Fall is Here! (Allegedly)

The First Day of Autumn came some while ago and there was even an adorable animated Google Doodle to commemorate the occasion!  It's a little strange to think of autumn, Halloween and fall-ish things when the kids and I are walking home from school here in Southern California.  The sun is shining very brightly and with the weather at 90F, there is not even a hint of that crisp, smoky air that usually accompanies this time of year.

To celebrate the arrival of a new season, I baked this ginger apple cake.  Yes, I will cling to any excuse to bake something sweet.

The cake was a big success and it packed well for the kids to enjoy at school the next day.  Upon tasting, I remarked, "Wow, this tastes better than I thought it would.  It's pretty good!"  Dr. Obvious gushed, "No, it's not pretty good.  It's freakin' amazing."  Now, to me, if a dessert is "freakin' amazing" and there isn't any chocolate in it, I think that is freakin' amazing.  It's certainly noteworthy, at the very least.

Ginger Apple Cake – Food 52.com by "drbabs"

• 3 large apples (I used Honeycrisp and Fuji.)
• 4 tablespoons turbinado sugar, divided
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter + ~2 TB butter + more for pan
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger (if you want more of a gingery kick; optional)
• 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (I peeled a 2 inch piece and grated it with a microplane grater)
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 3 tablespoons dark rum
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 10 walnut halves

1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9” springform pan. If you are concerned about your springform pan leaking, wrap the bottom with aluminum foil.
2. Core and peel apples, and cut into thin slices. Melt ~2 TB of butter in saucepan and cook until it is lightly browned. Stir in apple slices until all slices are covered with browned butter. Sprinkle ~2 TB turbinado sugar over apples, and continue to saute, stirring occasionally, till apples are softened and most of the liquid has evaporated. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, ginger (if using) and salt. Set aside.
4. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar till fluffy. Beat in two eggs. Beat in lemon zest, ginger, molasses, rum, and vanilla extract. (The mixture will look curdled. It's OK.)
5. Stir in the flour mixture a little at a time, stirring after each addition so the batter is thick and smooth. Fold in the milk and yogurt till batter is smooth and thoroughly combined.
6. Scrape half the batter into the prepared springform pan. Cover with apple slices, and spread the other half of the batter over the apples. Smooth top with spatula. Place walnut halves on the top of the cake, and sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of turbinado sugar over the top of the cake.
7. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. The cake may slightly pull away from the sides of the pan.
8. Transfer to a cooling rack. Run a knife along the edges of the cake to loosen it completely from the sides of the pan. Open the ring and remove it. If you want to remove the cake from the base of the springform pan, wait until it has cooled completely, then slide a long thin spatula between the cake and the base. Use a large spatula to then move it to a serving plate.
9. Serve as is or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a blob of barely sweetened softly whipped cream.

Triple Caramel Shampoo Birthday Cake

Sweet Pea had her 7th birthday a couple of weeks ago.  I tried a new cake recipe for her special day instead of the usual chocolate cake.  When I was putting the finishing touches on the cream and making it look fluffy on the cake, Bacon walked into the kitchen and exclaimed, "That looks great!  It looks like a head full of shampoo!"  Well, I don't know if that was the look I was trying to emulate, but the dessert was a big success.  Slice, eat, repeat.

Adapted from Fine Cooking magazine and Best American Recipes 2005-2006.

INGREDIENTS
3 cups whipping cream
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS
In a 2-quart saucepan on medium heat, gently bring 2 cups cream to simmering.  

Meanwhile, put 1 cup sugar in another medium pan on medium heat. Leave undisturbed until sugar begins to melt and darken. Gently swirl pan to distribute sugar. Remove from heat when sugar has all melted and is dark amber, about 5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325F.

While stirring constantly with wooden spoon, slowly pour in hot cream to make caramel. Return pan to burner. Turn heat to low. Boil gently, stirring often, 5 minutes. Set aside at least 30 minutes, stirring often, until cool.  Set aside 1 cup of the caramel for the batter and store 1 cup of the caramel in the refrigerator.


Grease and line with parchment paper two 8" or 9" cake pans.*   Using electric mixer at medium speed, beat butter and remaining 1-1/2 cups sugar in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time until blended. Scrape sides of bowl. Beat on medium-high until fluffy.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl. At low speed, mixing until barely incorporated, beat 1/3 of dry ingredients into batter, then 1/2 cup caramel, then 1/3 of dry ingredients, then 1/2 cup of caramel, then the remaining dry ingreidnets.  Scrape sides of bowl. Finish blending gently with spatula.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake on lower rack of oven until tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes.  Flip cakes out of their pans and cool completely on rack.

When ready to assemble the cake, bring refrigerated caramel to room temperature (a quick 3-5 seconds in the microwave can help if necessary).  Spread half of it between the two cake layers and set the other half of the caramel aside.

Whip the remaining 1 cup cream until firm peaks form. Fold in the rest of the caramel, leaving streaks. Makes about 12 servings.

*You can use a Bundt pan for this recipe...just drizzle the caramel sauce over the cake and then serve with dollops of whipped cream on the side.

Holiday Bake Sale

My kids' primary school is a little eager to kick off the holiday season.  It just hosted the annual Christmas Fair this past weekend.  I suppose that with no reality check of Thanksgiving to get in the way, the steam roller that is Holiday Madness starts right after Halloween.

