Pumpkin Apple Spice Cake

'Tis the pumpkin season! If you hadn't noticed by now from all the pumpkin flavored whatnot - lattes, candy, even body butter. Thankfully, while my love of pumpkin is great...it isn't over the top. For instance, just a few weeks ago I embarked upon a Pumpkin Apple Spice Cake recipe of delicious wonder, mainly because I had a batch of spice buttercream frosting to use up before it went bad (or more importantly, before I ate it all). 

Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the finished cake this time. Bad panda, I know. We ate it too quickly! That should be a testament to just how delicious this recipe is. I would likely add some slightly toasted walnuts, were I to do this one again, or maybe a coating of crushed nuts on the perimeter of the cake. Mmmm...walnuts and spice frosting. See, this is exactly why I had to get that frosting out of my house! And with that I instruct you all to go forth, be prosperous, and make use of those holiday leftovers after this coming weekend. 

To make up for my lack of baked good beauty, here is a collection of cakes from this past year. Whew, 2013 was definitely the year of bigger, better cakes in my kitchen! Maybe I should try an ombre cake next??

And another collection of various baked goods from the past few months. All this cold weather has me thinking of trying out new territory - chicken and waffles! 

And of course, one of my little helpers. The ever inquisitive Zip, a.k.a. my shadow. The one who keeps me on my toes and gives me a reason to always clean up after myself. She'll be waiting for Thanksgiving Day madness...mainly for the scraps. Happy holidays!

Pumpkin Apple Spice Cake
Adapted from: Je suis alimentageuse

• 2/3 cup butter, room temp.
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup pumpkin purée
• 3/4 cup applesauce
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp pumpkin spice
• Pinch of clove, ground
• Pinch of nutmeg, ground
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup almond milk (or other milk)
• 2-3 cups of your favorite frosting

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and smooth.

Add in pumpkin purée, applesauce, and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated.

Sift in pumpkin spice and other spices, baking powder, flour and salt and mix, gradually adding almond milk until you get a thin yet viscous batter.

Divide the batter between two greased and lined 8" cake pans. Or if making cupcakes, fill each cup with a cupcake liner and then 2/3 full with batter.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, check to see if the cake is done by poking the middle of the cake with a cake tester or toothpick. It should come out either with moist crumbs sticking to it, or clean.

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. After about 5 minutes, remove the cakes from the pan and let them rest on the wire rack.

Allow cakes to fully cool before frosting. Frost with your favorite buttercream frosting. Store in the fridge for up to a few days.

Apple Beer Bread

It's almost St. Patrick's Day! In my world, this is reason to celebrate. I rank St. P's Day as my third favorite holiday to celebrate behind Halloween and Cinco de Mayo (I like the costume and drinking holidays best). In honor of this green, beer-fueled holiday I whipped up a batch of Apple Beer Bread last Sunday.

Starting your Sunday morning off with a Guinness is highly preferred, just saying.

I found a base recipe to work from over at A Spicy Perspective, modifying a few things as I went along. I used two kinds of sugar in place of one as I also replaced the molasses with honey, I didn't have enough apple butter so I went with a mix of apple butter and apple sauce (delicious results), and I opted for Guinness as my beer of choice. So far the feedback from taste testers has been positive! I know I ate nearly a half a loaf the first day I may this bread.

As my buddy here helped me get in the festive spirit last year with a whiskey tasting (omg was that a lot of whiskey!), I encourage you all to find a bit of Irish fever and have (safe) fun this year! Happy St. Patrick's Day from foodie land!

Apple Beer Bread
Adapted from: Irish Apple Beer Bread

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup Apple Butter
• 1 cup Apple Sauce 
• 12 oz. Guinness
• 1 tbsp honey
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two standard loaf pans. If using the dark style pans, you may end up shaving 10 minutes off of your baking time so be aware while baking. 

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the eggs, apple butter, apple sauce, beer and honey then mix well.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together. Slowly add to the wet mixture. Beat to combine.

Pour the batter evenly into the prepared loaf pans. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf, comes out clean. I checked mine every 20 minutes, and rotated halfway through. 

