Chocolate Raspberry Trifle

The day Rose's Heavenly Cakes arrived, this Chocolate Raspberry Trifle is the very first page I saw.  It stunned me.   I have dreaded making this recipe because of  my nemesis, namely genoise.  Surprisingly enough, today there were no hidden flour balls and it rose to the required height.  The rest was, as they say, a piece of cake.  The remaining components took quite a bit of time and loads of stirring, but they were not difficult steps.  The custard alone would make this recipe worthwhile.  Eldest granddaughter not only did a happy cake dance over the trimmed bits of cake, but declared she'd like to jump into a swimming pool of custard.  

Marble Velvet Cake

Marble cake has always been a favorite of mine.  Rose's Marble Velvet Cake does not disappoint.  Very easy to make, it has a lovely crumb and flavor.  The recipe calls for a chocolate ganache topping but everyone wanted  it left plain.  Fair enough!

Black Party Chocolate Cake

Black Party Chocolate Cake is going straight onto the Make Again List.  It is a simple , chocolate-y cake with a bit of texture from ground toasted walnuts.  The chocolate Kalua syrup is brushed on while warm which adds another dimension of flavor.  This little Bundt won rave reviews.  Eldest granddaughter did the Happy Cake Dance around the kitchen.  What more can I say?  Which of course brings us this rational for breakfast  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZlCPQur4hc



Needless to say it's being wrapped up and sent downtown to the office.

White Velvet Cupcakes

Making cupcakes vexes me.  No matter what I do they always come out browned on the bottom.  Making them equal in size is tricky as well.  White Velvet Cupcakes was an easy recipe to make.  I finally figured out to place the batter in the paper cups then lift them one at a time out of the pan and weigh them.  Very easy to adjust the weight.  So is there a trick that I don't know about to keep them from browning on the bottom?

Making the Golden Neoclassic Buttercream was probably the easiest time I've had making a buttercream.  I halved the recipe which was a snap doing it by weight.  Eighty three cakes later and I've finally got the hang of using a scale.  I opted for flavoring it with lemon oil and it gave it a faint lemony taste.  This is a lovely little recipe to have on hand when cupcakes are called for.

Free Choice #3 Spice Cake with Peanut Buttercream

When my brother was in Cub Scouts, for whatever reason he made Peanut Butter Cupcakes.  I was all of five years old and can still remember it plain as day for two reasons; it was the only time my brother baked anything.  Secondly, peanut butter in cupcakes seemed completely odd to me.  I don't remember eating them.

I like spice cake.  I pretty much like spice anything so I have no idea why it's taken me so long to make this cake.  It's a shame because this is really a nice spice cake, very lightly flavored.  The Peanut Buttercream has such a soft texture with the butter and cream cheese.  I used natural peanut butter and Jif would have been the better choice.  Jif seems to impart more peanut flavor.  It lacked something so I sprinkled a bit of brown sugar over the top which enhanced the flavor.  If memory serves me correctly, Jif has molasses in it.  These would be great made into cupcakes for kids.

Free Choice #2 Blueberry Round Ingots Fianciers aux Mirabelles

Out of all the financiers we have made so far, these are my favorites.  In the book Rose uses plums but offers blueberries as an alternative.  Since plums aren't in season yet, I opted for blueberries.  The buerre noisette really stands out in this recipe.  I'm not sure if resting the dough for a minimum of six enhances the flavor but they were incredibly easy to make.  They mixed up perfectly in my little mini Cuisinart.  I will definitely try them again come plum season.

Free choice #1 Heavenly Seduction Coconut Junior Mint Cake

I honestly thought I'd already made this cake when going over the list of remaining cakes Marie has made.
Since  I had leftover coconut milk from the Manhattan Coconut Cake, it seemed like a good choice.
It's a very simple cake to make, especially if I would remember to put on my glasses for more than reading the recipe.  Instead of reaching for coconut extract, I grabbed peppermint in an identical bottle.  Needless to say, this cake tastes like Junior Mints, even with the coconut extract.  Who doesn't love Junior Mints?



Since there are real coconut texture phobics in the family, I opted for shaved chocolate on the whipped cream which contained sweetened coconut milk in the whipped cream. They haven't noticed the pulverized coconut in the cake itself and they very much like it.