Mmm dessert bars and cake balls

Since I moved into a much smaller place last fall my cake baking has stopped mostly because my kitchen has barely any counter space. I will finish my cake baking book someday but until then I'll be trying other things like...well just about anything else I can get my hands on. I made my first attempt at cake balls and I am very happy with how they came out. I used a cupcake recipe for margarita cupcakes for dipped them in a white chocolate shell 3/4/2012:

My most recent baking attempt was Lemon Coconut Bars which turned out amazing, 4/29/2012:

The Have the Cake challenge for May is fudge so I am thinking I might try that as well. I just have to figure out what flavor....hmmm.

Post Holiday Baking

Frozen Chocolate Mousse Pie made for Thanksgiving and Christmas 2011

Pecan Pie also made for Thanksgiving and Christmas 2011

Peanut Butter Pie made for Christmas 2011

Congo Bars made January 2012

Birthday cake for my stepfather, May 2011

Chocolate Raspberry Torte

All Cakes Considered Cake Catch-Up

Bittersweet Chocolate Cake, #37


Whipped Cream Cake, #38, which was a bit of a failure both in looks and taste.


Honey Buttercream with Apricot Jam, #39, which was awesome!


Alma's Italian Cream Cake, #40


Sour Cream with Orange Buttercream, #41


Devil's Food Cake with Raspberry Jam & Quick Fudge Frosting, #42


Dark Chocolate Red Velvet Cake, #43, which was delicious!


Triple Chocolate Orange Passion Cake, #44

October Have the Cake Challenge - Carbonated Cake

Since the soda of choice in my house is Dr. Pepper I decided to see if I could find a recipe. I found a few different ones but settled on this one because it included Dr. Pepper in the cake and frosting. I would totally make the cake portion again but found the frosting a little a short on taste. The cake is super moist and delicious but I can't say I could tell there was Dr. Pepper in it.

June Have the Cake challenge - Boston Cream Pie

For this challenge I used the recipe found on the Food Network. The ganache made enough to drown a small city!

I made the pastry cream first and let it cool in the fridge for 2 hrs. You need to be very careful with this as it can burn easily. I think it really needs to be removed from the heat as soon as it starts to come to a boil in the last part. After it's removed from the heat it will probably still finish coming to it's thickened stage. I used vanilla extract instead of vanilla beans (1/2 tablespoon) and it seems to have worked just fine.

Next came the cake which was fairly straight forward but I wonder if my not liking to use cake flour caused the cake to not rise as much. I also added 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract just for a little added flavor which I was very happy with. Next time I think I would be better off using an 8 inch pan instead of a 9 inch in order to make the cake layers a little bit thicker. My oven bakes pretty hot so the cake was done at about 22 and 1/2 minutes. I very carefully cut the big layer in half, smoothed on the pastry cream, slapped the top on and made my ganache. The recipe says to boil the heavy cream and mix that in with the chocolate morsels causing them to melt. It doesn't say anything about letting the ganache cool a little before drenching the cake but looking back on it I think it's probably a good idea as it would thicken some. Anyway, the cake is NOT pretty but it sure is good.

My least favorite cake to date...

