Category Archives: Cakes

Cakes, Desserts, Entertaining, Holidays

Flag Cake with Berries and Cream Cheese Frosting

Between this year’s COVID-19, Presidential antics, and a national (long overdue) reckoning with racism, I find myself falling back on the comfort of baking. 2020 feels like a perfect time to bake more cakes and restart the blog. I spent many hours cooking for my family during our shelter-at-home quarantine and suspect that many of you have done the same. 

I only make this flag cake once per year although it is one of my favorites. This year I don’t really feel like celebrating the state of America so I may rearrange the berries into a less controversial pattern. Suggestions welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

American Flag Cake

adapted from Barefoot Contessa

  • 18 tablespoons (2–1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 6 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 cup sour cream, room temperature
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

For the Icing:

  • 3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 4 cups (about 3/4 pound) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To Assemble:

  • 1 pint blueberries
  • 2 pints raspberries

Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and flour an 18 x 12 x 1–1/2‑inch sheet pan (a “half sheet” pan). Alternatively, you can line the pan with parchment paper.

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for 3 minutes on medium speed, until light and fluffy. On medium-low speed, add the eggs, 2 at a time, then add the sour cream and vanilla. Scrape down the sides and stir until smooth.

Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Stir the batter with a rubber spatula and pour into the prepared pan. Smooth the top and bake in the center of the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool to room temperature.

For the icing, combine the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on medium speed until very smooth. Add the confectioners’ sugar and mix on low speed. Stir with a rubber spatula to be sure the icing is well mixed.

Spread half of the icing on the cake. Using a toothpick, outline a flag on the cake. Fill in the upper left corner with blueberries. Place 2 rows of raspberries across the top of the cake like the red stripes. Put the remaining icing in a pastry bag fitted with a star tip and pipe two rows of white stripes below the raspberries. Alternately add 2 rows of raspberries and 2 rows of icing until the flag is completed. Pipe stars on top of the blueberries.

Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Cakes, Desserts, Fruit

Nigella Lawson’s Store Cupboard Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Cookbook writers and TV chefs are always talking about dishes to serve when unexpected guests pop in or if you’re having friends round for a midweek dinner party. Seriously? Who on earth has a dinner party in the middle of the week? And who calls in unannounced and expects to have some little treat fresh out of the oven set down in front of them? I’m a third generation Virgo and consider myself to be fairly well organised, but I would be hard pressed to rustle up much more than some stale crackers unearthed from the back of the pantry if someone dropped by out of the blue.

Until, that is, I discovered this cake. It’s my favorite kind of cake recipe — the kind where the butter is melted and then everything gets stirred together in one pot, meaning you don’t even have to plan ahead to let the butter soften first. I always have the baking basics on hand (flour, butter, sugar, eggs), and if you just add a jar of raspberry jam and a bar of dark chocolate to that list, then this is truly a store cupboard cake, one you can breezily whip together at a moment’s notice if a craving for cake suddenly strikes — or if, like Nigella, you just so happen to be throwing an effortless-looking dinner party on a school night.

Store Cupboard Chocolate Raspberry Cake
adapted from How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson

The original recipe is actually called Store Cupboard Chocolate Orange Cake, since it calls for marmalade instead of raspberry jam. I’ve made it that way too but as much as I love marmalade, I like the raspberry jam version even better.

1/2 cup (125 g) unsalted butter
4 oz (100 g) dark chocolate, broken into pieces
3/4 cup (300 g) good-quality raspberry jam (or apricot jam or marmalade)
3/4 (150 g) sugar
pinch of salt
2 large eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups (150 g) self-raising flour
confectioners’ sugar (icing sugar), to decorate (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter and flour an 8 inch (20 cm) Springform pan and set aside.

Put the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and set over a low heat to melt. When it’s almost melted, stir in the chocolate and allow it to melt a little. Take the pan off the heat and stir until the butter and chocolate are smooth and melted. Add in the jam, sugar, salt and eggs and stir well until everything is combined. Sift in the flour and stir again (taking care not to overmix), then pour the batter into the prepared Springform pan. Bake in the oven for 45 to 50 minutes, until a tester inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set the pan on a wire rack and allow the cake to cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before you turn it out. Once it’s completely cooled, sift over some confectioners’ (icing) sugar to decorate.

