Blueberry-Lime Bundt Cake

Happy Monday, y'all!  I'm so sorry for the long absence, although must admit that it was restorative and I took plenty of naps.  All is well here in TLP, just taking a breather to try out some tasty new recipes (like this one), try my hands at some crafts (most of which involve spray paint), and, of course, lots of prepping for the churro.  There's a lot to catch up on, so let's get started!
One of my neighbors had a baby in mid-April, and I wanted to bring her something moderately sweet and easy to eat as a congratulations/please help me finish this dessert gift.  I whipped up this perfectly moist, pleasantly (aka not tooth-hurtingly) sweet summer cake and she was most appreciative.  (The baby is pretty darn handsome, too!)
Bundt cakes are my go-to when I feel like baking something that will impress without the time and effort of cupcakes (too much frosting involved), cookies (all the batches and waiting around in the kitchen between), or especially layer cakes.  For this dessert, just get some fresh blueberries and limes, mix everything up in a bowl, bake, and sprinkle with some powdered sugar.  Enjoy some with coffee at breakfast, or sneak a midnight taste.  There's less guilt and more opportunities for appreciation.  Who doesn't need that?

Blueberry-Lime Bundt Cake (from Joy the Baker)

1 1/2 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. fresh lime zest
3 c. flour
1 Tbsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
3 eggs
1 c. butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 c. buttermilk
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 c. fresh blueberries
Powdered sugar, for sprinkling on finished cake, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Grease and flour a Bundt pan and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, combine granulated sugar and lime zest, then rub zest into sugar to release its essential oils.
3. In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.  In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, butter, buttermilk, and lime juice.
4. Add wet ingredients all at once to dry ingredients.  Stir until everything is thoroughly combined; it should be thick, but not lumpy.  Add berries and fold into batter until evenly distributed.
5. Spoon batter into prepared Bundt pan.  Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle of the batter comes out dry.  Allow cake to cool for at least 20 minutes before inverted on a wire rack to finish cooling.
6. Once cooled, sprinkle powdered sugar onto cake and serve.

Chocolate Hazelnut Crepe Cake

Sometimes it's just a good thing for us to be challenged in the kitchen.  To walk into the hearth of the home, and feel undaunted with a crazy new recipe.  I think it's good for the soul, and certainly excellent for our self-esteem, to be able to impress with something we've made with our own two hands.  

Thus, the decision was made to spend most of Sunday making a 17-layer hazelnut crepe cake.  I wanted to show my wonderful DC cousin that her recent birthday did not go unnoticed, and that she is worthy of a wonderfully decadent dessert.  I also wanted to face my fears of creating crepes and pastry cream from a handful of ingredients.  I'd say both were accomplished. 

Chocolate Hazelnut Crepe Cake (from Smitten Kitchen, 2012)

Crepes:

9 Tbps. unsalted butter (for both crepes and pastry cream)

2 1/3 c. whole milk

6 large eggs

1 1/2 c. flour

1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 c. sugar

Hazelnut pastry cream:

1 c. hazelnuts

1 c. confectioner's sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. salt

3 1/3 c. whole milk

7 Tbsp. sugar

5 egg yolks

5 Tbsp. cornstarch

butter leftover from crepes

Chocolate ganache: 

6 oz. chocolate chips

1/4 c. + 2 Tbsp. heavy cream

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

Make Crepes:

1. In a small saucepan, brown all butter according to these instructions.  Let cool to lukewarm.

2. In a blender, combine milk, eggs, flour, salt, sugar, and 6 Tbsp. browned butter.  Cover finished mixture and refrigerate for one hour or up to 2 days. 

3. When you're ready to actually cook the crepes, preheat a medium non-stick skillet or crepe pan over medium-high heat.  My pan is super non-stick, so I could skip the buttery, but you may want to brush  your own with melted butter to ensure nothing clings to the surface.  

