Recipe: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Cake:
1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola or corn oil
2 lrg eggs
1 12oz bag semisweet choc chips

Frosting:
1 stick unsalted butter
room temperature
4 oz cream cheese, room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup powdered sugar

Position rack in cener of oven. Butter a 9" square baking pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and butter the paper. (I used an 8"pan and it was ok)
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger into medium bowl and set aside.
In a lrg bowl, using and electric mixer on med speed, beat the pumpkin, sugar, and oil until smooth, about a minute. Scrape side of bowl as necessary. Mix in the eggs one at a time until blended. On low speed, add the flour mix, mixing just until incoorporated. Mix in chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
Scrape the batter into the pan. Bake just until the top feels firm and toothpick inserted comes out clean, approx 40 min. (Mine took 36) Transfer cake to wire rack to cool for at least 20 min.
Run a knife around the edge of the pan and invert the cake onto the wire rack. Remove the paper liner and let cake cool completely.

Make frosting:
Using an electric mixer on low speed, beat the butter, cream cheese and vanilla until thoroughly blended and smooth, about 1 minute. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add the powdered sugar, mixing until smooth, about 1 min, then beat on medium speed for about a minute to lighten it up.
Frost the top of the cake. I garnished the top with shaved chocolate.
The cake can be refrigerated up to 3 days, just let stand at room temp an hour before serving.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting!

Well, my first individual baking project was a success. The pumpkin chocolate chip cake was not only delicious, but it was a huge hit with the rest of the family at Thanksgiving. And if anyone is looking for a quick, easy, and tasty cake to whip up in no time, I highly recommend this cake, especially in the fall/winter season.

I’m not too familiar with baking terminology, or frankly writing about cakes at all, but I’ll try my best. I thought the cake was very moist, especially in the middle, and the chocolate chips were plentiful and not too overpowering. I was disappointed in some things, however. The first time my friends and I made this cake, about a month ago, the chocolate chips almost formed a thick layer of chocolate in the middle; it was delicious, especially served warm. But this time, the chips mainly stayed solid, and the cake had to be served at room temp and not warm, because we didn’t want to melt the cream cheese frosting. So that was a bummer, but not too big of a deal. Secondly, I really wish I could’ve served the cake warm! But that would have been extremely difficult with the cream cheese frosting, so we had to compromise.

My favorite part about this cake, other than being extremely simple and quick (which is saying something, considering I am not an experienced baker) is the cream cheese frosting. It goes really well with the slight taste of pumpkin, the decadent chocolate chips, and the dense cake itself. I don’t think any other frosting would do.

When I was making the cake at my parents’ house, my mom said beforehand she didn’t want to help me. And she didn’t! I was so proud of her. But she did warn me that I should level the ingredients in the measuring cups, make sure the oven was ready to go, etc. And she got the ingredients for me, so I was extremely grateful.

Overall, I thought the process was a great experience. I am going to continue to look out for other simple and quick cakes, just like this one, and hopefully I can continue learning from the Cake Queen herself.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Guest Blogger

Happy Thanksgiving Cake Fans!
Tomorrow afternoon my son, HJ, comes home from college for the holiday. He is a big cake fan from way back. (my fault) He has informed me that he intends on baking a cake in my kitchen tomorrow! Yay! He has graciously accepted my invitation to blog about his cake and his experience! Watch for the "guest blogger" post!
PS. He has never singlehandedly baked a cake before.

Recipe Hazelnut Cheesecake

Ingredients
Cake
1 1/2 cups hazelnuts, toasted (direction to follow)
2 lbs cream cheese, room temperature
1 3/4 Cup sugar
4 eggs

Chocolate Crust
1 pkg Nabisco chocolate wafers
1 cube butter, melted

Caramel Sauce
1 1/2 Cup sugar
1/3 Cup water
1 1/4 Cups heavy cream
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Butter the bottom and sides of a 9inch springform pan, 3 inches deep. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread hazelnuts on shallow baking sheet and bake for 15 min. After removing from oven rub them while warm in a dish towel and the skins will come right off. They don't all have to be off. Grind them in a food processor. It doesn't matter if they are not evenly ground. Set aside.
For the crust:
Break up cookies and put in food processor. Add melted butter. Mix a few seconds til ground. Press on sides first then on bottom of pan. Bake for 10 min. Remove and cool.
For filling:
Put cheese in bowl of electric mixer. Mix on medium speed until absolutely smooth. Add sugar. Stop occasionally and scrape sides of bowl with spatula. Add eggs, one at a time, being careful not to beat any more than necessary to thoroughly mix all the ingredients. Stir in the nuts with a rubber spatula.
Pour batter into the prepared pan and then cover the outside of the pan with foil to prevent leakage. Place the pan inside another larger pan, so that the cake pan does not touch the sides, but no more than 3 inches deep. A roasting pan is perfect. Pour 1 1/2 inches of hot water in the roasting pan, place it in the oven and bake 1 1/2 hrs, or until the top is golden brown and feels dry to the touch. It should still wiggle a little. Mine took 1 hr and 25 min. Place baked cheesecake on a rack to cool. Do not cool in the refrigerator. When cool, remove sides carefully and refrigerate.

