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.

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Swirl Bundt Cake

Oh yes, I'm bringing the bundt cake back. Honestly I have a hard time finding things wrong with bundt cakes. For starters, the cake pan does most of the work. And if it looks or tastes bad, you can smother it with a glaze or frosting. Bundt cakes always seem to feed more and go farther than others. Mixing chocolate and peanut butter seemed the right approach to me, and hence this beautiful gem was born (borrowed).

A fairly straight forward recipe here, nothing much to it. And I bet most of you have the ingredients in your cupboards this very moment. As with most things I bake, I ate my small share (i.e. tax) and quickly gifted the rest away before I engaged in too much crumby behavior. 

Just in case you haven't been by his website page yet, Burt the Cat is doing great and getting into his pesky kitty phase. He's becoming quite the ham! Feel free to swing by and check out his plans to slowly take over the world (and drive me insane). 

Enjoy the baking, everyone! 

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Swirl Bundt Cake
Borrowed From: Hungry Couple

• 2 Cups all purpose flour, divided
• 2 Teaspoons baking powder, divided
• 1 Teaspoon baking soda, divided
• 1/4 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 Cups sugar
• 3 Eggs 
• 2 Sticks unsalted butter
• 3/4 Cup water
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 Teaspoon salt
• 1/2 Cup peanut butter

In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and eggs.  Add the butter and continue beating.  Add the water, vanilla and salt.  Divide the mixture evenly into two bowls.

Add the peanut butter to one bowl, beat until smooth and fold in the first bowl of flour, baking powder and baking soda.To the second bowl, fold in the flour mixture with the cocoa powder.

Butter and flour a 12 cup bundt pan.  Add half the peanut butter batter to the pan, followed by half the chocolate batter, followed by the second half of the peanut butter batter and topped off with the final half of the chocolate batter.  Using a butter knife, gently swirl the batters together but do not over mix.  

Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Allow to cool very well before removing from the pan.  Makes approximately 10 servings.

Where Did She Go??

I did it again, although not like Britney Spears did oh so many years ago (holy moly, has it been that long since that horrible song came out???). I skipped out on my blogging duties. And it wasn't just this blog, it was my entire portfolio of them I dabble in. Somewhere near the beginning of August I just gave up and decided to go on an unexpected blogging hiatus. From the baking perspective, it could have been because I reached max overload sometime that same month. August was the month of wedding cakes. I birthed two that month, for a lovely wedding service, and couldn't wrap my brain around blogging about the dozens of hours I had already spend elbow deep in cake batter and frosting. Let's just say I was so wrapped up in the design, creation, preparation, delivery, and service of these wedding cakes that I don't even have picture of the final products! But I have a few of the prep process, so please follow and enjoy!

Test cake number one, gifted to extended family as I couldn't imagine eating anymore cake at this point (not even to the wedding cakes yet).

Test cake number two, gifted to the bachelor party where I heard several drunk adult men consumed it with their hands. I took that was winning.

The base layer of the base tier of the main wedding cake (moist yellow cake) and my little spatula hand for size reference (HUGE 14" base).

Mommy's little baking helper. And the most awesome apron gift ever! Polka dots always win with me.

Building the layers of the base tier. Boy, was this cake baby heavy by the end!

Building the groom's cake: the base tier had a two-layer red velvet cake with vanilla mouse filling, then a top tier with a two-layer moist yellow cake with raspberry mouse filling. Eventually I was able to decorate with live flowers and more piping details once the cake arrived on site.

Building the bride's cake: the base tier had a two-layer moist yellow cake with vanilla mouse filling, followed by a red velvet tier with raspberry mouse filling, and to top things off I made a special mexican chocolate cake layer with raspberry mouse filling. The middle layer was coated with candy crystals while the top and bottom tiers had a gold finish painted on. More piping detail work happened just prior to the wedding, while I finished the cake with live flowers. I hope to have a few shots soon of the finished products, so stay tuned!

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

I can't believe I am saying this but I feel like I have made too many cakes over the last few months...go ahead and gasp in unison with me. The baker claiming she has made too made cakes. No, hell has not frozen over. Yet...

I never used to bake many cakes, instead I typically received my fair share of savory and healthy requests, breads, quiches, and whatnot. But since I've been living out east, I average at least one cake per month (many times more). My most recent addition to the baking cupboard - a new version of Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting.

