Friday, December 20, 2013

Streusel Squares





Streusel is one of my favorite things to eat! What is there not to love about the buttery crumb topping? It just makes everything better! So when this months Cake Slice winning cake was Streusel Squares I was more than delighted!

I've been watching "Cake Boss" episodes for years. One episode they featured their crumb cake and my eyes nearly popped out of my head! I swear to you if I could have afforded to hop on a plane to get to that crumb cake, I would have! Shortly after that episode the Cake Boss cook book was released with lots of their family recipes, the crumb cake recipe included! I purchased the book and read it like twice and cried both times. Just love their story. I told myself I would make the crumb cake soon. It hasn't happened. His recipe calls for a custard that is added to the batter. Its optional, but I just don't want to make the cake without it, and I'm always pressed for time. So this recipe is on my to do list when I make time.

Thank goodness there is a streusel cake recipe in Carole Walter's "Great Cakes"! And that she made it simple enough to make. I absolutely loved it! My whole family loved it! We loved it so much I made it twice. I even took some to work and my co workers devoured it!



I loved the cake even more when it was slightly warm. I washed it down with ice cold milk. Heavenly! Maranda, my Cake Slice friend suggested the cake was lacking something. Brown sugar? Nuts? I planned on adding sliced almonds to the streusel topping, but changed my mind at the last minute. I cut back the vanilla by 1/2 tsp. and replaced it with almond extract instead. It was perfect!
This recipe definitely a winner!

Please visit my Cake Slice friends to see how there cake turned out.


   

    http://new.inlinkz.com//luwpview.php?id=351817" title="click to view in an external page.">An InLinkz Link-up


   



Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Applesauce Spice Cake




Fall one of my favorite seasons. Leaves turn beautiful autumn colors, the weather gets cooler. The smell of warm spices, and for us Cake Slice bakers the beginning of a new book. This year we will be baking from "Great Cakes" by Carole Walter.


And our very first bake from this book is Applesauce Spice Cake. A delicious  perfectly balanced spice cake with a bite of tart apples and toasted pecans.



Drizzled with a delicious Brown Sugar Glaze. I added extra cream to my glaze recipe, so it turned out thinner than the original recipe. I loved how it covered the cake in a thin glaze. To me this glaze tasted like caramel. It was absolutely delicious!



I had a warm slice and thought the cake was absolutely delicious! Loved all the warm spices. Definitely a fall cake.


My whole family enjoyed the cake. We had the first half warm and the second half the next day. I think the cake was better warm. It reminded me of caramel apples. Loved it!


Don't forget to check back each month 
on the 20th, that's when we reveal our cake of the month.


Sunday, October 20, 2013

Champagne Cake


Its been a delightful 12 months baking from Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson. We as the Cake Slice bakers have baked our last cake as a group from this book. It wont be the last for me. I have bookmarked several cakes to make in the near future.

This year I had several favorites, Boston cream pie-lets was my #1 favorite, although not actually a cake, but cake assembled in dessert glasses with layers of creamy vanilla custard, finished with a layer of ganache. Mmmm!

My next favorite was The Classic, golden buttery cake, filled and frosted with fudge frosting. Definitely a American classic.

Honey Bee cake, and Butterscotch Cream Roll up were also a few of my favorites.



This month we did not vote on a cake. It was entirely up to us which cake we decided to bake. I chose the Champagne Cake. A perfect way to celebrate the end of this baking book. Creamy vanilla custard with a splash of champagne, in between moist light vanilla cake layers with a hint of champagne, frosted with a lightly sweet fresh whip cream. It was perfect.



Next month we reveal our new baking book, I look forward to baking from this book and making new friendships with our new Cake Slice members.


Monday, September 23, 2013

Butterscotch Cream Roll-Up



This months Cake Slice Bakers selection was Butterscotch Cream Roll-Up, spongy white cake rolled up in a layer of butterscotch flavored whip cream and almonds! Divine! Super excited about this one, and since I had all the ingredients on hand, I was on it! 


