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The Madderneine Cake

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I am extremely happy to be showing you this cake.  This cake is the product of my 5-year-old daughter’s imagination.  A few months ago, she was playing with some trivets/hot-plate type things from the kitchen cabinets; she was stacking them in such a way that they looked like a quadruple-layer cake!  She called it a “madderneine” cake.  I asked her what was in the cake and she told me some of the key parts of it.  For the next couple of months we occasionally talked about it and finally agreed upon the final verison of her “madderneine” cake.

As I show you these pictures, I have to apologize if they are not up-to-par.  Our main computer broke and I am using a laptop so I feel I cannot judge the coloring and brightness as well as I should be able to because the screen is so different!  I hope they look alright!

Anyway, our final version of the “madderneine” cake is this 2-layer white cake filled with pink strawberry-flavored whipped cream and fresh strawberry pieces.  On top is plain whipped cream sprinkled with macadamia praline and the whole cake is fancied up with rose-flavored pashmak (Persian fairy floss).  The pink rose petals are from our garden and the little bright pink flowers are from someone else’s garden.

We didn’t eat the flowers, by the way, they were just for decoration!

It looked very pretty, and my daughter’s eyes lit up when she saw it.  She loved it!  She ate every last bit of her slice.

I did not care much for the cake when it was fresh.  It tasted like it was missing something; it didn’t have any depth.  The taste was very light.  The strawberry flavor is not dominant because the rose pashmak takes center stage on the taste buds.  The crunch of the macadamia praline was a nice touch.

Just a tip – if you’re using pashmak on your cake, only put it on immediately before serving, otherwise, it just melts.  It still tastes fine, it just doesn’t look as pretty!

Despite how girly this cake is, my husband loved it.  He had a slice straight from the refrigerator.  When I tried a cold slice for myself, I enjoyed it heaps more than when it was fresh.  So, upon this discovery, I would recommend that if you to were make our cake for yourself, try it after it has been thoroughly chilled in the refrigerator.

I’m really proud of us, especially my daughter, for helping to bring her make-believe cake to life.

If you have a favorite white cake recipe, please feel free to use it instead of the one below. :)

The post The Madderneine Cake appeared first on sweetest kitchen.


Julia Child’s Queen Of Sheba Cake

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For a while there, I was wondering if I was ever going to bake anything again.  I had the best ingredients on hand (Van Houten cocao, various Beanilla products) but no idea what to do with them.  In the middle of the night, I’d find myself thinking about anything at all interesting that I could bake.  Still at a loss, I turned to my Facebook fans.

I told them what ingredients I wanted to bake with and asked for their suggestions.  Some suggestions were friands, double chocolate mud cupcakes and macarons.  While they all sounded delicious, one suggestion really intrigued me – Queen of Sheba cake, which was recommended by Jessica.  I had no idea what it was so had to google it.

The Queen of Sheba cake, or Reine De Saba, is a recipe from Julia Child.  Apparently it comes from her first book, The French Chef, but it appears that it can also be found, with slightly different versions, in a few other of Julia’s cookbooks.  In The French Chef, Julia says that it is the first French cake she had ever eaten, prepared by co-author Simon Beck, and she had never forgotten it.

I can’t figure out why this cake is called Queen of Sheba.  Does anyone know?

The cake itself is a soft, moist, gooey chocolate cake.  The preparation was fun and slightly different than I’m used to.  It starts out normal, by creaming butter and sugar, but then you beat in egg yolks, followed by folding in a mixture of melted chocolate and brewed coffee, then adding almond meal and almond extract (this is where my only variation came in, by adding my Beanilla Madagascar Bourbon vanilla extract instead because, although I like the smell of almond extract, I do not like the taste).

In another bowl, you will need to whisk egg whites with a pinch of salt and some sugar, then fold them in alternately with cake flour.  You’re then ready to go.

My cake didn’t rise very much, although in the pictures I’ve seen on the internets, it doesn’t appear to be a very high cake.  The top of the cake became shiny and a little crackly, sort of like a brownie.  The inside of the cake is very soft and moist and the taste is just beautiful.  I’m glad I used vanilla extract instead of almond.

What you absolutely need to note about this cake is that you must not overbake it. If you overbake it, you will lose that gooey texture that this cake is known for.

Originally, a recipe for a soft chocolate frosting accompanies this cake, but I chose not to use this.  Instead, I used some leftover dulce de leche to drizzle on each individual slice and sprinkled over a few pink sea salt flakes.  When served warm, this combination was absolutely to die for, so heavenly.

I am so thankful to Jessica for recommending the Queen of Sheba cake to me.  This recipe was such a great way to break my bout of baker’s block!

On a separate note, this post sees the launch of my new watermark for my photos.  After experiencing the trouble of someone using my photos to advertise their own “products” on Etsy, I have finally decided to take the time to watermark each photo.  I have tried and will try to keep them in an area of the photo that will not be so annoying, and I apologize if you don’t like them, but if you have experienced someone stealing your photos, then I’m sure you would take appropriate action as well.

The post Julia Child’s Queen Of Sheba Cake appeared first on sweetest kitchen.

Happy Birthday!

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This past week saw me turn one more year older and I wanted to make something special to celebrate the occasion.  I was pondering on what to make for a couple of weeks and inspiration finally came when I fully discovered my new favorite baking blog, Sweetapolita.  If you haven’t been by Rosie’s blog yet, get there now!  Prepare to be blown away – her baked creations are stunningly beautiful and positively drool-worthy!  I had read a post or two at Sweetapolita before, but only recently did I fully realize just how many tasty and beautiful treats there are to be found.  My inspiration came from Rosie’s six-layer dark chocolate and strawberry buttercream cake.  This is a very simply-presented cake, but yet I just fell in love with it.

This was my version of Rosie’s cake!  It isn’t quite as lovely as Rosie’s, but I’m very proud of it and it tasted amazing!

I made a few changes with the recipes.  The two main differences are that my cake is just a 2-layer cake, and I didn’t use Swiss meringue buttercream.  It’s not that I don’t know how to make Swiss meringue buttercream; it’s actually my favorite buttercream!  But, during the move to our new house, I lost the whisk attachment to my dear KitchenAid mixer, Katie.  You can’t make this kind of frosting without a whisk, so I had to use a regular buttercream frosting instead.  Otherwise, I used Rosie’s dark chocolate cake recipe and her chocolate ganache glaze recipe.

I prepared the cake in 2 8-inch baking pans the day before and placed the layers in cling wrap and into the freezer overnight.  The next day, I prepared the frosting and took the layers out of the freezer – I had read previously that it’s easier to frost a frozen cake because crumbs won’t crumble off the cake and ruin the look of the frosting.  I placed the bottom layer of cake upside-down on the cake plate, and the top layer of cake right-side-up, so there wasn’t even any cake-cutting involved.  I thought about cutting off the top of the cake to make it flat on top, but decided to leave it as is.

