Author: Amy

Fall Blossom Cake

For the past several weeks I’ve seen these amazing, beautiful cakes and cupcakes across Instagram where you cover the entire top of the cake with different piping shapes. I decided to practice my piping skills and make this fall blossom cake, and I have to say: I’m even impressed. I also loved this bake because I so rarely get to make cakes, but I’ve decided that I can absolutely take full cakes to my office. I even brought little plates and a knife for cutting to encourage folks to dig in.

The recipe of the cake is adapted slightly from A Stay at Home Chef, and it is absolutely delicious. The next time I make it I’m going to add vanilla bean paste to the batter instead of extract to see what happens; I’d also like to make chocolate almond and chocolate orange versions, so stay tuned. And yes – the amount of buttercream you need for this cake (and the mess it makes in your kitchen) is just as unreal as it seems. I say I used about 12 cups of powdered sugar in this…but to be totally honest, I lost count.

Ingredients

For the chocolate cake

  • ▢1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs, at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup sour milk (see tip below) or buttermilk
  • 3/4 cup warm water (between 100 and 110 degrees)
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the vanilla almond buttercream

  • 2 1/2 cups (yes, really, 4 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • About 12 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons almond extract
  • 3-4 tablespoons heavy cream
  • Red, orange, and green food coloring
  • To decorate: Piping tips of your choice. I used the Wilton M1, 4B, 21, and 16 for the flowers and the 352 leaf tip.

Tip: To make 3/4 cup sour milk, place 2 1/4 teaspoons vinegar or lemon juice in a glass measuring cup. Add enough whole milk to equal 3/4 cup and stir; let stand for 5 minutes before using.

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 9 x 13 baking tin with baking spray.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add eggs, sour milk, warm water, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract and whisk to combine completely, about 2 minutes by hand. Pour into baking tin and bake for 30 – 35 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

To make frosting, beat butter on medium speed for 1 minute. Add about 5 cups powdered sugar and beat on low speed until the sugar is fully incorporated into the butter; this takes several minutes. I place a kitchen towel over my mixer to avoid getting powdered sugar all over the countertop.

Once sugar is fully incorporated, add vanilla extract, almond extract, and 1 tablespoon heavy cream and beat to combine; add remaining powdered sugar about 1 cup at a time, beating well between each addition. You’ll likely need another 2-3 tablespoons of heavy cream to achieve a medium consistency that’s pipeable but will hold its shape.

Divide frosting into several bowls and tint as desired. I did a variety of deep yellow, light peach, orange, and pinkish red. Remember to reserve a small portion of your frosting to tint green if you want to add leaf accents.

Pipe as desired; I put a thin layer of white buttercream as a base because I just prefer to do that, but you could pipe directly onto the cake itself if you wanted to. I used various techniques, including the same basic swirled rose I use on most of my cupcakes, star-like flowers, and so forth. You can get as creative as you like here. Add your leaf accents using the leaf tip. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days; this didn’t last two full days in my office.

Spider Cake for Halloween

One of my favorite Halloween traditions is watching “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” Linus waits, undeterred by criticism from the rest of the Peanuts, for the Great Pumpkin to arrive, and it’s that dedication that inspired this cake, with two adorable spiders sitting in a pumpkin patch, holding legs and hoping for a visit from the Great Pumpkin.

The cake itself is vanilla, and it takes a fair amount of buttercream – I used vanilla almond to cover the cake and make most of the decorations, while using chocolate buttercream for the spiders. You’ll need a fair amount of piping tips for this effort, but for me, the end result was well worth it. This also might be one of the longest blog posts I’ve ever written because of the extensive decoration steps!

