election caramel and applesauce cake

Deep apologies for my blog silence - you could call it election freeze .  I grew up in a very committed Democratic family, and as the election drew closer, and the voting results came in slowly, I headed to the kitchen.  I became obsessed with making caramel.  I made The Pioneer Woman's brown sugar caramel over and over, and it seemed to come out different every time. It would be creamy in the saucepan, and then slowly turn grainy.  That happened a LOT.  As long as I warmed it again, it was creamy and delicious, but as soon as it cooled, it turned grainy again.

So I tried this recipe, which can't be easier, and it stayed creamy and glossy, though I did add a little butter for a deeper caramel flavor.  Then I realized you can't just post an icing recipe - you something to put it on, right?   So when I found Sarah Leah Chase's applesauce cake I thought I was home free.  Nope, didn't have dates, Calvados, or walnuts, which I'm sure would've been delicious - but I plowed ahead and crossed my fingers.  The cake was good, a nice texture, but rather plain without the Calvados/date additions, and because I was riveted to the election returns and the stores were now closed, I just skipped it.  I didn't use her caramel glaze, because it was almost the same as the Pioneer Woman's, and I had two saucepans full of caramel sitting on my counter.  Apologies again, and hope you will try Sarah's recipe in full  - I used half a recipe.

Here is half the recipe of hers that I used for 2 little 6" layer cakes:

6 T. unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 cup homemade applesauce
1 1/2 cups (one and a half) flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
(optional:  1/2 cup pitted dates, cut up, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts - I did not use)
1/4 cup Calvados or rum

I baked two small cake layers, baking at 375F for 35 minutes - but check cakes at around 20 minutes to be sure.

buttermilk lemon cake

How can it be the last day of August already?  The last few months flew by, with me hobbling around with what I was told was gout, but tests confirmed it was not.  Still limping, but slowly able to walk further - to the store to buy ingredients for my daughter's favorite birthday cake!

Buttermilk Lemon cake is a combination of two recipes -  a sticky, lemony cake with a lemon glaze, and a creamy cream cheese and lemon frosting I usually top my carrot cakes with, and it is delicious!  I forgot to take a picture of the big cakes, but there was a tiny "extra" cake with the last of the batter.  I did a hasty piping and dollops of frosting, not so pretty, but it would have to do as an after picture.

Buttermilk Lemon cake

You can use a sheet pan, or several round pans.  Grease the pans and set aside.

Preheat oven to 325F.

3 sticks unsalted butter, room temp

3 cups sugar

zest of 2 lemons

Beat in mixer until blended and creamy, then add:

5 eggs

4 1/2 cups King Arthur flour, all purpose

1 teaspoon baking soa

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 and 1/2 cups buttermilk

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Scrape the batter into the greased pans and bake - it usually takes an hour and ten minutes for mine.  The cake will be slightly brown on top and firm to the touch when you press the center gently.  Remove to wire racks to cool.  While cooling, make the lemon glaze:

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

Place lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, stirring the whole time, then take off heat to cool. 

If using a rectangular pan for the cake, cut the cake into equal rectangles or squares and let cool on a rack.  If using round pans, cool, run a knife around the edge, and very carefully unmold cake onto a wire rack.  Brush the lemon glaze on the cakes .

The Cream Cheese frosting:

In mixer bowl, place:

1 large package cream cheese

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

juice of one lemon (about2-3 tablespoons)

Cream the ingredients, then slowly add:

1 box confectioner's sugar (or 3 1/2 cups loose confectioners sugar)

Pipe or spread on cooled cake, or cake pieces.

One year ago:  Rigatoni with crunchy breadcrumbs and tomatoes

Two years ago:  Simple Carrot soup with fresh ginger

Three years ago:  Hint of Autumn and Spice cookies

Four years ago:  Carrot cake w/cream cheese frosting

carrot cake with cream cheese frosting - and birthday flowers

We are still overwhelmed with snow - lots of snow, hip high as I walk to my car, but just a few days ago I saw the first sign of spring!  The trees across the way are showing melting around their trunks, a sure sign that the sap is rising.  Hooray for Spring!  Even better?  Birthday flowers gracing the table in the kitchen:  tulips and sunflowers, and the potted pale pink geraniums - all of which bring so much joy, even though it was minus 18 degrees that morning.  And a beautiful gold chain strung with the birthstones of my children and grandchildren, sparkling in the morning sun, cherished forever.