Cakes

Best Ever Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

No really. This is the best ever banana cake. I don’t even like banana cake and I’ve made this twice in two weeks. It was so tasty, so perfectly textured, so cream cheese frosting‑y, I barely had time to snap a picture of myself eating it before it was gone. And yes, I do need a manicure but if I have a spare hour these days, I’m more likely to make a cake (this cake!) than drag myself to the salon. In addition to being one of my new favorite cakes, this recipe wins points on procedure alone. Unlike any recipe I’ve seen before, this cake bakes slow and low followed by an immediate trip to the freezer to cool. I was dubious, but the method works wonderfully.

Best Ever Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from food.com

If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can make it by combining 1 1/2 cups of milk with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Stir the milk and lemon juice together and let sit 10 minutes before using.

Serves 12

Cake:
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 cups (360 g) flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (170 g) butter, softened
2 cups (400 g) sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) buttermilk

Frosting:
1/2 cup (110 g) butter, softened
8 oz (225 g) cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups (360 ml) icing (confectioners) sugar
chopped toasted pecans, to garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 275°F (140°C). Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.

In a small bowl, mix the mashed banana with the lemon juice; set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.

Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour. Stir in the banana mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 65–80 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. You may have to check the cake a few times, as cooking times can vary greatly with this cake. Remove the cake from the oven and place it directly into the freezer for 60 minutes. This will make the cake very moist.

While the cake cools, make the frosting. Cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in the vanilla. Add the icing sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed until the frosting is smooth. Spread the frosting on the cooled cake. Sprinkle chopped pecans over the frosting, if desired. Store in the refrigerator, covered.

Cakes, Desserts

Banana, Cherry and White Chocolate Cupcakes

I’ve hit on the perfect play date treat with these banana, cherry and white chocolate cupcakes. Unusually for a cupcake these days, they’re not smothered with any frosting, so they’re not messy to eat and don’t make for sticky fingers. Plus they don’t have too much sugar in them, relying on the bananas for sweetness instead, and I always feel like any treat with fruit keeps it on the right side of indulgence. Friends, you’ve had fair warning now — next time you invite me and my kids over, I’ll be bringing a batch of these.

Banana, Cherry and White Chocolate Cupcakes
adapted from How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson

Makes 12 cupcakes

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon (125 g) unsalted butter
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup (60 ml) sour cream or natural yogurt
2 large eggs, beaten
2 1/2 cups (300 g) plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup (40 g) dried cherries, chopped (you could substitute dried cranberries or even raisins)
1/4 cup (50 g) white chocolate, chopped, or use chips or buttons

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a muffin tin with paper or silicone cases.

Melt the butter in a saucepan big enough to eventually hold all the batter. Off the heat, add the sugar, vanilla and mashed bananas. Stir in the sour cream or yogurt and the eggs and beat to mix with a wooden spoon. Sift in the flour, baking soda and baking powder, then fold in the cherries and chocolate. Mix until everything is just blended (don’t overmix!), then divide the mixture between the 12 muffin cases. Cook for 20 minutes, until golden and springy on top and a tester comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes in their papers to a wire rack and leave till cool.

Cakes, Desserts, Fruit

Chocolate Orange Marble Cake

We’re eating citrus in our house like it’s going out of style–or at least out of season. Although February food can be rather bleak notwithstanding the plethora of root vegetables you can scrounge up, at least we can still find great oranges and grapefruit. I love the combination of chocolate and orange, especially in cake form. And of course I’m a sucker for a cake that is moist tender and without frosting (see for example maple yogurt pound cake, raspberry buttermilk cake, and lemon yogurt cake). This marble cake, which I usually bake as a loaf, maintains its moistness for days thanks to a post-bake drizzle of orange juice and sugar syrup. Make it now, before April rolls around and oranges become pithy and expensive.

