Applesauce Buttermilk Spice Cake

This is a fabulous recipe to make a week or so after a fall apple picking trip, it includes fresh chopped apples AND apple sauce, so it helps you get the most out of all those apples!! I created this recipe to submit to Food52's Best Apple Cake contest. If this is the first you're hearing about food52, you need to bounce on over and check it out right now!! This is a website where each week Amanda & Merill post two categories, anyone can submit a recipe and then they actually make and taste-test the finalists!! Even better, once they select the top two, you and everyone you know can vote for the winning recipe which will be included in the cookbook published after a year, 52 weeks of this fabulous project.

My apple cake didn't make the cut, but it made Nate and my office pretty happy!!



Here's what you'll need;
2c cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
then 1/3 cup white sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter, room temp
1 egg
1/3 cup applesauce
1 to 2 apples

This recipe will fit 1 8x8 pan + 6 muffins (that's what I did here)
18 muffins or a 9 inch bundt cake pan.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, ginger and set aside.
Finely chop 1 of the apples...it's ok if you eat some of this while you're baking, Nate ate about a 1/4 of mine and this came out fine!
Pre-heat the oven to 400. Prepare cake pan with non-stick spray and if you are making muffins only, line the muffin tin with paper liners.
Only if you are using the rectangle or square cake pan,and want the apple-topped cake, slice up the second apple using a mandoline slicer. This will make thin apple chips ;o)
In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, combine the butter sugar and shortening until fluffy, then add the vanilla and mix until incorporated. Add the egg and mix, then the applesauce and mix. Slowly add the flour mixture and the buttermilk bit by bit alternating each, until all ingredients are mixed in.
Stir in the chopped apple bits.
Lay the thin apple slices all over the bottom of the pan, then pour the batter in.
For muffins and bundt omit the sliced apple chip step and just pour the batter in.
Bake muffins for about 18 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean, bake the 8 x 8 about 25 - 30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean, the bundt cake may need just a bit longer than that about 30-40 minutes.



This was so delicious while it was still warm, it made Fall officially arrive in LA this week and I couldn't be happier!

Angel Food Cupcakes

With all the heavy eating we had planned for the 4th of July weekend, I struggled to think of something that would be sweet and desserty at the end of the day with out being too heavy...so I thought angel food cake would be light and still substantial enough for our sweet tooth after a long day of bike riding in the sunshine...

I came across The Cupcakery Blog , where Wendy had highlighted the Angel Food Cake recipe from the Buttercup Bake Shop Cookbook, which was, as promised, easy to prepare.

We are talking MAJOR egg whites here...2 cups, which is about 14 eggs worth...Wendy suggests just purchasing the carton of egg whites (which I didn't do this time, but that would make it even easier, so I will do this next time...)



This made 24 mini cupcakes and 12 regular size…

1 cup cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
14 egg whites (2 cups)
1 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 375° degrees and line the muffin tins with paper wrappers.
In a medium bowl, combine flour with one cup of the sugar. Sift these together three separate times. ( I am pretty sure this is essential, so you will need a sifter for this recipe…) Set the sifted whatnot aside and put remaining sugar in a separate cup for later use.
Pour the egg whites into the bowl of a stand mixer and use the whisk attachment, mix on lowest setting for about 1 minute. Then add cream of tartar, vanilla and salt.
After another minute of beating, turn the mixer to medium speed and gradually add the 1/2 cup of remaining sugar. Stop and scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula after all the sugar is added. Resume beating until the whites are stiff but moist. (This should take about 5 minutes.)Transfer the egg whites to a large bowl. Sift the flour-sugar mixture over the whites and gently fold until all the dry ingredients are mixed in. Using a ladle, fill the cupcake liners about ½ full, or a little less than ½ full.
Bake about 8-10 minutes, but not any longer to prevent the bottoms from burning.
Cupcakes will be done when a toothpick comes out of the center clean. Remove cupcakes from the pan and place on a wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.
I made these and took them (un-frosted) with a big bowl of fresh strawberries and a container of Cool Whip to our HB 4th of July gathering at Jeff & Lia’s and they made a great late night (meaning 9pm) sweet treat!

Housewarming Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

I am not so much "boxed cake mix" type of gal. Don't get me wrong, I do use it, eat it and use it as a base for other fun stuff. My homie Naomi LOVES Funfeti...and there is only one Funfeti, even if you bust it out "from scratch", we're sure it's still good, but it's not actual FUNFETI unless it has the Doughboy on the box.
She recently moved into a new place and made us all a KICKASS Carribean-Style-Thanksgiving FEAST of a party. I was going to be making guac, but should have gone to farmers market because the grocery avacados were not buneo.



