Raspberry Ripple Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

What is ironic about this cake is that I made something similar just the other day from the same book -- my Passion For Baking book -- and the first version of this cake was excellent while this one is only so-so. I think part of my problem with this cake though was that I didn't get it into the pan correctly. The book said something about chilling the cake batter, then patting into the bottom and up the sides of the pan before pouring in the cream cheese mixture and the raspberry jam. That part didn't make to much sense to me, so I ended up just patting the batter into the bottom of the pan and then topping it with the other stuff. Alas, my cake did not bake properly.

The instructions say it should bake for 30 minutes or so, but I ended up leaving mine in for around 45-50 and the middle of the cake is still not completely done. Luckily the edges and bottom aren't burned, and it doesn't taste bad, it's just annoying. Especially considering how great the other raspberry coffee cake from the same book turned out to be.

The bottom line for this cake is if this sounds appealing to you, make the other cake first since it's easier to make and tastes great to boot. If you really want to try this one, be sure to chill the dough as instructed and be aware that you may end up baking it much longer than the recipe calls for.




Ingredients:

Filling:
3 0z cream cheese, softened
1 large egg
2 tbsps sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cake:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup cold butter, cut into chunks
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp orange zest
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk

1 cup raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9 inch tart or springform pan with cooking spray. Place pan on parchment-lined baking sheet.

For Filling: in a food processor, blend cream cheese with egg, sugar and vanilla. spoon mixture into a small bowl and set aside. Do not wash food processor bowl.

For cake: combine flour and sugar in food processor. Cut in butter until mixture is a crumbly streusel. Set aside 1/2 cup streusel mixture for topping. Transfer remaining streusel to a mixer bowl and stir in baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and orange zest. Stir in egg, vanilla and buttermilk to make a soft batter. Chill batter about 15 minutes for easier handling.

Spread or pat two-thirds of batter over bottom and up sides of prepared pan (floured hands make this easier). Spread or disperse cream cheese filling and then raspberry preserves on top of batter. Spoon or dollop remaining batter over cream cheese-jam layer. Sprinkle on reserved streusel mixture.

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes (mine took much longer, but be sure to check after 35 minutes) or until the cake tests done. Cool well. Dust with powdered sugar.

British Butter Cake with Rasberry Filling

This is a great cake. Actually, the words I used to describe this cake were "stupid good", and I stand by them now. The cake itself is a really basic vanilla cake with a soft crumb and a great texture. It is sliced in half (easier done if you throw it in the fridge for an hour or two, but possible to do if you just let it cool on the counter for 45 minutes and work carefully), then you smear raspberry jam on the bottom half, then put the top half back on and finish it with a powdered sugar glaze.

Plus, not only is this cake stupid good, it's also ridiculously easy to make, especially if you have a large food processor, and uses ingredients that almost everyone has available. The only slightly exotic ingredient is raspberry extract to use in the glaze, but the notes indicate you can substitute almond extract if you don't have that. I happened to have the extract -- easily picked up at most grocery stores -- because I have wanted to make this cake for a very long time now, and for whatever reason kept putting it off.

The recipe came from my Passion For Baking book and my only quibble is that she did not specify cold or room temperature butter. Most cakes are made with room temperature butter that is creamed with the sugar in the mixer. This recipe did not specify, but the cake is actually made in the food processor and cold butter made a whole lot more sense so that's what I went with, and if the results are any indication that's what I was supposed to use. Also, the glaze in her book did not include the butter, but for anyone familiar with my blog I always use 2 tbsps of melted butter per 1 cup of powdered sugar for all of my powdered sugar glazes because they just taste better that way.

Quick and easy, great flavor and texture, and versatile to boot -- this cake is the little black dress of cakes. It can be dressed up with fresh fruit, or dressed down with a sprinkle of powdered sugar instead of glaze. It would be equally great at served with coffee in the morning, at a backyard bbq, or a fancy dinner and nobody has to know just how easy it is to throw together.




Ingredients:
2/3 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 cup warm milk
2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup raspberry jam

Glaze:
2 tbsps melted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
scant 1/4 tsp raspberry extract (almond if you don't have raspberry)
cream or milk as required to thin it out

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9 inch round cake pan with baking spray.

In a food processor pulse the butter and sugar until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla and blend well. Stir in milk, flour, baking powder and salt and blend 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl as necessary to make a soft batter. Spoon the batter into the pan.

Bake until just beginning to brown and firm to the touch 40-45 minutes. Cool well before removing from the pan and assembling.

