Blueberry Buckle

Did you know that blueberries are grown in Florida?  More specifically, they're grown awfully close to where I live?  I've lived in the Tampa Bay area for over ten years, and I had no idea, until I Google-searched for some strawberry picking and found out I was way late on that.  I did, however, find blueberry farms.  I completely made my son's day the first time we went blueberry picking.  We've been several times, most recently on the last weekend of blueberry season at a local blueberry and blackberry farm, and came away with 5 pounds of blueberries.  My mother had told me that when she was little, her mother used to make something called blueberry buckle when they went blueberry picking up north, so I thought I'd do the same.

I did my homework and found several different recipes - some more cake-like, and some more biscuit-like.  I erred on the cake side of things, because doesn't cake just make everything better?  It does in my world.  So, I fiddled around and compiled a couple of different recipes, and wound up with this recipe.  It's got a wonderful streusel topping, and it can be used with fresh or frozen blueberries.  Best part of this recipe?  It's so easy, and blueberries are so wonderful for you, health-wise, that the fact that they're in a cake is perfectly okay!

My husband likes to eat his blueberry buckle warmed up with some half and half on the bottom

Blueberry Buckle
Printer-friendly recipe
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup softened unsalted butter
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups fresh blueberries

Streusel topping
1/4 cup softened unsalted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease an 8x8 or 9x9 square pan.
2. Cream together the softened butter and white sugar until well mixed.  Add egg and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients well.  Add to butter/sugar/egg mixture, 1/3 at a time, alternating with your 1/2 cup of milk.  Gently fold in blueberries, then transfer batter to your greased square pan.
4. To make the streusel topping: Mix brown sugar, white sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter well.  This mixture will be a little bit crumbly.  Sprinkle mixture over the top of your batter.
5. Bake at 375 for 28-30 minutes.  Let cool before serving.  My husband prefers it served warm, so he puts in the microwave for a few minutes after he cuts a slice.

P.S. - Stay tuned for my next recipe next week, a marinara spaghetti sauce that reminds me of Maggiano's!  :)

Chocolate Chip Marble Bundt Cake

I made a cake recently for my husband's boss's wife's birthday (wow, say that one ten times fast), and it was quite a hit. I was looking for something relatively easy to make, as I'd just made Coca-Cola Cake, which isn't exactly rocket science, but it sure does make a lot of dirty dishes. I came across this recipe through Tastespotting (a.k.a. crack for food bloggers, like me), and I knew it was perfect for this.

This cake came together quite easily, and was darn tasty. Or so I've heard. Husband forgot to bring home my piece, or perhaps he ate it and didn't want to cop to it, I'm not sure. Either way, someone picked up a camera, fortunately, and took a snap of the cake before devouring it. I will definitely make this again, it makes for a very pretty cake.

Chocolate Chip Marble Bundt Cake
Adapted from Buttercake Bakery and the Los Angeles Times
Printer-friendly recipe

Use the butter wrappers to grease the pan before dusting it with flour. And as much as you'll want to devour this cake ASAP after baking, give it a couple hours to really cool and rest out of the pan before serving--the flavor and texture is well worth the wait. This cake stays extraordinarily moist for days on end kept in a cake dome at room temperature.

Serves 12 to 16

2 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I like Valrhona)
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, divided
2 2/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk, at room temperature
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I like Ghiradelli)

In a small saucepan, whisk together 1/2 cup of the sugar, the cocoa powder and corn syrup with 1/2 cup hot water. Bring just to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Set aside.

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees. Butter and lightly flour a 12-cup bundt pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter with the remaining sugar until light in color and fluffy, about two minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time until thoroughly incorporated. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl. Beat in the remaining vanilla.

Reduce the mixer speed to low, and beat in a third of the flour mixture just until the flour begins to disappear into the batter. Beat in half the milk. Beat in another third of the flour, then the rest of the milk, and finish with the remaining flour until the batter is smooth. Stop the mixer and gently fold in the chocolate chips.

