ginger & praline spice loaf

Recently one of my baker friends gave me a tub of pralines. A 5 pound tub! You can imagine how happy I was--oh the possibilities and non-stop munchies. HA!
Besides eat them non-stop, I have praline cookies on the list, but I wanted something a little more creative. Plus there have been a lot of homemade baked breads surfacing around food-bloggerland, has anyone else noticed this? My last bread creation was such a hit, I was inspired to try another creation. My latest creation is all about ginger cake with pralines mixed in. And ginger and pralines actually work together very nicely.


A slice of this loaf/bread the next morning with a good heaping of cream cheese on it is heavenly! Heavenly I tell you!

ginger & praline spice loaf
semi-adapted from Gale Gand
print recipe

For the cake:
8 TB (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
¾ cup sugar
½ cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
1 cup hot water
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ts baking soda
½ ts salt
1 ts ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup finely chopped candied ginger
¼ cup ground of pralines

For the topping:
½ cup ground up pralines

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and lightly flour two 8 inch loaf pans or 1 9-inch loaf pan or a 10-inch cake pan.
In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer), combine the melted butter, egg, and sugar. Add the molasses and water and mix. In another bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon together. Working in batches, mixing after each addition add the dry ingredients to the molasses mixture. Mix until smooth. Then fold in the chopped candied ginger and chopped up pralines.
Pour into the prepared pan and bake in the center of the oven for about 15 minutes, then sprinkle on the ground up pralines for the topping and bake another 15 – 20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to completely cool.

cinnamon-espresso cake

I love espresso. Do you know I would always spell it as expresso? For years I was doing this. I mean when you say it out loud it sounds like there is an X in there. Right? But if you are living in Italy then there are no X's expressed...it's all one lovely flowing beautiful language. uno scorre bella lingua. My Italian is good, no? That's when you say "sì, è in sospeso" (yes, it's outstanding).
Onto the latest creation of mine. I love my morning espresso. I drink about 1 or 2 cups per morning, depending on the day ahead of me. I love Illy coffee. It's so darn expensive, but it's really the only kind I can take. I need to feel like I am drinking real coffee, real coffee beans. Those mountainous cans of ground of coffee and powders in the grocery store are horrid and bitter. I do put a little bit of milk in my espresso so it's mostly a latte. With my love of espresso comes my love of creating baked goods using espresso. This cinnamon & espresso cake did not dissappoint at all. It was wonderful.
I think you could get away without using a glaze, but in all honesty, the espresso in the middle really went well with the glaze/frosting.
A note on the frosting: I tried my best to remember all the ingredients. It may be off a bit here and there, so taste it before using. I need to get one of those handheld recorders to speak into as I throw my ingredients in the bowl.



cinnamon & espresso cake
print recipe

cake:
1 ¼ cups + 2 TB sugar
1 TB + 2 ts cinnamon
1 ½ ts espresso powder (such as medaglia D'oro)
1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
2 ts baking powder
a big pinch of sea salt
3/4 cup half & half or light cream
2 large eggs
1 ts pure vanilla extract
9 TB unsalted butter, melted and cooled
½ cup mini chocolate chips (no substitutions, as the mini's work best here)

glaze:
6 oz bittersweet chocolate morsel or block, chopped
2 TB unsalted butter, soft
Less than half a block of cream cheese, room temp
A tiny pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter or spray an 8-inch square cake pan. You can line with parchment paper, but I didn’t need to. In a small bowl, combine 2 TB of sugar, 2 ts of cinnamon, and the espresso powder. Set aside.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, remaining sugar, baking powder, remaining cinnamon and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk the half & half, eggs, and vanilla.
Pour the wet mixture over the flour mixture and gently whisk until almost combined. Don’t overmix! Using a whisk or a rubber spatula, fold in the melted butter, just until the butter is absorbed.
Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan, spread evenly.
Sprinkle the mini chocolate chips over the batter and then top with the cinnamon expresso sugar mixture. Top with the remaining batter, spreading it evenly and slowly. Spreading the top half is a bit tricky as you don’t want to spread the middle filling around, so just go slow; working inside to the outside in small little circles.
Bake for 35-40 minutes at 350F, just until a toothpick comes out clean. Please turn pan around halfway, during the middle of cooking. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and remove the parchment. Turn it out again onto another rack so it is right side up.
(The cake will look dark, very dark while it cooks, that’s the cinnamon—it’s not burning.)
For the frosting, put the chocolate and butter into a heatproof bowl and fit the bowl over a pan of simmering (not boiling!) water. Stir until the chocolate and butter have completely melted and it is super shiny and smooth. Add in the cream cheese. Remove from heat and combine well. (If it gets too thin, let it stand for about 10 minutes and it will eventually thicken up). Spread on the top of the cake and allow the frosting to set up before serving. If it does not set, put it in the fridge for an hour or more, and it will harden up.