I have previously conquered carrot cake muffins and carrot cake squares with great success, but found myself hesitant to repeat myself once I received another birthday baking request. Instead I opted for some online research and decided to see how I would do with modifying a cupcake recipe into a cake recipe (so far so good!).  The original recipe made more cupcakes than I had expected, so I was delightfully surprised when I was able to make a two-layer cake AND a dozen cupcakes from the same batter recipe. Score! Everyone who had a piece was raving about it. Bonus points for using garden fresh carrots!

And for those of you who haven't had their Bert fix for the month yet...here you go. He's pretty much telling me to put down the oven mits and love on him some. Or feed him. It's about the same in Bert-landia. Enjoy!

Carrot Cake (plus cupcakes!) with Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
Adapted from: Baked In

• 1 pound of carrots
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp (or a pinch) allspice
• Pinch of ground clove
• ¼ tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 3 large eggs
• ½ cup milk plus 1 tsp vinegar (or you can use buttermilk)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp maple flavor
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• ½ tsp lemon juice
• ½ cup chopped pecans
• ¼ cup raisins

Frosting

• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• ⅛ cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp maple flavoring
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line one muffin pan with paper liners and set aside. Also prepare two 9" cake pans (butter, parchment, butter, flour is the best method). 

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, clove, and pumpkin pie spice in a medium bowl and set aside.

Peel the carrots, and finely grate them (food processor all the way for this!). Place the grated carrots in a large bowl.

Add the eggs, milk with vinegar, vanilla, maple flavoring, sugar, oil and lemon juice with the carrots and whisk until thoroughly combined.

Gently stir the flour mixture into the carrot mixture until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.

Next mix in the pecans and raisins. Again, be cautious not to overmix. 

Scoop batter evenly into prepared liners, filling each ⅔ full. Evenly separate the remaining batter between the two 9" bake pans. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If baking all the pans together at once, make sure to rotate out positions in the oven and racks so as not to burn/undercook/etc. Cool for five minutes in pans, then remove to racks to cool completely.

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat cream cheese on medium speed until fluffy, about two minutes. Add the butter and beat until well-incorporated and fluffy, another two minutes. Beat in the brown sugar, vanilla, maple flavoring, and cinnamon. Add the powdered sugar a few tablespoons at a time until desired consistency is reached (3-4 cups total). Beat for an additional two minutes. Pipe or spread onto cupcakes (if spreading rather than piping, you can halve the frosting recipe).

Decorate as you see fit! Making candied carrot curls is a really stellar way to go. 

Yellow Butter Birthday Cake with Buttercream Frosting

I have a confession to make. I have food guilt. Of various sorts. This may sound funny to you, but I am being sincere here. I. Have. Food. Guilt. What does this mean exactly? Well, it means that when I make a delicious meal or bake a creative cake or indulge in something smothered in nutella (a substance I have to limit in my house due to my addictive personality) I experience a period of guilt directly related to the food I just made/baked/consumed. I suppose it is a form of an eating disorder, if one could be related to second generation Irish-Catholic guilt, however it is one I readily and wholeheartedly indulge in on a regular basis. Such as indulging by enjoying this yellow butter birthday cake I recently made.

You likely guessed it; another birthday. I seem to have an affinity for surrounding myself with people who have a birthday within the second quarter of the calendar year. For this week's lucky birthday boy, a helpful bird chirped that he had a long standing hankering for yellow butter birthday cake and homemade buttercream frosting. Being the baker I am, I obliged and surprised the fellow with this buttery goodness.

So yeah, the food guilt thing. Strange, right? That a baker have food guilt. And the funny part is my guilt isn't just associated with consuming too much or overeating, it also has to do with having the guilt of enjoying amazing cuisine when others fight for morsels of food. The guilt is multi-layered, and maybe its presence is merely to remind me to be grateful (which is good if so), but at least it isn't debilitating. I equate my baking to ongoing therapy which is slowly helping me accept my humanness. Or that is the train of thought I often find my brain heading in when standing over the mixer, pouring batter ingredients into a glass bowl. Baking (like running) is a very zen endeavor and meditation when done in the right frame of mind. And with that...namaste from a baker's heart!

Yellow Butter Birthday Cake 
Adapted from:

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, yolks separated and slightly mixed
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter (or Pam) two 9-by-2-inch round cake pans; line the bottoms with parchment paper. Butter (or Pam) parchment, and dust with flour, tapping out excess; set aside. Into a medium bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, and salt; set aside. I did mine a second time for good measure. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. 