Caramel Sauce
Mix the water and sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. cook over low heat for 5 to 10 min, until the sugar dissolves. Do not stir. Increase the heat to medium and boil uncovered until the sugar turns a warm chestnut brown, about 5 to 7 min, gently swirling the pan to stir the mixture. Be careful, the mixture is extremely hot! Watch very carefully at the end, as it will go from caramel to burnt very quickly. Turn off the heat. Stand back to avoid splattering and slowly add the cream and vanilla. Don't worry the cream will bubble violently and the caramel will solidify.
Simmer over low heat stirring constantly until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth, about 2 minutes. Allow to cool to room temp, about 4 hrs. It will thicken as it sits.

To serve:
Put a little caramel sauce on the plate, set the slice of cheesecake on top. Put a little dollop of whipped cream on top and one hazelnut on the cream. Gorgeous!

Hazelnut Cheesecake with Chocolate Cookie Crust and Caramel Sauce

Happy Holidays Everyone!

So, I am not much of a pumpkin person. I am also not much of a pie person. (Hence, I DO have a cake blog) I am always looking for some dessert for Thanksgiving that is festive and has a fall-type flavor. I pulled out an old cheesecake recipe from about 20 yrs ago and changed it up a bit. Hazelnuts are a delicious nut and add incredible flavor to this cheesecake. The original recipe has no crust at all. What could be better than a chocolate cookie crust! And, just to top it off, I added a caramel sauce. A little caramel sauce on the plate, place cheesecake on top, and a dollop of whipped cream. There you go, the perfect Thanksgiving dessert!

Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting

Ingredients


1 C all purpose flour
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 T butter, softened
3/4 C sugar, plus 2 T
1 egg, room temp
2/3 C milk, at room temp
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 T mini semisweet chocolate chips
2 T chopped toasted walnuts or pecans
Ganache frosting, recipe follows

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt, set aside. Using mixer, cream the butter and 3/4 cup sugar until pale yellow, about 1 minute. Add the egg and stir just until combined. Set aside.
In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese, 2 T sugar, and vanilla. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.
Fill prepared cupcake liners with enough chocolate batter to just cover the bottom. Add a dollop of the cream cheese filling to each, then top with remaining batter (cream cheese filling should not be visible).
bake for 17 - 20 minutes. Let cupcakes stand in the pan for 3 min, remove and allow to cool completely on rack.

Chocolate Ganache Frosting

3/4 C semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 C heavy cream
1/2 tsp instant espresso powder, optional

Place heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water, and whisk together the chocolate chips, cream and espresso powder. Continue whisking until chocolate is melted and the mixure is thick, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes. You can dip the cupcakes in the ganache or spread it on the tops. This recipe will frost 12 cupcakes, but can be doubled.

Red Velvet Cake Recipe

Red Velvet Cake

Cake
2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
2T unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C buttermilk
1T red food coloring
1 tsp distilled white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 C sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour 2 9-inch with 1 1/2 inch hi sides cake pans. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into med bowl. Whisk buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla in small bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. Beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk mixture in 3 additions. Divide batter between pans.
Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs attached about 23 minutes. Check at 20 min. Cool, turn out onto racks. Cool completely before frosting.

I love a tall cake, so I wanted to make 3 layers instead of 2. Just split the measurements in half and add them to the original measurments. No, it doesn't take a math wizard. Use a calculator is you are having trouble because it's important to get the measurement right!

Cream Cheese Icing
Use the recipe from the banana cupcakes except add fresh raspberries and fresh blueberries between layers and on top. Cover and refrigerate. Let stand at room temp 1 hr before serving.
If you make 3 layers, you will need 1 1/2 recipes of frosting.

Recipe Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes 12 cupcakes

Cupcakes:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 very large or 3 small bananas, peeled
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 Cup sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350. Line 12 standard muffin cups with paper liners. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Mash bananas with fork in another medium bowl until smooth. mix sour cream and vanilla into bananas.
Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 min. Add egg and egg yolk, beat until well blended. Add flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with banana-sour cream mixture in 2 additions, biginning and ending with flour mixture and beating just until blended after each addition. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups (generous 1/4 C for each)
If you want to make cake layers instead, double this recipe and use 2 8 or 9 inch round pans.

Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs attached, about 20 minutes. Transfer to rack and let cool. For layer cakes, test after 20 min, may take 5 min longer.

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 8oz. pkg cream cheese
1 stick unsalted butter
1 Tblsp. vanilla
2 1/2 C powdered sugar
Beat cream cheese and butter in bowl until smooth. Add vanilla and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth.
This recipe will frost a 2 layer cake, cut it in 1/2 if you are only making 12 cupcakes.

Baking for a Baby's 1st Birthday, or How to Please His Parents

October 24, 2009, the birth of my grandson, Riley Matthew Soule. The day my life changed forever! From this day forward I have a reputation to uphold, be the Gigi with the goodies. This is a self imposed position I have made for myself. No one said I had to be the baking Grandma, I just knew I would love to have Riley grow up looking forward to Gigi's cakes. Riley's parents requested a banana cake since the little guy loves banana. I started thinking just a banana cupcake would do the trick, but then that seemed so small, so I bought a 6 inch round cake pan and made his cake a filled frosted mini version that any one year old would be proud of. I doubled the recipe and made the rest into cupcakes. Made a cream cheese frosting, tinted orange of course, and piped black frosting around the edges. Since the party had a Halloween theme (the children attending dressed in costume, as well as some adults) I decorated some of the cupcakes with ghoulish finger puppets, but I put dinosaurs on Riley's cake.
When these very brave parents informed me that there would be close to 30 people at this party I immediately panicked and started baking every night. I made a huge 3 layer red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. Using stencils I decorated the top with black sugar bats. (I hadn't used these before and they were not easy, the sugar bled outside the openings, I should have practiced 1st) Then I decided no birthday is complete without something chocolate, so Chocolate Cupcakes filled with cream cheese, toasted pecans, mini chocolate chips with a ganache icing.
I heard rumors from these partyers that Riley's personal cake was the favorite, of course I tried all and I think I agree, the baby got the best, just as it should be. Happy Birthday, Riley!

Coconut Cream Cake with Coconut Buttercream Recipe

Coconut Layer cakes



1 C cold unsalted butter, diced

2 C sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

3/4 tsp salt

1 Tblsp. baking powder

3 C sifted cake flour

1 1/4 C coconut milk



Preheat oven to 350. Grease 2 9" pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper, grease the paper and sides, set aside.

Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and beat on high speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl often, until light and fluffy, about 5 min. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides and mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and mix well, again scraping the sides of the bowl. Combine the salt and baking powder with the flour. Add about half of the dry ingredients to the batter, beat on low speed until well blended, and then add about half of the coconut milk and beat well. Add the remaining dry ingredients followed by the remaining coconut milk, beating well after each addition.

Divide the batter between the two pans and bake until the cake springs back when touched lightly in the center, 25 to 30 min. Let cool for 15, then remove from pan and let cool completely.



Coconut Syrup



1 1/2 C water

1 T granulated sugar

3/4 C sweetened flaked coconut



Bring water and sugar to boil. Stir in the coconut, remove from the heat and let sit for at least 30 min and up to 4 hrs. Strain the liquid into a clean saucepan, bring to a boil and let cook until the mixture is slightly reduced, about 5 min. Let cool.



Coconut Pastry Cream Filling



1 3/4 C coconut milk

1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise

4 egg yolks

1/2 C sugar

1/4 C cornstarch

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 C sweetened shredded and toasted coconut



spread coconut on baking sheet heated to 325 degrees. Bake 8-10 min. stirring once. Turn off the oven and let it sit in the oven until very dry and crunchy, about 15 min longer.



Place the the coconut milk in a heavy saucepan over med heat and bring just to a boil. Meanwhile, whisk together the yolks, sugar and cornstarch in a large bowl. Slowly whisk about half of the hot coconut milk into the egg mixture to temper it, or bring it up the the same temperature. Whisk in the remaining coconut milk nd add the vanilla seeds. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and again cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a plastic spatula, until it just comes to a boil and is very thick. If it starts to clump up, whisk briskly. Transfer the pastry cream to a large bowl, add the vanilla extract, and mix well. Set a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the pastry cream so that it doesn't form a skin, and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 2 hrs.



Coconut Buttercream



3 sticks unsalted butter, softened

2/3 C confectioners sugar

1/2 C of the coconut pastry cream

pinch of fine sea salt



Beat the butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the coconut pastry cream and salt and beat until combined and smooth.



To Assemble:

Toast your 2 C natural or sweetend flaked coconut for the outside of your cake. 325 degrees for 8-10 min, stirring once.