 

Chocolate Orange Marble Cake
adapted from allrecipes.com

Serves 10

1 cup (225 g) butter, softened
1 1/4 cups (250 g) white sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup (240 ml) plain or vanilla yogurt
1 3/4 cups (210 g) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons grated orange zest
2 ounces (60 g) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, melted [Note: I use a microwave for melting]
4 tablespoons orange juice

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease and flour a loaf pan or 10 inch tube pan.

In a large bowl, cream the butter with 1 cup (200 g) of the white sugar. Beat in the eggs, then the vanilla and the yogurt.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat the flour mixture into the creamed ingredients. Turn 2/3 of the batter into another bowl. Add the orange zest to that bowl and the melted chocolate to the remaining batter. Alternately spoon the orange and chocolate batters into the greased and floured pan. Gently swirl through the two batters with a knife to create a marbled effect.

Bake for 45–50 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. While the cake bakes, stir together the remaining 1/4 cup (50 g) sugar and the orange juice, making sure the sugar dissolves completely. As soon as the done cake is removed from the oven, pour the juice/sugar mixture over the still hot cake. Let the cake finish cooling on a rack before serving.

Cakes, Desserts, Entertaining, Holidays

Nigella Lawson’s Clementine Cake

I wasn’t planning to post this week (birthdays, holidays, children, my excuses could go on forever), but this cake is so quick, easy, and different, I had to share. In case any of you need a holiday dessert you can make the ahead of time, this is the cake for you. It’s texture and flavor become more complex on day two, though eating it warm out of the oven might be delicious also. This cake alone might save my sanity this season. I made it last weekend for lunch with my cousin. It’s not too sweet so I’m taking another one to work for my birthday breakfast treat tomorrow. And then I’ll make it again on Friday night to serve with Christmas dinner on Saturday. Speaking of which, I’m cutting this post short  so I can get back to figuring out the logistics of seating thirteen people for dinner at a table that only holds twelve. Happy holidays everyone!

Clementine Cake
adapted from Nigella Lawson

Serves 8

Like many of Nigella Lawson’s cakes, this one seems an incredibly bad idea as you stir it together. Seriously, who would think to boil whole clementines, mash them peel and all, and throw them into a cake that doesn’t even have flour? It works though, and your whole house will smell wonderfully of citrus as it bakes.

4 to 5 clementines (about 13 oz / 370 g total weight)
6 eggs
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (225 g) sugar
2 1/3 cups (250 g) ground almonds
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
Powdered (confectioner’s) sugar, for dusting

Put the clementines in a pot with cold water to cover, bring to the boil, and cook for 2 hours. [Check the pan regularly to ensure it doesn’t dry out.] Drain the clementines and, when cool, cut each clementine in half and remove the seeds. Then finely chop the skins, pith, and fruit in the processor (or by hand, of course).

Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Butter and line an 8‑inch springform pan with parchment paper.

Beat the eggs. Add the sugar, almonds, and baking powder. Mix well, adding the chopped clementines. I don’t like using the processor for this, and frankly, you can’t balk at a little light stirring.

Pour the cake mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour, when a skewer will come out clean; you’ll probably have to cover the cake with foil after about 40 minutes to stop the top from burning. Remove from the oven and leave to cool, in the pan on a rack. When the cake is cold, you can take it out of the pan.

 

Cakes, Desserts, French food

Honey Spiced Madeleines

Madeleines are my new favorite thing to bake. I don’t normally go for recipes that call for hard-to-find ingredients or specific equipment, but a madeleine pan is a little luxury and even the tiniest kitchen could surely squeeze one in. They take only minutes to pull together and 10 minutes to bake, yet people are invariably impressed by them. They’re perfect with tea or coffee and also make an excellent treat for a play date, seeing as how they don’t have that much sugar and are just the right size for little hands to hold.

They’re also open to endless variations — in my own cookbook collection, I have recipes for hazelnut lemon madeleines, rosewater madeleines and butterscotch madeleines — but I’ve fallen in love with these honey spiced ones and have made them three times in the past three weeks. There’s something about the spices, just right for autumn, and the soft, cake-like texture when they’re still warm from the oven that remind me of a doughnut, and in my book it doesn’t get better than that.