In a separate bowl, using a handmixer beat the separated egg whites until frothy. Set aside. 

Into the butter mixture beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, then beat in vanilla. Next, gently mix in the whipped egg whites. 

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until combined after each addition.

Divide batter between the prepared pans, and smooth with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until cakes are golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool 20 minutes. Invert cakes onto the rack; peel off the parchment. Reinvert cakes and let them cool completely, top sides up.

Buttercream Frosting
Borrowed from: My Baking Addiction

• 4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• pinch of fine grain sea salt
• 1 tablespoon clear vanilla extract
• 2 pounds confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 4-6 tablespoons heavy cream or milk

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter until fluffy add in salt. Slowly add in confectioners' sugar, and continue creaming until well blended.

Add salt, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk. Blend on low speed until moistened. Add an additional 1 to 3 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk until you reach the desired consistency. Beat at high speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy.

This recipe will make enough frosting to generously frost 24 cupcakes or one 9 inch layer cake.

You can easily adjust the consistency of this recipe by simply adding in more heavy cream or milk.

If you are a fan of shortening in your buttercream. simply omit one stick of butter and replace with 1/2 cup shortening.

Clear vanilla extract is used in this recipe to keep the frosting nice and white. If you don’t mind a slight color change, feel free to use pure vanilla extract, but decrease the amount to 2 teaspoons.

Covered and refrigerated frosting can be stored for up to three days. Simply bring it to room temperature and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. You may need to add a couple of teaspoons of heavy cream or milk to revive the consistency.

If you choose to dye your frosting, go easy with the dye. Remember, you can always add more color, but you can’t remove it.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Pumpkin season is here! And to celebrate, besides eating my weight in pumpkin this month, I plan to share a few new recipes I have fallen in love with as well as a few oldies but goodies from my baking files. Now, I will always encourage folks to grow their own pumpkins and for a number of reasons: they are fun to grow, you'll have a good source of carving and baking pumpkins, and it's farm to table. However if you are like me and have had one heck of a ride with 2012, you likely didn't have time to successfully plant pumpkins (we tried a Japanese variety but didn't get any fruit). If you grew your own pumpkins this year, then this recipe will be a good excuse to use up some of that puree you've likely made. If not, grab yourself a can of pumpkin puree from the store and get baking.

I discovered this receipt through Averie Cooks, and damn did it look gooo-ooood upon initial discovery. Pumpkin meets chocolate in a baked good form - who wouldn't love that?!

I made a few changes to the original receipe, such as using non-fat greek yogurt in place of sour cream, omitting the butter extract, using bittersweet chocolate chips, and adding more spices such as pumpkin spice. The end result was delicious! Next time around I may try to slip a little rum into the batter, or possibly a wee bit more into the ganache. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chocolate chip Bundt Cake with Chocolate Ganache
Adapted from: Averie Cooks 

For the Cake

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup canned or fresh pumpkin puree 
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup non-fat greek yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch salt
• 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

For the Chocolate Ganache (microwave-friendly)

• 2/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup cream or half-and-half
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tsp rum 
• 1 tsp mocha coffee 

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 12-cup Bundt or tube-cake pan with cooking spray or grease and flour the pan; set aside. In a large bowl combine eggs, pumpkin puree, sugar, oil, yogurt, vanilla extract, all the spices and whisk to combine until mixture is smooth and silky.

Add the flour, baking soda, salt and stir until just combined (don’t overmix or the gluten will over-develop and cake will be tougher). Fold in the chocolate chips and pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing it lightly with a spatula if necessary and give it a slam on the counter to release any air. Bake for 38 to 42 minutes, or until top has set (it may crackle, this is okay) and is golden or a cake tester, toothpick, or blade of a knife comes out clean (due to the chocolate chips, you may hit some chocolate patches with the insertion test). Allow cake to cool in pan for about 15 minutes before inverting and releasing cake from pan and placing it on a rack to finish cooling. While cake cools, make the ganache.

To make the Chocolate Ganache, Place chocolate in a medium microwave-safe bowl and heat on high power for 1 minute to soften chocolate; set aside. In a small microwave-safe bowl or measuring cup, heat the cream (I used half-and-half) on high power just until it begins to bubble and show signs of boiling, about 1 minute. Pour hot cream over chocolate and let it stand about 1 minute. Whisk vigorously until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth and velvety. Add vanilla, alcohol, coffee, and whisk to combine. Set bowl aside for about 5 minutes, allowing ganache to cool and thicken a bit. Whisk mixture briefly before preparing to drizzle it over the cake. Ganache will set up a bit with time, but remains quite viscous and drippy.

