TWD: Swedish Visiting Cake

If you read last week's post about my oven. You heard my tale of woes. I won't bore you again with the details except to tell you I want to bake in the worst way. As luck would have it (and with my strong desire to bake) the buzz about this cake all week on Twitter and our P&Q was that this cake was easy and fabulous. I was disappointed to say the least.

When I opened my Google reader this morning it was filled with posts about the Swedish Visiting Cake and how wonderful and easy it was to make. One of the first ones I read was my friend Clara, IHeartFood4Thought. Even though being sick she was able to whip up a few MINI Swedish Visiting TARTS! And the light bulb went off. My toaster oven has a bake setting. Certainly my cast iron skillet wouldn't fit inside (actually, its home is on top!) but I could fit a mini tart pan in my toaster oven!


To say I was determined was an understatement. I went to work thinking about nothing except my plan. I couldn't wait to get home. And as luck would have that, I had a very short day at the account closest to my house.

I think this may be my most memorable TWD, The One With the Toaster Oven! And of course my friends on twitter did not disappoint. This cake was super easy to whip up. To quote our hostess this week, "If you can stir with a spoon, you've got this cake made."

Our hostess this week is Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs. You can find the full recipe on her blog. Thanks, Nancy, for a great selection to help me find the motivation I needed this week!

Edit: I was so excited to post this and tell everyone about my great experience I left out a few details. I made a 1/2 recipe and got 3 4.5" tarts. On the bake setting on my toaster oven I still baked them at 350 but only for 20 minutes since they were mini. And if you are on the fence at all about making this let me just tell you from start to finish, including taking pictures and writing this post, I think I used a total of an hour and a half of my day. And it tastes fantastic!

TWD: Mocha-Walnut Marbled Bundt Cake

As you can see this is not a bundt cake. I don't have a full size bundt cake pan and didn't feel like dealing with the tiny ones I have that never come clean. My solution was to make half the recipe and I put it in my loaf pan!

The other big change I made was substituting the walnuts. I already had ground up almonds in my cupboard so I took the easy route. I have been having a bit of a hard time getting my Dorie recipes made every week because if it says in the house, I eat it and well...that hasn't really been a good problem to have. I am also really good at making new new things and not sitting down and blogging them. I'll never make it as a professional blogger that's for sure!

Never the less, I made this week easy on myself. I used my loaf pan and almonds. I thought it came out great. The two pieces you see cut in the picture are all the were consumed in this house; one for me and one for my husband. (I have to at least taste test it right?!) I then wrapped it right up and put in the freezer. I'm planning to mail it to my brother in college.

This week's host was Erin of When In Doubt...Leave It At 350. You can find the recipe on her blog.

PS. If you came look for a Coconut Tea Cake, come back next week. We had the option of choosing either with the Easter holiday coming up.

TWD: Milk Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes

This week's hostess for Tuesdays With Dorie was Kristin of I'm Right About Everything. You will be able to find the recipe for this week on her blog.

My tiny little nibble of this cake was amazing. It is mild in chocolate flavor and not too sweet. I didn't have a taste once the glaze was on so I'm sure the chocolate flavor increased after that addition. I'm am quite proud of myself for 2 reasons. One for getting this recipe baked and two for resisting to eat this sweet treat.

However, I must confess.

While I may not have eaten the final product...some small amount of batter may have been consumed.

Ok, fine...A LOT of batter was consumed. It was amazing.

And thus, I was not allowed to eat the final product due to the calories I consumed in making this beautiful little cake.

Now, I must go "taste test" the new bread recipe I made today. You must go make this cake! :)

TWD: Cocoa Buttermilk Birthday Cake and Happy Birthday TWD!!!

Tuesdays With Dorie is celebrating our 2 year anniversary as a group! For this very special tuesday we were given a choice of 2 recipes to pick from. I thought it very fitting to make the birthday cake.

This is the Cocoa Buttermilk Birthday Cake. It was fantastic and very easy to make. This cake was a huge hit at a dinner party I hosted a few days after Christmas. You can find the recipe here, on our fearless leader's blog. Laurie had no idea what was in store for her when she started this baking group 2 years ago. She is a fantastic leader and baker!