Using a long serrated knife, slice each cake layer horizontally into 2 layers. Reserve 1 of the flat bottom layers for the top of the cake. Place another layer on a cardboard round with cut side up and brush with some of the coconut syrup. Spread 1/3 of coconut pastry cream over layer, leaving 1/2 inch border. Repeat with with other layers. Frost the sides and top of cake with the buttercream. Pat the coconut onto the sides of the cake and sprinkle the remaining coconut on the top of the cake. Store in the refrigerator but bring out 1 hr before serving.

The Soule's Birthday Cake

I felt really bad last summer when the followers voted on what my next cake would be and coconut cake lost by one vote. I really wanted to experiment with a couple of recipes. So my daughter, Whitney and her husband, Matt, have birthdays a week apart and requested this cake. (It is not possible to have a birthday in our family and not have a cake, not done, period!)

Several people mentioned that Bobby Flay had a great coconut cake recipe, but I also heard that the cake layers did not rise much. I have had great success with cakes from Caprial's Desserts cookbook, so I decided to make her cake layer recipe and coconut pastry cream filling and Bobby Flay's coconut syrup and coconut buttercream frosting recipe. You can see that there are going to be a lot of steps to this one! Believe me when Isay it is gonna be worth it!!

Because the bday dinner is on Friday night and I am back working I decide to make the layers on Tuesday night and put them in the freezer. This recipe has coconut milk in it. Fantastic for texture and taste! Make sure you buy Thai coconut milk, not the stuff you put in pina colodas. Although that is a good idea to sip a pina coloda while baking this. I could tell the minute I took it from the oven it was going to be perfect for splitting into 4 layers, got to have 4 layers for all the filling.

On Wed I made the coconut cream filling. Make sure you toast the coconut in the oven. Watch carefully! Put plastic wrap on the surface of the filling and refrigerate.

On Thurs I made the coconut syrup and the buttercream. You mix some of the filling into the buttercream frosting and it is soooo good!! I split the layers, brushed them with the syrup, filled and frosted! Fabulous! For decorating, I bought the big pieces of coconut (not flaked) in the bulk aisle at New Seasons, toasted it and pressed it onto the sides and top. You can use the regular, but I think it's prettier on the outside of the cake! We served it with french vanilla ice cream.

I heard comments at the table about how this was their favorite cakequeen concoction so far! Maybe they will comment for themselves! For me, it was worth the work, and I agree, may be the best tasting so far. And, for me to say that about a cake that has no chocolate in it, is a big deal. Recipe coming up.

Banana Cake with Caramel Frosting Disaster

What?? You say, disaster? You say, hey, that doesn't look like caramel frosting in the picture! So true, fans, it is chocolate ganache frosting! Let me start from the beginning! First, I made the banana layer cakes from a recipe I chose on foodnetwork.com. Not really happy with the height of the layers, so made 2 more layers. I could have made the layers in 8" pans so they would have been taller, but the recipe called for 9" pans. This is a risk you take when you choose a recipe you haven't made before. Ok, so on to the disappointing frosting. This recipe I found in the most recent Food and Wine. It was featured with a white butter cake, and they called it Caramel Icing. The picture looked great, and I thought it would be yummy with the banana cake. The recipe is pretty elaborate, kind of like making a caramel sauce, cook the white sugar and corn syrup til amber colored, add whole milk, cook til 235 degress on candy thermometer, stir in butter, vanilla and cream. I was really concentrating and following the directions exactly! At this point you are supposed to strain the icing into the bowl of the stand mixer and let it cool 15min. Then beat it at medium speed for 15 min. I started getting worried now because it is too runny, although the recipe says, "pour" over cake layers. Not happy. I make the decision to throw out (too distraught to eat it) this batch and try again! Here goes, I was careful to bring the temperature to 235. (oh yeah, forgot to add that I rushed to Kitchen Kaboodle and bought a new candy thermometer thinking mine was old and not working). I think at the beating at 15 min stage I was almost hyperventilating. Nothing much happening AGAIN!! Ok, then I put it in the frig. It set up a little so I poured it on each layer thinking maybe it would thicken in the frig. NOT! Called husband, who is on his way back from Duck football, begged him to stop and get chocolate to make chocolate ganache. (it's 8:45 pm)
So there ya go, I had to be creative and think of a frosting that would go with banana, pecans and caramel sauce. I love cream cheese frosting, but too sweet with the caramel, right?
The caramel soaked into the cake and was very moist, but not at all a frosting! Maybe some of the dinner guests will comment about their thoughts! I am not going to post the recipes because I think we can find a much better banana cake and I intend to figure out what is wrong with the caramel frosting recipe before you guys tackle it! So all in all, it was a learning experience, very frustrating and I definitely had to be creative!!
I'll be baking again soon, this time it's Coconut Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting for my son in laws birthday on Sept. 19th. I'm crossing my fingers!
P.S. Never Give Up is Cakequeen Motto :)