Cake will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

Fly Fishing & Almond Butter Cake

Fly fishing is an acquired art. One that I obviously need to practice more at because every fish I have ever caught measured in at under 4 inches. Hey, at least I get out there and try, right? My pole is nearly twice my height...

For me, it's more about the time spent out doors and less about the fish. Don't tell my fishing buddies that, though.

Some days it feels like I am out tree fishing as opposed to fly fishing, casting from tree branch to tree branch. Those of you who fish smaller streams will hear me on this one. It's mind-blowingly frustrating, but much like other skilled arts practice, practice, practice.

In the midst of a fishing Sunday, I was hit with the baking urge but without the desire to put a lot of effort into anything. Stashed away in the back of my to-bake recipe pile I found this one for Boterkeok, or a type of Dutch (almond) butter cake. Imagine something in between marzipan and a small breakfast butter cake - that's where this recipe steps in.

I modified the recipe to add some cream in during the batter making as I was worried it was too thick, and also the addition of cranberries in place of sliced almonds. I think by adding the cream it ended up making the cake more similar to marzipan, so if you hoping for more of a cake batter try it without the added cream. The cake is wonderful for breakfast, for a snack, or actually any old time as that seems to be when I was picking at it. Happy baking!

Almond Butter Cake
Adapted from: Butter Cake

• 1 1/3 cups butter
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 tsp almond extract
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1-3 tbsp cream 
• Milk or cream for brushing top
• Sliced cranberries to decorate top (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prep two 9" cake pans for baking (butter and flour). 

Cream butter and sugar until very light and fluffy (3-5 minutes). Then add eggs and almond extract and beat well. 

Next add baking powder and flour and mix well. Finish by adding in a small amount of cream (I thought the batter was way too thick, and then decided to incorporate a little liquid to offset the original recipe). 

Spread evenly between two 9″ cake pans or pie plates. Brush tops with a little cream and top with sliced cranberries if desired. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until light brown – do not overbake or cake will be dry.

Let cool on rack before slicing and serving. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days.

Happy Mother's Day & Lavender Coffee Cake

What would the world do without mothers? It would be a compassionless place, that's for sure.

Mothers bring life into the world, spreading warmth, reassurance, and laughter wherever they go (in most cases). With just the right combo of gentle nudging and tough love, mothers prompt most of us to be better people. I, for one, am very grateful for mine.

In an ode to my mother who happens to be farther away from me than my baked goods can usually safely travel, I made a Lavender Coffee Cake for those folks in my daily life. Discovered and shelved away quite some time ago, this recipe is an oldie but goodie. I opted for the classic bundt cake style, and have had nothing but raving reviews about it.

Exploring this cake in a cupcake format may be in my future. I can't even begin to describe the rich scents coming from the oven while I was baking it. The changes I made in the adaptation were slight: using more dried lavender buds, adding almond extract, and going with non-fat yogurt for the milk base. While I can't even imagine this cake sticking around longer than a few days, I did notice that the first three were the most flavorful. Enjoy!

Lavender Coffee Cake 
Adapted From: Joys of Lavender

Topping

• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 tsp. cinnamon

Batter

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tbs. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt

Other Ingredients 

• 3/4 cups butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tsp. dried lavender buds (pulse this in blender with 1/2 cup of above sugar)
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 and 1/2 cups of non-fat yogurt
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the pan size(s) of your choice. If you have extra lavender buds, sprinkle a few on the bottom of the bundt pan to decorate the top of the cake once baked.

Mix together the topping ingredients and set aside.

Next, mix together the batter ingredients and set aside.

Cream the butter. Then add the sugars and then the eggs one at a time. Beat until light and fluffy. Blend in the yogurt and dry ingredients, alternating between the 2. Add the vanilla and almond extracts.

Put half of the batter into your pan. top with 1/2 of the topping. Swirl it in gently with a fork so it is just lightly blended. Repeat with the remainder of the batter and topping.

I used a bundt pan, which required about 45 minutes. The original recipe calls for the following cooking times:

• One 10-inch tube pan or Bundt pan 50 to 60 minutes.
• One 9-inch springform pan for 60 to 70 minutes.
• Two 4 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch loaf pans for 40 to 50 minutes.
• Two 8-inch round or square cake pans for 30 to 35 minutes.

