Buttercream and Party Cakes

You can lick the spoon

Among the world of bloggers are an amazing group, consisting of over 600 to date, who once a month conspire about one recipe challenge, chosen by a different member each time. The monthly challenge remains a secret until the last day of the month, when everyone blogs about their results; a kind of gang-blog. These are not your run-of-the-mill bakers, friends. They are the Daring Bakers, and for some reason I thought it would be fun to join up. What was I thinking? I should have been thinking that I was out of my league.



I am not a fancy-pancy cake decorator. I think I’d rather pick nits off a monkey’s back than to obsess over making intricate flowers made out of sugar or enrobing a cake in fondant. It’s just not my thing. After looking at some of my blogging friend’s jaw-droppingly gorgeous creations, I became comfortable with the realization that I am a peasant cook at heart. When I bake, I always gravitate toward the simple and rustic, like free-form tarts and cakes baked in loaf pans.



This month, the recipe was chosen by Morven of Food Art and Random Thoughts; Perfect Party Cake from Dorie Greenspan’s fantastic book, Baking, From My Home to Yours. I enjoy Dorie’s recipes because they aren’t too fussy and she obviously writes them after lots of testing. In fact one of my all-time favorites is Dorie's Lemon Yogurt Cake (baked in a loaf pan!).

The party cake is a fairly simple recipe, and I can see why it should become a stand-by recipe. Plus, I have a weakness for any cake made with buttermilk and lemon. I love the tangy moist texture of this cake, and would make this again just smeared with some jam, lemon curd and powdered sugar.

However, the highlight in my house was the luscious meringue buttercream. I can’t remember the last time I smeared a cake – or anything, for that matter - with a substance containing three whole sticks of butter, multiple cups of sugar and fluffy marshmallow-like beaten egg whites. This stuff should be classified as a dangerous substance by the DEA. My kids were content to lick the beaters and spatula (and I was too, just in case you were wondering), to the point that there was barely enough left to frost the darn cake.

Now that I think about it, that seems like a perfect arrangement. Piece of cake, scoop of buttercream on the side.

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Chocolate Pumpkin Pound Cake

Swirls of spiced cake with chocolate glaze

My neighbor's maple tree is wearing its glorious fall coat. If you walk by at the right moment in late afternoon, the generously leafy canopy appears to glow with golden light; like a sequined Hannah Montana in the spotlight.

Meanwhile, I've seen crocuses poking up out of lawns, and my gnarly old crabapple is blooming bright pink blossoms. Poor thing - it's getting on in years and must be easily confused by the unusually spring-like temperature. Unpredictable weather is typical for us here in St. Louis; last year at about this time we were huddling around the fireplace with our winter coats on after an ice storm knocked out our power for a few days.

Despite the freakish weather I still have fall cooking on the brain. Plus, I was inspired by Ivonne over at Cream Puffs in Venice - she's got a great idea called Magazine Mondays going. Find all those flagged recipes in your food magazine stack and get cooking!

I loved the colors in this cake - it's from Sunset magazine - I found it at Myrecipes.com.
Since I made this for a treat on Halloween night, I used my extra-dark cocoa powder in the chocolate batter (as in the Starbucks Chocolate Cinnamon Bread)- it looks great swirled with the pumpkin-orange cake.

Chocolate Pumpkin Marble Pound Cake
from Sunset Magazine, November 2003

1 1/2 cups (3/4 lb.) butter, at room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 cup Dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa
2/3 cup buttermilk
Chocolate glaze (recipe follows)

1. In a large bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Scrape half the mixture into another bowl.

2. To make pumpkin batter: Beat pumpkin into half the butter mixture until well blended. In another bowl, stir together 1 3/4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and beat on low speed or fold in with a flexible spatula just until blended.

3. To make chocolate batter: In another bowl, mix remaining 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the cocoa. Add flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk to the other half of the butter mixture (starting and ending with flour mixture), beating after each addition just until blended.

4. Spoon half the pumpkin batter into a buttered and floured 12-cup bundt-cake pan. Drop half the chocolate batter by spoonfuls over (but not entirely covering) the pumpkin batter. Repeat to spoon remaining pumpkin and chocolate batters into pan. Gently run the blade of a butter knife around the center of the pan several times, then draw the knife across the width of the pan in 10 to 12 places to swirl batters.

