Simple Chocolate Cake

from Cook’s Illustrated (March/April 2009, pg. 25)

This is a surprising little cake.  The surprising ingredient is mayonnaise.  NOT “salad dressing,” mind you.  No.  The real stuff.  Mayonnaise.  It was a method used in war-times when butter and eggs were scarce so the mayonnaise served as a substitute for those ingredients.  It is definitely simple enough for a week-night dessert.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups (7 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup (2 ounces) Dutch-processed cocoa powder (or “Special Dark”)
2 ounces dark, bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (chopped fine)
1 cup hot coffee (or equivalent mixture of hot water and espresso powder)
2/3 cup mayonnaise
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

You will also need:

8 inch square cake pan
Non-stick cooking spray
1 large mixing bowl
1 small-medium mixing bowl
Confectioners’ (powdered) sugar for garnish

 

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare cake pan by spraying with non-stick cooking spray.

In large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.  In smaller bowl, combine cocoa powder and chopped chocolate; pour hot coffee over cocoa/chocolate mixture and whisk until smooth.  Let this mixture cool for several minutes then whisk in mayonnaise, egg and vanilla.  Pour mayonnaise/chocolate mixture into flour mixture and stir until combined.

Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth it all around.  Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out with few crumbs attached after being inserted into the center of the cake.  Note:  the cake will have a nice rounded domed middle and cracks on the top.  This is normal.

Allow cake to cool in pan on wire rack for 1-2 hours.  Turn cake out  onto serving platter and dust with confectioners’ sugar to serve.

Cranberry Orange Oatmeal Cookies

adapted from the Quaker Oats recipe found here

  

Ingredients:

1-1/2  cups all-purpose flour
1  teaspoon baking soda
1  teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2  teaspoon salt
1/2  cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4  cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2  cup granulated sugar
2  eggs
1  teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon orange extract
1 teaspoon molasses
3  cups old fashioned oats (uncooked)
1  cup dried cranberries

 

You will also need:

Stand mixer
Cookie sheets
Parchment paper

 

Method:

Heat oven to 350°F.

In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and mix together using a whisk.

In large bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of until creamy with paddle attachment. Beat in eggs one at a time, thoroughly mixing after each addition. Add vanilla, molasses and orange extract; beat well. Add flour mixture; mix well. Add oats and dried cranberries; mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls (or by using an ice cream scoop) onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets.

Bake 10-13 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: Cranberry,Oatmeal,Cookies,Baking,Dessert

Cream Cheese Icing

 

Ingredients:

8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 teaspoon vanilla (clear vanilla if available)
1 pound confectioner’s (powdered) sugar (sifted)

 

You will also need:

Stand mixer with paddle attachment

 

Method:

Set out cream cheese and butter and allow them to come close to room temperature.  Beat in stand mixer to soften.  Add vanilla and beat to mix thoroughly.  Scrape down bowl and mixing blade.  Sift about 1/3 of the powdered sugar into the bowl at a time and mix thoroughly between additions until the icing has reached a nice smooth consistency.

Sugar Cookies

This recipe is from my friend Meg and makes a very good yet simple cut sugar cookie.

Ingredients:

3 sticks butter (room temperature)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
4-5 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Method:

In stand mixer, beat butter to soften.  Add in eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping the bowl between additions.  Add sugar and vanilla and mix thoroughly. 

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl.  Add slowly to mixer and mix just until well combined.

Chill dough for at least 1 hour before rolling out.

Tips on rolling out dough:

• Dust counter with flour and roll out no more than 1/4 of the dough at a time, keeping the remaining portions in the refrigerator. 
• Roll dough to 1/4” – 1/6” thickness.  Not too thin or they will not be soft
• If cut when dough is still cold, the cookies will puff up and lose their shape.  Work dough with your hands to bring to room temperature to roll out and cut and the cookies will hold their shape really well.
• Place cut cookies on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and refrigerate or freeze before baking.

Bake cut cookies at 375 F for 6-8 minutes.  Just before the edges turn light brown; tops will be firm to press.  Allow to cool completely and decorate with royal icing.

  This picture shows the difference between a cookie cut with the dough at room temperature (top) and one that was cut when the dough was cold fresh out of the refrigerator (bottom).  While the dough is easier to work with cold fresh out of the refrigerator, the cookie puffs up and loses some of the definition in the shaped cookie.  The room temperature dough gives a much cleaner and prettier finished product.

 

Once baked, cookies can be frozen until you are ready to decorate them and then they can be frozen once decorated also until ready to serve.  Just allow to thaw at room temperature.

Popcorn Cake

As passed down from my Nana P to my mom to me.

 

Ingredients:

1 pound M&M’s candies *
1 pound dry roasted peanuts
1 gallon popped popcorn (approximately 2 microwave bags) **
1 pound marshmallows
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup margarine ***

* Holiday specific M&M’s make this a special treat for any holiday.
** Get as close to no butter popcorn as you can.
*** I rarely use margarine any more. However, my mom tried butter while living overseas where she couldn’t get margarine and it didn’t work so well.

 

You will also need:

Very large mixing bowl
Medium sauce pan
Heat-proof spoonula
Thermometer with candy setting
2 wooden spoons
Cooking spray (oil)
Angel food cake pan or Bundt pan

 

Method:

Pop popcorn and allow to cool. You may want to shake out the popcorn in a bowl to get all the un-popped seeds out.

In a very large bowl, place M&M’s, peanuts and popcorn in that order with M&M’s on bottom, peanuts on top of the M&M’s and popcorn on top of that.

