Mini Dutch Chocolate Swirl Poundcakes

As soon as you put something into miniature, I want it all the more.  I found this amazing mini, mini loaf pan at Williams-Sonoma, which is made in the USA.  For me it's like having a brownie bites pan only for quick breads and poundcakes.  I love having that crunchy edge and the loaves frankly even out to be the same as a  slice you get at the bakery.  This batter is easily mixed by hand using a whisk and large mixing bowl - not necessary to pull out your stand-mixer here.  You can glaze them with the rose water glaze I prepared (recipe below) - they were all gone before cooled, next time I will glaze.

12 tbsp. butter
1 c. sugar
3 eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla-bean paste
1/3 c. milk
1 1/2 c. cake flour
2 tbsp. Dutch process cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prep a mini-loaf pan by spraying it with Bak-klene.  Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl with a whisk - add eggs, salt, baking powder and vanilla bean paste - whisking to combine.  Add milk and cake flour, whisking again until batter is smooth.  Reserve one cup of batter and add the 2 tbsp. Dutch cocoa powder to it - set aside.

Divide original batter between the eight wells, then top with cocoa-infused batter - using a toothpick, swirl batters together.  Place into the oven and bake for 20 minutes - remove and let sit for ten minutes before removing from pan.  I did make a rose water glaze to go over the top of them, but consumed immediately before I could get the glaze on.

Here is the recipe for the glaze

1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 tsp. rose-flower water.

Lemon Meringue Mille Crepe Cake

Spring is here and as usual the taste of lemon is biting at my heels to come in the kitchen.  I infused two classic desserts together to create a showstopper for any Spring or Summer gathering.   With lemon meringue pie on the mind, I was inspired by the French cake mille crêpe, which made of many crêpe layers. The word mille means "a thousand", implying the many layers of crêpe.  Lemon curd is nestled in between the crêpe layers then topped with meringue.  This recipe will take you a few days to complete due to the fact that you need to make the lemon curd one day and allow it to set up and another day for the assembled dessert to set up - not doing this will ensure your cake disaster.  What makes this curd recipe a little different is I added unflavored gelatin to the recipe so it would thicken and make the dessert layers stable enough to cut and serve.


Lemon Curd
1 package unflavored gelatin
1 1/4 c. fresh lemon juice + zest of two lemons
1 1/2 c. sugar
6 whole eggs + 9 egg yolks
10 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, sliced

In a small bowl combine the package of unflavored gelatin and 1/2 c. lemon juice - set aside.  In a 3-4 qt. sauce pan over medium heat add the remaining lemon juice, zest, sugar and eggs stirring with a whisk until mixture comes to a boil and thickens.  Add gelatin mixture and whisk for one minute.  Remove from stove and whisk butter slices in a few at a time, adding more until each batch melts.  Cover and refrigerate overnight to ensure it fully sets up,  If you do not do this, the curd will be too loose and your crêpes may slide of kilter.


Crepes
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
3 c. whole milk
6 eggs
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. flour


Whisk ingredients together, cover and chill for two hours. Chilling the batter simply helps the batter to handle better - if you do not have the time to chill it - that is fine.  I like the batter not being too runny.  A tip, or two - I use two crepe pans as it makes light work of what is a quick-cooking recipe.  The 8" deBuyer crepe pans available at Williams-Sonoma are extremely economical and they come with a wooden spatula which is tip #2.  After your crepe has cooked on the first side simply place the included spatula across the middle of the pan and tip the pan over.  The large amount of butter in crepe recipes act as a lubricant to keep the  from sticking.  The crêpe will fall onto the wooden spatula.  Simply turn the pan right side up back onto the stove and lay the uncooked crepe side back into the pan and finish cooking.


When making the crepes in succession like this, I place a piece of parchment paper on top of a cooling rack and then slide the crepes on top of the parchment, layering them as you continue to make more and more.  You may have a few casualties which is fine.  You will not use all of the crêpes, but almost all.  When you are done, let them cool to room temperature for roughly at least an hour before you begin to assemble.  You do not need to cover them as this will cause them to retain their heat.


Assembly:
Place a crepe onto a 8" cardboard round or directly onto the salver you choose to serve the dessert on.  Place roughly 1/3-1/2 c. of lemon curd on top of crêpe and gently spread around to even out (this does not need to be perfect).  Repeat by topping with another crêpe and more lemon curd until you run out of lemon curd.  Make sure to check your dessert after every 4-5 layers as they make slip/slide which will cause your dessert to be off center.  Simply take the last few layers in between your thumb and forefinger and gently tug to center them.


When finished, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill overnight - this step is essential.


Meringue:
5 egg whites
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. white vinegar


Place ingredients into a mixer bowl fitted with the whip attachment, and whip until whites develop stiff peaks and are glossy.  


