Vanilla and Chocolate Layer Cake with Raspberry Filling and Vanilla Buttercream Frosting 5/5 Spoons

Obviously you guys, this is not something I make everyday. My roommate and friend Billy's 30th birthday was on March 7th and he requested I make him a beautiful layer cake. This is how the conversation went:

B: I want you to make me a layer cake. With some kind of fruit filling.

J: Okay.... can you elaborate more? What kind of cake? Frosting? What kind of fruit?

B: I don't care, just make it good. And if you make raspberry filling, I don't want seeds.

Yup, that was our conversation. Luckily I have a very creative mind and a willingness to mess up someone's 30th birthday wish. Good thing it wasn't messed up because the birthday boy was VERY impressed with my cake. There it is, down below.

I have extolled the virtues of America's Test Kitchen time and time again. And there is a reason for that; their recipes never fail. If you follow directions, they won't fail. These people get paid to repeat and repeat and repeat all of the recipes so that they are perfect when they get to you. The only thing I changed about these recipes for Old Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake and this Classic White Cake was to cut them both in half (oh and a few tweaks to make my life easier that you will see compared to the original recipe). I decided to have a chocolate and vanilla layer each so this was the only way to do it. To make this easier for you, here are my directions the way I revised it.

Chocolate Cake:

6 T. unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c. + 2 T. unbleached all-purpose flour
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/8 c. cocoa powder
¼ c. hot water
3/4 c. + 2 T. sugar
3/4 t. baking soda
½ - 1 t. kosher salt
½ c. buttermilk
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs + 1 egg yolk

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease one 9-inch-round by 2-inch-high cake pan with softened butter; dust pans with flour and knock out excess. Combine chocolate, cocoa powder, and hot water in a microwave safe bowl. Melt the chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds and stir. Repeat that step with 10 second intervals in the microwave until the chocolate is almost melted. There might be a piece or two left but just stir it and the residual heat will melt it for you. Add 2 T. sugar to chocolate mixture and stir until thick and glossy, 1 to 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.

2. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Combine buttermilk and vanilla in small bowl. In a large bowl, whisk eggs and yolks on medium-low speed with your hand mixer until combined, about 10 seconds. Add remaining ¾ c. sugar, increase speed to high, and whisk until fluffy and lightened in color, 2 to 3 minutes. Add cooled chocolate mixture to egg/sugar mixture and mix on medium speed until thoroughly incorporated, 30 to 45 seconds, pausing to scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Add softened butter one tablespoon at a time, mixing about 10 seconds after each addition. Add about one-third of flour mixture followed by half of buttermilk mixture, mixing until incorporated after each addition (about 15 seconds). Repeat using half of remaining flour mixture and all of remaining buttermilk mixture (batter may appear separated). Scrape down sides of bowl and add remaining flour mixture; mix at medium-low speed until batter is thoroughly combined, about 15 seconds. Fold batter once or twice with rubber spatula to incorporate any remaining flour.

3. Bake cake until toothpick inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 15 minutes, then invert onto wire rack. Cool cakes to room temperature before frosting, 45 to 60 minutes.

Classic White Cake

1 1/8 c. cake flour
½ c. whole milk, room temp
3 egg whites, room temp
1 t. vanilla
3/4 c. + 2 T. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/2 – 1 t. kosher salt
6 T. unsalted butter, softened
1. Set oven rack in middle position. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray one 9-inch round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray and dust with flour to coat; tap out excess.

2. Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended.

3. Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and with a hand mixer at slow speed. Add butter; continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs.

4. Add all but 1/4 cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining 1/4 cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides. Mix at medium speed 20 seconds longer.

5. Pour batter in cake pan; using a rubber spatula, spread batter to pan walls and smooth tops. Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes.

6. Let cake rest in pans for 3 minutes. Loosen from sides of pans with a knife, if necessary, and invert onto wire racks. Let cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours.

So yeah, the cakes were easy enough. Follow the directions! Make sure they cool well before doing anything else.