The frosting I used is a recipe off the back of a Western Star unsalted butter package.  It claimed it was the “best” buttercream frosting, so I decided to give it a go (I had to double the recipe).  You’ll need a stand mixer for this recipe because you’ll need to beat the frosting for a total of nearly 20 minutes!  This gives it a really soft, fluffy texture.  It was a warm day when I made the frosting, so my frosting was probably a little softer than it should have been!  Rosie used a bench scraper to  to give her Swiss meringue buttercream a perfectly smooth finish, but I don’t have one.  I used my palette knife instead but couldn’t get the frosting to have that same look that Rosie’s cake did!  Still, I like the rustic look of my frosting!  I added “rose petal pink” gel food coloring and about 1/2 teaspoon of strawberry flavoring.

The chocolate cake itself isn’t very sweet.  Or at least, mine wasn’t.  I was a little concerned that it wouldn’t be sweet enough!  I used Van Houten cocoa powder, and I probably used coffee that was a bit too strong.  I also didn’t have buttermilk; I didn’t even have lemon or vinegar to make my own buttermilk.  There is one more trick to making your own buttermilk though, which is adding 1 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar to each 1 cup of whole milk.  Okay, I don’t have whole milk either, just skim milk!  But my substitution worked just fine.  The cake was definitely moist and light, a real winner in my opinion!  I’ll definitely use this cake recipe again, without a doubt.

I was so impressed with this cake and so proud that it turned out so well!

Coincidentally, my blog also recently had a birthday at the end of February – sweetestkitchen.com turned 2 years old!  I considered my birthday cake to be a celebration of two birthdays!

To everyone who has had a birthday this past week (and I know there are heaps of you), I hope you had a fantastic, fun-filled day with a cake as yummy as this one!

Recipe credits:
Dark chocolate cake and chocolate ganache glaze recipes via Sweetapolita.
Buttercream frosting recipe (doubled for a 2-layer cake) via Western Star.

The post Happy Birthday! appeared first on sweetest kitchen.

Melting Ice Cream Cake

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A little over 7 years ago, I was staring into my baby’s wide open eyes, wondering what on Earth she’d look like and what she’d be like once she grew up.  Wondering what sort of things she’d be interested in and what sort of conversations we might have one day.  It seems like only a few months ago I was wondering these sorts of things about her.

Now she’s bringing homework home from school that she needs to do research on using the internet, or even making her own PowerPoint presentation.  Yes, it’s true, and she’s only in year 1 (1st grade, in other words)!  It’s insane.  She has friends over, she goes to her friends’ houses, she’s very artistic and funny.  That’s my girl, all grown up now.

And she wanted her 7th birthday party to be all about ice cream.  Coincidentally, just a few weeks before she told me this, I had found this ice cream cake via One Charming Party.  I had bookmarked it because it just simply looked awesome.  When my daughter told me about her ice cream party, I knew exactly what her cake would look like.  She didn’t want me to tell her about her cake, so I had to keep it a surprise until the morning of her birthday party (that was so hard!).

The original cake from One Charming Party was a real ice cream cake with a real melting ice cream cone on top.  I didn’t want to take it that far, so this is a real cake and the recipe (cake, frosting and ganache) is based off the cake I made for my own birthday; the only difference is that I didn’t add strawberry flavoring to the frosting.  And just fyi, I used Americolor “Soft Pink” gel for the pink in the frosting.  The ice cream in the ice cream cone is actually a chocolate muffin, which was a brilliant idea for an alternative to real ice cream from my friend Kell, at Blackcurrant Photography.  I froze the muffin in the freezer, then used a sharp, serrated knife to shape the muffin into a shape that resembled a scoop of ice cream.  The melting ice cream look was achieved by using Ice Magic, or Magic Shell.  It froze quickly on the muffin, but took longer to freeze for the pool on top of the ganache!

I assembled this cake from about 4:30am on the morning of my daughter’s party.  And I was only up that early because my 3-month-old baby woke me up!  At about 7am, I went up to my daughter’s room to find her awake and already dressed!  She was excited to see her cake, so I walked down with her and held her eyes closed until she was standing just in front of it.  I removed my hands from her eyes, and her eyes lit up with amazement!  It was great to see her reaction to it, she loved it!  Even my husband, who is usually not supportive of my baking, said it looked “like something off of MasterChef”.  The verdict on the cake was unanimous – everyone who saw it (and tasted it), loved it.  Awesome!

I don’t have any photos of the inside of the cake.  It has two layers, and it looks (and tastes) pretty much exactly my own birthday cake did.  Each party guest got a slice of cake and a scoop of ice cream that they could add their own toppings to.  The kids loved this and one claimed that it was the best party she had ever been to!?  Well, I’m pretty sure there have been better parties than this one, but it was nice to see the kids having such a great time!

This cake can easily be made with any flavor of cake and frosting you wish.  To make it exactly like mine, follow the recipe below.  I’ve included basic assembly instructions, which actually make it sound a little more difficult than it really is. If you make this cake, please let me know and share a photo!

The post Melting Ice Cream Cake appeared first on sweetest kitchen.

Ginger, Cardamom & Pomegranate Syrup Cake

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I have a new favorite cake.  It comes from an unlikely source, for me – Donna Hay.  If you’ve been following my blog or Twitter stream for long, you may remember that I have hit and miss issues with recipes from Donna Hay.  The majority of her recipes I have made have ended up either in failure, or I just simply didn’t like the end result.  I’m not a novice at baking (although I’m far from being an expert) so I couldn’t understand why I’d have so much trouble with Donna Hay’s recipes.  I wasn’t even overly happy with her box mixes!  I eventually came upon my own conclusion that Donna Hay is a food stylist, not a chef.  Her food, magazines and products are absolutely stunning, but when it comes to recipes, they’re just not that great.  In my own opinion.

I still buy her magazines though.  I loved Autumn’s issue.  There were so many yummy-looking recipes to help a cold person warm up over winter.  One really stood out for me, which was a ginger, cardamom and pomegranate syrup cake.  I wanted to make it, but I wouldn’t know where on Earth I could find pomegranate molasses, and I had never opened a pomegranate before (that task always seemed a bit daunting to me).  So I set the magazine aside for another day, for if I ever came across pomegranate molasses.

The other week, I decided to visit Thomas Dux for some reason (can’t remember what I originally went there for) and discovered a tiny unassuming bottle in the baking section.  It was filled with some sort of dark liquid.  I bent down for a closer look and read the little words – pomegranate molasses. Finally!  I hadn’t even thought about looking for it in quite some time, but upon discovering it, I bought it immediately and then forgot why I originally went to the shop in the first place.

At my next visit to the grocery store, I bought some fresh pomegranates and upon returning home, I got to work on Donna Hay’s ginger, cardamom and pomegranate syrup cake.  If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you got to see some of the steps while I was preparing it…

Here is the pomegranate molasses.  If you can’t find it at any shops, visit Herbie’s Spices online and buy a bottle to have delivered to your door.