When I got a phone call asking for a dessert for the Community Supper in town, I had to celebrate this tiny celebration of Spring with my tried and true Carrot Cake - always delicious , moist, tender, and with the most wonderful frosting ever.  Creamy, lemony. tangy, and a perfect combination of cake and creamy icing - definitely a winning combination.  I used a 9x12 inch pan, and marked off 2x2 inch squares, then piped on the frosting, but you can also do a simple little two layer cake if you wish.

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Grease a 9x12 inch baking pan.

4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup canola oil
2 cups King Arthur flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups packed, finely grated carrots

Beat eggs, add sugar, oil, and dry ingredients.  Add carrots and stir.  Scoop batter into prepared baking pan .
Bake about 45 minutes or until the top of the cake is somewhat firm to the touch.
Remove to cooling rack.  Run a knife around the edges of the cake, and cool another 15 minutes before flipping onto another cooling rack.  Wait fifteen minutes, then flip cake out onto another cooling rack.  Let cool completely before frosting the cake.

The frosting;

1 large package (8 ounces) of cream cheese
1 stick (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
juice of one lemon
one box confectioner's sugar

Beat the ingredients until smooth and creamy.

Smooth onto cooled cake, or pipe ribbons of frosting onto sliced squares of cooled cake.

Welcome, Spring, wherever you are!

snowy dark cherry and chocolate cake

We have heaps and heaps of snow outside -14 inches when I measured yesterday, but of course there are drifts and mountains more from shoveling and snowblowing.  But the sun is up and it looks very, very pretty.  And I drifted snow on this chocolate and cherry cake, (confectioner's sugar, of course), looking equally as pretty against the dark chocolate.

The recipe comes from Life's a Feast, and the first time I made it in a bundt pan, it stuck to the mold, even though I had buttered and greased it heavily.  The second time it stuck again, so this third time, I halved the recipe and used my trusty heavy aluminum 8"x2" cake pan from Wilton.  Perfect.


Chocolate and Dark Cherry cake :

3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 extra large egg, at room temperature

7/8's of a cup of King Arthur flour
1 and a half tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, this time I used Hershey's
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch kosher salt

scant 1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup frozen dark unsweetened cherries, thawed ten minutes and sprinkled with 1 T. sugar
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used Toll House)

Cream the butter and sugar for five minutes, then add the egg and continue to beat for five minutes.
Measure the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into a bowl, stir, set aside.
Measure the milk and vanilla in a glass and set aside.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in two batches, mix again, then add the cherries and chocolate chips.  Stir the batter with a spoon or spatula - it should be smooth and creamy.

Fill the cake pan evenly and bake 25 minutes.  The cake should be mostly firm when you gently press the top with your finger.
Remove cake from oven to a cooling rack, and let cool at least 20 minutes.
Turn the cake, still in the pan, upside down and tap the pan gently with a rolling pin, flip it right side up and run a dull knife around the edge.
Hold your breath and flip the cake onto a rack, place another rack on top gently, then flip the cake right side up.  If there are pieces stuck to the pan, remove with a dull knife and stick onto the cake while the pieces are still warm.

Sift confectioner's sugar over the cake when cooled, and serve.

Happy snow day!

chocolate and fresh dark cherry cake & chilly nights

Oh my goodness, life has been hectic.  The first few chilly almost-freezing nights led to that frantic Oh-my-gosh-winter's-coming awareness.  The plants need to be covered, the trip to the pick-your-own apple orchard.  Izzie's second grade soccer games, and almost-3 year old Frankie in a 2 day kindergarten.  Baby Noah meeting his Aunt Noa.  With both my daughter and daughter-in-law working, and three children's schedules, I happily get called on for babysitting in a pinch.

Furnaces cleaned, wood stoves readied, cleaning up the garden , and making time for hikes and walks before the snow, lots of time in the kitchen, making ratatouille and this wonderful cake from Life's a Feast :  a light chocolate snacking cake, filed with dark unsweetened cherries and semi-sweet chocolate chips.  We had a party in the kitchen one morning at 8 am with a roomful of family and lots and lots of food, including this cake, a stellar memory of September .

The original recipe (see it here) called for bottled cherries, but I used my favorite flash frozen dark sweet pitted cherries, sprinkled a little sugar on them, and let them thaw for 20 minutes or so, so the batter wouldn't be cold.  And for a little more chocolate for all the chocolate lovers I added chocolate chips, but otherwise followed the recipe.  It came out perfectly.


Chocolate and dark cherry cake

Preheat oven to 350F.

Butter or grease a bundt pan very well.  Set aside.

