Lemon Pound Cake
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Hi! Remember me? I’m the one that made baked donuts and posted a bunch of Passover stuff then sort of disappeared (except for on Twitter, you can always find me there!). Things have been kind of crazy over here. My back got really bad again (MRI and nerve test next week, eeks!), then my beloved KitchenAid mixer starting wobbling and almost walked off my counter, and then I got laid off from my job of 3+ years. On the flip side, now that I’m home during the day, I was able to spend three hours on Google finding potential solutions to the wobbly mixer. Fingers crossed that it is finally fixed!
A couple days after I was laid off, I went down to San Diego to celebrate my mom’s birthday with the family. Around that time, my mom apparently asked my dad to pick up lemons while he was at Costco. And pick up lemons, he did. A HUGE bag of lemons, more than my mom would ever use before they would go bad. Fortunately, my sister and I benefited from my dad’s shopping mishap, and I decided a lemon cake was in order.
With my mixer not wobbling off the counter, I got to work zesting, juicing, and mixing, and had high hopes. Sadly, those hopes were squashed. I’m sure this is a perfectly decent lemon cake, even if the texture and taste of the bottom and sides was a little cornbread-ish. But once you have tasted Ina’s Lemon Cake, any other lemon cake is guaranteed to fail in comparison.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have Judge Judy to watch before I head to happy hour at 5:00.
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3 cups sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup shortening, room temperature
5 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
6 Tbsp lemon juice
1 lemon, zested
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350F.
Spray or butter and flour 2 loaf pans or one large bundt pan. (I used a 10-cup bundt pan and had about two extra cups of batter so I made mini bundts.)
Sift flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, cream together butter, shortening and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating until well blended after each one.
Add dry ingredients in three additions to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Mix in lemon juice and zest.
Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool cakes in pans for 15 minutes. Turn cakes out onto racks and cool completely.
Recipe from Plain Chicken.
Salted Caramel Bundt Cake
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This cake was one of the first things I ever pinned when I started spending time on Pinterest. It was also smack dab in the middle of my salty sweet phase, and there were so many recipes calling my name that this one got forgotten. Until now.
When I finally made it I was reminded of how much I love making bundts. (I think The Food Librarian is on to something.) No slicing into layers, piping, scooping, or time consuming decorating. Simply make a glaze, pour it on, and voila, you have a cake.
While the bundt was in the oven my kitchen smelled amazing, and the smell did not disappointment. The cake was rich, moist, and slightly dense, and the glaze, while U-G-L-Y was the perfect combination of salty and sweet. I brought it into the office the next day and it received rave reviews.
Cake Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup Crème fraîche
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
4 large eggs, room temperature
Cake Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour inside a bundt pan.
- Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
- Using a mixer beat the butter until creamy.
- Add the sugar and continue to mix until it becomes light and pale.
- Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla extract and Crème fraîche 1/4 cup at a time until it is all mixed in.
- Add flour mixture in small amounts allowing each bit to mix in completely before you add more.
- After all the ingredients are mixed in spoon the batter with a spatula into the bundt mold smoothing it out on top.
Bake for 50 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. - Once the cake is done let it cool for about 12 minutes before you invert it onto another rack letting it cool completely for about an hour.
Caramel Glaze Ingredients
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 stick of butter
Sea salt
Caramel Glaze Preparation
- Add the butter and sugar together and melt them at the same time while whisking (Medium Heat).
- As the butter and sugar start to dissolve, add the cream and continue to whisk (Medium to High Heat)
- Once it starts to froth and bubble, take it off the heat while still whisking.
- Pour glaze into a glass container or bowl and set aside.
- Once the cake has cooled, pour the caramel over the top covering it in a decorative fashion.
- Sprinkle the top with sea salt and serve!
Recipe adapted from The Tasteful Life.
Peanut Butter Oreo Cupcakes
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Have you discovered Pinterest yet? If you haven’t, DON’T. It’s crazy addictive and it’s where I found insane recipes like this one. But if you’ve already discovered the time suck, then you should follow me.
So anyway, about this recipe. It’s a chocolate cupcake. But it’s not your everyday chocolate cupcake. Oh no, it has an Oreo on the bottom. And a mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup in the middle. And peanut butter cookies and cream frosting on top. This is a chocolate cupcake on crack. And it’s delicious, but crazy sweet. (Shocking, right?)
Side note: I went to the store on the Saturday before the Super Bowl (yes, it was crazy) to buy the ingredients and since I was overly anxious, I didn’t read the quantities and realized I didn’t have enough Oreos to double the recipe and make the frosting. However, because the frosting requires you to remove the cream filling from the Oreos, I decided to just make a quick batch of the chocolate cookies I used for the Homemade Oreos a while back rather than brave the store on the day of the game. Plus, the temptation is then gone to eat the cream filling, because you know I totally would.