The making of the actual cake itself is laughably easy.  Simply place everything in a bowl, stir, pour into your baking pan and then put it in the oven.  That’s it.  But getting the seeds out of the pomegranate?  Not so easy.  This is where my confusion about this recipe starts.  In the ingredients list, it states “3 pomegranates, seeds and juice removed and reserved”.  I thought to myself, there isn’t any juice inside of a pomegranate, is there?  No, there isn’t.  Unless you pop some of the seeds.  Well, I spent the entire hour while the cake was baking removing seeds from the pomegranate.  I followed some instructions online (using method #2 on that post), just basically making some slits in the pomegranate, pulling the fruit apart and loosening the seeds.  Yes, it messy, but oddly enough, despite all the warning about the juice sprays staining, and despite the juice spraying everywhere during my attempt at deseeding this thing, absolutely nothing got stained – not even the shirt I was wearing!

Okay.  So how was I going to get pomegranate juice for the syrup, especially if I needed the seeds to adorn the top of the finished cake?  Well, I glanced into the bowl in front of me, which held the seeds from 3 pomegranates, and I decided that I had more than enough seeds to decorate the top of the cake.  I scooped out a rounded handful of the seeds (as the recipe doesn’t state how much juice you actually need) and put them in the blender to juice them.  I strained this in a sieve, and added that juice to the sugar to make the syrup, which you see in the last frame of the photo just above this paragraph (it’s a photo of the juice on the cake).

The cake smelled delicious while baking in the oven.  It was such a warming smell.  When it was done, I poured the sticky pomegranate syrup on top of the hot cake and let it cool.  I also poured a couple of spoonfuls of the syrup in with the seeds and gave it a gentle stir to give them more of a glossy sheen.  When the cake was cool to the touch, but still just ever-so-slightly warm, I placed the pomegranate seeds on top.

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That was a frustrating task, actually, as the seeds kept rolling off the edge of the cake!  Not to worry though, the stickiness of the syrup eventually held them in place.  How beautiful does it look!  I was quite pleased with the appearance of my cake, but I knew the real deciding factor was going to be when I finally stopped taking photos of it and tasted it.  Would this cake restore my faith in Donna Hay’s ability to write a recipe that ended up as tasty as it looks in her photos?

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It was actually so delicious that I couldn’t find words to describe it.  Even now, I have a little trouble.  The cake is heavy and dense, but only just.  It actually is a perfect texture for the kind of cake that it is.  The pomegranate seeds lent an interesting flavor and texture to the overall taste.  Mind you, this was the first time I had ever tasted fresh pomegranate seeds.  Little bursts of juice from the seeds lit up each bite.  But what I enjoyed about this cake the most was it’s depth of flavor.  It is full of the kind of thing that you seek comfort in on cold nights.  Wow, I really am lost for words, I cannot describe it!

Did it restore my faith in Donna Hay’s recipes?  Well, this cake was out-of-this-world amazing, that’s for sure, but I have no way of knowing, yet, if the next recipe I try will be fantastic or not.  But I’m definitely more willing to give her a recipes another chance!  :)

Now some other notes about the cake… I have read online that if you can’t find pomegranate molasses, just leave it out.  Substitute more treacle, perhaps.  If you can’t find treacle, maybe golden syrup or dark agave nectar might work.

I didn’t have a 24cm round cake pan, so I went out buy one and could only find a 23cm springform pan.  I bought it to use, and it worked just fine.

I had tons of leftover pomegranate seeds. Perfect for juicing!

How does the cake taste on the next day?  You’d expect the flavor to enhance, right?  I don’t think it did.  I kept it in the refrigerator because of the seeds, although it probably would have been alright at room temperature since it’s been so cold here.  The next day, the cold cake felt like a brick – it was super heavy and dense.  A quick blast in the microwave took care of that, and while it still tasted nice, it didn’t have that depth that it had fresh from the oven.  Therefore, I am going to recommend that if you make this cake, plan to serve it all in one day and as fresh from the oven as possible (while it’s still soft and slightly warm).

I still have one lingering question about this recipe, however, which is, how much juice is needed to make the syrup?  If I ever find out, I’ll let you know.  UPDATE!  I inquired about this on Donna Hay’s Facebook page and her team responded within 2 minutes.  They said that each pomegranate will yield about 1/4 cup, or 60ml, of juice.  For the syrup, you should use about 3/4 cup of juice to make the syrup.  I then had to ask about whether we should be placing the seeds in the blender to juice them, as there wasn’t any juice in the pomegranates, except within the seeds.  Their reply was that there should have been enough juice in the bowl collected from deseeding the pomegranate.  But if there wasn’t enough juice, placing the seeds in the blender is fine.  However, I did see somewhere online that someone actually a purchased a bottle of pure pomegranate juice to use in the syrup.  Doing it this way, you could just buy one pomegranate and one bottle of juice – use the seeds from the fresh pomegranate to adorn the cake, and 3/4 cup of juice from the bottle for the syrup.

gingerpomegranatecake

Ginger, Cardamom & Pomegranate Syrup Cake
 
Perfect for the cooler autumn months, this decadent cake from Donna Hay, featuring the flavors of ginger, cardamom and pomegranate, is sure to be your new favorite.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 8-10
Ingredients
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 2 eggs
  • 1⅓ cups dark brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses (see notes)
  • ½ cup treacle
  • 100 grams butter, melted
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger, sifted
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom, sifted
  • 3 cups plain flour, sifted
  • 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, sifted
  • 3 pomegranates, seeds and juice removed and reserved*
  • ¾ cup caster sugar
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 160C. Lightly grease and line a 24cm round cake tin.
  2. Place the buttermilk, eggs, sugar, molasses, treacle and butter in a bowl and whisk to combine. Add the ginger, cardamom, flour and bicarbonate of soda and whisk to combine. Pour into prepared tin. Bake for 1 hour, or until cooked when tested with a skewer.
  3. Place the pomegranate juice and sugar in a bowl and mix to combine. Pour over the cake and allow to cool completely in the tin. Remove cake from the tin and sprinkle with the pomegranate seeds to serve.
  4. *You should have about ¾ cup of pomegranate juice. If you don't have enough juice, place some of the seeds in a blender and then strain out the juice. Alternatively, buy a bottle of pure pomegranate juice to use; this would mean you'd only need to purchase 1 fresh pomegranate (to get the seeds from to adorn the cake).

 

The post Ginger, Cardamom & Pomegranate Syrup Cake appeared first on sweetest kitchen.

Banana Cake With Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

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I’ve had a real thing for banana breads and cakes lately.  In fact, I just now took a loaf of banana bread out of the oven before I sat down to write this post about banana cake.  Bananas have been abundant in our kitchen, leading to some quite ripe bananas here and there.  I’m not sure what you all do with over-ripe bananas, but I immediately start searching for a banana bread or banana cake recipe; one that I haven’t used before or one that calls for ingredients that I have on hand already.  I came across a highly-rated banana cake recipe on my go-to recipe site, taste.com.au, a while ago and had bookmarked it.