chai crumbcake

My love for crumb cake runs deep. I love NYC style crumb cake with a thick, thick crumbly topping and a rich buttery cake. I love how it's a 2 to 1 ratio for topping and cake. But some of the recipes I've found only give it a 1 to 1 ratio, so when that happens I just double the ingredients for the crumb topping, just like I did with this recipe below. I mean the best part is that darn sweet and gently salty topping filed with spices or just plain cinnamon, right? Oh yeah! And I also love what you can do with crumbcake: you can add fruit to it, add nuts, glazes, drizzles, chocolate, and now I've found you can add chai. I love that strange but warming flavor of chai, every once in a while I love to get a hot chai tea from Starbucks. I highly recommend this recipe from Baking Bites; it's really good and has a gentle flavor of chai.

If you were going to kick up a crumbcake, what would you add to it?



chai crumb cake (with extra crumb topping)
adapted from Baking Bites
print recipe

Topping: (I doubled this for an extra thick topping. Below is the regular size, if you want double crumb topping, then double all the ingredients for topping)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
½ tsp cardamom
½ tsp allspice
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup butter, melted and cooled slightly

Cake:
1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2/3 cup butter, soft
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9″ square baking pan with parchment paper or lightly greased aluminum foil. (I used an 8inch pan and sprayed with Pam)

In a medium bowl, combine all topping ingredients except butter. Whisk to blend.
Gradually stir in the melted butter, using a large fork or spatula to mix. When all the butter has been incorporated and the mixture looks like wet sand, squeeze small clumps together to make large crumbs ranging in size from that of a pea to that of a grape. Set aside. (I doubled the amount of crumb as there was such a thin layer of it).

In another medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla extract. With the mixer set on a low speed (or by hand), alternately add in flour and sour cream in two or three additions. When no streaks of flour remain, pour into prepared pan. Top evenly with crumb mixture.
Bake at 350F for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack before slicing. (I baked at 325 degrees for 15 minutes, turned pan, then another 15).
Serves 9-12, depending on how you slice it.

root beer bundt cake

The root beer flavor in this cake is intense. I wasn't sure about making this because most times you hear about a soda flavored-cake and, for me, it tends not to be that flavored; you can't even taste what the original flavor was supposed to be. I hate that. And I hate wasting all those ingredients for nothing.
But this cake is very tasty--lots of root beer flavor in there, Recipe comes from a cookbook I'm dying to get which hails from a famous bakery in Brooklyn called Baked. I know a lot of you foodies have heard of this bakery and the more popular cookbook. I cannot wait to get my hands on this cookbook. This root beer bundt cake recipe uses root beer snapps. Bingo! That brings out flavor indeed. So, if you are a root beer lover as I am then try this, it's not a boring bundt cake at all. Everyone in our house loved this, it did not last long at all. That frosting, oh that frosting! Update! I have gotten the book and it's worth it! Very worth it. Modern baking at it's best.

root beer bundt cake
From Baked: New Frontiers in Baking
print recipe

Cake:
1 1/2 cups root beer (do not use diet root beer)
1/2 cup root beer schnapps (if you cannot find schnapps then use 2 cups of root beer, not the 1 and 1/2 cups as stated above)
1 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1¼ cups granulated sugar
½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1¼ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs

Frosting:
2 ounces dark chocolate (60% cacao), melted and cooled slightly
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup root beer OR 1/8 cup of root schnapps
2/3 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
2½ cups confectioners' sugar

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Generously spray the inside of a 10-inch bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray; alternatively, butter it, dust with flour, and knock out excess flour.
In a small saucepan, heat the root beer, root beer schnapps (if using), cocoa powder, and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted. Add the sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together.
In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until just beaten, then whisk them into a cooled cocoa mixture until combined. Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture. The batter will be slightly lumpy - do not overbeat, as it could cause the cake to be tough.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a small sharp knife inserted into the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Gently loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and turn it out onto the rack.

