delicious desserts: summer peach cobbler

Quick confession: I've had this post queued up, half-written for months now...

I'll never forget taking a trip one summer to pick peaches when I was a kid. It might sound like a lot to have to "take a trip" to pick peaches, but when you grow up on an island, almost everything other than the grocery store and the post office require a little adventure. We traveled by ferry to Knott's Island and picked the biggest, ripest, juiciest peaches. My cousin and I spent a good part of the afternoon in trees, each trying to pick the best peaches. At the end of the day, when peaches were picked and paid for, we were allowed to eat one. One bite and I remember the peach juice running down my arm and dripping off my elbow. It was a sweet mess.

Peach season is my favorite part of summertime. I love to bake peach pies with graham cracker crusts and crumb toppings. In fact, I already made a big batch of miniature ones for a bake sale earlier this summer. But lately I've been wanting to try something new to me, and that's a peach cobbler. Also super simple, transportable for summer get-togethers and not much prep or baking time. I found a great recipe via Gonna Want Seconds; the recipe below is based on it with my changes.

Summer Peach Cobbler

what you need (fruit):
approx. 6 cups of fresh peaches - peeled and sliced in preferred thickness
2-3 tbs sugar (I used evaporated cane sugar)
2-3 tbs brown sugar (I used light) 
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg (or just grate some fresh nutmeg over peach slices)
dash of ginger powder
squirt of lemon juice
1 tsp corn starch (to help thicken fruit mixture - can omit)

what you do:
-peel and slice peaches (thick slices or chunks) into a large mixing bowl 
-add all other ingredients, stirring until peach slices are coated with spices and sugar
-pour into glass or ceramic baking dish (8x8 or slightly larger)
-bake the dish of peaches for 10-15 minutes at 375 while preparing cobbler topping (may want to place dish on a foil-lined baking sheet in case of boiling over peach juice)

what you need (topping):
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar (I used evaporated cane sugar)
1/4 cup brown sugar (I used light)  
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
12 tbs cold, unsalted butter - cut into small pieces
1/2 cup boiling water
2-3 pinches white sugar - additional to above; set aside to sprinkle on top

what you do:
-in a medium sized mixing bowl, combine all topping ingredients except boiling water 
-cut the butter into the mixture with a pastry cutter or blend with fingers until combined and crumbly texture
-pour in the boiling water and stir just until ingredients come together
-take dish of pre-baked peaches out of the oven and top with the dough (spoon on and gently spread out with fingers or spoon; don't aim for smoothed perfection - leave it a little lumpy)
-sprinkle top of dough with sugar
-place dish back on foil-lined pan into the 375 degree oven for another 30-40 minutes, until the top gets a light golden color
-remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving; great alone or with ice cream!

delicious desserts: busy day chocolate cake with strawberries and cream

I have to admit something. This is the first time ever that I've made a busy day chocolate cake. In fact, it wasn't until I began Pinteresting (it's a verb now...just go with it) my little heart out that I first even heard of busy day chocolate cake when I stumbled upon this adaptation of the Martha Stewart recipe. Let me take a moment here to go off on a little tangent. I love Pinterest. I love the inspirational spark of motivation Pinterest can light. But man, all I ever want to do is bake deliciously terrible-for-your-jeans desserts. Sigh. But anyway, I had a good reason this time, because it was Ashley's birthday!

To make this cake into a real birthday treat, I decided to double the fun and make a two layer cake. I'm usually pretty terrible at two layer cakes. Why? Because I'm too impatient. Sigh again. No matter how long I wait to add frosting and stack the top layer of cake upon the bottom, it never seems like it was enough time. The frosting gets soft from the heat of the cakes and just melts away. It's really quite a tragedy. So this time I smartened up and made this a two-day process. Night 1: bake the cakes. They can cool overnight and into the next day. Night 2: zip home from work, whip up the frosting, slice up the strawberries and assemble the layers. The finished masterpiece: a two layer chocolate cake with cream cheese/Cool Whip frosting and fresh strawberries.

This cake is super simple to make, so here's how you do it:

what you need (makes 1 cake):

1-1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp coarse salt
6 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp distilled white vinegar
1 cup cold water

what you do:
1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and coarse salt.
2. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredient mixture. Add the vegetable oil, vanilla, vinegar and water.
3. Stir together until all ingredients are well mixed and there are not any lumps in the batter (the consistency is much like brownie mix).
4. Pour into a round cake pan (mine is non-stick so I did not grease it) and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Poke the center of the cake with a toothpick to be sure it's baked all the way through.
5. Remove cake from the oven and cool it in the pan on a wire rack. Once cooled, tip the pan upside down on a serving dish to gently remove the cake. Frost when completely cooled.

