Coffee-Walnut Cake

Remember all that coffee frosting leftover from the coffee cake pops I made?  Well, this is what I did with it:

BUT FIRST...

A quick description of what exactly happened with that crazy frosting.

The frosting that went into the cake pops had cream cheese added to it, along with the powdered sugar and coffee and butter.  It was thick and frosting-like.

The leftovers... not so much.

Without cream cheese and with wayyy too much coffee (because I was trying to get a more coffee-like taste) wayyy too little powdered sugar (because I used it all XP), it was... almost soupy.

SOUP IS NOT FROSTING.

But.

It can be called a glaze.

Sophistication for the win.

But a glaze without anything for it to go on is useless, worthless, pointless.  And the bowl it was in was taking up valuable space in the fridge.

It had to go.

...on a walnut cake.

Cake and walnuts and an adapted Martha Stewart cupcake recipe and leftover coffee glaze = mishmash original recipe.

Walnut Cake with Coffee Glaze
REQUIRES SOFTENED BUTTER

Cake:
2 3/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Glaze:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
a mug/cup/glass/thing of strong coffee
extra powdered sugar

Optional:
chopped walnuts
semisweet chocolate chips, melted

For the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease/Pam 9x13 inch pan.
2. In large bowl, stir flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon with a fork.  Set aside.
3. In another large bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy.  Add eggs and vanilla; beat until combined.
4. Add 1/2 flour mixture, 1 cup of milk, then rest of flour mixture to butter mixture in that order.
5. Stir in walnuts.
6. Spread batter in prepared pan and bake 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
7. Let cool in pan slightly before topping with glaze.

For the glaze:

1. Beat butter in large bowl.  Add powdered sugar a cup at a time, beating well after each addition.
2. Add milk and mix well.
3. Add in enough coffee for a strong taste.  Add it powdered sugar until it's slightly less soupy.  Do this by taste and eyeball the consistency.

Assembly:

1. Spread glaze on cake.
2. If desired, sprinkle with extra chopped walnuts.
3. If desired, melt semisweet chocolate chips and allow to cool 5 minutes.  Place in plastic bag and snip off the very tip of the corner of the bag - or use a pastry bag.  Drizzle melted chocolate in a criss-cross pattern.

Breaking it down:

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon...

Beat butter and sugar...

Add eggs...

Add vanilla and mix well.  Add in half of the flour, all the milk, and the rest of the flour...

Combine well.  Stir in the walnuts...

...and spread in your greased pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, and then allow to cool slightly.  Whip up that glaze and spread it on the cake.  I used melted semisweet chips for this decorative pattern and I sprinkled the cake with walnuts, too.  PUT INTO REFRIGERATOR - trust me on this, otherwise the glaze will always be soup - and then cut into pieces.  Yum!

I thought this was a really great cake.  I got the glaze a little too sweet, so that wasn't awesomesauce, but otherwise it tasted very good! :D

Go out there and be delicious!
-JJ

Lemon Cake

I made this delicious cake from Martha Stewart for Easter, and now I've finally gotten around to posting it!  It was a big hit among friends and family, and despite its complications, it was totally worth it.

It also looks very pretty.

Lemon Cake
REQUIRES SOFTENED BUTTER
REQUIRES CHILLING TIME
DON'T THROW EGG WHITES AWAY (use in frosting/other recipes)
(It also takes 3 lemons.)

Lemon Cake:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 sticks unsalted butter, SOFTENED
2 cups sugar, divided
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup water
1 lemon, thinly sliced and seeded

Lemon Curd Filling:
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2/3 cup lemon juice
8 large egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Whipped Frosting:

3 large egg whites

3/4 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

1/3 cup water

2 tablespoons lemon juice (if you like really lemony frosting - I used 1 1/2 and it worked just fine)

For the Lemon Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter and flour (Pam probably works fine) two 8-inch round cake pans.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest.
3. In a large bowl, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs and yolks, one at a time.  Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice and combine.
4. Alternately beat in flour mixture and buttermilk, starting and ending with flour.
5. Divide batter between pans and smooth tops.  Bake 32 to 35 minutes, or until sides pull away from pan.
6. While cakes are baking, boil remaining 1/2 cup sugar and water in a saucepan.  Add lemon slices and simmer for 25 minutes.  
7. Using a slotted spoon, transfer candied lemon slices to a wax-paper-covered plate.  Stir in 1/4 cup lemon juice to sugar water to make lemon syrup.
8. Remove cakes from oven and let cool for 10 minutes in pans.  Run a plastic knife around sides of pans and turn out onto wire racks.
9. Using toothpick, poke holes in tops of warm cakes.  Brush with lemon syrup.  Let cool completely before frosting.

For the Lemon Curd:

1. In a saucepan off heat, whisk sugar, zest, and egg yolks.  Whisk in lemon juice and salt.
2. Add butter and cook, whisking constantly, over medium high, until butter has melted, the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, and small bubbles form around the edges of the saucepan, about 5 minutes.  Don't boil.
3. Continue to whisk and remove from heat.  Pour curd through fine-mesh sieve into a glass bowl.  Press plastic wrap against surface of curd and refrigerate until totally cool.

