Dark Chocolate Cherry Pudding Cake

Wow- 2 years hiatus! Where did the time go? In the meanwhile, we have built a wonderful new kitchen with all the bells and whistles to keep me baking for a while. It was worth not having a kitchen (or sink!) for 3 months!
Back with a recipe for a delicious and easy dessert.
Credit to King Arthur Flour and Trader Joe's for this one, although as usual I have tweaked everything.


Dark Chocolate Cherry Pudding Cake


One jar of Morello Cherries (I use the 27.4 oz jar from Trader Joe's)
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
Scant 1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
4 cups water/cherry juice
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 vegetable oil


Preheat oven to 350 F.
Drain the cherries and reserve the liquid.
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl with a whisk.
Add the vanilla and oil but do not mix.
Add the cherry juice and water (to make 4 cups total) to the bowl.
Blend thoroughly with the whisk.
Pour into a 9 x 13 inch greased pan and gently add the cherries evenly.
Bake for 45 minutes or until the center and sides are done but it is still jiggly when you give it a gentle shake (I love the word jiggly!)
Let it cool for about 10 minutes and enjoy!

Molasses Gingerbread Cookies

December
The chill in the air, the smell of smoke drifting on the night breeze, the colorful lights draped over trees and bushes, reminding us that there will be bright days again in a few months.... And molasses gingerbread cookies. Not only are they delicious and soft and perfect with a cup of coffee, but their colored sparkling sugar jackets twinkle like the lights guiding us to thoughts of warmth.

Molasses Gingerbread Cookies

4 1/2 cups flour
4 teaspoons ground ginger (or more, depending on personal preference)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups shortening (crisco or butter or mix)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses

Colored or White sugar for rolling dough balls in

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Mix flour and spices and other dry ingredients and set aside.
Beat shortening until soft and then add sugar and beat until fluffy.
Add eggs and molasses to shortening and mix together.
Add one half of flour mixture to wet ingredients and blend until combined.
Stir remaining flour mixture in with spoon.
Make 1-2 inch balls and roll in sugar.
Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 12-16 minutes.

Really Chocolate Cake

This is the recipe for Really Chocolate Cake. I mean REALLY. If you like moist, dense, rich chocolate cake, then this is the one for you. If not, you can make an appointment with Duncan Hines! It is adapted from the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe. Best with a glass of cold milk!!


Really Chocolate Cake

2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil (or 1/4 cup oil and 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce)
1 cup boiling water (may add some espresso powder if desired)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour pans (will make three 8 inch layers, two 9 inch layers, a 9 x 13 inch cake, or about 30 cupcakes).

Mix and sift together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed with mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Spoon into prepared pans and bake for about 25 minutes (cupcakes) to 30-40 minutes (9 x 13 inch cake). Cake is done when toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.

Let cake cool in pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a rack to cool completely.


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Really Chocolate Frosting

4 oz unsalted butter (one stick)
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup melted chocolate chips (semisweet, milk, white- your choice depending on how deep a flavor you want)

Melt butter in microwave. Add cocoa and stir to make a thick paste. Gradually add powdered sugar alternating with milk, ending with the powdered sugar. Add vanilla. Beat in melted chocolate with a spoon until frosting is glossy. Spread on cooled cake layers.

It's been a while!

Hi! It's been a while since my last post and I hope that people are feeling Fall in the air. Fall means mums and leaves and evening chill and pumpkins. And of course, pumpkins mean whoopie pies. This recipe came about due to a desire to mix pumpkin bread with gingerbread. A cream cheese filling seemed a natural way to link the flavors, and the cookie halves! Enjoy with your hot cider as you watch the trees paint the sky in their last blaze of glory.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Whoopie Pies


For the cookies:

1 cup sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons Maple syrup or Molasses
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 tsp ground ginger
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a mixer, cream the sugar and the butter until light and fluffy. Add the maple syrup (or molasses) and eggs. Mix to incorporate. Add the pumpkin and mix to incorporate. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and ginger. Add the dry ingredients to the batter and mix well. Drop rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets (I use parchment lined cookie sheets). Bake for 12 minutes, or until lightly golden brown around the edges. Cool on racks.

Filling:
½ cup cream cheese
¼ cup shortening
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
Generous ½ cup marshmallow topping (Marshmallow Fluff)
Dash salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tsp milk
Lemon zest to taste
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all ingredients except the milk and beat well. Add just enough milk to achieve a creamy consistency. Spread filling across cooled cookie circles and make sandwiches

So I wanna bake...

I feel the urge to bake. Hours of sun decreasing, chill in the air, butter in my freezer- all contributing to the desire. How does everyone think offering to bake for others might go over? As in, "I am going somewhere for Thanksgiving and need to bring something but haven't baked a cake since home ec in tenth grade". Do you think anyone would consider buying cakes, cookies, and/or pies from a closet baker? Caleb thinks that the chocolate cake and carrot cake would be successful. Eddie thinks lemon bread and lemon pillow cookies sound grand. And who could resist pumpkin gingerbread whoopie pies?