Remove cake from refrigerator and using a spatula, place meringue on top of cake - spreading it around to give it the usual peaks and valleys you see on a meringue dessert.  Finish meringue by browning using a kitchen torch - serve!

Spring Carrot Layer Cake

Spring is the inspiration for this cake.  Iced in a Spring green and embellished with tender vegetables, this is sure to be a hit at your next event.  The decoration on this cake is not for the beginner - it does take a bit of practice.  Remember to always use the best ingredients you can afford when you bake and cook.  This recipe makes a 6", 4-layer cake.  I rinse my carrots, I don't peel them as I believe there is so much nutrition in there I hate to waste it.

With respect to frosting the cake, the next time I do this, I will separate out two cups and tint that darker while having the filling and main body of the cake be lighter.  Always learning and growing.

Cake
3 cups AP flour

1 cup pecan pieces

1 lb. carrots, shredded

3 eggs

1/3 cup buttermilk

1 tbsp. vanilla bean paste

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups canola oil

1 tbsp. crystallized ginger

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

Icing
2 lb. powdered sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 stick butter flavor shortening
8 oz. cream cheese - room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla

In the bowl of an electric mixer combine shredded carrots, crystallized ginger, vanilla bean paste, canola oil, eggs, sugar and buttermilk.  Mix on low and when combined add baking powder, salt, cinnamon and pecan pieces.  Finally add flour and mix until all the flour is incorporated.

Prepare four 6" cake pans by spraying them with Bak-klene.  Place into a 375 degree, preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes - until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Remove from oven and allow to cool in pans for ten minutes, then invert onto cooling rack to fully cool down.  Wrap in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator overnight to fully chill.

Frosting:
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with whip attachment combine butter, shortening and cream cheese beating it for five minutes - scraping bowl as necessary to mix all ingredients together.  Turn mixer on low and add vanilla and powdered sugar, beating for five more minutes.

Separate out 2 cups of icing and tint orange.  Separate out another cup and tint it a darker shade of green you tint the remaining icing in the bowl so you have a shade difference between the two.  Level off cake tops and place onto cake round, securing it with a dab of frosting.  I place roughly 1 cup of icing in between each layer.  When you smoosh it down, some if the icing will ooze out and you will not have to worry about filling in any gaps.

For piping the decorations I used the following Wilton tips - 

Candy Corn Cake

I have been inspired by candy corn this fall, and I wanted to try and translate that into a cake for the Autumn season.   This can be used for Halloween or even Thanksgiving to add some whimsy to your entertaining table.

2 cups butter, softened
1 2/3 cups sugar
5 eggs
1.5 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cups buttermilk
1 tbsp. vanilla-bean paste
4 cups cake flour
orange food coloring
yellow food coloring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare three 9" cake pans by spraying them with Bak-klene - set aside.

In the work bowl of your mixer place the butter and sugar.  Beat on high, scraping the bowl if necessary until ingredients are creamed.  Add eggs, baking powder, soda, salt and buttermilk - mix on medium until combined and any lumps are small.  Add vanilla-bean paste and cake flour.  Beat ingredients on low, slowly gearing up to medium-high - beating the ingredients until the batter is creamy and you see very little lumps.  This process should take 1-2 minutes at most.

Using a scoop, divide the batter into one of the prepared pans and two appropriately-sized mixing bowls.  Take your orange and yellow food coloring and add them to one of each of the mixing bowls and color the one bowl of batter yellow and one bowl of batter orange - using a fork or whisk to combine the batter and fully color it.  Use a clean spatula to scrape each of the colors into their own separate 9" round, spreading the batter around to ensure it bakes evenly.  Repeat with other two pans.

Place into preheated oven and bake for 25-35 minutes, OR until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow to cool for roughly ten minutes, then invert cakes onto cooling rack to completely cool.

This cake uses one whole batch of my vanilla-bean buttercream icing.  I use a large, star tip to pipe the colors onto the top of the cake.  Chill overnight and remove from the refrigerator shortly before you are to serve it.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Tarts

24 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup corn starch
3 eggs
1 15-oz. can pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice OR
1 tsp cinnamon & 1 tsp. ginger
2 tsp vanilla-bean paste

Toppings 1
1/2 cup pecans, chopped & toasted
1/3 cup white chocolate chips
1/4 cup candied ginger, chopped
1 tbsp. sugar

Toppings 2
1/2 cup gingersnaps, broken (1 layer of the Pepperidge Farm Gingerman cookies)
1/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped
1 tbsp. sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, spray 14"X4" removable-bottom tart pans with Bak-klene to ensure easy release.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment beat cream cheese, sour cream and corn starch until blended and smooth.  Add eggs, one at a time - followed by the pumpkin puree, sugar, cinnamon, ginger and vanilla-bean paste.

