Category Archives: Cake & Frosting

Chocolate Decadence

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Veronica

This is a dessert served on the Carnival Cruise ships (or at least it used to be in the late 90s), which I have made several times for my Mother as her birthday cake. It is one of her favorite cakes, right up there with THE Mocha Crunch Cake, and just as rich…and decadent. They aren’t kidding when they named this dessert, it really is chocolate decadence. No better way to describe it.

I originally made this according to their recipe, which is actually broken up into parts, referring to basic recipes in the “Chef’s Notes” in the back of the Carnival Creations cookbook for everything but the mousse layer. The cake consists of four recipes all combined to make one dessert: the cake layer, the mousse layer, the thin ganache layer, and the strawberry sauce. I felt that the chocolate sponge cake they used was much too dry for the dessert, and lacked in chocolate flavor since it contained only a few tablespoons of the good stuff. So I replaced it with my own simple one-bowl deep chocolate cake layer and was pleased with the result. It’s my first attempt at my own cake recipe and while it’s probably not perfect, it was perfect for this dessert. Moist, rich and fudgy, nicely complementing the rich rum-infused chocolate mousse.

I stuck with the recipe for the mousse, as that was always lovely and really is the star of the dessert. It firms up in the fridge and when you take a bite, it’s akin to eating a lightly textured truffle with cake underneath. Superb. My middle sister says it almost seems like you’re eating candy rather than cake but I say…it’s the best of both worlds!

When it came to the ganache layer, I considered making a real ganache, using heavy cream, but realized that since this dessert is served from the refrigerator and real ganache gets rock hard when chilled, it would be prudent to stick with this thinner ganache (or what I’ll now call a chocolate sauce) which thickens a little in the fridge but it still nice and soft when you cut into it.

As for the strawberry sauce, their recipe doesn’t make nearly enough (individual tastes may vary, but my family enjoyed having a large puddle of sauce on their plate beneath the small slices I served. Although the cake is wonderful alone, every bite seems improved when accompanied by a good dose of strawberry sauce!) and I wanted to use a bag of frozen strawberries I had in the freezer rather than buy fresh out of season, so I made my own recipe. You can use any recipe you like for the sauce, but if you want to use mine, you can click the link to it below.

This cake went over very well with my family. Although my Mom has always liked it, even in the days when I made it with the dry sponge cake underneath, the rest of my family never got very excited about it until I replaced the cake this time. Apparently that was the only change it needed, besides the increased amount of sauce. My little sister usually prefers citrus cakes (preferably unfrosted), but she proclaimed this “the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had.” I have to admit, I felt a little piqued at this since her devotion previously belonged to my beloved Mocha Crunch Cake, the cake I prize most…but I got over it because ultimately she still giving high praise to something I created. I’ll take it. :)

The recipe is a bit time-consuming since there are so many parts, but you can pace yourself and make the sauce several days in advance, the cake the day before (wrapping it in plastic wrap and refrigerating in the mean time), and since the cake needs to sit in the fridge overnight after you make the mousse and place the cake on top (which will later be flipped over), you can wait until the next day to make the ganache if you want. Take it little by little and it won’t seem so overwhelming.

I hope you give this one a try for a special occasion–it is worth the effort and sure to impress!

Chocolate Decadence

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

Cake
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
½ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk (I used coconut milk beverage)
¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
¼ cup warm water
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mousse
1 lb. semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup Myers rum
6 egg yolks
½ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream

Chocolate Sauce
1/3 cup whole milk
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (about 1/2 cup chips)
1 teaspoon butter, softened

For serving:
Strawberry Sauce
Whipped Cream

Make the cake: Sift dry ingredients into a bowl, stir, and then add the remaining ingredients. Beat with a whisk until smooth, scraping down bowl. Pour into a greased and floured round 8” pan. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until tester inserted in center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Cool five minutes on rack in pan, then remove from pan to cool completely, about 1-2 hours.

Make the mousse*: gently melt semisweet chocolate in a double boiler or microwave; stir in whipping cream. Cool. When cool enough that butter will not melt, beat in butter. Stir in rum. In large bowl beat egg yolks and sugar on high speed for 5 minutes or until very light; fold into chocolate mixture. In large bowl beat whipping cream until soft peaks form; fold into chocolate mixture. Line an 8” round baking pan with enough plastic wrap that it comes over the sides; spread mousse into pan. Place cake top side down on top of the mousse and press down to make sure that every part of the cake is in contact with the mousse and that the top is flat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Make the chocolate sauce: Place the chocolate in a food processor or blender. Heat the milk until steaming hot, then turn on the food processor and, while running, pour the hot milk through the feed tube. Blend until smooth and allow to cool.

To serve: Place cake plate upside down on top of the cake, then flip over. Lift the cake pan off the cake (you may have to wiggle it or have someone hold down on the plastic wrap “handles” while you lift the pan). Remove plastic wrap; spread chocolate sauce over the top and refrigerate for at least ten minutes. Cut into 16 slices; serve with a dollop of whipped cream and strawberry sauce.