5. Bake in a 350° regular or 325° convection oven until a wood skewer inserted into center of cake comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 55 to 60 minutes. Let cake cool 10 minutes in pan, then invert onto a rack, lift off pan, and cool cake completely.

6. Pour warm chocolate glaze over the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides. Sprinkle glaze with peanuts if desired. Let stand until glaze is set, about 2 hours, or chill about 30 minutes.

Chocolate Glaze: In a heatproof bowl or the top of a double boiler, combine 4 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate, 1/2 cup whipping cream, 1 tablespoon butter, and 1 teaspoon corn syrup. Bring an inch or two of water to a boil in a pan that the bowl can nest in or in bottom of double boiler, then remove from heat. Place chocolate mixture over water and let stand, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth, about 10 minutes.

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Special Request: Starbucks Chocolate Cinnamon Bread

Dark, moist cake with a spiced sugary topping

A and I had a girls-only shopping expedition last weekend. Her little powder-blue shoulder bag was stuffed full of gift-card loot from a recent (10 years old) birthday, so we headed off to the mall, one of my least favorite destinations in this world.

It's not that I don't enjoy shopping. I do! It's just that malls have a numbing and dumbing effect on me; I get as overstimulated and disoriented as a wayward bluejay on acid.

I must have been born without the intricate inner GPS system needed to navigate oneself in large public shopping areas, because inevitably I get lost looking for the bathroom or take a right turn out of Bath & Body Works instead of a left, finding myself miles away from the exit that leads out to the parking garage.

So it was good that A was with me. Since were focused on two stores, Limited Too and Gap, we safely pointed ourselves in their direction...right past a Starbucks counter that pulled me over like a dustball succumbing to the strong suck of a Dyson D17. I decided I really needed the fortification of a Grande Green Tea Latte (nonfat, two pump) to get me through the whole mall thing.

While standing in line, we drooled over the Chocolate Cinnamon Bread, a new addition to the Starbucks pastry array, developed by the hot Swedish-New York-Ethiopian-born chef Marcus Samuelsson.

It turns out that other food bloggers tracked down the recipe and baked it at home with good results, including Foodaphilia and Nicole at Baking Bites.

I made A very happy yesterday when I made this cake, and I have to admit it was worth a trip to the mall for the inspiration.

However, despite the word "bread" in the recipe title, be aware that this is not in any way a quick bread, but more like the dark, dense chocolate pound cake of your dreams. The crunchy spiced sugar on top is a nice touch.

Starbucks Chocolate Cinnamon Bread

From the kitchen of Marcus Samuelsson

Chocolate Batter:
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
11⁄4 cups Dutch-processed cocoa (I used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa)
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1⁄4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cocoa-Spice Sugar Crust:
1⁄4 cup granulated sugar
3⁄4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1⁄2 teaspoon Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1⁄4 cup white decorating sugar


Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pans and line the bottom of the pans with overhanging sheets of parchment paper (this will make it easier to remove the baked cakes.)

Make the Chocolate Batter: In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar with the paddle attachment on medium speed, until light and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating until each egg is completely incorporated before adding the next and scraping down the sides of the bowl several times.

Meanwhile in a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and baking soda. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, water and vanilla. With mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture to butter, beginning and ending with the flour and beating just until blended. Divide the batter between the two pans, shake the pans to even the tops and set aside.

Make the Cocoa-Spice Sugar Crust: In another small bowl, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon, cocoa, ginger and cloves. Sprinkle the surfaces of both batters with the decorating sugar. Sprinkle with the cocoa sugar mixture, dividing evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool completely, run a thin knife around the sides to release the breads and remove from pans.

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Black Raspberry Birthday Cakes

I felt Farmer's Market Greed during our Saturday morning trip to the Tower Grove Farmer's Market. I was in line waiting - relatively patiently, I might add, despite the fact that my eyeballs were starting to sweat and it wasn't yet 9 a.m. - to purchase a few baskets of fresh, dewy black raspberries. Then the woman at the front of the line chose to buy all the pints displayed on the table. I felt a clenching, anxious panic come over me as I watched her snatch them up.

The person behind me sucked in her breath and said "Oh, are there any left!?"

