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.

July Have the Cake Challenge!

Nothing like the last minute! I made the pavlova yesterday...I waited mostly because I was nervous about dealing with egg whites. I decided to make this recipe for the pavlova itself but liked the idea of adding more flavor to the filling so did the pastry cream recipe posted here along with the fruit sauce.

I was unable to remove the pavlova from the parchment pan without destroying it so it was served on the baking sheet. If I made this again I am not sure how I would get around the sticking. But regardless it tasted really good and was very interesting to make.
The layers on the pavlova are pastry cream filling, blueberry sauce, whipped cream and fresh blueberries.

Paula Dean's Almond Sour Cream Pound Cake, #19

Back to baking in my tube pan...not sure I can say I missed it b/c I am liking my bundt pan an awful lot. This cake sounded super yummy to me but it didn't strike me as good as I thought it would be. I mean it was good and it has gotten really good reviews from the boyfriend and the office but I guess it is just not my favorite. I have been finding that the cakes seem a touch overcooked, even with the oven thermometer, so I shaved off 5 minutes from the suggested baking time. I think this has worked out well and I will try it again this weekend.

The Naughty Senator, #18

What a fun name...the flavors represents the rich (chocolate), debauching (rum) politician (peppermint) and it was my first try at a marbled cake, 7.19.2010. I was worried about splitting the batter correctly since I screwed that up on a previous recipe but I did much better this time. I could have marbled the batter a tiny bit more with a thinner spatula but it still came out nicely swirled. Next time (b/c there will be a next time for this cake) I'll bake it for about 5 minutes less as it was a touch dry and add a chocolate glaze.