Special Cake for a Special Lady: Mom's Cake

Hi everyone! Wow, after vacation, babysitting, no computer, I am finally ready to move on to the next cake! Sorry it took so long! Many birthdays coming up this month so I have had requests galore! My mother, who is a baker spectacular herself and my inspiration, will celebrate her bday this Sunday. Who better to have her special dinner than cakequeen! She ask for a banana cake so after much research I have created my own version! It is called Banana Layer Cake with Caramel Frosting! Kind of like Bananas Foster, that buttery brown sugar flaming dessert served over ice cream! I will be baking on Satuday. Wish me luck!

Review of Hank's Bday Cake

All reviews are in! The buttermilk chocolate cake with sour cream chocolate frosting was divine! We ate at Laurelhurst Market for Hank's bday and took the cake with us. They were super great at this restaurant and served the cake to us! As you can see it is deep chocolate with a tiny coffee flavor, but all the raves were about the light yummy frosting. Some at our table commented about how they could eat that frosting with a spoon. Not too rich, just perfect! If you are looking for a great place to eat meat, this restaurant is the bomb. However, my opinion is that the mussels, which we ate 3 different ways, were the best ever! The owners are golfers so they thought my husband was some kind of celebrity, didn't hurt! Fun place!
So, back to the cake! It was easy to whip up, nothing complicated! Especially if you do the cakes
one day, wrap in plastic wrap, then frost the next day, it takes practically no time at all!!

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake


3 C flour
2 1/2 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/3 C vegetable oil
1 1/2 C buttermilk
3 eggs
1 1/2 C freshly brewed hot coffee
1 T pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 9 inch round cake pans with 2" hi sides. Line bottoms with parchment paper, grease paper and sides of pan.
Place the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and mix on low speed to combine. (don't mix on hi or you'll be wearing it) Add the oil and buttermilk and mix on medium until well blended. With mixer on low add eggs, one at a time, scraping down bowl and mixing well after each addition. Add the hot coffee and vanilla and mix on low speed until smooth.

Divide the batter between pans and bake until cake springs back when touched lightly in the center, about 30 minutes. Let cool for 15 min, remove from pans and let cool completely.

Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting

10 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1 tsp pure vanilla
1 C sour cream
2 T creme de cacao

Place the chocolate in a metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Once the chocolate has melted about halfway, remove the pan from the heat and let the chocolate finish melting. Meanwhile place the cold diced butter (4 cubes) in the bowl of the mixer with the paddle attachment and beat until very light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl often, about 5 min. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the melted chocolate, and then stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl. Add the powdered sugar, very carefully turn the mixer back on at low speed and mix, again scraping down the sides of the bowl often, until smooth. Add the salt, vanilla, sour cream, and creme de cacao, and mix until the frosting is very smooth.

Assembly

Carefully cut the layers in half. Place one cut side up on plate. Cover with about 1/2 C frosting. Continue with all layers ending with top layer right side up. Frost thin layer on sides and top. Refrigerate 15 minutes. Frost again on sides first and then top. Garnish with grated white and bittersweet chocolate curls.

Note: Creme de Cacao is a chocolate flavored liquor. If you delete it be sure and add 2 tablespoons of another liquid, like coffee liquor in its place.

Baking: I tested mine at 30 minutes and they were done, depending on your oven, yours might take a couple more minutes. You can use a toothpick if you want.

Hank's Birthday Cake

Hi cakequeen followers! Just got back from a relaxing 3 days at the cabin! Didn't think about cake at all until the ride home today. You see tomorrow is my husband, Hank's birthday. I ask him what kind of cake he wanted me to make. He said an old fashioned chocolate cake like mom used to make. (Mom used Betty Crocker but we won't remind him of this). Well, I really wanted to make the Red Velvet or Coconut, but the more I tried to lean him in that direction, the more he resisted. I even tried bribing with an extra gift, no way, he wasn't going for it. And, he even said "no ganache, just old fashioned chocolate frosting". Man, he is picky. Just cause it's his birthday he thinks he gets to choose. Ha. So here I am making Buttermilk Chocolate Cake with Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting. I want to add nuts, or coconut, or caramel between the layers! Anything! But I won't, I am letting him have his way, this time.....

