Vanilla Bean and Blackberry Bundt Cake

I found this in my internet travels recently. It looked simple and delicious. Perfect treat to cap off a crazy weekend.....or any time really.



I just love bundt cakes. Just enough frills to make the simplest cake look fancy.


It's "National (*insert your last name here*) Eat What's Already in the Pantry and Freezer Week" at our house. I had frozen blackberries. They called to me from the freezer. I had no choice but to oblige.




The glaze is best if thick. However, it's a little hard to apply when you're in the middle of a nervous breakdown....don't ask. And thus, this is about all you'll ever see of this particular icing job. It was a mess. Next time, perhaps some deep breathing exercises prior to icing......


And voila!


Can you see all the little speckles of vanilla?


Is your mouth watering yet???



Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake
adapted from sweetapolita.com

for the cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons Madagascar Vanilla Bean Paste (or 2 vanilla beans, halved lengthwise, or 2 tablespoons vanilla extract)
4 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon orange extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 12oz bag blackberries (or berry of your choice)

for the glaze:
1 tablespoon Madagascar Vanilla Bean paste (or 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped, or 1 tablespoon vanilla extract)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter a bundt pan and dust with flour.

In a bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix together well.

Mix together butter and sugar in a at medium speed until pale and fluffy(about 5 minutes). Add vanilla bean paste and mix until combined. Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add orange extract and mix until combined. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture, mixing until just combined. When batter is thoroughly mixed, add berries and gently mix with a spatula until dispersed evenly.

Spoon batter into pan, smoothing and spreading evenly. Gently tap pan on counter to eliminate air bubbles.

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until a cake tester can be inserted and removed clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes, then invert onto a rack and cool completely, about 1 hour more.

While cake is cooling, mix vanilla glaze.
Mix together confectioners sugar, heavy cream and vanilla paste together. Glaze should be slightly thick and not runny. Add either more confectioners sugar or more heavy cream until glaze is the desired consistency.

Once cake is cool, spoon on glaze.

Stout and Chocolate Snacking Cake

Stout and Chocolate Snacking Cake with Chocolate-Stout Glaze
taken from 'Easy Desserts' magazine by Fine Cooking

for the cake:
1/2 cup stout (such as guiness)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/3 cup sour cream

for the glaze:
1/4 cup stout
2 tablespoons light corn syrup or molasses
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter an 8" x 8" baking pan and then line with parchment paper, so you can easily remove cake for cooling later. (I use 2 8" pieces and lay them perpendicular to each other in the bottom of the pan.)

Combine the stout and butter in a small saucepan and bring to a bare simmer. Remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Set aside to cool.

Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl. With a wooden spoon stir in the stout mixture, egg and sour cream until just combined. The batter may be lumpy at this point.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake about 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Set pan aside on a cooling rack to cool for about 15 or 20 minutes. Then remove from pan and set directly on cooling rack to cool completely.

Now it's time to make the glaze. Combine stout and corn syrup in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove pan from the heat and stir in the chocolate pieces until shiny and smooth. Let glaze cool to room temperature, then spoon and spread over top of cooled cake.

Blackberry Crumb Cake

I feel like it's been a while since I shared a cake. Today seemed as good a time as any, so here ya go.



Blackberry Crumb Cake. Blackberries are one of my favorite things on this earth.



This recipe is from The Barefoot Contessa. She used fresh blueberries, but you can use any berry you'd like. I'm sure she won't mind. I have made this particular cake 3 times now. The first couple times I did indeed use fresh blueberries, but they aren't in season any more, and I had some frozen blackberries in my freezer. It was killer. Both ways.



Streusel topping also ranks pretty darn high on my list of favorite things...yours too? Oh good.
This one's a keeper. Trust me.

Blackberry Crumb Cake
adapted from Ina Garten and foodnetwork.com

To make the streusel topping:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

Combine the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. Stir in the melted butter. Mix well and set aside.

To make the cake:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature (3/4 stick)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2/3 cup sour cream
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups fresh/frozen blackberries, roughly chopped (or 1 cup fresh blueberries)


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9-inch round baking pan.

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed for 4 to 5 minutes, until light. Add the eggs 1 at a time, and mix until just combined, then add the vanilla, lemon zest, and sour cream. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Gently mix the berries with about a tablespoon or so of flour...just enough to barely coat them. Gently fold in the berries and stir with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread it out with a knife.