Apparently the idea of the "busy day cake" is that you can mix all of the ingredients right in the cake pan. I tried it, and then I poured the dry ingredient mixture into a large mixing bowl which I used to continue adding and mixing the ingredients. There was no was I was going to mix all of the ingredients in my cake pan without half of the batter ending up on the counter. On the plus side: since this recipe doesn't include eggs, if you use a mixing bowl, you get to lick it clean. Kidding, kidding (yeah...not kidding at all).

This frosting is also a quick and delicious option:

what you need:
8 oz package of cream cheese, softened
16 oz container of Cool Whip (let thaw slightly)
1/2 cup (or less) powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

what you do:
1. Combine all 4 ingredients and whip together with an electric mixer until you have a fluffy frosting.
2. Apply to cooled cake or cupcakes (you can use this frosting in a pastry bag or frost your baked treats with a knife).

To make the completed double-decker cake, I made two separate recipes of the cake batter instead of doubling the recipe. Made one, poured it in the cake pan, then made the second and poured it in another cake pan (and then "cleaned" the bowl). The day after baking the cakes, I turned one cake upside down onto a serving dish. I applied a layer of room temperature frosting (easier to work with), spread it over the cake with the back of a large spoon, and on top of it, a layer of strawberry slices. Next I added the second cake, upside down, on top of the strawberries (enough frosting squeezes through between the strawberry slices to keep the cakes together), another layer of frosting, and a final layer of strawberry slices. I decided a little design of the "edge" pieces of strawberries was prettier than completely covering the top of the cake with slices. The sides of the cake are not frosted, but you could frost them if you choose.

The cake was so good - the cream cheese, the chocolate, the strawberries - perhaps one of the best birthday cakes yet!

Carrot Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

We've had beautiful spring-like weather this weekend and my KitchenAide Mixer has been sitting dormant far too long. I had an itch to bake something, and no other baked goods says springtime like a carrot cake. For the cake recipe, I turned to my trusty Better Homes & Gardens cookbook (with a couple adjustments), and for the vanilla buttercream frosting, I found a great recipe via Pinterest.

Carrot Cake

What you need:

4 eggs, beaten
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 cup finely shredded carrot (lightly packed)
3/4 cup (or 1-6 oz container) vanilla flavored Greek yogurt*

What you do:

- Allow the eggs to warm to room temperature for 30 minutes. While the eggs were warming, I peeled and shredded carrots in my food processor. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

- In the bowl for my KitchenAid, I combined the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt and baking soda).

- In a separate bowl, I combine the shredded carrot, yogurt and eggs.

- Add the shredded carrot, yogurt and egg mixture to the dry ingredient mixture and stir together until thoroughly combined.

- Pour into two greased 9-1/2 inch round cake pans (I used an extra long loaf pan from Ikea that was the perfect size for the amount of batter this recipe produces).

- Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Check that the cake has baked through by inserting a toothpick into the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.

- When the cake is done, cool in the pan(s) on a rack for 10 minutes, then turn onto a cooling rack and cool thoroughly before frosting.

*Using yogurt will create a very dense cake. If you prefer a fluffier, lighter cake, use 3/4 cup oil instead of yogurt.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

What you need:

1/2 cup egg whites (I used the pre-separate whites from Egg Beaters)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 lb (8 oz.) unsalted butter (room temperature, but into slices)
1 tsp vanilla extract (or flavor of your choice)

(the original recipe is double these amounts but this amount was perfect for frosting and filling my cake)

What you do:

- Put a pot of water on the stove and let it simmer. Set your metal mixing bowl (I used the bowl from my KitchenAid) over the pot of water (see original post for photos of the process).

- In the mixing bowl, combine the egg whites and sugar. Whisk continually until the sugar dissolves and the mixture reaches a temperature of 140 degrees. As Gail says in her post, the mixture will be warm to the touch.

- With the whisk attachment of your mixture, begin beating the egg and sugar mixture. Increase the mixer speed as the mixture thickens.

- Once the mixture thickens, change to the paddle attachment and add the butter a couple of pieces at a time. If the buttercream is lumpy, increase the speed on your mixer until the buttercream smooths out.

- Add your flavoring extract and mix in thoroughly. Refrigerate the buttercream frosting until your cake is thoroughly cooled and ready to be frosted.

- Add a layer of frosting between the cake layers and then frost the top and sides. Mine doesn't look pretty, but it sure tastes good!

100 Calorie Dessert

Dessert: so good, but sometimes so bad. It doesn't have to be! The season for fresh berries is arriving (or has already arrived in some areas) and those sweet little treats make a delicious dessert. Rinse and cut your berries, and top with Cool Whip Light. Instant dessert!

1 cup of mixed berries and 2 tablespoons of Cool Whip Light - only 99 calories!