Maple Pecan Chiffon Cake

Happy August to y'all!

This month has been a busy one that includes my oldest son turning 22 just a few days ago.  Crazy to think that he is that old... that I am that old ha!  You don't want to hear about my oldness - you came to see what cake the Cake Slice bakers whipped up this month so let's get going....

The August choice for the Cake Slice Bakers is the Maple Pecan Chiffon Cake with Brown Butter Icing from Vintage Cakes.   What is the Cake Slice Bakers you ask?  Well we are a group of blogging bakers that are baking a cake each month out of a specific cookbook.  This year of baking is being done from  Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson.  It is a great group of gals to bake with!  Be sure to check out all of their yummy blogs.  

This cake is supposed to be baked in a tube pan or angel food cake pan.  Since I can't seem to leave well enough alone I choose to bake it in a sheet pan.  I also decided that since it is just the boys and me home right now - Hubster is working extra shifts... well someone has to pay for my extra cooking essentials and Jeep parts!  Oh did that actually get typed?  Oh... where were we?  Since it is just the boys and me home I decided to make a half recipe.  Plus it gave me a good excuse to use my new shiny quarter sheet pans.  ;)

First I made the icing.  BB icing can be tricky sometimes.  One thing I have found that really helps with consistent results is allowing the browned butter to cool before whipping it up with the sugar.

The recipe called for unsalted butter.  I have found that I prefer to use salted butter and forgo the pinch of salt at the end.  I also like to use the browned bits that are sitting in the bottom of the pan.  They give the icing such a nice flavor and homey touch to the icing.  If you refrigerate your icing you will need to let it sit out for about 15 minutes before use.  You will also want to fluff it.

To make the chiffon cake you will want to butter and parchment the bottom only of your cake pan.  With chiffon or egg white cakes you should not grease the sides of your pan.  The cake actually uses the ungreased sides to grab onto and hold for rising while baking.

Don't forget the trick of buttering your pan, lay in your paper then flip your paper over so both sides are coated with butter.

This cake has four components ~ dry, wet, whipped whites and nuts.  If you read your recipe and mise-en-place your cake will come together nicely.

Start with your dry ingredients.  Sift together your flour, salt and baking powder, then whisk in the brown sugar. The recipe calls for light brown sugar but I choose to use dark brown sugar.

In another bowl whisk together the egg yolks, oil, maple syrup, water and vanilla.  A tip for you - the recipe called for the same amount of oil and syrup so I measured the oil first then the syrup.  Since the measure had the oil into it first the syrup slid right out down to the last drop!

Get your egg whites whipping.  First on medium until foamy, add in the cream of tarter.  Then get them to a nice soft peak and slowly add in your sugar.  Crank up the mixer and within just a minute your egg whites will be shiny and luscious looking.   

With as few strokes as possible combine the dry and wet ingredients.  Now it is time to fold the mixture with the egg whites.  Place about half of the whites in with your mixture and fold them together.

Now add the lightened mixture back to the whites and finish folding until just combined and you don't see any large streaks of white.  Now add your toasted nuts and finish combining all together.

I ended up diving the batter between two sheet pans.  Smoothed out the tops and popped them into the oven.

This way of baking the cake took much less time... only about 20 minutes.  Gee can you tell where the nuts are in the cake?  ha!

I didn't want them to sink too far so I inverted them on top of a cooling rack and let them cool completely.

The cakes both fell out of the pans but held up very well.  Time to build my cake.  I decided to cut it into four pieces.  I am not good at the eyeballing thing so out comes the ruler.

Peel the first layer off of the paper and place onto the plate.  

Tip alert - yep I am full of them today.  Place the blade of your off set spatula into a glass of hot water.  When you are ready to frost your cake wipe it off and frost until your frosting starts to stick a bit.  Place it back in the water to reheat, dry and back to frosting.

Continue to stack and frost all of the layers.

Once you have all of it frosted put your cake into the refrigerator for at least half an hour before slicing and serving.

We found the cake to be light and tasty.  I do think that without using the dark brown sugar the flavor may have been a bit too understated.  The BB frosting really helped boost the cake flavor.  I don't think I would make this cake as a full sized cake but as thin layers it worked out.

The Maple Pecan Chiffon Cake with Brown Butter Icing 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!

:)

Happy Birthday to The Cake Slice

Five years and going strong ... The Cake Slice!

This great group of bakers has been baking their way through cake cookbooks for 5 years now.  The cookbooks have included The Cake Book by Tish Boyle, Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman, Southern Cakes by Nancy McDermott and Sky High by Alisa Huntsman, Peter Wynne, Tina Rupp.  I joined this lovely group for this year's book ~ Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson.  We are having a great time trying out these retro recipes with a modern twist.

To celebrate this fifth year we have decided to bake up something special.  I have chosen to try out Black Bottom Cupcakes.  I chose to use the recipe posted by fellow CLBaker Monica at Lick the Bowl Good.