Cake #36, Martha Washington's Great Cake, baked 1.31.2011, was my biggest disappointment to date. Apparently I took too much cake baking time off (over the holidays) plus my cake journeys restarted with a more difficult cake. Overall I wasn't happy with this cake...it appears to be baked fine but the taste is off...a little too much mace or maybe I measured badly. My (mis)adventure began by forgetting to prepare the pan correctly...I totally blanked on putting parchment paper in the bottom of the pan but I sprayed it liberally with the flour baking spray. Next was my lack of a scale in order to properly weigh the fruits and nuts called for in the recipe. I did my best conversion over to cups as I could but the cake lacked the flavor I was expecting. I had lemon for the zest but my lemons were not giving me a whole lot so I am not sure I had a full teaspoon...it was close. This recipe called for 10 eggs (yup, you read that right) seperated and the whites beat to soft peak. After that you start folding them into your creamed butter. I had done what I was suppose to in letting my butter come to room temperature...the problem was that room temp was still pretty cool since I don't blast the heat in the house. So the eggs and butter had issues coming together. After the creaming everything was folded into the batter and I am folding challenged at best. I did manage to get everything incorporated and the batter looked like it was suppose to. I poured it into the pan and put it in the oven, only to immediately realize that I had forgotten the raisins. So out it came and the raisins hastily added and poorly mixed. The recipe called for it to be baked 1 hr 15 minutes but because I was really concerned about this one getting overcooked and my oven runs hot I took it out at 1 hr 5 minutes. After it was removed from the pan (thank goodness!) I started worrying that it was still overcooked because it is such a dense cake. After it had cooled I beat up the frosting (more egg whites) but it never reached a stiff stage. I did manage to get it all over the cake and it back in the oven to bake at 200 for a hour for the merignue to harden. After an hour I took it out and it wasn't fully hardened but I didn't dare keep baking not knowing what it would do to the cake. I let it cool again before partaking. It is edible but it definitely isn't my favorite cake. There are so many areas I could have made a critical mistake but I think it was more a lot of little issues that made this cake disappointing. I don't think I'd recake this one either because the recipe itself is a pain in the neck.

Out of touch but I've still been baking...

Cake #30 was Faux Fruitcake baked on 11.7.2010 and it was delicious. I have a HUGE sweet tooth so it might not appeal to everyone. Instead of apricots or some other orange real fruit this recipe called for candy orange slices (hence faux). This cake was sticky and sweet...yummy!

Another episode in recaking...

...for my mother's birthday. I recaked the 2nd cake from All Cakes Considered, the Brown Sugar Pound Cake. I baked it on 11.11.2010 and it came out really good. Of course my decorating skills still need major work!

The Great Pumpkin Escapade

The Great Pumpkin, grown by my mother. It was baked to harvest it's flesh on 11.20.2010.

I got tons of pumpkin without really trying hard!

The first thing I made was a pumpkin maple pecan cheesecake, 11.21.2010. It had issues...I didn't realize how difficult cheesecake really was! It was over-mixed and over-baked but it still tasted pretty good and the topping was AMAZING!

My next attempt was a regular pumpkin cheesecake, 11.22.2010. This was mixed better and baked better. I included a pan with water in it below the cheesecake for hydration. It wasn't cracked when it came out but it did crack a little after cooling. I don't think I'll try a cheesecake again until I get a food processor.

Pumpkin pies baked for Thanksgiving on 11.24.2010. These were awesome! It was a Paula Dean recipe where I accidently bought heavy cream rather than half & half and not so accidently added the addition of 1/4 of teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.

Pumpkin cake with streusal and glaze baked for Thanksgiving but was actually eaten for breakfast on the Friday after, 11.24.2010. I wanted to use my special Thanksgiving pan and it came out really well the streusal would be better in a regular tube pan which I'll use next time. I would totally make this cake again as it was exceptionally good.

Wow, I've been out of touch with my 4 followers ;-)

Cake #29, 10.31.2010, Peach Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting! This cake was super moist and delicous although it did not taste much like peaches.

Cake #30, 11.7.2010, is Faux Fruitcake made with candy orange slices with dates, coconut and pecans. It is very sweet but I loved it.

I haven't done any cakes from All Cakes Considered because I've been in a period of holiday craziness, vacation and pumpkin baking...see next post.

Cake #28, Paula Dean's Apple Cake

Cake #28 is Paula Dean's Apple Cake which I baked with macoun apples like the last apple cake. In addition to apples it had pecans and coconut along with an awesome buttermilk sauce.

This cake is delicious!!! It isn't the prettiest cake but it makes up for it's looks with it's amazing taste.