I realize I have fallen behind on posting the fabulous Dorie recipes that have been chosen in the past few months. I am planning to do a recap soon. Back looking forward I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of blogging.

TWD: Fresh Mango Bread

I had a hard time motivating myself to make this week's recipe. It just didn't seem to appeal to me and I really don't know why.

The hardest part was peeling and coring the mangos. I am very thankful for my mango corer! My mangos had great color and weren't green and yet were still a bit green underneath. I wish I had double peeled them and got rid of some of the tougher skin. I bought 2 mangos for fear I wouldn't have 2 cups with just one. I ended up with about 3 1/2 cups. I added the extra mango just for the fun of it. I skipped the raisins and the lime zest.

I made the full recipe and actually ended up with a loaf of bread and 12 muffins! My husband loved it and took the bread to his rehearsal (as usual!).

The bread reminded me of a spice cake. The texture and flavor of the bread actually reminded me of a rhubarb cake that my mom made when I was little and I loved it. I'm glad I made the bread but I think I will stick with my mom's rhubarb cake (the rhubarb is easier to cut!)


This week's hostess was Kelly of Baking with the Boys. You can find the recipe on her blog.

PS. Come back next week for Chipster-Topped Brownies and I'm next week's hostess!!!!

TWD: Tiramisu Cake

I have to say that I was not excited for this week's recipe. Tiramisu is just not my dessert of choice. You must be asking yourself how anyone could not like tiramisu. Well, someone who doesn't like coffee, that's who! I love the aroma of coffee (which is good, since J loves coffee!) but I just never developed a taste for it.

I really struggled with whether or not to make this cake. I have missed the past two weeks due to life in general. So, missing this week would not have gone over very well. J and I have also been trying really hard to eat healthier and shed some unwanted pounds. I thought I had come up with a master plan to make the cake and send it away until...

I dropped an egg shell piece into the moving mixer.

It was an accident. J scolded me by saying isn't that why you are supposed to break it into a bowl first. Yes, that it true. However, I'm sure I probably haven't learned my lesson either!

In the end I made the whole cake intending to cut a little piece off for me sans the coffee. I remembered to cut the bottom corner but not the top. I give you my tiny piece of tiramisu cake without the coffee. It was good. I can honestly say I don't feel like I'm missing out by not eating anymore.


J loved it and wished it had more coffee. I just made a pot of regular coffee instead of the espresso coffee extract and liquor. I also made it in a square pan because I was too lazy to deal with 2 round cake pans.

Despite my procrastination, I am glad I made the cake!

For the recipe, please visit this week's hostess, Megan of My Baking Adventures

TWD: 15 Minute Mage: Chocolate Amaretti Torte

If you are a regular reader of this blog, get ready for some chocolate. TWD is going to be baking up some fabulous chocolate recipes this month! And I have the inside scoop to next month because I am one of the hostesses next month!

Anyway, to start off our run of chocolate recipes, we have the chocolate amaretti torte. Its a chocolaty fudge brownie but classier! The base of the cake uses the Italian almond cookie called amaretti. Open the bag and take a big sniff, the fragrance is amazing!

The cookies are finely chopped with additional almonds. Add butter, sugar, eggs and some melted chocolate and you have your cake. A chocolate glaze is added and to top it off an almond flavored whipped cream!


This cake was a huge hit with my family when I served it after our Easter dinner. It was so easy, it might become a regular tradition. And who wouldn't love being able to hop on a subway train, get off in Little Italy, pick up some amaretti cookies and head home to bake!

Thanks to Holly at Phe/MOM/enon for a great selection!

German Chocolate Cake

For the past 2 years my husband had requested German Chocolate Cake for his birthday. Being the loving wife that I am, he requested and I happily baked!

2008 was my first time making the cake ever and it tasted fantastic. It just didn't come out of the pans very well. I have learned a bit since last year and didn't have any broken cake pieces (at least not large ones, a few crumbs though).

2009 was better than 2008. I still have trouble with layered cakes. This year I made only one change and that was cutting the recipe in half. This cake is so good, we could eat the entire thing ourselves. Since there are only 2 of us and we have a weekly Dorie recipe in the house, I made a smaller birthday cake this year.