The sauce was absolutely my favorite part of the cake! I'm definitely going to make this sauce again and enjoy over  ice cream, even topping brownies with this would be heavenly! 


I had no problem at all with the recipe. I did choose to leave the whisky out. This is a cake I will be making again. My husband loved it!

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Maple Pecan Chiffon Cake with Brown Butter Icing



Cake Slice bakers choice this month is Maple Pecan Chiffon Cake. I was a little nervous about this one since Iv'e never baked a chiffon cake before, but relieved that now I can check this off my baking list. 


The recipe is pretty simple, nothing complicated about it, until........I noticed my cake rose pretty high past the edge of the cake pan. No problem right? Not! My pan didn't have feet to stand the cake up when inverted. I could not find a bottle narrow enough to fit through the spout to hold the cake up. The only thing I could find was this sharpening rod to hold it up.


Great right? Not! My arm started getting tired pretty fast, I had to find an alternative fast. Don't ask me how I thought of this but I did. Lol!


I took two cereal bowls and placed the edges of the cake pan on the edges of the bowls. It worked!


The cake baked really nicely, and I was pleased with the result.



The icing too came out really smooth and silky, until......


I came back from an errand and found that the icing had separated. Not happy at all. I tried beating it to get it to come together again, and had no success. The flavor was still delicious, but the appearance was not pretty. 


I had a hard time icing the cake, I did the best I could, but the icing kept slipping off.


Overall the cake was good. I did find the cake slightly dry for my liking. The icing I think is what made the cake yummy enough to eat. I probably wont make this cake again.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Cake Slice Anniversary



Today the Cake Slice Bakers celebrate our 5th anniversary! How time flies! I have been baking with the group for four years, and have enjoyed baking and experiencing new recipes. Some familiar and some Iv'e never heard of, and more successes than fails.



And to make this celebration complete, what better than to celebrate with cake!
I didn't join the first year, but decided immediately after joining I had to have the first years baking book. The strawberry shortcake on the front cover of "Sky High" caught my attention. 


 Unfortunately, I have never baked from the book until now. I chose this cake because it was the reason why I had to have the book. 


My only regret is not making this recipe any sooner. This is my first attempt ever making strawberry shortcake from scratch. And let me tell you I have really been missing out. I thought I was in heaven when I bought the cake shells and topped them with sliced strawberries and used the air-canned whipped cream. Well, never again! It was so good I decided to make this cake dinner, and the kids and my husband had no problem with the idea. It was fantastic!


 Throughout  the years as part of the Cake Slice bakers we have also baked from other wonderful books.
The first year was "Sky High", the second was "Southern Cakes", the third was "Cake Keeper Cakes", the fourth was "The Cake Book", and currently we are still baking from "Vintage Cakes".

Some of my favorites from "Southern Cakes" were Burnt Sugar Cake, never had heard of this before, and was very excited to make it, Pineapple upside down cake was another great one, and Fresh Apple Cake with Brown sugar glaze. All first for me.

The "Cake Keeper" also had a few favorites for me like Blueberry Buckle, and Orange-almond Caramel upside down cake. Also all new for me.

The "Cake Book" as well had two recipes I loved, Tiramisu Cake, which I had never ever had and absolutely fell in love with! And Chocolate Peanut butter mousse cake, another melt in your mouth delicious cake. Also new for me.

Our current book "Vintage  Cakes" has been also a great book to bake from, so far two of my favorites have been Boston Cream Pie-lets and Honey Bee Cake.

I have met wonderful people through this group. A few have left the group and miss dearly. I feel Iv'e had a connection with our members I have never been able to have with anybody else. I don't know anybody else that has the same desire/passion to bake and experience new recipes. I love that we get to share our experiences and can learn from each other. I really hope this baking group stays around for awhile, I would hate to see it go.

I'm looking forward to meeting and making more great friends through this group. 

