Tag Archives: baking

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I originally made this according to their recipe, which is actually broken up into parts, referring to basic recipes in the “Chef’s Notes” in the back of the Carnival Creations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

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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.

19 Comments

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.

Homestead Cornbread

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Veronica

After posting the recipe for a lighter Northern cornbread, I got some feedback I wasn’t expecting. Namely, from readers informing me that cornbread wasn’t made with flour, only cornmeal.

What?

I mean. WHAT?!

How could this possibly be? Mom made her cornbread with whole wheat flour. Every cornbread recipe I’ve ever seen includes flour. Why have I never heard of cornmeal-only cornbread?!

I scoured the internet for a cornmeal-only recipe, and came up empty. I consulted a friend in Kentucky who told me that cornmeal-only cornbread is a Southern thing (and she also told me I had to use buttermilk) so I searched for “Southern cornbread.” Every recipe had flour. So I searched for “buttermilk Southern cornbread.” All had flour. Desperate, I just did a generic “cornbread” search and yielded the same results. The only difference in the vast amount of recipes was the amount of cornmeal and flour, the type of milk used, and whether or not there was sugar added.

I remembered that my cornmeal sack had a cornbread recipe on the back so I consulted that. Score! It was called “Homestead Cornbread” and only called for cornmeal, but it called for regular milk and Carla had specifically told me I had to use buttermilk. She also insisted I top it with real butter. Carla is from the South and she knows what she’s talkin’ ’bout so I decided I’d better come up with my own recipe (and top it with real butter) to make her happy.

You know southern women. They’re all charming and “bless your heart!”…until you try to serve them sweet cornbread with whipped honey butter and then the fangs come out! Or so I imagine, based upon how heated the North & South cornbread debate can get. ;)

*Disclaimer: I apologize to any Southern women reading this. I was totally only saying that to amuse the Northerners. Please don’t bite me!

So I got to work and made us a big ‘ol mess of beans (I’m trying to talk like Paula Deen since I’m doing the whole Southern cornbread thang here), because that’s just what you eat with cornbread (or am I wrong about this too?), and baked up my version of REAL southern cornbread.

Until I made this, I was convinced that the sweetened, moist stuff I’d been making lately was an abomination and I should be ashamed of myself for stooping so low as to make something that you didn’t have to drown in butter to keep from choking down. That’s just how cornbread was supposed to be. Dry and unsweet. But now I can officially say (my apologies to the Southern folks) that I’m a true Northern cornbread convert.

Now, this stuff is wonderful if you do indeed slather it with a generous amount of (real) butter, and even better with some honey (I guess I missed the sweetness), but without them it is a little dry and crumbly. What do you expect? There’s no flour in it! But if you were raised on this kind of cornbread, and are looking for a recipe and discovered them hard to find, I’m going to include it here for you because I realize that folks are loyal (except in my case, apparently) to the foods they were raised on. And this one is especially good for crumbling over your beans, which means you can get your cornbread and beans in every bite! I love that. Oh, oh, oh! This one would also be superb for making cornbread stuffing. Mmmm….is it too early to start planning Thanksgiving dinner?

Homestead Cornbread

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2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon aluminum-free baking powder (such as Rumford)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs (unbeaten)
2 tablespoons canola oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine dry ingredients. Add milk, egg, and oil and mix well. Pour into well-greased 8-inch square pan (the batter will come up high but don’t worry, it doesn’t rise much) and bake for 25-30 minutes. Cut into rows of 4×3 to make 12 squares.

Per serving: 120 calories; 4.2 g fat; 17.4 g carb; 1.5 g fiber; 3.7 g protein

*Veronica’s notes: it’s important to use aluminum-free baking powder in recipes calling for more than a teaspoon, otherwise you will get an unpleasant metallic aftertaste. If I were to make this again, I’d bump up the oil to 1/4 cup to make it a little more moist. To make this with regular milk, use 5 teaspoons of baking powder and omit the baking soda.

Recipe source: adapted from the back of a Shawnee Best yellow cornmeal sack.

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Posted in Bread, Lighter Fare and tagged baking, buttermilk cornbread, cornbread, cornmeal only, recipe, southern cornbread, unsweetened. 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

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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.

Mocha Toffee Brownies

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Veronica

I’ve signed up to participate in an online bake sale to help fellow food blogger, Stephanie of Bite by Bite, raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society while she trains with Team in Training to complete a marathon on June 5th. I ran a half marathon with Team in Training in 2008 and I love to bake, so there was no question I was joining the effort!

My submission to the sale will be a batch of these Mocha Toffee Brownies. In case you can’t tell from the photo, they are delicious! Imagine a thick, Kahlua-infused brownie with a layer of toffee & almond-studded milk chocolate in the middle, and a heavy sprinkling of crunchy English toffee baked into the top. It’s an incredibly decadent treat. The second best part? They are incredibly easy to make!

If you would like to bid on these brownies, or any other treats (there are even healthy ones!) that will be in the auction from over 30 other bloggers, or would like to donate some of your own baked goods, click here for more information. The bake sale is January 31st!