One of my British friends came up with the brilliant idea of hitting up the local grocery store for some bakery boxes.  We were able to sell loads of cupcakes by giving customers the option to get a package of 4.  Don't they look cute and festive? 

Making these is a snap.  You just need:

Red Velvet Cake mix
Foil cupcake wrappers
Ready-made icing (I used Pilsbury Vanilla) and
Candy canes
Optional:  pastry bag with star tip

I know, I know.  Cake mix?!  Ready-made icing?  I must admit that I usually rely on such terrible tactics for bake sales. 

1.  Bake the cupcakes and freeze them until ready to use.  (You could do this 2 weeks in advance, if you wanted.)
2.  On the day of the bake sale or holiday fair, line up the cupcakes on paper towels or wax paper.
3.  Squirt the icing out of a pastry bag if you want or spread on with an off-set spatula.  (I used the star tip, but these would be super pretty with the ribbon or circle tip as well.  You are only limited by your imagination.)
4.  Crush some candy canes by putting them into a Ziploc bag and then wacking with a rolling pin or some such tool.  (I used the handle of my kitchen shears because they were right on the table already).
5.  Sprinkle candy canes on cupcakes.  Pack into boxes and watch them sell out right before your eyes!  Don't worry about the fact that the cupcakes are frozen...they will thaw about 2 hours after you take them out of the freezer.  By the time you decorate all of them, pack them up and drive them over to the school, you're probably home free!

Note:  Other fun decorations would include holiday Peeps...I've noticed that they come in snowman and Christmas tree options.

Pumpkin Chocolate Cake

This is the time of year when everyone starts cooking and baking with pumpkin in order to celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving and the general fun of autumn.  I was so excited to find this recipe when I was looking for a dessert to make and bring to a dinner party.  Because the rest of the menu was Middle Eastern, I had reservations about making it and thought about baking sesame cookies instead.  When I consulted Major Obvious, he firmly stated, "Your choices are sesame cookies vs. Pumpkin Chocolate Cake by Jacques Torres?  That is a no-brainer.  Who cares if it doesn't match the rest of the meal?"  So, I made the cake and we brought it over.  When our friends heard the story, they excitedly asked, "Did you really make it?  And that's what we're having for dessert?"  When we sat down to eat it, they exclaimed, "That was a good call!  Pumpkin and chocolate is such a fantastic combination."  Amen. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Cake

from Jacques Torres' "A Year of Chocolate"

1/2 cup (1 stick)
plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

3/4 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup canned pumpkin purée

1-1/4 cups cake flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 ounces (1/2 cup) chopped 60% bittersweet chocolate

1/2 cup dried cranberries, optional

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, optional

1 tablespoon Dutch-processed cocoa powder, optional

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter and flour a 6-inch bundt pan. Set aside.

Place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed to just soften. Add the brown sugar and beat for about 4 minutes, or until very light and creamy. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the pumpkin and beat to blend.

Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt and, with the motor off, sift the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture. Turn the speed to low and beat to incorporate the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture. When well-blended, remove the bowl from the mixer and, using a rubber spatula, fold in the chocolate, cranberries, and nuts.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted near the center comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and invert onto a wire rack. Remove the pan and allow the cake to cool at room temperature.

The cake will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 3 months.

Chocolate Celebration Cake

Last week, my brother (Pan Pan) and his wife (Miss Amy) visited from San Francisco.  Pan and I are very similar...we both enjoy cooking, talk in movie quotes, and laugh really loudly.  Interestingly enough, Miss Amy is very much like my husband, Major Obvious.  They both look forward to dessert, get along wonderfully with children, and love dogs.

When we are lucky enough to have someone come and visit us on their birthday, I love to bake them a cake for his or her special day.  For this reason (and the aforementioned penchant for sweets), I made Chocolate Celebration Cake for Miss Amy.  This recipe makes a very large molded concoction that can easily stand up to any frosting you slather on it, cream cheese, buttercream, or just a huge dollop of freshly whipped cream.  We ate this bad boy with Madagascar vanilla ice cream and enjoyed many subsequent evenings of leftovers with fresh raspberries while watching X Factor or How I Met Your Mother.

Chocolate Celebration Cake

Largely from “Cooking with Mr. Latte” by Amanda Hesser

1 1/2 cups sugar


5 ounces  bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate


¼  pound unsalted butter (1 stick), plus more for greasing the pan


2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda


1 teaspoon baking powder


1 teaspoon salt


1 cup milk


1 teaspoon cider vinegar


2 eggs


1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ - 1 Tablespoon instant espresso

cocoa powder for dusting the pan

Directions


1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Put the sugar, unsweetened chocolate, butter, and 1 cup of water in a saucepan. Place over medium heat and stir occasionally until all of the ingredients are melted and blended.  Remove from the heat and stir in espresso.  Let cool slightly, 15 to 20 minutes. 



2. Meanwhile, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, stir together the milk and vinegar. Grease and cocoa powder a decorative cake pan, a bundt pan or a tube pan.

3. When the chocolate in the pan has cooled a bit, whisk in the milk mixture and eggs. In several additions and without overmixing, whisk in the dry ingredients. When the mixture is smooth, add the vanilla and whisk once or twice, to blend.  Put the batter into the pan and bake on the middle rack until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool on a rack.

4. You can also use this batter to make chocolate cupcakes or a layer cake, just adjust the baking times.