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Last week, when I was faced with a handful of soft, black-spotted bananas, I turned to this recipe.  It’s super quick and easy, and in no time, you’ll be enjoying a delicious banana cake.

Some of the reviews of this recipe said the cake was too sweet and the reviewers had reduced the amount of sugar.  I took their advice and only added 225g of sugar, instead of 315g.  Just make sure your bananas are really over-ripe, and they will provide extra sweetness so that you could probably cut down on the sugar a little bit more if you like.  The only other change I made was to use 3 medium bananas instead of 2 large.

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Okay, I’ll admit, I didn’t actually make the frosting.  I used the brand new lemon cream cheese frosting from Philadelphia, which I also used to frost these red velvet zombie Halloween cupcakes.  The frosting was a perfect match for banana cake, as well as the red velvet cupcakes!  It made the preparation time for this cake even less.

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The recipe uses buttermilk, but if you want to cheat, remember that you can make your own buttermilk by using 1 cup of regular milk and 1 tablespoon of either fresh lemon juice or white vinegar.  Give a gentle stir and let it sit for 5 minutes.  Then measure out how much is needed for the recipe.

The cake was nice fresh from the oven, but I actually preferred it cold, straight from the refrigerator!  The refrigerator makes the cake firm and the firmness seemed to suit the cake well, if you know what I mean?  The photos I am showing you in this post is of the cake fresh from the oven, when it was fluffy and soft.  The cake has an obvious firmer look when served cold from the refrigerator.

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I normally don’t make the same recipe twice, but this cake is a real winner and I’m sure I’ll be making it again.  It’s just the thing for a morning or afternoon tea with coffee and a couple of friends.

Do you have a go-to recipe for sharing with friends that everyone loves?  If you don’t yet, try this cake; I’m sure it will be loved! :)

bananacake2

 

Banana Cake With Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
A delicious banana cake with lemon cream cheese frosting, perfect for afternoon tea.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • Melted butter, to grease
  • 125g butter, at room temperature
  • 225g caster sugar
  • 1¼ cups mashed overripe banana (about 2 large bananas)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 100ml buttermilk
  • 225g self-raising flour
  • ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 banana, extra, to decorate
  • Fresh lemon juice, to brush
  • 250g tub Philadelphia Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush a round 20cm (base measurement) cake pan with melted butter to grease. Line the base and side of the pan with non-stick baking paper.
  2. Place the butter, sugar, banana, eggs and vanilla in the bowl of a food processor, and process for 2 minutes or until well combined. Add the buttermilk and process until combined.
  3. Add the flour and bicarbonate of soda, and process until just combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Shake the pan to settle the mixture.
  4. Bake in oven for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside in the pan for 10 minutes to cool slightly, before transferring the cake to a wire rack to cool completely.
  5. Frost the cooled cake with Philadelphia Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting (or prepare the original frosting recipe used with this cake). Peel and thinly slice the 1 extra banana and brush 1 cut side of each slice with lemon juice. Arrange the banana slices, lemon juice side up, around the edge of the frosting to serve. Serve immediately. Store leftovers in the refrigerator 2-3 days.

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Homemade Ding Dongs

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If I were to reminisce about good times with my dad, I would think about him letting me drive his big red tractor, or sitting outside on the swing watching a distant thunderstorm, or sitting on the porch asking him how big airplanes or alligators are.  I’d also think about how he was very picky (and I’m sure he still is!) about how his spaghetti is cooked, which eventually encouraged me to cook perfect al dente pasta.  One of the sillier things I’d think about, though, is the love we had for Ding Dongs!

I’d imagine that a majority of you have just asked, “What is a Ding Dong?”!  Ding Dongs were manufactured by Hostess, which is now no longer operating as of just a few weeks ago; they are a little round chocolate cake coated in chocolate with a marshmallowy center.  They may also be known as Ring Dings or King Dons, depending on where in North America you live.  Originally, Ding Dongs were wrapped in aluminum foil and sold in a box of 12.  More recently however, they were individually wrapped in a white plastic package.

What is it that’s so silly about these Ding Dongs, my dad and I?  Well, we loved Ding Dongs (and Twinkies and Cupcakes, while we’re at it!) so we often had a box of them in the kitchen.  Because we loved Ding Dongs so much, we also always had lots of foil wrappers (as I mentioned, they were originally individually wrapped in aluminum foil), and those wrappers always ended up being crumpled into little foil balls that my dad and I would throw at each other!  We’d always pick up after ourselves, but one day we discovered a large number of those foil balls behind our big old Montgomery Ward television, ones which must have bounced off our heads or off the wall during a foil ball fight!  We had a big laugh at the pile of foil balls that we had unknowingly collected over the years!

It was the recent closure of Hostess that made my homemade version of Hostess Cupcakes the most popular recipe on my blog for a few days straight, and it was also the inspiration for me to make a homemade version of Ding Dongs.

This is a relatively easy recipe to prepare.  I’m not even going to provide a recipe in this post, but I’ll walk you through the how-to.

First, choose your favorite chocolate cake recipe (I wouldn’t recommend a box mix, as those cakes usually aren’t sturdy enough to hold their shape when cut).  You can prepare your cake in one of two ways; as cupcakes, or as a 9×13-inch cake.  In my case, I prepared them as cupcakes, but used cupcake liners that are flat, rather than pleated (like these).  If you chose the 9×13-inch cake method, use a 3-inch round cutter to cut circles from the cake once it is completely cooled.  If your cupcakes (or cake) have a large dome, just slice it off with a knife to get a flat top, then flip it over so that the flat bottom is facing up (so you’ll have a nice flat top to your faux Ding Dongs).

Next, choose a filling.  There are lots of faux Hostess filling recipes; you can choose from a 7-minute frosting, a frosting that uses Marshmallow Creme or Marshmallow Fluff, or take the easy route and simply fill it with plain Marshmallow Creme/Fluff!

Okay, I admit, I did it the easy way and used straight Marshmallow Fluff!  I have a special pastry tip to fill cupcakes, which I used to fill these cakes.  If you don’t have one of these, you can use the cone method, but I’d recommend cutting the cone shape out of the bottom of the cakes so that the top of them will stay nice and flat.

Lastly, if you’ve got 12 cakes like I did, melt around 300g of semi-sweet chocolate (say, maybe around 50% cocoa); if you made more or less cakes, adjust the amount of chocolate accordingly.  Other homemade Ding Dong recipes may use some oil or butter in the melted chocolate to soften it a bit, but I remember the chocolate coating on Ding Dongs as being hard (well, not *that* hard, but it did crack when I bit into it) so I opted for just plain chocolate.  This part is a little tricky, especially if you want to have a smooth coating of chocolate.  If you’ve cut your cakes, don’t dip them into the chocolate as the crumbs will go into the melted chocolate and you won’t have a smooth coating.  I used a spoon and poured the chocolate on top of the cakes, which I had sitting on a wire cooling rack.  After the chocolate had set, I carefully flipped them upside down and used the spoon to spread a layer of melted chocolate on the bottoms of the cakes.

