Glazed Meyer Lemon Buttermilk Cake and 3 Years of Blogging

Today marks 3 years of blogging.  Wow!  How did that happen?  I'm really not so sure.  The Ginger Snap Girl started with a post called Mysterious Meringues on March 26, 2010.  That title makes me laugh a little, by the way.  I uploaded my first post with a less than flattering picture of vanilla and chocolate meringues and no recipe.  It didn't even have a link to a recipe.  Which I'm fairly certain is because at that point I couldn't figure out how to link to another website.  In fact it's a wonder I got the picture in there. 

I started this blog based on a spark that was ignited when I discovered a whole world of delicious, enticing, inspiring food blogs that I didn't even know existed.  I've said this before, but I honestly felt like I was a kid in a candy store.  Obviously this girl loves candy since I'm still going 3 years later.  Trying to contribute a little something to the food blogging world and continually being motivated and inspired by a number of talented bloggers sharing stories, recipes, drool-worthy photos and a little piece of their lives.

I will say that I'm a really good project starter, however, often not a project finisher.  So the fact this endeavor is still very much in flight, is pretty cool.  As I reflected back over the past year I remembered that I actually set a few blogging goals last year at this time.  In cyber print.  For you all to see and for me to be accountable for.  Let's see how I fared.

1. The Ginger Snap Girl has moved to her own domain name (already purchased...just need to make the leap) - Still own the name, didn't make the move.
 
2. GSG  has gotten a little makeover (nothing drastic like a face lift...but maybe a little boxtox here and there) - No signs of any face lifting just yet.
 
3. I've challenged myself to be a better photographer and storyteller - Definitely made some progress in the photography department.  I have a better handle on how to actually use my camera's manual settings as well as learned some new editing techniques in Light Room.  Still work to do though.  No progress on the storytelling aspect. 
 
4. I've lost 5 pounds and my skinny jeans fit again - Okay this really wasn't a "blog" goal. Or perhaps it was a subconscious one trying to tell me to post more healthy recipes and fewer dessert recipes.  This goal has not be achieved in the conscious or subconscious world. 

5. I'm developing more and more of my own recipes - Very minimal progress here.  I had 6 original recipes of the 56 I posted in the last year.  Lots more work to do here!

 I'm kinda of bummed that I didn't reach all my goals.  I mean I just got through telling you how I start projects and don't always finish them and here I am not finishing stuff.   But guess what?  This blog is a work in progress and apparently so are certain goals.

So here's to the next year and achieving the previous goals as well as developing some new ones. 

Thanks for sticking with me on this blog journey! 

I'm sure you want to get to the really important stuff now--the cake! 

I'm a firm believer that birthdays (and anniversaries) should be commemorated with cake.  I saw this recipe posted recently on one of my most favorite blogs, Tracey's Culinary Adventures.  I knew it had to be made.  I've actually never made a bundt cake (I don't count the baby bundts I posted recently...those are more like little donuts).  I have 2 bundt pans...a full size and smaller one about half the size of a normal pan.  It was finally time to break one of them in.  I went with the half size bundt since Hubs and I couldn't possibly eat a full one on our own. 

I love how pretty a bundt cake looks.

The cake is nice.  It's mildly perfumed with sunny Meyer lemons, moist from the buttermilk and finished with a sweet and zingy Meyer lemon glaze.  Tracey describes the cake as being lighter than others she made, making it breakfast-worthy.  I totally agree.  The recipe originates from Cooking Light so it is indeed light.  And I can confirm it makes a great breakfast.  Especially when you throw in a few berries.  ;)

The cake was best on the first day.  On the second and third days it was a tad on the dry side, however a 15 second turn in the microwave brought it right back to life.  Plus, who doesn't love warm cake?

Enjoy!


Glazed Meyer Lemon Buttermilk Cake
from Tracey's Culinary Adventures, originally adapted from Cooking Light

Cake

3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons Meyer lemon zest
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature (1 stick)
3 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup low-fat buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Spray a 12 cup bundt pan with cooking spray with flour. 

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.  In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment add sugar and lemon zest.  Using your hands, mix the sugar and zest until the zest becomes fragrant and even distributed through the sugar.  Add the butter and mix on medium until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.  Add in lemon juice and lemon extract and mix.  With mixer on low add eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg.  Alternate adding flour mixture in three parts and buttermilk in two parts, starting and ending with the flour mixture until batter is just combined. 

Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top.  Bake on the middle rack for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes and turn out the cake.  Allow to cool completely before glazing.

Glaze

1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons low-fat buttermilk
3-4 teaspoons Meyer lemon juice

Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl.  Adjust lemon juice to achieve a thinner or thicker consistency depending on your preference.  Pour glaze over the cooled cake.

Notes: I cut the recipe in half baked it in a 6 cup bundt pan. You can substitute regular lemon for Meyer lemons. 

Almond Financiers

It's Secret Recipe Club time!  This month I had the pleasure of delving into Tandy Sinclair's blog, Lavender and Lime.  Tandy resides in South Africa and she is a foodie at heart.  Her food inspiration started with her family and recipes and food memories from her grandmother and aunts.  Tandy has been blogging since 2009, but her passion for food has been expressed in many other forums, including publishing her own cookbook (super cool!) and some of her recipes in a variety of magazines and publications.  What I like most is Tandy's recipes have a simplicity about them that highlight the quality of ingredients.  I spent quite a bit of time browsing Lavender and Lime and finally narrowed it down to these Almond Financiers.  I have a weakness for sweets.

I have never made financiers before, but I'm so glad that I picked this recipe.  In case you are wondering, a financier is a small, moist French cake, typically made with ground almonds, whipped egg whites and browned butter and are often baked in small rectangular shaped molds.  I don't have rectangular molds so I baked mine in one of my completely underutilized pans--the mini bundt molds.  Yeah for using it twice now! Or you can use a mini muffin tin.