After a memory jogging convo with my mother, I can inform you that this is OLD SCHOOL. We used to make these together (how can anyone wonder how I ended up loving creative food) when my sister & I were little. I thought these would be fun twist on her favorite cake mix, and decided to bring these to the gathering...I was a little nervous because once they were made and gorgeous, I had to get them from my apartment to Naomi's with out dropin the cones!




Fortunately Nate hooked up a brilliant tote using a disposable cookie sheet and 4 plastic cups...we cut holes in the cookie sheet and he taped 4 plastic cups to the bottom...I should have snapped a pic of it, but could draw it for you in a pinch~

This made 12 Ice Cream Cone cupcakes and about 20 mini cupcakes
What you'll need
1 box o Funfeti cake mix (plus the eggs and oil required by said cake mix)
12 ice cream cones
paper cupcake liners for the cupcakes
1 container of FUNFETI frosting
Sprinkles!!

Line a muffin pan with paper cupcake liners (12 regular size and about 20 mini, so prep both pans...)
Preheat oven & make cake according to pacakge...how mellow is this recipe so far??
Fill the cupcake liners about 1/2 full of cake batter and on the 12 full size cups tip an ice cream cone, upside down (BOTTOMS UP!!) into the batter..on the minis just fill em about half full...if you can find mini-ice-cream-cones...then by all means cone them ALL!
Bake according to package for cupcakes, and let cool for about an hour on a cooling rack, with the cones still bottoms up. When they are cool, flip them so they are standing up and peel the paper liners off the cupcakes. Frost with funfeti frosting and decorate like crazy with sprinkles!!

Shayne's Perfectly Chocolatey Birthday Best Cake Ever...

Gooey dulce de leche filling combined with intense chocolate cake, frosted with a combo of Cool Whip and cream cheese, topped with mini chocolate chips and toffee bits. Really, that can not NOT be delicious, right?! Right. It's awesome!!
This is the marriage of two pretty famous recipes that is truly exceptional. I first made this back in 2007 for Naomi's birthday, and per Shayne's request, made it for her b-day party...

Shayne's Perfectly Chocolatey Birthday Best Cake Ever.
Serves 12

2 C. Sugar
1 3/4 C. Flour
3/4 C. Hershey's Cocoa Powder
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Salt
2 Eggs
1 C. Milk
1/2 C. Oil
2 tsp. Vanilla
1 C. Cup Boiling Water
1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Jar of Caramel (Ice Cream Topping)

1 container of Cool Whip & 8oz softened cream cheese for frosting
1 C. Heath Toffee Bits & Mini Chocolate Chips for topping



Prepare a 15 cup bundt pan by spraying with baking spray (with flour).
Pre-heat oven to 350, and sift together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix in eggs one at a time, add milk, oil, vanilla, mix well. Add Boiling water and mix. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes in the pan, then cool 10 minutes on wire wrack- transfer to plate covered in wax paper.
Mix milk and caramel in a bowl.
Using a straw poke holes evenly spaced in the cake and using a spoon fill the holes and pour over the cake until it soaks in, I usually don't quite use it all...about 3/4 of the mix does the trick..then, let the cake cool completely.
In a large bowl combine softened cream cheese and thawed Cool Whip, & frost cake, top with Heath toffee bits & mini chocolate chips!

Tuesdays With Dorie~ Devil's Food White Out Cake (w/ Cherries)

This was supposed to be dessert on Valentine's Day....but we BOTH got SICK! :( After spending a horrible New Year's Eve with the flu (again, both of us) we were really looking forward to a fun Valentine's Day. Well...then the bronchitis and sinus infection moved in and we spent the better part of last week battling off the germies! Fortunately, by Sunday, I was feeling back to myself again and had everything on hand to make this week's TUESDAYS WITH DORIE selection~ Devil's Food White Out Cake, the big, beautiful cake that is pictured on the books cover! A big thanks to Stephanie of CONFESSIONS OF A CITY EATER who chose this week's TWD recipe!