For presentation purposes, I wrapped the cakes up in aluminum foil for that nostalgic feel.  It is, however, a good way to store them, as they might stick together if you just place them in a container without being individually wrapped up..

So, are you sad about Hostess having closed down?  What was your favorite Hostess snack?

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Profiline PushPan Review

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Yesterday I posted a brand new giveaway for my Australian followers – win a Profiline PushPan prize pack (how’s that for an alliteration!) worth $172!  These pans will be used throughout The Great Australian Bake Off series, which starts tonight on Channel Nine.  But you may find yourself asking, What exactly is a PushPan?

24cm R silver

I asked myself the same question when Sarah Broome from Filtered Media presented me with the opportunity to both try a PushPan for myself and host a giveaway.

The Profiline PushPan is an innovative loose‐based, watertight cake tin. Each tin has a uniquely integrated  silicone seal on its loose base that guarantees no cake mixture will find its way out of the pan. And since not a drop of water can get in, the PushPan is ideal for baking a cheesecake in a water bath, without the worry of fashioning a lining or wrapping your pan in foil first.

Since I’ve started the giveaway, I’ve already been asked some questions.  Yes, the tins are very sturdy and durable.  They are of professional quality.  And yes, the one cake I’ve made so far in the tin was easy to push out.  As for how the tins actually work?  Check out the PushPan video!

To test out my 20cm PushPan, I decided upon a cookies and cream cake.

oreocake2

To prepare the PushPan, you’ll need to grease it with a bit of butter, but not non-stick cooking sprays.  Then push the loose bottom in the cake tin, gently but firmly, until it can’t be pushed further.  Here is where I almost became confused as I had pushed the bottom in upside down!  The way I will remember it from now on is that the Profiline PushPan logo needs to be facing up!

pushpan1

Then fill the tin with your cake batter.  In my case, a basic vanilla cake with chunks of Oreos.  Pop it in the oven, watch it rise beautifully and evenly, then wait for it cool (or at least until you can handle the tin without burning your hands).

Now comes the part you’ve been waiting for.

pushpan2

To remove your cake, place the tin on a wide, tall can (in my case, a very large jar of Nutella) and pull down evenly on the outer ring of the tin.  Ta-da!  A beautiful golden cake!  To remove the bottom of the cake tin, place your hand or a plate on top of the cake, invert it and gently lift off the bottom.

I decided to go with a mini cookies & cream cake, so I cut out two circles from this big cake.

oreocake1

And then frosted it with Oreo crumb-infused vanilla buttercream.

oreocake3

To which I very tediously applied a ring of Oreo crumbs!  This was done by lining the frosting with parchment paper on the parts I didn’t want to have crumbs on.

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I can definitely say that the PushPan is fantastic and I can’t wait to use it to bake some cheesecakes, which I normally avoid because I don’t want to waste time wrapping the tin with foil and worrying about whether it’s covered properly.

Some things to remember about the PushPan…

  • Do not use non-stick cooking sprays to grease the tin (not sure why, maybe it damages the coating somehow?).
  • Make sure the Profiline PushPan logo on the loose bottom is facing up.
  • The tin is oven safe up to 260C.
  • The tin is dishwasher safe; no need to remove the silicone seal (I’m not even sure it comes off?).
  • The silicone seal is made from FDA approved materials.
  • The tin is made from heavy gauge steel and the double coating is PFOA-free.

oreocake5

Are you keen to get some Profiline PushPans for yourself?  If you’re in Australia, check out my giveaway post before 15/7/2013 for a chance to win a set worth $172.  Of if you can’t wait, find out where to buy them at the PushPan website.

And be sure to watch The Great Australian Bake Off, starting tonight on Channel 9 at 8PM to see the PushPans in action!

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Japanese-Themed Birthday Party

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My daughter turned 8 last week.  We’d been planning her party for at least 1 1/2 months and frankly, I was quite tired of thinking about it!  I was definitely excited for it to get underway, but when it was over, I was tremendously relieved!  Last year, she had an ice cream party and a real show-stopper of a cake.  This year, she had a Japanese-themed party and the show-stopper was sweet sushi.

candysushi1

This dish impressed the mums and was loved by my daughter and her 10 guests.  It was really fun to make and so much easier than I thought.

A friend of mine, Rosa, who lives in the US, offered to send me the American candy I needed to make sweet sushi – Air Heads, Fruit Roll-Ups and Swedish Fish.  The “rice” is Rice Krispies treats, but I can get Rice Krispies here in Australia under a different name – Rice Bubbles.  However, to make the preparation go even quicker for the sushi, I used LCM bars, which is pre-made Rice Krispies treats.

Inspiration for the sweet sushi came from parents.com.  To assemble, here is what I did.

You’ll need…

  • a box of LCM bars/Rice Krispies treats
  • Air Heads, either the short ones or long ones, in orange, pink (or red), and white
  • blue and green Fruit Roll-Ups
  • Swedish Fish
  • Gummy worms/snakes

Working with one LCM bar/Rice Krispies treat bar at a time, place it on a baking paper-line microwave-safe plate and microwave it for 5-7 seconds.  Pick up the bar and place it on a piece of plastic wrap and wrap it up lightly.  Use hands to shape the bar into a shape resembling sushi.  For the sashimi sushi, slightly round off the edges of the bar and slightly flatten.  Unwrap the bar, cut it into 3 even-sized blocks.  Using the plastic wrap again – just to keep your hands from getting too sticky – press the cut edges onto the work surface to flatten them.  Use as many bars as you need to make however many sushi slices you wish.  Set aside.

Working with one Air Heads piece at a time, place it on a baking paper-lined microwave-safe plate and microwave it for 5-8 seconds.  Make sure it’s not too hot to handle, then shape it into a slice of sashimi.  If the Air Heads piece is too melty, just let it sit until it hardens up again.  If you’re using the long Air Heads, you can get two slices of “sashimi” out of it.  Repeat for each orange and pink (or red) Air Heads piece, and stick it on a block of “rice”.  For the white stripes, microwave a white Air Heads piece, as already described, then slice it into thin slices.  Shape it as per the photos and stick onto the sashimi and lightly press down to secure.

Cut thin slices (see photos for examples) of Fruit Roll-Ups to wrap around the sashimi sushi.

For the Swedish Fish sushi, place the warm LCM bar on its side (after it’s wrapped in plastic wrap) and flatten.  Turn it vertically again and flatten.  Round off the edges and continue shaping it until a Swedish Fish can sit on top without it overhanging the edges.  Wrap a slice of Fruit Roll-Ups around it.

For the rolled gummy worm sushi, loosely wrap the warm LCM bar in plastic wrap and flatten it gently with a rolling pin.  If it starts to fall apart, you’ve rolled and flattened too much!  Stick it back together if this happens.  Unwrap the bar, but leave the bar on top of the plastic wrap.  Place two gummy worms at the edge of the bar closest to you and trim off the overhanging pieces of worms.  Using the plastic wrap, tightly, and very gently, roll the gummy worms up in the bar and when you get it rolled up, press and roll on the bar to secure it.  Cut the roll, using a sharp knife and a sawing motion, into 3 slices.