Split cake in half horizontally. (I did this by slicing the cake in half and then lifting the edge of the top half and gently sliding a dinner plate under it.) Spread raspberry jam on bottom of the cake then top with the remaining cake. (I lined the plate up with edge of the bottom layer and gently pushed the top layer back on. I think if I had tried to lift it I would have broken it and that would have sucked.)

For glaze: melt butter in a bowl. add powdered sugar and extract and stir. slowly add milk or cream a few drops at a time to get a smearable glaze, then smear it on top of the cake and let it set.

If you really wanted to dress it up, drizzle the glaze attractively (something I'm not very good at) and garnish with fresh raspberries.

Fruit Cake

I have always been puzzled by the fruit cake conundrum. As a food it is pretty much the butt of every Christmas joke, described as hard and dry and nasty tasting, and often filled with strange, candied fruit things that as far as I can tell never started out as fruit. Very few people actually admit to liking it, and when they do it's more of an admission of guilt than a proud proclamation. And yet every year there are dozens and dozens of fruit cakes available in the grocery stores to buy and just as many containers of the candied fruit to take home so that you can make your very own.

If fruit cake is so horrible -- why is it so prevalent this time of year? I have tasted it of course, but only one or two bites before I encountered some horrible menthol-flavored fruit piece that should never be allowed near any food. (did I ever mention the time I ordered a pizza in Taiwan and it came with corn and a menthol cherry sitting proudly in the center...?)

My belief is that not all fruit cakes have to be bad. I have never had a good one before this year, but a recipe that is so enduring and so common has to have good origins... right? Last year the New York Times ran an article about a black fruit cake made with rum and cherry brandy -- I wanted to make it last year, and again this year, but it's fairly involved and I never quite got to it.

Then I was flipping through my Pastry Queen Christmas book and I saw her recipe for fruit cake. Not a candied fruit in site in her recipe, and it looked fairly quick and easy so I decided to go for it. I have to say (with no shame) I like this fruit cake. It's dense, but super moist and chock full of fruit (dates, figs, dried cherries, dried cranberries and apricot jam) and nuts. Plus, it will keep in the fridge for up to 2 months as long as you keep it well covered and brush the top of it with brandy every once in a while -- how cool is that?

If I do bring some of this cake into work though, I will likely not call it a fruit cake lest it sit there uneaten all day. I'm not sure what I will call it, but if I can get people to try it, maybe I can change their minds about the poor maligned fruit cake. Then again, fruit cakes that include those awful candied things probably deserve every bit of their reputation.



Ingredients:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 unpeeled granny smith apple, cored and diced (I just used an apple I had on hand -- braeburn I think)
2 cups pecans, toasted and chopped
1 cup chopped dates
1 cup chopped Calimyrna figs
1 cup chopped mixed dried fruit, such as cranberries, cherries, blueberries, golden raisins, chopped apricots, or chopped peaches (I used cranberries and cherries)
3/4 cup thick, high-quality preserves, such as apricot, pear, peach, or fig
Brandy for brushing on top of the baked cake

Preheat oven to 275. Grease a 10-inch tube pan with butter or cooking spray.

Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and the sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat for 1 minute. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and beat on low speed until just combined. Stir in the apple, pecans, dried fruits, and preserves.

Bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pans. Remove from the oven and let cool completely in the pan, this will take a few hours. Using a pastry brush, paint a light layer of brandy on top of the cooled cake. Wrap the cake in heavy-duty aluminum foil and refrigerate for up to 2 months, brushing with the brandy once a week.

Cream Filled Pumpkin Roll

I washed a lot of dishes to get this pumpkin roll made. It's not that it's a hard recipe really, or even all that time consuming, but I don't have a hand-held mixer, only my stand mixer, and I hate whisking egg whites and cream by hand to stiff peaks -- which means moving the contents of the stand mixer to another bowl, washing it, drying it, and then beating the egg whites/heavy cream to stiff peaks before folding them into the other mixtures. Since you have to get the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold that into the cake batter, and then later whip heavy whipping cream to stiff peaks before folding that into the cream cheese filling -- I had to wash a lot of dishes.

All that work is probably what has prevented me from making this recipe before because I have seen it in my Pastry Queen book dozens of times and every Fall I have thought to myself "I should make that this year" but I never have before. I think part of it is that it looks difficult to make -- but it's really not. The book version has the cake topped with caramel, white chocolate, dark chocolate and whipped cream -- but I simply topped mine with some store bought caramel I had in the fridge. I know it's blasphemous, but I wanted to use that stuff up and I was tired of washing dishes by that point.