Head on over to Stephanie's blog to drool over her version of this amazing cake, and be sure to stop by the TWD BLOGROLL to see everyone's creations! I was really happy with the cake recipe,even though I spaced out on the directions...I got out 2 sticks of butter to bring to room temp and didn't CUT the one stick, and when they got room temp I threw both of em in!! AND I ended up using only 1/4 c boiling water instead of 1/2 and I used 9-inch pans. All went well there, lucky me! This was the first time I'd made frosting like this before and it came out fabulous- I have a sugar headache right now, but it was delicious!

Sweet Life Pumpkin Roll

Look at little Artie in the background- I literally had to wrestle with him while taking these pics, he was relentless and wanted that cake!!
I've been making different pumpkin cakes this month, trying to find a recipe I love and discovered I was not super into the powdered sugar intense frosting...don't get me wrong, I am not a frosting hater. I love making MY PUMPKIN GINGERBREAD at this time of year and making spiced cream cheese to spread on it...so I made this version that was a little less sweet and a little more in the spice-filled-cheesecakey-filling neighborhood. I used the "kitchen towel" covered in confectioners sugar method, as most pumpkin roll cake recipes do...This sounds gnarlier than it really is and it's a fun way to make a delicious good lookin' cake! Here is a useful link to a video on the Libby's Pumpkin site that shows the whole process step by step! CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO



Sweet Life Pumpkin Roll Cake
This is my version of a pumpkin roll, the cake is moist and spicy and the filling is more of a cheesecake than a frosting

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup pumpkin
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp allspice

Filling
8 oz cream cheese softened
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1/3 c sugar
1 small/regular container cool whip, thawed
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Pre-heat the oven to 375...grease the bottom of a jelly roll pan,W then line with wax paper, then grease again and dust with flour.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, spices, salt & baking powder.
Prepare a thin kitchen towel on a flat surface by dusting it with powdered sugar. (see video above)
Using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment (or the aforementioned hand mixer or strong arm) whisk the eggs and sugar for several minutes. Add the pumpkin and lemon juice, and mix a few minutes more. Slowly add the dry mixture until it is fully incorporated. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 17-20 minutes or until cake springs back when touched.
Invert the cake onto the towel and roll up slowly. Let cool about 15-20 minutes.

Combine all frosting ingredients in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and mix until well combined and smooth.

When cake is completely cooled, unroll it and frost, then roll it right back up in some plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 or more hours, slice up and enjoy~

Pumpkin Cake...

One of the things that makes our place smell spectacular at this time of year is pumpkin cake.

Here are two ways (my favorite coming soon...) to make either a pumpkin roll cake or some yummy bars that will make it feel officially like fall...even if it is 80 degrees, like it has been here in LA.

I used a 10 x 15 jelly roll pan, greased the pan then lined it with wax paper, then greased the wax paper. greeeeasy. delicious... ~





Pumpkin Mini-Rolls or Bars
this recipe is a bit more moist in the cake dpt, and uses more of a cream cheese frosting for the filling

3/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 cups pure pumpkin puree
1 tsp baking soda
3 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
a small pinch of nutmeg

Frosting
8oz cream cheese, softened
5 T. Butter
1 cup powdered confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

about 1 cup crushed pecans

If you want to go with a roll- dust a thin kitchen towel with powdered sugar so you can roll it up (more on this in the next pumpkin roll post!)

Preheat oven to 375

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and spices.
Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or a hand mixer (or a whisk & bowl if you are a total badass, which I am not) mix the eggs and sugar, until bright and well combined. Add the pumpkin to the eggs and sugar and mix until fully incorporated, slowly sift in the flour/spice mixture. Pour into the jelly roll pan and make sure the batter spreads evenly to each corner, tip it slightly in all directions. Bake for 15-17 minutes....

While the pumpkin cake is baking, whip up the frosting!
Combine all frosting ingredients using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.

BARS~

Remove cake from the oven...to make bars let the cake cool a few minutes, then invert the cake onto a sheet of wax paper and let cool completely before frosting.
Cut the cake in half (so if the jelly roll is 10 x 15 you want two 10 x 7.5 inch pieces) frost 1 half of the cake with the frosting, sprinkle with pecans and layer the other half on top. Frost the top, sprinkle with pecans and cut into bars~ (not pictured, got totally scarfed, really FAST!)

MINI-ROLLS~

Remove cake from the oven and let cool 2 minutes, then dust the top with powdered sugar, cover with another piece of wax paper and flip out onto a flat surface removing the pan. Roll the cake up (not too tight) and let cool about 20-30 minutes...unroll and remove the top wax paper. Frost and cut in half, then into thin strips to make "mini-rolls", slice & top with crushed pecans. (this is also a good way to do the roll if you are going for a full sized roll cake and part cracks or breaks!)