Mocha Toffee Brownies

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1 (19.9 oz) box fudge brownie mix
1 stick (1/2 cup) real butter, melted
1/4 cup coffee liqueur, such as Kahlua*
2 large eggs
2 large (4.25 oz) Symphony candy bars with almonds and toffee chips
1/3 cup toffee bits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom of an 8×8 baking dish. Mix together brownie mix, butter, coffee liqueur, and eggs until well mixed. Spread half into prepared pan and place the candy bars side by side on top. Cover with remaining batter, smoothing with a spatula. Sprinkle toffee bits evenly over the top and bake for 40-45 minutes. Cool completely in pan on wire rack before cutting.

*For Toffee Brownies, which are just as fabulous, omit the coffee liqueur and replace with 1/4 cup water.

Recipe by Veronica Miller, with inspiration from Paula Deen

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Posted in Brownies & Bars and tagged bake sale, baking, dessert, easy, leukemia and lymphoma society, mocha toffee brownies, team in training. Bookmark the permalink.

Banana Oatmeal Bake

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Veronica

It has been months since I made this and I can still remember how creamy and delicious it was! I just bought some more agave nectar after using the last bottle up on Double Chocolate Banana Muffins, so I’m ready for another round of this hearty and warming breakfast. I think you will like this one. It’s both nutritious and delicious!

Banana Oatmeal Bake

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2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup Bob’s Red Mill 10 Grain Hot Cereal (or Bob’s Red Mill 7 Grain Hot Cereal, another 1/4 cup oats, flax meal, wheat germ or bran)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup agave nectar (or brown sugar, sugar or honey)
1-1/2 cups fat free milk (or any milk)
2 small bananas, mashed
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Combine oats, 10 Grain cereal, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, combine agave nectar, milk, egg, vanilla extract and bananas. Combine the wet with the dry ingredients. Lightly spray an 8 x 8 inch pan with cooking spray and pour in banana-oats mixture. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Add walnuts to the top and bake for another 5 minutes to toast them. Serve warm.

Recipe source: The Noble Pig

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Posted in Breakfast, Lighter Fare and tagged bake, baked oatmeal, baking, banana, Breakfast, cooking, hearty, nutritious, oatmeal. Bookmark the permalink.

Jimmy Fallon’s Crock-Pot Chili

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Veronica

Funny man Jimmy Fallon can cook? Apparently so! This is his recipe for chili in the crockpot (OK, slightly, very slightly tweaked by me) and honestly it’s the best chili to ever come out of my kitchen! I bought a 12-pack of beer two years ago (does beer ever go bad??) so I’d have it on hand whenever I felt like making my favorite buttery beer bread (seriously the best bread evar!), so I was super excited to finally get rid of the last two cans of it when I made this chili, one for the chili and one for the bread to go with it. Win-win!

Jimmy Fallon’s Crock-Pot Chili

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3 1/2 pounds ground beef
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large white onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 habanero chile, seeded and very finely chopped
1/4 cup chile powder
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes, coarsely chopped with their juices
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for serving
1 (12-ounce) bottle amber beer
2 (15-ounce) cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
Tortilla chips, for serving
Shredded cheddar cheese, for serving
Chopped tomatoes, for serving
Sour cream, for serving
Lime wedges, for serving

In a large skillet, working in batches if necessary, brown beef over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper; drain in a colander, discarding fat, and set aside. Add olive oil, onions, garlic, and habanero to skillet; season with salt. Cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. In a 6-quart Crock-Pot, combine beef, onion mixture, chile powder, oregano, cumin, and cayenne pepper; stir to combine. Add tomatoes, cilantro, and beer; cover and cook on high, stirring occasionally, for 5 hours, or on low for 8 hours. Add kidney beans and season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook, uncovered, until thickened, about 30 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and serve with desired toppings.

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Posted in Slow-Cooker/Crockpot, Soups & Stews and tagged baking, buttery beer bread, chili recipe, cooking, crock pot, crockpot, jimmy fallon, winter. Bookmark the permalink.

Caramel Walnut Brownies

Posted on December 20, 2010 by Veronica

These things are killer. But I must apologize because they have a very unique ingredient that can be hard to find:

Seriously! Did you know that this even existed?? Can I tell you how much I LOVE this product now that I’ve discovered it????? Caramel cake–it’s every bit as delicious as you imagine it would be. And the mix makes for some seriously excellent “brownies.” (I put that in quotations because they actually have no chocolate in them and I thought that chocolate was essential to a brownie!)

Do I even need to tell you how good these are? Caramel on caramel with walnuts in the middle. Ooooh, so delicious and they were a favorite at our family’s Christmas party. If you haven’t seen the cake mix on your store shelves, see if you can get the store to get it special for you like I did. It’s worth the extra effort!

Caramel Walnut Brownies

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14-oz. bag caramels
5-oz can of evaporated milk, divided use
1 box Duncan Hines Caramel Cake Mix
1 teaspoon cinnamon
12 tablespoons butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9X9-inch pan and set aside.