Scoop out a third of the batter into a medium bowl, whisk in the chocolate syrup and set aside. Pour another third of the batter into the prepared bundt pan and smooth it with a spatula. Pour the chocolate batter into the pan evenly over the first layer. Finish by pouring the last third of the vanilla batter over the top. Lightly swirl the batters with a wooden skewer or knife to give a "marble" effect--a continuous figure-8 motion while going around the pan works well.

Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and the cake springs back lightly when touched, about 60-70 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack. Invert the cooled cake onto a serving platter and dust lightly with powdered sugar before serving if desired. Store any leftovers in a cake dome at room temperature for 4-5 days, maybe more.

Fudge Coca Cola Cake

Have you ever had Coca Cola Cake? If you haven't, boy are you in for a treat. Coca Cola Cake is a traditional Southern dessert that is all about decadence. This is a super rich, fudgy cake that you won't soon forget. I had my first slice of Coca Cola at a Cracker Barrel when I was pregnant with my son a few years ago, and I positively had a hankering for it throughout the rest of my pregnancy! I would go out of my way to stop by Cracker Barrel, which only has the cake seasonally. I had my employees pick up a slice if they had lunch at Cracker Barrel. I had quite an addiction.

I first came across a copycat recipe while still pregnant, but it wasn't quite right. It took a lot of tinkering to get to this point - I think this cake is almost as good, if not as good or possibly a tiny bit better, than Cracker Barrel's. I promise you, this cake will satisfy your sweet tooth like no other!

Fudge Coca Cola Cake (like Cracker Barrel)
Printer-friendly recipe

1 cup coca cola
1/2 cup butter
1 square semi sweet baking chocolate
3/4 cup miniature marshmallows
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1. Place in a saucepan, the cola, butter, and chocolate baking square; bring to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and add marshmallows, stirring until all is blended and the marshmallows disappear. Set aside to cool enough or to room temperature.
3. In a mixing bowl blend the sugar, shortening, oil, and vanilla until fluffy.
4. Add buttermilk and eggs; beat until smooth.
5. Mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add half of the flour mixture to the shortening and egg mixture and beat scraping bowl time to time.
6. Add cooled cola mixture and beat.
7. Add remainder of the flour mixture and beat until completely smooth, about 3-4 minutes. Batter will be thick. Place batter in a 9x13-inch oiled and floured baking pan.
8. Set pan on top shelf in a preheated 350: oven for 35-45 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick. Make sure to frost cake while still warm - but NOT hot! Wait about 20-30 minutes after the cake is taken out of the oven to frost.

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup cocoa
1/4 cup Coca Cola (plus 2-3 Tbsp if needed)
1/4 cup Hershey's chocolate syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar

1. After cake comes out of the oven, cream together butter and cocoa.
2. Add the cola, chocolate syrup, and vanilla; beat until smooth.
3. Add sugar a little at a time and beat constantly. Scrape the side of the bowl down from time to time to get all of the ingredients into the frosting. If the frosting seems a little dry, add a little more cola and beat well.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake

This was my first triple-layer cake, and honestly, I don't know that I'd do another one. One piece of a two-layer cake is heaven, but one piece of a three-layer cake was a bit much, even for me.

As you may remember, I'm on the hunt for the perfect yellow cake, and had heard that this one might just be it. It comes from the famed Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes cookbook, which I've heard nothing but wonderful things about, so I was really excited to give this recipe a try. I'll tell you this much - it definitely looked beautiful, but it didn't taste as awesome as I wanted it to.

The cake was a bit dry for my taste, though it was still tasty - I am looking for the perfectly moist, buttery, yellow cake to make for Baby's birthday next month. This, unfortunately, was not it. It was, however, a super cake and was a big hit at a recent dinner party I had. The frosting was not as awesome as I'd hoped for, either, now that I think about it, I've definitely had better fudge frosting, but this one sure did pipe pretty.