Divide batter evenly between the two pans and bake for 20 minutes.  Top each pan with toppings and bake for another 20 minutes - it should be firm.  Remove from the oven and let cool completely.  Cover and refrigerate overnight before serving.

The Best Hummingbird Cake Recipe

I love this cake, it is somewhat reminiscent of carrot cake with a twist.  I had never had Hummingbird Cake before until I was in Chicago having dinner with my friend Art Smith at his restaurant Table 52 - I knew I wanted this to be my birthday cake.  This recipe comes courtesy of Art - full of flavor, not too sweet and studded with fresh fruit and toasted pecans.  I frost it sparingly so you can savor the cake instead of the frosting overwhelming it.  For the pineapple, I cored a fresh pineapple and placed it in a mini food processor to chop small - I prefer the taste of this as opposed to canned pineapple but canned pineapple works fine as well.

Cake
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups ripe, smashed banana
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup canola oil
3 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla bean paste
1 cup finely-chopped, toasted pecans

Preheat oven to 350 and prep two 9" round cake pans by lining them with parchment & butter and flouring them or spraying with Bakklene.  Place flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt into a bowl and using a whisk - stir to sift and aerate.  In a separate bowl, mix together banana, pineapple, canola oil, eggs, vanilla-bean psate and pecans until thoroughly combined. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir to incorporate until it is smooth.  Divide evenly between the two cake pans.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes.  Remove from pans and let cool completely on rack right side up.  You can place cooled cake layers into the refrigerator to make frosting them easier.

Icing
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla bean paste

Place cream cheese and butter into a bowl and mix with an electric mixer to combine.  Add powdered sugar and mix on low setting to combine, then add vanilla bean paste and mix until smooth.  Set aside.  Do not put in refrigerator as it will become too stiff to frost cake.

Put 1/4 cup icing in the middle of cake stand and place first cake layer right side up on top.  Spread roughly 2/3 cup icing on top of cake layer.  It does not need to look perfect.  Place second layer right side down on top of first layer and gently press together.  Place remaining icing on top of cake and using an icing spatula, spread icing onto sides and top of cake.  Set cake into refrigerator to chill completely - preferably overnight to fully set (this will make it easier to cut).  Enjoy!

Chocolate Blackout Cake

Making a cake from scrath requires a little more effort than one from a box.  I would guess for most people it is about having the ingredients on hand that is the problem as opposed to the effort.  For this recipe, the ingredients that are not common in a lot of kitchens are buttermilk and cake flour, maybe cocoa powder.  For this cake I topped it with a simple ganache which is 8 ounces choppped bittersweet chocolate melted in 8 ounces heavy cream.  I heat the cream in a liquid measuring cup and add the chopped chocolate to it, then stir it until the chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth.  I then let it sit for a half hour to cool, so when I pour it over the top it is thick enough to laquer the top. 

On a side note, ganache is what you use to make truffles.  Check out the truffles article under the Chocolate link for more details.

Chocolate Blackout Cake

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

OR 1 cup butter-flavored shortening

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. almond extract

2 cups buttermilk

2 cups cake flour

1 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat an oven to 325 degrees.  In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment on low cream butter and sugar together.  Add eggs one at a time, then vanilla and almond.  Turn mixer off and scrape the bottom of the bowl, then slowly pour in buttermilk and turn mixer back on until mixture is combined.  Turn mixer off and add cake flour, cocoa powder and salt.  Turn mixer back on low and run until well combined, scraping bottom of bowl to make sure all ingredients are incorporated.

I prep the pan I am going to use by spraying it with Bak-Klene, here I placed the cake in a 9" round cake pan.  Start checking them with a toothpick inserted into the center until it comes out clean after 20 minutes for cupcakes, 35-40 minutes for cakes.  The point here is to know how your oven works and adjust that time to accomodate your cake.

When the toothpick comes out clean, remove cake from oven and set on cooling rack for 5 minutes to slighly cool, then remove from pan and allow to come to room temperature on cooling rack.  Frost as desired.

Snickers Cheesecake

I know someone who loves Snickers and cheesecake, so I decided to take a stab at combining the two into one decadent creation.  Here is the result!  I started out by combining chocolate wafer cookies and roasted, salted peanuts in the food processor to form the crust instead of just cookies.  For the batter, I infused a vanilla-bean batter with some peanut butter and added chopped up Snickers bars.  The photo below actually displays one of the pieces of candy bar that melted during the baking process and became gooey.  I then topped the cooled confection off with a dark chocolate ganache and then guilded the lily so to speak with more roasted, salted peanuts.  YUM - that's all I have to say.  Eating it was amazing.  If you would like to make it, see the recipe below.

