Candy Cane Dark Chocolate Cake

The Christmas season is better with chocolate and peppermint, just ask any coffeeshop, with their sweetly conjured up seasonal specialties. It's also better with cake. We had a little dinner party the other night, so I set out to make a little something that everyone, including my gluten-intolerant father, could enjoy! This is one of the first times that I have successfully  actually created my own recipe of a baked good. Usually I start from a recipe and maybe add my own spices or special touches, but this time I just looked at about four different recipes, and then created my own. So fun!! And it actually tasted amazing! I feel like a proud parent.


Ingredients:
for the cake
1 3/4 c. Gluten-Free Baking Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 c. Melted Butter, cooled
1/2 c. White Sugar
3 Eggs
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1 c. Milk (1% and up)
1/2 c. Melted Dark Chocolate
York Peppermint Patties

for the glaze
1 c. Confectioners Sugar
1/4 tsp Peppermint Extract
3 Tb Milk
Candy Canes, smashed into bits

The Process:

Set the oven to pre-heat at 350.

In one bowl, combine the dry ingredients of flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, and milk to the butter-sugar bowl. After all is mixed thoroughly, gradually add in the dry ingredients. Fold in the melted chocolate. Chop up about 5-6 York into small pieces, and fold those into the batter as well.

Oil or butter-up your baking dish-- I used a bundt cake mold, because it's more festive and seems to bake more evenly, but do as you please! Place in the oven for about 55 minutes or so.

While that's baking, mix up your Peppermint Glaze. Combine the pepermint extract and milk, then slowly sift in the confectioners sugar, stirring vigorously, so as to avoid any clumps in the creamy glaze.

After your cake has been removed for the oven and had time to cool a bit, take it out of its mold, and drizzle the peppermint glaze overtop. Delicately and boldly throw lots of candy cane pieces into the glaze. Voila!

Enjoy!!

Cranberry Spice Cake

What I'm craving more than Christmas foods is Christmas spirit. Where's the Christmas spirit?! Since moving down to Louisville, I'm suddenly much more aware of how unnaturally warm it is outside for this season. It ain't right to be 60 degrees outside on December 5th! So it doesn't feel like Christmastime. Thankfully, we have successfully put up all of our pretty Christmas decorations in our house, and I have to remind myself to play Christmas tunes when I so badly want to play Bon Iver for these dreary warmish, cloudy, rainy days. So, I'm taking it upon myself to do some sort of Christmas-y task every day. Yesterday, I made homemade ornaments to hang from twine off of our chandelier. This morning, I'm making a cranberry spice cake, which I will pair with delicious hot cocoa when it's time to eat up. 

 serves 6-8
 
For the Cake:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
dash of nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups (8 ounces) fresh (or frozen, thawed) cranberries
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest (roughly 1/2 a lemon)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup apple cider (or applesauce)

For the Lemon Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest (roughly 1/2 a lemon)
3 tablespoons strained fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt


Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Coat the bottom and sides of 8 1/2-inch round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray (or use vegetable oil spread with paper towel). Line the bottom of the cake pan with parchment paper and coat the paper with spray too. Whisk flour and next 6 ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. Pulse cranberries in a food processor until minced but not puréed; set aside.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together granulated sugar, brown sugar, and oil to blend. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on low to blend between additions. Mix in sour cream, orange zest, lemon zest, and vanilla.

Gradually stir in the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with cider in 2 additions and mixing on low to blend. Fold in chopped cranberries. Scrape batter into prepared pan; smooth top.

Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a tester inserted into center of cake comes out almost clean, about 50-60 minutes. We recommend checking the cake after 45 minutes since ovens vary. Transfer the pan to a wire rack; let cake cool in pan for 15 minutes. Run a thin knife around inside of pan to release cake; turn out cake onto rack. Peel off parchment paper, then flip cake and let cool for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile make the lemon glaze. Whisk powdered sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt in a small bowl. Spread glaze over warm cake, drip down sides. Let stand until glaze becomes crackly, about 1 hour. Serve at room temperature.

(FYI: I didn't take this picture... the cake I made was gone before I took snap a photo of it!)

Enjoy! And Merry Christmas!
 

Mixed Berry Squares

It's getting warmer outside, which makes me always crave fruit and non-heavy foods. So in honor of this impending warmth, I decided to find a recipe using fresh berries and a light cake... and voila! Here tis! It was devoured before I even tried a bit, which I'd say is a pretty good sign.

I didn't take this photo, but this is what they should look like :)

Gather:

6 ounces blackberries or blueberries or both

6 ounces raspberries

1 cup sliced almonds

4 large eggs

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup almond flour/meal

1/4 cup oat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

a few squeezes of lemon

a dash of coconut extract

Make:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Whisk the baking powder and flours together and keep aside.

gettin good...

In a  mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together using a hand or stand mixer.  Now, add one egg at a time to the batter and beat till fluffy. Add 1/3rd of the flour mixture to the batter and continue beating till mixed. Similarly, incorporate the rest of the flour into the batter. Add the extracts and lemon.

Pour the cake batter into the baking pan, Randomly spread the berries out onto the surface of the batter keeping the open-end of the berries (raspberries) downward. Sprinkle the almonds on top of the entire cake, sprinkle some raw sugar atop of it all (optional), and bake in the oven for 40 minutes or till knife comes out clean from the center of the cake when poked. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before you cut.

And this was all that was left :)

enjoy!

Sorghum Orange-Ginger Layer Cake

Tonight is a little gathering in the church community called Gallery Night, where friends come together with their artistic gifts and talents and share them with each other. Perhaps they're a painter, a singer, a crafter, a tapper, a baker, or perhaps  just an appreciator of all things artsy. The theme for the evening is "You Are Here". And this is what I made, and this is the poem that I wrote about it.