This recipe yields a small portion so I wasn't overwhelmed with tons of mini cakes to try to get rid of--which is a good thing!  It made 7 mini bundt cakes (the tops are 1 3/4 inch wide and the bottoms are just under 2 1/2 inches wide).  It's the perfect size to satisfy your sweet craving.  The exterior of the cake takes on a little bit of crunch which gives way to a soft moist interior.  The cake itself is very sweet so I paired it with black tea.  I think it would also be nice with a bittersweet chocolate ganache dripping down the sides to balance the sweetness.  Next time I make this recipe I may cut the sugar back just a bit.  Also, I mentioned above that browned butter is a traditional method for making these little cakes, however this particular recipe doesn't call for it.  But feel free to brown your butter if that suits your fancy.

I really love how these tiny cakes came out--and they are pretty!  One of these days I'm going to host a tea party and I'm tucking this recipe away for just that occasion.  Definitely a keeper.  Thanks Tandy!

Enjoy!

Almond Financiers
from Lavender and Lime originally from Larousse Gastronomique

25 grams flour
25 grams finely ground almonds (or almond flour)
85 grams vanilla sugar (I used regular sugar and added 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract in with melted butter)
2 egg whites
2 pinches salt
37 grams butter, melted and cooled

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and spray half of the wells in a mini muffin tin or mini bundt pan with cooking spray.

Combine flour, ground almonds, sugar and one pinch of salt into a medium bowl.  Whip egg whites and the other pinch of salt using a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, until stiff peaks are formed (about 6-8 minutes). 

Gently fold egg whites into flour mixture.  Quickly fold in butter until fully combined.  Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 10-15 minutes (depending on the size of your individual cakes, mine baked for 12 minutes).

Cool on wire rack.  Remove from pan and serve with a dusting of powdered sugar, drizzle of chocolate ganache or a dollop of jam.

Gateau au Chocolat

Chocolate cake or jalapeno poppers?

Chocolate cake or jalapeno poppers?

Jalapeno poppers or chocolate cake???

We all know what wins in the end with me.  Chocolate.  Cake.

My first love in the kitchen is baking.  And my kitchen is filled with warm chocolate smells right at this very moment.  My little beauty is out of the oven and I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that I didn't over bake it.  Guess we'll find out later.

I found the recipe for this chocolate gateau on Rhonda's blog, The Kitchen Witch (TKW).  The Kitchen Witch is my blog assignment for this month's Secret Recipe Club.  For those of you that don't know, Secret Recipe Club is like Secret Santa for food bloggers.  Each month you are assigned a blog.  You pick a recipe to make and on the designated day, everyone in the group "reveals" their post featuring a recipe from their assigned blog.  It's fun to see what everyone makes.  I look forward to SRC reveal day each month. 

I've been in Secret Recipe Club with Rhonda for over a year now...and I always enjoy reading her blog posts.  She's adventurous, she's funny, she's always keepin it real and she's a bit of badass.  I mean come on, she has a regular feature on her blog called Motorcycle Mondays.  That's pretty cool!  Hope you don't mind I called you a badass Rhonda! ;)

Speaking of cool, I'm a little envious of Rhonda's most recent adventure...an intensive 5 month photography school.  Check out this inspiring post to see how she turned a big lemon into lemonade by pursuing one of her passions.  Kudos to you Rhonda!  She recently posted about one of her final photography projects...a video showcasing macro food photography.  It's really stunning.  If you have a couple of minutes I urge you to watch her beautiful collage of photos.

While Rhonda has been working hard on her photography, I've spent the last month pouring over her blog, pondering what to make.  She has a variety of recipes from down home cooking, like Loose Meat Sandwiches and "Red Neck Breakfast on a Croissant" alongside pretty dishes like "Brie, Bacon and Fig in a Phillo Cup" or "Goat Cheese and Proscuitto Crostini".  So many delicious choices.  Ultimately it came down to bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers and this chocolate cake.  I came really really close to going with the poppers...I adore jalapeno poppers and I've never made them at home.  Rest assured, I still plan to make these babies...I even have all the ingredients.  But in the end, the craving for warm sweet chocolate won. 

I'm so not sorry I went with the cake.  It's a perfect chocolate dessert.  The cake is rich, but not too rich.  It's chocolatey but not too chocolatey.  It has beautiful crackled top which deceptively hides the intensely moist interior.  The cake is incredibly light and airy (no doubt, due to the whipped egg whites that are folded into the batter).  It's brownie-esque...but lighter.  I really loved it.  The cake doesn't need much adornment.  A little sprinkle of powdered sugar will do it.  I threw in a few raspberries for color, but the cake definitely stands alone.  A dollop of fresh whipped cream would never hurt, though.

I halved the recipe and made it in a regular 6 inch cake pan.  The recipe calls for a spring form pan (I believe around 9-10 inches) but I don't have a small spring form.  So to ensure I could remove this delicate cake from a regular cake pan, I added two strips of parchment parchment paper under the round parchment lining on the bottom.  The two strips make handles to lift the cake from the pan.  I was a little nervous, but it came out of the pan easily. 

And thankfully, I didn't overbake it.  In fact, I think 3 more minutes would have been just perfect.  My 6 inch pan baked for 30 minutes.

This one's already been filed away in the keeper file. 

By the way, Rhonda doesn't claim to be a baker, but I think she has to face the fact that she's got some serious skills in the baking department.  Thanks Rhonda for sharing such a great recipe!

Enjoy!

Gateau au Chocolat
from The French Recipe Cookbook via The Kitchen Witch

3/4 cup sugar (3 tablespoons set aside)
10 ounces of semisweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 eggs, whites and yolks separated
1/4 cup flour, sifted
Pinch of salt
Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Butter a 9-10 inch spring form pan.  Line the bottom with parchment paper and butter the parchment paper.  Sprinkle flour in the pan and shake the pan to cover the bottom and sides with flour, discarding any excess flour. 

Melt chocolate, butter and all the sugar minus 3 tablespoons in a medium sauce pan on low heat until chocolate is melted and sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Allow chocolate to cool slightly.

Whisk egg yolks and very slowly stream the yolks into the chocolate mixture, whisking continuously.  You don't want any scrambled eggs.  Stir in the flour and set aside.