Cool in the loaf pans for 10 minutes before gently inverting to release the loaves. Once completely cool, wrap well to store.

Easy Brats & Sicky Pants

Anyone else just about fed up with this cold season? I know I am. You may have noticed my absence for a few weeks. Blame it on the cold - both weather and sickness. After some travel back west I managed to pick up a head cold that just won't quit. I've tried traditional cold meds, hot toddies, herbal remedies, honey and lemon, rest and more rest, you name it. Last night, I decided to try some good old fashioned brats and beer. So far it seems to be helping. Plus I love me some tasty brats!

We are lucky enough to have a wonderful local butcher here in town who has a reputation for their good meats and cuts. Upon our last visit, we picked up a four-pack of locally made brats which turned into the foundation of this recipe. Cooking brats is an easy process, if you remember one thing: slow cook them. This particular batch happened to be apple sage brats, which I thought would work beautifully in a bath of hoppy IPA and apples. I was too lazy (i.e. sick) to dig out the crock pot so instead I opted for cooking them on low heat for a few hours on my stove top.

The end result yielded delicious, succulent brats with an amazing flavor. I served them up with an assortment of mustard, a heaping dollop of applesauce, and some roasted fingerling potatoes and brussel sprouts seasoned with thyme, sea salt, and garlic. After I finish typing this, I plan to dish myself up a plate for leftovers lunch. Enjoy!

Easy Brats
Adapted From: Slow Cooker Bratwurst & Apples

• 4 uncooked bratwurst links (locally made is best)
• 2 medium apples, chopped (I used one golden and one granny)
• 1/2 medium white onion, chopped 
• 3 cloves of garlic, smashed and diced
• 2 cans of IPA (I used Shiva IPA, pretty hoppy)
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. spicy brown mustard (the kind with the big mustard seeds)
• dash of salt and pepper 

Place the brats, apples, onion, and garlic in a lightly greased large sauce pan. Add the beer, brown sugar, mustard, salt and pepper. Gently stir.

Cover and cook on low to medium heat for 2-3 hours, or until the meat is done (160 degrees F).

Serve warm over roasted potatoes and veggies. Try not to eat them all at once!!

Apple Cake

 

Time, oh where do you go? Sometimes you just slip away. Well, I am back and on top of my game. A few weeks of traveling left me with little time for sharing recipes. However, my arsenal is full and good posts are to come!

About a month ago I decided I should try a recipe that has been on my radar for a while - Jewish Apple Cake. After toying with the idea of doing some moderate catering again, I unearthed a recipe for Mom's Apple Cake from Smitten Kitchen. Breads, cakes, and sweets of Eastern Europe are one of the areas I am focusing more on. And this one was right up my alley!

My changes included using Braeburn and Fiji apples, brown sugar instead of white in the cinnamon mixture then half and half of each for the main recipe, applesauce instead of oil, adding 1 teaspoon of almond extract, and I completely forgot the orange juice (go me). Hence I am not sure I can call it a true Jewish Apple Cake, but it was damn good anyway. I was planning on adding an orange glaze, for which I have supplied the recipe below, but didn't end up using it. Enjoy!

PS - Figured you would love the view from my kitchen. A little feathered lady friend! 

Apple Cake

• 6 apples, Braeburn and Fiji work great 
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 5 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 3/4 cups flour, sifted
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup applesauce
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon almond extracdt 
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a tube pan. Peel, core and chop apples into chunks. Toss with cinnamon and sugar and set aside.

Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together applesauce, sugar, almond extract, and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ones, then add eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.

Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Spread half of apples over it. Pour the remaining batter over the apples and arrange the remaining apples on top. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes or until the cake naturally separates from the pan. Finish cooling on a rack.

If you opt for an orange glaze to sweeten things up, mix 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 cup orange juice , and 1 teaspoon of vanilla together. Whisk until well incorporated and thickened. Add more powdered sugar if needed to thicken the consistency. Drizzle it over the completely cooled cake and allowed to set before serving.