Glazed Almond Butter Cake

What time is it?!  It's Cake Slice Bakers time! 
*imagine the lights swooping back and forth and the trumpets sounding off*


Sounding a bit enthusiastic this month, you are thinking huh?
Well I am going to spoil the ending for you now - we really liked this cake!
With that out of the way let's get down to business.

The Cake Slice Bakers bake from one cake cookbook each year.  Each month we are offered three or four choices from the book.  The current cookbook is Great Cakes by Carole Walter.   Our choices this month were Glazed Almond Butter Cake, Burnished Sugar layer cake, Pineapple cheese squares and Black Forest Cherry Torte.  I really wanted to make the BFCT but ran out of time.  I do have the key ingredients and still plan to make it in the future.  But this month's cake choice is the Glazed Almond Butter Cake.

Started off by lining my pan and melting the butter so it has a chance to cool just a bit.

Thought I was being so smart lining the bottom.  Ummm.... yeah.  Getting the slices off later was a pain.  Just spray or butter the bottom if using a springform for this cake.

One thing you need to do when a recipe calls for your eggs to get a good beating is to make sure you beat them enough.  They should be a pale yellow and no longer look soupy.  They should be bright and shiny and look so good you want to run your finger through them and lick you finger - I wouldn't advise that though.  No really, don't.  Just beat them that much.  You need those eggs to hold that air and create a silky texture for your cake.

Ms. Walter really wants us to sprinkle in that sugar a teaspoon at a time and frankly I love the rebellious feeling I get each time I dump in that sugar and turn the mixer to medium to get the same result.... sugar the is thoroughly beaten into the eggs and no longer grainy.

Alrighty then... got the eggs and sugar all silky smooth then put together my dry ingredients.

Drizzled in half of the butter, added half of the dry ingredients, more butter and the rest of the dry.
Got the batter into my -well- lined pan and into the oven it went.

Once the cake was mostly baked it was time to put together the topping.  Butter, brown sugar and almonds are a great combination.

As soon as I mixed it up I questioned if it was enough topping.

Then when I was spreading the topping on the cake I knew it wasn't enough.  I felt that half again as much would have been the perfect amount ~ next time we will know huh?

Back into the oven for another ten minutes to finish it off.

We let the cake cool for a couple of hours then out of the pan and ready to be served.

The cake cut so nicely and the texture was smooth with a velvety crumb.  We had my parents over for dinner that night and everyone enjoyed the cake.

This one will go into the keep folder. Yay!

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Enjoy!

:)

Butterscotch Cream Roll-Up

It's fall y'all!  Well it is now but not when this cake was due for The Cake Slice baker bloggers. Ha!

Me lately...

The September choice for the Cake Slice Bakers is the Butterscotch Cream Roll-Up from Vintage Cakes.   What is the Cake Slice you ask?  Well we are a group of blogging bakers that bake a cake each month out of a specific cookbook.  This year of baking is being done from  Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson.  We only have one more cake to bake from this book and then we start on a new book for the next year of baking.  If you are interested in joining The Cake Slice group please send an email to Paloma at love.for.coffee @ gmail.com for information. It is a great group of gals to bake with!  Be sure to check out all of their yummy blogs.

First thing you make for this cake is the butterscotch that will be used for the filling.  When making something like this be sure to have all your ingredients ready to go, don't get squirreled and be very attentive.  If you don't pay attention your sauce will go from delicious to disastrous in just seconds.  When done right the sauce will have a rich dark color and will smell sweet.

I would suggest making the butterscotch first thing in the morning and allow it to chill until cool.

The cake is a pretty standard sponge cake that you bake in a lined, greased and floured sheet pan.

The recipe calls for the cake to cool in the pan.  I did not do that because most of the time if you do let a cake cool in the pan the bottom will get soggy.  So I took the cake out of the pan and let it cool in a rack.  The down side of this is the edges got a bit dry.

As your cake cools take out the butterscotch and allow it to come up to room temperature. one the cake is cool it is time for the filling to be made.  Using the stand mixer on low mix together (most of) the butterscotch and cream until combined then you turn it up and whip them into a fluffy soft peaked cream.

Now for the fun... Cut the cake into four even pieces.  I removed the parchment from the pieces now rather than later.  Spread each piece with a dollop of filling then sprinkle with almond slices.

Now it is time to roll.  This is not the typical way of rolling a cake.  Roll your first piece on the pan/rack then stand it up on your plate.

Next pick up one of the pieces and wrap it around your center piece.  Start your second piece edge where the first piece edge finished off.

Add your third and fourth pieces the same way.  I did not figure out how to get a clean finished edge but I figured the cream covering will hide it.  ;)

And it did quite nicely!

Taste-wise this was probably one of our favorite cakes from this book.  The cake was light but had a good taste and the butterscotch cream was so yummyrific!  I will make this one agin but most likely will do a more traditional roll.  It was rather difficult to cut thinner pieces and didn't plate well... but every plate came back empty!

The Butterscotch Cream Roll-Up recipe can be found in Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson.  (I have no association with her or her cookbook sales.)


Check out all of The Cake Slice Bakers @ the blogroll & like us on Facebook.

Enjoy!

:)

Raspberry and Almond Streamliner Cake

~We got a new toy.... a GoPro camera.  We use it for our off-roading but I thought what the hey why not try using it for my blog.  Hubster set up the camera on my counter before I started on the custard and away I went.  Well it worked ok.  Not great and I think my other camera works for this better.  I know that so many think that a blog is all about the pictures but I am not a photographer.  I am a chef that will type up my creations to share with y'all and add some hopefully decent pictures.~

The April choice for the Cake Slice Bakers is the Lemon and Almond Streamliner Cake from Vintage Cakes.  My son DJ is not a citrus lover so I asked what berry he would like and he picked raspberry. Snap of the fingers and we do raspberry!  