Halloween Candy Corn Cupcakes

Dear lord, HOW CUTE ARE THESE CUPCAKES?!?! There are two ways to do this, with a yummy homemade white cake recipe- like THIS ONE from Dorie Greenspan...or go full blown short-cut style and do it up with boxed cake mix.
These were a bit time consuming, due to the freezing step and the fact that I only had one mini-muffin tin and one regular muffin-tin, but I made some in each size for kicks.
These are great to take to work, school or a party around Halloween, they are as yummy as they are guuuuuud-lookin'!

I made these on a week night since I took them to a Halloween party (which fell on a Friday this year) so here is the method with boxed cake mix...

1 box of yellow cake mix (prepare batter according to package directions, w/ oil, eggs and water)
yellow & red Food dye
White or Cream Cheese Frosting
Candy Corn for decoration...

Prepare the cake mix batter and divide it into two bowls....add about 10 drops of yellow to one bowl of the batter and 15 drops each of yellow & red to the other...you can continue adding even drops of red & yellow to the "orange" half of the batter until it is a light pumpkin hue.
Grease a mini muffin tin and fill each cup about 1/4 of the way with the yellow batter. Freeze the tray for 10 minutes. Fill the cups an additional 1/4 of the way full with the orange batter & bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool on a rack and frost with white frosting, top with a candy corn!

~This recipe was inspired by a booklet I flipped through in the grocery check out line, I apologize that I can not remember which one, but I literally read it in halfa'second and put it together from what I remembered!!~

Tuesday's With Dorie~Caramel-Peanut Topped Brownie Cake

While I do not have the beset photos of this delicious cake that I actually made back in April, I will say the only reason I didn't make it AGAIN to re-shoot, was because it was so delicious and we didn't have anyone coming over this weekend to help eat it, I knew I'd eat the whole thing...it's that good.

I was excited to see that Tammy ofWEE TREATS BY TAMMY chose Caramel-Peanut Topped Brownie Cake for this weeks TUESDAYS WITH DORIE because I loved this recipe and had to make it this past spring, but was saving it to post when it was picked...

April and March are chock full of Birthdays in our lives! Mine is March 16, then my sister-in-law's is March 31st, then my mom's is April 2nd, and Nate's is April 10th!!
So this cake was made to celebrate all of our birthdays this year!



It starts out with a super rich chocolate brownie-like cake...



Then comes homemade caramel sauce!!




The first time I saw (a much better photo than mine) this cake was on Peabody's Blog when she made it and I had been dying to make it! It brings together so many of my favorite things!



Head on over to the TUESDAYS WITH DORIE site to learn more about Tammy and visit all the beautiful TWD Cakes!!

Tuesdays With Dorie ~ Dimply Plum Cake

The past two weeks have been chock full of chocolate cookies! Which has been fun and fabulous, but it was nice to switch it up and bake a delicious breakfasty cake for this week's TUESDAYS WITH DORIE. This week's TWD selection comes to us from Michelle of BAKE-EN.




I did omit the cardamom from this recipe because I did not have any and it was really expensive at my grocery store!
Also, I figured since I took so much liberty with last weeks Chunksters, I pretty much stuck to the recipe with this one. You can find this recipe on Michelle's beautiful blog~
I will say I baked this bad-boy ten minutes longer than the recommended 40 minutes and it was still a wee bit under done in the center, but Nate was demanding PLUM CAKE!! PLUM CAKE!!! So be it. It still tasted very good!




Be sure to visit all the TUESDAYS WITH DORIE blogs that made this cake, many got into theplaying around section in the margin and made some awesome fruit and herb combos!

Tuesdays With Dorie~Gooey Chocolate Cakes

OOOOHHHHH YAAAAAAHHHHH! Who doesn't want a personal molten chocolate gooey cake? Feel free to ask, I don't know the answer, because I don't think anyone I know would turn down one of these bad-boys.
This marks my whooping comeback to the wonderful baking brigade Tuesdays With Dorie. My big birthday month has come and gone, and I am back in the kitchen, and back in the mix (finally)!

A HUGE thanks to LEIGH of LEMON TARTLET, who chose this rockin' recipe! I LOVE CHOCOLATE, LOVE CAKE and LOVE anything GOOEY. As usual I loved reading Dorie's intro- noting that she prefers to use the disposable muffin tins and even keeps it "green" by washing them in the dishwasher- who knew that was possible?! Answer: I do...now!