With your fingers, crumble the streusel topping evenly over the batter. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely and serve.

Apple Cake...Williams-Sonoma Style...

Aaaaahhhhhh fall.....

The weather has taken a huge turn for the better, the kids are back in school, and guess what? The apples are back!!! Oh, how I love the apples.



Everyone, meet Apple Cake. Apple Cake, this is everyone.



This was a perfect fall treat. Delicious with tea, but then again, I eat all desserts with tea.



A little apple, a little walnuts, and everyone can use a little cream cheese frosting every once in a while, right? This was very reminiscent of spice cake with little pieces of sweet apple mixed in there. It was delicious. A definite keeper.



I have another apple cake recipe up my sleeve...so stay tuned for Apple Cake Round 2!!!

Apple Cake
adapted from Williams-Sonoma Baking Essentials

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (6 oz) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups peeled and diced apples (I used Granny Smith, about 1 and 1/2 apples did the trick. I diced my apples pretty small, which required fairly thin slices.)
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted

for frosting:
1 stick unsalted butter
1 8oz package of cream cheese
1 pound confectioners sugar
(next time I make this icing, I will probably use half of all 3 ingredients. I always have extra, and there is always way too much icing on the cake, if you ask me.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9x13x2 inch cake pan.

This is the point when I usually make my buttermilk. I measure out almost the amount of buttermilk that the recipe calls for in whole milk, and then top it off with a little white vinegar. By the time you are ready to add the buttermilk to the recipe, it will be ready to go. I believe the rule of thumb is 1 cup of milk to a tablespoon or so of vinegar.

Measure flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves into a bowl. Mix with a fork until well combined.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Add eggs one at a time and mix until just combined. Once you've finished adding the eggs it's time to add the dry ingredients. Add the flour/spice mixture in 3 batches, starting with the flour and alternating with the buttermilk. ***Be very careful not to overmix.*** When you add the third and final round of flour, throw the apples and walnuts in there too, and remove the batter from the mixer. At this point, I mixed the apples, walnuts and remaining batter til combined by hand. Warning: If you overmix the batter, you will perhaps get a heavier and not so light cake.

Once batter, apples and walnuts are all evenly combined, spread batter in cake pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test. Let cool for 20 minutes and then ice with frosting and eat!

Ricotta Orange Pound Cake

It's been quite the hectic and crazy busy summer around here..... my oven hasn't seen too much action in the last several weeks....


Last week I found myself in desperate need of a piece of cake.


Something light, sweet, and easy to make.


Naturally, I turned to Giada.  Naturally. My obsession remains undiminished by the passage of time.....just in case you were wondering.


Cake therapy....if you will.


This was just what the doctor ordered... I think I'll have to make this therapy thing a regularly occurring habit.


I drizzled a simple orange flavored glaze over it.


And voila!  Simple.  Perfect.  Delicious.
Thank you Giada.  I needed that.



Ricotta Orange Pound Cake
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis and foodnetwork.com

Note:  I made a few major changes to this recipe.... the original has fresh fruit alongside it, and amaretto in the batter.  I didn't have any strawberries, and I have no amaretto in the house...so I simplified things a little.  A friend of mine made this cake for a cookout recently and used Cointreau instead of Amaretto, and it was also delish.  I think you would have to try pretty hard to screw it up....  You can find the original recipe on foodnetwork.com, or in 'Giada's Kitchen' listed by the same name.

1 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature, plus more to grease the baking pan
1 1/2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese (I used an entire 15 oz container)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 orange, zested

4 tablespoons orange juice
2 cups confectioners sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and flour a 9 by 5 by 3-inch loaf pan.  (I used an 11" x 7" x 1 1/2" stoneware baking dish, and the baking time was unaffected, but if you sub out baking pans, make sure you do the toothpick test for done-ness... I have messed up quite a few cakes due to my need to change the called-for pan for something else.)

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine.


Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, ricotta, and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the machine running, add the eggs 1 at a time. Add the vanilla and orange zest, and mix until combined.

Add the dry ingredients, in three batches, until just incorporated. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean and the cake is beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 45 to 50 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Mix orange juice and confectioners sugar to the consistency that you would like.  Feel free to add either less sugar or less orange juice to suit your liking... Add more juice if glaze is too thick.  Drizzle over cake and eat.