*Veronica’s note: I only make this cake once every three or so years, so I can’t recall my previous experiences with the mousse very well, but this time I had problems with the mixture wanting to get too thick every time I let it sit so I could beat eggs or beat whipped cream. To soften it back up before adding those elements, I just rebeat it with the same hand-held mixer I had just used on the eggs or whipped cream, then folded them in. I’m not sure if this is usual or if I overheated my chocolate (which can make chocolate thicker if it doesn’t altogether seize up) so I wanted to mention it just in case others had this difficulty. It is surmountable so do not despair! :)

Per serving (without sauce or whipped cream): 473 calories; 30.5 g fat; 50.5 g carb; 3.2 g fiber; 5 g protein

2 tablespoons strawberry sauce: 42 calories; 0 g fat; 11 g carb; .6 g fiber; .1 g protein

Recipe source: cake and strawberry sauce recipes by Veronica Miller; mousse recipe, dessert concept, and chocolate sauce adapted from Carnival Creations.

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Posted in Cake & Frosting, My Favorites and tagged anniversary, baking, birthday, cake, carnival creations, carnival cruise, chocolate decadence, chocolate lover, decadent, dessert recipe, recipe, rich, romantic, sinful, special occasion, Valentine's Day. Bookmark the permalink.

Chocolate Torte

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Veronica

*A note before the blog: I have updated my cherry cordials recipe with notes on how to make sure the centers liquify and included a new picture from my latest batch with liquified centers.

Without realizing it, I scheduled a sandwich bread recipe to post today, Valentine’s Day, which included no mention of love or chocolate, or even an apology for giving a bread recipe on the international day of love. So I hurriedly snapped pictures of our dessert today so that I could atone for my sins. ;)

Usually I steer clear of desserts that don’t include real butter, sugar (preferably more than one kind), and white flour. But I’m discovering that not all sweet treats need to be loaded with fat and processed sugar and flour to taste good.

I made this chocolate torte for our Valentine’s Day dessert and we both loved it with a little whipped cream on top. It is soft, moist, and almost fudgy because of the dates. The recipe was born of a mistake, having used dates instead of the prunes it originally called for. I really liked the result, but will be trying it with prunes next time, which I think will give it more of a cake consistency. With the dates, it’s somewhere between and a brownie and a cake. It definitely tastes healthier than regular full-fat and full-sugar desserts, but not in an off-putting way. It is probably my favorite diet-friendly dessert to date! That it has natural, whole-food ingredients like dates and whole wheat flour is as an added bonus and makes me feel like I’m almost eating health-food.

Chocolate Torte

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1/3 cup cocoa powder, plus 1 tsp for dusting
1 cup dates, pitted and chopped
1/2 cup strong, hot coffee
1/3 cup whole-wheat flour
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tbsp egg substitute or 1 egg white
2 tsp vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350˚. Coat a 9″ tart pan with cooking spray. Dust with 1 tsp cocoa. Set aside. Combine dates and coffee in a large bowl. Set aside to cool. Sift remaining 1/3 cup cocoa, flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a small bowl and stir. To the date mixture, add sugar, applesauce, egg substitute and vanilla and stir until combined. Pour dry mixture into the wet and stir until combined. Pour into prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out mostly clean, about 25 minutes. Cool completely before removing and slicing. Serve with whipped cream.

Serves 8. Per slice: 153 calories; .7 fat; 43 g carbohydrates; 4 g fiber; 3 g protein

Recipe source: adapted from Self

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Posted in Brownies & Bars, Cake & Frosting, Lighter Fare and tagged chocolate, chocolate torte recipe, diet, diet-friendly, healthy, love, low calorie, romance, romantic, Valentine's Day, whole. Bookmark the permalink.

Apple Cake Mabel

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Veronica

Before we get to the cake, please remember to head on over to Steph’s Bite by Bite to check out all the wonderful goodies up for auction in the online bake sale, which started at 7 AM today and goes until 9 PM EST. She’s raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and I can’t wait to mail a batch of my Mocha Toffee Brownies to the winning bidder! Good luck!

OK, now let’s get down to business. I begged this recipe off my friend, Judy, when she mentioned she had made a sugar-free apple cake that turned out well. I’m intrigued by anything that is sugar-free that also tastes good, as I have not had a lot of personal success with this. I discovered that the cake was made with Splenda and shortening and this repelled me on many levels, but also awakened a creative desire to make it healthier with a natural sweetener and not only non-hydrogenated fat, but less of it. As I mentioned in my post on chocolate chip banana bread, I’ve been experimenting with Truvia, a natural calorie-free sweetener made from the stevia plant’s leaves, so I used that in addition to brown sugar to give a better, more natural flavor. I didn’t mess with the diet soda in the recipe, but it could easily be switched out for any variety of Zevia (a calorie-free soda made with stevia), or with club soda and additional Truvia.

Now, I’m not sure who Mabel is, or if she was even the one to come up with the original recipe, but I hope that she would be as pleased as I am with my adaptation. It isn’t as light and tender as a traditional cake, but a little more dense like coffee cake, moist, perfectly sweet & spiced, with tender chunks of apple in every bite. It is best served the day you bake it as it gets a little dry a couple days later, but it can be returned to it’s former glory with a few seconds in the microwave.