Place egg whites in a stand mixer and mix on medium using the whisk attachment until the whites get frothy.  Gradually increase the speed to high and add the pinch of salt and continue beating until the soft peaks form.  Slowly add in 3 reserved tablespoons of sugar and continue beating until stiff glossy peaks form. 

Fold 1/3 of beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture.  Add remaining egg whites, stirring gently until fully incorporated.  Pour the batter into your prepared cake pan and gently tap the pan on the counter to remove any air bubbles.  Bake for 35 - 45 minutes until cake rises and the top is dry and springs back when lightly touched with your fingertip.  Transfer the cake to a wire rack and remove the sides of the spring form pan and allow cake to cool completely.  (Or if you use a regular pan, allow to cool completely in the pan before removing).

Just before serving, dust with powdered sugar.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

I've been slacking a little on Club: Baked.  I have every intention of baking along every two weeks.  I find that my intentions don't always become reality, unfortunately.  I'm a week late in posting our last assignment.  Things have been busy around here.  Work is a little more crazy than usual at the moment.  We've been spending time with family and friends for the past few weekends.  I've been cooking and baking up a storm.  And of course I have to squeeze in time for my favorite shows on DVR.  The Real Housewives of Orange County stressing over their latest plastic surgery is my stress relief! 

I was excited to see Red Velvet Whoopie Pies come up on the Club: Baked Roster for April.  So even though I didn't make our scheduled post date, I still wanted to bake along.  Whoopie pies have been quite popular in the food blogging world and I wanted to see what all the hype was about.  To me, their appeal comes from the fact they are individual servings of a cookie meets cake sandwiched by frosting.  Who doesn't love frosting, cookies and cakes?  My Hubby.  But that's beside the point.  I love all these things.  Plus whoopie pies are cute.  Sounds like all the makings for a winning sweet treat, right? 

So here's the deal.  I want to like whoopie pies for all the reasons stated above.  But they just aren't my thing.  I find the texture is not as good as a cake or a cookie, for me.  It almost has a slightly dense and doughy texture.  I'm not a doughy kind of girl (I don't like dumplings, mochi or most biscuits).  I thought maybe I was doing something wrong with whoopie pies.  I've made whoopie pies twice now from 2 different recipes and ended up with a very similar texture result.   The first one I tried was a peanut butter whoopie pie with chocolate cream cheese frosting from the King Author flour website.  I made them but didn't post them here because I just didn't love them.  So why I am posting these?  I try to post everything from the baking groups I participate in...good, bad or ugly!  It's a great way to learn from other people's baking experiences as well.  Plus I think most people like whoopie pies, and I'm the outcast here.

If you are a whoopie pie, red velvet and cream cheese frosting fan, I think you would like this recipe.  The red velvet has nice flavor from the cocoa powder and I think I've already proclaimed my love for cream cheese frosting a number of times.  And this is no exception.  I used a medium size scoop and ended up with 17 whoopie pies.  The cream cheese recipe was more than enough to fill these.  If I were to make these again (which I won't, but I'm sharing in case you might), I would half the cream cheese recipe.  Nearly all of the other Club: Baked girls had really positive reviews, so this is just a texture preference thing for me.  To get the recipe head over to Andrea's blog, Nummy Kitchen.

Next up on the Club: Baked roster: Grasshopper Bars.  Looking forward to this one!

The Ginger Snap Girl Celebrates 2 Years with Cheesecake!

Two years ago today I stumbled into the blogging world.  Back then I didn't know where blogging would take me or how it would become such a huge part of my life.  I still don't know exactly where blogging will take me, but I do know that I love every minute of what goes into The Ginger Snap Girl. 

The Ginger Snap Girl is....

an incredible creative outlet.
my biggest fan.
my toughest critic.
a connection to great online friends.
a photography teacher.
always finding a new adventure in the kitchen.
a keeper of my thoughts.
a recipe box.
part of a wonderful community.
my alter ego.
making my pants hard to button.
a journal of sorts.
an excuse to make ridiculously decadent desserts (a difficult sacrifice me and my skinny jeans make for my readers!).
my happy place.

The last two years have sped by faster than I care to admit.  Though this blog has been a wonderful documentation of stories and recipes, my real mission is to inspire you to get in the kitchen and cook or bake.  The most gratifying part of the blog is hearing that someone has made something I posted about.  It doesn't always turn out perfect.  But it strikes a conversation.  How can it be tweaked next time?  How can you customize it suit your tastes.  That's what I love.

I hope when you are reading about my three year blog anniversary next March that....

The Ginger Snap Girl has moved to her own domain name (already purchased...just need to make the leap).
GSG  has gotten a little makeover (nothing drastic like a face lift...but maybe a little boxtox here and there).
I've challenged myself to be a better photographer and storyteller. 
I've lost 5 pounds and my skinny jeans fit again.
I'm developing more and more of my own recipes.

To celebrate two years I wanted to make something I've never made before.  Cheesecake. 

In the realm of desserts cheesecake is not one that I typically gravitate to (plus it seemed intimidating to make).  I often find cheesecake to be too rich and dense for my taste.  But I had a cheesecake over the Christmas holiday that turned me into a believer!  My brother's girlfriend, Lindsay, brought homemade cheesecake to Christmas Eve.  When I took a bite it was light and soft and melted in my mouth.  I devoured my slice in short order.  Welcome to the family Lindsay!  Lucky for me she was kind enough to share her family recipe with me. 

This recipe is easy to make so don't let cheesecake intimidate you like it did me!  What is nice about it is that it doesn't require you to bake the cheesecake in a water bath.  Allow yourself plenty of time to make this because the baked cake needs time to chill completely in the refrigerator which takes at least 4 hours. 

