Tag Archives: cake

Sunday Brunch: Meyer Lemon Cake

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Two things:

1.  This cake is filled TO THE TOP with lemon flavor.

2.  It is probably the best lemon cake known to man.

Maybe not, but it might be.  I haven’t tried every lemon cake on the planet (yet). It has  a bright citrus flavor with a light and airy crumb… I don’t know how it happens, but it does.  And it’s magical.  Even though it’s no secret that I’m a chocolate girl at heart, every once in a while I crave something a little more… refreshing.  Plus, it’s not really acceptable to eat chocolate cake for breakfast.

Lemon cake, on the other hand, is totally legit.

Replacing the lemons called for in the recipe with meyer lemons allows the ctirus flavor to really shine and keeps it light and refreshing instead of having the citrus flavor assault your tongue.

Like, I love lemons, but if you give me a lemony treat I can usually only eat so much of it before my mouth is just tired of the lemon flavor.    It’s all “HEY I’M LEMON AND I’M HERE IN YO FACE,” where meyer lemon is like the regular lemon’s sweeter, more laid back cousin who is just like “Hey, what’s up? I’m kinda lemony and kinda sweet… whatevs.”

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That being said, if regular lemons are your thing (ahem, BFF), go with that.  I will happily use regular lemons later in the year when my darling meyer lemons are nowhere to be seen.

But, if you do get happen to find some meyer lemons in your basket at the store, bring them home and make this amazing sweet, citrusy cake.  You will not be sorry.  A little guilty, maybe, but not sorry.  Not too guilty though, this cake has yogurt so it’s good for you!  (Something like that)

Meyer Lemon Cake

Makes: 1 loaf

[ Printable Recipe ]

For the Cake:

  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup vanilla yogurt*
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
  • ½ cup vegetable oil

For the Soak:

  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • ⅓ cup lemon juice

For the glaze:

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease or line a 8 x 5 inch loaf pan

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.  In a large bowl whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, eggs, and lemon zest.

3. Slowly whisk dry ingredients into wet ingredients just until mixed.  Gently fold in the vegetable oil until incorporated.  Pour into prepared pan and bake about 50 minutes or until done.

4. While the loaf bakes, make your lemon soak by heating ⅓ cup lemon juice and ⅓ cup sugar in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved.  Set aside while loaf finishes baking.

5. When loaf is done baking, cool in pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack placed over a baking sheet.  (To make clean-up easier, line the baking sheet with foil).  Pour the lemon soak over the loaf and allow it to soak in while the loaf continues to cool.

6. Once the loaf is completely cooled, make your lemon glaze by mixing the powdered sugar and lemon juice.  Drizzle over cake to your liking.  Honestly, I think the cake was just perfect even WITHOUT the glaze, so if you want to skip this step, be my guest!

* Alternatively, you can use 1 cup of plain yogurt + 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

[ Recipe adapted from Barefoot Contessa at Home ]

Celebrating the New Year and Top 12 of 2012

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It’s New Year’s Eve and while some of us will be popping bottles of expensive champagne to celebrate, the rest of us will be taking a much more affordable approach.  Prosecco is an Italian sparkling wine and, in my opinion, is less dry and more delicious than your usual champagne anyway.  Mix it with a little pureed fruit or, for the lazier of us, peach nectar from a can, and you’ve got yourself what’s called a “bellini”.

Simple, delicious, bubbly.  Just like New Year’s Eve should be.

Making bellinis is super easy.  Just one part fruit juice or nectar to two parts prosecco.

Bellinis

  • 2 oz fruit juice or nectar
  • 4 oz Prosecco (the sommelier at our local grocer recommended La Marca brand)

Pour 2 oz fruit juice into champagne flute.

Add prosecco and let the bubbles mix it for you.

Drink, enjoy, pour another, drink more.

Happy New Year!