Bake until done. The top will spring back when pressed gently in middle or use toothpick or knife in center of cake, If it comes out clean, remove from heat and cool for 10 minuets before you remove it from your pan.

Classic Banana Bundt Cake

The bundt cake. Brilliant invention. The guy who made the bundt pan made millions. Hopefully he was a sweeter man for it (ha, sorry another bad pun).

For me, the bundt cake is the epitome of easy baking. Make the batter, pour in the pan, bake and let cool. Add a topping as desired or take the simple route with a dusting of powdered sugar or cocoa powder. Or in my case, both. My changes - adding some brown sugar to make the outside ever so slightly crisp, adding almond extract, going with non-fat vanilla yogurt. There is lots of room in this recipe to add your favorite addition like chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, a flavored yogurt, or other tid bits of goodness. Enjoy!

Classic Banana Bundt Cake

Adapted From: Food Librarian

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar 
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoons almond extract 
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• About 4 very ripe bananas, mashed (you should have 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 cups)
• 1 cup vanilla non-fat yogurt

Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Generously butter a 9- to 10-inch (12 cup) Bundt pan. (If you use a silicone Bundt pan there’s no need to butter it). I used a ton of PAM like spray. Don’t place the pan on a baking sheet - you want the oven’s heat to circulate through the Bundt’s inner tube.

Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy. This takes a few minutes, scrape down the sides as you need. Add the sugar and beat at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts, then add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each egg goes in. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the bananas. Finally, mix in half the dry ingredients (don’t be disturbed when the batter curdles), all the sour cream and then the rest of the flour mixture. Scrape the batter into the pan, rap the pan on the counter to debubble the batter and smooth the top.

Bake for 65 to 75 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean. Check the cake after about 30 minutes - if it is browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before unmolding onto the rack to cool to room temperature. Dust the top of the cake with cocoa powder and/or powdered sugar.

If you've got the time, wrap the cooled cake in plastic and allow it to sit on the counter overnight before serving - it's better the next day. You can also add your favorite icing to this. An easy one - orange juice and powdered sugar.

Red Velvet Cake & Mini Vacation

February seems to be my month to slack off on posting. I checked last year's February foodie posts and found the same thing. There appears to be a pattern forming, however I promise to get my baking buns back in the saddle soon.

Last weekend I had the wonderful pleasure of celebrating a friend's birthday on the Oregon Coast. If you haven't visited the Oregon Coast yet, put it on your bucket list. Seriously. It is a magical, wonderful, amazingly beautiful place with far fewer visitors than you think and a plethora of activities for everyone.

I call this the bowling team/gaming crew. Don't we look like a motley, crazy bunch? And yes, we had ridiculous amounts of fun. :)

The birthday boy requested a red velvet cake as his present. Have you ever made a red velvet cake? Do a web search for a recipe and start reading, it will likely intimidate you. This is how I felt embarking upon my red velvet quest.

I ended up going with a Smitten Kitchen recipe for the cake and a cream cheese frosting recipe from Joy of Baking. While I did do some minor tweaking to both recipes, I tried to leave them more or less intact. The one big change is that I added a raspberry whipped cream layer inside the cake (also adapted from a Joy of Baking recipe). The cake was delicious, however a little too dense for my taste (am not sure if this was due to letting the baking soda/vinegar bubble too long). As with all red velvet cakes, it tasted so much better after letting it sit for a day in the fridge.

And sorry for the poor photograph, blame the iphone. This is the only shot I managed to capture of the inside of the cake prior to it being demolished. Enjoy!

Red Velvet Cake
Adapted from: SmittenKitchen

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 3 1/2 cups cake flour (sifted)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch process)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup canola oil
• 1 cup strawberry applesauce 
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons (1.5 ounces) red food coloring
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract 
• 1 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place teaspoon of butter in each of 3 round 9-inch layer cake pans and place pans in oven for a few minutes until butter melts. Remove pans from oven, brush interior bottom and sides of each with butter and line bottoms with parchment.

Sift together cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl (this is in addition to the pre-sift for the flour).

Place oil, applesauce, and sugars in bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. With machine on low, very slowly add red food coloring. (Take care: it may splash.) Add vanilla and almond extracts . Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.

Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.

Divide batter among pans, place in oven and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes (watch closely as mine tended to overcook). Let cool in pans 20 minutes. Then remove from pans, flip layers over and peel off parchment. Cool completely before frosting.

