Baking Hint - Greasing/flouring a pan
My friend, Lezah, told me about this and we used it in our catering business when we made cakes. For lack of a better term, I call it, "baking spread" and this is a combo of shortening and flour for your cake pans. All this consists of is, 2 parts Crisco shortening, 1 part flour.
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| 1 cup flour, 2 cups shortening Yup it is a pain to make,but so worth the effort |
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| "painting" the tube pan |
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| keep the spread in a container for ease when greasing the cake pan |
January Cakes
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| Cranberry Pecan Cake (heavenly with a cup of coffee) |
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| The cranberries and pecans are perfect in this moist yellow cake |
Cranberry Pecan Cake
1 stick butter (1/2 cup), room temp
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, room temp
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp almond extract
1 can (14 oz) whole cranberry sauce
1/2 chopped pecans
Glaze
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbl powdered sugar
1 Tbl warm water
1/2 tsp almond extract
Preheat oven to 350 & grease a 10 in tube pan or bundt pan. Cream butter & sugar, add eggs and mix well. Sift together flour, soda, baking pwdr, salt and add to the creamed mixture alternately with the sour cream. Stir in almond extract.
Next spoon 1/2 of the cake mixture into the tube pan, spread 1/2 of the can of cranberry sauce and 1/4 cup of pecans, then repeat. Bake for 45-55min or until cake tests done. Cool, then glaze the cake. To make the glaze, mix all of the ingredients together and drizzle over the cake. It is yummy. ~
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February Cakes
Raspberry Infused Chocolate Cake
Cake
½ cup butter, room temp
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, room temp¼ cup strong coffee
1 ¾ cups buttermilk
1 tsp raspberry flavor extract ( I use Watkins flavorings)
1 ¾ cups flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
Preheat oven to 350, prepare a 10” tube pan with baking spread (or grease & flour the pan), set aside.
In a mixing bowl, cream butter & sugar, then add eggs & mix well. Add in coffee, raspberry extract and mix well. Sift flour, soda, salt & cocoa powder and mix in alternately with buttermilk and mix well.
Pour into the prepared pan and bake 50-60 minutes or until the center of the cake comes out clean (I use a long skewer to check the cake). Once done, let cool 10 min in the pan and invert onto a cake pan.
Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz cream cheese, room temp
2 tbl of butter, room temp
¼ tsp raspberry extract
1 ¾ cup powdered sugar
½ cup fresh raspberries
In small bowl, mix cream cheese and butter till well mixed, next add raspberry extract and raspberries and mix well, then mix in powdered sugar. It should be a thick but creamy frosting. Depending on if the berries are juicy, you may need to add more powdered sugar for the perfect frosting consistency. Note: if you are using (2) 9” cake pans instead of a tube pan, you will need to double the cream cheese frosting recipe.
Chocolate Ganache
¾ cup bittersweet chocolate chips/or chopped chocolate in small pieces
½ cup double heavy cream
½ tbl butter
Place chocolate in a bowl or small Pyrex measuring cup. In a small saucepan, heat cream and butter till about 175 or when bubbles form around edges of pan, do not let boil, immediately pour over the chocolate and let stand 30 seconds. Mix with a whip till mixed well, then immediately pour over the frosted cream cheese cake. To get a nice drip around the edge, pour the glaze close to the edge of the cake then work your way into the center of the cake, carefully spread so the glaze completely covers the top of the cake. Yumm. ~
Chocolate Raspberry Ribbon Cake
A Fudge Ribbon Cake that is almost death by chocolate. It is a chocolate cake with a cream cheese ribbon and raspberry layer in the middle. Then the cake is topped with a rich and decadent chocolate glaze. I made up the experiment cake, it was okay and yummy, but needed work, so back to the kitchen to as it didn't turn out like I had it pictured in my mind. After about 7 different tries, this is fairly close to what I had in mind.
Filling
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbs cornstarch
12 oz cream cheese, room temp
2 Tbs milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/3 cup raspberry jam
Cake
2 cup flour
2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
1 1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
3/4 cup baking cocoa, plus 4 Tbl oil
Frosting
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup choc chips
2 cup powder sugar
Preheat oven to 350, grease / flour 10" tube pan (or use the baking spread as listed at the beginning of the page).
For filling, mix all ingredients except the jam and mix till smooth. In a separate bowl, add 1 cup of the cream cheese mixture and add the jam. Set aside.
For the cake in a large bowl mix sugar, butter and eggs, add vanilla, oil and milk and mix well. Then sift in flour, soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa. Mix well. In the prepared pan, add 1/2 of the cake mix, then spoon cream cheese over the top, then add the raspberry cream cheese mixture over the plain cream cheese mixture. Add rest of the cake batter. Bake 65-75 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Cool the cake 15 min, then place on a cake plate.
Frosting: In a bowl, add milk, butter and choc chips and microwave about 1 min until chips are melted. Add vanilla and powder sugar and beat with a hand mixer until smooth. You may need to add a bit of milk if is too thick (I usually have to add about 2 Tbl of milk). Work quickly as the glaze sets up fast. Pour the glaze over the cake as pictured and let the glaze drape over the sides of the cake.
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March Cakes
Walnut Coconut Pound CakeThis is a wonderful cake, very moist and dense. It does need at least 8 hours to stand before serving, so a tad bit of planning is needed if you plan to serve this cake, but it is well worth the effort. =)
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, room temp
2 tsp coconut extract
3 cups flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup flaked coconut
Glaze
½ cup water
1 cup sugar
2 TBL butter
1 tsp coconut extract
Prepare a 10” tube pan by painting it entirely with the “baking spread” see beginning of the page for this / or grease & flour the pan. Preheat oven to 325.