7 tablespoons soft unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature

1 3/4 cups King Arthur flour
3 T. unsweetened cocoa powder ( I used Ghirardelli)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch salt

3/4 cup milk
1 t. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups thawed frozen dark unsweetened cherries
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Cream the butter and sugar for 5 minutes until fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
Measure the flour, cocoa powder, making powder, cinnamon and salt into a bowl and stir, set aside.
Measure the milk and vanilla in a cup and set aside.
Add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the milk and vanilla mixture.
Mix until blended well, then fold in the semisweet chocolate chips and the cherries.

Carefully fill the bundt pan evenly, then bake for 50 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool on cooling rack for at least 20 minutes.  
Carefully tap around the bundt pan with a rolling pin  - hopefully this will help the cake slide out easily.
Upend the cake onto cooling rack and let cool.  Dust with confectioner's sugar or cocoa powder and serve.

September: thunderstorms and emergencies. But there is always Reine de Saba.

  What?  It's September?   Apologies, I have been dealing with one emergency after another. I have not had a good nights slumber in weeks, and I look at my bed with longing and exhaustion.  I cut a little bouquet today, made up of lemon verbena and rosemary - and a few sprigs of white phlox, hoping tonight I might finally get a good night's sleep.

First it was the smoke detectors.

1 am, and I wake to a chirp.  Another chirp, a bleat.  Then all three detectors go off, and I stumble to the phone to call the fire department.  A sleepy eyed volunteer fireman checks the house, pushes a button, and heads off into the night.  The next day I buy new batteries for the detectors, and install them.

Three nights later, the same thing.  12 midnight, and I'm entertaining the firemen again, but this time, the fire horn goes off. I hear the chatter on the firemen's beepers, telling them I don't think we really need all 20 firemen here, and  I promise firmly to call the electrician pronto , who arrives late the next day, who tells me I need new smoke detectors.  I grovel and ask him to show me how to disconnect the detectors, since it is clear there is no emergency.  Four nights of blissful rest, until the new detectors are installed.  One restless night, waiting for the blare again, but so far, so good.  Did you know smoke detectors are only good for ten years?  Me neither.  Mine were 9 1/2 years old - so do the smart thing and get some new ones, if only for uninterrupted sleep.

Then last night, rain and thunderstorms for 12 hours straight.  The rumblings turned into thunderclaps, and lightning strikes:  no phone line and no tv,  computer connection off for ten hours.  The rain thunders down in streams and pounds the roof,  the lightning flashes send me down to sit on the basement steps.  The house shakes, the whole world rumbles and flashes.  I finally fall asleep at 3.

But was there food, you ask.  In between all this, there was making Emeril's delicious Muffuletta for my daughter's luncheon with Izzie, and emailing her the icing for the Reine de Saba cake she made for her Dad.  Harvesting the overgrown Italian parsley for everything from smoothies to pesto-ish sauces.  I'm embracing a longing for homemade bread, as the evening is turning chilly, and making turkey meatballs for Frankie tonight.  The chilly air has me thinking about sweets and soups, so finally, I hope, back to normal.

Sweet dreams, I hope:)

hint of autumn: spectacular lemon curd cake and spice cookies

Right on time, the wind has shifted.  Mornings are suddenly cooler, and I'm drawn to the watery places, before they freeze.  Afternoons are still warm and humid, but early mornings bring the swing of coolness.

I've been busy, making a birthday cake for my daughter, a gorgeous lemon curd delight with a lovely buttercream.  It was so hot that day that the cake slid apart as I delivered it in the late afternoon, only two miles away.  But, boy - it was one of the best cakes I've ever made.  Bookmark, bookmark!

Cookies for my grands, first few days of school, their favorites - spicy, sturdy Spice Cookies for the lunchboxes.  These are terrific for shipping, to all your kids away from home, as well as a welcoming of autumn weather.

Hope you also get out there to enjoy this September weather, wherever you are!

carrot cake with cream cheese frosting updated

This is the updated recipe for that beautiful carrot cake I made for Easter.  As usual, I used a scribbled over recipe glued into my black recipe book, without carrying the changes over to the blog recipes.  Nothing monumental, just tried and true adjustments that I forgot to post.

Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Grease two cake pans ( I used two 8 inch by 2 inch cake pans).

The cake:

4 eggs
1  1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 cups King Arthur flour
2 t. baking powder
2 t. baking soda
2 t. cinnamon
3 cups coarsely grated carrots (much preferred over finely grated)

Beat the eggs, then add the sugar and oil. 

Add the flour, baking powder and baking soda and cinnamon and mix.

Add the grated carrots and mix again.

Scrape into prepared cake pans, filling just about halfway.

Bake for 40 minutes or so - the baking time can be affected by the moisture content of the grated carrots.  To test doneness, gently press the middle of the cake.  If it springs back, it's done.  If it's still looking not fully baked, give it another ten minutes.