Honey Spiced Madeleines
adapted from Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan (recipe available online here)

Makes 12 madeleines

There are all sorts of tips and tricks for how to make the perfect madeleine — letting the batter rest, putting the tin in the freezer, piping the batter into the moulds, not using baking powder — but I don’t worry about any of that and they still turn out perfectly fine and perfectly delicious.

3/4 cup (90 g) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup (75 g) sugar
grated zest of 1/2 orange
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 tablespoons (90 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
powdered sugar (icing sugar), to dust (optional)

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, spices, salt and pepper and set aside.

Working in a mixer bowl, stir the sugar and orange zest together. Fit the mixer with the whisk attachment, add the eggs to the bowl and beat for about 2 minutes, until the mixture is light, fluffy and thickened. Add in the honey, then the vanilla.  Switch to a rubber spatula and gently fold in the dry ingredients followed by the melted butter. You can use the batter now, but Dorie Greenspan says it’s better if you can give it a little rest. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the batter and chill for 3 hours or, if you have the time, overnight. Making the batter in advance also means you can have madeleines that are fresh from the oven and still warm if you’re serving them to guests, or make them in the morning and bake them after the kids get home from school for a little treat.

When you’re ready to bake them, centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Butter 12 full-size madeleine molds (or 36 mini-molds), dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. If you have a non-stick madeleine mold, butter and flour it anyway or give it a light coating of vegetable cooking spray. (If your pan is silicone, you can leave it as is.) Place the pan on a baking sheet.

Spoon the batter into the molds, filling each one three-quarters full (if you overfill the molds, they’ll spill out over the sides a bit and won’t be quite as pretty when they’re done). Bake the large madeleines for 11 to 13 minutes and the minis for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the madeleines are golden and the tops spring back when prodded gently. Remove the pan from the oven and release the madeleines from the molds by rapping the edge of the pan against the counter. Gently pry any stuck madeleines from the pan using your fingers or a butter knife. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to just-warm or room temperature. Dust with powdered sugar (icing sugar) if you like.

Cakes, Fruit, Miscellaneous

Old South Jelly Roll Cake (and my favorite canning recipes)

As odd as this is to admit, I’ve developed an addiction to canning. It all started quite innocently with a batch of strawberry lemonade concentrate a couple years ago. Then last year Kristin helped me put up a batch of garlic dill pickles. Now I’ve worked my way up to pickled peppers, spicy dilly beans, green tomato relish, and, finally this year, jam. Strawberry jam, though not the easiest thing I’ve ever cooked, may be one of the best things to come off my stove top. Even the extra emergency trip to the store to buy more Sure Jell (Anabelle had hidden mine in the microwave) didn’t bother me after tasting the final product.

But what can you do with such a treasure? Surely it could not live up to its potential merely spread on wheat toast. Leave it to Sam to come up with a solution — a jelly roll. How a four-year-old even knows about this old-fashioned dessert is beyond me, but I’m glad he does. The light sponge cake highlights the sweet, ruby red jam beautifully, a tasty and lovely looking treat, perfect for a picnic.

Old South Jelly Roll Cake
From Paula Deen, Food Network

4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup (150 g) sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
3/4 cup (75 g) cake flour, sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (250 ml) jam, stirred well
confectioners’ sugar (a.k.a. icing sugar), for dusting, sifted
whipped cream, to serve (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

In a small bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry and set aside. In another bowl, beat the egg yolks until light. Gradually add the sugar and vanilla, and mix well. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the sifted flour mixture to the egg yolk mixture. Fold the egg whites into the egg mixture and pour the batter into a 15 x 10 x 1‑inch jelly roll (Swiss roll) pan lined with waxed paper. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the cake is golden.

Loosen the edges of cake and invert the cake onto a dish towel dusted with confectioners’ sugar. Gently and slowly peel the wax paper off the cake. Trim 1/4 inch of hard crust off each long side of the jelly roll cake. Begin with the narrow side and roll the cake and towel up together. Cool the cake on a rack, seam side down, for 10 to 15 minutes.

Once the cake has cooled, gently unroll and spread the cake with jam and re-roll. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.