The Baker's Daughter

Apple Picking - Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake

This is the ultimate breakfast food, but it's damn good anytime.  I love how pretty this cake looks with the jeweled apples peeking out from the icing.  This coffee cake stays moist for quite a few days so it's a good recipe to make the night before if you need to.  I absolutely adore the pairing of the super sweet apple cider icing with the tart bite of the apples.  I've used fresh but you can definitely use frozen apples if you have them.

Apple Coffee Cake

1 cup sour cream

1 tsp baking soda

½ cup butter

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

¾ tsp vanilla

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

2 medium apples

Apple Cider Icing

2/3 cup icing sugar

2 tbsp apple cider (you can use apple juice or just water)

1 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and flour an 8 inch bundt pan. 

Quarter and core the apples and slice them into thin pieces.  Set aside.

In a bowl combine the sour cream and baking soda.  Whisk to combine and set aside.

In a bowl cream together the butter and sugar.  Slowly add the eggs and vanilla and beat until creamy.  Scrape down sides of bowl and mix again.  Add the sour cream mixture and gently mix in.  Add the flour and baking powder in three stages, mixing in between each addition.  Add 3/4 of the sliced apples and mix to combine.

Sprinkle the ¼ cup of brown sugar on the bottom of the prepared bundt pan.  Arrange the remaining 1/4 of the apple slices on the bottom of the pan.  Pour the cake batter over top of the brown sugar and apples. 

Bake for 40-50 minutes until golden brown and the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Let the cake cool and overturn to release the cake from the pan. 

Prepare the icing by combining the icing sugar, cinnamon and apple cider together.  Whisk to eliminate lumps.  Drizzle the icing over the cooled cake.

 

Happy Birthday Smargalita Pepperflecks

Going Bananas

My sister is helping out with a friend's Stag and Doe tonight so we made Deserted Island Monkey Cake for it.  It's 1/2 chocolate and 1/2 vanilla and I made the monkeys out of fondant.

 

 

Coffee and Caramel Almond Cakes with Dark Chocolate Ganache

I am not a coffee drinker; not that I haven’t tried to be.  Every now and again I’ll grab a tall coffee from Starbucks and drink it down.  What inevitably happens is similar to what one might experience when taking speed...in short I can’t intake caffeine without going crazy.  My heart feels big and beats really fast, I get hot and shaky.  I don’t like it.  This recipe is a way for me to enjoy the flavour of coffee without all the insanity involved.  The flavour of the coffee really shines and there is an underlying element of toasted almond.  The caramel almonds look like pieces of blown glass with their amber peaks and the Ganache is not only delicious but shiny and sleek.  For this recipe I chose to make cupcakes, mini cupcakes and a mini loaf but you can use it for a layer cakes as well.  This recipe will make approximately 1 ½ dozen regular sized cupcakes. 

Coffee and Caramel Almond Cakes with Dark Chocolate Ganache

Coffee-Almond Cake

1 cup butter, softened

1 ½ cups sugar

3 eggs, 1 egg yolk

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

¾ cup strong cold coffee

2 tsp vanilla

¼ cup almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Toast your almonds in the oven for 5 minutes.  Once cooled chop the nuts by hand or in a food processor into a coarse crumb.

Cream together the butter and sugar in a stand mixer or using a hand blender.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and slowly add the eggs and egg yolk.  Add the vanilla and scrape down the bowl again.  Blend the flour and baking powder together in a separate bowl.  Alternating, slowly add the flour and coffee.  Scrape down the bowl and add the almonds. 

Grease your pans and line with muffin cups if using.  Fill the cups ¾ full and bake until lightly browned and a knife comes clean when inserted into the top. 

Cooking times will vary depending on the size of muffin tin / baking pan you are using.  Mini muffins will bake in approximately 15 minutes

Standard muffins will bake in approximately 20-25 minutes

Mini loaf pans and 7” cakes will bake in about 30-35 minutes

Chocolate Ganache

8 oz dark chocolate

3/4 cup 35% cream

1 tbsp butter

Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl.  In a small saucepan bring the cream to just a boil.  Pour the cream over the chocolate and let stand for a few minutes before stirring.  Add the butter and stir.  Let cool.

