, tint the frosting green ... I do like as you can see from the photo.

CHOCOLATE TOPPING
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 tablespoon butter

Melt the chocolate and butter together. (The butter helps keep the chocolate malleable enough to slice when solid. I forgot to use anything but straight chocolate when I made this. It was like a rock ... tasty but rock-solid and required a serrated knife to get through the top.) Cool. Pour over the top of the frosted cake.

Tags:Food

Easy Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

This moist, delicious cake from Good Housekeeping Step by Step Cookbook is also one of the easiest I've ever made. Whenever I need a chocolate cake this is the recipe I use. Pair it with the Peanut Butter Frosting to get Rose's favorite combination. Go with the Chocolate and Mint for the birthday cake I remember so fondly from childhood. Or come up with your own.

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1-3/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/4 teaspoons salt
1-1/2 cups buttermilk
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans or 10-inch Bundt pan. (I frequently make this in a 9 x 13-inch pan, baking it for 35-40 minutes.) Dust pans with cocoa.

In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

In medium bowl, with wire whisk, mix buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla until blended. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture and whisk until smooth.

Divide batter between prepared layers or pour into Bundt pan; spread evenly. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 minutes for 9-layers or about 40 minutes for Bundt cake. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Run thin knife around layers to loosen from side of pan. Or, if using Bundt pan, run tip of knife around edge of cake to loosen. Invert onto racks to cool completely.

Meanwhile, prepare frosting of your choice. Place one layer, rounded side down, on cake plate. With narrow metal spatula, spread 2/3 cup frosting over layer. Top with second layer, rounded side up. Spread remaining frosting over side and top of cake. Makes 16 servings.

Tags:Food

Peanut Butter Frosting

Boy, oh boy ,was this a delicious cake! Again, as noted over on HC, our cake was round not square but otherwise this is a remarkably good representation of it.

First up, is the frosting which is from The Cake Mix Doctor. Although I don't use the cake recipes since they are based on boxed mixes, her frosting recipes are superb. This frosting is less sweet than many and the peanut aroma fills the air, luring you to want to cut a piece every time you walk by.

I'll post the chocolate cake recipe soon but if you've gotta have it before then, of course, this works with any chocolate cake you want to make.

Makes 3 cups, enough to frost a 2- or 3-layer cake or the top of a 13x19-inch sheet cake.

1 cup creamy peanut butter
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted (I never sift)
3-4 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla

Place the peanut butter and butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds. Stop the machine. Add the confectioners' sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, and the vanilla. Blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is well combined, 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the frosting lightens and is fluffy, 1 minutes more. Blend in up to 1 tablespoon milk if the frosting seems too stiff.

Use at once to frost a cake of choice.

Paddington Nooner

When Hannah's friends all came over after Homecoming last week for a scavenger hunt and late night movies, this is the cake that I had ready to give them that extra blast of energy.

I got it from the newspaper many years ago and I remember that it originally won second place in a chocolate recipe contest. As for the name, I know there is a character called Paddington Bear but never read the books.

What I do know is that this is hands-down the easiest, most chocolatey, not-too-sweet chocolate cake I have ever made. It always turns out perfectly and is a favorite with everyone.

Step 1:
Cocoa powder
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 12-cup tube or bundt pan and dust sides/bottom with cocoa.

Step 2:
1-1/4 cups strong black coffee
1/4 cup dark creme de cacao or other liqueur (I have used Grand Marnier, creme de menthe, and cherry liqueur ... basically any flavor that goes with chocolate will work here)
5 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup butter, softened
Heat the coffee and creme de cacao over low heat; add the chocolate and butter. Cook, stirring constantly, until smooth.

Step 3:
2 cups sugar
Remove from heat; stir in sugar. Let stand 5 minutes.

Step 4:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Sift together. Add chocolate mixture to flour in small parts.

Step 5:
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
Add eggs and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Pour into prepared pan. Bake approximately 1 hour or until cake tests done. Cool completely on rack before unmolding. Best if served cold.

