POM Velvet Cake
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A few months ago, the nice people at POM sent me a ton of POM juice to try out. Not being a juice fan (I much prefer the fresh seeds), I decided to try one of the many recipes on their site that uses the juice. And as soon as I saw the recipe for this cake, I knew it must be made. Come on, who wouldn’t get excited about “velvet cake” that doesn’t using food coloring?
And it’s good. Unfortunately, aside from a barely noticeable red hue, the POM juice didn’t do much for the color, and the flavor is that of…chocolate cake. I noticed that instead of a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder like most red velvet cakes, this recipe calls for 3/4 cup. No wonder it tastes so chocolately. But fortunately for me, chocolately means good!
Cake Ingredients
juice from 1 large POM Wonderful pomegranate* or 1/2 cup POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup half-and-half
Icing Ingredients
1 cup arils from 1–2 large POM Wonderful pomegranates (Pomegranates aren’t in season, so I skipped this)
12 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 lb. confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1/8 teaspoon salt
Cake Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Prepare fresh pomegranate juice.*
- Line the bases of two round 9” x 2” baking pans with either parchment or wax paper. Grease paper but do not line or grease sides of pans.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in mixing bowl and set aside.
In a separate mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes at medium speed. - To the bowl with the butter mixture, add eggs one at a time, beating after each one. Add vanilla extract.
- Pour half-and-half into a large measuring cup and add in vinegar and pomegranate juice; stir.
Add one-third of the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix on low speed, alternating with the half-and-half and ending with flour. Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed. - Divide batter into cake pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until cakes test done using a toothpick inserted near the center. The toothpick should be free of wet batter when withdrawn.
- Allow cakes to rest in cake pan for 15 minutes or until pans are cold to the touch.
- Invert cakes onto a cooling rack.
Icing Preparation
- Score 1–2 fresh pomegranates and place in a bowl of water. Break open the pomegranates under water to free the arils (seed sacs). The arils will sink to the bottom of the bowl and the membrane will float to the top. Sieve and put the arils in a separate bowl. Reserve 1 cup of the arils from fruit and set aside. (Refrigerate or freeze remaining arils for another use.)
- Blend cream cheese and butter in mixing bowl.
- Add vanilla. Beat at medium speed.
- Add confectioner’s sugar and salt. Beat until fluffy.
- Place one layer of cake on a cake plate and spread with one third of the icing.
- Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of arils.
- Cover with second layer of cake and ice with remaining icing.
- Garnish with remaining arils.
* For 1 cup of juice, cut 2–3 large POM Wonderful Pomegranates in half and juice them with a citrus reamer or juicer. Pour the mixture through a cheesecloth-lined strainer or sieve. Set the juice aside.
Recipe from POM Wonderful.
Chocolate Chip Shortbread
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Hey there! I’m here and still enjoying funemployment (while looking for a job). Since I don’t have my 100+ guinea pigs at an office anymore, I haven’t been trying out new recipes, hence the lack of posts. And in addition to not wanting to eat three dozen cookies by myself, it’s been super hot here and the thought of turning on my oven made me cringe. Fortunately, the weather has cooled down (a tiny bit) and I decided to give a simple recipe a shot.
This shortbread is good, but not spectacular. My favorite is still the brown sugar version I made earlier in the year. Like good shortbread should be, these cookies aren’t very sweet, are chewy, and have crispy ends. However, I feel like they’re missing something–maybe more salt. Disappointing!
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips (I was out of mini chips so I chopped up regular sized ones)
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in vanilla and add flour and salt.
- Stir in chips.
- Divide dough in half.
- Press each half into an ungreased 8 inch round pan.
- Bake 12 minutes or until edges are golden.
- Score each shortbread with sharp knife into 8 even wedges, but do not cut all the way through.
- Leave in pans and cool on racks for 10 minutes.
- Invert onto racks and cool completely.
- Break into wedges.
Recipe from Recipezaar.
Peppermint Patties
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I came across this this recipe and immediately got it in my head that I would make peppermint patties for my dad, nevermind the fact that I had no dipping chocolate in the house. So, off I went to Surfas, where I also bought THREE POUNDS OF SKOR BITS (why? I don’t know) and returned home ready to make candies, only to discover I was out of corn syrup. Not about to go to the market now, I searched the web and came across a corn syrup-less recipe and decided to give it a go.
These are minty, chewy, and delicious and taste just like a York peppermint patty. Would I make them again? Hell no. While I love to eat chocolate, I am horrible at dipping things in it. In fact, I ended up using a pastry brush to brush the chocolate on because I had trouble digging the first patty out of the chocolate after it fell in. So you see, I have absolutely no chance of ever having a career as a chocolatier. Unless ugly dipping styles become popular, then I’d be highly successful.
Ugly photos of the messy process here.
Ingredients
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract
3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips or dipping chocolate
2 teaspoons shortening (I used dipping chocolate so I omitted this)
Preparation
In a large mixing bowl, combine condensed milk and peppermint extract. Beat in enough confectioners’ sugar, a little at a time, to form a stiff dough that is no longer sticky. Form into 1 inch balls, then place on waxed paper and flatten with fingers to form patties. Let patties dry at room temperature two hours, turning once.
In double boiler over low heat, melt chocolate with shortening, stirring often. Dip patties, one at a time, into chocolate by laying them on the tines of a fork and lowering the fork into the liquid. (Or say screw that and use a brush to coat them, like I did.) Let cool on waxed paper until set.
Recipe adapted from All Recipes.
Cookie Press Giveaway!
I’m still here, I’ve just been super busy with family and friends, specifically one that was in town from Australia! And I promise to have new recipes soon. In the meantime, a giveaway.
You might remember back in March I won a bunch of cool Wilton products. Well, one of the items they sent me was a cookie press, which is similar to one I already have. So, I’m giving the new one away. To enter, all you have to do is tell me about your favorite dessert ever, whether it was something you made or ate a restaurant–just give me the details! And while you’re here, feel free to tell me (anything you want) about yourself, I like to know who reads this blog.
Contest ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, July 5, 2009. One winner will be selected at random on Monday, July 6 and contacted by email shortly thereafter. Please note this contest is only open to residents of the U.S. and Canada.
Strawberry Buttermilk Cake
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I was down in San Diego visiting my parents for Memorial Day weekend when this recipe showed up in my Google Reader. It was 9 at night and my parents, sister, and I were all sitting around watching TV, stuffed from dinner and a party earlier in the day. I made this cake thinking we would taste it before bed and eat some of it the next day.
Which we did. Actually, we finished it the next day. And made two more as well. Oh yes, it was that much of a hit! The second time around, I made it a lot healthier by making a few substitutions: I replaced the butter with applesauce (tablespoon for tablespoon), the sugar with Splenda, and the flour with whole wheat flour. And it still got two thumbs up from everyone! It’s light, moist, delicious, and incredibly simple to make.
Notes: Since I was baking at my parents’ house and didn’t have my cake pans, I used a pie pan and it turned out just fine. I also made my own buttermilk (using Lactaid!) by adding 1/2 tablespoon of vinegar to the 1/2 cup milk and let it sit for 10 minutes. And finally, you can substitute any berry you wish.
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)
1 large egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh strawberries (you can use any berry you want)
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 2/3 cup (146 grams) sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about two minutes, then beat in vanilla and zest, if using. Add egg and beat well.
At low speed, mix in flour mixture in three batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined.Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter raspberries evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar.
Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes (mine were all done in about 18 minutes). Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate (I skipped this part and just cut, sliced, and served–much easier).
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen.