Olive Oil Cake

I know what you're thinking.  I thought it too.


Olive oil cake?  Really?


I saw this on a couple websites on the internet and had to try it myself.  It's another recipe from Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce, and features spelt flour.  I found some in the organic section of my favorite grocery store.


It was classic coffee cake with bits of chocolate mixed in.





Simple, subtle and elegant.

Olive Oil Cake
Recipe from Kim Boyce

Dry mix:
3/4 cup spelt flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt

Wet mix:
3 eggs
1 cup olive oil (I used pure, not extra virgin, but I don't think that's necessary)
3/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
8 oz bittersweet chocolate (70% cacao) roughly chopped into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour a 9" round cake pan.

Put all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl and mix to combine.

In a second bowl, whisk the eggs thoroughly and then add the olive oil, milk and rosemary and whisk them all together well.

Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.  Now stir in the chocolate pieces.  Pour the batter into the cake pan, and bake for 40 minutes, or until it has passed the toothpick test.

This cake was at it's best within the first couple days after baking.

Hazelnut Crunch Cake with Mascarpone and Chocolate

We had a birthday around here this past weekend.
 





And no birthday around here would be complete without a birthday cake....from Giada, of course.



Things were not going according to the recipe, or instructions, when I made this cake, so it is somewhat changed from it's original and intended form.  But no love lost here.  It was delicious.



A delicious coating of semisweet chocolate chips, orange zest and chopped hazelnuts.



All layered onto a mascarpone cheese icing.  I mixed a bunch of chopped hazelnuts into the icing as well.



Just look at that...... yum.



And oh my goodness..... mascarpone cheese.  Who knew it was so good.





Hazelnut Crunch Cake with Mascarpone and Chocolate
Recipe adapted from Giada De Laurentiis and foodnetwork.com

1 box chocolate cake mix (and any ingredients listed on cake mix box)
1 cup (about 4 1/2-ounces) hazelnuts, toasted and skinned (split amongst chocolate mixture and icing)
2 (8-ounce) containers mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon orange zest

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place hazelnuts on a cookie sheet and toast them until lightly browned.  Then, if they have skins on them, roll them in a hand towel immediately after removing them from the oven (while they are still hot) and rub them vigorously together and against each other in a vain attempt to get most of the skins off.  In my experience with hazelnuts, you will never, never, get all the skins off.  But hey, who said there was anything wrong with hazelnut skins?  Just get as much as you can off, and pop the rest into the mix with or without their skins.  I really don't think it will hurt anything.

Once you have most of the skins removed from those hazelnuts, pop 2/3 of them in a food processor and pulse away until they are the consistency that you would like.  I ground mine up fairly small.  My yahoo doesn't like nuts and I thought I could pull a fast one..... not.

Butter and flour 2 (8-inch) cake pans. Prepare the cake mix according to package instructions. Divide the batter between the 2 cake pans and bake according to package instructions. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.  My cakes baked unevenly across the top and one side was higher than the other.  Don't be a fool like me.  When they cool, go ahead and cut the uneven part of the cake off with a large serrated knife BEFORE you start the whole icing process.  Trust me.  It just makes life easier if you do it that way.

Put the mascarpone cheese, cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla into a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer whip the cream mixture to soft peaks. Fold the 2/3 of chopped hazelnuts into the whipped cream.

Place the chocolate, sugar, orange zest, and the remaining 1/3 hazelnuts in a food processor. Process the mixture until the chocolate is ground to the consistency that you desire.  Once again, I ground mine fairly small, but still fairly coarse.

Put 1 cake on a serving plate. Top with 1-inch of the mascarpone and whipped cream crunch mixture. Top with the second layer of cake and continue frosting the entire cake with the remaining whipped cream crunch mixture. Sprinkle the top and sides of the cake with the ground chocolate mixture. I gently pressed the chocolate 'crumb' mixture into the top of the cake so that it would remain in place.

Cut and serve.

Lime Yogurt Cake with Blackberry Sauce

I am really hoping that the neighbors didn't notice me laying out on my front walkway with my camera and this cake. Word doesn't seem to have gotten back to my husband, so I guess we're okay.  I can just imagine that conversation..... 'I was driving by your house and saw your wife.....'  What can I say.  I was looking for the light, and it happened to be out in front.  Normally I try to keep all craziness behind the fence, or inside the house.... Ahhhhh, the things I go through for the perfect shot.