Ingredients

For the cake

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • dash of salt
  • 8 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 6 tablespoons milk

For the frosting and decoration

For the frosting and decoration

  • 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, at room temperature
  • 6 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
  • 2-3 tablespoons heavy cream
  • 3-4 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • Green, yellow, and red food coloring
  • Chocolate chips (for spider eyes)
  • Note: You’ll need the Wilton piping tips 233 (grass), 22 (star), 12 (medium plain), 5 (small plain), and 352 (leaf)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease two 6-inch round cake pans, line each with a parchment circle, and lightly grease the parchment.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until very well-blended. Add eggs and vanilla extract and beat well to combine, scraping the sides of your bowl a few times.

Add flour and milk alternatively in two batches, beginning and ending with the flour and beating until completely combined.

Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 18-22 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow cakes to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then carefully turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

While cakes cool, make your frosting – you want to begin with a vanilla almond buttercream, then divide your frosting and make a smaller portion of chocolate buttercream from the original batch.

To make vanilla almond buttercream, beat butter on medium speed for about 1 minute; add 4 cups powdered sugar and beat on low speed to fully incorporate the sugar into the butter. This takes a long time (several minutes); I cover my mixer with a kitchen towel during the process to avoid a storm of powdered sugar.

Once sugar is fully incorporated, beat on medium-high speed for about 2 minutes; add vanilla extract, almond extract, 1 tablespoon heavy cream, and remaining powdered sugar and beat on low, then medium speed, to fully combine. You can add another tablespoon of heavy cream if necessary; you want a texture that’s easy to pipe, but can still hold its shape.

Divide your frosting as follows:

Reserve about 1 tablespoon white frosting for spider eyes. Place in a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip; set aside.

Take 1 1/2 cups and sift in 2-3 tablespoons cocoa powder (to taste) and mix in 1 tablespoon heavy cream. Fit a piping bag with a coupler and medium plain tip; fill with chocolate frosting and set aside. You’ll want the coupler to switch to a small plain tip later.

Take about 2 cups frosting and tint light green; I used a combination of green and yellow for my shade. You’ll add more green for the pumpkin leaves, vines, and grass later on.

Take about 1 cup frosting and tint orange for the pumpkins; I used a combination of yellow and red food coloring for this. Fit a piping bag with a medium star tip and place orange frosting inside the bag; set aside.

To decorate, place one cake layer on your cake stand; I put chocolate buttercream in the middle of my cake, but you can put the vanilla almond there if you prefer. Top with another cake layer. Cover the top and sides of the cake completely with light green buttercream.

To make the spiders, pipe one large and one small blob of frosting for the body and the head of each spider, then switch frosting tips to the small plain tip and pipe on the legs. Using the white frosting, pipe circles for eyes, then add chocolate chips for the pupils. You can also use candy eyes, but I find that the pupils on those “bleed” out into the whites…which I guess isn’t terrible for Halloween.

To make the pumpkins on the sides of your cake, pipe orange frosting in an up-and-down motion to create your shapes. To pipe the smaller pumpkins on the top of the cake, hold your piping bag vertically over the cake and pipe directly down, like you’re making a star, but let it fill out into a pumpkin shape.

Take the remaining light green frosting and add more food coloring for a darker shade. Fit a piping bag with a coupler and a grass tip; pipe grass around the bottom of the cake. Switch to a leaf tip and add leaves on your pumpkins, then switch to another small plain tip and add vines, if desired.

Use the remaining chocolate buttercream to finish your pumpkins by piping on their stems. A detail of the pumpkins on the side of the cake is below. Store the finished cake in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days. Makes about 6-8 slices.

Milk Chocolate Millionaire’s Shortbread

Once upon a time traveling in England, I had an amazing wedge of shortbread covered in caramel and chocolate. The setting could not have been more perfect: a tea shop in the Lake District on a rainy, blustery day. I drank a ton of tea in England (obviously), but that shortbread stayed with me. I didn’t realize until years later watching the Great British Baking Show that the treat had a name, and its name was millionaire’s shortbread.

I’ve made millionaire’s shortbread once before, but this recipe, which I found at The Pioneer Woman and adapted just slightly, is an improvement on the one I’ve made before. While the base is a little crumbly for me, the caramel layer is excellent, and I decided to go with a milk chocolate ganache on the top for a sweeter, less bitter treat. I know, do you really need something sweeter with shortbread and caramel? Just ask the folks at Twix, I suppose.

