Food Recipes: cake recipes

Showing posts with label cake recipes. Show all posts

Monday, May 11, 2009

Raspberry Coconut Breakfast Cake

Summer is the season for fresh Berries, and what better way to get the antioxidants into your system than by beginning your weekend with a slice of this delicious Raspberry Coconut Breakfast Cake! Actually, I was tempted by seeing the IHOP commercials about the Strawberry Festival that's going on, but it looked like way too many calories to indulge in. So to satisfy my sweet tooth, I thought of baking something that's not too unhealthy, and can pacify my cravings too. Thus was born this Raspberry Breakfast Cake - baked with fresh raspberries, almonds, coconut, a bit of vanilla, and coconut milk, it is a perfect way to enjoy a summer morning with a cup of hot coffee, as you plan how to spend the weekend with your family. Off this goes to Meeta's Mingle, celebrating Spring Cakes this season.

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1-3/4 cup sugar
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/4 cup slivered almonds (optional)
3/4 cup chopped or whole raspberries

Method
Lightly coat a 10-11 inch round cake pan or a regular Loaf pan with cooking spray, and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a small bowl. Set aside. Mix the coconut flakes with the coconut milk and vanilla essence, whisk and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar over medium speed until well combined. With the mixer still on medium speed, slowly add the eggs, one at a time, until completely incorporated. You can even do this by hand, making sure you beat well after addition of each egg, so the mixture becomes light and fluffy.

Now add the coconut milk mixture, followed by the flour mixture, beating slowly after each addition so that the batter becomes white and fluffy. Finally fold in the raspberries and slivered almonds.

Pour the batter evenly in the prepared cake pan, and Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes or until the center springs back when lightly pressed. Remove from the pan and allow to cool completely, before attempting to slice the cake.

Serve a wedge with coffee for breakfast. For a more indulgent dessert, cover the cake with white buttercream frosting and garnish with more fresh raspberries.

Related Recipes
Raspberry Swiss Roll Cake
Mango Cake with Streusel Topping
Cranberry Orange Bread

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Upside Down Cranberry Cake

Thanksgiving without a Cranberry Cake is almost incomplete, don't you think? Of course, you could bake a simple cake and drizzle it with cranberry sauce, or instead, you could bake this beautiful Upside-Down Cranberry Cake that will surely be the highlight of your Thanksgiving Dinner! With a touch of all-spice adding to the festive Fall mood, and a layer of slivered almonds & shredded coconut splashed on the sides of the cake to add the perfect crunch to the mushy cranberries, this traditional Cranberry Upside-Down Cake is a lovely addition to your holiday table! But use any fruit that you like, Pears, Plums, Apples, Peaches or Pineapples - this basic recipe for upside down cake can be used to bake any fruit cake that you please!

I'm sending this beautiful cake over to Susan who's collecting "Shiny & Glittery" desserts for this month's edition of Sugar High Fridays! And it also goes to my friend DK who's hosting AWED - American treats this month.

Ingredients
Makes an 8-9 inch cake

8 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 tspn allspice
2 cups cranberries
1 large egg
1 tspn vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tspn baking powder
1/4 tspn salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup white frosting (optional)
3/4 cup slivered almonds (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with the rack in the center. Rub the bottom and sides of an 8-inch round cake pan with 2 tablespoons butter.

In a small bowl, mix together 1/2 cup sugar with the allspice. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over bottom of pan; arrange cranberries in a single layer on the top and spread them out.

With an electric mixer, cream remaining 6 tablespoons butter and 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until well combined.

In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture to butter mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk, until well combined.

Spoon the batter over the cranberries in the pan and smooth the top. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 to 35 minutes.

Let it cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake, then invert onto a rimmed platter. If you would like to add some slivered almonds or shredded coconut on the sides, apply a real thin layer of frosting (crumb coat) on the sides and slap the toppings onto it.

Before serving, add some fresh cranberry sauce on the top of the cake to give it that fresh shine and glitter! Serve the delicious and ravishing red Cranberry Upside-Down Cake as the perfect dessert for your Thanksgiving dinner!

Wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving, and may you have a great time with friends and family! Have a great holiday weekend!

Related Recipes
Spiced Upside-Down Plum Cake
Mini Pineappple Upside-Down Cake
Layered Chocolate Cake with White Cream Frosting

Monday, November 17, 2008

Layered Chocolate Cake with Fluffy White Frosting

When it comes to Layered Cakes, a beautiful layered Chocolate Cake enhanced with fluffy white frosting, and drizzled with some chocolate shavings on the top will never go out of style! Though I love original chocolate cakes with deep dark chocolate buttercream frosting, the white and brown in this recipe creates a wonderful contrast, both, in looks and in flavor. Whether you are celebrating a birthday, an anniversary, or a special occasion, Layered Cakes are the best ones ever! Showing off my recent coursework from my cake decoration class, here's a delicious and moist 3-Layered Chocolate Cake with luscious and fluffy White Cream Frosting.

You can use regular White Buttercream Frosting too, but I found this really nice fluffy frosting recipe from a friend that works much better, as it stays soft and fluffy. It compliments the chocolate cake quite well, which is a recipe I adapted from Martha Stewart Living. By using sour cream and hot water, you end up getting a really moist cake with firm texture. This goes to Lorraine for her Best Chocolate Cake challenge!