Here is the recipe I used for the Seedless Raspberry Filling. The only thing I changed was leaving out the liqueur. I just didn't feel like buying an unnecessary ingredient. This turned out wonderful and was just tart enough to combine well with the sweet cake and frosting.

(Here is it is in its unexcited decoration glory.)

And for the frosting, I used this recipe for Classic Buttercream Frosting. I used 3 c. of confectioner's sugar which is usually more than I would but I wanted the frosting to be thick and perfect.

As for decorating, I had a rotating cake stand and an angled spatula to help me out. It's really not that hard. I just placed one cake on a 12" round with a little dab of frosting to help it stay where it's supposed to. I piped some frosting all the way around the first cake so that there was a barrier to hold the filling in. I poured the filling in and it was like a perfect amount. I topped this with the next cake and started to frost all around. I basically wanted to make sure the sides were covered so I paid extra attention to that and then worked my way up. I am not a huge frosting fan and either is Billy, so were on the same page here. There was just enough frosting to get your fix without going into a sugar coma. I even got one of those "fancy" plastic containers to hold the cake so it wouldn't dry out. I really need one of these in my life.

Here is a delicious piece I cut from it and trust me, this cake did not last long. Even with 3 people.

Up next, Penne with Roasted Asparagus and Balsamic Butter. Yummmm!

Red Velvet Waffles w/ Cream Cheese Maple Sauce and Toasted Coconut 4/5 Spoons

OK, so it is not the weekend anymore, but here I am!

I have this insane idea to make pancakes/waffles out of all of my favorite desserts and luckily people around this beautiful world have the same idea as well. I've made Vegan Carrot Cake Pancakes and now Red Velvet Waffles (next will be Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes!) I served this with my standard tofu scramble (Thanks Kris Anne!) and some MorningStar Farms Veggie Bacon.

(My picture of my 2nd waffle.... I was too hungry to take a picture of the 1st one! That is the cream cheese maple sauce and toasted coconut on top.)

Here are my notes:

-- I was astounded that someone would use 1 1/4 cups of sugar in these waffles. These made 6 big waffles for me, so that's like a little less of 1/4 c. of sugar in EACH WAFFLE. Sick. I used 1/2 c. and I think it was plenty. I wanted the cocoa flavor to shine through and I was putting sweet syrup on top, so I recommend you don't go above 1/2 c. unless you love really sweet things.
-- Make sure to have your buttermilk at room temperature. Even though my butter was melted and cooled, my buttermilk was cold so it kind of turned the fat in the butter into a weird flaky mess. I could whisk most of it out but you don't want to over-whisk waffles so just a note for y'all.
-- For my cream cheese maple sauce, I didn't use their recipe. I left 4 ounces of cream cheese out at room temp most of the day. I warmed up the cheese in the microwave for about 40 seconds and added about 2 T. confectioner's sugar, 3-4 T. pure maple syrup and a dash of milk to combine. Just mix with a fork until it is smooth and you are able to drizzle it on your waffles.
-- As for the coconut, it was kind of an after thought. I put about 1/2 c. of coconut in a pan and toasted it on low-medium heat and stirred it frequently. It takes about 10 minutes, just keep an eye on it, because it can burn quickly.

(Photo courtesy of The Spellbound Cafe)

These were really delicious. I wouldn't say they were perfect because I think they could use some tweaks. Not sure what but I'll mull it over and let you all know. They had a great cake like texture but didn't necessarily crisp up the way I wanted them to in the waffle iron. It might have something to do with my really old iron and not with the recipe though. Even though they were a bit floppy they had a really nice cocoa flavor and worked SO WELL with the cream cheese maple topping and toasted coconut. I will make this again with some minor adjustments. If you have fantastic waffle and pancake recipes you think I should try, please let me know!

Next up.... Spinach and Artichoke Spaghetti Bake! (My own recipe.... ooh la la.)

Happy 4th of July!

Hello all! I haven't forgotten about you, I could never do that!

Obviously summer is a busy time for everyone.... I went home for a visit and a wedding, have been working some temp jobs and just generally have been outside soaking up as much of the sun and fun as I can.