If I was going to present this as a dessert at a party I would probably have dressed it up a bit more with the home-made caramel and chocolate drizzle, but it's just going to go to work with Chris tomorrow and get eaten by his coworkers throughout the day so I figured it wasn't worth all that. Besides, it's damn tasty just like it is so why mess with good? (of course to answer my own question: because you can elevate good to great, great to sublime, and sublime to OMG-this-is-the-best-thing-I- have-eaten-and-if-you-don't-back-off-I-will-stab-you-my-fork.) but today "good" was good enough for me. chalk it up to the dishes.


Ingredients:
4 large eggs separated
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground all spice
1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree (canned is fine)
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Filling:
2 (3.5 oz) packages cream cheese at room temp
1 cup mascarpone cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 generous tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup toasted pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Caramel Sauce
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unslated butter
3/4 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons dark rum

Garnish
2 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup toasted pecan or walnut halves
2 oz dark chocolate (for garnish)
2 oz white chocolate (for garnish)

To make the cake: preheat oven to 350. Cover the bottom of a 12 x 17 inch rimmed baking pan with parchment paper and lightly coat with cooking spray. Using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg yolks in a large bowl on medium-high speed about 2 minutes, until thick and frothy. Add the brown sugar and mix on medium speed for 1 minute longer. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the egg yolk mixture, one third at a time, beating on medium speed between each addition until incorporated. Add the pumpkin and mix on low speed until combined.

Pour the egg whites into a clean, large bowl. Using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip them on high speed 1 to 2 minutes, until soft peaks form. Add the granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating on high speed after each addition until incorporated. Fold the egg whites gently into the batter. Spoon the batter evenly into the pan and smooth carefully: it will not even out as the cake bakes. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the cake is golden brown and springs back when touched lightly. Let the cake cool for 15 minutes.

To make the filling: using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until creamy. Add the mascarpone and beat until incorporated. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, all spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt; beat on medium high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Stir in the nuts. In a separate large bowl, whip the cream using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment on high speed about 1 to 2 minutes, until soft peaks form. Fold the whipped cream gently into the cream cheese mixture.

Remove the cake from the pan without peeling off the parchment paper. Top the cake with the filling. Begin peeling the cake away from the parchment paper as you roll it up, starting with the short end closest to you. When the cake is completely rolled up, set it on a rectangular serving plate or wrap it well and refrigerat it for up to 2 days.

To make the caramel sauce: Heat the sugar over medium heat in a heavy duty sauce pan utnil it is completely melted and turns amber in color, about 5 minutes. Decrease the heat to low, add the butter all at once, and stir to combine. (it will bubble up) Add the cream, a couple of tablespoons at a time, stirring to combine between each addition. Adding the cream slowly keeps the caramel from clumping. Continue stirring until the caramel sauce is melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the rum. You'll have about 1 1/2 cups sauce. It can be stored in a covered glass container in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. Reheat in the microwave.

To make the topping. Using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beta the cream on medium high speed until it is thick with medium soft peaks forming. Beat in the powdered sugar. For a fancy flari, partially fill a pastry bag fitted with a start tip with the whipped cream and pite a fat line down the middle of the roll. Arrange the nuts in a line on top of the whipped cream.

Place the dark and white chocolate in separate bowls and melt in a microwave on medium high power, about 45 seconds. Stir and return to the microwave for 15 seconds more if not fully melted. Using a spoon for each, drizzle the melted dark and white chocolate over the top of the cake in a zigzag patter.

To serve, cut the roll with a searrated knife and serve with the caramel on the side.

Noon on Wednesdays...

One of the first requests we got when we starting messing around with cake decorating was for a boob cake -- yeah, go figure. As far as I can tell everyone who has ever decorated cakes, has at least gotten the request. I remember my mom making a boob cake for a friend of my dad's when I was a kid. A quick search of google pictures turned up literally dozens of boob cakes, from the fairly pg to the downright x-rated. When we went to the cake store and asked about pans the women working there immediately talked about the boob cake that the woman who owned the store had made for one of them, complete with a pastry cream filling. We also found a line of books by Debbie Brown that were Naughty Cakes and we managed to find one called Xtra Naughty Cakes at the local bookstore which we bought for inspiration.