Cupcake Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 ounce bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup buttermilk
16 chocolate sandwich cookies
16 mini peanut butter cups, unwrapped
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 16 muffin cups with paper liners. Place an Oreo in the bottom of each liner.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl then stir in the chopped chocolate.
In a large bowl or the bowl of stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on high until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. With the mixer on low, slowly pour in the buttermilk and allow to incorporate for 30 seconds.
Pour in the flour mixture and beat on medium until fully incorporated, about 1 minute. Divide the batter evenly among the paper liners, filling each about 2/3 full.
Bake for 9 minutes, then remove from oven and press a peanut butter cup into the center of each cupcake. Allow to bake for 9 more minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes from the muffin tin to cool completely on a wire rack. Frost with Oreo peanut butter buttercream. Store in a sealed container at room temperature.
Frosting Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 cup peanut butter
2-3 cups confectioners sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons Oreo cookie crumbs
Frosting Preparation
Separate 12 Oreo cookies and discard the cream filling. In a food processor or plastic bag, crush the cookies into fine crumbs.
In a large bowl, beat butter and shortening on high until fully combined. Beat in peanut butter.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add 2 cups of the confectioners sugar, 2 tablespoons milk, and a pinch of salt. Start the mixer on slow, then eventually crank it up to high and beat for 2 minutes. Add more confectioners sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, until you reach your desired consistency.
Add the cookie crumbs and beat on high for 2 minutes.
Recipe from The Sweet Life.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake
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I’m not sure how I came across this recipe, but I’m sure glad I did! Not only did I think it was fantastic, but it was it a huge hit at the office as well. And since it’s yet another spectacular recipe from Baked, you can believe I’ll be checking out the bakery next time I’m in NYC!
Referring to this as a cake is a bit misleading–it’s more like a 9×13 pan full of delicious, addictive, chewy oatmeal cookie with chocolate chips topped with cream cheese frosting. I know, how can it possibly be bad?
Note: Until this recipe, I’d never made anything that required pouring hot water over oats and butter, so I found this a little strange. Also, my oat mixture got got a little gummy while it was cooling, so I wonder if I should have used slow cooking rather than quick cooking oats. Anyone know?
Cake Ingredients
8 ounces chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup oats
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups water
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teas baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Frosting Ingredients
5 tbs unsalted butter, softened
5 1/2 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Cake Preparation
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and position the rack in the center. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9 x 13 inch glass or light-colored metal baking pan. Heat 1 1/4 cups water to boiling.
Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl and toss them with the vanilla until covered. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the flour over the chips and toss until coated. This will keep them from settling at the bottom during baking. Set aside.
Place the oats and cubed butter in a large bowl. Pour the boiling water over the oat mixture, wait 30 seconds, and stir to moisten all the oats and melt the butter. Set the mixture aside for 25 to 30 minutes.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, both sugars, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon until combined. Fold in the cooled oatmeal and stir until well combined. Gently fold in the remaining flour and then chocolate chops. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes.
Frosting Preparation
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until it is completely smooth. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined.
Add the confectioners sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. (The frosting can be made 1 day ahead. Let it soften at room temperature before using.)
Spread a thin, even layer of frosting over the cooled cake then chill for 15 minutes until set. Slice and serve. The frosted cake can be kept, refrigerated and tightly covered, for up to 3 days. Bring the cake back to room temperature before serving. (An unfrosted one will keep for 3 days, tightly covered, at room temperature. )
Recipe adapted from Pass the Sushi.
Brown Sugar Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting
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By now you’re probably aware of my love of sweets with brown sugar, especially the Brown Sugar Cookies. So when I saw Bake or Break post about these cupcakes, it was a no-brainer.
I was a little nervous because the recipe is from Martha Stewart, and I’ve made some recipes of hers that left a lot to be desired. Fortunately, this recipe rocked! While the cupcakes are dense, they’re soft, moist, and have an amazing caramel flavor. The frosting has a tang from the cream cheese, and the brown sugar gives it a a nice sweetness.
Cupcake Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 & 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup buttermilk
Cupcake Preparation
Preheat oven to 325°. Line standard muffin tins with liners.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with buttermilk. Beat until well-combined after each addition.
Fill lined cups 3/4 full with batter. Bake 20-30 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on wire racks 10 minutes then remove from pans to cool completely.
Makes about 30 cupcakes.
Photos of the process.
Frosting Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
Frosting Preparation
Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, cream cheese, and brown sugar until smooth.
Frost cupcakes immediately, or refrigerate frosting for up to 3 days. After refrigerating, bring to room temperature and beat on low speed until smooth. Note: I’m lazy and didn’t want to put the frosting back in the mixer and wash another bowl, so I used the egg beater that OXO sent me. It was easy to use and even easier to clean, and it can go in the dishwasher! Stay tuned for your chance to win one here.
Recipe adapted from Bake or Break.