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Boston Cream Pie-lets




This months "Cake Slice Bakers" selection was Boston Cream Pie-lets. I haven't participated the last two months. Honestly I was not feeling the winning selections. And when this month we chose the pie-lets I wasn't too enthusiastic either. Especially after reading that two of our group bakers had trouble with the recipe. I had decided not to make this one either.

Loved the texture and flavor of the batter

But then on Tuesday night when I came home from work I started re thinking the recipe. I knew I would feel bad about skipping another month. So, I grabbed the book and started going over the ingredients. I had all the ingredients on hand to make 1/2 a recipe. I figured if its a fail, at least I didn't waste a full recipe of ingredients, plus I really had to use up the heavy cream in the fridge by the end of the week.



 I used a 9" pan to bake my cake, and only greased and lined the bottom of the pan. The cake had shrunk for two of our bakers and I figured if I skipped greasing the sides of the pan it would stick to the sides and keep it from shrinking during the cooling process. It worked! 


The cake baked really nicely, and was light and spongy to the touch. Loved it! It had such a nice flavor and texture. 


The custard also turned out delish! I didn't have whole milk, I simply added heavy cream to 1% milk to make it whole. I used regular vanilla instead of the vanilla pod. The custard was silky and creamy and had a perfect balance of vanilla. Loved it!





I don't have any ramekins or small dessert dishes. I used ice cream sundae glasses, worked just fine. the glasses were deep enough for three layers of the dessert.


The ganache also turned out delicious! Silky and smooth!



I skipped dinner just to be able to afford to have one of these. It was 100% worth it! My husband absolutely loved this dessert. I have a feeling this will be requested often.

Mmmmmmm! Wishing I had leftovers right now!



Sunday, April 21, 2013

Lemon and Almond Streamliner Cake

This months Cake Slice Bakers selection is "Lemon and Almond Streamliner Cake". This recipe called for almond paste which I made using the recipe from "Taste of Home". Never had I used this in any of my baking, which made me a little nervous. It was super easy to make, and the flavor is pretty amazing! Loved it!


The cake was pretty easy to make. I honestly didn't like the lemon custard, which made me super disapointed because I love lemon desserts. The cake had a nice tender crumb, and think that it would have been better glazing it with a lemon glaze.


I'm going to have to give this dessert a second chance tweaking the custard a little.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Honey Bee Cake




Its that time of month again where we bake from now my favorite book "Vintage Cakes"! This month "Honey Bee Cake" won the vote. Yay! Loved everything about this cake! Super easy to make and it was mouth watering delicious! This cake will be hard to beat in the months following! We all had a slice then wrapped the leftovers and sent them off to my in-laws. Which I regretted the next day. 


Combine 2 1/4 c. flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. fine sea salt. Set aside.


Beat 3/4 c. + 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature, 3/4 c. sugar, 1/3 c. honey, 2 tsp. vanilla, until light and fluffy about 5 minutes.


Add 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk at room temperature, one at a time, and beat after each addition.


Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with 1 c. of buttermilk at room temperature.


Scrape your bowl in between additions.


Scrape the batter into a greased and lined 9" spring form pan.


And bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes until toothpick comes out clean when inserted.


While your cake is baking..........


In a small saucepan place 1/2 c. honey, 1/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar, 1/4 c. unsalted butter, and melt on  low heat, stirring a few times until it barely simmers. 


Turn off heat and keep warm.


Toast  a heaping 1/2. c of sliced almonds until lightly golden.


Set aside.


When cake is done, take out of the oven and poke holes throughout the cake using a wooden skewer.


Pour 1/2 the melted sugar mixture over the cake.


Add the almonds.


Pour the rest of the sauce over the almonds, and place it back in the oven for an additional 5 minutes.


Cool on rack for about 45 minutes.


I highly suggest you eat the cake while its slightly warm! It melts in your mouth!


I really wish I had another slice right now!