Our first attempt at this ran into a few snags. First the color we got the "skin" was a bit off. We quickly decided to call it the "spray-on-tan" cake because that's the color we ended up with. Next, we didn't quite have enough fondant to cover it so we rolled it out very thin and then it ended up ripping in a couple of places. We covered the worst of the rips with a strategically placed heart "tattoo" and just patched the other one as best we could. The super thin fondant also meant that all the lumps and bumps of the cake under the fondant were pretty visible, so the cake went from the "spray-on-tan" boobs to "the fake boobs you would get at the strip club in the poor part of town at noon on a Wednesday...." 'nuff said.



This was practice of course, there will be more boob cakes in the future as we perfect the techniques required. All things considered, it didn't turn out half bad, and as usual, Chris did 90% of the work on the fondant which is why it turned out looking as good as it does. Next time will be better... The cake is the vanilla pound cake which is covered in the same swiss buttercream I used for the little flour cupcakes.

Marshmallow Fondant

After our first attempt with fondant the other day, Chris and I got to wondering about homemade fondant. The Wilton stuff was great to work with and it tasted okay, but we wanted to know if there was a homemade version that would be just as easy to work with, but better tasting.

We looked around online and quickly found a site (Confections of a Food Bride -- which I would normally link to, but it seems to be down right now) that had a recipe for marshmallow fondant. We were intrigued of course and immediately made plans to make a cake and decorate it with fondant, which is actually the real reason we made the Mojito Cake the other day. As with the banana fondant cake, we took a recipe that originally made two 9x2 cakes and instead made two 8x2 cakes and two 4x2 cakes and used the smaller cakes for the experiment.

This fondant was everything the other bloggers said it would be. The recipe was easy to make and except for the fact that it stuck here and there easy to deal with. Once it mellowed overnight wrapped in plastic wrap it was easy to roll out and just as useful and pliant as the store bought stuff we used. One note though, we turned the air conditioner off for a while in the middle of the afternoon and the humidity seemed to make it a bit stickier which we fixed by using plenty of powdered sugar to make it easier to deal with, and eventually by turning the air conditioning back on.

The marshmallow fondant simply said to add 1-2 tsps of flavor -- any flavor you want for your fondant. With the mojito flavors in mind, we opted to use lime oil -- 1/2 tsp to be exact -- which created a mild lime flavor in the otherwise sweet, but virtually flavorless fondant. We used the same rum flavored Italian meringue buttercream frosting for the filling and base coat of the mini-cakes as we used on the original cake. The amazing thing was that after the lime-flavored fondant sat on the cake for a day, the frosting underneath the fondant picked up the lime flavors which only intensified them. It's a useful thing to note -- using leftover lime fondant on a chocolate cake could create some interesting and possibly undesirable flavor combinations.

Now that we have a good base fondant recipe the sky is the limit for the combinations we plan to create. Chris is already talking about our next cake hinting a couple of times that we have lime fondant left to use up, and he has suggested making homemade marshmallows to use for homemade fondant. :)



Ingredients:
16 oz bag plain marshmallows (the small ones, not the jumbo ones)
2 Tbsp water
shortening, for greasing bowls
1-2 tsp flavoring
2 lb confectioner’s sugar, divided
pinch of salt

Grease a microwave safe bowl, a spoon, the dough hook, and the bowl of your stand mixer with shortening (grease it well).

Place the marshmallows and water in the greased microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 60 seconds. Stir with the greased spoon. If all the marshmallows have not melted, microwave for 30 seconds more. Stir in flavoring.

Place confectioner’s sugar and salt in the stand mixer bowl, reserving 1 cup, and make a well in the center. Pour in the marshmallow mix and turn the mixer on to the lowest setting. When it sounds strained, increase the mixer speed up one setting. Turn off the mixer once all sugar has been incorporated. If the fondant is sticky, add the reserved confectioner’s sugar 1/4 cup at a time.

Turn fondant out onto plastic wrap. Rub a bit of shortening on the outside of the ball. Wrap in plastic wrap, place in a ziploc bag, and let rest for at least 2-3 hours. Keep unused portions covered when not using. If the fondant becomes stiff, place in microwave for 20 seconds at a time until pliable.

Roll out on a greased mat/fondant circle to the desired thickness.

Walnut Torte with Dark Rum Syrup

This is one of the recipes in the Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey book that I knew I had to make -- in fact, this was probably the primary reason why I bought the book in the first place. So why, oh why, has it taken me 3 weeks to make this cake? No idea really... I know I wanted to make it last week but I was out of walnuts, but I finally remedied that problem on Saturday and now the time has come...