Raspberry Whipped Cream Frosting Layer 
Adapted from: Joy of Baking 

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1/2 cup slightly sweetened raspberry puree or jam 

In a large mixing bowl, place the whipping cream, vanilla, and sugar and stir to combine. Cover and chill in the bowl with the wire whisk in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. When chilled, beat the mixture until soft peaks form. Then add the raspberry puree/jam, a little at a time, and beat just until stiff peaks form when the beater is raised. Taste and fold in more jam or sugar as needed.

Mascarpone Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from: Joy of Baking 

• 1 - 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
• 1 - 8 oz tub of mascarpone cheese at room temperature 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted 
• 1 1/2 cups cold heavy whipping cream 

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and mascarpone cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and beat until smooth. Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the heavy cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to spread. Add more sugar or cream as needed to obtain the right consistency.

Assemble the cake: After the cake layers have cooled, place one of the cake layers on the serving plate as the base layer. Thickly spread the raspberry whipped cream layer over the top of the base cake layer. Place in the freezer for at least 10 minutes to let the cake set up. Take the chilled cake out of the freezer and stack the next cake layer on top of the cooled whipped cream layer. Then add a thick layer of the mascarpone cream cheese frosting on top. Again place it in the freezer for at least 10 minutes to set up the frosting. Finally add the top cake layer to the stack, and finish by frosting the top and sides of the cake. I tend to make this fairly heavy and thick. Place the cake back in the freezer for at least 15 minutes, then remove and decorate as desired. Refrigerate the cake until nearly ready to serve. Prior to serving, remove the cake from the fridge and leave it at room temperature for at least 20 minutes prior to serving.

Layered Coconut Cake

This is a layered coconut cake. It rocks. Seriously.

This cake was my first attempt at a layered cake. Before this I stayed away from them due to their intimidation factor.

However it was a pretty special lady's birthday and this was what the sweet tooth fairy had in mind.

What can I say? This cake took a little effort, but was well worth it. My changes - not much, actually. I didn't pour the filling over the top layer, but now that I realize letting it sit for a few days is key for flavor, I will definitely do this the next time I make this recipe. I also added a dash of almond extract. Other than that it is nearly the same as the original. Enjoy!! Make sure you have lots of friends around to help you eat this bad boy.

Layered Coconut Cake
Adapted from: Jamie's Coconut Cake

Cake:

• Basic 1-2-3-4 Cake but substitute 1 cup canned, unsweetened coconut milk for regular milk, recipe follows

Filling:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 4 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 cup flaked, sweetened coconut

Frosting:

• 1 recipe 7-minute Frosting
• Flaked, sweetened coconut, for sprinkling

Follow directions for Basic 1-2-3-4 Cake, substituting coconut milk for regular milk. While cake is baking, prepare filling. Stir together sugar, sour cream, milk, and coconut in a bowl until well blended. Remove cake layers from oven and allow cake to remain in pans as you prepare to stack and fill. Remove first layer and invert onto cake plate. Using the wrong end of a wooden spoon, poke holes approximately 1-inch apart until entire cake has been poked. Spread 1/3 of filling mixture on cake layer. Top with second layer, repeat process. Top with last layer and repeat process again. (As I stack layers together I stick them with toothpicks to prevent cake from shifting).

Prepare 7-Minute Frosting. Frost top and sides of cake. Sprinkle top and sides of cakes with additional coconut.

Basic 1-2-3-4 Cake:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups sifted self-rising flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) cake pans. Using an electric mixer, cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar and continue to cream well for 6 to 8 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Add vanilla and almond extracts and continue to beat until just mixed. Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Level batter in each pan by holding pan 3 or 4 inches above counter, then dropping it flat onto counter. Do this several times to release air bubbles and assure you of a more level cake. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until done. Cool in pans 5 to 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto cooling racks. Cool completely and spread cake layers with your favorite frosting to make a 3-layer cake.

7-Minute Frosting:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar or 1 tablespoon white corn syrup
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 egg whites
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Place sugar, cream of tartar or corn syrup, salt, water, and egg whites in the top of a double boiler. Beat with a handheld electric mixer for 1 minute. Place pan over boiling water, being sure that boiling water does not touch the bottom of the top pan. (If this happens, it could cause your frosting to become grainy). Beat constantly on high speed with electric mixer for 7 minutes. Beat in vanilla.