For the root beer fudge frosting:
Put all the ingredients in a food processor. Pulse in short bursts until the frosting is shiny and smooth. Use a spatula to spread the fudge frosting over the crown of the bundt in a thick layer. Let the frosting set before serving.

vanilla poundcake w/ creamsicle frosting

Creamsicle.
Remember that flavor as a kid? I can't tell you how many creamsicles I ate as a kid. That creamy flavor combo of orange and milk. I remember biting into the first creamsicle of the summer season with the hard orange crust that would break with just enough force to open up the creamy middle milky center.
Lately I've been craving a creamsicle type frosting. Since I could just make the frosting and eat it on it's own...but no, I'll make a cake to go with.
I realize poundcake doesn't always come to mind when you think of frosting something new, but I have wanted to dress up a poundcake, so here is the perfect opportunity.

 I started my search for frostings or glazes of the creamsicle variety, but most of them were just butter, milk and some orange zest. Not very creamsicle-like. So, I set out to try and find my own recipe that would hit the creamsicle flavor mark right on the head. After a few experiments I finally found one I liked and it closely resembled that of a creamsicle. I would also love to try this frosting on a carrot cake; for some reason I just think it would be awesome melding all those flavors together.
Of course you don't have to put this frosting on poundcake, any vanilla cake or cupcake will do.




vanilla pound cake w/ creamsicle frosting
pound cake recipe from America's Test Kitchen
print recipe

pound cake:
16 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 sticks), cold, plus extra for greasing pan
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract + some vanilla beans about 1 ts (optional)
1¾ cups cake flour (7 ounces), plus extra for dusting pan
½ teaspoon table salt
1¼ cups sugar (8 3/4 ounces)

Cut butter into 1-tablespoon pieces and place in bowl of standing mixer; let stand at room temperature 20 to 30 minutes to soften slightly (butter should reach no more than 60 degrees). Using dinner fork, beat eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla in liquid measuring cup until combined. Let egg mixture stand at room temperature until ready to use.
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Generously butter 9 by 5-inch loaf pan; dust pan liberally with flour and knock out excess.
In standing mixer fitted with flat beater, beat butter and salt at medium-high speed until shiny, smooth, and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping bottom and sides of bowl once with rubber spatula.
Reduce speed to medium; with mixer running, gradually pour in sugar (this should take about 60 seconds). Once all sugar is added, increase speed to medium-high and beat until mixture is fluffy and almost white in color, 5 to 8 minutes, scraping bottom and sides of bowl once.
With mixer running at medium speed, gradually add egg mixture in slow, steady stream; this should take 60 to 90 seconds. Scrape bottom and sides of bowl; beat mixture at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes (mixture may look slightly broken). Remove bowl from mixer; scrape bottom and sides.
In 3 additions, sift flour over butter/egg mixture; after each addition, fold gently with rubber spatula until combined. Scrape along bottom of bowl to ensure that batter is consistent.
Transfer batter to prepared loaf pan and smooth surface with rubber spatula. Bake until golden brown and wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 70 to 80 minutes. Cool cake in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes; invert cake onto wire rack, then turn cake right side up. Cool cake on rack to room temperature, about 2 hours.

creamsicle frosting
(this frosting was created off the top of my head, so I might be off a bit on measurements, but taste it as you go along to find your own desired taste)

1 stick+ unsalted butter, room temp (might need 1-2 TB more)
2+ cups confectioners sugar (might need 1-2 TB more)
4 TB cream cheese, softened
Pinch or two of sea salt
1-3 dashes of half & half (or milk)
2 ts of orange zest, plus more for garnish (if desired)
1 or 2 TB of the juice from same orange

Mix all ingredients into large bowl and using an electric mixer beat until a nice creamy frosting is achieved. If you like a thicker frosting use less of the half & half, for thinner frosting add more half & half. Frost cooled pound cake, decorate with orange zest as a garnish, slice and serve.

peanut butter & jelly crumb cake

It's back to school for a lot of my neighbors, clients, friends, and even hubby is back to school this coming week. Another year of grad school; let's just throw another $15K to the ever-growing pile of debt shall we? Seems like we'll be paying student loans for the rest of our lives: mine and his. And now we're buying our first home...are we crazy? No, we're just like every other person on this planet living and breathing debt.