First -- when you beat the egg whites to stiff peaks they pretty much look and taste like marshmallow fluff. There's nothing wrong with marshmallow fluff of course, and really, I suppose it's not surprising that they turned out like that, but it did surprise me a bit before I really thought it through. (egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar...)

Secondly -- 10 minutes to bring the syrup to a thick maple syrup consistency? Not in my kitchen. I simmered for at least 20 minutes, and probably much closer to 25 before I got even close to a thick maple syrup consistency, but even then I probably could have gone longer. But of course this is why I bake and don't cook, because left to my own devices I would have pulled the syrup off the stove after 10 minutes since that's what the recipe said. But Chris was there to help me out and he insisted that it wasn't done yet, and he stuck around to help me keep checking it for the right consistency. So, thanks to Chris, it's probably a lot closer than it would have been if I pulled it off after 10 minutes.

The other thing about the syrup is that there was a lot of it. A whole lot of it. I considered not pouring all of it onto the cake, but I kept telling myself that this was a Greek recipe and the Greeks made baklava which meant they probably wanted all the super sweet rum syrup on the cake. And boy, am I glad I talked myself into putting it all onto the cake. Yum.

Yes the cake is super sweet, but it is so very good. The top is slightly crispy/cracky, while the bottom is soaked in the rich, sweet syrup and all throughout the cake is lots and lots of crunchy walnuts. For someone like me who loves texture and flavor, this cake is a dream come true. I'm also really glad I resisted the urge to use the food processor on the walnuts -- sure, it would have been much quicker, but chopping by hand put a lot of textural differences into the cake, which is just the sort of thing I love.

My only warning is that if you make this cake, use a rum that you like the flavor of because you will taste it. If you don't like rum, or you use a generic, cheap brand, the cake will probably taste awful, and that would be a crying shame. I used Pyrat Reserve which has been aged 7 years -- which is my go-to baking (and sipping) rum. Oh, and I suppose I should warn you that you'll be a sticky mess cutting into the cake, but then again, that's the name of the book I pulled the recipe from. :)




Ingredients:
3 cups very finely chopped walnuts, toasted (the book wants them chopped first, then toasted -- I did mine for 2 minutes, stirred, then toasted 2 more minutes for a very light toast since I really dislike the flavor of over-toasted nuts)
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
6 large eggs, separated, and at room temp
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
pinch of cream of tarter

For the Rum Syrup:
1 3/4 cups water
2 cups sugar
2 or 3 tbsps dark rum

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, stir together the walnuts, flour, baking powder, and salt.

Place the egg yolk in a bowl and the whites in a large stainless steel mixing bowl. Whisk the egg yolks, gradually adding 1/2 cup of the sugar a little at a time. Keep whisking until the sugar is incorporated, the yolks are thick and creamy, and the sugar is dissolved and not gritty. Whisk in the vanilla. Fold the walnut mixture into the beaten egg yolks. The mixture will be very thick. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer set at low speed, beat the egg whites and cream of tarter together until frothy. Increase the speed to medium and beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Increase the mixer speed to high and add the remaining 1 cup sugar to the egg whites, 1 tablespoon at a time. Beat just until all the sugar is incorporated and the whites form stiff, glossy peaks.

Add a large dollop of the egg whites to the walnut mixture and fold in to loosen and lighten the batter. Carefully fold the remaining egg whites into the batter, taking care not to deflate them. Fold just until the egg whites are fully incorporated into the walnut batter and only a trace of white streaks remain.

Lightly grease a 10-inch round springform pan or spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Spoon the batter into the pan and smooth the top with the back of a spatula. Bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the torte comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes.

While the torte is baking, make the syrup. Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to high and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the mixture is the consistency of thick maple syrup (the book says 10 minutes, but mine went at least 20 and still wasn't all that thick...). Remove from the heat and stir in the rum. Let the syrup cool slightly until it is just warm.

Transfer the torte to a wire rack. Pierce the torte in the pan all over with a wooden skewer and slowly pour the warm syrup over the torte while it, too, is still warm. Let the torte cool completely while the syrup soaks all the way through it. When the cake is completely cool, it can be covered with plastic wrap while still in the pan and chilled until ready to serve. If you like, it can also be served at room temp. To remove the torte from the pan, run a thin spatula or knife around the edge of the torte to loosen it before removing the sides of the pan. Leave the torte on the base of the springform pan, as it will be too delicate and syrupy to successfully transfer it to another plate without tearing.