Apple Cake Mabel

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

2 eggs
½ cup brown sugar
4 oz cup (1/2 cup) unsweetened applesauce
1 cup diet Dr. Pepper or cream soda
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Truvia
1 teaspoon Vietnamese cinnamon
1 t freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

1 large apple, peeled & chopped

Toppping
¼ chopped pecans
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons shredded, sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9×13 pan. Beat eggs until smooth & uniform in color, then add in brown sugar and beat until sugar is incorporated and mixture is slightly thickened. Add applesauce, diet Dr. Pepper, canola oil, and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Add in the remaining ingredients, except for the apples, and beat until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Fold in apples and pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle the toppings over the top in the order listed and bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack at least 15 minutes before serving. Serve with whipped cream if desired.

*Veronica’s note: I recommend using a sweet baking apple, such as Braeburn, Rome, or Gala.

Makes 15 servings. Per piece: 139 calories; 2.6 g fat; 28 g carb; 1.4 fiber; 3.2 protein

Recipe source: adapted from Judy L.

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Posted in Breakfast, Cake & Frosting, Lighter Fare and tagged apple cake mabel, apple cake recipe, baking, Breakfast, brunch, cake, dessert, diet, diet-friendly, healthy, light, low calorie, recipe. Bookmark the permalink.

THE Mocha Crunch Cake

Posted on November 18, 2010 by Veronica

Although I have made this recipe my own, I must give credit where it is due. Early in my cake-making days, I purchased Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Cake Bible and used recipes out of it to make the first stages of this cake. I’ve continually changed and evolved the recipe since then, and while I always ultimately preferred to use a Betty Crocker devil’s food cake mix rather than bake the cake from scratch, I have now found THE chocolate cake recipe that I actually prefer over the mix, and I have Mel of My Kitchen Cafe to thank for that.

Let’s talk about the current stage of this cake. The cake itself is light, moist, deeply chocolatey. An excellent crumb. Really, the best texture I’ve ever gotten from a chocolate cake recipe, except for this one. It’s perfect. The cake is enveloped in a buttercream that is deceptively light and almost mousse-like with a great balance of sweet coffee and chocolate flavor. The flavor combined with the velvety smooth texture makes it so good that I have been known to scoop the leftover frosting into a bowl and eat it straight. I chose to press chopped toffee into the sides of the cake because, to me, the flavor of toffee has always been a perfect compliment to chocolate and coffee, and it adds a nice contrast of texture to the bite. Finally, I eventually began smothering the whole finished cake in ganache to make it more visually appealing and to intensify the chocolate flavor. It is an immensely pleasurable treat that can be dangerous because it doesn’t feel fattening when it’s in your mouth and it’s easy to overindulge because it is so light. Do not be decieved! My thighs are a testament to the immense caloric level of each bite.

This cake is time consuming to prepare, but very much worth the effort, especially if you are making it for a birthday. And fear not that the little ones won’t enjoy it. My nephew has been devouring it since he was old enough to be allowed chocolate. And one of the ladies present at a birthday party where it was served told me that her daughter hates chocolate and she ate an enormous piece all by herself. I had to laugh, because that little girl is not the only one who has enjoyed the cake despite their aversions to aspects of it.

My Dad is a dessert hater. Honestly, I don’t know how he could have spawned me, the Dessert Queen, but it doesn’t change the fact that he doesn’t have a sweet tooth. But he loves this cake. My youngest sister is a frosting hater. She scrapes it off the cake. When I make this one she gets excited if I put extra frosting in the middle. And she licks the plate clean, frosting and all. My middle sister is a cake hater, and really just a hater of all things not raw and rich in antioxidants. But she scarfs this cake every time I make it and it is the only cake she will let me make for her birthday. My husband? A coffee hater. An intense coffee hater. And yet he perks up on the rare occasion I make a morning cup of Joe, hoping the smell means I’m making this cake. My Mom likes everything I make, but this is her favorite cake and also the one she prefers on her birthday. And not to toot my own horn or anything, but Michael Jackson left instructions in his will to be buried with three of these cakes. Or at least, I think he would have if he’d ever tried one. :)

A friend recently told me that this cake would be one of the only things she thought she would miss in heaven. Of course she said it to be funny since I doubt we’ll miss anything in heaven, but if were possible to miss something…I think I would miss it too.

THE Mocha Crunch Cake

Printable recipe

Printable recipe with picture

Cake
1 ¼ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
2 ½ cups sugar
2 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
1 ¼ teaspoons salt

2 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk
1 ¼ cups warm water
1 ¼ cups buttermilk
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Mocha Buttercream

¼ cup Kahlua
1 tablespoon instant coffee crystals
10 oz semisweet chocolate
6 large egg yolks
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup corn syrup

1 lb (4 sticks) unsalted butter

Ganache
4 oz semisweet chocolate
½ cup heavy cream

Additional

1-1 ½ cups toffee bits
2 toffee candy bars (such as Heath)

Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, making sure the baking rack is in the middle of the oven. Prepare two 9” round cake pans by cutting out a piece of parchment or wax paper to line the bottom of them. Grease the pans, place the parchment or wax paper in the bottoms and lightly grease again. Dust the pans with flour (or cocoa powder if you don’t want the white dusting on the finished cakes). Set the pans aside.

Sift together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add the eggs, yolk, warm water, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Mix on low speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake the cakes for about 32-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean or with moist crumbs. Do not overbake! Remove the pans from the oven and set the pans on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Gently run a thin knife around the edges of the pans and unmold the cakes, removing the parchment paper liners from the bottom of the cakes. Let them cool completely, top sides ups, on a wire rack. Trim the tops of the cake layers with a long serrated knife to make them level.