Temptation

Temptation comes in many forms but I would like to address one particular issue today. Have you ever been to IKEA? Have you wound your way through the maze of furniture, rugs, housewares, and clever items designed to separate us from our money to find that, exhausted mentally and physically, there is a magnificent aroma coming from the checkout area? That sweet, spicy, vanilla-scented smell which whispers "cinnamon rolls" to your tired body. You stand in line, deciding again if you really need that combination soap dispenser/towel rack/ironing board, and rationalize. "I just spent 3 hours walking around this 350,000 square foot homage to organized living. I must have burned about 1000 calories. If I just get one cinnamon roll, it won't be a bad thing...." Anyway, I suspect that we have all given in at one time or another. My always active baker mind, however, rationalizes as follows, "if I eat just one more, I will be able to finally figure out the secret to these cinnamon rolls which makes them taste soooooo good".
After far too many cinnamon rolls (thankfully IKEA is 60 miles from my house so the price of gas has also largely prevented me from indulging), I think I finally found a recipe that comes pretty darn close. This is an adaptation of a recipe from the Food Network website and is fairly simple for a yeasted dough recipe. Please don't be afraid of baking with yeast- just because it is alive does not mean that it will refuse to cooperate in your effort. Just be nice to it, and it will be nice back. Yeast is our friend, especially in these cinnamon rolls.

Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup nonfat evaporated milk
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1/4 ounce package)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (13 ounces)
1/4 cup sugar (1 3/4 ounces)
3/4 teaspoon fine salt (1/8 ounce)
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg or to taste

Filling:
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon or to taste
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, very soft, plus more for coating the pan
1/3-1/2 cup cinnamon chips

Glaze:
2/3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
3 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 by 13 inch pan with Baker's Joy.
Combine the water and milk in a large bowl and microwave until it is about 110 degrees F. Sprinkle the yeast over the surface over the liquid. Sprinkle a pinch of the sugar over the top and stir gently. Let rest until foamy, about 5 minutes.
Whisk the butter, egg yolk and vanilla into the yeast mixture.
Whisk the flour, the sugar, salt and nutmeg in a large bowl. Add to the yeast mixture with a wooden spoon or whisk to make a thick and slightly sticky dough. Add more flour as needed and knead until soft and elastic, about 6 minutes (I knead the dough right in the bowl). Shape into a ball.
Brush the inside of a large bowl with butter. Put dough in the buttered bowl, turning to coat lightly with butter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 hour 15 minutes.
Turn dough out of the bowl and knead briefly to release excess air; reform into a ball and return to the bowl. Lightly butter a large piece of plastic wrap and lay it on the dough. Cover the entire bowl tightly with plastic and proof in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.

To fill and form the rolls: Mix the softened butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon together until you have a thick paste. Turn prepared dough onto a work surface and press, then roll into 10-by-18-inch rectangle, with a long edge facing you. I use a large cutting board for rolling on/measuring. Spread the cinnamon paste evenly over the surface of the dough, leaving about an inch border on the side opposite you. Evenly scatter the cinnamon chips over the dough. Starting from the long side facing you, roll the dough up into a tight cylinder. Press the open long edge to the dough to seal the cylinder.
Cut the log with a sharp knife to make approximately one inch wide rolls. Place the rolls cut-side-down in the prepared pan, leaving a little space between them. Cover the rolls loosely with plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm place to rise until rolls double in size, about 45 minutes.
Position the rack in the center of the oven bake buns until golden brown and the tops of the buns spring back when pressed lightly, about 30 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes.

To make the glaze: Mix all of the glaze ingredients together until smooth. Drizzle the icing over warm buns. Serve.

Notes:
These may be refrigerated or frozen after forming. If refrigerated overnight, allow buns to come to room temperature for about 1/2 hour, then proof fully (until doubled in size) before baking, about 2 hours. If frozen, allow buns to come to room temperature, about 1 hour, and then proof fully (until doubled in size) before baking, about 2 hours.

Storage:
Though the buns are best eaten on the day they are baked, they will keep, covered, for a day. They freeze well.

When life gives you lemons

One of my favorite scents is fresh lemon. Zesting a lemon is worth every zested knuckle I have ever suffered. Keeping that in mind, I thought that I would try to make a glazed lemon cake. It is a kind of pound cake, along the lines of the old 1-2-3 cake. The base for this one came from Marcia Wrubel, the mom of one of my oldest friends, Susan. She made the best marble pound cake and was completely dedicated to teaching us to bake when we were little. Thank you, Marcia, and hope you enjoy this adaptation of your recipe.

Glazed Lemon Cake

3 cups All Purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs

1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a bundt pan (10 cup- or smaller pans if you like) with Baker's Joy. Mix together the first 3 ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs to the butter/sugar mixture and mix well. Add dry ingredients to the egg/butter/sugar mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. Stir in the lemon zest. Bake for 45-60 minutes, depending on the shape/size of your pan(s).

Let the cake sit for five minutes, then turn it out onto a cooling rack resting on a cookie sheet. Glaze warm cake with lemon glaze (recipe below) liberally, allowing the extra glaze to spill onto the cookie sheet. Be generous- this is one of the best parts of the cake!

Let the cake cool to room temperature. Store covered, but again as with many cakes, this one tastes best the day after making it, when the glaze has had time to crystallize and soak into the cake.

Lemon Glaze

1/2 pound confectioners sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted but cooled)
3 tablespoons lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Mix all ingredients until blended and smooth.

Notes:
You can use more or less lemon zest/juice as desired. You may have leftover glaze- just keep going with it. The more layers of glaze, the better.