4. Pour 1/4 c. batter into skillet and quickly swirl it around until it evenly coats the bottom and cook, undisturbed, until the bottom is golden and top is set (1-2 minutes).  Carefully flip and cook on other side for 5-10 additional seconds to set.  It may take you a couple to get the hang of it, but the batter makes a TON of crepes, so no need to fear.  You can do this!  There are a few good videos on YouTube to walk you through the process if you want to visualize it; I'd start with this one, and the pouring/flipping starts at the 1:40ish mark.

5. Transfer finished crepes to a plate and just stack; they won't stick together.  I found that the batter actually made close to 25 crepes, but you'll only need 16 or 17 for this recipe, as the pastry cream only makes so much. 

Toast/Skin Hazelnuts:

1. Preheat oven to 350 and spread hazelnuts on a baking sheet.  Toast for 10 minutes, rolling around halfway through.  Remove from oven and let cool. 

2. Rub nuts between your palms to remove skins, and discard. 

Make Hazelnut Pastry Cream:

1. In a food processor, grind nuts, confectioner's sugar, extract, and salt into damp-looking crumbs that combine in small clumps.  Do not over mix, or you'll make a hazelnut butter!

2. In a saucepan, combine the hazelnut paste, milk, and sugar over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer, stirring a bit so it doesn't scorch.  In a medium bowl, whisk together yolks and cornstarch until smooth.  Stream in small spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk bowl slowly, until you find that the bowl is hot.  

3. Now, reverse.  Slowly stir in yolk mixture to milk saucepan, whisking constantly, until the two are combined.  Continue whisking while you bring the mixture to a boil and cook for 2 minutes; it should thicken upon boiling, to a loose pudding consistency.  Remove from heat and stir in remaining 3 Tbsp. browned butter.  

4. Transfer to a bowl, press plastic wrap on top of cream, and refrigerate until set, probably about two hours. 

Assemble Cake:

1. Lay first crepe on plate and spread with 1/4 c. pastry cream.  Repeat with remaining crepes until you're out of pastry cream.  Chill in the fridge until you're ready for the ganache.

Ganache:

1. Melt all ingredients in a double boiler until smooth, but thick.  Remove cake from fridge, pour ganache on top and gently push some off the sides, so it's there are a few drips on the edges.  Set cake in fridge until the chocolate is set.

Finally....slice and eat!  

Single Serving Chocolate Lava Cake

Ladies, THIS IS IT.  Do you have a single girl night in coming up?  Feel like eating an indulgent dessert but don't want a gazillion leftovers?  Like cake batter, but warmed up and more fancy?  This is your dessert.
JP was out of town this weekend, and I had Saturday night all to myself.  Gossip Girl was already to go on my Netflix, comfy elastic-waist pants were on, and I just needed something warm in my belly.  As is my recent routine, I rifled through my Joy The Baker Cookbook, and landed on this recipe.  It's got 6 ingredients, which I already had in my fridge and pantry, and gave me an excuse to use our wedding 8-ounce ramekins (the things you register for during wedding planning...).

It's your typical chocolate molten center cake: dark and rich, with a cake shell encasing an oozing fudge center.  Double the recipe for a dessert for two, quadruple it for a small dinner party, but there's no shame in doling out the single-serving for you.  I'm sure you deserve it. 

Single Girl Melty Chocolate Cake (from Joy the Baker Cookbook, Joy Wilson, 2012)
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/4 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1 large egg
4 tsp. sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tsp. all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and place cookie sheet in oven as it heats up.  Generously flour and butter an 8-oz. (1 cup) ramekin.
2. Place butter and chocolate into a microwave-safe container (I used my glass measuring cup) and heat in microwave until both are melted, maybe 40 seconds.  Set aside to cool.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together egg and sugar.  Pour chocolate mixture into bowl and whisk until well incorporated.  Add salt and flour and mix until just combined.
4. Pour batter into prepped ramekin and place in oven on top of cookie sheet.  Bake 7-10 minutes; the less time it's in the oven, the more oozy the middle will be.  (The top should be set, though, so you can turn it out onto a plate!)
5. Remove from oven and cool for 2 minutes.  Using pot holders, invert cake onto plate and devour.