Next year I'm hoping the third time will be a charm!

2009

2008: The good side

2008: The bad side

I use the recipe on the inside of the Baker's German Sweet Chocolate box. It is excellent!

TWD: Blueberry Crumb Cake

I'm at a bit of a loss for words tonight.

But I will say that this cake went over extremely well with 2 people who either do not like cooked fruit or do not like blueberries at all! I can say that I will be making this one again!

Our recipe this week was chosen by Sihan. A few bakers chose other fruits and/or made muffins instead of cake, check the TWD blogroll to see what the other bakers came up with!

TWD: French Yogurt Cake

Its Tuesday again folks! That's right another delicious baked treat :) I couldn't wait to share this recipe with you. I baked mine early this week. I wanted to make sure I had time to fit in in before my weekend trip.
It worked out perfectly because I was able to take it home with me and share with my family. We sat down for dinner and as we were finishing, I jumped up and said, "I brought dessert!" They loved it. And there aren't too many lemon lovers including my husband and I but Dorie is slowly winning us over.
The next morning I was craving a piece of the cake, only to find out that someone had a midnight snack and finished it!


I didn't use the glaze because I wanted it to travel well without making a mess. I will try it next time and there will be a next time! It was so easy to whip up and smelled so good while it was baking.
Many thanks to Lilana for this weeks selection. You will need to visit her blog for the recipe!

Also, Tuesdays With Dorie had a special St. Patrick's Day treat. The membership was open for today only. You have till midnight tonight to send in and email to jump on the bandwagon before the membership door will be closed again!

Happy Baking! :)

TWD: Chocolate Armagnac Cake

I have the most amazing husband ever! Life has just been very crazy for me for the past several weeks. My in-laws were in town this past weekend and then I got the double bonus of a snow day on Monday! I took full advantage of resting and relaxing. Now I did do some baking but I chose to make chocolate chip cookies first. You see my husband just finished up the production of Godspell at the high school he teaches at. I decided that he needed a little treat. So, I made him his favorite cookies.

Then, I was too tired to make the cake I needed to make this week. Would you believe my amazing husband offered to make it for me?!?! I tend to be a little possessive about TWD and usually decide I can do it better my way when he offers to help. Being the smart man that he is, he waited until I left for work. He even took pictures for me!

I usually cut the recipe when I don't have somewhere to take it. So, he made 1/3 of a full recipe and used our large sized Corningware ramekin. He used Amaretto instead of Armagnac (since we don't have any) and used cherries instead of prunes.

The cake was okay. It tasted good and I really liked the tartness of the cherries in contrast to the sweet cake. I'm not a big lover of chocolate cake and so far I have only found one chocolate cake that I love.

I am very grateful to my husband for making this recipe. Thank you to LyB for this week's selection!


PS. He used his King Kong plate to show his manliness!!

TWD: Devils Food White Out Cake

Chocolate Cake! Do I really need to say anymore than that?

This week's recipe was chosen by Confessions of a City Eater! It was a perfect selection. I made this cake for my husband and I for Valentine's Day. We both loved it.

I didn't make the frosting in the book. I don't have a candy thermometer and by the time I realized I needed one it was too late to go out and buy one. So, I just whipped some cream and we had a whipped cream topping. Let us just say It was hard to not eat the whole cake in one sitting!

Tuesday with Dorie!

TWD: Berry Surprise Cake

I really wanted to bail on this week's recipe. Several TWD bakers had tried their hand at whipping up this cake before I got to it and some were not very successful. I was not excited about failing. Particularly because I planned to serve this cake as dessert at my first party this past weekend. Not exactly the first party I've ever planned or hosted but the first in my own home in NYC with new friends. I wanted everything to be perfect. So a tricky cake recipe was calling me chicken.

As you can see from the pictures I baked the cake! Thanks to my husband for pushing me out of my comfort zone (he's good like that!). He reminded me that one of the reasons I joined TWD was to learn to bake out of my comfort zone. Cakes are just not my thing.

So, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work and a lot of work it was. There was several time consuming steps for this recipe. Many TWD bakers complained about the cake sinking in the middle, though it is normal for it to sink slightly, many were disasters. I carefully followed the instructions (I love Dorie's descriptions!). My cake sunk slightly but I considered it normal. Once I had the cake fully assembled, you couldn't even tell it sunk. The filling does a good job of make up for lost cake!

I altered the filling a bit and added more sugar and more vanilla based on a few complaints that it was bland. I loved my end results and have been eating my leftover filling but the fingerful straight out of the fridge! I also had to give in and use frozen berries. I couldn't bear the thought of buying berries out of season; they are too expensive and don't look good! I thawed them before putting them in the middle of my cake.


In the end, I was very pleased with my cake. I was glad I made it and I loved the filling. However, I didn't love the cake. It was bad but just not was I was expecting. A slight disappointment for me in the end BUT my husband LOVED it! And by love I mean, I think he ate half! I was surprised because neither of us really love cake. But, my party was a big success so all is well in the end! :)

Thank you to Mary Anne of Meet me in the Kitchen for challanging me to step out of my comfort zone. You can find the recipe here. Check out the other TWD bakers to see how their cakes turned out!

TWD: Caramel Peanut Topped Brownie Cake

To my fellow bakers at TWD I am sorry for my slacking recently! My kitchen has not been dark; I just fell into a funk about posting to my blog. I really envy some of you!

I was really excited to make this recipe. If you look at the picture in the book, it makes you want to salivate all over the picture. Unfortunately I was disappointed with the end result. The recipe calls for an 8" springform pan, my is a 9" so I cut my baking time and my brownie came out dry. I also had more than a slight crater in the middle which is supposed to be normal, mine looked like a cave in.

As disappointed with the cake as I was I LOVED the caramel. I have never made it homemade before and I was really impressed. I was very careful to watch for fear it would burn but I had great success. I love this recipe just for learning how to make caramel.

Thank you Tammy for this weeks selection!

MasterBaker: Vanilla

I realize that this post is way overdue and I don't really have an excuse. Well, I do but I'm sure you don't really want to hear them. However, since the roundup still isn't posted I figured I still had time. That and I really loved this recipe. And although it is posted very late, I did make this on time!

The master baker ingredient was vanilla and since I had never used real vanilla beans before I wanted to give it a try. I've heard rave reviews about vanilla beans. Someday I will become adventurous enough to make my own vanilla extract and vanilla sugar. Vanilla is one of my favorite flavors.


I decided to make vanilla bean angel food cake with a fruit salsa. I didn't have a very much success with the angel food cake. I have a mini-bundt cake pan with designs on the top. You can see in the picture above how well that turned out.


Since, I don't have a regular sized bundt pan, I put the remaining batter in my springform pan. It certainly didn't rise very much. It ended up being a dense little cake. I learned that angel food cake can only be made in a regular size bundt cake pan.

Despite the appearance, it tasted fantastic!! And the fruit salsa on top was amazing!!


Vanilla Bean Angel Food Cake
Source: Cooking Light

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1 (2-inch) piece vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 cup sifted cake flour (about 4 ounces)
12 large egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice


Directions
Preheat oven to 325°.

Place 3/4 cup sugar in a small bowl. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean, and add seeds to sugar; discard bean. Work the vanilla seeds into sugar with fingers until well combined.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and sugar mixture, stirring with a whisk to combine.

Beat egg whites with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt; beat until soft peaks form. Add remaining 3/4 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Beat in juice. Sift flour mixture over egg white mixture, 1/4 cup at a time; fold in after each addition.

Spoon the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan, spreading evenly. Break air pockets by cutting through batter with a knife. Bake at 325° for 50 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Invert pan; cool completely. Loosen cake from sides of pan using a narrow metal spatula. Invert cake onto plate.

Fruit Salsa
Source: Cooks Illustrated via All Things Mimi

Ingredients
2 T. apple jelly
2 T. light brown sugar
1/4 c. orange juice
1 jalapeño chile, seeded and minced
2 granny smith apples, cored, peeled and chopped fine
1 pint strawberries, hulled and chopped fine
3 kiwis peeled and chopped fine

Directions
Whisk jelly, brown sugar, orange juice and chile together in a large bowl. Add apples, strawberries and kiwi and toss to coat.