Ingredients

For the base

  • 2 3/4 cups flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the caramel

  • 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed
  • 1/2 cup light corn syrup
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the milk chocolate ganache

  • 1 3/4 cups milk chocolate chips
  • 100 milliliters (just above the 1/3 cup line, sorry Americans but there’s no easy conversion here) heavy cream

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13 baking tin with foil, extending the foil over the sides. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cornstarch, sea salt, melted butter, and vanilla extract and stir until the dough comes together and becomes crumbly – be careful not to overwork it. Press dough into the pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until edges are golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to rest while you make your caramel.

To make the caramel, combine sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, heavy cream, and sea salt in a medium pan and stir well. Cook over medium heat until the mixture darkens, begins to pull away from the pan, and reaches 235 degrees; I use a candy thermometer clipped to my pan and I stir constantly once the mixture begins to bubble to avoid scorching. Once the mixture reaches 235 degrees, remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Immediately pour over shortbread and allow to set at room temperature until cool.

Once the caramel is cool, make your ganache; there are different schools of thought on how best to do this, and I combined two different methods because I don’t think I got the cream warm enough on my first try. Place chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl. Place heavy cream in a small saucepan over low to medium heat and heat until it’s just about to boil – you’ll see small bubbles on the surface. Remove from heat and pour over chocolate chips; allow to sit for a few minutes to melt the chocolate, then stir vigorously until smooth. If necessary (and it was for me), place the mixture in the microwave and heat in short bursts of about 15 seconds, stirring well between each, until completely smooth. Pour over caramel layer and spread evenly with a spatula; allow to set before cutting. Slice into 2-inch x 1-inch pieces; store in airtight containers in a single layer (otherwise the layers get squished) at room temperature for 3-4 days. Makes 56.

Cinnamon Orange Cupcakes

As always, I’m fascinated by whoever thought, hmm…I’m going to combine cinnamon with orange and it’s going to be delicious. But here we are, with absolutely delicious cinnamon orange cupcakes. Not unlike the combination of chocolate and orange, this flavor pairing is a surprisingly good one, and it made for popular cupcakes at the office a few weeks back.

The one thing I didn’t love about this recipe was the frosting color – the cinnamon in the buttercream tints it the color of oatmeal, which isn’t always the most appetizing shade. The next time I make these, I might experiment with a subtle color for the icing and add a few drops of orange food coloring to see what happens – I suspect the end result would be a pumpkin-like shade, so we’ll see.

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

  • 1 2/3 cups flour (spooned and leveled; this is also 209 grams, for those baking by weight)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon Vietnamese cinnamon*
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg, at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup vanilla yogurt
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • Scant 1/4 teaspoon orange extract
  • Zest of 1 medium  orange

For the frosting

  • 12 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Scant 1/4 teaspoon orange extract, to taste
  • 1 – 2 tablespoons orange juice
  • Zest of 1/2 medium orange
  • 3/4 teaspoon Vietnamese cinnamon

*You can use regular cinnamon if you like, but it’s not as flavorful as the Vietnamese variety – I buy mine at Penzeys, a spice shop based in Pittsburgh’s Strip District, but you can also find it at King Arthur Baking and at various other places online. 

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cupcake tins with paper liners; my batch made 17 cupcakes.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt butter, then add sugar and stir to combine; mixture will be grainy. Refrigerate for 1 minute, then remove and add egg, yogurt, milk, vanilla extract, orange extract, and orange zest. Stir into the flour mixture until no lumps remain.

Using a 2-inch cookie scoop, scoop batter into tins and fill about 2/3 to 3/4 full. Bake for 20-24 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and place cupcakes on wire racks to cool completely.