In a large bowl, mix sugar, oil, eggs till well mixed. Add coconut flavoring, then sift flour, soda, baking powder into the bowl and alternate the flour mixture with the buttermilk mixing well after each addition. Add walnuts and coconut. Pour batter into the tube pan and bake 1 hr & 5 min or until done.
About 10 minutes before the cake is set to come out of the oven, bring to boil in a small saucepan the water, sugar and butter and boil for 5 min, stirring occasionally. Stir in 1 tsp of coconut extract. Pour the glaze over the hot cake in the pan – and let stand 8 hours. Heat cake in oven for several minutes to release the sides. Loosen cake from the side of the pan and invert onto a cake plate. See pictures below:
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| The glaze boiling just before being poured over the hot cake |
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| The glaze being poured over the cake |
*Note: to make this a "German Chocolate Pound Cake" use the same recipe as above and melt a 4oz pkg of German chocolate bar and add it into the cake batter right after you mix the oil, sugar and eggs. Then follow the recipe. It is wonderful as well.
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April
In honor of the maple harvest, this will be April's cake of the month.
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| Maple Ginger Cake |
Maple Ginger Cake
½ cup butter, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup real maple syrup (not pancake syrup) *
1 cup sour cream
2 eggs
2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
3 tsp ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cloves
½ tsp nutmeg
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar, then add maple syrup, sour cream and eggs, mix well. Sift in flour, soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Pour batter into a greased/floured Bundt cake pan (I use the baking spread – see beginning of this page – it’s much easier). Pour cake batter into the prepared pan and bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 45 min or until a tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let the cake cool 15 min, then invert onto a cake plate.
Glaze
I drizzle a maple glaze over mine, and probably use 2/3-3/4 cup of powdered sugar and enough maple syrup approx 1-2 Tbl or to make a thick glaze and drizzle over the cake. Enjoy! * I buy the real maple syrup at Costco.
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May
As I love all the Easter candy and my fav is peanut/chocolate things - I have dedicated a special and really good peanutbutter chocolate cake as this month's cake of the month. I already tested the recipe, of which the Latah Sheriff's office got to try out and it was devine, plus really pretty.
Peanutbutter Chocolate Cake
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| A view of the inside of the cake. Very yummy |
Peanut butter Chocolate Marbled Pound Cake
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cus sugar
1 cup brown sugar
5 eggs, best if room temp
1 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups peanut butter chips, melted
1 1/4 cups semisweet choc chips, melted
Glaze
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup peanut butter chips
1/2 heavy whipping cream
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars. Add eggs, then add buttermilk and vanilla. Combine the flour, soda and salt, beat in the peanut butter chips and mix well.
Pour 2 cups of the batter in a small bowl, stir in the melted chocolate chips. Prepare a 10" tube pan with grease/flour or paint the entire inside of the pan with my "baking spread" as noted at the beginning of the page. Pour half of the plain batter in the tube pan, then add the chocolate mixture, then add the remaining plain batter over the chocolate and swirl it a little with a knife. Bake at 350 for 60-65 min or until the cake tests done when a toothpick is inserted in the center and comes out clean. Cool for 15 min, then invert onto a cake platter.
For the glaze, in a small bowl combine chips. In a small sauce pan, bring the cream to a boil, remove from the heat and pour over the chips. Let stand for 5 min, stir until mixed. Cool for 2 min then drizzle over the cake. Cut your self a slice of this moist pound cake, pour yourself a cup of tea and enjoy. Note: I can guarantee you will be asked to make this again. =)
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June
Not sure what is in store for this month....
Future Months:
But I have found a chocolate coconut recipe that is worthy of the Cake of the Month club!
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| This will satify anyone's chocolate craving |
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| This is as good as the Mounds candy bar |
Batter
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs (room temp if possible)
3 cups flour
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp salt
1 cup hot water
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup chopped nuts (your choice)
Filling
½ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 egg
½ cup flaked coconut
3/4 cup chocolate chips
Chocolate Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
3 Tbl cocoa powder
2 Tbl butter, melted
2 tsp vanilla
1 to 3 Tbl hot water
Mix to desired consistency and drizzle over cooled cake.
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 and grease/flour 10” tube pan.
Combine all batter ingredients, except nuts and mix well. Then stir in nuts. For the filling beat cream cheese and sugar together, beat in vanilla and egg, then mix in coconut and choc chips. Next layer about 3 cups of batter into the tube pan, then layer the filling, then add remaining batter. Bake 70-75 min or until done. Cool 45 min in pan, then invert onto a cake plate and drizzle with the glaze.
jULY
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| Strawberry Pound Cake |
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| Rootbeer Cake |
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Next recipe 2 recipes I will be working on is a Bountiful Filling Cake that has granola in the filling and a decadent Pecan Poundcake that takes like 9 eggs! So keep watching...
The following recipes were previous cake of the month and warrant being on this page
Carmel Apple Cake
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| Carmel Apple Cake is moist and will quickly become a favorite |
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups grated apples,unpeeled
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
Frosting
1/2 cup butter (no substitutions)
3/4 cup brown sugar
Beat eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla together, add apples. Sift together, flour, soda, salt, cinnamon & cloves. Mix well, add in nuts. Pour batter into a greased & floured 10" tube pan and bake at 350 for 1 hour or till tooth pick comes out clean. Cool in pan 20-30 min. then turn out onto a cake plate.
For the frosting, in a small heavy duty saucepan, add butter and sugar and cook over medium heat stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 min. Immediately pour over cake to coat the top and to have some glaze go over the edges as noted in the picture. Note: the Carmel glaze sets up quickly so spread it fast on the cake.
December Cakes
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| White Chocolate Peppermint Cake |