Place the caramels in a microwave-safe bowl and add 1/3 cup of the evaporated milk. Microwave for 1 minute on high and stir to combine. Continue microwaving on high at 30-second intervals, stirring each time, until the caramel and milk are melted, smooth, and combined. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, cinnamon, butter, vanilla, and remaining 1/3 cup evaporated milk. Stir until combined and no lumps remain. Spoon half of the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Set the remaining cake batter aside. It will firm up as it sits.

Slide the pan into the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Spread the walnuts onto a shallow pan and toast them while the cake is baking. Remove the walnuts from the oven when they are fragrant and golden brown.

Allow the cake to cool for 5 minutes. Pour melted caramel over the semi-baked batter and evenly sprinkle the toasted walnuts on top. Take large spoonfuls of the remaining batter, approximately 1/3 cup, which is now firm, and press it between the palms of your hands. Pat it as thinly as possible without breaking it apart. Lay the batter on top of the walnuts. Continue patting the batter and placing it on top of the walnuts. There might be some overlapping of the batter, and there might be several spots where the caramel barely peeks through. Precision is not necessary.

Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in pan on a wire rack. It is helpful to refrigerate the brownies before cutting them into squares. Serve at room temperature.

*Veronica’s notes: I used an 8×8 pan, which made them a bit thicker, and I had to bake them five minutes longer to get them done. I also found it difficult to cut them after refrigerating them overnight because the caramel was so hard. I’d say either only refrigerate them an hour or two or leave them out for at least fifteen minutes before trying to cut them if you’ve left them in there for a long time.

Recipe source: Sassafras Cafe

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Posted in Brownies & Bars and tagged baking, brownies, cake mix, caramel, christmas, Duncan Hines, favorite, holidays, party, recipe, walnut. Bookmark the permalink.

Peanutty Chocolate Truffles

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Veronica

I got this recipe from my friend, Katy, around this time last year, and adapted it to increase the chocolate flavor, replacing the hot chocolate mix with Dutch-process cocoa powder. If you’re a fan of chocolate and peanut butter like me, I guarantee you will love these! Delicious, and so easy to make! These would be a great addition to holiday spreads or food gifts, particularly if you need something in a hurry.

For more Christmas cookie and candy ideas, scroll below the recipe.

Peanutty Chocolate Truffles

Hershey’s Dark cocoa powder is now widely available in supermarkets, but you can substitute regular cocoa powder if you are unable to locate any Dutch-process cocoa powder.
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3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder (Hershey’s Dark cocoa powder is now widely available in supermarkets)
1 cup finely chopped cocktail peanuts

Line baking sheets with wax paper. Beat peanut butter, butter and vanilla extract in medium bowl until creamy. Add powdered sugar and cocoa and beat until incorporated. Mixture will be thick. Place peanuts in a flat dish. Scoop peanut butter mixture into 1-inch balls; roll in peanuts to coat. Place on prepared baking sheets. Refrigerate until firm.

Recipe source: Katy R.

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Millionaire Shortbread Bars

Chocolate Caramel Walnut Brownies

15 Comments

Posted in Candy and tagged baking, cake, candy, christmas, Cookies, holiday, peanut, recipe, truffles. Bookmark the permalink.

Favorite Banana Bread & Spices Giveaway Winner

Posted on November 27, 2010 by Veronica

First off, congratulations to Amanda, the winner of my spices giveaway! Check your email, Amanda, and send me your address so I can get them in the mail to you.

Now on to this banana bread. I started making it this summer and since the moment the first loaf came out of the oven, it became my favorite banana bread. In fact, I made it three times that first week because my family just couldn’t get enough. Which is one reason why I never got a very good photo of it. It seems to disappear before I have a chance to grab my camera.

Atypical of most banana breads, it has a fine, light texture and has a crispy, buttery crust. It is super sweet and with a perfect banana flavor. The only problem I have with it is that it bakes up flat. I even bought new baking powder and soda, and still, flat. I think this must be the result of the same thing that happens with “sad” cakes (the ones that sink in the middle) that have a high ratio of fat and liquid to dry ingredients. But, just as sad cakes are incredibly moist, so is this bread. And I seem to be the ONLY person that can’t bake it up with a dome on top. Check out the original recipe to see Mel’s pictures. And then check out my friend Cheryl’s loaf of this bread. They’re beautiful. Maybe it’s the climate here, or our altitude, or perhaps my kitchen is cursed, but based on the other photos, I’d have to say your loaf will probably bake up much nicer than mine.

And even if it doesn’t, it will disappear just as fast. It’s wonderful!

Buttermilk Banana Bread

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1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (I use about 3 average-sized bananas)
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 1 large (9 1/4 X 5 1/4-inch) loaf pan.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, bananas, buttermilk and vanilla until the batter is well mixed. Add in the flour, baking powder, salt and soda. Mix until well combined. Divide batter into greased and floured bread pans and bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Recipe source: My Kitchen Cafe

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Posted in Bread, Breakfast, My Favorites, Sweets and tagged baking, banana bread recipe, cake-like, light, not dense. 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!)