3 posts tagged “cake”
The pink cake reminded me of strawberry cake that my family used to make a long time ago. It was from a box, and tasted wonderful. I realized I hadn't seen Strawberry cake mix in a very long time.
The cake in this photo from Betty Crocker is not a strawberry cake, it's just dyed pink. (You can find the recipe for the cake and the frosting here.) I decided I wanted to make a similar looking cake, but not using their recipe.
I looked at the small A&P near our apartment, but they didn't have any boxed strawberry cake mix. I had to go to the larger Shoprite to find it - they had the Pillsbury kind.
This weekend I made a two layer strawberry cake with homemade vanilla buttercream frosting. It turned out really good (although definitely not as beautiful as Betty Crocker's cake). The boxed strawberry cake was just as delicious as I remembered from my childhood.
If you'd like to try something similar, the recipe for Magnolia's Vanilla Buttercream Frosting that I used can be found online here. I made the strawberry cake exactly as directed on the box. You could also cut some fresh strawberries in half and place them around the top of the cake. I didn't since I'm allergic to fresh strawberries. They would also make excellent cupcakes, and then you could put a strawberry half on top of every cupcake.
Part 2 of my cooking extravaganza (see part 1 here) was more ambitious: Ooey Gooey Chocolate Cakes.
You may be wondering why I decided to make Ooey Gooey Chocolate Cakes when I was already making a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. (Very possibly you were not wondering this, but let's humor me.) There is a very good explanation. The Ooey Gooey Chocolate Cakes came first. I saw this recipe weeks ago on Design*Sponge, and knew I wanted to make them for dessert for Ryan's birthday dinner. A while later, I decided I wanted to make him a regular birthday cake too. Especially since the Ooey Gooey cakes only made 4 tiny individual serving sized cakes. Plus, what's better than 5 cakes?
Ooey Gooey Chocolate Cakes
6 oz bittersweet Ghiradelli chocolate (One and a half bars)
4 oz unsalted butter
2 tablespoons cake flour
1/3 cup cocoa (unsweetened)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and sugar 4 (4 oz) ramekins. Melt butter and chocolate in a double boiler. (or do what I do since I don’t have one: put ingredients in smaller saucepan, fill a larger saucepan partway with water and float the smaller saucepan inside the larger one). Sift cake flour, cocoa and salt in a small prep bowl. Whisk eggs and sugar in a larger prep bowl. Add melted chocolate and butter mixture to egg and sugar mixture a little at a time. Fold in dry ingredients with a whisk. Fill ramekins and place in large glass pan and pour hot water from double boiler around them. Bake about 35-40 minutes until slightly cracked on top and soft on the inside. Serve with Häagen-Dazs Vanilla Bean ice cream and fresh or frozen raspberries.
These were absolutely incredible. I got really worried, because mine didn't crack on the top. They hadn't cracked at 40 minutes, so I left them in for 10 more. Then I got really worried that I had over-baked them and decided to take them out anyway, despite the fact that they still hadn't cracked. I then worried that I left them in for far too long and that they were dry (the tops look a little dry). The moment of truth came after dinner, when I dug my spoon into one. As soon as I saw what came out, I stopped worrying. It was very black, ooey gooey chocolate cake. It was a little ramekin of heaven. The recipe says to serve with Vanilla Bean ice cream and raspberries, and it's not kidding. These little guys are rich. My photos don't show the toppings, because after you put ice cream and raspberries on an ooey gooey cake, who stops to take a picture?
The original post on Design*Sponge is definitely worth checking out if you're interested in making these. It includes a cute intro by Matte Stephens, one of my favorite indie artists who was the one to submit this recipe to D*s. There are much better photos than I took on the original post, and they are even doodled on by Matte. (He even did stop to take a photo of the treats with their toppings. Amazing!)
Additionally, if you want to make this recipe, but don't have ramekins (like I didn't) there's a very good set of six on Amazon for only $8.39.
Ryan's birthday was Sunday, and we celebrated all weekend. I wanted to cook him a nice dinner, and we decided to do that on Saturday, since it meant me being in the kitchen all day. Then we could relax on the actual day of his birthday, and play video games and watch the Oscars.
Saturday morning I started with the cake. I had never made a layer cake before. In fact, I'd only made sheet cakes that never left the pan. I'd also never made a cake from scratch before; I'd only used the boxed mixes.
I used this recipe for four egg yellow cake. It turned out pretty well, it had a nice flavor and was fairly moist. Both layers also came out of the round pans easily. I sprayed the pans with non stick cooking spray, and put a circle of wax paper on the bottom of the pan. (Trace the bottom of the pan onto the wax paper with a pencil, and then cut on the inside of your line.) I let the cakes cool for over 3 hours before removing them from the pans, but that was just because I was busy. Just make sure they're completely cooled.
Four Egg Yellow Cake
INGREDIENTS
* 1 cup shortening*
* 2 cups white sugar
* 4 eggs
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 3 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 3/4 cups milk
*I read in the comments that you can also use 1/2 cup shortening and
1/2 butter. I used all shortening, but next time I'm going to try
50/50. I think it will make it much more (surprise) buttery, which
would be an improvement.
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9 x 13 inch pan.
2. Cream together shortening and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Mix well. Pour batter into prepared pan.
4. Bake for 45 minutes, or until cake tests done. Cool.
For the frosting, I used a recipe that my mom always uses, the one on the inside of the Baker's unsweetened chocolate baking squares box. It was a good recipe, the frosting has a great flavor, and is very easy to make. The best part is you have a while between making the frosting and actually applying it to the cake. A lot of other frosting recipes I've seen say that they harden quickly, and you have to use it right away.
Baker's One Bowl Chocolate Frosting
INGREDIENTS
4 squares (4 ounces) unsweetened Baker's chocolate (I actually used Ghiradelli - one bar is 4 ounces)
16 ounces powdered sugar
1/2 cup of softened butter or margarine
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 cup milk
Put chocolate in microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir until completely melted (put back in microwave if needed). Cool five minutes or until room temperature. Add powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla. Beat (or stir by hand) until well mixed. Gradually add milk, beating until well blended.
This recipe will make 3 cups of frosting, a good amount for frosting a full sheet cake or an 8 or 9 inch two layer cake, including the middle layer and sides.