Make the buttercream: Put Kahlua in a microwave safe dish and heat until boiling. Remove and add instant coffee. Mixture will immediately boil up high and once it goes back down, gently stir it until the coffee is dissolved. Set aside to come to room temperature. Place the chocolate in a microwave-safe dish and heat for 30 seconds and stir. Continue heating in 15-second intervals, stirring in between, until the chocolate is almost melted. Stir and allow the residual heat to melt it completely. Set aside and allow to come to room temperature.

Beat the egg yolks until light and mixer blades make tracks in them. Spray a 1-cup glass measure with cooking spray and set beside the stove. Combine sugar and corn syrup in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it comes to a full rolling boil. Immediately remove from heat and pour into the prepared measuring cup to stop the cooking. While mixer is running, pour the syrup in a steady stream into the egg yolks, careful not to pour it onto the beaters. Continue beating until mixture is room temperature. Beat the butter in a small bowl until fluffy, then begin adding it to the egg mixture a tablespoon or two at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition. Once the chocolate is cooled, turn the mixer back on and add the chocolate to the buttercream, beating until smooth. Add the cooled Kahlua mixture and beat until uniform & smooth.

Make the ganache: Place the chocolate and cream in a microwave safe dish and heat for a minute; stir. Continue heating in 15-30 second intervals until the chocolate emulsifies and the mixture is shiny, dark, uniform, and smooth. Allow to come to room temperature.

Assemble: Place one cake layer on plate and spread about 1 cup of mocha buttercream over the top. Put second cake layer on top and frost the top and sides with the remaining buttercream. Take handfuls of toffee bits and press them into the sides of the cake. Chop the candy bars into four pieces each and place with a pointed side up around the edge of the cake. Slowly pour the cooled ganache over the top of the cake and use a spatula to spread to the edges so that it will ooze out between the candy bars and down the sides a little. Sprinkle some toffee bits in the middle of the cake. Serve at room temperature.

Veronica’s notes: As many people have had trouble with the cake batter overflowing the pans during baking, I recommend you do what I did and only fill your pans 1/2-2/3 full and use the extra batter for cupcakes.

Recipe by Veronica Miller, with help from this recipe, and The Cake Bible.

And now, a photographic timeline to show the evolution of the Mocha Crunch Cake.

1st stage: three layers of (from scratch) devil’s food cake with mocha frosting and chocolate curls.

Stage 2: same as stage 1, except with toffee on the sides.

Stage 3: using a cake mix and with much shorter layers to make the frosting to cake ratio more equal, as my sister likes it. Mom wasn’t complaining! (On a side note, this is before I learned how to pipe roses and I was holding the tip upside down so the petals are backwards, which makes them look too fluffy–LOL!)

Stage 4: toffee removed and baked in a sheet pan to turn into a baby shower cake.

Stage 5: a ganache drizzle is added.

Stage 6: no more pussyfooting around. I slathered on a whole cup of ganache and embellished with candy bars!

And everyone rejoiced. The end.

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Posted in Cake & Frosting, My Favorites and tagged baking, birthday, celebration, chocolate, coffee, mocha crunch cake, recipe, special occasion cake, toffee. Bookmark the permalink.

Celebration Frosting & A Giveaway! {CLOSED}

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Veronica

***The giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Jenna, Suzie, Biz, Cheryl, and Kim~the lucky winners!***

Wedding and birthday cakes from good bakeries, at least here locally, have a certain evasive flavor in the icing that I’ve always mentally defined as “celebration.” I am still unable to describe the flavor any other way, but I learned the secret of that flavor and have been using it in the frostings for my own homemade celebration cakes ever since.

It is a flavor emulsion called “Crème Bouquet.” This is wonderful stuff. It is an oil-based flavoring with lemon and other essential oils that aren’t listed on the label (because they are sneaky and don’t want us to figure out how to duplicate it at home!). Believe me, I’ve tried, but I can’t make anything that tastes even remotely as wonderful as this emulsion. It doesn’t taste like lemon to me, although that’s the only essential oil listed, and it doesn’t taste like anything else I’ve ever had. Well, besides wedding and birthday cake. I have relatives that call it “that sweet flavor.” But that is not an apt description, either. You just have to try it for yourself!

Since I’m so in love with this flavoring and know it’s not a common household ingredient, I am going to give five lucky readers a 2-ounce bottle from Cake Stuff! To enter, just leave me a comment on this post and I will draw the winners using Random.org on Friday, November 5th . Simple as that. For those interested in purchasing crème bouquet, you can order by phone from Cake Stuff–just call the number on their website. It is very reasonably priced at $2.50 for a 2-ounce bottle, and they also have two larger sizes available.

You can turn any vanilla frosting into celebration frosting by adding crème bouquet to it, and I’ll share the two that I use it in. Enjoy!