These cupcakes are pretty quick to put together.  I was a little surprised how thin the batter was, but they baked up very nicely.

The BB cupcakes came out moist and so darned tasty!  Everyone at the table asked for a second cupcake.

You can find the recipe for the Black Bottom Cupcakes @ Lick the Bowl Good.

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

Enjoy!

:)

The Black & White Cake

Running a few days behind here.  But for a good cause.  I have been recipe testing for my sister's tea house.  She is hoping to open the beginning of October.  Fingers crossed for us please!

Now onto the cake.... our June choice for the Cake Slice Bakers is the Black & White Cake from Vintage Cakes.   In case you don't know about Cake Slice Bakers... We are a group of bakers that are baking a cake each month out of a specific cookbook.  This year of baking is being done from  Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson.  It is a great group of gals to bake with!  Be sure to check out all of their yummy blogs.

Rather than run through the making of the cake step by step this month I wanted to share how I used the cake.  One of the things that we will be offering at the tea house is a stacked cake for dessert.  So I thought this would be a good test for stackage!

I baked the cake in a sheet pan.  Be sure to butter the pan, lay down a piece of parchment paper then butter the paper also.  This will ensure that your cake will come out nice and easy.  Get a nice even spread by starting with batter all over the pan then spreading out in an even layer.

After the cake has baked and cooled, I put a piece of wax paper on top, wrapped the whole thing in plastic wrap and placed it in the freezer overnight.  The next day I took it out and before it could thaw I cut circles out using a biscuit cutter.

The recipe called for a cooled ganache and a vanilla Swiss buttercream.  I opted for making what some call an American buttercream.

Now to just assemble the cakes.  Which isn't the easiest thing to do with the men folk in the house trying to 'help'.  

Cake, buttercream, cake, buttercream and zigzagged with ganache.

 

Nick wanted more ganache....

This chocolate cake is quite yummy without being overly sweet and has a nice moist firm texture.  This will definitely be a recipe I will use again.

Visit the other Cake Slice Bakers here.

The CSBs are now on Facebook ~ check them out here and be sure to 'like' the page.

Enjoy!

:)

The Pink Cake

Happy May cake to y'all!

The May choice for the Cake Slice Bakers is the Pink Cake from Vintage Cakes.   In case you don't know about Cake Slice Bakers... We are a group of bakers that are baking a cake each month out of a specific cookbook.  This year of baking is being done from  Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson.  It is a great group of gals to bake with!  Be sure to check out all of their yummy blogs.

Well the Pink Cake isn't very pink, in fact it is brown... a nice chocolate brown.  But the luscious frosting that you pair with this chocolate cake is pink.  The combination is striking and makes for a great presentation.

I chose to make cupcakes because tonight is Meet & Greet for our Jeep club.  Yesterday the Hubster and I were hanging out with some Jeeperpeeps, enjoying the sunshine and a Jamba Juice.  I was telling them how I was behind in my baking for CSBs.  I try to time my baking so that I have somewhere for the goodies to go - I don't want them sitting around my house!  They were just looking at me.... what did I mean I need somewhere for the goodies to go.... "call us we will take them off of your hands"!!  They also reminded me that we were getting together tonight and they strongly suggested I make the cake for tonight.  Alrighty-then! I aim to please!  And this cake should definitely please them.

The recipe directions call for you to pour boiling water over cocoa and chopped unsweetened chocolate, allow to stand then whisk.  I would first measure out the dry ingredients*, whisk them and set aside.  Tap off the whisk and then use the same one for the chocolate... a small change but hey it saves me from having to wash one more item. ;)

Cream together the sugars and butter.  Separate your eggs and be sure to save your extra egg whites for the frosting.  Add in the oil and eggs.  

Whisk sour cream and vanilla into the chocolate mixture.  I licked the whisk.... you think chocolate and well it is but totally unsweetened and even unsweeter with the addition of the sour cream.  LOL!  I licked it and made a face and my son laughed at me!

Alternate adding the chocolate mixture and the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.

I was able to get 24 cupcakes and a mini loaf pan filled with this recipe.  I think next time I will fill the cups just a bit more so not to have left over.

Baked these little chocolate gems up in about 17 minutes.  While they were cooling I whipped up the frosting.  The recipe is a basic Swiss Buttercream with the addition of raspberry puree.  I chose to use a jar of my Very Berry Jam in place of the raspberry puree.

To make a SB put your egg white, sugar and cream of tartar in your mixer bowl.  Place the bowl over - not touching - simmering water.  Whisk constantly, not vigorously  until the mixture comes to 130 degrees.  And instant read or candy thermometer works great for this.

Take your bowl off the pan, wipe off the bottom, attach it to your mixer with the whisk attachment and beat at medium high for about 4 minutes until the mixture turns glossy white and holds a stiff peak.  Once it reaches stiff peaks turn the mixer down to medium slow and let it run for a couple more minutes until the bottom of the bowl is just about room temperature.

While the whites are whipping prepare your puree.  As I said before I used a jar of my jam.  Put it into the food processor and let it have at if for a minute.

Put the puree through the sieve to get rid of seeds and any larger pieces that may have escaped the blades o' choppage.  You will want to use one spatula for the top side and one for the bottom side... if you use the same one, most likely you will transfer way more seeds than you want.

Once your whites are cooled down it is time to add the butter.  Yes a full pound of butter added in a tablespoon at a time.  Most recipes call for you to start with the butter already cubed and all the mise en plas peeps say be ready with your butter.  But I will say don't have it cut up just at room temperature.  Because you should let each piece of butter incorporate before adding the next.  A lot of people will add the butter in too quickly and that can cause your frosting to break and well that is so not pretty.  

Instead take the time to cut each piece then add it, cut, add, cut, add.... You will get a good rhythm and your frosting will turn out nice and smooth.

Add in your salt, vanilla and the puree.  Ohhhhh... makes me think that Halloween is just a few months away hahaha!  Ok back to work!

This frosting comes out so tasty and smells wonderful!

Once the cupcakes are completely cooled it is time to frost them.

I chose to pipe them and just have some fun with designs.

This chocolate cake is keeper and I just know that my Jeeperpeeps will enjoy these tonight!

The Pink Cake recipe can be found in  Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson or on Epicurious.  (I have no association with her or her cookbook sales.)

Visit the other Cake Slice Bakers here.

The CSBs are now on Facebook ~ check them out here and be sure to 'like' the page.

*The published recipe calls for 2 cups (10 ounces) all purpose flour.  This is incorrect.  If you measure by the spoon method use two cups but if you weigh out your flour it should be 8.5 ounces.   1 cup of all purpose flour = 4.25 ounces.

Enjoy!

:)

Coconut Pound Cake with Lime Glaze

I joined the baking group Behind the Curtain Dessert Challenge a couple of months ago.  Each month we are given two ingredients and then we share what we made with those ingredients.  This month we were given Lime & Coconut.  I decided to make the dessert for Mother's Day.  Great idea!  Too bad the challenge was set to go live on the 9th not the 14th as I had stuck in my brain.  Oh well I will catch up next month lol!

Mother's Day the men folk in our family take care of the cooking... some of the cleaning and the day on a whole.  We have had everything from Italian to Greek food served to us and all of it very tasty!  We are a very blessed family to have such great men that will jump in and do this for us.  This year has been quite a crazy one so it was decided that we would have roast beef, potatoes, brussel sprouts and then dessert.  My mother likes angel food cake with strawberries so that was automatically top of the list.  Then I decided to make my challenge dessert.  Hubster was very helpful as always in the kitchen and I even got a quick trip to Sur La Table for a new Fat Daddio tube pan...woohoo!

Pound cake is pretty simple.  Cream together your butter and sugar, add your liquids, mix in your coconut and add your dry ingredients .

It is a good idea to grease and flour your pan well.  Spoon your batter into the pan and smooth out the top a bit... no need to be too fussy about it.

Bake until a golden brown ~ about an hour but I would start checking for doneness at 45 minutes.  The internal temperature should be between 200°F - 210°F.

Mix up your glaze while the cake is cooling.  When making a glaze like this start with the least amount of liquid then add more until you get the consistency you like.  Once you have whisked it to be smooth and is at the consistency desired, add your zest and give it a few more whisks.

Allow to cool for a bit before turning out onto a rack to cool completely.  Turn back over onto the serving plate and drizzle with the glaze before serving.

Coconut Pound Cake with Lime Glaze

by My Sister's Table

adapted from Dramatic Pancake

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients for the cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1½ tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

5 eggs, at room temperature

1 cup coconut milk

3/4 tsp coconut extract

3½ oz Angel Flake or Bakers sweetened, shredded coconut

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and lightly flour a 9- or 10-inch tube pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add in eggs, one at a time, and mix well. Mix in the milk, extract and shredded coconut. Finally, add the flour, baking powder and salt mixture, and stir until just combined. 

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake about 1 hour until golden brown.  The internal temperature should be between 200°F - 210°F.

Cool cake in pan for 5-10 minutes before removing. 

While the cake is cooling make the glaze.  Drizzle with the glaze before serving.

Ingredients for the glaze:

3-4 tablespoons lime juice

2 cups powdered (confectioner's) sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon lime zest

Whisk together three tablespoons lime juice and powdered sugar until smooth.  If you want it thinner add more juice.  Whisk in the lime zest and your glaze is ready to go on your cake.

Printable recipe here.

Dessert laid out for Mother's Day.

Enjoy!

: )