This is a simple and totally glamorous desert that is a big hit for a dinner party (I made molten cakes previously,HERE, for a dinner party we had around New Year's Eve.)
And while this desert, as Dorie notes in the side column, is best enjoyed right out of the oven, it can be wrapped and enjoyed the next day. Since Nate and I have been on the fitness tip, I made these babies last Thursday night because last Friday was my homie Natalie's Birthday! This worked out famously because Nate and I split one (after it's close-up) when they were hot and amazing, and the next day my co-workers enjoyed them with a little vanilla ice cream, not gooey, but still oh-so-delicious!!

For the recipe, go out and buy BAKING; From My Home To Yours By: Dorie Greenspan. Or pop on over to LEMON TARTLET to scope it out right now!

A Tale of Two Cakes; Daring Bakers CELEBRATE!

This truly, is a PERFECT cake. As I have mentioned before, lemon deserts are not my favorites, but OOOooohhh-BOY! This cake may have finally won me over to the dark, lemony side!!! Although, as the title indicates, this perfect cake was ever so delicious, I did have to go two rounds with baking this layered delight. First let me tell you what this cake is all about...



This month's DARING BAKERS challenge comes to us from MORVEN. She made a FABULOUS pick and for our March 2008 challenge, she brought us, "Perfect Party Cake" from Baking: From My Home to Yours, By: Dorie Greenspan. WOOOO-HOOOO! I am familiar with this FANTASTIC book, from my participation in another amazing group, Tuesday's With Dorie. Dorie's recipes, details and writing style make this cookbook a pure delight and an absolute must-own for anyone who finds baking an essential joy of life.



So, that brings us to MY Perfect Party Cake. I made this the Saturday before Easter to take to our family feast. Well, actually what I did was go out to an incredible dinner with Nate on Saturday night. Then I came home and passed out on the couch and if it was not for Nate waking me up and reminding me I was going to be SUPER stressed if I had to do the whole thing before we left to head to our Easter celebration. Begrudgingly, I got up and started making the cake; TAKE ONE.



Fortunately as I mentioned above, I love this book. I find Dorie's recipes, and more importantly they way she words everything makes the instructions easy to follow. I love it, no matter how obvious it may seem, when a recipe will TELL ME HOW LONG TO WHISK THIS THING!! So I stared in on the 2 cake layers. I had heard about other DB'er having trouble with their cake rising. Dorie had suggested it was the TYPE of cake four and recommends if you have a problem with the rising, to substitute the All Purpose Flour/Cake Flour substitute. "1 cup cake flour= 1 cup all purpose flour minus 2 T."



The cake recipe was a breeze and in no time I was pulling them out of the oven. They weren't super-flat, but they weren't risen completely either. But, now it was late, I was sleepy, and I wrapped the 2 cooled layers up and decided I'd "make it work" on Sunday morning before we left.



TAKE TWO: I woke up early enough, and this cake was not 22-steps of crazy to make, so I gave it another go, but using organic cake flour this time (why not, right?)...well, the only difference there, was part of the allure of this PERFECT Party Cake is the beautiful snowy-white cake, frosting and coconut, offset by the yummy bright raspberry filling between layers. What I ended up doing was using two layers of the four-layer cake from the first batch, and two from the second. There was some sticking during the cooling process, and some rough roads during the slicing the layers in half...**I have since learned a slicing layers in half trick that I am looking forward to trying!** This time I used the toothpicks-all-the-way around and a big super-sharp serrated knife. When I got to Easter and was telling the tale of my baking adventure, Mom and Nana said to use dental floss to divide cake layers. Very interesting!!



This was the first recipe I've made where a layer of cake is cut in half to create a beautiful four-layer cake. I only had raspberry preserves that did contain seeds, so I used those, and the buttercream came together beautifully. This buttercream frosting recipe is AWESOME, I think it was some of the best frosting I've ever made!



I didn't run into any problems assembling or decorating this Perfect Party Cake, and even with tons of candy, and a table full of other cakes and deserts, this one still got eaten up!! As Dorie suggests in the forward to this recipe, I will be putting a marker on that page and coming back to Perfect Party Cake time and time again!!



For the Recipe visit
Morven's Blog and if you haven't already, and you love to bake, get this book!
Baking ~ from My Home to Yours By: Dorie Greenspan.