Lemon-lavender Poundcakes

I love the versatility I get out of my Lodge Logic Pre-Seasoned Drop Biscuit Pan.  From making brownies in the oven or grill, to cornbread.  One of the reasons I like it is because I get a miniature cake shape out of it, the size of a muffin but in the shape of a cake.  We eat with our eyes first and I am always trying to find what is already around us, but reinvent it.  Here I took my lemon poundcake recipe and added in lavender.  I love this combination - it is bright and refreshing.  I use cake flour in this recipe to keep it light, you could use all-purpose flour although you will not get the same result.  Also, you could glaze them if you desire - I prefer them just as they are.

2 lemons

1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar, preferably superfine
3 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream, regular - not light, at room temperature
2 tablespoons dried lavender buds

Preheat oven to 325F.  I prep my biscuit pan by spraying it with Bak-klene (this is what I use).  Zest four of the lemons, and place into a bowl with the sugar.  Juice the lemons into a liquid measuring cup. I use the Orange-X juicer as I can put a liquid measuring cup underneath it and it is super easy to clean.

Using a whisk, stir your flour to 'sift' it.  This aerates it so you do not overflour your recipe.  In a bowl combine the flour, baking soda, salt and lavender buds - then set aside.


In the bowl of your mixer on medium speed, cream the butter and sugar, making sure to scrape the bowl so that it is fully combined.  Add one egg at a time, beating until it is comined - then the next egg.  Turn mixer on to low and add in the dry ingredients, then the sour cream and juice.
Divide between wells in biscuit pan and bake until a toothpick/tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Let the cakes cool in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes. Remove cakes from pan and set on cooling rack until you are ready to serve.

Crumb Cake 101

I love crumb cake. I find that too many of them are too much cake and not enough crumb. There needs to be a balance between the two, and of course what would this cake be without a great cup of coffee! Here is my recipe for coffee cake. I make this in a 10" or 9" springform pan so I can bring the cake to the table in the pan (after I have taken off the springform sides). This makes cutting the cake easier and presentation nice. In the end, who doesn't love a fresh, warm piece of coffee cake?

Crumb Cake:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a medium bowl mix together:

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 large egg

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup milk

In another bowl whisk together:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Pour the wet ingredients in with the dry and stir with a spatula to bring them together (do not use a mixer!) Spread this in an even layer on your springform pan.

In another bowl, mix together:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup brown sugar (light or dark both work)

1 tsp. cinnamon

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

Confectioner's sugar to dust (if desired)

Stir these ingredients together to make the 'crumb' and distribute on top of cake batter layer.

Transfer the pan into the oven and bake for 30 minutes, rotating 1/2 way around for even browning. Test your cake before you pull it out of the oven with a toothpick (make sure it comes out clean). If it does not, let it bake for an additional five minutes depending on your oven.

Pull it out of the oven, let it rest a couple minutes and unspring it. You can at this point dust it with confectioners sugar. Use a serrated knife to cut the cake and serve. Enjoy!

Giant Cupcake Cakes

I had to make a cake to celebrate the birthday of little Sara who was born premature and was turning '1' this last weekend. 40 people were coming and I wanted to find a way to capture the innocence of a little girl and yet feed the masses. Why not giant cupcake cakes? Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookie Cakes slathered with Orchid-tinted icing (what little girl doesn't love purple?) and covered with multi-colored jimmies and sprinkles. Even I wanted these for my birthday - but not in purple. Consider these for your party coming up, email me at ross@kon-tent.com for pricing and ideas to personalize it your way!

Cakewalk.... Not today!

I had two number cakes requested and I basically reserved the day to make them. I had a #11 and a #2 to make. I figured this would be easy, no problem. Everything started out fine, things mixed well in the Viking, the came out of the oven well. I then did the crumb coat so my frosting would not get full of crumbs and then I started to frost the cakes. The #2 went well, but then came #11.... My red frosting started to separate, I am not sure why and by the time I saw it - it was too late. No fixing this mess. I finished the cake with my under par frosting and decided the cake and frosting are delicious, hopefully the client will think so as well. Obviously she did not have to pay for the #11 since it looked like a 3-year-old child did it. Regardless, I did this to show that we ALL have mishaps in the kitchen. Relax, it's just a cake - right?

Let them eat cake!

This past weekend I made a birthday cake for someone I know. Their son was turning two and I offered to make a cake on their behalf as anyone with a two-year-old knows, you don't have time for anything. Here I made the cake in the shape of the Number 2 out of devils food and vanilla cupcakes to match surround the main cake.