In saucepan over medium heat, begin melting margarine and add oil and stir. Add in marshmallows and begin stirring while allowing the marshmallows to melt. Stir constantly with a heat-proof spatula/spoonula. Allow to boil until approximately 230ºF. The mixture will be translucent when coating the thermometer or against the bottom of the pan when you tilt it to the side.

You can do all of the above in the microwave. Just be very careful about the marshmallows expanding and overflowing your bowl.

Once the marshmallow mixture is finished cooking, pour it over the popcorn. With two wooden spoons, mix the hot marshmallow mixture into the popcorn and gradually incorporate the peanuts and M&M’s at the bottom of the bowl as the mixture cools a bit. Mix until all the ingredients are evenly distributed. (Or until at least mostly evenly distributed.)

Lightly spray angel food cake pan (or Bundt) and hands with cooking spray. Using hands, press the popcorn mixture down into the pan. This recipe will completely fill an angel food cake pan and fill a Bundt pan with a little left over. Allow the pressed cake to cool in the pan for a while (maybe 30 minutes to an hour) until the cake has set and firmed up.

Turn cake out on platter or cake taker that can be covered. You may have to lightly squeeze the pan to release it or you may use a hair-dryer on the outside of the pan to warm and release it. Continue to allow the cake to sit out and set up in open air at room temperature for another hour or so.

Use a sharp bread knife to slice the cake and eat it with your fingers. And eat some more… and some more… you get the idea.

 

Order of the ingredients is important to protect the M&M’s from getting too hot and melting with the heat of the marshmallow mixture.

Reason #1,253 I dislike using a microwave.  I’ll use a stove-top and sauce pan thankyouverymuch.

Melt the butter, add the oil and marshmallows and mix while the mixture melts together and begins to boil.  Stir constantly.

At about 230ºF the mixture will be translucent on the tip of the thermometer and it’s ready.

Pour the marshmallow mixture over the popcorn and mix with two wooden spoons until ingredients are evenly distributed.  Press into pan until firmly packed and full.

 

It’s a crowd pleaser.  At least it is in my family.

Orange Vanilla Spice Cake

method is adapted from Cook’s Illustrated’s Yellow Layer Cake (March/April 2008)

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups (10 ounces) cake flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon table salt
¾ cup (6 ¼ ounces) dark brown sugar
1 cup (6 ounces) granulated sugar (split ¾ cup and ¼ cup)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
10 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted and cooled slightly)
1 cup buttermilk (room temperature)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon orange extract
6 large egg yolks plus 3 large egg whites (room temperature)

You will also need:

Butter and flour for pans
Two 9-inch round cake pans or one 9x13 inch sheet cake pan
Stand Mixer with bowl and whisk attachment
4-cup liquid measuring cup
2 Extra medium sized bowls
Rubber spatula/spoonula

Method:

Heat oven to 350º F. Butter and flour cake pan(s).

Melt butter in the 4-cup liquid measuring cup (either on the stove top if it is metal or in the microwave if it is glass or plastic) and set aside to cool slightly.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, ¾ cup of granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

To the melted & cooled butter, add buttermilk, oil, vanilla, orange extract and egg yolks. Whisk together.

In clean bowl of stand mixer, beat egg whites with whisk attachment at medium-high speed until foamy. With machine running, gradually add remaining ¼ cup sugar & continue to beat until stiff peaks just form. Transfer to an extra bowl and set aside.

Add flour mixture to the same stand mixer bowl (now empty of the egg whites) with whisk attachment. With mixer on low speed, gradually pour in butter mixture and mix until almost incorporated (about 15 seconds). Stop mixer and scrape down whisk and bowl. Return mixer to medium-low speed and beat until smooth and fully incorporated (10-15 seconds).

Using spatula/spoonula, stir 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into batter to lighten, then add remaining whites and gently fold into batter until no white streaks remain.

Pour batter in to pan(s) and lightly tap pan(s) on the counter a couple of times to dislodge any large air bubbles.

Bake at 350º F; 20-22 minutes for two 9-inch round pans or 32-35 minutes for one 9x13 sheet cake pan or until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool cake in pan on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge to loosen it. Turn cake out onto a wire rack then invert to another wire rack to cool completely.

Topped with Cinnamon Browned Butter Icing:

As a Pumpkin Cake Truffle:

Cinnamon Browned Butter Icing

adapted from Evil Shenanigan’s Brown Butter Frosting

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups powdered (confectioner’s) sugar (sifted)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons milk (maybe less)
1 teaspoon (approximately) freshly grated cinnamon from cinnamon stick
Pinch of table salt

You will also need:

Small saucepan
Heat-proof (silicone) spoonula
Mixer with paddle attachment
Spice grater

Method:

Melt butter in small sauce pan and cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until nutty brown. The solids will actually separate out and brown into little specks like you see on my spoonula below.

After butter is browned, add in the freshly grated cinnamon and stir in. Remove from heat and allow to “steep” for a while as the butter cools.

Now would be a good time to make your cake. May I suggest the my Orange Vanilla Spice Cake? It’s quite tasty. And Kelly’s Chocolate Spice Cake sounds absolutely delicious.

Into the bowl of a stand mixer, sift the powdered sugar. Add the vanilla and browned butter with cinnamon and slowly mix using the paddle attachment. Lastly, add the pinch of salt and enough milk to make the mixture smooth (you may not use the entire two teaspoons).

Do you see those flecks of cinnamon? It looks rustic that way, but it is so good.

Pictured atop an Orange Vanilla Spice Cake: