Wordless Wednesday - Let them eat cake

Let the words fall out

I'm tired.  I really need to plan better, since late evening is not my best writing time.  But I can't stand the thought of having a month where I only posted once, so here I am. 

Watching:  Doctor Who--we're happy to finally be into the second half of the current season.  Also Dancing with the Stars, which is one of my girls' favorite programs.  They both have their favorite professional dancers, and they root for the celebrities paired with their favorites.  

Reading:  A lot of online stuff, mainly about yoga.  Since I haven't been posting much, I haven't written about how I started doing yoga through an online 30-day class.  I'm really enjoying it, and it's helping me both physically and mentally.

Listening:  This awesome song that was brought to my attention by one of my courage classmates.  

Making:  I've been in the kitchen quite a bit, even though not many of my creations have made it onto the blog.  I really need to make more time for bread baking.  I put it off, thinking it will take more time than I want to spend, but when I finally do it, I'm so glad that I did.  That's true of a lot of things in my life...  I've also made some fun cakes for birthdays at work, including the one at the end of this post.  Vanilla cake, fresh strawberry filling, cream cheese frosting.  It was a huge hit.  Too bad I can't sell that one.

Feeling:  This morning as I was driving to work, I realized that I was feeling happier and less stressed than I have in quite a while.  The first quarter of the year is often a difficult time for me, but it seemed particularly challenging this year, plus it spilled over into most of April.  But things feel like they're improving.  The yoga is helping.  And while I don't have a daily focus on doing brave things, the habit has been created from the courses I've taken, and I worry less about what might happen or what people might think about what I do.

Planning:  This is the exciting and somewhat scary one.  It took a while to work a lot of things out, but I've finally gotten started on my own baking business.  The people I currently work with have been treated to my baked goods for the better part of a year, and I knew they would be excited to find out that I can sell things to them now.  I filled my first order yesterday, and immediately had inquiries about a couple more.  There are things I still need to figure out, but I have to start somewhere, right?

Wordless Wednesday - Festive sprinkles!

(birthday cake for someone at work--doubled recipe for this cake)

Double digits

This weekend has been all about Brianna's birthday.  I can't believe that she's 10!  Friday night (her actual birthday), we had her favorite meal of spaghetti for dinner, and she had a friend sleep over for  the first time.  She requested chocolate mousse cake, since she liked the one I made for Christmas.  I didn't make the exact same cake, instead choosing to try different recipes for the components.  The cake was a chocolate genoise that I found in Rose Levy Beranbaum's Rose's Heavenly Cakes.  I filled the layers with Premium Dark Chocolate Mousse from Cook's Illustrated.  (I would have used the regular chocolate mousse recipe, but I was low on 60% chocolate after making the genoise and needed to use 70% instead.)  The whole cake was covered in a ganache glaze.  I decorated it with a simple vanilla buttercream and some blue edible glitter (B's favorite color).  B said she preferred the last cake I made, but thought this one was pretty good, too.  I found it a little too rich, but finally thought to pair it with some raspberry coulis, which helped.  

Watching:  Doctor Who--The Aztecs.  BBC America is revisiting each of the 11 doctors, leading up to the 50th anniversary later this year.  They are featuring one doctor each month, starting this month.  

Reading:  Still working my way through last week's book, and I've also started on the America's Test Kitchen D.I.Y. Cookbook.  I'm not sure how many of the things I'll try for myself, but it makes for interesting reading regardless.  

Listening:  Assorted playlists that I've put together.  B & G are amused by some of the music when we listen to it in the car.  

Making:  Besides birthday cake, I made Cinnamon Roll Muffins for breakfast this morning.  They were pretty tasty, but I wasn't totally happy with the texture.  I think that the biscuit dough baked up a little tough, and I wonder if it needed some fat (i.e. butter) to tenderize it.  I've think I've made another quick recipe that was better, but I like the idea of using the muffin tin to bake the rolls.  There will probably be more to come on this one... 

tea to get my brain going while I convert the ingredients list to weights

Feeling:  Kind of nostalgic and a little melancholy.  Part of it is due to B's birthday, and part is because last week was the anniversary of when my first husband Nate died.  Some years are harder than others, and this one was more emotional than I was expecting.  

Planning:  A trip to Seattle!  I haven't been back to visit in years (I lived there for several years in the mid-90s), and I'm really looking forward to it.  I'm going BY MYSELF, which is going to be so nice.  I'm excited just imagining a 4-hour plane trip without anyone wanting me to take them to the bathroom, or wanting to borrow my electronics, or complaining about being hungry or thirsty...  

Loving:  My awesome husband, who is willing to deal with the girls on his own for a weekend so I will be able to take the above trip.  He also manages to keep his cool and deal with the girls when they're driving me totally nuts.  

Find more Currently lists here.

A cake of holiday cheer

It felt like a pretty good baking weekend--two recipes made and photographed, as well as some cookie dough made to bake during the week.  I really meant to have a post written yesterday, but I decided it was a better idea to go to bed early.  I stayed up entirely too late on Saturday night (after midnight!) so I could finish the book I was reading.  And to be honest, because I was enjoying the solitude.  I haven't had nearly enough time to myself lately, and it's been making me cranky and unfocused.  Sadly today wasn't much help as far as that goes, since I was at work later than expected.  But I still hope to get the girls to bed early so I can have some quiet time.  Quiet time with a mug of tea and another piece of this cake. =)  

I made this Eggnog Bundt Cake for our annual holiday potluck with the Italian genealogy group.  I can always count on them to help me eat cake (so I don't eat it all myself).  To be honest, I'm not a fan of eggnog.  But when I read the recipe, I realized that it doesn't actually have any eggnog in it.  Instead, it incorporates the flavors associated with eggnog.  There's a full teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg in it, along with a bit of dark rum.  While I don't like eggnog, I'm a fan of nutmeg, and rum. =)  To make the flavors stand out, they're mixed into a cup of the cake batter which is then used to make a swirl in the cake.  The cake is topped with a simple powdered sugar glaze that includes a little more rum.

The verdict?  Well, most of the cake disappeared pretty quickly, so I think it's safe to say that it was a success.  The taste was good, and so was the texture--the cake had a good level of moistness.  The only thing that didn't work as well as I'd hoped was the swirl.  Mine ended up mostly at the bottom of the cake.  I'm not sure if that's because of the pan I used (my Fleur de Lis pan) or something else.  I'll have to try it again in my Classic Bundt pan to see what happens.  I also cut back on the rum in the glaze (using about a teaspoon) because I knew my girls wanted to try the cake.  I'll have to make it again with more when I'm just serving adults.  

If you'd like to try this recipe for yourself, you can find it in this year's Cook's Illustrated Holiday Baking newsstand issue.  It's also available to subscribers of the Cook's Country website.  

I like small bundts

I actually managed to plan ahead for something!  Today is National Bundt Day, and I actually baked my cake three days early.  If I'd really had my act together, I would have written the post early, too, instead of sitting here trying to finish it when I'm tired and cranky.  Luckily I still have a piece of cake left, so my day will end on a good note, as long as I get to it before my husband does. =)

I first became aware of National Bundt Day thanks to my blogging friend Mary, the Food Librarian.  For the past several years, she baked 30 bundts in the 30 days leading up to National Bundt Day.  You can read all about it here.  She didn't have time to do it this year, but she did bake a bundt for today.  In fact, I was quite amused to discover that she made the same cake that I did, the Vanilla Bean Malt Cake from Baked Elements.  

The recipe makes a small bundt cake, baked in a 6-cup pan.  I haven't used my small pan very much since I got it a few months ago, so I was happy to get it off the shelf.  Besides the vanilla bean and malted milk powder alluded to in the recipe title, dark brown sugar and buttermilk contribute to the flavor of the cake.  The cake batter is pretty easy to mix up; it uses the creaming method.   I deviated from the recipe just a little--in the technique, not the ingredients.  The recipe says to scrape the vanilla seeds out of the pod and mix them with a bit of bourbon.  Instead, I rubbed the vanilla seeds into the sugars before creaming the butter with them.  I added the bourbon before mixing in the eggs.  Other than that, I followed the directions, and my cake took 40 minutes to bake.  Once the cake was cool, it got topped with a simple glaze made from powdered sugar, vanilla and a bit of milk.  

The verdict?  Wow.  This cake is really good.  Like many cakes of this sort, it improves with age.  It's probably good that it's a small cake, because I would have eaten way too much of it if it had been bigger.  As the recipe notes indicate, you don't really taste the malt in it, but it gives the cake a bit of "something" that makes it really appealing.  I will definitely be making this one again.  

If you'd like to try the cake for yourself, I encourage you to get your hands on a copy of Baked Elements.  Don't forget to check your library if you want to preview it before deciding whether to buy it. =)

Let sleeping monkeys lie

I don't have a whole lot to write about today.  As my husband said when I asked him how he was doing, "It's Thursday."  That day when we're all exhausted but it isn't quite Friday yet.  And I do mean exhausted.  I went upstairs to check on Gillian, because she was taking forever to come downstairs after taking her shower.  I found her lying on the bathmat, wrapped up in her hooded monkey towel, sound asleep.  I admit, I thought about taking a picture. =)  But instead, I manage to rouse her enough to get the towel off and her pajamas on.  She pretty much sleepwalked to her room--I'm not sure she was actually awake.  

In other news, I took cake to work today for one of my employees, since it was her last day with us.  She loves yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  Since that's a favorite of mine as well, I was happy to make it for her.  I actually tried two new recipes for this one.  The cake is the Golden Vanilla Cake from King Arthur Flour.  I made the full recipe and ended up with two 8" rounds and half a dozen cupcakes.  For the frosting I wanted something that wouldn't overpower the cake.  I went with the Foolproof Chocolate Frosting from Cook's Illustrated.  It uses milk chocolate, which seemed like a good match for the vanilla cake, and also cocoa powder, so it's still really chocolatey.  (I was actually a little short on milk chocolate, so I made up the difference with a bit of bittersweet.)  The final combination of cake and frosting was really good, and well-received by everyone at work.  I'll be making this one again. =)

Forgot to add--the stars are edible glitter, which you can find here.

  

Wordless weekend - Birthday girl

Weekend wind-down 9.16.2012

Welcome to another episode of Di's stream of consciousness week in review. =)  My big accomplishment for this weekend?  Rediscovering how much I love baking bread.  I spent a couple years baking almost all of the bready things that we ate, but then for some reason stopped doing it.  I don't know that I'll go back to doing everything, but I do want to get back in the habit of baking bread on a weekly basis.  Yesterday I made my favorite sandwich loaf recipe, Dan Lepard's Milk Loaf.  You can find the recipe on my friend Nancy's bread blog.  I actually don't use it much for sandwiches for me, but the girls like it, and it makes fantastic toast.  Since I plan to use it mostly for kids' lunches, I made two smaller loaves, in these pans.  I increased the original recipe by one third, and it was just the right amount of dough.  

Once I got started, I was asking myself why I don't make this dough more often.  It's a great method, and such a nice dough to work with.  It's the getting started that's the challenge.  Once I get going, I'm fine.  I did the same thing this evening with another dough.  I meant to make the dough much earlier in the day, but kept putting it off, thinking it would take too much time.  I finally just told myself to get in the kitchen and do it.  The amount of active time I spent?  Maybe 10 minutes.  Now I just have to hold on to that and remember it the next time I'm procrastinating.  

I also made applesauce this weekend, and muffins for Sunday breakfast.  The applesauce was because we're starting to get some good fall apples, and homemade applesauce is the best.  I found some very large Paula Red apples at Central Market, and bought a whole bunch.  Gillian isn't a big fan of the applesauce, but Brianna likes it, so that's one more thing ready for the lunchbox this week.  The muffins were pretty good as well.  Muffins are good for grab & go breakfasts during the week, so that seemed like a good thing to make today.  I've been wanting to make crumb cake, but couldn't settle on a recipe, so I decided to make a basic muffin and add some crumbs on top.  For the base, I made the batter for these doughnut muffins from KAF.  I know from past experience that the muffins end up very domed on top, so I made 16 muffins instead of the usual 12.  I topped each one with some streusel that I modified from a crumb cake recipe.  It worked pretty well, but isn't exactly what I was after.  I plan to play around with it a bit more, so when I get it the way I want it, I'll have to do a full post.

I also did some baking to take to work last week.  I may not always have something to make for dinner, but I always have the stuff to make some sort of cake. =)  In this case, I was looking for something else to make with apples.  I wanted to make this cake that my friend Tracey posted, but actually didn't have everything I needed.  (Now you know another reason why I made applesauce this weekend.)  So I went looking, and found this Apple-Ginger Streusel Coffee Cake.  (I didn't have applesauce, but did have both fresh and crystallized ginger. Go figure.)  I used pecans instead of walnuts, but otherwise made the recipe as written.  I was happy that the recipe called for a 10-cup bundt pan, because it gave me a reason to get out my Heritage Bundt pan.  I got lots of compliments on the cake, and it did look really pretty.  It was very moist, but next time I think I'll add just a bit more salt.  

And for non-baking stuff?  Well, Gillian was under the weather for a good part of the week (still that annoying cold from last week), but finally seemed to be doing better today.  We had an interesting trip to Costco in the rain this morning.  I'm thrilled to have the rain, though, and the cooler temperatures that have come along with it.  It actually feels like we really might be approaching fall.  I also survived a trip to the outlet mall with Brianna last night for some new clothes.  We managed to find some stuff with a minimum of drama, so I can't really complain.  And Jamie had an interesting day on Friday; hopefully this week will be less eventful.  

I think that's about it for tonight.  

Weekend wind-down 9.9.2012

Okay, I have to admit that I'm totally stealing this idea from my friend Kayte, who often posts a Sunday Snippets on her blog as a summary of what's been going on during her week.  I have a whole bunch of odds and ends that I can talk about, but nothing that I want to write an entire post about.  I thought about doing a Wordless Wednesday-ish sort of thing, since I have some pictures, but I realized that I do have some words to share as well.  So here we are. =)  If I like the way this works out, it might even become a weekly thing.

Above is my dessert from tonight.  I'm trying to will autumn to come to Central Texas sooner rather than later.  Summer is my least favorite season.  I dislike the heat, I don't really grill, and summer meals aren't the ones I really enjoy making.  We had a brief taste of fall weather this weekend--the highs were still around 90 (I can hear my northern friends thinking, how can she say that's fall weather?), but the low this morning was about 60, which we haven't felt in months.  We might get one more run of temperatures around 100, but maybe we'll get lucky and avoid it.

I've been craving fall flavors big time, things like apples and pumpkin and warm spices.  I had a short day on Friday, and spent part of my time at home making spice cupcakes.  I tried a recipe that I hadn't made before.  (It's from the Cook's Illustrated Cookbook.)  It was originally for a 13"x9" pan, and I made it as cupcakes.  It was a mixed success.  The flavors were great, but the batter spread too much and the cake's crumb was too delicate in cupcake form.  It did give me a chance to use my new cupcake papers from my recent KAF order, though.  I took a bunch of the cupcakes to work, where they got rave reviews.  The rest got crumbled up and layered with some homemade applesauce (I found some enormous Paula Red apples at Central Market the other night) and whipped cream.  Yum!

My other major baking activity for the week was the Nectarine Upside-Down Chiffon Cake for Tuesdays with Dorie.  I actually made it on Tuesday, but ran out of energy to post about it.  The verdict?  I like the cake, but I'd make a few changes next time.  The main thing would be to use a tarter fruit, either regular nectarines (I used white ones) or maybe plums.  The cake was also at its best the first day; it got soggy after that.  Thanks to Marlise and Susan for hosting this week.  And everyone else's results can be found on the Links page.

Getting back to fall flavors...  Gillian was quite concerned that Central Market had Halloween stuff out this week.  At least they waited this long.  Most of the candy I can take or leave, but I do have one notable weakness.  I can resist the regular candy corn--I don't buy it, because if I do, I'll eat it without really thinking about it and then wonder, "why did I do that?" when I end up with a queasy stomach.  But a few years ago I discovered caramel candy corn.  This stuff is awesome.  Tooth-achingly sweet, which isn't usually my thing, but so tasty.  

I'll leave you with some kid news.  This picture is actually from last weekend.  Gillian was pretty happy to lose the second of her top front teeth, since it had been pretty loose and annoying.  This way she still can't bite into a lot of stuff, but she doesn't have a wiggly tooth in the way, either.  Both girls were a bit under the weather this weekend.  Both were in daycare from a very early age, so we dealt with a lot of germs and built up their immune systems early.  But G is at a new school this year for kindergarten, with lots of new people and their different germs.  Plus she's been really tired from the adjustment to a new schedule.  So I'm not terribly surprised that she got a cold already (and shared it with her sister).  Here's hoping things improve as we all get into the new routine.  

Well, that's all I have for now.  My goals for the next week include figuring out some new ideas for school lunches as well as some new easy dinner ideas.  (I'm open to suggestions if you have them!)  I'm also reacquainting myself with Pinterest.  A bunch of my blogging/tweeting friends use it, and I'm starting to see why.  I've had an account for quite a while, but haven't spent any time with it.  We'll see how it goes.

Berry good dessert

After all the craziness of the past several weeks, it was really nice to go out for dinner on Saturday.  The daycare periodically does Parents Night Out, and we try to take advantage of it when we can.  (We also spent part of our evening grocery shopping at Central Market once we were done, but it was nice to do it by ourselves.)  We had a lovely meal, but as is usually the case after having an appetizer and entree, neither of us had room for dessert.  Since we enjoyed the food so much, I'd love to see what the restaurant does with dessert sometime--of course J would point out that I say that all the time, but we never do it. =)  

The whole thing got me thinking, though.  One reason that I'd like to go out for dessert is to be inspired and get new ideas.  On the other hand, my standards are pretty high these days--more often than not, I could probably make something at home that would be better.  And why spend calories on something that isn't really worth it?  I was reminded this weekend of how far my skills have improved over the past few years, when I made the French Strawberry Cake that was last week's pick for Tuesdays with Dorie.  Once upon a time, I would have been rather intimidated by a cake like this one, but instead I just thought it would be fun.

First off, my apologies to Sophia and Allison, our hosts for this week, for being so tardy with my post.  (Being out of town unexpectedly will do that to you.)  But I'm glad I finally found the time to make this lovely seasonal cake.  I admit to being a little crazy, though--I actually made the batter for the genoise totally by hand.  Why?  Just to see if I could.  Besides, I figured I could burn off at least a few calories that way. =) 

I played around just a little with the recipe.  For the cake flour, I used KAF's unbleached cake flour blend.  I used extra large eggs, since that was what I had on hand.  Since my eggs were right out of the fridge, I placed them in a bowl of hot water to warm up while I got everything else together.  For whisking both the egg mixture and later the whipped cream, I used my really big balloon whisk (rather than a spatula) and one of my biggest bowls.  I find that when whipping things by hand, using both of those makes the process go faster.  I also used the balloon whisk to fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture, a trick I learned from making Rose Levy Beranbaum's chocolate angel food cake.  I baked the cake in an 8"x2" round cake pan lined with parchment paper, for about 26 minutes.

I must have done something right, because my cake rose right to the top of the pan.  I had no trouble slicing it into three layers.  I assembled the cake on a cardboard round, layering the cake with the macerated strawberries and some of the whipped cream mixture.  Then I coated the cake with a crumb coat of the whipped cream.  I made extra cream (roughly double the original amount, I think) because I wanted to do a bit more decorating with it than the original recipe called for.  I decided to use my 1M tip to pipe large stars all over the surface of the cake.

The verdict?  I'm quite happy with how this cake turned out.  It was a big hit with all of us.  Brianna was quite disappointed this evening when she found out that we'd already eaten it all.  Next time, though, I will probably use more strawberries.  (I kind of guestimated the amount, since my container was measured in pounds, rather than dry pints.)  I'm also curious how it would be with other fruit, so I'll have to make it again to try some variations.

If you'd like to try this lovely cake for yourself, you can find the recipe on Sophia's blog or Allison's blog.  And be sure to check out the Links to see how the rest of the TWD bakers fared with their French Strawberry Cakes.  

What I did during my spring vacation

I was on vacation last week--we didn't go anywhere, since I was the only one off (spring break for Brianna was a month ago), but it was a nice break from work.  I realized this weekend that I actually accomplished quite a few things on my to-do list.  I got some annual doctor appointments out of the way, including my first mammogram.  Gotta love getting older... =)  (It was kind of a weird experience, but not that bad. I've certainly endured more uncomfortable things--after all, I gave birth to two children.)  I bought some new sandals and gave myself a pedicure so I'm ready for all the warm weather around here.  Of course, then I had to paint two smaller sets of toenails as well.  I even got to have both lunch and dinner out with my husband.  I took him to lunch on Wednesday for his birthday (and made him cupcakes, too), and then the daycare did parents night out on Saturday.  Two nice meals sans kiddos in one week--unprecedented!

Surprisingly, I didn't do as much baking as I originally expected to.  But for a change, I did get a jump on making the latest TWD selection--I baked it over a week ago, in fact.  This week our recipe is Lemon Loaf Cake, and our hosts are Truc of Treats and Michelle of The Beauty of Life.  As I was reading over the recipe (contributed by Norman Love), I realized that I was already familiar with the mixing method for the cake batter.  Both Dorie's Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes and the French Pound Cake from Flour are mixed up in a similar fashion.  Instead of creaming butter and sugar together, you start off by mixing the eggs and sugar together.  Then you fold in the dry ingredients, and finally the liquids (cream and melted butter).

I like loaf cakes, but was in the mood for something different this time.  Gillian asked me recently why I hadn't made anything in the "bug pan" in a long time.  Since I previously used it for the Flour pound cake, I figured it would also work well for this recipe.  I was lucky enough to find the pan (pictured above) at Costco last spring, which made it much more affordable for a Nordic Ware pan.  It only has a 3 cup volume, though, so I knew I'd need to put the rest of the batter in something else.  I have some small loaf pans, but ended up going with my 6-cup bundt pan.  

Besides my pan choices, I did tweak the recipe in a few other small ways.  I borrowed Dorie's tip from recipes in Baking and rubbed the lemon zest into the sugar before combining it with the eggs.  I also used a bit more salt--1/4 teaspoon--and for the cake flour, I used King Arthur's Unbleached Cake Flour Blend.  After baking, I left the bugs unadorned, but couldn't resist dressing up the bundt cake.  After I removed it from its pan, I brushed it with a lemon syrup while the cake was still hot.  Then once it cooled, I drizzled it with a lemon glaze as well.

The verdict?  We liked both versions.  This is my favorite type of pound cake--I love the texture of it, and it never seems dry to me like others do sometimes.  I like the extra punch of lemon added by the syrup and glaze on the cake, and enjoy how the tart topping makes a nice contrast to the sweeter flavor of the cake itself.  The lemon flavor was milder in the bugs, but definitely still there.  We all ate those shortcake-style with macerated strawberries and whipped cream, and they were delicious.  I need to use that pan more often--the girls really love the fun shapes.

If you'd like to give this recipe a try, you can find it on Truc's blog or Michelle's blog.  Be sure to check out the other lemony Links, too!

Flavor of the month

So here we are at the end of January.  For the most part, my new FOCUS plan is off to a good start!  I did get derailed slightly during the past week--my dad & his girlfriend Judy (who is really great) got here in time for Brianna's birthday last Wednesday and went home Sunday afternoon.  That was okay, though, because I only had one item left to fill in on my list when they got here--the Ingredient focus.  When I came up with the list, I figured that one would be an opportunity to highlight a new ingredient each month.  But I wasn't feeling it.  I considered--and discarded--several possibilities, but nothing was really grabbing my attention.  Since part of my goal this year is to focus on things that have value for me instead of just doing things because I think I should, I didn't want to force myself to make something that might or might not get eaten.  I was also running out of time, so that was a factor. =)  

Some of my best ideas come as I'm lying in bed at night before I fall asleep.  I've taken to keeping one of my notebooks handy so I can jot stuff down more easily so I don't lose it.  Sunday night, what was going around in my head was the fact that my ingredient and pantry categories were already sort of overlapping.  I also wanted to blog about Brianna's birthday cake.  I was also thinking about the new cookbook I bought last Friday.  Something in my brain put all of those things together and got them to gel.  I didn't want to write about ingredients (I'll combine that with pantry going forward), I wanted to write about flavors.  

I've mentioned before that around here, the preferred cake flavor for everyone but me is chocolate.  When I asked B what kind of cake she wanted, I fully expected her answer of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  But she surprised me with the filling--she started to ask for vanilla, like last year's cake, but then changed it to raspberry.  Chocolate and raspberry is one of my all-time favorite flavor combinations.  Sold!  I'm not sure exactly what it is about those two flavors that works so well together.  I also like cranberry with chocolate, so I think it has to do with the fruity tartness in contrast to the rich chocolate.  Whatever it is, I'm not complaining. =)  Our favorite filling is Swiss meringue buttercream, for its smooth, creamy texture.  I've tried different ways to flavor it, with varying success.  This time, I turned to the raspberry sauce from my copy of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home.  It was fabulous in ice cream, and I thought it would work well in the frosting, too.  

B decided she wanted a rectangular cake rather than a round one.  I learned a long time ago that it's a total pain to try to slice a regular 13" x 9" cake horizontally to form two layers.  Instead, I have a couple of quarter sheet pans.  My go-to chocolate cake recipe is the Chocolate Fudge Cake from The Cake Bible.  I love that it gives the option to use natural cocoa powder, which I prefer, and it's made with brown sugar, which contributes to the moist fudgy texture.  The recipe calls for two 9" round pans, but I find that it works great for two thinner 13" x 9" layers.  The baking time is shorter--about 20 minutes. I line the pans with parchment, and let the cakes cool in the pans.  

When I was ready to assemble the cake, I flipped one of the layers onto my serving tray and peeled off the parchment.  I spread the cake with a thin layer of straight raspberry sauce (which is more like jam than sauce in texture), then topped that with a nice layer of the raspberry buttercream.  I then flipped the second cake layer on top (and removed the parchment from that as well).  I put the cake in the fridge so the filling would have a chance to firm up while I made the chocolate frosting.  My favorite recipe for that is a great recipe from Fine Cooking.  It uses sour cream, and I love how the tang cuts through the sweetness of the powdered sugar in the frosting.  It's also really easy to mix up with a bowl and a whisk.  Once the cake had chilled a bit, I covered it with the chocolate frosting.  I used more of the raspberry buttercream to decorate the cake with a shell border around the bottom and stars around the top, as well as a festive message.

The verdict?  Using the raspberry sauce to flavor the Swiss meringue buttercream works very well--you still have a smooth texture.  I've tried using fruit puree in the past, and it tends to be too watery and make the buttercream break.  The raspberry sauce is also tart enough to balance the sweetness of the frosting, plus it makes it such a lovely pink color.  As for the flavor combination, this was a winner, no surprise there.  You can really taste the fruit, and it works so well with the rich chocolate.  I also love the contrasting textures of the silky buttercream and denser chocolate frosting.  

Part of the fun is figuring out what flavors appeal to you, and I love pulling together components from different sources to see how they work together.  I encourage you to do the same, but figured I'd share the ones I used here in case you're looking for inspiration.  The Chocolate Fudge Cake recipe can be round in The Cake Bible.  If you aren't fortunate enough to have a copy, your local library might.  The Chocolate-Sour Cream Frosting recipe can be found in this post (adapted from Fine Cooking).  There are lots of places to find Swiss meringue buttercream; my go-to is Dorie's recipe, which can be found in this post.  The raspberry sauce is pretty straightforward to make, and can be found in the middle of this article in the Post-Gazette (I used regular raspberries, not black).

Don't fear the caramel

It seems like it's been quite a while since I made anything with caramel.  It's not that I was consciously avoiding it, but I realized that the last time I attempted it was when I had my difficulties with the microwave caramel sauce back in October.  (I'm happy to report that my hand is all better--you can barely tell where I burned it.)  I decided to revert to my old way of making it on the stovetop, and definitely won't go months without making it next time.  So what exactly prompted me to start caramelizing sugar again?  A cake.  And what prompted me to make the cake?  A new pan!  It's a Christmas present of sorts--I spent some of my Christmas money (thanks, K&L!) on a very cute little 6-cup Bundt pan.  For the record, it's possible that my collection is getting a bit out of control, though Mary still has me beat. 

The new 6-cup pan is in the back, between the Heritage pan (left) and Kugelhopf pan (right)

Speaking of Mary, I have her to thank for the cake inspiration.  Back in November when she was celebrating National Bundt Day with her latest round of 30 bundts in 30 days, Mary also did a giveaway.  She invited everyone to bake and post a cake on National Bundt Day, and then drew a name to receive a copy of Cake Simple, a book full of bundt cakes.  I was the winner!  The book is from Christie Matheson--if the name is familiar, it may be because she also worked with Joanne Chang on the Flour Bakery cookbook.  

Since I was eager to use my new pan, I started by looking through the recipes that called for a 6-cup pan.  (There are also recipes for 10 or 12 cup pans, as well as a chapter on minis.)  The one that immediately caught my eye was the recipe for the Salted Caramel Bundt.  First you make a caramel syrup, which is used in the cake and in the glaze.  The cake itself is made with the creaming method, and comes together pretty quickly.  There's almost too much batter for the pan, but it worked out okay.  My cake took about 45 minutes to bake. 

The verdict?  This was pretty tasty!  The cake is really moist.  I didn't really care for the texture of the glaze, so I may change that up a bit next time (no cream, I think), but it did add to the caramel flavor.  As I was making the cake, I thought that the method (using the caramel syrup in the batter) seemed really familiar.  Then I realized it was because I've made the cake before in a different form--this Caramel Cake with Browned Butter Frosting.  

I'm sure I'll be sharing more recipes from this book in the future, but for now, here's the recipe for the Salted Caramel Bundt.

Salted Caramel Syrup

(adapted from Cake Simple by Christie Matheson)

1/4 cup (60 grams) + 1/2 cup (120 grams) water

1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar

1 teaspoon light corn syrup

1/8 teaspoon fleur de sel or other sea salt

Put the quarter cup of water, the sugar, and the corn syrup in a small saucepan with high sides and mix until combined.  Bring the mixture to a boil, then cover the pan with a lid for about 2 minutes to allow steam to clean the sides of the pan.  Remove the lid and cook the mixture, watching carefully, until the sugar turns a dark amber color.  Swirl the pan so that the sugar will color evenly.  Remove the pan from the heat and carefully add the remaining half cup of water--the mixture will bubble up furiously, so stand back.  Put the pan back over medium heat and whisk to dissolve any hard bits of caramel that may have formed.  Whisk in the salt, remove the pan from the heat, and let the syrup cool to room temperature before using in the cake or glaze.

Salted Caramel Bundt Cake

(adapted from Cake Simple by Christie Matheson)

2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon table salt

10 tablespoons (about 140 grams) unsalted butter, slightly softened

1 1/4 cups (250 grams) granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/3 cup (about 90 grams) salted caramel syrup

1 cup (240 grams) whole milk, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Grease and flour the inside of a 6-cup Bundt pan or spray it with baking spray (I use Pam for Baking).  

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl until combined.

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla.  With the mixer on low, slowly add the caramel syrup and beat until incorporated.  Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk (flour, milk, flour, milk, flour), beating just until the flour is incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.  Bake the cake for 45 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted midway between the outside of the pan and the center post comes out clean.  Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes, then invert the cake onto a rack and let it cool completely.  

Caramel Glaze

(adapted from Cake Simple by Christie Matheson)

2 tablespoons (30 grams) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup (115 grams) powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons caramel syrup

large pinch of sea salt

1 tablespoon heavy cream

Whisk all of the ingredients together in a small bowl until the mixture is smooth and pourable.  Add additional cream to thin the glaze if necessary (I actually thinned mine with more caramel syrup, too).  Drizzle over the cooled cake.