The base of the cheesecake is a graham cracker crust studded with finely chopped pecans (or toasted almonds in my case).  The cheesecake layer is simply cream cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla.  In the final minutes of baking a topping consisting of sour cream, sugar and vanilla, goes on over the nearly baked cheesecake and then back in the oven for an additional 5 minutes of baking (or about 8 minutes in my case).  I love tartness of the sour cream layer which pairs perfectly with the light, fluffy, sweet cheesecake.  I topped my cheesecake with homemade lemon curd (link to recipe below) and fresh sliced strawberries.  Pure indulgence and totally worth undoing the top button of your jeans to make room.

I'm excited to say I conquered my cheesecake fears and will most definitely be making this again.  This is a great base recipe that can be tweaked with various flavor profiles.  Like a chocolate cookie crust and caramel sauce or chocolate ganache or both on top.  Or a gingersnap crust with lemon curd.  A graham cracker crust with apple compote or fresh berries.  So many options...

Here's to cheesecake and another great year! 

Enjoy!

Ingrid's New York Cheesecake


For the crust:
1 1/2 cups graham crackers
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans (I used toasted almonds)
5 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon sugar

For the filling:
3 eight ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
5 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla (I used 2 teaspoons)

For the sour cream layer:
16 ounces sour cream (don't use light or low fat)
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment or foil and assemble a 9 or 10 inch spring form pan (I used a 9 inch pan).  Place the spring form pan on the lined baking sheet.

Start by making crust.  Mix graham cracker crumbs, pecans and sugar into a medium bowl.  Add melted butter and stir until well combined.  Press the mixture evenly in the bottom of your spring form pan to form the crust.  No need to bring the crust up the sides of the pan.

Next, make the cheesecake filling.  In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the cream cheese on medium for 2-3 minutes.  Slowly stream in the lightly beaten eggs.  Next slowly stream in the sugar and beat until fully combined, about 1 minute.  Add vanilla and mix until combined.  Pour cream cheese mixture on top of crust.  Bake for 50-55 minutes until cheesecake is just set, but slightly wobbly in the center.

About 5 minutes before the cheesecake is done baking, make the sour cream layer.  Mix sour cream, sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl until fully combined.  Let the mixture sit at least 3 minutes and then pour on top of the baked cheesecake and bake for an additional 5-8 minutes.  The topping will appear glossy and will be just set.  Once set, turn oven off and prop open the oven door using a wooden spoon.  Allow cheese cake to cool in the oven for at least 20 minutes.  This should prevent the top of the cheesecake from cracking.  Unfortunately mine still cracked anyway!

Transfer cheesecake still in the spring form pan to the refrigerator and chill for at least four hours or overnight. Do not take cheesecake out of the spring form pan until you are ready to serve it.  Top the cheesecake with your favorite topping.  Some ideas are fresh fruit, fruit compote, curd, chocolate ganache or caramel sauce.

Click here for the lemon curd recipe I used to top the cheesecake.

Banana Cake with Nutella Frosting

You probably already know that I'm slightly obsessed with the giant warehouse store, Costco.  Hubby and I find ourselves there most weekends snacking on the tasty samples they hand out while stocking up on fresh meats, fruits, veggies, wine, pantry items, household items, books, beauty products, vitamins and even gas. The list goes on and on.  You think it would be overkill for our 2 person household to visit Costco weekly, but somehow it seems we are always running out of something that is a Costco staple. 

One of my Costco staples is the ever so addicting chocolate hazelnut spread, Nutella.  They sell it in a pack of two 26.5 ounce jars for around $8.99 (bargain!).  Nutella is a go to spread for my English muffin (purchased at Costco) breakfast.  I toast up the muffin extra crispy and spread half with peanut butter (also purchased at Costco) and the other half with Nutella.  Along with a cup of hot tea or a glass of cold milk, it's a salty, sweet and satisfying breakfast.  This preparation is where 90% of my coveted Nutella ends up.  Occasionally I spread it on graham crackers for a snack, but for some reason I have never crossed over into the Nutella baking world.

When I learned that Sunday, February 5th was World Nutella Day, I knew it was just the push I needed to go a different route with Nutella.  Technically I didn't "bake" with it.  But all cakes need frosting, right?  Baby steps.

Nutella and bananas are two ingredients destined to be together.  I first experienced this flavor combination when Hubby and I had a crepe with fresh bananas and Nutella from a street food vendor in France nearly 10 years ago.  I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  If you are a fan of bananas and chocolate, I insist strongly urge you to give this duo a try.  What I like about Nutella is it's creamy and chocolaty with warm hazelnut tones in the background.  Even if you don't like nuts (I don't generally care for them in my sweets), don't let that deter you.  The flavors in Nutella are subtle and the chocolate is the star.
When I went in search of a Nutella recipe a few days ago, I quickly came across this Banana Cake with Nutella Frosting on the Toasty Biscuit.  With three ripe bananas sitting on the counter and my love of the banana/Nutella combo, this recipe was calling my name. 

The cake is moist and rich with banana flavor.  It's cake meets banana bread in terms of the density and texture.  The cake is great all on it's own.  It would be nice with a sprinkle of powdered sugar, a dollop of fresh whipped cream or this Nutella frosting.  The only change I made to the cake was the size of the pan used.  The original recipe calls for a 10 inch square pan, which I don't find to be standard in most American households.  I used a 9 x 13 pan instead and adjusted the baking time and it worked perfectly.

I have to be honest, I struggled a bit with the frosting recipe.  The recipe took a little tweaking with a little extra butter and Nutella.  Following the original recipe, I found the Nutella flavor got lost in the sweetness of the powdered sugar.  To adjust, I added an additional 1/4 cup of the hazelnut spread to make it more prominent.  I also found the frosting to have a slightly dull finish so I ran my offset spatula under hot water, shaking off the excess, and spread it across the frosting to smooth it out.  I incorporated all my changes into the instructions below.

Guess what I'm eating for breakfast for the next couple of days?  Hint, it's not an English muffin!

I'm looking forward to seeing other food blogger's Nutella recipes.  I have a feeling more Nutella baking is my future.  What are your favorite Nutella recipes?