Ingredients
Good for 3 individual 9" cake layers

For the Cake
16 tbsp (2 sticks) butter , softened
3 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup cocoa powder , sifted
1 tbsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups cake flour (not self-rising flour)
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 1/2 cups hot water

For the Fluffy White Icing
5 large egg whites
2 cups icing sugar
2/3 cup water
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup packed chocolate shavings - to garnish the top

Method

Making the Cake
Preheat oven to 350�. Grease three 9-inch round cake pans with butter; line bottoms with parchment paper, and butter the paper.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar on medium speed, about 5 minutes. In a separate bowl, combine eggs and vanilla; add to brown sugar mixture in two batches, mixing on medium speed until incorporated. Scrape bowl thoroughly; beat 1 minute on high speed.

Sift together cocoa powder, baking soda and salt; add to brown sugar mixture and beat on low speed until just combined.

Sift flour. Add 1 cup to batter and beat on low speed until just combined. Add 3/4 cup sour cream to batter; beat on low speed until just combined. Alternate adding flour and sour cream to batter until there's none left. With mixer still running on low, slowly add hot water, beating until just combined.

Scrape bowl thoroughly; beat batter on low speed about 20 seconds. Scrape bowl thoroughly once more, then divide batter evenly among the three pans, about 3 cups per pan. Bake 30 to 33 minutes, or until cake pulls away from sides of pan. Remove from oven. Cool layers in pans about 30 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate up to one night before assembling.

Make the Frosting
In large deep bowl, combine egg whites, sugar, water, and cream of tartar. With hand-held mixer, beat until foamy at low speed, about 1 minute. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure that bottom of bowl does not touch the water. Beat constantly at low speed until mixture reaches 160F, about 7 minutes. Remove bowl from heat, add vanilla, and beat frosting at high speed until stiff peaks form, about 7 minutes.

Assembling the Layered Chocolate Cake
To assemble the cake, level each cake layer by slicing off their tops. Place bottom layer on a serving platter cut side up. Spread 1/2 cup filling on top. Place middle layer cut side down on top of bottom layer. Spread remaining filling on top. Place top layer cut side down on top of middle layer. Spread top and sides of cake with frosting. Top with a few chocolate shavings, reserving half for later. You can even plaster some crushed peanuts or almonds to the side of the cake as I did. Allow to refrigerate for at least 30 minutes so the frosting sets well.

Transfer the layered Chocolate Cake onto a serving platter, then garnish with the reserved chocolate curls or shavings. Then just grab a fork, dig into the cake, pop it into your mouth, close your eyes and experience a taste of sensuous happiness that very few other things can provide!!:)

Related Recipes:
Mocha Pistachio Brownies
How to Frost a Cake in 5 Easy Steps
Mango Cake with Streusel Topping

Monday, November 3, 2008

Fudgy Mocha Pistachio Brownies

Baking Brownies is an uplifting process for me! And these Chewy Mocha Pistachio Brownies have become my current favorites! Unlike other baking desserts, brownies are more stress-free, and easily customizable.The texture of a brownie, whether its fudgy, moist and chewy, or light like a cake, depends on the amounts of chocolate, butter, sugar, and flour that you use in the recipe. I chose to go with the Chewy this time. And as it was for a weekend breakfast, I added some flavored coffee powder to my pistachio brownies. I also threw in some cranberries, to make them more chewy, and the result was a seriously decadent Brownie recipe that I wouldn't trade even for a store-bought one!

Coffee lovers will always find a way to enjoy more caffeine in their lives; so off this goes to Meeta's Mingle, featuring Coffee & Tea this month. And as I'm really proud of these decadent Brownies, which have a great flavor combination, I'm sending these to Aparna's Sweet Celebrations as well!

Ingredients
1 packed cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp natural cocoa
4 oz. unsalted butter
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp cafe mocha (flavored instant coffee powder)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup slivered unsalted pistachios
2 tbsp craisins or dried chopped cranberries (optional)

Method
Position an oven rack on the middle rung. Heat the oven to 350�F. Butter an 8-inch square brownie pan, line the bottom with parchment paper, and spray it with some non-stick cooking spray.

In a double boiler, melt the butter and chocolate, stirring continuously to form a smooth ganache. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Stir in the sugar, salt, and the mocha coffee powder. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, stirring each time until blended. Finally add the flour and cocoa.

Beat well, until incorporated and the mixture is smooth, 30 to 60 seconds. Add the chopped pistachios and craisins, and give a final whisking.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the brownies are thoroughly baked, form a slightly-cracked layer on the top, and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out almost clean, about 35 to 45 mins.

Set the pan on a rack until cool enough to handle. Run a paring knife around the inside edge of the pan and then invert the pan onto a flat surface and peel off the parchment. set the baked brownie back onto the rack to cool completely.

Cut into squares with a sharp knife. Enjoy your Chewy Mocha Brownies with a cup of hot Mocha, and you'll start appreciating caffeine even better!:)

Related Recipes:
Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
Almond Mocha Iced Frappucino
Mocha Hazelnut Coffee Cake