Rich Chocolate Espresso Bundt cake with Cappuccino Glaze

I think Bundt cakes are an under appreciated member of the dessert world.  Just listen to this: Rich, moist Chocolate Espresso Bundt cake with Cappuccino glaze.  Don't appreciate the bundt yet?  Bake this recipe up and you just might change your mind.

Chocolate Espresso Bundt Cake, adapted from A Delightful Dish

Ingredients:

8 oz butter (2 sticks/1 cup)
1/2 cup high quality Dutch process cocoa
1 heaping tablespoon instant espresso powder dissolved into 3/4 cup water
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter and flour a 10-12 cup bundt pan (be care to get into all those little creases in the pan!)

Melt butter in the top of a double boiler set over medium-low heat.  Add cocoa and stir until smooth. Whisk in the espresso mixture and remove from heat. Add the sugar, sour cream, vanilla, and eggs to the warmed cocoa mixture and whisk until smooth. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, and sea salt. Add all at once to the first mixture, whisking just until combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until it feels firm to the touch and has slightly pulled away from the sides of the pan. Cool in pan on a rack for 20 minutes. Carefully loosen the cake with a knife and invert onto a large plate.

Glaze:

2 Tablespoons of Espresso or very strong brewed coffee

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 - 3 Tablespoons heavy cream

1 cup Powdered sugar

Gradually add the espresso and vanilla to the powdered sugar while whisking constantly, making sure to get any lumps out. Add the cream a bit at a time until you have the consistency you like (you may not use all of the cream). It should be thin enough to drizzle, but thick enough so that it does not all drip off the cake.

Once the cake has fully cooled, use a large spoon to drizzle on the glaze.  Allow the glaze to set before digging in.  I poured some glaze on, allowed it to set, and then poured more on top to make the glaze more visible.  

Torta Caprese (Flourless Chocolate Almond Cake)

The "Torta Caprese," is a flourless chocolate almond (or walnut) cake name from isle of Capri.  According to legend, it came about when a baker forgot to add flour to their almond cake recipe.  As a result, it has been called, "uno dei pasticci più fortunati della storia" (one of the most fortunate mistakes/pies in history).  What I find so interesting about that little quote is that "pasticci" means both "pies" and "mess / to make a mess of".  Well, if it was in fact created by accident, it is definitely what Bob Ross would call "a happy little mistake" because this is a delicious cake.  Made of only a few ingredients and topped with only powdered sugar, it is quite a simple recipe which I think is what gives it most of its appeal.  Buon Appetito!


Torta Caprese, adapted from epicurious
Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 sticks (7/8 cup) unsalted butter
• 6 ounces almonds (I used slivered because it is what I had on hand)
• 1 ounce walnuts
• 6 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened) 
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar

• powdered sugar for garnish
• 
  

Preheat oven to 350° F. 

Lightly butter a 10-inch springform pan and line the bottom with a The Smart Baker pre-cut 10" parchment paper round. 

Melt butter and cool. In a food processor finely grind together almonds, walnuts and chocolate. Separate eggs.

In a bowl with an electric mixer beat yolks with granulated sugar until very thick and pale.  Beat in nut/chocolate mixture and butter.

In another bowl with cleaned beaters beat whites with a pinch salt until they just hold stiff peaks and whisk one fourth into almond mixture. Fold in remaining whites gently but thoroughly and spread batter evenly in pan.

Bake torte in middle of oven 40 - 50 minutes, or until it begins to pull away from side of pan and a tester comes out with moist crumbs adhering. Cool cake in the springform pan for 5 minutes, then, run a knife around the edge of the cake and open the springform.  Move to a cooling rack to cool completely. 

Dust torte with powdered sugar when cake comes to room temperature. 

Cake Travel Tip

No matter how many cake carriers I have, every year there always seems to be a few odd shaped treats that doesn't fit into anything I own.  This makes transporting and keeping them fresh very difficult.  Most recently, I made this monster cake:

If I had thought it through (which I obviously never do) I would have realized not to put the eyeballs in until I reached my destination.  But I didn't.  And they were in there so securely, I didn't want to mess with them.  As a result, this monster didn't fit into any of the several cake carriers I own (it was too tall!).  Plus, the ink on the eyeballs refused to dry, so I couldn't put plastic wrap around the whole thing.  Instead, I had to hold it on my lap for the car ride to dinner, while defending the cake against my pup in the backseat who thought it smelled like the perfect appetizer.  