TWD: Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake

Its Tuesday again! I never thought I would be so excited for a Tuesday as I am now that I joined Tuesdays with Dorie. Last week was my first week and let me just say thank you to all the TWD bakers that left me comments. Since starting this blog back in October, I have never had a post with 23 comments! You are all very sweet :) (Keep the comments coming, I love it!)


This week's recipe was chosen by Caitlin at Engineer Baker. I was a bit hesitant about this recipe. I have never had polenta or figs (and I don't like Fig Newtons) and I didn't own a tart pan. I didn't want to sit out on my second week! I figured if the recipe was in the book then Dorie wouldn't steer us wrong, right?

Well, the tart pan problem was easily solved since I figured I would get future use out of it. Then, I couldn't find polenta or figs! Thanks to the comments by other bakers I found that apricots would be a good substitute and the recipe said yellow cornmeal would work in place of polenta.

So, the reviews started coming through from the people who had made theirs and said it was much like a very sweet cornbread. I LOVE cornbread. Once I determined what I was really making, I was really excited.

I cut the recipe in half and it made 4 small tarts. I did use the extra butter on top and as you can see, it left sinkholes. It was recommended to cut the sugar slightly but I used it all. When cutting the recipe in half, I accidentally forgot to halve the lemon zest. So, my tarts were a little lemony (good thing I learned to like lemon last week!). I didn't love the apricots so the next time I make this I will try another dried fruit, cranberries or cherries, maybe. My husband and I both love this.

Thank you Caitlin. Check out the other cakes on the TWD blogroll.

1st Married Valentine's Day!

Jake has always done very well at buying me presents and is even better at keeping the secret until the right moment! And on this first Valentine's Day as husband and wife, he did not let me down.

Wednesday, February 13th:
He called me on Wednesday after I left for work to tell me that when I got home I was NOT allowed in the kitchen. It was very difficult but I managed to keep myself from going near the kitchen (thanks Jknotties for the entertainment!).

The final surprise revealed...
...an Ultimate Chocolate Cake!

The weekend leading up to Valentine's Day I had a major craving for chocolate. Every show on the Food Network was dedicated to chocolate, thus fueling my need for chocolate. I drooled over the recipes by all my favorite chefs: Giada, Jamie Oliver, Tyler Florence. But my favorite was Tyler's Ultimate Chocolate Cake! Apparently, it was then that Jake decided what to get me for Valentine's day.
He even researched and found a specialty baking store to buy real chocolate. He said the store was amazing. We are planning to go visit together this coming weekend. Stay tuned for a review (as I hope to come home with a few new kitchen items!).
His master plan was to make the cake, do all the dished and then hide the cake behind a curtain until he got home. Well, his timing was ruined when the weather caused me to have a short work day. Thus, the phone call telling me to stay out of the kitchen. He hadn't had enough time to finish. Well, I was still very much surprised!
The recipe can be found here. The only change Jake made was a raspberry syrup instead of the liqueur because we didn't have any raspberry liqueur.
The frosting was a little rich the first day. I liked it much better the morning after!


Thursday, February 14th:
Jake and I had both requested to take the day off because we were going to go to the taping of a television show. Unfortunately the tickets never came through. We decided since it was Valentine's day that we still keep the day off and celebrate together.
We have been working opposite schedules for quite a few weeks and the time we have had together has been spent doing stuff like laundry and grocery shopping. So, some quality time together for Valentine's day was exactly what I wanted!
Instead of a big heavy meal that neither of us really needed. I wanted something light and relatively healthy (especially now that there is a chocolate cake in the house!). I read another blog that had the idea to do a picnic. Perfect!
It didn't turn out to be super healthy in terms of fat grams but it was certainly wasn't heavy and we had a lot of fun! It was an indoor picnic of course, watching No Reservations.

Our picnic:
apples
kiwi
bread
variety of cheese: brie, sliced mozzarella and sharp cheddar
spinach-artichoke dip
nutella (chocolate-hazelnut spread)



A perfect First Valentine's Day! :)