**UPDATE: I'm such a tool. I totally did make a three-layer cake before this one. The now-infamous Tiramisu Cake I made for Husband's birthday was my first three-layer cake. That tasted way better than this one.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake
from Sky High, Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne

Printer-friendly recipe

4 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
3 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cake pans or spray to coat with vegetable oil. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and grease the paper.
2. Put the eggs and yolks in a medium mixing bowl, add the vanilla and 1/4 cup of the buttermilk. Whisk to blend well.
3.. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl; whisk to blend. Add the butter and the remaining 1 cup buttermilk to these dry ingredients and with the mixer on low, blend together. Raise the mixer speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
4. Add the egg mixture in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl and mixing only until thoroughly incorporated. Divide the batter among the 3 prepared pans.
5. Bake the cake layers for 28-32 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let the layers cool in the pans for 10 minutes; then carefully turn out onto wire racks, peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely.
6. To assemble the cake, place one layer, flat side up, on a cake stand or serving plate. Spread 3/4 cup of the frosting over the layer, right to the edge. Repeat with the next layer. Place the last layer on top and use all but 3/4 cup of the frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake. With an offset spatula, smooth out the frosting all over. Place the remaining frosting in a pastry bag fitted with a medium star tip and pipe a shell border around the top and bottom edges of the cake.

Instant Fudge Frosting
makes 5 cups

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
4 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tablespoons half-and-half
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Place all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to incorporate. Then process until the frosting is smooth.

Tiramisu Cake

For the longest time, Husband has loved having an ice cream cake for his birthday. He grew up with the Carvel cakes, and in recent years always celebrated with an ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery. This year, though, I decided I needed to make his birthday cake. Perhaps because he was turning 30 and I felt this year needed to be special, or perhaps because I was sick of paying $25 for an ice cream cake that I didn't even like very much.  And I'm sorry, if a cake is coming into my house, darn it, I better like it!

Tiramisu is Husband's favorite dessert, by a mile. Nothing else really compares, except maybe peanut butter pie. When I started to brainstorm about what to make for his birthday, tiramisu was the one thing I kept coming back to, except for the fact that it intimidated the heck out of me for some reason. Then I stumbled upon Dorie Greenspan's tiramisu cake recipe on various blogs. I really was going to go that route. Until I found a copycat recipe that's even easier - it starts with a cake mix!

This cake definitely was a crowd pleaser, though it was mildly time-consuming to assemble. It was definitely NOT difficult, though, I would recommend it for any fans of tiramisu. It wasn't  much different than assembling your average layer cake. Best of all, even I liked the darn thing. And I'm not a fan of tiramisu, so that was definitely a pleasant surprise.  It combines the traditional flavors of tiramisu with some different textures that work really nicely together.  Definitely yum!

This cake got an official 9.5 Husband stars. He fully wants to start rating my cooking now, so we'll start here, I suppose. I will definitely make this cake again.

Tiramisu Cake the Easy Way
Printer-friendly recipe

CAKE:
1 (18.25 ounce) package moist white cake mix
1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
1 cup coffee
4 tbsp coffee flavored liqueur

FILLING:
1 (8 ounce) container mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons coffee flavored liqueur

FROSTING:
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons coffee flavored liqueur

GARNISH:
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 (1 ounce) square semisweet chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 3 (9 inch) pans
2. Prepare the cake mix according to package directions. Divide two thirds of batter between 2 pans. Stir instant coffee into remaining batter; pour into remaining pan
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. In a measuring cup, combine brewed coffee and 1 tablespoon coffee liqueur; set aside
4. To make the filling: In a small bowl, using an electric mixer set on low speed, combine mascarpone, 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar and 2 tablespoons coffee liqueur; beat just until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
5. To make the frosting: In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium-high speed, beat the cream, 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar and 2 tablespoons coffee liqueur until stiff. Fold 1/2 cup of cream mixture into filling mixture.
6. To assemble the cake: Place one plain cake layer on a serving plate. Using a thin skewer, poke holes in cake, about 1 inch apart. Pour one third of reserved coffee mixture over cake, then spread with half of the filling mixture. Top with coffee-flavored cake layer; poke holes in cake. Pour another third of the coffee mixture over the second layer and spread with the remaining filling. Top with remaining cake layer; poke holes in cake. Pour remaining coffee mixture on top. Spread sides and top of cake with frosting. Place cocoa in a sieve and lightly dust top of cake. Garnish with chocolate curls. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.
7. To make the chocolate curls, use a vegetable peeler and run it down the edge of the chocolate bar.

Wilton Cake Class One: The Results

While I may bake a mean cake, I sure suck at decorating them. Always have. Husband was better than me at frosting a layer cake for a really long time. Recently, my best friend and I decided to take the Wilton cake decorating class, at the beginner level, naturally. It was a lot of fun - in part, because she and I are prone to get the giggles over silly stuff, but also because the class was just fun. Our instructor, Maureen, was a hoot - she's been doing this a long time, and her style of teaching was definitely from the school of hard knocks.

I did several practice cakes, at first with cake mixes, because I was making cakes so often that I just didn't have the heart to make a cake from scratch every darn day. But they taste so bad! Especially with the class buttercream frosting (a.k.a. CriscoCream). Yuck. Then I made a cake for Thanksgiving as a practice cake, with the Beatty's Chocolate Cake recipe (also known as the end-all-be-all chocolate cake recipe), and it tasted so good, I couldn't go back. From that point on, I made the cakes from scratch. I still have a plethora of box mixes in my pantry that I ought to donate.

The last class was definitely the hardest - roses are not my friends. I had a super hard time figuring out how to large make the rose base, and then how to pipe on the center of the rose. However, I totally rocked at piping rose petals, definitely. My roses didn't look perfect, by any stretch...in fact, they looked a bit more like carnations, with rough edges to my petals and all. I fully intend to try again on Husband's birthday cake this week, so stay tuned. My best friend on the other hand was kicking out cabbage roses like nobody's business, so I suppose I may call her to pipe a few roses on Husband's cake.

I still can't make my frosting look as smooth and perfect as a wedding cake, but I'm way better than I was when I started, that's for sure. I'd definitely recommend this class to anyone who enjoys decorating their baked goods, I've used a lot of the techniques I learned in cake class on my holiday cookies this year. Here's a few snaps from the cakes I practiced on and class itself:

Beatty's Chocolate Cake

My mom came to visit recently and reminded me of a story from my childhood that I had forgotten, but remembered as soon as she started to tell the story.

I was in elementary school, and I had signed up to bring a cake to school for our class Halloween party. Either I forgot to tell my mom until the last minute, or my mom forgot about it until the last minute, and my mother bought a cake mix. She was horrified at this, because cake mixes are evil in her world, and wound up making homemade frosting to make up for the fact that it was a boxed mix. She also decorated the cake with mellowcreme pumpkins, my all-time favorite Halloween candy. When I came home from school that day, I told her it was the best cake I ever had. She remembered that so well that she wanted to make another cake like that.

Well, I am my mother's daughter, and I just didn't want to bake a cake mix - I wanted to bake Beatty's Chocolate Cake, the infamous Barefoot Contessa recipe I've read so much about on other food blogs. I must say, all the hype is for a good reason. It is an awesome cake. So moist! so chocolate-y! So sinfully yummy! This is now officially my favorite cake recipe. Ever. If I want chocolate cake, this is what I shall make. Sorry, Husband cake, this is my new favorite.

Let me apologize in advance for the lack of beauty in my cake - I'm not the best with layer cakes, which is precisely why my friend and I are taking the Wilton I class at Jo-Ann's, starting this week, so you'll probably see more cake stuff in the next several weeks as I practice my craft. In the meantime, make this cake. Seriously. Right now.


Beatty's Chocolate Cake
adapted from the Barefoot Contessa
Printer-friendly recipe

Butter, for greasing the pans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Chocolate Buttercream, recipe follows

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

3. Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.


Chocolate Frosting:

6 ounces good semisweet chocolate (recommended: Callebaut)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 extra-large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon instant coffee powder

1. Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners' sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. Dissolve the coffee powder in 2 teaspoons of the hottest tap water. On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don't whip! Spread immediately on the cooled cake.

Yellow Layer Cake with Fudge Frosting

Mmmm, before I started hardcore baking, I loved to make silly little yellow cake mixes into cupcakes and top them with jarred chocolate frosting. This is the grown-up, I-baked-it-myself-so-it-tastes-way-better version. This cake is ridiculously flavorful, but if your oven's like mine, you're going to want to bake it closer to 25 minutes rather than 20. And beware - this cake is the kind of thing it's hard to keep your hands off of, so it's perfect for potlucks and such. Trust me, I'm having a hard time not having a slice for breakfast right now. BTW, this was the something chocolate-y I decided to bake on Monday during Friend Making Monday.

Yellow Layer Cake with Fudge Frosting
adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Baking Book and Hershey's

Cake:

1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 3/4 cake flour

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter and softened, cut into 16 pieces (before softening)

Fudge Frosting:

1 cup butter

1 1/3 cup natural cocoa powder (NOT dutched cocoa)

6 cups powdered sugar

2/3 cup milk

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans, then line the bottoms with parchment paper. Whsik the milk, eggs, and vanilla together in a small bowl.

2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together. Using an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat the butter into the flour mixture, one piece at a time, until it resembles moist crumbs, 1 to 3 minutes.

3. Beat in all but 1/2 cup of the milk mixture, then increase the mixer speed to medium and beat the batter until smooth, light and fluffy, 1-3 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly beat in the remaining 1/2 cup milk mixture until the batter looks slightly curdled, about 15 seconds.

4. Give the batter a final stir with a rubber spatula to make sure it's thoroughly combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans, smooth the tops, then gently tap the pans on the counter to settle the batter. Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 20-25 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking.

5. Let the cakes cool in pans for 10 minutes. Then run a small knife around the edge of the cakes,then flip them out onto a wire rack. Peel off the parchment paper, flip the cakes right side up, and let cool completely before frosting, about 2 hours.

6. For the frosting, melt the butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to a spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. This makes about 4 cups of frosting.

Click here for printable recipe

Tunnel of Fudge cake

Tonight is another meeting of my book club (we're discussing "Identical Strangers"), so that of course means that it's time to bake. I baked one of my favorite goodies, Tunnel of Fudge cake, for tonight's festivities, and boy, I can't wait to cut into it and enjoy it.

I've made a lot of different Tunnel of Fudge cakes over the years. Lots were boxed-cake-mix recipes, but none of them really delivered the actual tunnel of fudge. Until this recipe. This recipe has a real tunnel of fudge running through the center, and tastes awesome if you heat it up in the microwave for a few seconds before eating it. It tastes so yummy when it's warm. It also tastes awesome with a nice scoop of ice cream on top. Best part of all? It's totally an easy recipe to make. There's nothing complicated about it, except perhaps greasing a bundt pan perfectly (a skill that sometimes seems to elude me). If you like molten chocolate lava cake, you will love this cake! So on your way home tonight, pick up what you don't have in the pantry to make this cake. Your family will totally thank me.

Here's a snap of my cake, pre-glaze

Tunnel of Fudge cake
Adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book
Printer-friendly recipe

1/2 cup boiling water
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 large eggs, room temperature

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 12-cup Bundt pan by fully greasing it.
2. Whisk the boiling water and chocolate together in a small bowl until melted and smooth; let the mixture cool slightly. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, confectioners' sugar, cocoa and salt together.
3. In a large bowl, beat the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla together with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3-6 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, until combined, about 30 seconds. Beat in the chocolate mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly beat in the flour mixture until just incorporated, about 30 seconds.
4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth the top. Wipe any drops of batter off the sides of the pan and gently tap the pan on the counter to settle the batter. Bake the cake until the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and the top feels springy when pressed with a finger, about 45 minutes.
5. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then flip it out onto a wire rack. Let the cake cool completely, at last 2 hours. Drizzle the chocolate glaze (optional) over the top and sides of the cake. Let the glaze set, about 25 minutes, before serving.