Gather the Goods
cake
2.5 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1Tb. baking powder
1Tb. ground ginger
2 tsp. freshly grated ginger
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 c. unsalted butter at room temp
1.5 c. granulated sugar
3/4 c. vanilla bourbon sorghum
2 large eggs
1 c. whole milk

frosting
 3.5 c. confectioners' sugar
5 Tb. heavy cream
6 Tb. unsalted butter
1 Tb. vanilla bourbon sorghum

extras
1 bar of orange dark chocolate, plus some chocolate chips
a jar of orange marmalade (I added some freshly grated ginger to mine)

Create
1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter and line the bottoms of three circle cake pans with parchment paper... you can also make this as a sheet cake using a 13x9x2 pan.
2. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, ground ginger, fresh ginger, black pepper, and salt. In a large bowl combine butter and sugar. Beat the butter-sugar mix until it's light and fluffy for about 2 minutes. With the mixer on low, add in the sorghum. Beat in eggs. On low speed, beat in the flour mixture bit by bit.
3. Pour into cake pans and let it remain for about 32 minutes, checking it to be sure of it's readiness.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the frosting! Sift powdered sugar into a medium bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream, butter, and sorghum. Let it cool a bit, then pour it over the sugar, stirring all together until it's smooth.
5. As you assemble the cakes, spread a moderately thick layer of orange-ginger marmalade in between each cake.
6. Spread the frosting over the entire cake.
7. For the dark chocolate decorations, melt your chocolate in a double boiler, or in the microwave. Then pour that into a frosting bag or a secure ziplock baggy, cutting a tiny whole at the end. Draw out whatever design you wish on parchment paper, then put a small fan in front to aid in the drying. It'll take about 30 min. to fully dry. Peel it off and place it on!

and voila. cake!

enjoy!

Orange-Ginger-Carrot Cake

happy birthday kailee-kins :)

Makin a cake... makin a cake! hey hey hey hey! Is that a song? I think it's a song. I've been blissfully happy lately, for reasons that are not to be mentioned on a food blog, but in wake of my joy, I've been in a constant baking frenzy. Why not? My lovely friend Kaylan and I wanted to have a baking day this past weekend, so we chose a random recipe, and it turned out to be absolutely phenomenal. This is topping the charts for my favorite carrot cake recipe now! And that's a pretty huge statement considering I've grown up eating Strongbow's delectable carrot cake... but I really like this one better now. It's so fresh, and not to heavy on the stomach. Plus, it's loaded with amazing flavors! Originally, the recipe was vegan, but then I added the cream cheese frosting.. it was necessary because any carrot cake seems to need cream cheese frosting. But for a breakfast treat, do without the frosting, and I'm sure that it would be delightful.

It was so good I made it twice in the past week. Once for Miss Kailee's twenty-second birthday (she's mah girl, so she deserved the heart-shape), and then again for theCanvas, where I tried doing more of a layer cake style, with the orange-maple glaze atop. I found the glaze was too much for the cake. It was soggy and too sweet. Don't do it unless you're looking for a cake like that...

kaylan with the SLAP CHOP!

The Fixins
makes one 9" round cake

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tspn baking powder
1 tspn baking soda
1 tspn ground cinnamon
1/2 tspn freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tspn salt
3/4 cup unfiltered apple juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup maple syrup
zest of 1 orange, freshly grated
3 medium carrots, grated (~1 1/2 cups)
2 tspn freshly grated ginger
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Oil and flour a 9" round cake pan, line the bottom of the pan with parchment and grease again.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  Set aside.
3. In a blender or food processor, puree the apple juice, vegetable oil, raisins, maple syrup, and orange zest until smooth.
4. Add the grated ginger and carrots to the apple juice mix and pulse a few times until just combined.
5. Fold the carrot and apple juice mix into the prepared dry ingredients, using as few strokes as possible and being careful not to overmix.
6. Fold in the chopped walnuts.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake for 35-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out cleanly.  Meanwhile, make the frosting and/or glaze

for glaze:
3 Tbspn maple syrup
2 Tbspn freshly squeezed orange juice

1. Whisk together the syrup and orange juice.
2. When the cake has cooled for about 10 minutes, liberally brush the glaze on top of the entire cake.  Let cool completely.
3. Top cake, if desired, with mandarin orange slices and more glaze.

for frosting:
4 oz. cream cheese
4 oz. unsalted butter
2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

1. Whip it all together until smooth.
2. Gently smooth atop the cake!

Enjoy!

The Baked Brownie

No joke, this batter is like crack. Maybe that's a bit extreme, but honestly I just love it and want more of it. Apparently, this is Oprah's favorite brownie recipe. So it's famous and it must be amazing. Well, at least I think it is. I love the crispy (not burnt) top, the super gooey middle, the rich taste of espresso which brings out the chocolate flavor.

Ingredients:
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder
11 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup packed light brown sugar
5 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Creation:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9×13-inch glass or light-colored baking pan. Line the pan with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and cocoa powder together.
3. Put the chocolate, butter and instant espresso powder in a large bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water and add the sugars. Whisk until completely combined, then remove the bowl from the pan. The mixture should be room temperature.
4. Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Add the remaining eggs and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not overbeat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey.
5. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a rubber spatula (not a whisk), fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until just a bit of the flour mixture is visible.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Let the brownies cool completely, then lift them out of the pan using the parchment paper.
7. Cut into squares and serve, or just stick your face in and enjoy ravenously.

yummo ;)