For the Whipped Frosting:

1. In a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, combine egg whites, sugar, salt, and water.  Cook over medium, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes or until sugar has dissolved.  Transfer to large bowl.
2. Using electric mixer, beat on medium-high until stiff, glossy peaks form.  Do not overbeat.  Reduce speed to low and add lemon juice, then beat until just combined.  Use immediately.

Assembly:

1. Spread lemon curd over the flat side of one of your cakes.  You'll have leftover curd.
2. Place the other layer, flat side down, on top.
3. Spread fresh whipped frosting over cake with a spatula or frosting knife.  It will easily spread over sides and top.
4. Garnish with candied lemon slices on top of cake.
5. Serve immediately or before you need to refrigerate it.  FROSTING DOES NOT KEEP IN FRIDGE.

Some tips before we dive in:

• The lemon syrup was... very lemony.  In my opinion, you can probably skip the syrup because the cake is already so dense and moist.  Just add some more lemon juice to the actual cake and you'll get away with a not-too-sour cake.
• You can try to eat the candied lemon slices.  I don't recommend it.
• If you plan on refrigerating the cake to keep until later, don't use the whipped frosting.  Find a nice vanilla that you can make lemon, or just wait to frost it until before serving.  It's a meringuey frosting, and will dissipate/melt in the fridge.  It won't look very good anymore. :/ Personal experience at ya.

Anyway, now with my tips/warnings in place, we can break it down:
Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest...

In a separate bowl, beat SOFTENED butter...

...and sugar...

...until fluffy.

Beat in eggs and yolks, one at a time.

RESERVE THE WHITES FOR THE FROSTING.

Mix in lemon juice.

Add some flour mixture...

Then some buttermilk...

...and repeat until both are gone.

Pour into pans and smooth the tops.

Bake for 32 minutes.  Meanwhile, slice a lemon...

...and boil sugar and water.  Add lemon slices and simmer for 25 minutes.

Remove from saucepan with a slotted spoon...

...and place on a wax-lined plate.

Add lemon juice to your to-be syrup mixture.

Your cakes should be done by now, so remove them from the oven and let cool 10 minutes in pans...

Then run a plastic knife around the edges of the pans (so that you don't scrape them up too badly) and invert them onto wire racks.

Poke holes into the tops all over with a toothpick...

...and brush with lemon syrup (you will use all of it - the cake soaks it up really fast!).

Now, start on your lemon curd by whisking sugar, zest, and egg yolks...

Whisk in lemon juice and salt...

Add butter...

...and cook until it's thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.  It'll thicken even more in the fridge.  Transfer to a glass bowl...

...cover with plastic wrap like so...

...and refrigerate until thoroughly cool.  Once the curd is coolish, start making your whipped frosting.  Combine egg whites, salt, sugar, and water in a homemade double boiler...

...until the sugar has dissolved; transfer to a large bowl.

Beat until stiff peaks form and mix in lemon juice until just combined.

Insert strips of wax paper underneath your first layer on its serving platter to catch drips.  Spread your cooled lemon curd over the flat side of one cake...

You'll have a lot of leftover curd, I guarantee it.  Serve it in little cups with blueberries or shortbread cookies, plop it in some mini tarts, or do what I did: eat it with a spoon! :3  Anyways, place the other cake, flat side down, on top...

Spread whipped frosting on top and around the sides of your cake...

Remove wax strips and garnish with candied lemon slices.

Enjoy!

-JJ

Rocky Road Brownies

Marshmallows seem to be defining at least half of my recent baking endeavors.  Oh, yeah, and chocolate does that too.  So, put them together and you get a recipe for Rocky Road Brownies!  (My own, thank you, with inspiration from Martha Stewart and a love of milk chocolate morsels. :D)

Rocky Road Brownies

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 bag milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup mini marshmallows

1/2 cup cashews

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt butter and 1 cup of milk chocolate chips in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth.  Remove from heat and pour into medium/large bowl.
3. Stir in sugars and salt, add eggs, and then mix in the flour.  Mix thoroughly, then pour into an 8x8 prepared or nonstick baking pan.
4. Bake for 30 minutes, then sprinkle on remaining chocolate chips, marshmallows, and cashews.
5. Bake for an additional 5 minutes, then remove from oven and let cool in the pan.  Cut into bars of desired size.  Makes anywhere from 9-16 servings.

Of course, I love huge brownies, so I cut the pan three by three...  Sooo filling.  But delicious anyway.  :) And let's break it down:

Cut your butter...

Combine with the chocolate chips...

And melt, stirring constantly until smooth.

Transfer to a large bowl and add sugars and salt...

Stir...

Add eggs...

Stir...

Add flour...

...and mix thoroughly.  Pour into an 8x8 baking pan...

Bake for 30 minutes...

Then sprinkle on chocolate chips...

Add marshmallows and cashews...

Bake for another 5 minutes...

Then cut into yummylicious bars!

Note: You may want to try sprinkling the cashews first, then the marshmallows, then the chocolate chips...  The brownies will probably look prettier and stick together better.  Mine had cashews falling off everywhere.  So remember, the recipe is NOT always perfect!

But still yummy!

-JJ