Chocolate Glaze

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
1/2 cup heavy cream, hot
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch salt

Whisk all of the glaze ingredients together in a medium bowl until smooth and let sit until thickened, about 25 minutes. Pour the glaze over the top of the cake after it has cooled completely, letting the glaze drip down the sides. Let the glaze set before serving, about 25 minutes.

The most famous cake in my family: Brown Beauty Cake

As you probably know by now, I am a cake aficionado. Especially when it comes to chocolate cake. I like other flavors of cake, but chocolate is by far the best. In my family, there are several different chocolate cakes that we make, and each one kind of means something different. This particular cake is the cake that I grew up with as birthday cake or celebratory cake - if my mom didn't buy a Publix sheet cake (and those really are awesome), this was what we had for birthday cake. A Brown Beauty Cake.

I was shocked when I Googled the recipe, to see if it was out there in cyberspace already, and I found that it wasn't posted anywhere. Nope. There's a lot of recipes for Brown Beauty Icing, which comes from Betty Crocker, and is quite good, but not a single one for cake, so I'm excited to share this recipe with you all. It's been handed down in my family from my grandmother to my mom to me, though we're not too sure of its origins. But who cares - it's so yummy!!

It's a very dense, moist type of chocolate cake, topped with a sweet vanilla frosting. It's like having a little party in your mouth. To top it all off, it's super easy to make. Bake this cake tonight. Trust me. You won't be sorry. (The picture does NOT do it justice!)


Brown Beauty Cake
Printer-friendly recipe

1/2 cup boiling water
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup soft butter
1/4 milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg

1. Pour water over chopped up chocolate and stir until melted. Cool mixture slightly. Heat oven to 350 and grease a 9x9 square baking pan.
2. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add cooled chocolate mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. Put in butter, mix. Add egg and mix well, and finally add milk and vanilla. Beat for one minute.
3. Bake cake for 30-35 minutes, or until a cake tester is inserted and a dense crumb or two sticks.

Frosting
1 stick butter
Vanilla
Powdered sugar
1/2 and 1/2

Mix soft butter with powdered sugar, to taste (I usually use about 2-3 cups). Add approximately 1-2 tsp of vanilla, 1 tbsp 1/2 and 1/2, and a shake of salt. Frost cake after it has fully cooled.

Buttermilk Caramel Cake

For the Fourth of July, I decided that I couldn't just bake some brownies (even if they were Supernatural Brownies) for a dessert, I needed to also offer something non-chocolate. Totally not my specialty - in fact, I know of very few desserts that I like that are not chocolate-y. Anyway, I dug out several cookbooks, and ultimately found a recipe for Buttermilk Caramel Cake that sounded appealing and not too difficult, a big plus. The cake turned out so awesome that my dog stole a few bites of it even, while we weren't looking. When we discovered that, we called the vet to make sure that it wasn't going to hurt him, so other than being ridiculously hyper from a sugar rush, Dog survived just fine. Phew. So, without any further adieu, here's the recipe!

Buttermilk Caramel Cake
from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book
Printer-friendly recipe

Cake
2 1/4 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, room temperature

Caramel Frosting
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup whole milk
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. For the Cake: Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Crease a 13 by 9-inch baking pan, then line the bottom with parchment paper. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl.
2. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-6 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until combined, about 30 seconds. Beat in the vanilla.
3. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in one-third of the flour mixture, followed by half of the buttermilk. Repeat with half of the remaining flour mixture and the remaining buttermilk. Beat in the remaining flour until just incorporated.
4. Give the batter a final stir with a rubber spatula to make sure it's thoroughly combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and gently tap the pan on the counter to settle the batter. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 25-30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.
5. Let the cake cool completely in the pan, about 2 hours. Run a paring knife around the edge of the cake and flip the cake out onto a wire rack. Peel off the parchment paper, then flip the cake right side up on to a serving platter.
6. For the frosting: Bring the butter and brown sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is foamy, 3-5 minutes. Whisk in the milk, return the mixture to a brief boil, then remove from the heat. Stir in confectioners' sugar and vanilla with a wooden spoon and beat the frosting until smooth, 2-3 minutes. Spread the warm frosting evenly over the surface of the cooled cake and let set, about 25 minutes, before serving.