The Top 12 Posts of 2012

pds

moc

basil

ddcc

scc

peanut butter truffle brownies

gooey butter cake

chocolate peanut butter cake

smore cook

btc brownie

ccroll

apple cider donut cake

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Fall is full of apples, and apple orchards, and fresh-pressed cider, and hot apple cider donuts and fresh apple fritters.

For most of the country, at least.

The closest I can get is store-bought apple cider… and this apple cider donut cake, which is delicious, and not deep-fried, and still super full of fall flavors.

The original recipe calls for cooking sliced granny smiths in cider, and pureeing them, and adding that to the cake.  Since my stores apple selection could be described as dismal at best, I decided to replace the fresh pureed apples with applesauce, which also means you make this any time of the year, in any part of the world, because I’m pretty sure that even if you don’t have fresh apples readily available, you will still be able to find some applesauce.

I also added buttermilk to give it a nice, tender crumb, since anyone who may have tried to substitute applesauce in a recipe may know it can make things a little on the “chewy” side.

This cake is like a fresh cider donut, and since it has “donut” in the name that means you are allowed to eat it for breakfast.  And any recipe that allows me to sneak cake into my breakfast regimen is considered a win in my book, especially if you then cover that cake in a layer of sweet cinnamon-sugar.

This cake would be the perfect brunch item, providing you and your guests something to snack on while they wait for your turkey to roast, or it would make a delightful alternative as a Thanksgiving dessert for those of you who don’t care for pumpkin, I know you’re out there.

Apple Cider Donut Cake

Print
apple cider donut cake

Ingredients

    For the cake:
  • 8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room-temperature, cubed
  • ½ cup applesauce
  • ¾ cup apple cider
  • ½ cup buttermilk, room temperature
  • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ cup brown sugar, packed
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs, room temperature
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • For Cinnamon-Sugar Coating
  • 6 Tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ? teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ? teaspoon salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F and prepare bundt pan with butter or spray.
  2. Put applesauce in liquid measuring cup. Fill with apple cider to 1 cup mark. Stir to combine. Add buttermilk and vanilla to cider mixture and stir to combine again.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
  4. In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition. Add oil and continue beating until incorporated.
  5. Decrease mixer speed to low and add flour mixture alternating with apple mixture (flour-cider-flour-cider-flour), scraping down the bowl as needed. Remember to scrape up from the bottom too to catch any flour pockets that may be hiding down there.
  6. Scrape batter into greased bundt pan and bake 35-45 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto rack, coat with cinnamon sugar mixture (I sprinkled it over the top, then poured into my hand and rubbed onto the sides), leave on rack until it has cooled completely.
  7. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
https://wee-eats.com/2012/11/12/apple-cider-donut-cake/

 

[ Adapted from Serious Eats ]

spider cupcakes

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I actually succeeded in my attempt to make something Halloween-y before Halloween… twice!  Exciting, right?

These spider cupcakes adorably creepy (if that’s a thing?) but one thing that’s NOT scary?  Their nutrition stats!  That’s right, cupcakes that aren’t terrible for you!  Believe me, I know that right about now we are all looking for a reduced-guilt way to enjoy our sweets (before we go overboard on Wednesday).

So now you can make these adorably terrifying not terrible for you spiders for your Halloween party, whether it’s at home, work, or school!

I used a lightened-up recipe from skinnytaste that replaces all the oil and eggs with pumpkin, which means, according to me, these cupcakes are actually GOOD for you (since pumpkin is good for you).  According to skinntaste these cuddly little guys come in at about 140 calories a piece (I think that is excluding the extra candy).  You can use any cupcake recipe or boxed mix you like.

You could use a whole can of pumpkin (instead of a mix of pumpkin and water), which I hear makes the cupcakes super rich and ooey-gooey.  I’m no scientist but I was pretty sure a whole can of pumpkin had more calories than half of it, so I opted for this “healthy” recipe and plan to save the other version for a time when I have extra canned pumpkin to spare.