That's just what I was wondering, but because I was in the process of sending out invisible extra-pointy asparagus spears into the back of the black raspberry-buying woman's head, I wasn't able to articulate the question myself.

It turned out that yes, there were plenty more berries - enough for everyone!

But I was a little traumatized by my greediness. I might need to do some deep breathing before shopping for precious produce next time out.

We just happened to be celebrating a birthday in the middle of a busy weekend, and I thought that individual cakes would be satisfying and fuss-free. I might be a little greedy, but I don't have time to mess with fussy, fancy cakes. I adapted a recipe for Brown Sugar Bundt Cake from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours (is there any recipe in this book that doesn't turn out perfectly?) by baking the batter in oversized Texas muffin tins instead of a Bundt pan and reducing the baking time.

These are essentially big, rich cupcakes. They would be yummy without the topping, maybe just a dusting of powdered sugar over the tops.

I would stand in line for these any day. Just don't buy all the berries!

Black Raspberry Almond Birthday Cakes
for 10 cakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup finely ground almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) butter, softened
2 cups (packed) light brown sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

Topping:

1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons sour cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pint mixed fresh berries (blueberries, raspberries and blackberries or black raspberries)
Powdered sugar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease 2 6-cup oversize (Texas) muffin tins with softened butter and dust with flour, tapping out the excess.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.

In an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar with the paddle attachment on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. Beat in the extracts.

Reduce mixer speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and mixing just until dry ingredients are incorporated.

Spoon batter evenly into 10 cups of the muffin tins (pour water 3/4 full into the 2 empty muffin cups for even baking) and bake 20 - 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Cool pans on a rack 15 minutes before turning cakes out to cool completely.

To make the topping, combine all ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat at high speed until the mixture forms soft peaks. Dollop over the tops of the cakes and top with berries. Dust with powdered sugar.

Happy Birthday!


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French Lemon Yogurt Cake

Getting ready for baking

I've been hauling Dorie Greenspan's new book, Baking From My Home to Yours around the house (it's heavy) for weeks now. I look at it while I'm drinking my morning tea and I get all geared up to bake something. I take butter and eggs out of the fridge to come to room temperature and I turn on the oven.

And then my day happens. The butter sits there until dinner time, looking all sad and flaccid. That's when I face the fact that there'll be no baking today, again. I heft the book back upstairs for some bedtime reading, and I fall asleep dreaming of French Yogurt Cake.

I think the only reason I got around to making this cake today is that I had a half-cup of Total Greek yogurt left in the container, which is just exactly the required amount for this cake. So I seized the moment!

There are a few very nice things about this cake:

1. You don't need to soften butter.
2. There is no electric mixer needed.
3. You have to massage lemon zest into a bowl of sugar.

If you've never rubbed lemon zest between grains of sugar, you haven't lived. It's smells way better than that aromatherapy pillow I get to wear around my neck while I'm getting a pedicure.



Dorie's recipe calls for a lemon marmalade glaze, but I didn’t have any lemon marmalade, so I took her suggestion and topped it with a mixture of crème fraiche, lemon juice and confectioner's sugar. Somehow that makes it seem really French. She also says this cake is even better the next day. Great! I'll have a thick slice with my tea while I dream about my next baking project.

Lemon-Scented Yogurt Cake
Adapted from Baking: From my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan.
The author describes this simple cake as a cross between pound and sponge cake.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup finely ground almonds, or substitute another 1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest
1/2 cup plain yogurt
3 eggs
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup flavorless oil, such as canola or safflower
1/2 cup crème fraiche
2-3 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice


Center an oven rack and preheat to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a standard loaf pan and place on a baking sheet.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, almonds, baking powder and salt.

Put sugar in a large bowl with the zest and rub with your fingertips until sugar is moist and aromatic. Add the yogurt, eggs and vanilla and whisk until blended. Whisk in the oil. Add the flour mixture and fold with a spatula or wooden spoon.

Scrape the batter into pan and bake 50 - 55 minutes, or until cake is golden brown and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. Transfer pan to a rack and cool 5 minutes. Run a blunt knife around edges before unmolding onto a rack to cool, right side up.

Combine crème fraiche, sugar and lemon juice and spoon over cake.

Copyright (c) 2007 FamilyStyle Food