The people at King Arthur Flour are so smart!  I got a gift certificate to their online store for Christmas (yesss!), so I was perusing their site and saw this post on their blog:

Marshmallows on sticks to hold the plastic wrap from touching the cake.  Such a simple, smart solution.  I'll be sure to remember this one for my odd-ball cakes in the future.

Gingerbread Cake Bites with Lemon Frosting

Around this time of year about 5 or 6 years ago, a neighbor brought over a platter of homemade petit fours for the holidays.  It had a few different flavors of cake cut into adorable little squares, each topped with a different type of frosting. I can't remember anything that was on that platter besides one: gingerbread cake with lemon frosting.  I only ate one of the tiny one inch cake bites, but it was so good I still remember it to this day.  

When I got word of Hodgson Mill's holiday recipe contest, "Have a Grain Holiday!" I felt short on good ideas.  I tried out a few different recipes using both their Bread Flour and their Whole Wheat flour but I wasn't thrilled with anything.  Finally, I thought about those gingerbread cake bites and I started trying to make my own version of the bite sized dessert.  I don't know how these would compare to those little bites from a few years ago, but these are pretty delicious.  The gingerbread cake is spicy and moist, and the tangy lemon frosting serves is a nice complement.  Plus, since it uses Hodgson Mill's Whole Wheat Graham flour, it is nutritious, too.  With this type of flour, "the entire natural bran and germ are stone ground, preserving all of the grain's natural nutrients and great taste, with no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives." 

Gingerbread Cake Bites with Lemon Frosting, serving size: 40-50 bite sized squares.
Preparation time: approximately 2 hours

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat flour

½ cup cornstarch

1 teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon cloves

a pinch of ground pepper

¾ stick of unsalted butter (6 Tablespoons), room temperature

2/3 cup brown sugar packed

¼ cup molasses

¼ light corn syrup

1 egg, beaten

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

½ cup boiling water

2 Tablespoons milk

For the Gingerbread Cake:

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with nonstick spray and line with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 325 F.

Mix the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, soda, salt, spices and pepper together and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter.  Gradually add the brown sugar and cream thoroughly. Beat in molasses and corn syrup.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg until foamy.  Then, add it to the butter mixture. Stir in the vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix just until combined, being careful not to overbeat. 

Slowly, pour in the boiling water and the milk.  Mixture will be very runny.  Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread with a spatula.

Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Allow to cool all the way, and then chill in the refrigerator.

For the Lemon Frosting:

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

zest from ½ a large lemon

juice from ½ a large lemon

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 cups powdered sugar

Lemon peel for garnish, optional

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy.  Add the zest and vanilla.  Slowly add the powdered sugar.  Add the lemon juice and beat on medium-high for 5 minutes.  When the cake is chilled and  slightly firm to the touch, spread the frosting on the cake with an offset spatula.  Using a pizza cutter, cute the cake into small squares.  If desired, top each square with a small strip of lemon zest to garnish.  

Club: BAKED - Caramel Apple Monster Cake

On Sunday we celebrated Halloween with the family.  I saw this Monster cake and really wanted to make it, so when I saw we were baking the Caramel Apple Cake with Club Baked, I thought how perfect!  I'd turn the Caramel Apple Cake into this furry little monster.  

I don't have 3 round cake pans, so I made 2 nine-inch cakes, and split each into two - creating a four layer cake.  Also, I cheated with the frosting.  I saw mixed reviews of the frosting recipe on the Club Baked P&Q page, so, being short on time (I made lots of cake balls and puff pastry intestines, too... pictures to come soon), I decided to make a shortcut and just whipped up a batch of my favorite buttercream frosting - adding 1/3 cup of store bought caramel topping for ice cream.  

First we crumb-coated.  Then we (I say WE because the husband did all of the fur piping! I should really say "HE!")  used a grass tip (flat tip with several small holes in it) to pipe the orange fur in concentric rings.  His mouth is black licorice, and his teeth are made of Candy Quik that I piped into triangles on parchment, and then let harden before transferring to the monster.  

His eye balls are devil's food cake pops dipped in vanilla candy quik.  The orange bit is a Candy Melt wafer with black food coloring gel painted on with a paint brush, and a dab of Candy Quik for the little while shine.  We painted the veins on with red food coloring gel and a paintbrush.  It was time consuming, but fun!