To make frosting, beat butter and powdered sugar on low speed until the sugar is fully incorporated into the butter. Add vanilla extract, orange extract, orange juice, orange zest, and cinnamon and beat to combine completely.  Fit a large piping bag with a large star tip (I use the Wilton M1) and pipe swirls of frosting using a back-and-forth motion onto cupcakes. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.

Halloween Cupcakes

I’m not a creepy Halloween kind of woman. Give me Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin, adorable monsters that could either be Muppets or something you’d encounter in a Disney movie, cute bats, adorable spiders with googly eyes…I’m all for that. But the sinister side of Halloween, with psycho clowns and vengeful undead creatures and sinister yard displays? No, thanks.

These cupcakes – a simple caramel cupcake with vanilla buttercream – were inspired by the cuter side of this spooky holiday, including monsters that could indeed be Muppets or something you’d encounter in a Disney movie, shy mummies, and pumpkins made easily by simply piping with a star tip. I really wanted to make some cute bats and adorable spiders too, but maybe next time.

Ingredients

Caramel cupcakes

  • 1 2/3 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 8 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 egg, at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Vanilla Buttercream and Decorations

  • 1 cup butter, at room temperature
  • 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • Green, brown, and either orange or yellow and red food coloring*
  • Candy eyes
  • Note: You’ll need the Wilton piping tips 47 (basketweave), 233 (grass), 21 (star), 5 (plain), and 352 (leaf) tips for decoration 

*I think Wilton’s gel food coloring is the best, even if the little jars aren’t as convenient as squeeze bottles. The colors are richer and don’t cause my buttercream to start to break down, which has happened with other brands. 

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cupcake tins with paper liners; this makes about 21 cupcakes. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar and melted butter, whisking until no lumps remain. Whisk in egg, sour cream, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Slowly whisk in flour mixture until batter is completely smooth; it will be fairly thick.

Using a two-inch cookie scoop, drop scoops of batter into prepared cupcake pans, filling about half-full. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and remove from pans immediately; cool completely before frosting.

To make your frosting, beat butter and powdered sugar on low speed until the sugar is completely incorporated into the butter. Add vanilla extract and milk and beat to completely combine. 

To decorate, begin with your mummies’ it’s easier to start with white, then tint your frosting as you go along – just reserve enough white to make your green, orange, and brown for the remaining cupcakes. Frost a thin layer of white on each cupcake; add small/medium candy eyes. Fit a piping bag with a Wilton 47 basketweave tip and pip strips across the cupcake.

For monsters, tint a portion of frosting green and place a thin layer of green on each cupcake. Fit a piping bag with the Wilton 233 grass tip. Pipe fur onto each cupcake; add large, medium, or small candy eyes, whatever you prefer. 

For pumpkins, tint frosting orange and place in a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 22 star tip (note: my tip is more of a closed star, but when I searched online the 22 is now more of an open star – you can use either an open or closed star tip for this). Hold the bag directly above the cupcake and pipe up and down to make the pumpkin shape. Tint a very small amount of frosting brown and place in a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 5 plain tip; pipe the pumpkin stem. Replace the Wilton 233 on your bag of green frosting with the 352 leaf tip and pipe on leaves.

Store cupcakes at room temperature in an airtight container for 2-3 days. 

 

Chocolate Cookies with Peanut Butter Chips

Many years ago I baked this recipe, which I found on the back of the bag of Reese’s peanut butter chips, as cookie bars. They were a huge hit at one of my video shoots at work, where I shared with my colleagues that any time there’s a recipe on the back of something, it’s bound to work out well. Why? Because ingredient makers have test kitchens where bakers spend hours trying out recipes. The best ones end up on the backs of packages…and this is one of those recipes.

This time I chose to follow the recipe on the bag to bake as cookies (well, sort of, I made them much larger than I should have), but I think I liked the bar version better. These are delicious of course, but bars are so much easier in the grand scheme – mix the dough, press it into the pan, and bake it. Efficient and delicious. Maybe that should have been the name of this blog!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 10-ounce package Reese’s Peanut Butter baking chips

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda; set aside.

