apple cake

Last spring, I made a traditional apple cake. Although it was pretty tasty, it was also little greasy given the amount of butter called for in the recipe. This apple cake uses Greek yogurt instead of butter or oil, making it amazingly moist, dense, and delicious.

Yield: 1 cake
135 calories per slice, if cut into 16 slices
Active time: 15 minutes
Total time: 75 minutes

ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 apples, diced

preparation
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. In your stand mixer bowl, cream the sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract.

3. Add in the yogurt, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt, mixing on a speed of 4 until very well combined.

4. Add in the flour and apples, continuing to stir on a speed of 2 until well blended.

5. Pour into a well greased pan and bake until dark brown and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 60 minutes. This cake is very, very dense so a toothpick may come out cleanly even though the cake isn't cooked through. Another method is to gently press on the top of the cake. If it springs back, it's ready.

6. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Other modifications:

• Bringing the cake to a holiday party? Separate the batter into two 8 or 9 inch pie pans, whip up a cream cheese frosting of glaze, and stack. Viola!

Original recipe found here.

cake, cake, and more cake!

Continually amazed by the creativity of the party planners, last month Extra-Ordinary Birthdays out did itself with the fantastic parties it threw for some very special youngsters and their families. This month, we partied in the jungle with Elmo and some super heroes.

As I mentioned in last month's post, I'm the first to over think a cake plan. This month, I focused on the details rather than stacking up layers of cake. The cake recipes I used can be found here and here. I used store bought frosting, but used food gel to bring the cakes to life.

blueberry cake

As blueberry season winds to a close, the nuttiness of this delectable cake is a perfect way to transition to autumn.

Yield: One 9 inch cake
185 calories per slice, if cut into 12 slices
Active time: 5 minutes
Total time: 50 minutes

ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 egg

1/2 cup rice milk

2 cups blueberries

1 ounce almonds, crushed (see step 1 of “no knead almond bread” for tips on crushing whole almonds)

preparation

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line a 9-inch round cake pan with parchment paper.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Add the egg and which until well incorporated.

4. Add in the all the remaining ingredients, except for the blueberries, and beat until smooth, about 1 minute.  

5. Add in the blueberries and stir just to incorporate, about 30 seconds.

6. Pour the mixture into the cake pan and bake until golden brown and a wooden toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 45 minutes. 

7. Cool for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. See step 12 of “coconut chocolate chip monkey bread” for tips on turning out a cake.

Original recipe found here.

birthday cake extravaganza!

As I continue to enjoy baking goodies for the fantastic parties Extra-Ordinary Birthdays provides for children and their families living in homeless shelters, this month was a Mickey Mouse, basketball, and princess extravaganza.

Pinterest is a great resource, which I used to find ideas for the My Little Pony cake and microphone cupcakes that were served at previous celebrations. Believe me, there were plenty of great photos on Pinterest for this batch of cakes.

The cake recipes I used can be found here and here. I used store bought frosting.

For the Mickey cake:

-Use a 8 inch round cake pan and a 8 by 8 square pan. From the square pan, you'll use a mold to cut out circles after the cakes have cooled. I made two Mickey cakes, so cut the square cake in half across the diagonal, cut out the "ear", and then cut the ear in half horizontally. 

-If you'd like your cakes to be more flat, use a parchment collar.

For the basketball cake

-Use gel food coloring for the main frosting, and chocolate frosting for the laces. I used a small Ziplock bag to pipe. See "let them eat cake" for more on food coloring and piping.

For the cupcakes:

-Again, used gel food coloring.

-Gave the frosting a twist by coloring some cream cheese frosting purple and piping it on top of the chocolate frosting. You can also swirl the frosting.

-See "champagne cupcakes" for tips on piping with a Ziplock.

mocha cake

I love coffee. I love chocolate. I love cake. This recipe is truly a triple threat.

Yield: One 9 inch cake round
1,550 calories per round, without frosting
Active time: 5 minutes
Total time: 35 minutes

ingredients
(Listed below are the measurements to make two 9 inch cake rounds or one 13 by 9 in pan. I halved the recipe.)
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup strong brewed coffee
1 cup almond milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

preparation
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease a 9 inch cake round.

3. In large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

4. Add eggs, coffee, almond milk, oil, and vanilla. Stir well to blend.

5. Add in the cocoa powder, stirring well to combine. The batter will be thin.

6. Pour the batter into pan.

7. Bake 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of cake comes out clean.

8. Let cool for 10 minutes, and then remove the cake from the pan to cool.

9. Frost as desired. I had some cream cheese frosting left over from a set of cupcakes I made for Extra-Ordinary Birthdays, so used that.

The cupcakes from the Extra-Ordinary Birthday celebration. 

Original recipe found here.