UPDATE: Photo now included, per ukok's request. Much thanks to Veronica on the Verge who provided food photography (along with rave reviews ... she used peppermint schnapps as a flavoring liqueur).

Mexican Chocolate Cake

I have seen a lot of recipes with chocolate that are spiced up with a bit of cayenne but I have never known anyone brave enough to try one ... until now. My dear friend, Deb, says that anyone who likes the Spicy Ginger Cake is gonna love this. She also gives this indepth recipe feedback, "Yum, yum, yum....."

I'm gonna hafta give it a shot for sure.

From Real Simple

CAKE
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or ground Mexican chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold water
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

CHOCOLATE GLAZE
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
6 tablespoons water
10 small fresh strawberries

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat an 8-inch round cake pan with vegetable cooking spray.

Combine all the cake ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir until smooth. Pour into the pan and bake 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely. When the cake has cooled, whisk together the first three glaze ingredients. Dip each strawberry into the glaze and set aside. Pour the remaining glaze over the cake and arrange the strawberries on top. Set aside to dry, about 30 minutes.

Yield: 6 servings

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 450(0% from fat); FAT 12g (sat 2g); PROTEIN 6mg; CHOLESTEROL 0mg; CALCIUM 36mg; SODIUM 312mg; FIBER 6g; CARBOHYDRATE 87g; IRON 4mg

Hoochie Mama! That's a Good Cake!

Hannah picked this Southern Spicy Ginger Cake for her birthday party. She didn't want frosting but it is just plain unAmerican to have a birthday cake with no frosting so I paired it with a never-fail Buttercream Frosting. The first thing that three of the kids said after their first bite was, "This is amazing frosting." You've gotta try this ... it is unexpected and delicious.

SOUTHERN SPICY GINGER CAKE
From James Beard's American Cookery. This definitely has a zing from all that ginger.

2 eggs
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup molasses
3/4 cup melted butter
2-1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 to 2 teaspoons ginger
1/2 - 1 teaspoon cloves (I used 1/2 t.)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup boiling water

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and then beat in the sugar and molasses until very fluffy (easiest with electric mixer). Stir in the melted butter. Sift the dry ingredients together and stir into the first mixture. Add the boiling water and stir just to mix. Turn into a well-greased sheet pan about 10 x 14 x 2 inches (I used a standard 9 x 13" pan and it worked just fine). Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven about 35 minutes or until the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the center. Serve hot or cold, plain or topped with a fruit or chocolate sauce, whipped cream, or ice cream.

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
From The Cake Mix Doctor. There is not a bad frosting recipe in this book. They are all homemade as opposed to the cake recipes which fix up cake mixes. I don't use the cake recipes from this, preferring the texture of home made cake, but I do use it for inspirations on cake/frosting pairings.

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter at room temperature
3-3/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
3-4 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and add the confectioners' sugar, 3 tablespoons of milk, and vanilla. Blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1 minutes more. Blend in up to 1 tablespoon milk if the frosting seems too stiff.

TGI Friday's Chocolate Malt Frosting

Makes enough for a 3-layer 9” cake. Best on cake that is not too deep chocolate flavor so there is a good contrast with this very rich frosting.

Step 1:
12 ounces semisweet chocolate
Melt chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly. Cool.

Step 2:
2 cups whipping cream
1¼ cups malt powder
Beat in electric mixer on high until stiff but not dry, about 2 minutes. Refrigerate until cool, about 30 minutes.

Step 3:
¹⁄₃ cup sugar
½ cup cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
Whip in separate bowl until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add melted chocolate and beat 1 more minute.

Step 4:
Add half of malt-cream mixture and beat until uniform in color, being sure to scrape the bowl so all chocolate is well mixed in. Fold in remaining malt-cream mixture by hand until frosting is uniform in color. Refrigerate if necessary before icing cake.