Hummingbird Cake Recipe

butter, for greasing pans
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 Cup pecan pieces
3 ripe bananas, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh pineapple
1 teasp ground cinnamon
1/2 teasp nutmeg
1/2 teasp ground ginger
1 1/4 teasp baking soda
1/2 teasp salt
3 large eggs, room temp
1 3/4 Cups granulated sugar
1 Cup vegetable oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 2 8" round cake pans with 2" hi sides. Line with parchment rounds, butter again, or flour bottom lightly. Spread pecans on baking sheet and bake about 7 minutes til toasted. Let pecans cool slightly, put in a bowl with the chopped banana and pineapple. Toss with 1/2 cup flour.

Whisk the remaining 2 1/4 cups flour, the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and baking soda and salt in bowl. Set aside. Beat sugar and eggs in a separate bowl with mixer on high for 5 minutes. Gradually beat in vegetable oil.

Sprinkle flour mixture over egg mixture, then gently fold to make a thick batter. Fold in the pecan-fruit mixture, then transfer batter to pans. Bake until the cakes are firm and a toothpick comes out clean 35 to 45 min. (check at 35 and every 3min). Cool in the pans on a rack, 25 minutes, then invert the cakes onto the rack to cool completely.

Frosting
2 Pkg cream cheese
12 Tablespoons butter, at room temp (1 1/2 cubes)
2 Cups confectioners sugar
1 T grated lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract

Make the frosting: Beat cream cheese in large bowl with mixer until fluffy, then gradually beat in the butter until combined. Sift confectioners sugar over the cream cheese and beat until smooth. Add the lemon zest and vanilla, beat until light and fluffy.

Assembly:
Carefully with a serrated knife, cut the layers in 1/2. Put one layer cut side up on a plate cover with frosting and repeat with next 3 layers. Frost the sides very lightly and smoothly, put in frig for 15 min. (this keeps crumbs from coming off)
Remove from frig and frost sides and top generously. I garnished top with chopped crystallized ginger and toasted pecans. (be sure and toast 1/4 C more when you do your toasting)
Put you cake in the frig but make sure you take it out 1 hr before serving. Enjoy!

Hummingbird Cake

H i everyone! What a beautiful weekend! Today was a great day to bake in the air conditioning. This Hummingbird Cake was pretty easy, it did require a little extra time to chop up fresh pineapple and banana. The recipe didn't specify how fine to chop them so I did them quite small. I think I could have left them a little larger for more interest.
I do think it's important that you get the correct pans if you don't have them already. It requires 2 8" round pans with 2" high sides. The batter rose to the top of the pans while baking so you do need that height. Since you are cutting the layers in 1/2 it is necessary to have that nice tall layer!
Remember to beat the eggs and sugar a full 5 minutes, it will be thick. When you add the flour mixture be sure and fold it into the egg mix, don't beat! The recipe says to bake 50 to 55 minutes! Not! I set my timer for 45 min. At 40 min I could really smell it so when I went and looked in the oven it looked done. I checked with a toothpick and it was clean. So I took it out at 40 min, but I think 38 min would have been perfect. Wow lucky for you guys I'm testing this recipe first!
So of course we had to cut a piece and as you can see, it looks a lot like a spice cake. It's very moist, you can taste the banana, pineapple and a hint of cinnamon and ginger. The cream cheese frosting is very delicious with this cake, sweet and fluffy with a tiny bit of lemon. It's definitely a lighter cake than a carrot. If anyone finds out the history behind the name let me know!
Hope you find the time some day to make this one. So different and really fabulous. Your guests would love it!

TA DA!!!! THE WINNER IS.......

Hello all you wonderful cake lovers! Thank you so much for voting on the next cake. I will be making the Hummingbird Cake tomorrow! I am so excited because I have never made this cake or anything like it before. It is full of chopped fresh pineapple, banana, and toasted pecan pieces! Wow, and to top it off, it has a rich cream cheese frosting! ( also a touch of ginger in the cake!)
I found the cake recipe while browsing through a Bon Appetit magazine from 2002, yes I have saved a few since I have had a subscription since 1972! I love that magazine. Anyway, the recipe calls for 8 inch pans, which I didn't have so I made a fun shopping trip to Kitchen Kaboodle! All baking items were 10% off, so got 2 beautiful pans with 2 inch high sides, a frosting spatula, parchment paper rounds, and because they were 50% off, 8 new red napkins! Yay!

Do not despair, followers, Red Velvet is next on the list, followed by Coconut! Maybe I'll do one of those cupcake style!

By the way, I am so proud of 2 followers who made the lemon cake last week. Hoping they post their experience soon for all to read. Next week is my birthday, wonder what kind of cake I will be eating??? (no I am not making my own, my sister, Chris, has volunteered)

Have a great weekend......