Using the slices as a guide, measure and cut a slice of Fruit Roll-Ups to fit around the sushi rolls.  Wrap the Roll-Up around the roll and secure the edge.  If your rolled sushi looks unevenly cut when you place them on a dish, lay a sheet of plastic wrap, or baking paper, on top of the sushi and stick another plate on top.  Use a bag of flour/sugar/whatever to weigh it down.  Leave it for a few minutes and it should even out the sushi.

Store in an airtight container until ready to eat.  Should keep for a couple of days.

candysushi2

The party table, I realized later, looked a bit empty!  There wasn’t much food to choose from and it lacked height.  I spent too much time planning the sushi and cake, as well as activities, that I thought I didn’t have enough food.

birthdayparty2

As it turned out, it was just right.  We had the candy sushi, allsorts licorice (which reminded me of sushi by the way it looks!), the cake, sandwich sushi, rice crackers and teriyaki chicken bites (this recipe from kidspot.com.au, only I placed each chicken piece on a toothpick).

The real favorite of the girls was the sandwich sushi.  I had planned to have real sushi – just a basic avocado/cucumber sushi – but at the last minute I decided to go with a less traditional sushi.

sandwichsushi

I wasn’t sure how many of the girls actually liked real sushi (turns out that most do like real sushi – they’re obviously not from a cornfield in Indiana!) so while sticking with a sushi theme, I chose some more familiar ingredients – bread, cream cheese, tuna, avocado and carrot.  Slightly quicker, slightly more kid-friendly but just as delicious!  The girls loved it!

The main centerpiece of the table was a tissue paper cherry blossom branch.  This is simply a tree branch cut from a tree in our yard with pink and white tissue paper glued on!  Here is a tutorial from Designed Decor, but I just allowed myself time to cut out squares of tissue paper, stack a piece of white on top of pink (and vice versa) and scrunch the paper in the middle.

A lot of our decorations came from Daiso Japan in Chatswood.  That shop is brilliant.  Everything Japanese.  Everything $2.80.

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The party bags are just brown Kraft paper bags.  We bought them plain and my daughter used apple stamps in the shapes of cherry blossoms (yes, this was tricky to cut out of apples!).  The invitations and party bags matched – apple stamp cherry blossoms on Kraft paper.  Inside the party bags was an assortment of Japanese-themed stuff.  The kokeshi doll circles hanging from the bag were from a craft I had planned, but the supplies didn’t arrive in time by mail so I had to scrap that idea!

I had purchased these Japanese doll digital collage sheets (from Art Cult on Etsy) to cut out and for the girls to place into these pendants with glass domes (from DewSupplies on Etsy) to make necklaces.  But it took 7 working days for the pendants to arrive from Melbourne to Sydney!  Outrageous!  So I told the girls that Emma and I would make the necklaces and bring them to school to hand out instead.  I used some of the circles to hang on the party bags.

necklaces

I actually had to cut the 1-inch prints even more to fit inside the pendants, though!  But doesn’t it look cute!

For activities/games, we had a tea ceremony with Japanese music (purchased from iTunes), an origami session and learning how to use chopsticks by practicing picking up marshmallows.

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And yes, most of the girls wore kimonos!  They looked fantastic!

The tea was hibiscus/lemon/apple juice tea; a recipe from Martha Stewart.  The origami pieces we made were these finger puppets, water balloons and boats.  I had a couple more origami things planned, but we didn’t end up having time.  The inspiration for picking up mini marshmallows with chopsticks came from Restless Risa. birthdaycake1 The “cherry blossom” birthday cake was inspired by Martha Stewart.  It was delicious!!!  To save time, I used 2 chocolate cake box mixes.  The filling and frosting is as per Marta Stewart’s original recipe.  The cake is 2 layers, filled with strawberry (“cherry blossom”!) cream cheese filling and frosted with strawberry (“cherry blossom”!) Swiss meringue buttercream.  I cut both recipes in half, however, because my cake was 2 layers instead of the original 3.  I used a scant 1/4 cup of strawberry puree in the frosting because I didn’t want the frosting to be too pink.  The cherry blossoms were cut from Bakels Pettinice white fondant, and colored pink with Wilton’s gel food coloring.  We placed pink, yellow and white cauchous in the middle of the blossoms.  The candles were red. birthdaycake2
It was so delicious!  I froze the leftover cake and we’re still nibbling on slices, a week later!

So, the girls all had a great time, despite all my stressing about there perhaps not being enough food and the pendants not arriving in time!

This party theme was a little bit out of the ordinary, but very fun.  What’s the strangest/most unique birthday party you’ve planned/been to?

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Raw Chocolate Cake

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How do you like your chocolate cake?  Do you like a soft and light crumb?  Or do you like a denser texture?  Do you like plain chocolate, or do you like to add some fresh fruit or other flavors?

What about if you tried something completely and totally different with your chocolate cake?

rawchoccake2

Everything you thought about chocolate cake is about to change.  Enter, the “raw” chocolate cake.  No, I don’t mean that I forgot to bake a chocolate cake, or even that I under-baked it.  I mean that I didn’t use the oven at all to make this cake.

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Three awesome layers of healthiness make up this chocolate cake.

Quick side note: I may say “healthy”, but as usual, everything in moderation.

Another quick side note: for this cake to be officially “raw”, you have to use ingredients that are raw.  My cake isn’t officially raw because I didn’t use raw honey.

First, we have the bottom layer, which is made from ground hazelnuts, honey, cacao butter, and cacao powder.  This mixture is pressed into a springform pan and chilled while the middle layer is prepared.

The middle layer is my favorite part.  It’s made from ground pecans, cacao powder, honey, vanilla, medjool dates and dried figs.  This mixture is pressed into the pan on top of the bottom layer.  This layer would also taste fantastic on its own, formed into “bites” or bars.

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Finally, the frosting is a combination of coconut oil, cacao powder and agave nectar.  This is chilled slightly and then spread on top of the middle layer, like a ganache.  It sets with a texture similar to coconut oil in its solid form, so it’s definitely firmer than the average frosting.

This cake comes together so much quicker than a baked cake, and a little slice goes such a long way.

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Use a really sharp knife and a gentle slicing action to serve a piece of this cake, as with a blunter knife you may have trouble cutting through the firmer coconut oil-frosting layer and you’ll end up with a messy slice.

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For my first full-on raw cake experience, I was really pleased.  If you’re a traditionalist with your chocolate cakes and prefer them baked, then you’re going to need an open mind when you taste a raw chocolate cake.  But in the end, once slice of this cake will be slightly healthier than a slice of butter- & sugar-laden baked cake, and you’ll be enjoying a number of good-for-you ingredients. rawchoccake6 Enjoy!