As for the cake, everyone who tried it loved it.  My nephew had two bowls full!  What wasn't eaten at family dinner was thoroughly enjoyed at work the next day.  

Thanks for Melissa of Lulu the Baker for selecting this recipe and hosting this week!  What a great pick for this time of year, such a nice Fall spicey cake. Be sure to visit Club Baked and check out how the other Club Baked bakers did with this Caramel Apple Cake.

Club: BAKED - Boston Cream Pie Cake... Donut?

I honestly don't think I've ever tasted a traditional Boston Cream Pie but I've had (and thoroughly enjoyed) my share of its donut counterpart.  When Boston Cream Pie came up on our schedule for Club Baked - I knew I'd be baking along that week.  But I'm late!  I made the cake by September 1st, our date for this recipe.  But didn't get to make icing and pastry cream until yesterday


I put a tiny spin on this recipe.  Since my only real experience with Boston Cream Pie is with donuts... I made a giant Boston Cream Pie Cake in the shape of a donut!  It was the first time I got to use my Giant donut pan.  Instead of making a chocolate pastry cream and a vanilla pastry cream, I made only vanilla and put just one layer of cream in the cake.  I thought I had all the ingredients on hand after a shopping trip, only to realize I had no heavy cream for the chocolate glaze, so I improvised and made an alternate version.

Half of the donut cake, hollowed out slightly to make room for pastry cream

This recipe made enough for one giant donut (equivalent to 2 8-inch round cakes) and one 4 inch cake

Quite a large chocolate glazed Boston Cream donut. :) And the biggest donut hole ever!

Quick and Simple Satiny Chocolate Glaze, adapted from AllRecipes

• 3/4 cup 60% semisweet chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in the top of a double boiler and stir until completely smooth.  

While still warm, spread on top of cake and let drip down the sides.

Overall, this recipe was pretty good.  Anything I didn't love about it was probably my fault.  For example, We thought it was a tiny bit on the dry side, but I think that would have been better if I had more layers of pastry cream like the original recipe said.  Plus, my pastry cream was very thick.  Like thicker than pudding thick.  But I think perhaps I overcooked it.  

Be sure to check out the other Club Baked bakers' version of the Boston Cream Pie cake!

Sunday Night Cake

Every once in a while, I find myself in a comfort baking rut.  It's not that I haven't wanted to bake lately, but that I keep turning to tried and true favorites.  Does that ever happen to you?  When you find you aren't in the mood to experiment with new recipes, and would rather go with one you know will come out just the way you want.  


Luckily, that is one of the main reason I join online baking clubs.  Someone in the club chooses the recipe, and we all bake along.  It really gets me to go outside my comfort zone and try something new.  While I love the cookbook Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented, the "Sunday Night Cake" is probably not one I'd have picked on my own, especially not when I'm in an un-adventerous baking mood.  I already have a favorite plain vanilla cake recipe, so this is not one that would have stood out to me as a "need to bake asap!" recipe.  But, Julie of A Little Bit of Everything chose this recipe as our bake-along for August 15th... and I'm SO glad she did!  It was such a hit.  Whenever I make something "plain" I always worry that it'll just sit there at Sunday dinner and not get eaten.  But everyone loved this cake.  The cake itself was on the dense side, and the small 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon really shined through.  The frosting was very unique - I love the idea of a chocolate pudding frosting!  


The one change I made to the recipe was to cut the 8 inch square cake in half and add a vanilla buttercream layer.  I thought the sweetness of the vanilla layer played very well with the richness of the chocolate pudding frosting.  All the flavors worked together very nicely.  This is a definite will-make-again!

Be sure to visit Julie at A Little Bit of Everything for the recipe (it is a keeper!!).  And then visit Club Baked to see how everyone else's Sunday Night Cake came out!

Club: BAKED - NY Style Crumb Cake

I got hooked on BAKED: New Frontiers in Baking when I made my first recipe from the book in November 2008.  Their Brownies quickly became my favorite, and that's saying quite a bit as I've made about one and a half gajillion different brownie recipes.  So when several members of Sweet Melissa Sundays mentioned they were started a Club: BAKED baking group based around the book Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented, I jumped at the opportunity.  I know I'm going to love the recipes we make from the book and I'll find many new favorites.