Check this out.  Looks good doesn't it?  You want a bite, don't you?

But wait.....this fantastic cake has an even more fantastic sauce that gets drizzled over it. 

I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen.  One of my favorite websites for more than just dessert recipes.  She always has something tasty posted.  Definitely check it out if you're not familiar with it already.  If you are already familiar with it, then you should already know that this cake is a winner.

Lime Yogurt Cake

from Smitten Kitchen

for the cake:

1 cup plain yogurt
1/3 cup vegetable oil 

1 cup sugar
zest of one lime
1/4 cup lime juice (I used 3 limes)
2 eggs
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt

now for the sauce:

12 ounces fresh blackberries, or one whole bag of frozen blackberries

1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Combine blackberries, water, sugar and lime juice in blender or food processor. The original recipe calls for straining out the seeds, but I was in a hurry, so I left them in, and it was fine. Cover and refrigerate.

(You can use whatever sauce you don't use on the cake in a yogurt parfait with some plain yogurt and granola... which I have recently added to my morning routine.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Generously grease and flour the sides and bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan 

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a bowl.

In a stand mixer, whisk together the yogurt, oil, sugar, lime zest and juice. Add the eggs and mix well after adding each one (or add them both at the same time, and pretend that you added them separately, like I did).

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 2 batches.  Mix until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.  The top of the cake will be a  golden brown when it's done.  A toothpick will tell you if it's really done. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let stand for 10 minutes. I like to sandwich the cake pan between 2 cooling racks, and then flip the cake gently, and invert it back to right side up once it comes out of the pan.  

Once the cake was cool, I sprinkled it with confectioners sugar....just to make it pretty.

Drizzle with blackberry sauce and serve.  Yum.

Lemon Yogurt Cake

And last, but not least.....pound cake.

Lemon Yogurt Pound Cake .... from The Barefoot Contessa. Giada can't have all the fun ya know...



Ina says that this version is healthier than most pound cake recipes due to her substitution of yogurt for some of the butter. While this may be true, I have a hard time with the words 'pound cake' and 'healthy' being used in the same sentence. That's all I've got to say.

Oh yeah...... this was delicious. And if you come back in a few days, I'll show you something else you can do with this cake and a panini maker that will make you run for the kitchen.... I promise.

Lemon Yogurt Cake
Recipe from Ina Garten and foodnetwork.com

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
3 extra-large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

for the glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Grease and flour the pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it's all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.

For the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice and pour over the cake.

Buttermilk Cake with Vanilla Icing

Buttermilk Cake with Vanilla Icing
adapted from Fine Cooking Magazine and finecooking.com

This cake has shredded butternut squash in it, which makes it similar to carrot cake, if you ask me, but nowhere near as rich. It was delicious.

No need to buy buttermilk for this. I just pour the needed amount of regular whole milk into a container and then add a little white vinegar (1 cup milk to 1 tblspn vinegar). Let it sit 10 or 15 minutes or so, and voila, buttermilk......

For the cake:
4 oz. (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened; more for the pan
13-1/2 oz. (3 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour; more for the pan
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 Tbs. distilled white vinegar
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. table salt
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 cup buttermilk
2-1/4 cups peeled and grated butternut squash (about 8 oz.)

For the icing and garnish:
9 oz. (2-1/4 cups) confectioners’ sugar
3 Tbs. buttermilk; more as needed
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. table salt

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 325°F. Butter and flour a 10-cup Bundt pan; tap out excess flour.

In a large bowl with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until well combined, about 1 minute. Add the oil and beat until combined, about 15 seconds. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well on low speed. Add the vinegar and vanilla and mix again until just combined. Add half of the flour and the baking soda, salt, ginger, and nutmeg, mixing on low speed until just combined. Add half of the buttermilk and mix until just combined. Repeat with the remaining flour and buttermilk.

Stir the squash into the batter and transfer the batter to the prepared pan; smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes; then carefully invert the cake onto the rack and remove the pan. When the cake is completely cool, transfer it to a serving plate.

Make the icing
In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar, buttermilk, vanilla, nutmeg, and salt until smooth. Add more buttermilk, a few drops at a time, as needed, until the icing is pourable but still quite thick. Pour the icing back and forth in thick ribbons over the cooled cake. Let the icing set at room
temperature, about 45 minutes, before serving.