Cakes # 26 & 27

Cake #26 was Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting (10.10.2010). I love just about any cake with frosting but I have found that making frosting the right consistency is a challenge for me...it has been hit or miss with mostly misses. The same goes for this cake although it wasn't as bad as my first attempt with frosting so at least there is an improvement. I thought perhaps I baked it a tiny bit too long (like maybe 2 minutes) but mostly I am pleased with this cake.

Cake #27 was Apple Cake, 10.16.2010 and it was delicious! I made it with Macoun apples even though the recipe called for Granny Smith. I was afraid that it was going to be an oily cake based on another review of this recipe but it proved to be not at all the case. My main complaint is that the baking time was off. It said to bake the cake for 1 hour but it took more like 1 hour and 15 minutes. Also it said I could bake it in an 8 inch square or 9 inch round. I chose the square and I had a bit of overflow problems during baking. But the flavors of this cake...Mmmmmmm!!!!

October Have the Cake Challenge

This is only my 2nd ever layer cake and my first try at dividing the layers. The request for this cake was chocolate, vanilla with mocha frosting for a birthday. All the recipes come from the fantastic cookbook All Cakes Considered by Melissa Grey.

With 3 of the 4 layers and their base mocha frosting. My dividing skills need work although the toothpick and string trick worked really well.

All fully frosting and ready for candles. If I eventually get really into layer cakes I am thinking a frosting and decorating class might be a good idea...right now I'm just happy to cover the cake completely with frosting.

It was a very tasty cake...my main issue is the fact that my cake building and frosting skills needs work. But it's taste that ultimately matters right? :-)

September Have the Cake Challenge

Here are the beasties post-boiling water bath.



After the bake and not looking too horrible all things considered.

The two best formed pretzels.

I used Alton Brown's recipe for Soft Pretzels found on the FoodTV.com. These are extremely tasty but I think I did something wrong as the dough was extremely sticky and difficult to roll out without the assistance of flour which wasn't called for in the recipe. Anyway I am very glad I managed to get the challenge done this month as August seemed to have run away with me and didn't make the galette.

Cake Catch-Up

Cake #22 is called Honey Spice Cake with Rum Glaze and it was made on 8.22.2010. This cake is delicious, moist and has a strong honey taste. I would totally make this cake again!

Cake #23 was the Araby Spice Cake made 8.29.2010. While it was a very tasty cake and the frosting went perfectly with it, it did not excite me. Of course the frosting wasn't perfect b/c of the order I mixed the ingrediants but I would make the frosting again before I'd make the cake. It was closer to a coffee cake which I have discovered is not my thing.

Cake #24, Holiday Honey Cake made 9.6.2010 made for the Rosh Hashanah holiday. It was a good cake with just about every spice in the cabinet but it was boring for me. No glaze or frosting...another cake that would be really good with coffee but not as a dessert for moi.

Spanish Meringue Cake, #21, 8.15.2010

Due to the meringue topping on this cake the recipe called for it to be baked on the bottom rack setting. My oven likes to bake fast even with knowing the actual temp so I baked the cake for 35 minutes instead of the 40-45 called for by the recipe. It would appear that my oven bakes mostly normal when the rack is lowered but I didn't find this out until when we sliced into the cake. I did a test at 35 and baked it an additional 5 more minutes. Total time baked was 40 minutes but it would have needed at least 5 more or possible more. I did test the cake and thought that the goo that I saw was just very warm meringue since the recipe did warn you of that. However it was the cake itself which now had a gooey center. The parts that were cooked completely were very good however the meringue was a bit on the spongey side which may have been the underbaking or something else I did wrong with the whipping of the eggs. I am going to blame the underbaking for now though!

Coffee Spice Cake, #20

Yummy Coffee Spice Cake cooked in my new castle cake pan, 8.1.2010. The recipe for the drizzle made a ton so I have a chocolate moat around the castle. This was cake #20 and I can't believe I've made that many after so many years of avoiding the kitchen. I guess I am making up for lost time.