Banana Cake with Nutella Frosting
Adapted from Toasty Biscuit (originally adapted from All Cakes Considered)

For the cake:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 large bananas)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line 9 x 13 cake pan with parchment paper.  Or alternatively you can butter and flour the pan, knocking off excess flour. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and set aside.  Cream butter and sugar in a stand mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time and beat on low until just combined.  Add in vanilla and mashed bananas and mix until just combined.  With mixer on low add 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat until just combined.  Add half the buttermilk.  Alternate flour and buttermilk, starting and ending with buttermilk.  Do not over mix.  Pour batter into prepared pan and bake on center rack for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then turn cake out onto a cooling rack and remove parchment.  Allow cake to cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup Nutella
3 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar, sifted
2-4 tablespoons heavy cream (or condensed milk)

In a stand mixer beat butter and Nutella on medium, about 1 minute until fully combined.  Add in confectioners sugar 1 cup at a time.  Mixture will appear crumbly.  Add in 2 tablespoons of cream and continue beating on medium-high speed for about 3 minutes.  Add additional tablespoons of cream until the frosting reaches a soft, spreadable consistency.  I used 4 tablespoons in total.  Generously spread frosting over cooled cake.  For a smooth finish, run your knife or offset spatula under hot water and gently smooth the surface, rinsing off it off after each swipe. 

Spice Cake with Orange Cardamom Cream Cheese Frosting

I remember my Grandma making two kinds of cakes when I was growing up.  Chocolate cake and spice cake.  Both were from a box mix.  And both were topped with creamy fluffy white frosting laced with fresh orange zest.  I think it was cream cheese frosting, but I really don't know for certain.  Maybe she made other kinds of cakes too.  I'm sure she did.  But only these two stand out in my memories. 

Thinking of my Grandma's cakes makes me smile.  Her cakes mostly made appearances for birthdays.  When I was kid I was always excited to arrive at her house and see a frosted cake sitting on the counter top, but knowing the cake was not yet in my reach.  I had to patiently wait for dinner to be served and finished before the cake was adorned with birthday candles.  The hardest part was making it through the last stretch...my families rendition of the "Happy Birthday"song.  We are not singers.  Finally the candles were blown out and the round, stacked, two layer cake was cut into wedges.  Everyone received an enormous portion to savor.  Ah!  So light and moist and coated in a generous layer of orange frosting.  How could that not make you smile?

To date orange cream cheese frosting is one of my favorite frosting flavors.  I adore it paired with both chocolate and spice cake.  It's been quite some time since I've enjoyed the spice cake/orange frosting combination.  Last year I picked up a box of spice cake mix that was on sale.  I didn't have a specific plan or occasion for it, but I when I saw it I thought about my Grandma's cake and that I should have it on hand for, you know, whatever.

Whatever finally came 2 weekends ago when Hubby's Dad was in town.  It was no one's birthday, but we needed something sweet to finish off our day of football watching and appetizers.  Oranges were in the fridge along with some cream cheese.  The spice cake box was in the cupboard.  It was meant to be.  I kept it simple and just did a single layer cake in a 9 x 13 pan.  I decided to put a little twist on my normal frosting recipe and added cardamom (a fairly new spice) to bring in another layer of spice. 

The cake turned out just right.  It was light, tender and incredibly moist (don't underestimate the power of boxed cake mix my friends!).  The frosting was perfumed with sweet oranges and warm spice notes with an ever so slight crunch from the specks of ground cardamom. 

I smiled when I took my first bite.  And every last bite.   

Enjoy!


Spice Cake with Orange Cardamom Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake:
Prepare a box spice cake mix according to package instructions or use your favorite homemade spice cake recipe.  Use what ever size pan you like.  The frosting is enough to coat and fill two 8 inch round cakes.  If you bake a 9 x 13 cake, you could half the frosting recipe or have leftovers for another baking project. While cake is cooling prepare the frosting.

Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
8 tablespoons (1 stick) of unsalted butter at room temperature
16 ounces (1lb) of confectioners (powdered) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
2 tablespoons of orange zest (about 2 large oranges)

In a stand mixer combine the cream cheese and butter and beat on medium until fluffy, about 1 minute.  Add the sugar in 3 batches on low speed until combined.  Increase mixer to medium high speed and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add vanilla, cardamom and orange zest and beat until fully combined. 

Devil's Food Cupcakes with Angel Frosting

2012 has arrived!  Happy New Year!

Did anyone else wake up this morning searching for the Rose Parade on TV, but didn't find it?  It took me about half hour to figure out that when new year's day falls on a Sunday, the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl actually take place on Monday.  With no Rose Parade to watch I decided this was the perfect time to bake the first Club: Baked recipe for 2012, Devil's Food Cake with Angel Frosting.

For those of you who don't know, Club: Baked is an online baking group where a group of us are baking our way through the book Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  The group was founded last July by Karen of Karen's Cookies, Cakes and More.  The group bakes twice a month.  Each week we all make the same recipe which is selected by that particular week's hostess.  So far we've baked some pretty awesome treats.  A few of my 2011 favorites have been New York Style Crumb Cake, Buckeyes, Sunday Night Cake, the pastry cream from the Boston Cream Pie recipe and the Caramel Apple Cake.  You can join us on our baking adventure by getting in touch with Karen via the Club: Baked site.  The more the merrier!

I was excited to see the first recipe of 2012 was Devil's Food Cake with Angel Frosting chosen by Natalie from Just About Food.  Chocolate cake is one of my favorite desserts to eat.  This one is topped with "Angel Frosting", which is essentially homemade marshmallow fluff.  The silky sweet marshmallow frosting is a nice contrast to the deep dark chocolate flavor.  My Hubby, who you may recall is not a big dessert guy, and is especially not a big chocolate guy, declared the frosting a success!  Not surprisingly, he didn't care for the cake.  Luckily, I have a ton of frosting leftover as I made the whole frosting recipe, but only made half the cake recipe for my mini cupcakes.  Hubs can eat the frosting by the spoonful to satisfy his sweet tooth. ;)

A few baking notes.  The cake recipe calls for hot coffee, however I'm not a fan of coffee in my desserts (even though people swear the taste is undetectable in the final product--I can always taste it).  So instead I dissolved 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder with hot water.  It worked out fine and the cake still had a deep chocolate flavor.  I made mini cupcakes and they took about 17 minutes in a 325 degree oven.  I was worried I would have trouble with the frosting.  I have had some failed attempts in the past with frostings that call for a hot sugar mixture to be streamed into the frosting.  I followed the recipe exactly and I was pleased to see that it came together easily with no issues.  To see how other Club: Bakers cakes turned out click here.