The verdict?  These were pretty darn good, but I could definitely tell they weren’t “regular” cupcakes.  The tops ended up a bit crackly, and I could slightly taste the pumpkin, but I think if I had used a richer, more chocolatey mix it would’ve masked the flavor better.  With all the binging I’m going to be doing on Halloween candy and potluck food (not to mention the holidays coming up), I’m in desperate need of something a little… lighter.

Side note: since everyone in the world hates black licorice, I was able to find this Wilton licorice made just for decorating.  It looks like black licorice but tastes like red! Win!

I like him.  And how he his shaking his tiny spider fist in a menacing fashion.  BF would definitely scream for me to come squash this little guy.

Print
Adorably Terrifying Spider Cupcakes

Ingredients

    For cupcakes:
  • 16.5 oz Duncan Hines Cake mix (I used Devil’s Food)
  • 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
  • 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp water
    • For glaze
  • 3 oz chocolate, chopped
  • ¼ cup heavy cream
  • ½ tablespoon light corn syrup
    • For decorating
  • Eyeballs, chocolate sprinkles, and licorice legs

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line 18 muffin tins with cupcake liners.
  2. In a medium bowl, blend pumpkin and water together with an electric mixer. Add cake mix and beat until well-mixed. The batter will be very thick.
  3. Cool completely before decorating.
  4. Make the glaze:
  5. Heat chocolate and cream in a microwave-safe bowl for 45 seconds to 1 minute. Remove from microwave and stir until all the chocolate has melted. Add corn syrup and stir until the mixture is smooth and shiny.
  6. To decorate:
  7. Dip the cupcakes in the glaze and use a spreader if necessary to smooth the top. Sprinkle chocolate sprinkles over the cupcakes before the glaze sets and add the eyeballs.
  8. Using a toothpick or skewer, poke four holes on each side of the cupcake for the legs. Insert the licorice and voila – spiders!
https://wee-eats.com/2012/10/29/spider-cupcakes/

[ Cupcake recipe adapted from skinnytaste ]

cinnamon pumpkin bundt cake

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You may have noticed a few changes around here… if not, you might want to take a look around. Turns out that changing your site layout is harder than it seems… a bunch of my older posts are now, well let’s just say they are in need of some extra TLC. Moving things around a little bit, so I guess I apologize in the mean time until I get it all straightened out, or when I get tired and just switch back to the old format. Either one is equally likely, really.

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In the mean time, I’ve been needing pumpkin like woah. So I made this pumpkin bundt cake. I put cinnamon chips in half of the cake (I wasn’t sure if the BF would want them in there). So, I should say I put cinnamon chips in my half of the cake… I won’t tell you if I ate an entire half. AND YOU CAN’T MAKE ME!

What I will tell you is to please enjoy this cake with freshly-whipped cream … coffee-flavored whipped cream is especially delicious.

The cinnamon chip amount in the recipe is if you want to put them in the whole cake. Oh, and ignore that finger mark in the powdered sugar. It’s not really there. You’re just seeing things.

Cinnamon Pumpkin Bundt Cake

[ Printable Recipe ]

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 stick butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup cinnamon chips (optional, chocolate chips would also be delicious)
  • whipped cream, for serving
  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Prepare your bundt pan with spray or butter (I like PAM for baking)
  3. In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice.
  4. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.
  5. Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue to mix until smooth.
  6. Turn the mixer to low and gradually add the pumpkin puree, scraping down the sides as necessary.
  7. Gradually add half of the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture until just incorporated.
  8. Slowly pour in the milk and mixing on low until incorporated, then add in the rest of the flour mixture.
  9. Beat until fully mixed, scraping down the sides and making sure to get any flour that might be stuck at the bottom of the bowl and stir in cinnamon chips.
  10. Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan, smooth the top, then bake the cake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. This is exceptionally delicious when served with whipped cream.