Remove cake to cooling rack and let sit until cooled.
Run a dull knife carefully around the cakes, gently prying up the bottom edges.
Flip cake pan over onto cooling rack and knock the bottom with the knife handle before unmolding it carefully.  Let completely cool before frosting.

The cream cheese frosting:

1 large package cream cheese
1 stick (8 T.) unsalted butter, softened
2 T. fresh lemon juice ( or more to taste)
one box confectioner's sugar

Whip ingredients in mixer bowl and spread or pipe onto cake.

Just seeing this piece of carrot cake is making me hungry again!  Enjoy!

the Easter carrot cake

This is a post from 2009 that I never got around to updating.  The 2 year old is now 7, and we have a new 2 year old at the table this year, but the Easter cake is always this one.  Hope to finally update on Easter Day this year:)  Happy Easter to you all!

This has become our traditional Easter cake - an old fashioned southern carrot cake with a cream cheese and butter icing, decorated with marizpan vegetables. This year, we had a two year old assisting, so our decorating wasn't as elaborate as it usually is. But the crowd was delightful , the dinner was grand, and for a few magical moments, we forgot about the four foot high hardpacked snow and ice outside and welcomed Spring!

to make:

2 or 3 cake pans, greased and floured

Preheat oven to 350.

the cake:

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup canola oil

2 cups flour ( I use King Arthur)

2 t. baking powder

2 t. (scant) baking soda

2 t. cinnamon

3 cups finely grated carrots, organic

Beat eggs; add sugar, oil, and dry ingredients. Add carrots and stir. Scoop batter into pans, about halfway full.

Bake about 35-45 minutes - sometimes it takes longer depending on the moisture content of the carrots. Done when the cake pulls away from the sides of the cake pan, and the middle is somewhat firm to the touch.

Remove to cooling rack. Run a knife around the edges of the cake, and cool 15 minutes. Take a spatula and gently loosen the underside of the cake. Flip onto another rack and cool completely before frosting.

the frosting:

1 large package cream cheese

1 stick softened unsalted butter

juice of a lemon

one box confectioner's sugar

Beat til creamy and pipe or spread on cake.

vegetables:

Mix food coloring into store bought marzipan ( I get it in tubes) - we just made green and orange, but you can get more eleborate.

Form into carrots and stick into frosting. Tradition is - the youngest child goes first pulling the carrots out of the cake.

the gingerbread cake

We have had enormous amounts of snow lately.  I spent Friday shoveling snow from early morning to the afternoon, and I tell you, I am weary of snow.  It seems to me we have had storms every other day, and especially on weekends, sorry to say.  But one morning, I woke up and went straight into the kitchen, fully aware it was a gingerbread day.

Gingerbread.  

Ginger, cloves,  and cinnamon.  The spicy scent made me smile, and it was only when the cake was cooling that I realized I was making this cake for my son, now in California.  It was a favorite of his, and I was missing him .  When the cake had cooled, I pulled out the waxed paper and red and white twine, and packaged it up, and sent it off.  

Besides the sheer joy of cooking and baking, I'm reminded how the recipes are full of memories and history.  This is the recipe for my daughter's first birthday cake.  This is the first cookbook I bought with my paycheck.  This is the cookbook that fascinated me, heady with herbs and spices I had so little knowledge of.  And this particular cake reminds me of my children, sticking their fingers into the batter, crowding my tiny kitchen, inhaling this delicious spice-scented and very old fashioned cake.  Thanks always to Craig Claiborne,  editor of the New York Times food section and many, many cookbooks, who opened my eyes (and nose), to the world of cloves and cinnamon, thyme and curry, fresh basil and tarragon, before Julia swooped into our world, and long before I knew my way around the kitchen.

Gingerbread Cake

Grease an 8x8 pan, or an 8 or 9x2 inch round cake pan
Preheat oven to 350F.

1 T. vinegar ( I used my hot chili vinegar, but any kind is fine)
3/4 c. milk
2 cups King Arthur flour, sifted
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
pinch of salt
2 t. ground ginger
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves
1/3 cup canola or other light oil
1/2 c. sugar
1 large egg
3/4 c. molasses

Add the vinegar to the milk and set aside.
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices into a large bowl.

In mixer bowl, add the canola oil and sugar, then the egg, and finally, the molasses.

Add the dry ingredients to the oil, egg, molasses mixture along with the by now curdled milk.  Stir only until mixed, do not overbeat.  

Scrape batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until cake springs back when gently pressed in the center.  

Remove cake to cooling rack until cool, then run a dull knife around the pan and unmold cake to cool further on cooling rack. 