Starting this week I will have more chances to catch up with you especially since I'm making Vegan Chickpea Cutlets, Veggie Gravy, Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Asparagus for dinner tonight! You will want to join me for that this week, I'm sure.

Let me leave you with this "interpretation" of an American flag that I made last night. I went the easiest and most American route I could and use a boxed cake mix, fat free Cool Whip for topping and fresh strawberries and blueberries to top it all off. It's not my normal thing to do but I know it's delicious and I wanted something easy so I could enjoy my holiday like everyone else!

See you later this week!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Cream Cheese Filling and Vanilla Buttercream Frosting 4/5 Spoons

The title is quite a mouthful, huh? There is no way to shorten it without people asking, "So what is this stuff inside? What's on the top?" Long name usually means all kinds of goodness packed inside and this is no exception.

(You will have to deal with my crappy cell phone photos for this one!)

I found this recipe for Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes (although I wouldn't exactly call them "dark"). Initially I had planned on just dolloping raspberry preserves in the middle but I wanted to bump up the filling factor. If you are a baker, you know how much of a pain filling a cupcake can be. As long as I'm sawing off the tops and filling it with something, might as well make it extra special. None of the raspberry cream cheese fillings I found fit the bill, so I just made up my own! It was kind of beyond easy and don't really need to pat myself on the back for this (okay, I will... pat pat).

When it was all said and done, I barely deviated from the original recipe above. I made up my own version of a filling and cut the buttercream frosting recipe in half. Here are my notes:

-- All I could find at the grocery store was normal unsweetened cocoa powder, not dutch process. It worked out just fine.
-- I left my eggs at room temperature for about 3 hours and they were perfect. Here is an explanation why room temp eggs are better than cold in baking. You learn something new everyday.
-- Skim milk was used instead of anything else that is often used in baking. It was either that or almond milk. I honestly don't think any kind would make a big difference.
-- You may realize that something is missing in the recipe that is ESSENTIAL for chocolate desserts (heck, all desserts). SALT! I didn't see it and was confused so I added about 1 t. of kosher salt.
-- I halved the frosting recipe. I followed it all and really didn't like it (hence the 4 stars). It came out looking of glossy and like royal icing (which I wasn't looking for). I'll probably find something more suited for my tastes next time.
-- If you haven't filled anything before, here is what I did. Grab a cupcake, take your sharp and small knife and jab it in at a 45 degree angle. You want to make a small cone sort of shape with the cake top so that you can discard the bottom part and the filling won't overflow. Baking Bites can explain it better and with pictures here!

So I baked these up all pretty and made this raspberry cream cheese filling (this is from memory, so hopefully it's not totally off on the measurements):

4 ounces cream cheese, room temp
1/4 c. raspberry preserves (you can use any kind if you don't like the seeds)
1/2 t. vanilla
2 T. confectioners sugar

Whip the first three together until well combined. Add the sugar 1 T. at a time until it comes together. It doesn't need to be firm, but needs to hold together well.

(As you can see, these went over well.)

Overall these cupcakes were AWESOME. The cakes that were a little more full came out really fudge-y and were hard to cut into but tasted so good on their own. Almost like a cupcake brownie (don't even get me started...). I wouldn't necessarily say these were very "dark" but still had a nice chocolate flavor and not overly packed with sugar. I think the real shining star here is the raspberry cream cheese filling. It has a nice creamy, tart flavor with a punch of fruity goodness right at the end. So what I'm saying is, make this. It takes a bit of work and some patience (which I don't have) but they came out great.

Up next, White Pizza with a Chicago style deep dish crust!

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting 5/5 Spoons

So, I feel like I should have an intense love affair with Carrot Cake. In some ways I do. I love carrots, love cream cheese frosting and love cinnamon based cakes all over the place. BUT this is never my go to dessert. And why not? I don't know you guys. This dessert was so sweet, soft, moist and creamy that I wonder why I don't choose carrot cake over chocolate when I'm out looking for a dessert. Chocolate cake is my dark mistress but I like to think of carrot cake as my booty call. We don't see each other a lot, but when we do, fireworks happen.