White Celebration Frosting

I try to avoid this one since it’s kind of a non-food, one but sometimes, you just need a good, bright white frosting and the only way to achieve that is with shortening. And believe me, it does not taste like non-food. It is utterly delicious. I promise. The meringue powder is essential in this recipe to eliminate the greasy mouth-feel that shortening frostings usually have. It is also important to use good shortening because cheaper brands tend to be clearish, off-colored, and slimy. You want one that is an opaque white, like Crisco.
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

2 cups Crisco vegetable shortening
2 tablespoons meringue powder
2 teaspoons crème bouquet
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butter flavoring
Pinch of salt
2 lbs. (8 cups) powdered sugar
1/3-1/2 cup water

Put the Crisco in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium a few seconds, until creamy. Add in the meringue powder, flavorings, and salt and beat until smooth. Slowly add in the powdered sugar, alternating with water when it becomes too thick. Add more or less water to get your desired consistency. Once it is all added, beat on medium-low speed for four minutes. This frosting will keep for up to a month, tightly covered, at room temperature, or several months in the refrigerator.

Cream Cheese Celebration Frosting

This is my favored celebration frosting. This frosting on white cake, for me, makes the ultimate celebration cake. And be sure to try it on red velvet as well–divine!
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 pounds powdered sugar
2 teaspoons crème bouquet
2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract*
Pinch of salt
Milk, if desired

Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and beat on low, scraping the sides, until all the sugar is incorporated, then turn to medium/high and beat for another two minutes. I prefer not to add any extra liquid because I find it easier to get a perfectly smooth cake with thick frosting**, but you can add milk as needed to make it creamier. Refrigerate or freeze if you won’t be using it within a few days.

*You can use regular vanilla but the color will turn more yellowish-ivory (like Mom’s birthday cake above), which is fine unless you are aiming for a lighter color. To illustrate, I made the following two wedding cakes with the same recipe for cream cheese celebration frosting, but used clear vanilla on the first and regular on the second:

**To get my icing perfectly smooth, I use a straight-edged offset spatula and the water bottle trick: fill a clean (ideally, brand new or designated for water only) squirt bottle with water and spray the frosted cake all over. This allows the spatula to glide over the surface and smooth it easily. I recommend placing the cake, uncovered, in the refrigerator for an hour or overnight to allow the water on the surface to evaporate completely before decorating. You can see me demonstrating the “water bottle trick” in this video: How to Make a Layer Cake part 3: stacking and frosting.

~Disclaimer: I was not compensated for this blog or sponsored by Cake Stuff to promote them. That is the store where I’ve always purchased my crème bouquet and it is consistently delicious. So I decided to buy some to share with my readers so you can experience the awesomeness for yourselves!~

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Posted in Announcements & Awards, Cake & Frosting, Tips & Tricks and tagged birthday, celebration cakes, celebration frosting, cream cheese, creme bouquet, frosting, giveaway, recipe, wedding, wedding cake flavor. Bookmark the permalink.

David Lebovitz’s German Chocolate Cake

Posted on August 4, 2010 by Veronica

I recently made it to my first weight-loss milestone of ten pounds (see pics here). Then I made this cake for a friend’s birthday the next day. And ate 1/4 of it. By myself!!! Needless to say, I’m a bit leery of the scale right now but my mouth was certainly happy while I chomped down on it.

This cake is a bit involved, even more so than most scratch cakes because it has four different recipes for one end product, but it is well worth the time and effort. Make it for a special occasion. I wouldn’t, however, recommend making it as a reward for losing weight. Unless you lost the weight so that you could eat this cake. I didn’t, but I think the small relapse was worth it. If you can’t tell by the pictures, it is moist and rich and really, really delicious. (More pics after the recipe.)

German Chocolate Cake
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

For the cake:
2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chopped
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
6 tablespoons water
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ¼ cup + ¼ cup sugar
4 large eggs, separated
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the filling:
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sugar
3 large egg yolks
3 ounces butter, cut into small pieces
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped
1 1/3 cups unsweetened coconut, toasted

For the syrup:
1 cup water
¾ cup sugar
2 tablespoons dark rum

For the chocolate icing:
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 ½ ounces unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream

1. Butter two 9-inch cake pans, then line the bottoms with rounds of parchment or wax paper. Preheat the oven to 350°.

2. Melt both chocolates together with the 6 tablespoons of water. Use either a double-boiler or a microwave. Stir until smooth, then set aside until room temperature.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, or by hand, beat the butter and 1 ¼ cup of the sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the melted chocolate, then the egg yolks, one at a time.

4. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

5. Mix in half of the dry ingredients into the creamed butter mixture, then the buttermilk and the vanilla extract, then the rest of the dry ingredients.

6. In a separate metal or glass bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold soft, droopy peaks. Beat in the ¼ cup of sugar until stiff.

7. Fold about one-third of the egg whites into the cake batter to lighten it, then fold in the remaining egg whites just until there’s no trace of egg white visible.

8. Divide the batter into the 2 prepared cake pans, smooth the tops, and bake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool cake layers completely.

While the cakes are baking and cooling, make the filling, syrup, and icing.

To make the filling:

1. Mix the cream, sugar, and egg yolks in a medium saucepan. Put the 3 ounces butter, salt, toasted coconut, and pecan pieces in a large bowl.

2. Heat the cream mixture and cook, stirring constantly (scraping the bottom as you stir) until the mixture begins to thicken and coats the spoon (an instant-read thermometer will read 170°.)

3. Pour the hot custard immediately into the pecan-coconut mixture and stir until the butter is melted. Cool completely to room temperature. (It will thicken.)