Though I enjoyed this cake, the chocolate cake from the Sweet Melissa Baking Book is still my go to chocolate cake recipe.  The angel frosting recipe is, however, a keeper.  It would be great with a white cake and a lemon curd filling...almost like a lemon meringue cake.  Sounds like a good idea for Hubby's birthday in early March...

Here's to 2012!  I'd like to raise a cupcake to toast the start of a great year!

Devil's Food Cake with Angel Frosting
from Baked Explorations

For the Cake:

1 ounce good quality dark chocolate (60-72% cacao), broken into a few pieces
1/2 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup hot coffee (I used hot water with a teaspoon of cocoa powder dissolved in it)
1/3 cup whole milk
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter cut into 1/2 cubes, softened
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Butter two 8-inch round cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment and butter and flour the pan, including the parchment, discarding excess flour.  Or make cupcakes by placing liner in the wells of a muffin tin. 

Place the cocoa powder and chocolate pieces in a medium heatproof bowl and pour hot coffee over them and whisk until combined.  Add the milk and whisk until combined.

In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and 2 kinds of sugars on medium speed, about 3 minutes, until fluffy.  Add the eggs one at time, beating until each egg is fully combined.  Add the vanilla and beat until incorporated.  Scrape down the bowl and mix until for another 30 seconds. 

Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the melted chocolate mixture.  You should begin and end with the flour mixture.

Divide the batter evenly among your cake pans or cupcake liners.  If you are making cakes, bake for 35 - 40 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through.  If you are making cupcakes, bake 18 - 20 minutes.  Test your cake or cupcakes with a toothpick.  If it comes out clean they are done.  Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack, until cakes or cupcakes are mostly cooled. 

For the Angel Frosting:

5 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla paste (or 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract)

Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and set aside.

In a medium saucepan combine 1 1/4 cups of the sugar, the corn syrup and 1/4 cup of water and place over low heat.  Once the sugar dissolves increase the heat to medium-high and attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pot.   Heat the mixture WITHOUT STIRRING, to almost a soft-ball stage (about 235 degrees).  Mixture should not be heated above 235 degrees F.

While you are waiting for the syrup to reach the softball stage, whip the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form.  Do not beat beyond the soft peak point.

When the syrup mixture reached the soft-ball stage removed from heat. 

Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of water over the soft peak of the egg whites and turn the mixer to low.  Slowly stream in the the hot sugar syrup.  Once all the syrup has been added, increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat the icing for about 7 minutes until it is thick and shiny.  Add the vanilla and  beat again until combined.

Assemble the cake (or cupcakes):

For cakes: place one layer on a serving platter and trim the top to create a flat surface.  Spread about 1 cup of frosting on top.  Place the second layer of cake on top and trim to create an even surface.  Frost the tops and sides of the cake.  Serve immediately.

For cupcakes: Simply top with frosting.  You can you use a decorative tip to pipe on the frosting or use a knife to spread it on.  For even more frosting, cut a cylinder shape out of the middle of the plain cupcake and remove the cake.  Fill with frosting (using a piping bag or a ziptop bag with the corner cut off) and replace the cake that you removed.  Proceed with frosting the top of the cupcake.

Ooey Gooey Caramel Pumpkin Blondies

See that caramel peeking through the top?  That's ooey gooey goodness.  I was completely mesmerized by the words "ooey gooey" when I spotted this recipe on the Tasty Kitchen site about 2 weeks ago.  I bookmarked it and like many things, promptly forgot about it.  Sometimes I worry about my memory, or lack of.  Fast forward 2 weeks.  I picked up a large can of pumpkin puree at the store over the weekend, not sure what I would use it for.  But I figured a girl should have some pumpkin on hand in the month of November, you know, just in case.  Combing the depths of my memory did not send the light bulb off that I should make this recipe.  I was actually thinking a brownie might be nice on a cool Sunday afternoon.  I pulled up my brownies/blondies favorites folder online and that's when I saw the "ooey gooey" recipe.  The minute I spotted it, I knew these had to be made.  Especially since I had a hefty portion of caramel sauce left over from the previous week's caramel apple cupcakes.

I wouldn't necessarily describe this as a blondie.  It's more like a snack cake.  It's soft and cakey and has that ooey gooey caramel layer running through it.  The original recipe calls for chocolate chips and walnuts to mixed in with the ooey gooey layer, but I opted just for the chocolate chips.  I also added chocolate chips on top.  If you are a nut person, I think pecans would be great in this (I'm not really a walnut fan).  Though I generally avoid nuts in most desserts, I almost wished I had added pecans to at least half the pan.  These snack cakes are so soft and tender that a little crunch would bring a nice texture crunch. 

These keep well for about 5 days stored in an airtight container.  This served as my breakfast for at least 4 days this week.  Good stuff!

Enjoy!

Ooey Gooey Caramel Pumpkin Blondies (with Chocolate and Walnuts)
from Lauren's Latest via Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients:

For the blondies:
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the filling:

1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 – 14 oz. package caramels, unwrapped
1/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 9×13 pan with non stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt together.  Using a mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in eggs, vanilla and pumpkin and mix on low until combined. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the batter. Mix until just incorporated. Spread 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle nuts and chocolate chips on the batter.

Make the caramel filling by placing the unwrapped caramels and the cream into a medium heat proof bowl. Microwave on high in 20 second intervals until caramel is smooth and completely melted, stirring in between intervals.

Pour melted caramel over the chocolate and nuts. Spread the caramel layer evenly with an offset spatula, butter knife or spoon.  Place dollops of remaining batter on top of the caramel layer. Gently spread the dollops out to try and get a smooth layer of batter. Don't worry if some of the caramel is showing though.