But I get ahead of myself.... One ingredient called for in this recipe is almond paste.  Having used the store bought almond paste once before I wanted to try making my own almond paste.  It is really simple to make if you have a food processor.

Measure in your almonds then send it for a grind.

Add in your sugar, egg white and any flavoring you would like to add.

Process until it smooths out into a paste.

My recipe made enough for the cake plus extra.  I stored the rest in 2 ounce bags for future use.

Next up making a raspberry puree to replace the lemon in our custard.  I put the thawed raspberries into the blender - didn't want the food processor to have all the fun - and gave it a whirl.

Put it into a strainer and worked through the puree, leaving behind a lot of seeds.

I simmered the seedless puree for about 5 minutes then set aside so the puree could cool.

Time to make the custard.  This is a pretty standard custard.  It needs to be made a few hours prior to use so keep that in mind before making this cake.

Whisk together your egg yolks, sugar, raspberry puree and corn starch.  Heat your milk and slowing whisk together then cook over low heat until thick and bubbling.  Strain the custard and then whisk in your butter piece by piece.  Save your butter wrapper!!

 Cover the custard with plastic wrap, laid directly on top, refrigerate at least two hours before using.


Move onto making the cake.  A simple buttermilk single layer cake with the additional of almond paste.
Prepare your pan .... use the wrapper from your butter cube that you saved to butter your pan.  Fold your parchment paper while thinking about making paper snowflakes as a child (or a couple of weeks ago) and cut your circle to fit into the bottom of your pan.  Rub it down a bit then flip it over and set it.

Cream together the butter, sugar and almond paste.  Once this is relatively smooth, there will be bits of the paste throughout, add in your eggs and vanilla.  

In a separate bowl sift/whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Measure out your buttermilk.   Mix in your dry ingredients and the buttermilk, alternating until just mixed.  Using your spatula scrape down the sides and give it a final mix.

Pour into your prepared pan, smack it onto your counter a couple of times to release any large air bubbles and bake it.  

Once out of the oven allow to cool in the pan for 30 minutes then turn out onto a rack until completely cool, leaving the parchment on.  

 

When you are ready to top it with your custard remove the parchment - 

yes I am saying this because somewhere out there one of us - not me! - will plop that custard right down onto the parchment.

Give the sides a quick coat of the custard to help seal the edges.  The top with the remaining custard.

There you have it!  Ready to serve.  

If you don't serve it right away be sure to refrigerate the cake until you do so.


Lemon Raspberry and Almond Streamliner Cake adapted from the recipe found in the cookbook Vintage Cakes.

The recipe can be found online in several spots including on Oprah's site.



Almond Paste
by My Sister's Table

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups blanched almonds
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 large egg whites, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of sea salt

Directions
Pour almonds into the food processor and process until finely ground.
Add the sugar and pulse a couple of times.  Whisk together the egg white, vanilla, and salt.  With the processor running pout the egg mixture onto the almonds and process until a smooth paste forms. 

Use the paste right away or place in a an air tight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.  Bring to room temperature before use.  If you decide to freeze the paste it may become a bit crumbly but will work fine once back to room temperature.


Printable recipe here.

*Side note - if I make the custard this way again I think I may add a drop of red food coloring to it to brighten the color.  It turned out of but a bit flat looking.

The cake was smooth with a nice fine crumb that we have come to expect from the buttermilk cake.  The almond would make a nice complement to the lemon.  We were split on whether the raspberry went with it - we all liked the cake and we liked the raspberry custard but not necessarily together.  

I say fine for them!  More cake for me! *wink*

Enjoy!

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:)

Honey Bee Cake

The March choice for the Cake Slice Bakers is the Honey Bee Cake from Vintage Cakes.  I was looking forward to making this cake because it sounded so ....'old-fashion' to me.  Timing happened to line up with my Aunt Lynn's birthday party so I offered up this simple yet tasty treat for her dessert.

I decided to make the cake in a springform pan for ease of serving.  The recipe calls for a standard cake pan that you have to do a double turn to get the cake onto a serving platter.  The springform just sounded so much easier to me.

In my book honey = sticky so I buttered the pan all over just to play it safe.

Nothing fancy on the making of this cake.  Cream together the butter, sugar, honey then add the eggs and vanilla.  

Next mix in the dry ingredients and buttermilk; alternating between the two until everything is incorporated but don't over mix this batter.

Spread the batter into your prepared pan.  Tap it flatly on the counter a couple of times to release any large air pockets.

While the cake is baking you want to make your honey glaze.  I found that making it too soon meant I turned it off and the butter separated a bit as it cooled.  When it came time to pour onto the cake I had to reheat the mixture.  Next time I would wait until the cake was almost ready to make the glaze.

Once the cake is just shy of being done pull it out of the oven.  Poke holes all over with a skewer, pour half of the honey glaze over the top.  Do this slowly so that you don't end up with puddles on the edges.  Distribute your nuts all over the top and pour the rest of the glaze onto the nuts.  The recipe called for a heaping 1/2 cup but I used closer to a cup of nuts.

Put the cake back into the oven for about 5 more minutes.  Cool for about an hour... this cake is served best slightly warm.

The Honey Bee Cake recipe can be found in the cookbook Vintage Cakes.

The group really liked this cake.  I was told that it had a comfy 'old fashion' taste. ;)

I will enjoy trying this with different nuts and honey flavors.

Happy Birthday Aunt Lynn!

Enjoy!

Visit the other Cake Slice Bakers here.

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:)