Cake # 8

Well, this is cake #8. Four more to go. This cake is called Chocolate Toffee Cake. It was submitted to Taste of Home by Penny McNeill of Kitchener, Ontario.

I liked the toffee center of this cake. It reminded me of a coffee cake. It'd pair well with hot chocolate on a cold night.

Chocolate Toffee Cake

Ingredients:

1 8oz. pkg of mild chocolate English toffee bits

1 cup (6oz.) semisweet chocolate chips

2 Tbsp. brown sugar

Cake:

1 cup butter, softened

1-1/4 cups packed brown sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 -1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1-1/4 cups buttermilk

Caramel Icing:

1/4 cup butter, cubed

2 tsp. all-purpose flour

1 can (5oz.) evaporated milk

1 cup packed brown sugar

Directions:

Combine toffee bits, chips and brown sugar and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each (mix will appear curdled). Beat in vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda; add to the creamed mix alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition.

Pour a third of the batter into a greased and floured 10-in. fluted, tube pan. Sprinkle with a third of the toffee mixture. Repeat layers twice. Bake at 350 for 55-65 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack to cool completely.

For icing, in a small saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour, until smooth; gradually add evaporated milk and brown sugar. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 4-5 minutes or until thickened. Cool and drizzle over cake. Icing should cover entire cake.

Missionaries Minus Some Bananas

Just dropped this cake off this morning to missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who serve in the Cameron Ward in North Carolina. This is where I go to church. Well, I forgot something for this banana-chocolate cake...Ha! ... the Bananas!!! I only omitted the banana slices that should have been in between the layers and on top of the cake. Hopefully, it was a blessing in disguise because the cake sat in the fridge for a few days and I think the nanas would have been not up to par. Anyway, once I get feedback from the missionaries on how it tasted then I'll post their comments.

Comments just came in 10/1/10 missionary called to say, "It was like a banana bread with pudding layers. Great. Moist." I was pleased to find out that it didn't dry out in the fridge. He said he used to work in a bakery and he really loves the idea of a banana bread-like cake.
Here's a pic right before running it over.




Chocolate Banana Cream Cake
Prep: 30 Min Bake: 20 Min
Yield: 12 Servings
1/2 cup butter, softened
1-1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs, separated
1-1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1-1/2 dcups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
Filling
1-1/2 cups whole milk
1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) instant banana cream pudding mix
1 can (16 oz.) chocolate frosting
2 medium firm bananas, sliced...These are the missing bananas :P
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
DirectionsIn large bowl, cream butter and sugar til light and fluffy. Add egg yolks; mix well. Beat in the banans, sour cream and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture and beat well.
In small bowl, beat egg whites til stiff peaks form (I added 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar and 1/2 tsp. of vanilla for firmer egg whites). Fold into batter. Transfer to 2 greased and floured 9 " round pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Cool before removing from pans to wire rack to completely cool.
For filling, whish mild and pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand 2 more minutes or til soft-set. Cover and refrigerate til chilled.
In a small bowl, beat frosting til light and fluffy. Place banans in a small bowl and toss with lemon juice.
Place one cake layer on a serving plate; spread with 3 Tbsp. frosting. Stir pudding; spread half over frosting. Top with half of bananas and remaining cake layer. Repeat frosting, filling and banana layers. Frost sides and decorate top edge of cake with remaining frosting. Store in fridge. I added pecans to the sides.

Kathy's Cake

OK, the next cake was requested immediately after I took Megan's cake to work. My boss, Kathy, just had to have a cake. I told her about my blog and asked her if she wanted to choose a cake from the remaining 12. She asked, "Are there any more with raspberries?" There were 2 left with raspberries that I still hadn't made. She chose the chocolate raspberry tunnel cake. Good choice, but lots of work. I didn't taste it, but her hubby called to thank me for the cake and Kathy said, "I put my foot in it." So, according to the Neely's on Food Network that's always a good thing.

Chocolate Raspberry Tunnel Cake

Prep: 50 Min. Bake: 45 Min.

Yield: 12 Servings

Cake Batter:

2/3 cup butter, softenend

1 and 2/3 cups sugar

3 eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup baking cocoa

1 and 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 and 1/3 cups 2% milk

Filling:

2 pkg. (3 oz. each) cream cheese, softened

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/2 tsp. almond extract

2 drops red food coloring, optional

1 carton (12 oz.) frozen whipped topping, thawed and divided

1 cup fresh raspberries

Lemon peel and additional raspberries for garnish, optional.

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar til fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beat after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and soda; add to cream mixture alternately with milk, beat well after each addition. Transfer to a greased and floured 10 inch tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes til toothpick comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack to completely cool. Cut a 1 inch slice off top of cake and set aside. * you may want to cool cake in frige or freezer to make cutting easier. Hollow out the bottom portion of the cake ( a small pairing knife works well for this. Remove about an inch and 1/2 space in depth and width.) Save these cut out portions. You'll use them to set back in the filling. Cube the removed cake to measure 1 cup and set aside. Save the remaining cake for another use in this recipe.

Beat cream cheese til fluffy. Gradually beat in milk, lemon juice, extract and food coloring if desired. Fold in 1 cup whipped topping. Set aside 1 cup of cream cheese mixture; fold in berries and reserved cake cubes in to remaining mixture. Fill tunnel with cake cube mixture and replace top of cake. *** I did not fold in the berries and the cake. I thought it may damage the berries and cake shapes, so I layered the bottom of the hollowed portion of the cake with the cream cheese filling and then gently placed the berries and pieces of cake in an alternating pattern through the hollow. This really turned out very pretty.

Spread reserved cream cheese mixture over top of cake to within 1 inch of edge. Frost top edge and sides of cake with remaining whipped topping and garnish with lemon peel and additional raspberries. Chill.

A Cake for Megan

The next cake I made was for a Megan's birthday. She's a co-worker and she requested the white chocolate raspberry torte. Wow! This one was really moist. Instead of piping frosting along the top edge for decorating, I drizzled some of the raspberry filling over the top of the cake as you can see below. This cake was 1/2 eaten when I took the picture.
Messy, but aren't those the best kind?

White Chocolate Raspberry Torte
Prep: 1 hour Bake: 30 Min. Yield: 12 Servings

Cake:

3/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup white baking chips, melted and cooled
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups cake flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup buttermilk

Filling: I doubled this recipe to use filling over the cake too.

2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. cornstarch

Frosting:

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 cup vanilla or white chips, melted and cooled
1 carton (12 0z.) frozen whipped topping, thawed
Fresh raspberries for garnish if desired

Cream butter and sugar til fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour, baking powder and soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition.

Transfer to 2 greased and floured 9 in. round cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 28-32 minutes or til toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

In a small saucepan, bring raspberries and water to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes. Strain raspberry mixture and discard seeds. Cool. In the same pan, add sugar and cornstarch; return the raspberry puree into this same pan and combine til smooth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes til thickened. Cool. Then spread between cake layers.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese til fluffy. beat in melted chips; fold in whipped topping. Spread over top and sides of cake. Pipe frosting over top edge of cake and garnish with berries if desired. Store in frige.
* I doubled the filling and used it to decorate the top of the cake instead of the piped frosting.

Birthday Cakes

In April I decided to make two of the 12 cakes in May. One for my birthday and one for my sister-in-law, Kami's birthday. I chose a chocolate cake and a s'mores cake. The chocolate cake I made was the Chocolate Truffle Cake and it was Great! My sister said it was the best chocolate cake she's ever had. I think it was rich and smooth. Anything with ganache is always a chocoholic's dream.

Here's the recipe for the chocolate truffle cake and information from the Taste of Home website-

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Chocolate-Truffle-Cake

Chocolate Truffle Cake

16 Servings

Prep: 35 min. + chilling Bake: 25 min. + cooling

Ingredients

• 2-1/2 cups 2% milk
• 1 cup butter, cubed
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• FILLING:
• 6 tablespoons butter, cubed
• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 2-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream



• GANACHE:
• 10 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions

• In a large saucepan, cook the milk, butter and chocolate over low heat until melted.
• Remove from the heat; let stand 10 minutes.


• In a large bowl, beat eggs and vanilla. Stir in chocolate mixture until smooth. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt; gradually beat in to the mixture (batter will be thin). Transfer to three greased and floured 9 in. round pans. Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted at center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.



• Filling: In a small sauce pan, melt butter and chocolate. Stir in cofectioner's sugar and cream until smooth.



• For ganache, place chocolate in a small bowl. In a saucepan, bring cream just to a boil. Pour over chocolate, whisk until smooth. Cool, stirring occasionally until ganache reaches a spreading consistency.



• Set aside 1/2 cup filing for garnish. Place one cake layer on a serving plate, spread with half of the remaining filling. Repear layers. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread ganache over top and sides of cake. Decorate with reserved filling. Store in frige.


• Nutrition Facts: 1 slice equals 676 calories, 38 g fat (22 g saturated fat), 109 mg cholesterol, 299 mg sodium, 84 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 8 g protein. Yep, it's bad for you, but tastes oh, so, good!

Chocolate Truffle Cake published in Taste of Home December/January 2010, p45

Now, on to the "Give Me S'more" Cake that I made for Kami. This cake was a bit of a challenge. It has lots of graham crackers in the cake mix which I think made the cake quite dense, but tasty. I also did not have a candy thermometer which would have helped immensely in preparing the frosting. I made this cake at my mom's and so she proceeded to tell me when she thought the marshmallow frosting reached the 180 degree mark. But I thought it wasn't hot enough because it wasn't hot to the touch or taste. The sugar needs to boil down and it just didn't reach that level so we had a grainy frosting. It was very sweet. I found it too sweet. We, my mom and I, did decorate the top a little differently from the recipe. My mom's idea was to use shaved chocolate covered graham crackers on the frosting. This worked out well because she conveniently had some frozen chocolate covered grahams that were easy to shave with a peeler. We topped the cake with one large s'more in the middle. We used a little chocolate frosting to hold a large marshmallow on a graham cracker. This made it look like a real s'more.

Cake 4- Apricot Almond Tart

This cake, cake number 4- the Apricot Almond Tart, I just started preparing last night. It will be for a 4th of July get together at our place. I've tried to make the cakes during the most appropriate season based on their ingredients. Since apricots are in season and this just sounded good, I'm giving this one a go.

Last night I baked the two 9" round cake layers and I wrapped them in foil and put them in the freezer. My mother does this to keep the moisture in the cake and I'm telling you that cakes always taste better after some time in the freezer. Plus they're so much easier to cut in 1/2 for layers.

This cake was very mild. The frosting was very rich, but the lightness of the cake was a good complement. It was almost all gone by the end of the party. I think this cake would pair nicely with vanilla ice cream.

It was a challenge to create the layers in this cake, just time consuming really. Anyway, loved the look and taste of this one.

Apricot Almond Torte

Prep: 45 Min. Bake: 25 Min. Yield: 12 Servings

Cake Batter:

3 eggs

1-1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup ground almonds, roasted

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped

Frosting:

1 pkg (8oz.) cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1/8 tsp. salt.

1 tsp. almond extract

1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped

1 jar (10 to 12 oz.) apricot preserves

1/2 cup slivered almonds

Directions:

In large bowl, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla on high speed til thick and lemon-colored. Combine flour, almonds, baking powder and salt; gradually fold into egg mixture alternately with whipped cream.

Transfer to 2 greased and floured 9 in. round baking pans. Batke at 350 degrees for 22-28 minutes til toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

In another large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and salt til smooth. Beat in extract and fold in whipped cream.

Cut each cake into 2 layers. Place bottom layer on serving plate and spread with frosting. top with another cake layer; spread with preserves. Repeat layers. Frost sides of cake. Decorate top edge with remaining frosting and sprinkle top with slivered almonds.

Enjoy!

The Oddest Cake Concoction

This is my first blogging experience. The idea for me to even begin was due to the thoughtfulness of a dear friend who sent me a subscription to Taste of Home as a Christmas gift. In one of the issues, the editors chose twelve of their favorite cakes from reader submissions. I then thought- Hey! I could blog about making these 12 cakes and how they turn out. And yes, it's a spin off of Julie and Julia, a movie I thoroughly enjoyed.

I chose what I thought to be the oddest cake out of the dozen for my first baking adventure. The cake is called lemon-rosemary layer cake, and it was a big hit to say the least. For starters, I don't like many lemon desserts, but I really liked this cake. The combination of pungent rosemary with tart lemon randomly lying in a cream cheese frosted white cake was a type of sensory awakening.

Lemon-Rosemary Layer Cake

Prep:20 Min. Bake: 25 Min.

Yield: 16 Servings

Cake Batter:

1 Cup + 2 Tbsp. softened butter2-1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 egg yolk
4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. + 1/8 tsp. baking soda
1-1/2 cups (12 oz.) sour cream
6 Tbsp. lemon juice
3 tsp. grated lemon peel
3 tsp. minced fresh rosemary

Frosting:

2 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
8-1/4 cups confectioner's sugar
3 tsp. grated lemon peel
2-1/4 tsp. lemon juice

Directions: In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar til light and fluffy. Add one at a time, eggs and yolk beating well after each addition. Combine the flour, baking powder, salk and baking soda; add to the creamed mixture alternatively with the sourcream, beat well after each addition. Add lemon juice, peel and rosemary. Again, beat well.

Transfer to 3 greased and floured 9" round baking pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until edges brown. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to completely cool.

For frosting, beat cream cheese til fluffy. Add the confectioner's sugar, lemon peel and juice and beat til smooth. Spread frosting between layers and over top and sides of cake. Refrigerate any leftovers.

I baked the cake layers in fluted pans which turned out nicely, except for the fact that I had to use extra frosting. This could be a plus for some. Well, I took the cake to our friend's home for dinner and he and my hubby, Chris had several pieces. I was pretty surprised. I left the cake for our friends and they returned an empty plate. So, I'd call this a success.