Red Wine Chocolate Cake

I'm a little behind on blog posts.  This recipe is actually from our one-monthiversary on April 24.  Goodness, we're already several weeks into this whole marriage thing!

The story with this cake is simple: it's incredibly delicious, rich, and full-bodied with a nose of berries.  (Is that a thing?)  Red wine gives the cake a lovely deep red tint, although you should know that the alcohol does NOT completely bake out.  Not only does this mean that you'll definitely taste the wine in the cake batter (you know, if you're into that whole raw batter/dough thing), but it means you'll have to refrain from serving it to small children.

Now, the story behind the decision to make this cake and how we came to eat it is a little more simple: it sounded good, and we wanted to splurge on a random Tuesday that was only important to us.  It's the little things that sometimes get you through the days, and this day in particular was a little rough.  JP's job has been requiring a lot of his time lately (well, more than what we're used to), and I wasn't really expecting the first months of marriage to feel different (they do).  Our 30-day mark happened to fall on the day before JP had to fly to Texas for several days, and then he ended up being home 3 hours later than I expected.  There were two options: be mad and sulk throughout the dinner to celebrate us or be happy to get this time with JP and be supportive and loving when he got home.  I chose the latter.  I'm learning that marriage, and life in general, is sometimes just being happy with chocolate cake and your husband, and letting the other things fall by the wayside.  If you make this cake, be in the moment of making it, savoring the bites, licking the powdered sugar off your fingers.  Life is better that way.

Lemon-pistachio cake

Are you celebrating with friends today?  Do you need a baked good to bring to a barbecue?  Try this absolutely wonderful pistachio-lemon cake.
A few weeks ago, we celebrated a good friend's birthday, and I brought this cake as a gift.  He loves quirky flavors, and I saw this combination in May's copy of Real Simple.  Man, this was SO GOOD!!  The lemons are sweet and tart, while the pistachios are nutty and add a tasty crunch to the frosting.  There's a layer of lemon curd in there to add some creaminess.  Honestly, I wouldn't have made this cake without a little kick in the flavor department, but I'm so glad I tried it out.  You should too!

Strawberry Summer Cake

You know what's funny?  I generally don't even like strawberries.  They're a little too too somehow: too sweet, too many seeds, too summer.  Finally, though, they're dawning on me like a revelation.  Oh, I think to myself, maybe they are the perfect summer fruit.  Beautiful in color, infinitely usable in tons of recipes, tasty on their own...
It's almost as though strawberries have hit me over the head.
I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen, and knew it would be perfect for a friend's graduation party.  He's not a big sweets person, but I wanted to bring something festive that could be downplayed.  The cake itself isn't sugary, but more like an even coffee cake that lets the fruit take center stage.    It got lots of compliments, and none of the sixteen small slices were left after 10 minutes.  Definitely make it for a brunch, a potluck, whatever.  It's absolutely wonderful!

P.S. These strawberries were MASSIVE!  Safeway did it right during that week.  Oh, so good.

Poppy Seed Cake with Strawberries

Man, I have been in a cake mood lately!  A couple weekends ago I made a wonderful, light strawberry cake (will post soon) for a graduation party.  It was so good, I only got one sliver!  To make up for the loss, I made this Memorial Day cake for John Paul and I (don't worry, we shared...a bit).  I saw it on Not Without Salt a few days ago, and it spoke to me.
This cake is perfect for summer.  The mascarpone frosting is lighter than cream cheese, and there's not quite so much sugar.  The poppy seed cakes are mildly nutty, with an excellent slight crunch to it.  Top it off with some strawberries for a bit of extra sweetness...seriously, you can't go wrong.  The strawberries I bought were a bit big; I should have cut them into eighths so the layers weren't so far apart.  Even so, tastiest Memorial Day cake I've ever made! 