Raw Chocolate Cake
 
A delicious and indulgent raw chocolate cake that is free of refined sugars, dairy and gluten.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Ingredients
  • -Base:
  • 60g cacao butter
  • 1 cup (150g) hazelnuts
  • 2½ tablespoons raw cacao powder
  • 1½ tablespoons raw honey
  • -Filling:
  • 300g pecans
  • 150g pitted medjool dates
  • 150g dried figs
  • 2½ tablespoons raw honey
  • ⅓ cup (50g) raw cacao powder
  • 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • -Frosting:
  • 200ml coconut oil, melted if solid
  • 100g raw cacao powder
  • 2 teaspoons raw dark agave nectar
Instructions
  1. Line a 20cm springform pan with baking paper.
  2. For the base, finely grate the cacao butter into a heatproof bowl, then place in a large bowl of hot water and allow it to melt (not allowing it to go over 34C, so it is still considered raw).
  3. For the base, finely grind the hazelnuts in a food processor, then add in the melted cacao butter, cacao powder and honey. Press firmly and evenly into the prepared pan and chill.
  4. For the filling, finely grind the pecans in a food processor, then add in the remaining ingredients for the filling and process until it starts clumping together. Press into the pan and chill for 3 hours (I chilled mine for 30 minutes in the freezer).
  5. For the frosting, combine all the ingredients for this layer and chill for 20 minutes to set a little. Tip- once it starts setting, it sets fast, so get a move on and quickly get the frosting on the cake and spread out in a pretty pattern before it sets.
  6. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.
Notes
The original recipe says to dust bee pollen over the frosting, for a hit of honey flavor and crunch; if you can find this and can afford it, go for it! Otherwise, if you're not concerned about the raw & healthy options, I reckon a fine crumble of honeycomb might also do the trick.

 

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“Freedom from the Box” Wacky Cake

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One of my favorite childhood memories is chocolate cake.  That sounds silly, I know, but I think chocolate cake was quite important to us.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t the homemade kind of chocolate cake; we really liked the box mix chocolate cakes.  I’d make a lot of them, sometimes deviating from the norm and throwing in different flavors for our evening desserts (strawberry, caramel, etc.), but it was always chocolate that was the favorite.

I don’t even know why we never made a tradition of making homemade chocolate cakes.  I was definitely interested in baking back then, but I know we weren’t concerned about preservatives and additives and artificial flavorings, so it didn’t really matter to us.  We thought box mixes were quicker and easier than homemade and they always turned out just the way we liked them – soft, fluffy and chocolatey.

Oh did I ever have much to learn.

See this cake here?  This chocolate cake with gorgeous, soft, fluffy frosting?  Dotted with confetti sprinkles and chocolate popping candy?  And the bunting floating above?  This cake is soft, fudgey (I prefer fudgey cakes rather than fluffy cakes these days) and oh so chocolatey.  And it didn’t come from a box.  Oh, and it took just about the same amount of time to make this cake as it does a box mix cake.

And the frosting, I bet you’re thinking that takes just forever to make.  The frosting’s the catch, right?  Those super fluffy, swirly clouds.  How do you make frosting like that?  Well, you just simply whip some cream and slather it over your chocolate cake.

(And then hope that while you are taking pictures of it, a certain toddler won’t keep trying to take out the bunting!! Like my own toddler did!)

Honestly, this perfect-for-all-occasions cake takes the same amount of time to prepare – from start to finish – as a box mix cake.  You now have no excuses; put that box mix back on the shelf and grab yourself a bag of flour instead.

Oh, that’s right!  I haven’t mentioned yet that this cake actually requires no eggs or butter or even milk, so you don’t have to wait around for all your ingredients to warm up to room temperature.  That’s because it’s a wacky cake!  It’s a genius invention that supposedly has its origins in the 1940s, when certain ingredients were hard to come by, or too expensive, during World War II.  The fact that there were none of the usual ingredients in the recipe – butter, eggs and milk – was so wacky that the cake affectionately became known as “wacky cake”.

I really wanted a quick chocolate cake fix a little while ago.  No, a microwave mug cake wouldn’t do (those things are absolutely disgusting, anyway!  Please don’t ever waste your time or ingredients making one!).  I wanted a cake with frosting.  The wacky cake recipe popped out at me as I was trying to think of an idea.  Usually wacky cakes are dusted with icing sugar, but I wanted a real cake.  With frosting.  Hm.  Well, what would be quicker, softer and fluffier than homemade whipped cream?

The last obstacle I had to get around, once I had decided on the recipe, was what sort of occasion could I celebrate that day that would justify making a cake?  Did I have to have a reason?  Couldn’t I just celebrate anything?  Sure, why not.  How about Happy Friday?  Happy You-Made-It-Through-The-Week Day!  Happy End-Of-The-Week Day!  Happy It’s-The-Weekend Day!  Or, well, something like that.

The kids really loved this idea, although they were really confused as to why we were celebrating Friday.  They just knew they’d get to have cake.  🙂

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This particular day, I accidentally baked the wacky cake a couple minutes too long and it lost a little bit of the fudgey texture I adore in cakes.  But it still tasted awesome.  If you’re after fudginess, bake for a minimum amount of time.  If you have a little sinking in the middle once you take the cake out of the oven, no big deal.  Just know that you’ll soon be slicing into fudgey heaven.  And you can cover the little crater with a mound of whipped cream anyway.

But if you like a normal cake texture, bake for a little longer (but not too long, or it’ll become dry and unpleasant!).

Oh, and here’s a tip.  This cake tastes amazing straight from the refrigerator, especially if it’s on the fudgey side.

A note on the frosting.  Don’t use whipped cream from a can.  Don’t use whipped cream from a tub.  Make. Your. Own.  It’s easy, it really is.  And it’s quick.  The only thing you need to remember is to stop whisking the cream as soon as it holds its shape (stiff peaks), or the cream will lose that soft, fluffy look and will begin turning itself into butter!  But that’s another story…

So, go enjoy your new-found freedom from the box.  Make your own cake today and celebrate! 🙂

 

"Freedom From The Box" Wacky Cake
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Celebrate your freedom from the box mix cake with this quick and delicious wacky cake recipe with whipped cream frosting!
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup white sugar*
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 6 tablespoons grapeseed oil, or other flavorless oil
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup cold water
  • For the frosting:
  • 1 cup thickened cream
  • 3 tablespoons pure icing sugar, sifted
  • ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • food coloring, optional
  • sprinkles, optional
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with baking paper.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cocoa powder.
  3. Using a spoon, make 3 wells in the dry ingredients, one large well and two smaller wells. Pour the grapeseed oil into the largest well, the vinegar into one of the smaller wells, and the vanilla extract into the last well. Pour the cold water over everything and whisk the ingredients together until the mixture is smooth.
  4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Bake for the minimum time if you'd like a fudgier cake texture. The cake is done when it springs back softly when lightly pressed in the center (or you can do the toothpick test, but I rarely do that!)
  5. Remove cake from the oven, place on a wire rack and cool for 5-10 minutes. Run a knife gently along the edge of the cake around the pan, then carefully turn the pan upside down to remove the cake, and leave to completely cool before adding frosting.
  6. For the frosting:
  7. While the cake is cooling, place a medium bowl and your whisk into the refrigerator to cool for at least 15 minutes. When ready to frost, remove the bowl, whisk and cream from the refrigerator. Place cream, icing sugar, vanilla and food coloring, if using, in the bowl, and whisk (either with a handheld mixer with whisk attachment, electric whisk, or by hand!) just until stiff peaks firm (any longer and the mixture will start looking grainy and curdled, at which time you'll have to start over with a new cup of cream). Immediately spread the whipped cream onto the cooled cake with an offset spatula.
  8. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired.
Notes
* I always use a scant cup of sugar, which means just a bit under a cup.