In a mixing bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat to combine.

Add flour mixture in two batches, beating well and scraping the sides of the bowl between each addition. Stir in peanut butter chips.

Using a 1 or 2-inch cookie scoop, drop scoops of dough onto the baking sheets, leaving a few inches between each; I baked 6 cookies per sheet using a 2-inch scoop. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until edges are set but centers are still puffy. Remove from oven and cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, then place on a wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 24 2-inch cookies.

Spice Bundt Cake

Once again, my reliable Bundt cake recipe came through with a delicious result. Last fall I made a cinnamon version, and I wanted to mix in some additional autumn spices for this recipe. The mix below is technically pumpkin spice, including cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves, but you could go with whatever blend you choose. Apple pie spice (which includes cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice) would be a good option as well.

For the icing, I went with apple cider as my liquid, and I’m not sure it made much of a difference. You could easily substitute with water or milk if you prefer.

Ingredients

For the cake

  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon cloves
  • 3 eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon butter extract

For the icing

  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon butter extract
  • 3-4 tablespoons apple cider

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves; set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and butter extract. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients to completely combine.

Pour batter into prepared tin and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in tin for about 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the icing, combine powdered sugar, vanilla extract, butter extract, and 1 tablespoon cider; add enough additional cider to make a thick but pourable icing. Pour over cake and allow to drip down the sides. Allow icing to set before serving.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for several days; this cake stays moist for a very long time.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

So, I turned 48 this year. I’ve been baking for probably 40 or so of those years, and in all that time I’d never made a cookie cake. This summer I’ve made three, and let me tell you, they’re delicious.

You can buy special cookie cake tins that yield the traditional 1/4 inch thickness of a grocery store or shopping mall cookie cake, but I used a standard 8-inch round cake pan instead. While the edges get very, very brown (read: almost burnt), the end result is still delicious.  This recipe comes from Sally’s Baking and she recommends a glass pie dish, which I’d like to try next time. I tweaked her recipe by adding more vanilla (as I always do) and going with vanilla buttercream for the decoration instead of chocolate, and it turned out really well.

Ingredients

For the cookie dough

  • 12 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips, plus about 1 tablespoon to sprinkle over the top

For the vanilla buttercream & decoration

  • 4 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • Multicolored sprinkles

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8-inch round cake tin with baking spray and set aside.

In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and beat to combine. Add flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt and beat until just combined; be careful to not over-mix the dough. Stir in chocolate chips.

Press dough evenly into the baking tin; cover loosely with foil and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs. You can remove the foil for the last 5 minutes or so of baking, but be very careful about your edges! Cool completely in the tin, then turn out onto your serving plate.

While the cookie cake cools, make your buttercream: Beat butter and powdered sugar on low speed until the sugar is completely incorporated into the butter. Add vanilla extract and beat to completely combine. Fit a piping bag with a large plain tip (I use the Wilton M1) and pipe a star border around the edge of the cake; I also piped my 48 in the center. Add sprinkles if desired.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days; this treat holds its moisture pretty well. Makes about 9 servings.

Creamsicle Layer Cake

Creamsicle – that amazing combination of orange and vanilla – is one of my absolute favorites. I’ve made many treats in this classic flavor, including creamsicle cupcakes, creamsicle cut-out cookies, and creamsicle pound cake, all with rave reviews.

This creamsicle layer cake is a twist on a lemon blackberry cake I made many years ago, and it was delicious. I’m only sorry I didn’t take a photo of the top before I cut it, because I piped on some lovely orange flowers that sort of reminded me vaguely of the truffula trees from The Lorax.  Just one thing to note: the method of mixing the cake might seem odd, but it’s a real technique called “reverse creaming,” where you combine the dry ingredients first, then slowly mix in the butter before adding the wet ingredients. The goal is to create a more tender crumb, which this cake definitely has. 