P.S. This frosting is super delicious with just strawberries dipped into it...perhaps a quick dessert?

4-Layer Devil's Food Cake with Chocolate Mousse Buttercreammmmm

 

Oh lordy, I was ecstatic to break out a tasty dessert for a small dinner party JP and I hosted on Saturday night.  This cake is from the Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey cookbook Haley gave me over Christmas, and it was a real showstopper!  Please picture this: velvety, decadent, smooth mousse-like frosting sandwiching fluffy, rich layers of devil's food cake.  Now imagine that in your mouth and tummy!  Oh my gosh, this is soooo amazingly delicious.
A couple of tips for making this dessert: be sure to cool the cakes so they come out of the pans easily, slice through each layer carefully for stress-free assembly, and beat the buttercream senseless.  It took a long time for the frosting to come together, so just keep at it until everything comes together.  It'll happen, I promise.
Can I please say that I'm just impressed with myself for putting this together?  So often my desserts for company end up looking disastrous, or being underwhelming, but this was great!

 

Brown Sugar and Almond Pound Cake

Lately my dessert tooth is veering more towards dense, moist cakes that aren't overly sweet.  The kind of sweets that are appropriate for dessert one night and breakfast the next day (come on, you know you do it!).  I want something I can dip into coffee, or spoon some Greek yogurt and honey on top of, or splash with homemade berry sauce.  When Aunt Nesi, Uncle Rob, Summer and Luke came over for dinner, I knew I would have to try the Oh! Brown Sugar! And Almond Pound Cake from my copy of Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey.
Not only does this smell amazing in the oven, but it's even better in your mouth!  There's a delicate nutty flavor, along with a slightly chewy edge from the sugar.  Please just make it.  STAT.

Oh!  Brown Sugar!  And Almond Pound Cake (from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O'Connor, 2007)
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 c. almond meal or almond flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
2 c. firmly packed light brown sugar
1 c. powdered sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract (I omitted this, and it didn't mess up the cake.  It can only improve the taste!)
6 large eggs, room temperature
1. Preheat oven to 325.  Spray a bundt pan liberally with cooking spray.
2. In a bowl, sift together the flour, almond meal, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy.  Gradually beat in brown sugar and powdered sugar, and continue beating until pale and fluffy.  Beat in vanilla and almond extracts.
4. Add the eggs to the butter mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Fold the flour and almond mixture into the mixture by hand, using a rubber spatula, until no traces of flour remain and batter is smooth.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean, 75-90 minutes.
6. Let cake cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then reverse onto a plate to finish cooling. Cut into however many slices you'd like and gobble up!

 

 

Lime Yogurt Cake with Berry Sauce

Last Tuesday marked the 5-year anniversary of me and John Paul as a couple!  January is always a hard time to celebrate with desserts; we're inevitably trying to eat less junk because we splurged in December, and (forgive me for what I'm about to say) chocolate is becoming less and less appetizing.  When I saw this cake on Smitten Kitchen, I knew it was the perfect compromise.
You see, there's no butter in this cake.  Yes, there is a bit of vegetable oil, but most of the moisture comes from yogurt.  I used full-fat Greek yogurt, which is more tart than traditional recipes, and can be used as a substitute for sour cream in other meals.  The sauce that's paired with the cake uses a minimal amount of sugar, allowing the sweetness to come from the berries.
This cake actually survived four days with us, and the sauce was used on top of the leftover yogurt, and drizzled on top of toast with peanut butter.  It was completely lovely; I think you should make it today!

 

 

 

Spiced Pumpkin Cake

So you know that my mom, sister and I were in charge of desserts for the Thanksgiving dinner held at Andrea's new house (so cute!), and they were aching for the pumple.  I was desiring something hearty and not overly-sweet, and this dessert from November's issue of Real Simple was calling my name. 