- If you're after a completely egg-free, dairy-free dessert, this cake is perfect. Just omit the whipped cream and whisk up some coconut whipped cream instead.


- Use a good, high-quality cocoa powder for a great-tasting chocolatey cake. I always use my favorite cocoa powder - Van Houten.


- If you over-whisk the cream, save it and make your own butter (search google for ideas for flavored butters!).


- Unfrosted, this cake will keep at room temp for a couple days, or in the refrigerator for a few days (freeze for a longer storage period). If frosted, always store in the refrigerator, should keep for a couple days.

 

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Mint Chocolate Baked Donuts

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Mint and chocolate were “mint” to be together in these fudgy mint chocolate baked donuts!

Do you love mint chocolate (I know you do, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this right now!)?  If so, you’ll have to make these pretty pastel green donuts!

If I seem super excited, it’s because I actually am super excited – I made these donuts on a whim the other day while one of my children was home sick from school.  Being stuck at home with him for the day meant I could either finally catch up on some housework, or bake something.  Obviously, I chose the latter option!

I didn’t really have a full plan for these donuts; I was just winging it.  I only knew I was after chocolate donuts.  After browsing through my collection of flavorings, I decided on a mint white chocolate icing.  But when I finished dunking the donuts in the icing (I double-dipped them, by the way!), I thought they looked kind of plain.  A-ha, I thought, a dark chocolate drizzle!  I was very happy with how they turned out, which is why I’m so excited to share the recipe with you today!

These donuts are baked in a donut baking pan, so they are totally cake-like.  The batter doesn’t need any sort of electric mixer or any odd ingredients, so it’s really easy to whip up.  You’ll notice the batter will be really thick and I highly recommended using a piping bag to pipe the batter into the donut pan (I promise doing it this way will make it much easier than spooning the batter into the pan!).

You can use a regular-sized donut baking pan, or a mini-sized one, for this recipe.  I used the mini-sized, which gave me 22 mini donuts.  Whichever pan you use, the most important thing to remember is not to overbake the donuts.  With the mini-sized pan, I only needed to bake the donuts for 7 minutes at 350F.  For regular-sized, I’d recommended to start checking for doneness at 10 minutes, but they make take up to 13 minutes to bake.

For the icing, I simply melted about 200g of white chocolate (real white chocolate, not the fake stuff) and added  peppermint extract plus some green food coloring.  I was stuck using liquid food coloring, which didn’t mix in perfectly (the end result was a little speckly), as I was out of the coloring gel.  I’d highly recommend using the gel, or powder, to get better results.

With 200g of white chocolate, you should have plenty leftover for a double dip, so after the first dip, let the chocolate fully set on the donuts, then go back and double dip them all!  Let the second layer fully set before adding the dark chocolate drizzle.

The zig-zag dark chocolate drizzle is just melted dark chocolate.  Easy!  You can either use a spoon to drizzle the chocolate on, or a piping bag (I used a Ziploc bag!).

If you can wait, let the chocolate drizzle set, then ENJOY IMMEDIATELY!!!!

Nah, who could wait!!!!

Pro tip – this weekend is Mother’s Day!  If your mum loves mint + chocolate, you’ve got to make these for her!!  And include a homemade card that has a funny minty pun, like, “I ‘mint’ it when I said ‘I love you‘!”!

Mint Chocolate Baked Donuts
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
These fudgy mint chocolate baked donuts have a subtle hint of mint in the white chocolate icing and are so easy to create!
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 12-22 donuts
Ingredients
  • ⅔ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
  • 1¾ cups plain flour
  • 1¼ cups light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ¾ teaspoon espresso powder, optional
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • ¾ cup whole milk, room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons vinegar, white or cider
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, melted, or ⅓ cup flavorless oil
  • Mint icing:
  • 200g white chocolate, chopped
  • ½-3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
  • Green food coloring gel
  • 75g dark chocolate, chopped
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Lightly grease the wells of two donut baking pans (you can use either mini-sized (yield 22 donuts) or regular-sized (yield 12 donuts) and set aside.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, espresso powder and salt.
  3. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, and vinegar. You may notice some curdling of the milk, which is fine.
  4. Add the wet ingredients, along with the melted butter or oil, to the dry ingredients. Stir gently with a wooden spoon until no floury bits remain; take care not to overmix or your donuts may end up a little tough.
  5. Transfer batter to a piping bag and pipe the batter into the wells of the prepared donut baking pans. Fill them about ¾ full. If you're using two mini donut pans, you'll have to bake in two batches.
  6. Bake mini-sized donuts for 7-9 minutes; bake regular-sized donuts 10-13 minutes. You can do the toothpick test to check if the donuts are done, or simply lightly press on top of the donuts - if they spring back, they are done. Whatever you do, do not overbake!!
  7. Remove the doughnuts from the oven, and after 30 seconds or so, loosen their edges (if needed), turn the pan upside down over a rack, and gently let the doughnuts fall onto the rack.
  8. Let the donuts cool completely before dipping into the icing.
  9. For the mint icing: Melt the white chocolate using your preferred method. Add ½ teaspoon peppermint extract, or a little more, to suit your tastes, and a couple drops of green food coloring - you'll be after a pastel-like mint green color, so add a little bit at a time, and stir after each addition, until you reach your desired color.
  10. Carefully dip the cooled donuts into the melted chocolate (if you find the chocolate is a little runny and drips all over the sides of the donuts, set the chocolate aside for a little bit to thicken up). Let the chocolate icing set. You should have plenty of chocolate left to double dip the donuts, so go for a second layer and let it set before adding the dark chocolate drizzle.
  11. For the dark chocolate drizzle, melt the dark chocolate using your preferred method. Transfer the melted chocolate to a piping bag and cut a small opening in the bottom then drizzle the chocolate over the donuts in a zig-zag motion (you can also just use a spoon to drizzle the chocolate). Let the donuts set once more (if you can wait), then ENJOY IMMEDIATELY!!
  12. Can be stored in the refrigerator, or at room temperature; best eaten within two days.

 

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The post Mint Chocolate Baked Donuts appeared first on sweetest kitchen.

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