To make the syrup:

1. In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and water until the sugar has melted. Remove from heat and stir in the dark rum.

To make the icing:

1. Place the 8 ounces of chopped chocolate in a bowl with the corn syrup and 1 ½ ounces of butter.

2. Heat the cream until it just begins to boil. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Let stand one minute, then stir until smooth. Let sit until room temperature.

To assemble the cake:

Remove the cake layers from the pans and cut both cake layers in half horizontally, using a serrated bread knife.
Set the first cake layer on a cake plate. Brush well with syrup. Spread ¾ cup of the coconut filling over the cake layer, making sure to reach to the edges. Set another cake layer on top.

Repeat, using the syrup to brush each cake layer, then spreading ¾ cup of the coconut filling over each layer, including the top.

Ice the sides with the chocolate icing, then pipe a decorative border of chocolate icing around the top, encircling the coconut topping.

(It may seem like a lot of chocolate icing, but use it all. Trust me. You won’t be sorry.)

Veronica’s Notes: Since I only have one mixer, I pre-measured everything for the cake before starting, then whipped the egg whites to stiff peaks and scraped them into a separate bowl to wait until I needed them. It worked fine this way, so I’d recommend this method if you only have one mixer. The reason for pre-measuring is to cut down on the amount of time it takes to make the cake batter so the prepared egg whites aren’t sitting there so long they deflate. Also, I’d recommend making both the filling and the icing the night before, or at least 6 hours before you will need them. It takes both about that long to become as thick as you’ll want them to be before you start so save yourself some frustration by either doing it in advance, or in a pinch you can put them both in the fridge and stir every ten minutes until desired consistency. For the syrup, I put mine in a bottle previously designated for water only and squirted it onto each cake layer, which is an easy way to apply it. Otherwise, you can use a pastry brush to dab it on.

Recipe source: David Lebovitz

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Easy Sour Cream Chocolate Layer Cake with To-Die-For Chocolate Frosting

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Veronica

“OH my gosh.”

“Ohhhhhh.”

“This is so good!”

“I could just eat the frosting with a spoon.”

“You should go into the cake business.”

“How much would you charge for this cake?”

“My brother came over for cards after you left and we hid the leftover cake because it is our precious and no one is allowed to have it but US!”

It’s comments like these that I live for and one of the main reasons I love baking so much. I know when someone eats a cake that I made, for that instant at least, they will be happy. And their enjoyment is coming from something I provided. That makes me feel good.

I came up with this cake at the last-minute to supply our family reunion planning committee with a dessert after lunch for our meeting last Saturday. All the comments above were made after they dug in, except for the last which my cousin’s wife emailed me that evening and made me laugh out loud.

I have to say, and I know this sounds egotistical since I made it, but this is a really incredible cake. The cake by itself is perfectly moist and chocolatey, and my favorite chocolate cake to date, but really, like another cousin’s boyfriend said, “I could just eat the frosting with a spoon.” Really. Incredible.

If you want to use this frosting on a cake that is from-scratch, I suggest using this Dark Chocolate Sour Cream Cake recipe because it is very similar to my cake mix recipe and the frosting would probably be perfect with it. If it isn’t, you could always just eat it the frosting by itself. It’s really all you need. :)

Sour Cream Chocolate Layer Cake
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 (18.25 oz) devils food cake mix with pudding in the mix
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted*
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa, sifted
1 lb (4 cups) powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
milk as needed

Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8″ or 9″ pans and set aside. Place all cake ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat on low until combined, then on medium speed for two minutes, scraping bowl often. Divide batter between prepared pans and bake according to package directions, about 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of cakes comes out clean. Place on cooling racks for ten minutes, then turn the cakes out onto the racks to cool completely. Once they are cool, level the cakes, if necessary, to make for nicer stacking. Meanwhile, prepare the frosting.

Frosting: In a mixing bowl, beat butter and cream cheese together until creamy. Stir in cocoa. Add sugar, 1 c at a time, mixing well. Beat in vanilla and if necessary, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time, beating after each addition, until you reach desired consistency. Frost cooled cake or store, covered, in refrigerator up to one week. Bring to room temperature and stir before using.

*Notes: you can purchase Dutch-process cocoa powder online or in specialty stores (I get mine from my local cake supply store), or you can use Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder, which is now widely available. In a pinch, you can use regular cocoa powder but the color will not be as dark, nor the flavor quite so chocolatey. Although I usually sift cocoa powder before using it in recipes since it tends to lump, I didn’t do it for either the cake or the frosting, so you may be able to get away with skipping that step as well.

Recipe by Veronica Miller

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Oreo Cookie (or Cookies ‘n Cream) Cake

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Veronica

I have several cake & frosting recipes to share because I make a new one practically every week, so today and tomorrow I am going to post two favorites, one old and one new and I’ll try to post the others once a week so you don’t get sick of all the cakes.

This recipe was passed onto me from my Foodie Mama, Marina, last year and it quickly became my all-time favorite cake mix cake. It always gets rave reviews, perhaps mine being the loudest. :) I don’t even like Oreos (yes, I’m weird. I know.), but I love this cake. The frosting. Oh, the frosting. It is like….heaven. It’s really all I need. I could just eat the bowl of frosting and skip the cake, but the cake does provide a good excuse for eating it.