To me the beginning of back to school means peanut butter and jelly. I can't remember the last time I had crumb cake, but I wanted to experiment and make a PB & J crumb cake for the longest time. It came out pretty good. It's really rich, a lot of that has to do with the thick peanut buttery crumb topping. I would love to hear from you on what meals remind you of Fall and what are you excited to bake/cook/experiment with this coming Fall season?


peanut butter & jelly crumb cake
print recipe

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1 cup crunchy peanut butter, room temp. (not natural)

for jam drizzle:
1 jar of strawberry or raspberry jam/jelly (I used raspberry: seedless)
Confectioners’ sugar for decoration (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease and flour an 8x8 square baking pan.
In a large bowl mix the flour, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Using a mixer (or by hand), beat in the softened butter until mixture resembles wet sand. No large lumps. If using a mixer, do not over beat. Remove between ¾ - 1 cup of the mixture to a medium bowl and set aside. (I did about a cup since I wanted a lot of crumb topping and thin cake; just like a crumb cake).
With the remaining mixture add in the buttermilk and egg, mix well. Then pour into the greased pan, spreading evenly. There is not a lot of batter; it does rise when baking so don’t worry. Take the remaining flour mixture that was set aside and add the cup of peanut butter to it.  Mix until you have a nice, almost dry crumbly mix.
Then drop or crumble large chunks of this onto the cake. Do not press the crumbs into the batter; just let them sit on top.
Bake for about 30 -35 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. While cake bakes make the jelly reduction. Take a small jar of strawberry or raspberry jam/jelly, and let gently melt in saucepan over low heat. Do not boil. To make the reduction slightly thicker add a bit of cornstarch (a TB or so). But you shouldn’t need to do this as after it’s melted it does thicken a bit.
When slightly cooled drizzle cake with the melted jam. Then dust with confectioners’ sugar if desired. Cool on a wire rack before slicing.

chocolate & peanut butter cake w/ ganache & reese's pb cups

Calling all peanut butter & chocolate fans! This, my friends, is the ultimate cake for you. If you are a huge PB & C fan then you must make this extremely decadent cake. This cake has PB & C in every pore of its being: in the cake, in the frosting and as a edible garnish.
I have been craving this cake for a while now, and I finally made it a reality. To be honest I ate so much of the ganache that I barely had room for a slice a cake, but don't worry I made room, I'm not dumb. You really need to have a tall glass of ice cold milk at the ready when you have a slice of this PB & C masterpiece, as it really is that rich, and makes you really thirsty. All good cake creations, if they are made right, they leave you thirsty.

peanut butter & chocolate cake w/ chocolate ganache & reese's pb cups
print recipe

for the cake: 1 box (18.25 ounces) devil's food cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Good pinch of salt
2 cups mini Reese peanut butter cups, chopped, plus 1 1/2 cups more for garnish (about 2 - 12oz. bags) 

ganache:
12 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
4 TB of confectioners sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Coat two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray.
Line with waxed paper; coat paper. In a large bowl, beat cake mix, eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil and salt on low for 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium-high; beat for 2 minutes, scraping down side of the bowl after 1 minute. Fold in 2 cups of the chopped peanut butter cups.
Divide batter between prepared pans.
Bake at 350 degrees F for about 34 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let layers cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes.
Turn out cakes onto wire racks and cool completely. To make the PB ganache place chopped dark chocolate in a medium-size bowl. Bring cream just to a boil and pour over chocolate. Whisk until chocolate melts. Add peanut butter and confectioners sugar, whisking all till nice and smooth.

To frost the cake, you can first trim the tops of you cakes (with a serrated knife) first to make them flat, I didn't do this. Put one cake layer on cooling rack and place on a baking sheet. Pour some ganache on top; spread evenly with a spatula.
Then place remaining cake layer, and pour remaining frosting over the top, allowing it to spill over the sides. Smooth top and sides with spatula (see Note below). Refrigerate 1 hour to set. Transfer cake to serving plate and garnish with the chopped Reese's PB Cups.

cook notes: I saved a bit of the ganache to put on the cake just before adding the chopped Reese's PB Cups to act as a glue, making sure everything adhered correctly, then chilled it again to let it set. So basically, frost the cake, then chill, then add a thin layer of ganache again, add the garnish, then chill again.