Pineapple Skillet Upside-Down Cake

I have had a pineapple sitting on my counter for well over a week now. I kept thinking I would slice it up and eat it at work, but for whatever reason it never worked out like that. This week I'm working swings and I don't snack at work as much so I knew I wouldn't really want to just eat it. I started looking for some recipes that use fresh pineapple and of course found a pineapple upside-down cake.

It was an obvious choice to make an upside-down cake, but I found a couple of different versions and opted for the slightly different version -- made in a skillet. I got the recipe from our Rick Bayless Mexican Everyday book and while there aren't a lot of desserts in the book, this one looked interesting and slightly less guilt inducing than most cakes. I like the dinners in the book since they tend to focus on fresh ingredients and really basic meals, but I also know that every time we plan to use it for dinner, we have to add at least 30 minutes to the time we think the meal will take to make since there are so many steps that sound simple, and end up being fairly time-consuming.

This cake was no exception. In concept it sounds quick and easy. Heat up butter in a pan, pour it in a bowl, sprinkle brown sugar and pineapple into the skillet, mix cake ingredients, pour that over the pineapple then bake. Of course, first I had to cut up the pineapple. Not hard to do, but it takes time. You also have to make brown butter in the skillet -- again, not hard at all, but time-consuming.

My other complaint is that in his blurb about the cake he mentions that the fruit is sauteed in the pan before being topped with the cake mixture and baked, but in his instructions he just has you layer the fruit on top of the brown sugar in the hot pan -- no mention of whether the pan should still be on the stove heating up or whether it should be pulled off the heat. I ended up pulling the pan off the heat since it didn't specify, but in the finished product I wish I would have cooked the pineapple some to have it break down a little more -- either that or I should have cut it into smaller pieces.

The cake wasn't bad at all, but I wanted more cake and a little less pineapple. That's probably what I get for opting for the "healthier" version. I usually skip right over anything that labels itself "healthy" "fat-free" "low-fat" and especially "vegan" since those labels almost always (there are exceptions of course) also mean low flavor, dry, or just plain nasty -- at least as far as dessert is concerned.

I used half regular flour and half whole-wheat pastry flour in the cake -- the book calls for half whole wheat and half regular -- the flavor was good and it wasn't dry... I just wanted more cake to fruit proportions. I guess it just goes back to my philosophy towards dessert, I don't get to eat a lot of what I make, so I want those two or three bites I do eat to be really, really good.
This was only okay -- at least in my opinion.



Ingredients:
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 cups 1/2 inch cubed, cleaned pineapple
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (or more all purpose flour)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup white sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt

Preheat the oven to 375. Melt the butter in a large (10-inch) skillet, with an ovenproof handle, over medium heat. Swirl the butter in the skillet until it turns nut-brown, then pour it into a medium bowl. Without wiping out the skillet, sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the bottom. Top with the fruit in an even layer.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, soda and baking powder. Add the white sugar to the browned butter and whisk until thoroughly combined. Whisk in the egg, then the buttermilk or yogurt. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ones and whisk to combine.

Pour the batter evenly over the fruit in the skillet. Put the skillet in the oven and bake 30-35 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and springy to the touch. Remove and let cool 10 minutes.

Invert on a plate and serve.

Celtic Oatmeal-Coconut Crunch Tea Cake

I thought I was going to skip baking tonight -- just didn't feel like messing with anything. But then I found myself paging through a couple of books and eying a couple of recipes. After considering and dismissing several recipes I really thought I was going to give myself a night off when I flipped to this recipe in my Passion for Baking book.

Like the Vintage Caramel Cake, this recipe looks different from most other cake recipes out there. It's a one-layer, 9-inch round cake topped with a broiled oatmeal & coconut frosting. I've certainly never seen or tasted anything like it, but it sounded like something I wanted to try. As an added bonus, the author (Marcy Goldman) says it's a typical Irish cake, and with St. Patrick's Day right around the corner that makes it perfect. Of course, I'm not quite sure that coconut is a traditional Irish ingredient, but whatever.

The bottom line is that this cake is good -- very good. Granted, the topping is incredibly sweet and rich, but it contrasts so nicely with the cinnamon-oatmeal flavor of the cake. Actually, that's kind of what the whole thing reminds me of... a super sweet and rich bowl of cinnamon & brown sugar oatmeal -- which actually isn't all that surprising if you take a look at the list of ingredients. (on second thought... it's also really similar to a pecan pie filling too -- just in cake form) Chris and I had our piece while it was still warm from the oven and it was difficult for me to hand the plate over to Chris. I really wanted more, but I also like my current pant size so tough choices have to be made.