As much as I enjoy pumpkin taste, I'm not wild about pumpkin pie; sometimes it's just too silky and rich. Baked goods, like pumpkin muffins and cakes, are much more up my alley. Add in my love for Bundt pans (they always look impressive and pretty!), as well as a thick lemon glaze, and I was done for.



 

 This cake turned out beautifully: dense, perfectly spiced and a beautiful, deep orange color. Be sure to grease your pan within an inch of its life, and use some flour, too. You'd hate for half your cake to stick to the pan! Also, be sure to let it cool completely before even attempting to slide it out of the pan.  All of those are hard-learned tips, I promise.

This could also work as a brunch offering, with some berries scattered on top. Or dress it up with a chocolate glaze, instead of lemon. Go nuts!



The Pumple

I wish you could have seen my face when my mom and Haley explained their excellent idea for Thanksgiving dessert.  You would have seen confusion mixed with huge amounts of doubt, as well as a headshake.  Or two.
Let me back up.  My Uncle Rob and Aunt Nesi were in charge of turducken.  If you are like anyone in my office (who now thinks my family and I are completely nuts), you probably don't know what that is.  Simply put, it's a deboned chicken stuffed into a deboned duck stuffed into a turkey.  A TURkey-DUCK-chicKEN.
Taking that into account, Haley and my mom thought they should make a cherpumple.  What the what?!  A cherpumple is a cherry pie baked into a spice cake, pumpkin pie baked into a chocolate cake, and an apple pie baked into a vanilla cake (pies and cakes can be switched up as desired).  All of these are stacked on top of each other and frosted with a cream cheese frosting.  Please see their inspiration on youtube.

After some heated discussion, they were talked down to a pumple, excluding the cherry layer. 
I got to Florida on Wednesday evening, and we didn't start on the pumple until about 8:30.  Because you're baking a pie inside of a cake, the cooking times were essentially doubled.  The apple layer took about 40 minutes, and the pumpkin layer took a full hour.  During the pumple baking, we baked a pumpkin spice cake, in case people didn't want the pumple.  I was the most skeptical of all.  At 12:30A, we finally collapsed into bed.

On Thanksgiving day, my mom cut into the pumple and it looked...pretty.  The pies seemed to smile at us from inside their respective cakes.  The apple layer was delicious, and the chocolate layer was a bit rich, but edible.  I was astounded.
But won't be making it again.  Too much trouble to explain the name.

Chocolate Mascarpone Pound Cake

Pound cake is such a wonderful dessert; it's moist, barely sweet, and pairs well with almost any sweet sauce or fruit.  It's great for winter, when you want something a little heavier than ice cream, but want to keep all your teeth from rotting away.  Giada de Laurentiis' version has chocolate chips and unsweetened chocolate (with sugar added!), so its' flavor is deeper than your typical chocolate cake.  Coating the chips in flour before adding them to the liquid ingredients makes sure they don't sink to the bottom of the cake; flour helps them situate themselves throughout the entire dough.  I don't know how it works, but it's best to not question these things.
This is the world's most perfect chocolate chip pound cake recipe because it makes TWO cakes!  Wrap the second one in plastic wrap, then aluminum foil, and freeze for a later use. 

Chocolate Chip Pound Cake (from Giada de Laurentiis' Giada's Kitchen, 2008)
5 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/3 c. mascarpone cheese, room temperature
2 1/4 c. sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 c. chocolate chips
1. Preheat the oven to 375.  Grease and flour two 9x5-inch loaf pans.
2. In a small sauce pan, combine the unsweetened chocolate and 1 c. water.  Place over medium-low heat and stir constantly until the chocolate is melted, about 2 minutes.  Set aside to cool for two minutes, then whisk in the mascarpone until the mixture is smooth.
3. Beat the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl for 30 seconds.  Stir in the chocolate mixture.
4. Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder and chocolate chips in a medium bowl.  Add to the wet ingredients and stir until just blended.
5. Divide the batter among the two pans and bake for 55-60 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center of each loaf comes out with no crumbs attached.  Cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then turn out into a wire rack to cool completely.