And while I know it doesn’t seem that appealing to be baking in 100+ temperatures (if you’re enjoying temps below 90, can I come move in with you for a few months???), this cake is served cold so it’s really nice to enjoy during these warmer months. Or cooler months. Or frigid. Really, it doesn’t matter. You can (and will) enjoy it any time. I was just trying to give you another reason to make it.

Make it now.

Seriously.

Marina’s OREO COOKIE CAKE
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

Cake
1 Box white cake mix
Eggs, water and oil as called for on the box
~OR your favorite white cake recipe
15 Oreos, crushed

Frosting
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 (16 oz) box powdered sugar
1 (8 oz) container Cool whip, room temperature
15 Oreos, crushed
¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract

Cake: Grease and flour two or three 8″ pans (Marina uses three, I use two because I don’t have three). Prepare cake according to package directions (or recipe directions), stirring in the crushed Oreos to the batter before dividing between prepared pans. Bake as directed on box or in recipe, but start checking 5 (or more) minutes early if you choose to do three layers as they will bake faster. Remove cake layers from oven and allow to cool completely on cooling rack.

Frosting: In mixer, cream the cream cheese and sugar. Add vanilla, mix well, and stir in Cool whip (do not beat it in or your frosting will turn out runny). Mix well. Fold in crushed Oreos until well blended & frost cooled cake. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve and refrigerate any leftovers.

Makes 1 (8 inch) 2 or 3-layer cake

* Cake may be baked in a 13 x 9 inch pan or you can even make cupcakes; change the baking time according to the package instructions or your recipe.

Recipe source: Marina Castle

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Clandestine Chocolate Fudge Cake

Posted on June 8, 2010 by Veronica

I’ve been making this cake for almost a year and since it was recently requested again for a bridal shower, I had the opportunity to take some pictures so that I could finally post the recipe.

This cake is intense. We’re talking over a pound of chocolate and 2 cups of heavy cream. And that’s just in the frosting. The cake itself is dense and fudgy, almost like a brownie but definitely recognizable as cake. It is a thing of beauty to a chocolate lover. Chocolate cake nirvana.

If you’re wondering about the “clandestine” part, I put that in the title because this cake has a secret. Folded into the luxurious batter…are beets. (!) Trust me, you would NEVER guess that the cake had beets in it. I always let people finish their slice before revealing the secret ingredient and they are astounded. The beets increase the chocolate flavor & keeps it nice and moist.

Another thing about this cake. It is sad. A sad cake is one that sinks in the middle and this one does. Don’t try to fight it. Sad cakes are some of the happiest cakes I’ve ever eaten because they are so moist. I read in BakeWise that sad cakes usually have too much fat to flour ratio, but I think in this case it also has something to do with all the brown sugar as well. But having a dip in the middle is totally worth the flavor. I wouldn’t dare to change a thing.

Clandestine Chocolate Fudge Cake
Printable recipe

Cake
3 squares (3 oz) unsweetened chocolate
1 can (8 ¼ oz) julienne beets*
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 ½ cups brown sugar, firmly packed
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup buttermilk, room temperature

Fudge Frosting
2 cups whipping cream
1 pound semisweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Prepare Cake:
Don’t be alarmed if your cakes dip in the middle—this is due to the high ratio of butter and sugar and is normal. To ensure an attractive presentation, you can either fill in the dips with frosting or level the cakes (I slightly level mine and fill in the remaining dip with frosting so as to not take too much height off) to make them stack nicely.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom of two 8”** round cake pans, then smooth a parchment paper round onto the bottom of each. Grease and flour the bottom and sides of both pans and set aside.

Place the chocolate in a small microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 50 seconds, then stir well. The chocolate will nearly be melted. Microwave for another 20 seconds. After stirring a second time, the chocolate should be smooth and completely melted. If not, microwave for another 20 seconds and stir. Once smooth, set aside.

Drain beet juice into a small bowl. Place beets on a cutting board and chop into very small pieces. Add to the beet juice and set aside.

Beat butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until very fluffy, about five minutes, scraping sides occasionally. Reduce speed to low and beat in melted chocolate.

Stir together flour, baking soda and salt in a medium-size bowl. With mixer on low speed, alternately beat flour in fourths and buttermilk in thirds into chocolate mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Mix until incorporated, about 1 minute. Add beets with juice and mix on medium speed until blended, about 1 minute more.

Divide the batter equally between the 2 prepared pans. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cake will feel very moist to the touch, but if the tester is clean, it’s done. Do not overbake or cake will be dry. Cool cakes in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes and then invert onto racks. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting
You can start the frosting as soon as the cakes are in the oven. If you time it right, your cakes will be cooled by the time the frosting is ready.

Heat cream in a medium-size saucepan just until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and add chocolate and vanilla, stirring until mixture is smooth and chocolate is melted. Transfer mixture to a plastic or glass bowl (metal causes the sides to get too cold and set up too quickly). Refrigerate, stirring every 10 minutes until mixture is as thick as pudding, about 50-60 minutes. At this point the frosting will begin to set up very quickly. Leave in refrigerator and stir every 5 minutes until frosting is as thick as fudge, about 15 more minutes. Alternatively, the frosting may be placed over ice water and stirred constantly until spreading consistency. If it begins to get too thick, immediately remove it from the water.