The first recipe up in our schedule is NY Style Crumb Cake.  This is a great way to start off this group!  I'm a native New Yorker and have tasted quite a few crumb cakes.  And big buttery cinnamon-sugary crumb topping is one of my favorite things in the world.  Rather than make the full batch, since I'm baking up other things for Fourth of July in the very near future, I decided to half the recipe and make it in a cupcake tin.  This method yielded 12 individual Crumb Cakes.  Besides halving, and substituting (1/2 Cup granulated sugar + 1 Tablespoon molasses) for the Dark Brown Sugar, I made the recipe exactly as it appears in the book.  I haven't tried one yet, so I can't report on their taste!  But from the looks of them, I think they're a winner!  I'll come back here with an update once they've been sampled.  :)

I'm excited to be baking in this new group!  Make sure to visit our site to see the other bakers' versions of this classic dessert.  Visit Karen's Cookies Cakes and More for the recipe.  Thanks for hosting, Karen (and picking such an awesome recipe to start off with)!

Sesame Street Cupcake and Dessert Tower

This weekend, our niece Ella turned two years old!  In honor of her second birthday and her Sesame Street theme celebration, we made her a Sesame Street Cupcake and Dessert Tower.  Nothing but the best for our niece's birthday party!  We used our Round Cupcake and Dessert Tower, and on it there were vanilla cookie monster cupcakes, red velvet elmo cupcakes, cake pops, and cookie pops with her name on them.  All the preparation was worth it when she stood next to her dessert tower (which was almost as big as she was) and made that adorable two-year old smile.  :)

CARS Lightning McQueen Cake

On Friday, we celebrated our cousin's son's 3rd birthday.  The birthday boy is loving anything and everything CARS right now, so we made him a Lightning McQueen CARS cake.  I'm very pleased with the results!  It is a 10 inch Two-layer Vanilla cake on the bottom and a two layer 6 inch round Chocolate cake on top.  

 

In other news, I was hired as a full-time elementary school Art teacher! 

(Did you know they made an Art Teacher Barbie?? I so did not know that!)

Friday was my first official day, and I spent all weekend getting things ready for the classroom.  I'm so excited to begin this new adventure!  I know it will be a challenge at first, but I'm looking forward to the journey.  Any teachers out there?

SMS: Speakeasy? Or Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting & Ganache

The Speakeasy cake, the recipe for Sweet Melissa Sundays this week, was chosen by Jeannette of The Whimsical Cupcake.  According to the Sweet Melissa Cookbook, Melissa "snuck a lot of booze into this cake!"  I knew I was making this cake for a family dinner where we have a pregnant family member so I decided to un-booze this Speakeasy... so I guess it really shouldn't be called a Speakeasy at all, huh?  Whatever you want to call this cake, it turned out absolutely amazing.  Probably one of my favorite cake recipes I've prepared to date.  It's very unique, not your every day cake - and I mean that in a very good way.

Cinnamon Coffee Crumb Cake (and a Giveaway!)

Lately, my mornings have either consisted of going to school to fill in as a substitute teacher, or sitting on the couch with coffee and checking the employment page of the local school district to check for openings.  Sometimes my mornings include putting resumes in envelopes with care and rushing to the post office, wishing them well when I send them off to their destination.  On those mornings, this Cinnamon Coffee Crumb Cake makes the perfect breakfast to go along with my morning coffee and job hunting.  


This is quite possibly the best Crumb Cake I've ever tasted.  It is a glorious combination of a Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake with a thick, buttery Crumb Cake topping.  The cinnamon swirl in the middle makes the cake very moist (an almost under-baked texture in parts) and the high ratio of crumbs to cake balances out that super moistness perfectly.  

Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake with Crumb Topping:
For the Cake (adapted from Epicurious):
1-1/2 Cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup vanilla greek yogurt
1 tsp baking soda
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1-1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
a pinch of fine sea salt


Directions:
Lightly grease an 8x8 or 9x9 square cake pan and line with parchment.  Preheat to 350.  
In a small bowl, mix together 1/3 cup granulated sugar with the brown sugar and cinnamon.  Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour with the baking powder and salt.  In a separate bowl, combine the yogurt and the baking soda and stir.  Set both bowls aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy.  While mixer is on low, pour in the granulated sugar and continue to beat.  Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition, scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Beat in the vanilla.
Stir in the flour mixture in 3 parts alternately with the yogurt mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.  Stir until well combined.
Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan.  Sprinkle half of the cinnamon-brown sugar mixture on top.  Then, pour the rest of the batter on top of the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Top off with the remainder of the cinnamon sugar mixture.  With a knife, gently swirl the cinnamon sugar mixture into the batter (not all of it will get swirled in and that is ok).
Over the cake batter, squeeze handfuls of the Crumb Topping Mixture (see recipe below) together to crumble into small clumps.  Drop evenly over the cake batter, covering completely (the crumb layer will be thick!)
Bake in preheated oven for 45-55 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean with only moist crumbs on it.  Allow to cool on a wire rack.  