Husband Cake

Today is my third wedding anniversary. Baby and I are meeting Husband downtown in just a little while for an early dinner at Maggiano's. That's what we did last year for our anniversary, except we did take-out since Baby was just a little over a month old. Husband even baked a special cake for our anniversary, a cake that is his very own in our family - I call it Husband Cake, because I am not very good with layer cakes, but Husband is. He watched Emeril online, if I remember correctly, to learn how to frost a layer cake successfully, when he first made this cake.

This is the cake that you may have seen on the back of the Hershey Cocoa box - they call it Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake. They're not kidding. It is perfect. It's easy to make, moist, very chocolatey, and oh so tasty.

Perfectly Chocolate Cake
Printer-friendly recipe

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with Perfectly Chocolate frosting. Makes 10 to 12 servings.


Perfectly Chocolate Frosting
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

Isn't is beautiful?



NOTE: Updated 11/4/09 with printable recipe link

Texas Cake (a.k.a. Mardi Glade Cake)

UPDATE 10/26/09: Added printable recipe link at the bottom along with some backstory on the cake. Enjoy!

Fortunately, despite my cake-pan-size error, I was able to frost the cake without it going everywhere - the cake created a bit of a frame on the edges, which worked out great. I could have added some more sugar to the frosting, but I very much enjoyed licking the saucepan.

Let me tell you a story about this cake. My mother first had this cake at a party, and it was made by a woman named Mardi Glade. We always called this cake Mardi Glade when I was growing up, not Texas Cake, and I never heard the story behind it until I was an adult, about to bring the cake to a potluck, and I mentioned it to my mother, who quickly informed me that no one would have a clue what I made if I called it Mardi Glade cake. The cake went over just fine - better than fine, really, given that there was none to bring home, and once I told everyone that it was Texas Cake, I got knowing smiles and nods from the group. It's one of my favorite cakes, because it's super moist and yummy, but it's also ridiculously fast and easy to make. You can go from no cake to eating cake within usually about an hour. Pretty awesome, right? And warm Mardi Glade cake, woo, that's the best!

So, here is the recipe I made tonight - ATK's Texas Sheet Cake (slightly chocolate-y-ier than the original Mardi Glade cake) plus my mom's Mardi Glade frosting.

ATK Texas Sheet Cake

Cake ingredients:

2 c all-purpose flour

2 c white sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 c sour cream, room temperature

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 large egg yolks, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

8 oz semisweet chocolate

3/4 c veg oil

3/4 c water

1/2 c cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)

4 T unsalted butter (1/2 stick)

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degress. Grease an 18 x 13-inch rimmed baking sheet (I used a jelly roll pan, which is 15 1/2 x 11-inches). Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. In another medium bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla together.

2. Melt the chocolate, oil, water, cocoa, and butter together in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth, about 5 minutes. Remove the saucepan from heat, and slowly whisk in the flour mixture until just incorporated (I did the opposite - poured the mixture from the saucepan into my medium bowl of flour mixture). Whisk in the egg mixture until just combined.

3. Give the batter a final stir with a rubber spatula to make sure it is thoroughly combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared baking sheet, smooth the top, and gently tap the sheet on the counter to settle the batter. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 18-20 minutes. (I think mine took about 25 minutes, all said and done.)

Mardi Glade Cake Frosting:

1/2 stick butter

3 Tbsp milk

5 Tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 c powdered sugar

Mix all ingredients well over low heat as cake finishes baking (last 4-5 minutes of baking). It will be lumpy, so don't bother trying to kill the lumps.

And here's the final product:

One word: yum.

Click here for printable recipe