I was a bit worried when I pulled the finished cake out of the oven because you bake the cake until it's done, then spread the topping on and broil for a few minutes to make the topping melt and bubble -- but what about getting the cake out of the pan? I was actually going off for a bit about why the cake wasn't baked in a springform pan which would have made perfect sense -- although thinking it through a little more carefully, I have a hunch the cake batter was too runny for a springform. In the end, it didn't matter. The cake popped right out of the pan with no problems. We pulled the invert on one plate, then invert right-side-up on another plate routine, and it worked perfectly.

But this incident actually goes back to one of my quibbles with this book -- certain things just aren't very clear and that can get annoying. She doesn't really tell you how long to mix things, she uses the wrong words for techniques (i.e. fold the flour in with the mixer -- folding flour is fine, but you sure don't use a mixer to do it), and in this case, it would have been helpful if she had addressed the issue of the pan. Most times I might not notice, and as a fairly experienced baker I can sort through 90% of these issues with no problems, but despite all the good recipes in this book, I couldn't recommend it to a beginner baker because of all these sorts of issues.




Ingredients:
Cake:
1/4 cup boiling water
1 cup very hot milk
1 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch ground nutmet
1/8 tsp salt

Oatmeal-Crisp Broiled Topping
4 tbsps unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup half-n-half or whipping cream
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Generously spray a 9-inch round cakepan with nonstick cooking spray. Place on baking sheet.

In a medium bowl, stir boiling water, hot milk, and oats together and let stand 20 minutes.

In a mixer bowl, cream butter with brown sugar until smooth. Mix in eggs and vanilla and blend well. Fold in oat mixture and then flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Blend to make a smooth batter, making sure no butter/sugar bits stick to the bottom of the mixing bowl. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until cake springs back when gently pressed with fingertips. Remove cake from oven.

Meanwhile, while cake bakes, in a medium bowl blend together all topping ingredients.

Set the oven on broil. Spread topping on cake and place cake under broiler on second shelf for 3 to 5 minutes until topping begins to bubble, watching carefully so it does no burn. Cool well.

Oh-So-Coconutty Cupcakes

If you don't like coconut, you will hate these cupcakes. Which is great for the rest of us, because they are good. There is coconut milk, coconut extract and coconut in the cupcakes themselves. Then more coconut extract in the frosting and of course coconut for a garnish.

The edges are slightly chewy/crispy, the center moist and cakey, just like you want a good cupcake to be. I'm not a huge fan of buttercream frosting, but I like this version... of course I adapted it a bit, but that's okay. I got the recipe for these out of my Passion for Baking book (which is where the blueberry oatmeal recipe came from as well.) For the most part I like the book and her recipes, but I do have a few quibbles here and there. In this recipe, it was the frosting. She calls for 3 to 4 cups of powdered sugar and 3 to 6 tablespoons of milk or water, as well as some other stuff. But in her instructions she wants you to dump all of the ingredients into the mixer or food processor and mix away.

I ended up doing 3 cups of powdered sugar, then 2 tablespoons of rum (rum and coconut just go together) along with the rest of the ingredients and mixing away. I needed more liquid than the two tablespoons, but I thought the rum flavor was pronounced enough, so I added a tablespoon of half & half and got the consistency and flavor I wanted. Her instructions were a bit confusing, but I suppose it was easy enough to figure out. My other quibble is she always says "fold in flour" even when she intends you to use the food processor to mix the flour into the batter... I don't know about you, but I think it's impossible to fold flour with a food processor.

Oh, and why pink? Because the frosting in the book was a bright, brilliant white -- mine was off-white, bordering on yellow. I had food coloring and figured with Valentine's Day right around the corner I could get away with pink. And of course, I like pink. :)

Her recipe as she wrote it, but my notes on the frosting will be in parenthesis.

Ingredients:
Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 large eggs
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 tsp pure coconut extract
1/4 tsp pure almond extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup chilled coconut milk (in the fridge for 2-3 days)
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Coconut Frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 to 4 cups confectioners' sugar (start with 3 cups -- you probably won't need 4.)
Milk or water, as required -- 3 to 6 tbsp (or 2 tbsp good rum, and 1-2 tbsp milk or cream)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp pure coconut extract
1/4 tsp pure almond extract
food coloring if desired

Finishing Touch:
coconut for garnish

Preheat oven to 375. Spray a muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. (okay, actually the book wants you to you use muffin papers in the pan, then spray the muffin papers, but I think that dries the cupcakes out so I don't use them. I put papers on my cupcakes after they had cooled for 5 minutes or so.)