To assemble the cake, place one cake layer bottom side down on serving platter. Spread a third of the frosting over the top and place the second cake layer bottom side up over that. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides. Let stand at room temperature for frosting to set. The frosted cake may be held at room temperature, uncovered, overnight or refrigerated up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.

*If you are unable to find a can of beets in the size specified, buy the regular 15 oz. size. Use 1/4 cup of the juice and ½ cup beets for this recipe.

**If you use 9” pans, the cakes will bake faster so check them at 30-35 minutes to see if they are done.

Recipe source: originally titled “Absolutely Divine Devil’s Food Cake” in The Dessert Lover’s Cookbook by Marlene Sorosky.

I made this one last August for the planning committee meeting for our family reunion. Yes, our family reunion is so big it requires a planning committee!

This is the first one I made last July.

We made quick work of it.

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Sunflower Peeps Cake & Fudge Frosting Recipe

Posted on March 28, 2010 by Veronica

I got this idea from Cathy from The Noble Pig, who got it from Taste of Home. Since a recipe for the cake and frosting wasn’t included in Cathy’s post, I figured I’d make my own masterpiece and submit it to All Through The Year Cheer’s Easter Recipe Roundup. I’ve been participating in each holiday recipe roundup with them since I found out about it last fall and even won the last one for Valentine’s Day with my cherry cordials recipe. It’s been a lot of fun and I was looking forward to submitting a really great idea & recipe for Easter.

Well, all I have is a really great idea. Because the recipe failed. And that really great idea isn’t even my own! :(

After reading Cathy’s post, I decided I’d make an orange cake because I really like the combination of orange and chocolate and felt that using a citrus cake made it more spring-appropriate. I imagined a light and fluffy cake with a sweet orange flavor that would perfectly balance the intense fudge frosting. I decided upon the Orange Sour Cream Cake from Eating Out Loud. I love how the sour cream in my favorite chocolate cake makes the crumb so incredibly moist and was hoping for a similar result with this recipe. While the cake was very moist, it obviously was not meant for a layer cake–it’s almost more of a coffee cake–a dense cake, almost like pound cake, with a glaze on top instead of frosting. Mistake number 1.

I cut each cake layer in half and before spreading frosting over each layer, I doused them with a couple tablespoons of orange juice that I’d cooked with sugar to intensify the orange flavor and increase the moisture. Mistake number 2. The cake was already moist enough and adding so much liquid made it even more dense and basically saturated it. Mistake number 3 was letting my fudge frosting get too cold and instead of warming it to soften it, I just smashed it on top of the cake and pressed down really hard as I frosted the cake, thus compacting the poor, dense cake even further.

By the time I was done with it, the cake looked more like the center of a cake truffle than the light and fluffy cake I’d imagined.

However, the flavor was very good. I would highly recommend trying this cake, but in a single layer as the recipe indicates and with the orange glaze instead of frosting. This cake was not meant to be frosted.

OK, all is not a total loss. I mean, look at this cake. It’s adorable. Such a great idea for an Easter cake! And the frosting recipe, one of my favorites, is certainly not a failure–it was a success as usual and I’ll include that here with the directions on the cake.

Sunflower Peeps Cake

adapted from The Noble Pig

*Your favorite yellow cake recipe or 1 box mix (I’d recommend orange if you can find it, b/c it’s more spring-timey. Oh, if only they sold orange cake mix in Wichita!)
*Fudge Frosting (recipe follows)
*2 packages yellow chick Peeps candies

Prepare and bake cakes using two 8-inch round baking pans.

After cakes have cooled, make sure to level the tops so the cakes sit evenly on top of each other. If you would like a four-layer cake, cut each layer in half. Spread a thin layer of frosting, about 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup, between the four layers. If you are just using two layers, spread about a cup of frosting between them. Reserving 1/2 cup frosting, spread the remaining over the top and sides of the cake. Without pulling the Peeps apart, arrange them around the edge of the cake, curving to fit. Put the remaining frosting in a Ziploc or pastry bag, massaging if it has become too firm. Snip the corner or tip and pipe “sunflower seeds” in the middle of the cake. Alternately, you can use chocolate chips for the sunflower seeds as Cathy did, but I prefer using the frosting because it’s easier to cut through.

Fudge Frosting

2 cups (1 pint) heavy whipping cream
1 pound semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 1/3 12-oz bags)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Heat the whipping cream in a medium saucepan over medium heat just until it begins to simmer. Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate until smooth and shiny, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in the vanilla and pour mixture into a glass or plastic bowl (metal makes the edges set up too quickly). Place in refrigerator and stir every ten minutes for about 50 minutes or until the consistency of thick pudding. The frosting will begin to set up quickly at this point, so begin stirring every five minutes for 5-15 minutes, or until the consistency of fudge. Remove from fridge and use immediately. If the frosting gets too firm, warm for a few seconds in the microwave and stir, repeating as many times as necessary (once or twice should suffice–you don’t want it liquified). Let cake sit at room temperature for a few hours for the frosting to set up. Serve at room temperature.

Dennis disagrees that there's anything wrong with the cake and had no problem polishing off a slice.

If you have an Easter recipe you’d like to submit to All Through The Year Cheer, hurry because the deadline is April 1st (no foolin’! :) ). You don’t have to have a blog to submit a recipe–click here for all the details.