Bake for 25 minutes or until edges are golden and toothpick comes out clean when inserted.
Cool completely before serving. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

"It tastes like fall."

That is what my uber picky particular Hubby said when he tasted these cupcakes.  For those of you who don't know my Hubby or are new to the blog, that, my friends, is what I like to call a rave review!  Because tasting like fall is a good thing.  And he is absolutely right, these cupcakes do taste like fall.  The flavors have all the goodness of fall, with apples, cinnamon and other warm spices along with a delicious buttery caramel flavor pulling it all together. 

Caramel Apple Cake was Melissa from the Lulu the Baker's pick for this week's Club: Baked baking assignment.  And the timing couldn't be better coming right around Halloween.  Who doesn't love a caramel apple?  The recipe as written from Baked Explorations is a massive 3 layer cake that can be presented in a few impressive ways.  Below is a picture of how the cake appears in the book.

I also came across this amazing presentation from the Great Cake Company.   Jaime made the cake look like a giant caramel apple, stick included!  You have to pop over to her site to see her gorgeous cake.  It's really stunning.

If you have a party to go to this fall, this cake would surely be a crowd pleaser.  It would also make a nice addition to a Thanksgiving dessert round up.

This monster cake was too big for just Hubby and me so I halved the recipe and ended up 12 standard size cupcakes and 12 mini cupcakes...still way more than enough for the 2 of us!  I ended up giving some to my neighbor who has 4 year old twin girls and a friend helped take a few more off our hands. For the twins I decorated the tops of the cupcakes with caramel circles and made them look like spider webs (much like the photo above from the book).  I placed a spider ring in the middle of each cupcake.  Now I'm regretting that I didn't take any photos...laziness does not pay off!  Anyway, when I brought the cupcakes over the girls were immediately excited about the spider rings and licked the frosting off and put the rings on.  I chatted for a bit with my neighbor and her girls.  I had a conversation with one of the twins that went something like this,

Where do you live?
I live 2 doors down.

What's your name?
Gloria

Do you have any daughters?
No, sweetie, sorry I don't

Can you make some?
Um...I can make cupcakes 

Kids are hilarious. 

Now, on to the cupcakes.  Three components make up this tasty dessert.  Apple spice cake.  Caramel buttercream.  Caramel sauce.

The apple spice cake is soft, light and moist and really delicious.  It could stand all on it's own.  With a simple apple glaze or even a dusting of powdered sugar and this would be a great cake (you could do 1/3 of the recipe to get an 8 inch cake).  I do have one minor comment about the cake..the apple flavor seemed to fade a little bit the day after I baked it.  The apple flavor was very pronounced, no mistaking, this is apple cake on day one.  On day two, it was more like this is a really good spice cake...is there a hint of apple in there?  I used store bought apple sauce, instead of making my own.  I also substituted 1/2 cup (of the 2 cups) of the apple sauce, for homemade apple butter I had made the same day.  I wonder if the spices in the apple butter were too much?  I would have thought the apple butter would give it a more "apple-y" flavor.  Next time I might use the applesauce recipe posted on the Great Cake Company blog as she mentions the use of boiled cider in her applesauce and that it gives an intense fresh apple flavor.  There is also a recipe for homemade applesauce in Baked Explorations.

The caramel sauce was pretty dreamy.  I made the full recipe for this component figuring I might use the left overs to top ice cream. A few the other bakers in the group seemed to have issues with the sauce being a little on the thin side.  I found it to be somewhat thin, but after sitting on the counter for an hour or so it thickened slightly and was just right.  The only issue I had with the caramel sauce was one of my own doing.  I tend to read through recipes quickly and that's what I did here.  They recommend cooking the caramel until it is a rich amber color or you can wait until the mixture reaches 300 degrees on a candy thermometer.  I just saw 300 degrees, so I took the sauce off the heat once it reached 300 and added the butter and cream.  Then I realized that my caramel was very pale in color.  I hadn't waited for it to take on the right color.  So I threw it back on the flame and cooked for another 5 minutes or so and it gained a small amount of color.  I didn't want to risk overcooking it, so I ended up with a pale caramel.  Though pale, it's still super yummy.  I think you could get away with reducing the butter by half in this recipe and still get a good result.  Note, I'm saying that without actually having tried it.  But I might try that next time.

Lastly, there was caramel buttercream....this was like no frosting recipe I've ever made.  It started with boiling a mixture of sugar, FLOUR, milk and cream until thickened.  I would never imagine flour to be in frosting, but that's what I love about Club: Baked...learning new things.  And this was a great thing to learn, because this frosting was awesome.  It was smooth and silky with just the right amount of sweetness.  I generally don't care for buttercreams because I find them to be overly sweet and buttery tasting.  I'm all about butter, but I don't want my frosting to taste like butter. 

The trick to this frosting is patience.  I had read in the P&Q that some bakers had trouble with the frosting and others suggested continuing to beat the frosting until it reached the desired consistency.  So I took that into account when I made it.  The boiled sugar, flour, milk cream mixture goes from the stove top to your stand mixer where you mix on high until the frosting cools.  This took maybe 8 minutes or so....I kept feeling the outside of the bottom of the mixing bowl and when there was no more warmth, I moved on to adding the butter and caramel sauce.  Then I let it beat for probably another 6-7 minutes.  At first it seemed thin but, slowly, it became more and more fluffy and eventually resembled frosting!  Really delicious frosting.

I'm not going to lie, this cake is not a let's throw this together in a hour kind of cake.  It's quite a bit of work and a lot dishes.  But the result was absolutely worth the effort.  You could make it a little more palatable by breaking up the work and making the caramel sauce the day before (as well as the applesauce, if you are doing homemade). This recipe is moving into the keeper file for certain. 

To get the recipe, head over to Lulu the Baker. Thanks for choosing such a fabulous recipe! To see how other Club: Baked bakers did with their cakes, click here.