VOTE ON MY NEXT CAKE!

Hey followers, I need your help! I have had many suggestions for my next cake adventure, but I can't decide! Please vote for your favorite....

1. Red velvet
2. Carrot
3. Coconut
4. Lowfat Blueberry Coffeecake
5. Caramelized Apple Upsidedown Cake
6. Chocolate Raspberry
7. Strawberry Cheesecake
8. Hummingbird Cake (pecan, banana, pineapple w/ cream cheese frosting)

Glazed Lemon Cake

Cake

1/2 lb sweet butter, (2 cubes) softened
2 C granulated sugar
3 C unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C buttermilk
2 T packed lemon zest
2 T fresh lemon juice
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Grease with butter a 9" tube pan
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5 minutes.
Beat in eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition.
Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Stir dry ingredients into egg mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Add lemon zest and juice.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Set on middle rack and bake 1 hour 5 min, or until tester inserted comes out clean.
Cool cake in pan 15 min. Remove from pan and spread on icing while it's hot.

Lemon Icing

1 1b. powdered sugar
1 cube butter
3 packed T grated lemon zest
1/2 C fresh lemon juice

Cream sugar and butter thoroughly. Mix in lemon zest and juice, spread on warm cake.

Hi cake fans! Well, this afternoon I made the Glazed Lemon Cake. It was pretty simple since it's made in a tube pan which has a removable bottom. No crazy layers to fall apart or anything. The batter is basic, cream the butter and sugar, add dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk. I used a stand mixer and beat the butter and sugar for a full 5 minutes. When all is done it is a thick batter and it rises a lot while baking. The recipe says to bake 1hr and 5 min, but mine only took 55 min. I made the glaze while it was baking. Just your simple powdered sugar, butter, lemon zest and juice. It is pretty thin, which is good because you are putting it on the cake while the cake is still hot. I don't know why the recipe has you make so much because I had half leftover! (no I didn't eat it all, just a little) By the way I used meyer lemons for the cake and the glaze. They are darker yellowish orange in color and more tart flavor. It doesn't matter which you use, but I bought 6 for both the cake and frosting and used all for the zest, but had 2 leftover for the juice.
I let the cake cool for 15 minutes, ran a knife around the sides and the bottom and carefully tipped it over onto a plate. Yay! Came out great. I cut some strips of waxed paper and stuck them around the bottom trying my best to get them a tiny but under the cake if possible. Then I spooned the glaze over the top and let it melt down the sides. I did that a few times to give it a nice coating. I let it cool for about 45 min, removed the waxed paper and no mess!

I can't wait to see how it tastes tomorrow! I will definitely report back. It was hard for me to make a cake that you can't frost it so it looks perfect, but I am telling myself that it's supposed to be this way. A GLAZE is not a frosting. Also, I must confess I would be more excited about it if I had raspberries or blackberries to serve along side! Recipe to follow! Talk to ya soon....

Hi Everyone, it's time to bake a cake! I have been researching a cake to make for a family reunion picnic on Saturday. Needs to be easy to transport, easy to serve, and taste incredible! I had a lot of suggestions for cakes this week (thank you!), but I think the best choice for this occasion is a Glazed Lemon Cake. I made it many years ago and I remember it as really moist, very lemony and the glaze is all buttery lemony sweetness! Yum. It is a very easy cake with lots of fresh lemon juice and zest in both the cake and the frosting. I will be baking on Friday, can't wait! Hope you all enjoy....
PS it is baked in a tube pan(the one with a hole in the middle, not a bundt) yay! no layers to split or mess up!

German Chocolate Cake Recipe

Cake -

4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 C boiling water
1C cold unsalted butter, diced (2 cubes)
2C sugar
4 eggs- separated
2tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 C flour
1 C buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350. Grease bottom of 2 9inch cake pans. Cut 2 pieces of parchment paper or wax paper to fit, put in bottom, grease those.

Combine chocolate in a small bowl with boiling water, let sit 2 min before stirring. Stir until completely melted.

Place butter and sugar in bowl of a mixer with paddle attachment and beat on high for about 5 min until light and fluffy. It took 7 min when I did it. With mixer on low add egg yolks, one at a time, scraping down sides. Combine salt, baking soda and flour in a bowl. Add one third of dry ingredients, one third of buttermilk, and continue in 3 additions, ending with buttermilk.
Now unless you have 2 mixers you will have to pour this mixture in a large bowl and wash out your mixer bowl. Make sure to wash and dry. Add the reserved egg whites to this bowl and beat on high until SOFT peaks form. Careful, it doesn't take that long, you don't want stiff peaks that stand up on their own.
Divide cake batter between pans and bake 30-35 min. Mine took 29 min. Set your timer for 25 min and start checking. Use toothpick in center. When it comes out with a few moist crumbs on there its done. Don't overbake! Cool completely.