In a food processor, finely pulverize sugar 1 to 2 minutes. Add butter and process to blend butter and sugar well. Add eggs and extracts and process to blend. Fold in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and pulse to blend a bit. Add chilled coconut milk. Blend well. Fold coconut in briefly.

Using an ice-cream scoop, deposit batter into prepared pan, filling almost full. Place on upper rack of oven, immediately reduce oven temp to 350 and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until cupcakes are golden and spring back when gently pressed with fingertips. Cool well.

Meanwhile, whip Coconut Frosting ingredients in food processor or a mixer until light and fluffy, adding food coloring, if desired. Smear frosting on cupcakes. Sprinkle coconut on top.

Cranberry Maple Pudding Cake

I love cranberries. I never liked them much as a kid, but then again, I don't really remember encountering them in any other way than canned cranberry sauce. It was the first Thanksgiving meal that I put together from the Bon Appetit magazine that led me to make cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries. I didn't actually eat that much of it, but I made it the next year too... and for that matter for almost every year since then.

I also branched out into cranberry orange breads, and a couple of cranberry upside down cakes. All delicious. There is just something about the super tart cranberries combined with oranges in a cake or bread that I find incredibly appealing. Adding maple to the mix just increased the yumminess factor.

I made this at Chris' parents house and they only had self-rising corn meal which is pre-mixed with flour, which meant that it wasn't as grainy as it would have been with the stone ground corn meal I have at home. It tasted great though. The layer of cake soaked up a lot of the liquid from the cranberry maple mixture, leaving a layer of nice dry cake, a layer of "pudding cake", and a layer of cranberry sauce.

Ingredients

2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

1 cup pure maple syrup (grade B or grade A dark amber)

2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

3/4 teaspoon finely grated orange peel

Pinch plus 1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup yellow cornmeal (preferably stone-ground)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 large egg3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Crème Fraîche, softly whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 400°F.

Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in medium bowl. Whisk egg and sugar in another medium bowl. Whisk milk, melted butter, and vanilla into egg mixture. Add flour mixture to egg mixture; whisk to blend.

Pour warm cranberry mixture into 11x7x2-inch or 8x8x2-inch glass or ceramic baking dish. Pour batter over.Bake cake until golden and cranberry mixture bubbles at edges, about 28 minutes. Cool 15 minutes.

Serve cake warm topped with crème fraîche, whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream.

Tiny Whiskey Glazed Eggnog Cakes

The Pastry Queen called these tiny in the title -- but they are standard-sized cupcakes. Since she is from Texas, I suppose they might be tiny to her, especially considering she does most of her "normal" versions in a Texas-size muffin pan, but to the rest of us, they are normal.

This recipe says it is an eggnog cake, but there isn't any eggnog in the recipe. Just lots of eggs, whipping cream, whiskey and nutmeg -- she has a recipe for homemade eggnog in the book though, and I think Chris is planning to make some later tonight. -- and from the looks of that recipe those are the base ingredients for eggnog.

The cakes are very delicately flavored, with just a hint of whiskey and nutmeg in a basic pound cake. With the glaze and nutmeg garnish the sweetness is intensified a bit, and even more of the nutmeg/whiskey combination comes out. Yum. She said in the recipe that she used Crown Royal for the whiskey so we went with that.

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temp

3 cups sugar

6 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp kosher salt

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup whiskey (Crown Royal is good)

2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Glaze

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup whiskey

3 cups powdered sugar

freshly grated nutmeg for garnish

Preheat oven to 325. Spray 3 standard size muffin pans with baking spray. Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl on medium speed until light anf fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and salt. Turn the speed to low and add the flour 1 cup at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition.

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream until soft peaks form. Using a large rubber spatula, fold the whipped cream into the butter mixture. Fold in the whiskey and nutmeg.

Fill the muffin pans three-fourths full with batter. Do not overfill the pans, or the muffins will be difficult to remove. Tops each with a sprinkling of nutmeg. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool in th epans for 5 minutes, then unmold on wire racks to cool completely.

To make the whiskey glaze, whisk together the milk, whiskey, and powdered sugar until combined. Drizzle over the cakes.

Garnish with a sprinkling of nutmeg. The cakes can be served immediately, or left until the glaze dries.