Caramel Almonds

Whole almonds

Skewers

1 ½ cups sugar

¼ + 2 tbsp water

Using the sharp ends of the skewers, stab the middle of the almonds. 

In a heavy bottomed saucepan combine the sugar and water over medium heat.  Stir to dissolve the sugar but once the mixture starts boiling, do not stir, instead occasionally swirl the caramel in the pan.  Allow to boil until the caramel turns a light amber colour.  If sugar crystals start to form on the sides of the pan use a pastry brush dipped in water to dissolve them.  Once the caramel is the desired colour, place the pan in the sink or large bowl filled with chilled water. 

Place a heavy cutting board on the edge of your table and lay a tea towel or papers on the floor under the cutting board.  The cutting board will hold the finished almonds.  After about 10 minutes test the caramel by dipping one of the almonds; the caramel should hang in a long string from the almond.  Dip the almonds in the cooled caramel placing the finished skewers under the edge of the cutting board to hold them.  If the caramel cools too quickly before you are finished dipping all your almonds, you can re-warm it on the stove over low heat.

Assembly

Dip the cooled cupcakes in the Ganache and once it has set, top with a caramel almond.  If not serving immediately store in the fridge without the almonds (the caramel will melt in the fridge).  

Cherry Cake

This recipe from the Joy of Baking could be used with any fruit, not just cherries, although there is something very decadent about cherries that I absolutely love.  The cake is almost cookie-like and the cherries add a nice tart pop.  My only reservation was the amount of cherries used, a lot!  I would hesitate to use as many next time as it came very close to overwhelming the cake.  Serve with fresh whip cream or vanilla ice cream and enjoy a nice summer treat.

Cherry Cake

1 pound (454 grams) fresh cherries, pitted

1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter melted and cooled

1/3 cup (80 ml) milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Zest of 1 lemon

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Grease and flour a 9" springform pan.  Line the bottom with parchment.  Wash and pit cherries.  Cut in half and set aside about 1/4 of the cherries. 

Whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder.

Using a hand beater or stand mixer, combine the sugar and eggs, beating for 3-5 minutes until thick and lemon colored.  Add the melted butter, vanilla, milk and lemon zest and incorporate.  Add the flour mixture being careful not to overmix.  Fold in the cherries (reserving the 1/4 that you set aside).  Turn the batter into your prepared pan and smooth the batter.

Bake for 15 minutes.  Remove the pan from the oven and working fast, top the cake with the reserved cherries.  Bake for another 20 minutes or until lightly browned and when a cake tested comes clean when inserted in the middle of the cake.  Let cool and remove from the pan. 

 

Cinnamon Sugar-Coated Maple Apple Cakes

Doughnuts are the devil.  They are probably the hardest baked good to resist, especially when they are made right.  You know what I'm talking about.  Try having doughnuts in your house without them calling out to you until every-single-one is gone.  This recipe is pretty close to the real thing without all the nasty frying and colossal amounts of guilt.  I think you'll love the cinnamon sugar crunch and the nice moist inside of these cakes.  This recipe calls for self-raising flour but I never have that around so I substituted it with all purpose flour, baking powder and salt.  If you have self-raising flour just use 2 ½ cups of it and omit the baking powder and salt.  The original recipe used 12 greased 1-cup capacity bundt pans but I used mini muffin tins so I had bite-sized cakes.  They taste just like doughnuts and are so addicting with the crunch of the sugar.  If using the mini muffin tin bake for approximately 12-15 minutes or until nicely browned on the top and bottom.  This recipe came from Donna Hay.

Cinnamon sugar-coated maple apple cakes

2 ½ cups self raising flour OR 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour and 3 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

250 grams melted butter

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup maple syrup

4 eggs

6 red apples, peeled and grated

2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup superfine sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Grease a mini muffin tin and set aside.

Place the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a bowl and combine. 

Add the butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, eggs and apple to the flour mixture and stir well to combine. 

Combine the superfine sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.

Spoon the batter into your greased pan and bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 

Turn the cakes out immediately and coat the cakes in the cinnamon sugar.  