Ingredients

For the cake 

  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 3 cups cake flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 4 eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/4 orange juice
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • zest of 2 cara cara oranges
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • scant 1/8 teaspoon fiori di sicilia (or 1/4 teaspoon orange extract)
  • 12 tablespoons butter, slightly softened but still cool, cut into pats 

For the frosting

  • 1 1/4 cups (20 tablespoons, or 2 1/2 sticks) butter, at room temperature 
  • 4 1/2 – 5 cups powdered sugar 
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2-3 tablespoons orange juice
  • scant 1/8 teaspoon fiori di sicilia
  • Orange and green food coloring

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease two 8-inch round cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment, then grease the parchment and lightly flour the pans.

In your stand mixer, combine the sugar, cake flour, baking powder, and salt; beat for 30 seconds to combine. 

In a glass measuring cup, combine eggs, milk, vegetable oil,  orange juice, orange zest, vanilla extract, and fiori di sicilia. Whisk to combine; set aside while you add your butter in the next step.

 With the mixer running on low, add butter to the dry ingredients one pat at a time, until the mixture looks like coarse sand. 

Add half the egg mixture and beat on medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes, then scrape down the bowl and add the remaining egg mixture in two batches, beating for about 30 seconds after each.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool in pan for about 10 minutes, then remove from pan and place on a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

To make frosting, beat butter and powdered sugar on low speed until the sugar is fully incorporated into the butter. Add vanilla extract, 2 tablespoons orange juice, and fiori di Sicilia, beating to combine completely. If necessary, add another tablespoon of orange juice – you want the consistency to be pipable, so not too soft or too stiff.

Reserve about 1/2 cup of frosting and tint it orange; reserve another 1/4 cup and tint it green. The rest of the frosting can remain white. 

To assemble and frost your cake, place one cake layer on your serving plate. Frost the cake to just shy of the edges so your frosting doesn’t squish out when you place the second layer on top. Top with the second layer and frost the top and sides of the cake to create as smooth a surface as you can. 

To make my design, I used the Wilton 5 small plain tip to pipe flower stems of various heights, then used the Wilton 21 medium star tip to pipe various sizes of flowers. I used the Wilton 352 leaf tip to add leaves and grass. I also piped a border of flowers around the bottom of the cake and added a leaf every few inches. 

Once frosted, store your cake in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days. Makes about 9 servings, depending on how thick your slices are. 

S’mores Bars

Occasionally I take a treat to the office and people go completely wild. Such was the case with these s’mores bars, which I’ve made twice already this summer and people still ask me to make again. Fear not, coworkers. There will always be more s’mores bars, regardless of the time of year.

These treats are essentially a chocolate chip cookie dough made with crushed graham crackers. A layer of marshmallows, which melts and leaves a delicious flavor and wonderful chewy texture, goes in between two layers of cookie dough. One caveat: the dough is quite thick and rather difficult to spread, but I developed an effective (if not slightly odd) technique for creating the layers.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (from about 12 full sheets of crackers, see tips below)
  • 1 cup butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 2 1/4 cups miniature marshmallows

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13 baking tin with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

To make graham cracker crumbs, break full sheets apart and place in a zip-top bag. Use a mallet, rolling pin, or the back of a spoon to finely crush into crumbs. It takes about 10-12 full sheets of crackers to make 1 1/2 cups; start with 10 and add more if you need to.

In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat to combine. Gradually add the flour mixture, beating on low to just combine. Stir in graham cracker crumbs, then chocolate chips.

Divide the dough in half; it will be difficult to spread in the pan because it’s so thick, and there’s not a ton of dough.  I took handfuls of dough and flattened them between my palms to create large cookie-sized portions, then placed them in the tin to cover the bottom and spread the dough gently with my fingers to connect the pieces together. Top with miniature marshmallows and repeat the process to cover the marshmallows as completely as you can. It’s okay if a few marshmallows poke through.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the center is still set up still soft. Remove from oven and cool in the pan about 15 minutes, then lift out using the parchment paper and cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares. Makes 24.