Filling -

2C shredded sweet coconut
1 C toasted chopped pecans
1 10 oz can evaporated milk
1 1/2 C sugar
3 eggs yolk
1/2 C unsalted butter
2 tsp vanilla

Place coconut and pecans in large bowl, set aside. Combine evaporated milk, sugar, eggs and butter in saucepan over med-hi heat, whisking CONSTANTLY until it comes to a boil. Careful, it will scorch if you don't stir it. It takes a while. Remove from heat as soon as it starts boiling. Mix in pecans and coconut, add vanilla and refrigerate til cool.

Ganache Frosting -

1 1/2 lb. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/3 C light corn syrup
2 C heavy whipping cream

Combine chocolate and corn syrup in large bowl, set aside. Place cream in saucepan over med heat. Bring to boil, then pour over chocolate mixture. Let it sit about 2 min, then whisk until smooth. I put it in the frig for 25 min to get it thick enough to spread. Yours might not take that long.

Assembly -

Remove cakes carefully from pans onto wax paper. If you want cut them in half horizontally to make 4 layers. Or, just use the 2. Get out your filling and reserve about a cup for the top of your cake. Set aside. Place one on your platter right side up spread 1/2 the filling. Put next layer on, spread rest of filling. Beginning with the sides spread a very light layer of frosting on sides and top. Put in refrigerator about 30 min. Now you are ready to frost it for real. Do sides 1st, then top. Put your reserved filling in the middle top of cake, spread carefully so is just in the middle. Refrigerate your cake, but let it sit out 45 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

German Chocolate Cake

Ok, so it took me about 50 minutes to whip up the cake batter because I mistakenly thought I could do it between my mamogram and dermatology appointments. Wrong. So they are in the oven and look good so far. Had to remeasure the dry ingredients because I put baking powder in instead of baking soda. This was when I was upset about a friend's sick baby and was texting back and forth with my daughter. So, as you will see when i post the recipe, it is kind of a pain to have to separate the eggs and then wash the bowl and beat the whites separately. I can see that it is worth it tho, because it is making the cakes much taller! I had to throw out the first whites I whipped because I, again, trying to multitask, and sorting laundry, over whipped and instead of soft peaks they were too stiff. I could tell that they wouldn't fold into the cake batter well, so redid them. Lucky I didn't have to go to the store. Do not plan to do this when you are tired or have something on your mind. Also if you don't have a stand mixer, you may be in trouble, because you have to beat the sugar and butter 5 minutes. With a hand mixer, your hand might fall off. ( maybe it would take 10 min. to get it light and fluffy).

Filling: doesn't call for toasting the pecans, but have decided to do it. Believe it or not I already had to redo those because I burned them. I don't usually make all these mistakes, must be the pressure. Made it through the recipe without screwing anything up. Biggest challenge is trying not to eat it. Yum. By the way, toasting the nuts added a nice layer of flavor. I think you'll like it too.

Frosting: my favorite. I am wearing one of those masks that Hank wears when he mows the lawn. This is to keep from eating it all. 1 1/2 lbs of New Season's best bittersweet chocolate. Heavy cream and corn syrup. Heaven in a bowl. Be sure and chop the chocolate so it melts under the heat of the cream. I put it in the frig for about 30 min. before frosting the cake.

Assembly: So I was shaking in my flip flops, but I cut each layer in 1/2 so there would be 4 layers, more room for that delicious filling. It was hard! The cake is delicate so it was nerve wracking, but I got it done. If you are too scared, don't do it! Just put twice as much filling between layers! I put a very thin layer of ganache over the entire cake and chilled it for 25 min. It keeps crumbs from coming off and messing up your frosting. I poured myself a glass of zinfandel. I frosted the sides first, then the top. I had reserved a cup of the filling and I spread it right in the middle of the cake. (I really put a lot of frosting on because it is the best part, if you don't want it, don't eat it all). Decorated around the edges with toasted whole pecans. Voile! Recipe to follow! Don't be afraid, just make sure you have a whole day without kids or appointments! Enjoy!

Hello cake fans! I am obsessed with cake. Not overly decorated, not unique flavors, just plain homemade delicious and beautiful cake. Recently I found myself baking alot of cakes, mostly for family and friend's birthdays. They've been turning out really good! But, I have been very careful to read as many tips on cake making as possible. Now, don't get me wrong, I have had some mishaps in the past. So, I hope you'll follow along when I start my next cake adventure, and we'll see how it turns out!