Serve alone or with sweetened whipped cream, vanilla bean ice cream, or a dusting of confectioners sugar or sliced strawberries.  This cake travels well, as long as you wrap it in plastic wrap or waxed paper after cooling completely.

dark chocolate & espresso valentine cakes

Wowser, that was some blizzard we got!  Still digging out from the 3 foot snow that arrived the night of the 7th, but thankful we never lost power.  The last two nights I've fallen asleep still in my snow pants, and I'm thankful to have finally cleared most of the snow that the plows couldn't manage to reach, and the car is finally uncovered.  Bliss.  And now I'm behind on the Valentine express!

What goes together better than chocolate and coffee ?  That's what I thought, and I actually prefer these spongy little cakes to a chocolate bar, at least most of the time.  Intense flavor for a little cake like this, and the thought did cross my mind that whipped cream or buttercream frosting would sandwich nicely between a split cake, especially because they aren't super sweet.  An exalted Devil Dog, if you will, which I have eaten exactly twice in my life, but never forgot.  These could also be made as cupcakes, with a swirl of frosting, wouldn't that be cute?

Adapted from Muffins by Marie Simmons

2 cups King Arthur all-purpose flour

2/3 c. unsweetened cocoa

1/2 cup sugar

2 T. instant coffee or espresso powder

2 t. baking soda

pinch kosher salt

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

1/3 cup double strong brewed coffee

1/3 cup melted unsalted butter

2 t. vanilla

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F.

Grease medium heart shaped muffin tins.

In a mixer bowl, mix in the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda,salt,  and espresso or coffee powder.

In a medium bowl, mix the eggs, milk, coffee, melted butter and vanilla briefly, then add to the flour mix, mixing well.

Add the chocolate chips and mix briefly.

Using an ice cream scoop, fill the muffin cups. 

Bake for 20 minutes, or until the center of the muffin is slightly firm to the touch.

Let cool, then turn out onto a cooling rack.

This makes 15 heart shaped muffins.

Below is a picture of the snow from inside the front storm door.  There was so much snow I couldn't get the door open, so I had to raise the storm door panel and climb out to shovel:)

Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting

What IS it about this last month of summer?  All of a sudden there's a whirl of accidents, openings, last minute plunges into a social life of sorts, sidesteps, and the pleasure of watching the little ones grow and blossom.  Walking into a silent house, I never knew my beloved Domino made so much noise with her greetings, her mouse chases in the night, her rumbling purr of welcome, her cranky days.  Life marches on, without her.  Old photos pop up of my father, and a few of me in my twenties, twitching me off guard.  I would never trade who I am now, for who I was then.  And having a 6 year old and an 18 month old around now and then centers you right properly, until you break a toe taking a photograph of a stunning violet twilight sky.  Which explanation had the doctor laughing.

On my daughter's birthday, she requested our favorite cake:  freshly shredded carrots, pinch of cinnamon, a mound of our favorite cream cheese frosting with the zing of fresh lemon juice, and once again, all was right in the world.  We feasted on rosemary chicken, roasted potatoes, and shredded golden beets and romaine salad, and laughed a lot.  So many blessings.  If you've never made this cake, you're in for a treat.

I made this in an 8"x 8" square pan, but doubled the recipe and used 3 six inch round cake pans for the birthday cake, which promptly fell over.  My advice is to stick with two 8 inch round cake pans if you double the recipe.

The Carrot Cake:

Grease an 8"x8" square pan with shortening.  Press a long piece of waxed paper into the pan, leaving a good 4 or 5 inches of wax paper overhanging.  This will assure you can remove the cake without it sticking, badly.  Grease the waxed paper as well and set aside.

2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola or light olive oil
1 1/4 cups King Arthur flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots ( I use the fine grater cone that came with my KitchenAid mixer)

In mixer bowl, beat the eggs and sugar and canola oil.

Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and carrots.

Scrape into the pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the cake bounces back when gently pressed in the middle.  Remove to cooling rack for 15 minutes.

Run a dull knife around the sides of the cake pan, then gently lift the cake out by the waxed paper overhangs.  Remove to another cooling rack until completely cooled.  The frosting will melt if the cake is not completely cool.


The cream cheese frosting:

1 large package of cream cheese , room temperature
1 stick of soft unsalted butter
juice of a lemon
1 box confectioner's sugar (3 cups)

Whip ingredients well in mixer bowl .  Fit a pastry bag with a star tip and fill the pastry bag, then pipe away.  You can also use a knife or spatula to spread the frosting.  You will have some frosting left over, maybe.  It freezes very well, but because it's so amazingly delicious, you probably won't have any left over.

Happy End of Summer!