Lemon Yogurt Cake

Secret Recipe Club time!  That means another month has zoomed by...It's all going too quickly.

Today is reveal day for The Secret Recipe Club, when everyone posts a recipe from their secret blog assignment for the month.  The group was founded by Amanda of Amanda's Cookin' and is a great way to discover new blogs.  The group is up near 300 participants now and is broken into 4 separate groups of about 75 each all with different reveal dates each month.  To learn more about The Secret Recipe Club click here.

For September I was assigned Kate's blog,  A Spoonful of Thyme.  I spent quite a bit of time browsing her lovely blog.  She has a vast array of fantastic looking recipes as well lots of fun travel adventures.  Maybe Kate will let me tag along on her next vacation!  Kate has a number of tasty looking shrimp recipes that especially caught my eye and I have bookmarked for future use.  In the end, my sweet tooth took over.  How shocking!  And with an abundance of lemons in my fridge, I selected Lemon Yogurt Cake by Ina Garten.  Kate has shared the cake on her blog 3 times.  Sounds like the mark of a good recipe! 

The cake has a serious lemon flavor going on.  There is lemon zest in the cake.  A lemon syrup is poured over the cake while it's still warm and seeps in to further moisten the cake.  When the cake is completely cooled a lemon glaze goes over the top.  That's a triple lemon punch!  The cake is easy to make and super moist.  It would be great for breakfast, an afternoon snack or dessert.

I tend to like my lemon flavor a bit more subtle, so I might skip the lemon syrup next time.   All in all a good cake.  To make it even more special, top each slice with a dollop of fresh whipped cream.

Go check out Kate and A Spoonful of Thyme for more great recipes.

Lemon Yogurt Cake
from Barefoot Contessa at Home via A Spoonful of Thyme

For the cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole milk yogurt
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
3 extra large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (about 2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the glaze:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350.  Butter a 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.  Dust flour inside the pan coating all sides.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl and set aside.  In another bowl whisk yogurt, eggs, 1 cup of the sugar, vanilla and lemon zest.  Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  Fold vegetable oil into the batter until fully incorporated.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, stir 1/3 cup of sugar and 1/3 cup of lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook until sugar is dissolved and the liquid is clear, about 5 minutes.

When the cake is done cooking let it cool in the pan on a rack for about 10 minutes.  Use a knife to loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and carefully remove the cake and set it on a wire rack set over a baking sheet.  Pour the lemon syrup over the cake allowing it to soak in.  Let the cake cook completely.

Make the glaze by whisking together the confectioners sugar and lemon juice.  Pour glaze over the fully cooled cake.  Allow the glaze to set for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Boston Cream Pie

Pastry cream.  Pastry cream.  Pastry cream!

Boston Cream Pie (which is really in fact a cake, not a pie) is filled with sweet delicious vanilla and chocolate pastry cream.  I am super jazzed that I have finally made pastry cream.  I think my life has been incomplete without it.  Well maybe that's a slightly dramatic, but really I can't get over how much I love pastry cream.  Pastry cream is a pudding like filling often used between cake layers or to fill cream puffs or donuts.  I have eaten it before, but have never made my own.  Lucky (or perhaps unlucky) for me it is very easy to make.  I could not stop dipping my (of course impeccably clean) fingers into the bowls to get just another taste.  Then I did something I haven't done in years....I licked the bowl.  Well not really.  I used a spatula to scrape all the delicious remnants straight into my mouth.  I didn't let any of this precious magic cream go to waste.  I was little skeptical about using 2 flavors of pastry cream.  I believe traditional Boston Cream Pie only uses vanilla.  But the chocolate and vanilla pastry creams were equally delicious. 

Is it really obvious I adored the pastry cream portion of this dessert?  I guess I need to discuss the other components now.

Let's start with the milk sponge cake.  It had a slightly bizarre texture.  Almost a little tough?  But still moist?  Is that even possible? I don't know.  When you layer all that tasty pastry cream in there it's hard to tell.  I don't think I'd use this sponge cake recipe next time I make Boston Cream Pie (already planning for the next time!).

The cake is topped with rich chocolate ganache-like glaze/frosting.  I thought the topping was pretty delicious and love the contrast of the dark chocolate glaze with the soft luscious pastry cream.  See how I took it back to the pastry cream? 

Overall, this is a pretty special dessert.  Even hubby liked it....well sort of.  Guess what?  He only liked the (vanilla) pastry cream!  He said the cake was "weird" and he's not a chocolate fan.  But like me, he couldn't keep his (not so impeccably clean) fingers out of the vanilla pastry cream.  I am already looking forward to eating this again for breakfast!

Making a Boston Cream Pie is a bit involved with three (well technically four) separate components that have to be made then all assembled.  Consider making the pastry cream the night before you plan to serve the cake.  It needs to chill for 4 hours (or overnight).  You could also chop your chocolate for the chocolate glaze at the same time you chop the chocolate for the chocolate pastry cream and store it in a tupperware for use the next day.  The day you want to serve the Boston Cream Pie bake the sponge cake and once cooled store the layers wrapped in plastic wrap in the refrigerator while you make the glaze.  The cake is easier to slice in layers when it is chilled. 

I halved the recipe and baked the cake in 2 six inch cake pans.  My cake layers were on the thin side because of the size pans I used, but it worked out ok, because the layers of pastry cream were about equal in size to the layers of cake.  Can't get enough of that pastry cream.

Ok, this is ridiculous.  I have used the words "pastry cream" 20 times in this post thus far.  I will consider seeking help.  Right after I think of other ways to incorporate pastry cream into my life...

Boston Cream Pie marks recipe number 5 with Club: Baked.  You see, a group of food bloggers are baking our way through Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  So far the recipes have been pretty darn impressive.  If you'd like to join our baking adventure head over to the Club: Baked site and get in touch with Karen.  It's a ton of fun, a great way to learn new things and meet some great people.  To see how the other bakers of Club: Baked did with their Boston Cream Pies, click here.  At a minimum, I am pretty certain your life would be enhanced by a little pastry cream.  ;)