For the New York Style Crumb Topping (adapted from Epicurious):
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
around 1-1/2 to 2 tsp ground cinnamon (depending on how cinnamony you want it)
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and allowed to cool slighlty
1 - 1/4 cup all purpose flour


Whisk both sugars, cinnamon and salt together in a medium bowl.  Add the warm melted butter and stir to blend.  Add flour and toss with a fork until moist clumps of crumb topping form.

Yes, each slice of this deserves to be served on its own pedestal.  

And... now it's time for a Giveaway!  Recently, the kind people at Thomas Nelson publishing company offered me a copy of their new book: Dining with Joy.  This book has been a fun and very welcome distraction during my job searching days.  It is a quick, easy read about a woman named Joy who was thrust into the role of TV Cooking show host, following her father's death.  Readers follow Joy's ups and downs in the Television business and foodie world, as well as in her personal life.  


Joy was pretty lucky in that she was named JOY.  I mean, "Dining with Joy" - that's a pretty darn cute name for a cooking show whose host's name is Joy.  
To enter this contest, simply leave a comment below telling me what you would call your own TV cooking show if you had one.  I'd probably have to be on HBO and call my show "The Angry Baker" because I tend to get frustrated (and even curse a bit) while I'm baking.  If anyone has ever made a super silly mistake while preparing (and subsequently destroying) a recipe - one of my trademarks - then you'll understand :)
Want an extra entry?  Mention this contest on Facebook and include a link to this Post in your mention.  Leave a separate comment below telling me you've done so.
Want ANOTHER extra entry?  Mention this contest on Twitter and include a link to this post in your mention.  Leave a separate comment below telling me you've done so. 
Contest will end Jan. 27th at midnight and I'll announce the winner on Fri. the 28th.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all have a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving!  

Here are some Turkey Cake Pops (from Bakerella's Cake Pops book) I made for our Thanksgiving dinner.  What are you making this year?

First Birthday Cupcake Tower

Lately, there has been a lot of Cupcaking going on around here.  Just last weekend was my nephew's First Birthday Party!  For the celebration we made the little man a Cupcake Tower to match the theme for his party ("Lil Rebel").  The colors were Gray, White, and Blue.  I was so excited to get to use our Cupcake Tower again!  For more info on the cupcake tower, visit my store here: www.TheSmartBaker.com

This is what we came up with!

We made chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, both with buttercream frosting - but to make the vanilla look a little more fun, we turned it into Confetti cupcakes by mixing a small spoonful of blue sprinkles into the batter just before going in the oven.  It added a nice little touch!  The top tier is a 6 inch round cake decorated in fondant. 

I can't wait to keep using my Cricut Cake and my Cupcake Tower!  We took off the bottom tier of the Five Tier Round Cupcake Tower, and put on the optional fourth tier bases - and it became the perfect size for this party!  I must say, I am quite proud of our work on this one. 

My Wedding Cake!

I wanted to share photos of my wedding "cake" with you all!  If you are reading this blog, you're likely as obsessed with desserts as I am, so I know you'll appreciate these. :)  And no, I did not wind up making my own cupcakes - as many people warned me not too!  I think it was a very wise decision.  The cupcake tower structure that the cupcakes are sitting on are our latest product on www.TheSmartBaker.com.  It worked wonderfully at the wedding!  We used it in our candy buffet, too for our hand-dipped chocolate covered items.  Yum!  Take a peek!!

My cake topper!  Yep, thats my pup on it, too :)

Here is the tower for the candy buffet.  We had around 40 pounds of other candy, too - like sour watermelons, chocolate covered pretzels, yogurt pretzels, chocolate covered gummy bears, neon sour worms, mini gummy bears, jelly rings, sour belts, and peachy penguins.  Guests got to take home a box full of candy!  We got all of our candy from www.AJsCandyCastle.com