Enough of my sexual love towards desserts..... My roommate Steph loves carrot cake. It is her favorite dessert (or at least favorite kind of cake). One night we had just had dinner and I was desperately looking for something to make for dessert. I have this rule for myself. I don't buy myself sweets at the store, if I want dessert I have to make it myself. And trust me, I do. If we don't have a dessert ready to eat, I feel like I must make something. Hence, the carrot cake. When I said that I would be more than willing to make something but didn't have all the ingredients for a carrot cake.... Steph ran to the grocery store and got me some powdered sugar, carrots and cream cheese. I was off!



(This picture courtesy of me! I finally figured out how to get my shitty pictures off my phone onto the laptop. Expect more from me again.)

Once again, I don't think I did anything major in changing this recipe. It didn't need it. Definitely toast the pecans (or whatever nuts you choose). It gave the cake a nice toasty flavor you just won't get with plain old raw nuts. I cheated and used already shredded carrots. If that is a big deal to you, then maybe this is isn't the blog for you. (I'm kidding! I just really wanted to eat it as fast as possible!) And as for the frosting, I skipped the lemon zest. Not sure why, I just didn't feel like it needed it. Oh and those marzipan carrots? Please honey, I did not make those. I'm all about presentation but come on now. The way it tastes is much more important to me.



(Photo courtesy of Joy of Baking)

This was a very tender cake. Not too moist though which is important. The carrots and pecans were crunchy and worked well with the cinnamon spiciness of the cake. And seriously, who doesn't love cream cheese frosting? I don't care what anyone says but if you put butter + cream cheese together you get magic. So I think the frosting here is necessary for the tangy creaminess that it imparts floating on top of the cake.

I give this recipe:

5/5 Spoons!

Okay okay okay, I'll post an entree next. I wouldn't want anyone to think this is JUST a baking blog after all.

Deep Vegan Chocolate Cake 5/5 Spoons

OK, I AM SORRY GUYS. I've been in a serious mental and emotional slump the past two weeks and has seriously affected my cooking and baking attitude. I won't get into specifics but I finally feel like I'm getting over one of my humps that was keeping me from being a normal person again. WHEW! It also helped that I watched Julie & Julia today and it made me laugh, cry and smile for 2 hours straight. I felt connected once again and it felt wonderful. So here I am, catching up!

So I made this cake about 2 weeks ago now and I can still vividly remember how it tastes. That my friends, is the sign of a great dessert. My lovely friend Courtney, who is a phenomenal cook, had some people over to her place when I was home for the weekend and made this meal for us to eat (and it was delicious!) Anyway, I decided I would bring dessert and wanted to make this cake for quite awhile. I rarely make chocolate cake anymore because my roommates aren't demented for chocolate like I am but that just encourages me to stretch my baking muscle, right? Right.



(photo courtesy of Vegetarian Times)

I didn't really make any substitutions for this recipe because frankly.... it didn't need it. I had all the ingredients and it was so simple to make. I chose to use chilled coffee instead of the water and I would encourage you to do the same. There is just something weird to me about putting water in a cake batter, but to each their own. Yes, I realize coffee is just water too but it at least has flavor! Or ya know, if you aren't a coffee drinker, use soy milk, no big whoop. Oh and I used soy milk in the frosting too instead of water (just noticed that).

This is definitely the best vegan chocolate cake I've made. It was tender without being too crumbly and had a very wonderful dark flavor to it without being overwhelming. And the frosting..... oh my. This is a great frosting alternative if you don't have any Earth Balance/butter/margarine in the house. It is so simple and has a wonderful fudgey taste and texture with a salty peanut butter kick. Just like Duncan Hines frosting, I swear!

I give this recipe:

5/5 Spoons!

Not sure what I will pick next to write about BUT hopefully I'll do a few today. Thanks for reading! And I will be back to normal again soon. : )

Yellow Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting

I didn't make this yet but I really want to. It reminds me of the excitement of childhood birthday parties and that's a feeling we could all use in our lives.



(photo courtesy of Joyofbaking.com)