 

 

Corn Muffins

Kenny, I love you.  But I love your corn muffins more.  These corn muffins were served at Kenny Rogers Roaster’s Restaurants, which I think are a thing of the past but they are so delish!  I usually eat about 50 in one day and then spend the night on the couch clutching my bulging stomach listening to Islands in the Stream.  I found the recipe for these corn muffins at a website named “men who look like Kenny Rogers”… I'm not even going to comment on that, just go look for yourself.

Kenny Rogers Corn Muffin Recipe

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup honey

2 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup cornmeal

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup corn (fresh, frozen or canned)

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease and line a standard muffin tin.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and honey.  Add the eggs and combine. Add the flour, cornmeal, salt and baking powder and mix.  Add the milk and corn and mix thoroughly. 

Divide equally between a greased 12 cup muffin tin.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned and they spring back when lightly pressed. 

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

This is not something that I should admit out loud but candied cherries freak me out.  They give me the willies.  They make my teeth hurt just thinking about them.  If I see one on a delicious ice cream sundae I want to throw up.  Who knows why.  Consequently I won’t be using them in this recipe even though it’s the kitschy tradition.  Pineapple upside down cake is about as old school as it gets, but I love old fashioned desserts.  I use fresh pineapple when I make this recipe, but feel free to use canned.  Also feel free to use cherries, don’t be held down by food phobias like I am. 

Pineapple upside down cake

Cake

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cups sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

Fresh or canned pineapple

Caramel

1 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease a standard sized muffin tin or an 8 inch cake pan.

For the cake, cream together the butter and sugar.  Gradually add the eggs and vanilla.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again.  Add the flour and baking powder, alternating with the milk in two additions.  Mix until well combined. 

To make the caramel, place the butter and brown sugar in a heavy bottomed pan.  Watching so the caramel doesn’t burn, stir over medium heat until it starts to bubble.  Once it starts to bubble do not stir it again for approximately 3 minutes or until it is a medium dark brown colour. 

To assemble the cakes, place your pineapple (and cherries if using) in the bottom of a greased and floured cake pan or muffin tins.  Spoon the caramel over the pineapple and scoop in the cake batter.  Bake cupcakes for 20-25 minutes.  The 8 inch cake will take longer, around 35-40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean from the center of the cake.

Once baked  allow to cool for about 5 minutes and then invert onto a platter. 

 

 

No cherries were harmed in the making of this recipe.

Summer Tart

This is essentially a no-bake cheesecake, although you do have to bake the crust.  I really like how fresh and summery this recipe is, especially with the lemon.  You could use any fruit you like, I just happened to have strawberries around.  For this recipe use a tart pan that has a removable bottom, you can find them at most kitchen supply stores.

Summer tart

Crust

1 cup graham crumbs

½ cup ground almonds

2 tbsp sugar

1/3 cup melted butter

Filling

8 oz cream cheese, softened

6 tbsp whipping cream (35%)

3 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp lemon zest

Topping

2 cups strawberries, cut in half or quartered

1/3 cup strawberry or raspberry jam

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  In a bowl, combine the graham crumbs, ground almonds and butter.  Press into the bottom of a greased 7” tart pan.  Bake for 12-15 minutes until firm.  Let cool.

To make the filling, combine the cream cheese, whipping cream and sugar and whip using a stand mixer or a hand held mixer until light and fluffy about 2 minutes on high.  Spread onto the bottom of the cooled crust.  Top with the strawberries.  Heat the jam in a microwave for approximately 30 seconds.  Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the strawberries. 

Refrigerate for at least 1 ½ hours.  To serve remove the tart from the pan (leaving the bottom in place) and place on a cake stand if you have one.  A sprig of mint adds a pop of colour. 

Tulips and Turning Two

It was my niece’s 2nd birthday party yesterday so I made the cupcakes and mini cake for the party.  The cupcakes were vanilla with vanilla icing and I topped them with fondant tulips.  The cupcakes were a hit and my niece loved her cake, which was so over the top that she finally exclaimed “there’s cake under here!” once she had waded through the fondant and icing.  Happy Birthday D!