Somehow, I seem to luck out during these Daring Baker cake months. They thankfully co-ordinate with a birthday that I can share. The only glitch this month was a bit in the planning. I usually set aside a day to do my baking, but in this case, I made everything, the cake the icing and the caramels but I probably needed an extra day.
By the time we were out the door, I had only a few shots of the whole cake. The poor thing was so outrageously delicious I was lucky to get back home with my empty plate.

I almost found it surprising. As much as I liked this cake, as much as it made my house smell like a sugared carnival heaven, my caramels ended up as toffee, and the cake dense. Thankfully I’d followed the advice of other Daring Bakers and upped the salt while lessening the sugar in the icing, because it did make it perfect.
However, as they say you are your own worst critic and I don’t think anyone seemed to mind.

Still wanting that inside photo and another shot at getting the cake *right*, I went for half and made a miniature cake. Still, delicious but dense, the cake was once again a hit with it’s old fashioned perfection, balanced with it’s modern salty balance.

CARAMEL CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING
Recipes courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon
10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
2 each eggs, at room temperature
splash vanilla extract
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350F
Butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.

Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.

Sift flour and baking powder.

Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}

Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan.

Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it.

Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.

CARAMEL SYRUP

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup water (for “stopping” the caramelization process)
In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.

When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back.

Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}

Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.

CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
Kosher or sea salt to taste

Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.

Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner’s sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner’s sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.

Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.
To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light

& now, it’s the Holiday’s… make these, they’re good!
GOLDEN VANILLA BEAN CARAMELS
- makes eighty-one 1-inch caramels -
1 cup golden syrup
2 cups sugar
3/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons pure ground vanilla beans, purchased or ground in a coffee or spice grinders, or 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks, softened

Equipment
A 9-inch square baking pan
Candy thermometer

Line the bottom and sides of the baking pan with aluminum foil and grease the foil. Combine the golden syrup, sugar, and salt in a heavy 3-quart saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, until the mixture begins to simmer around the edges. Wash the sugar and syrup from the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes. (Meanwhile, rinse the spatula or spoon before using it again later.) Uncover the pan and wash down the sides once more. Attach the candy thermometer to the pan, without letting it touch the bottom of the pan, and cook, uncovered (without stirring) until the mixture reaches 305°F. Meanwhile, combine the cream and ground vanilla beans (not the extract) in a small saucepan and heat until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Turn off the heat and cover the pan to keep the cream hot.

When the sugar mixture reaches 305°F, turn off the heat and stir in the butter chunks. Gradually stir in the hot cream; it will bubble up and steam dramatically, so be careful. Turn the burner back on and adjust it so that the mixture boils energetically but not violently. Stir until any thickened syrup at the bottom of the pan is dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, to about 245°F. Then cook, stirring constantly, to 260°f for soft, chewy caramels or 265°F; for firmer chewy caramels.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract, if using it. Pour the caramel into the lined pan. Let set for 4 to 5 hours, or overnight until firm.

Lift the pan liner from the pan and invert the sheet of caramel onto a sheet of parchment paper. Peel off the liner. Cut the caramels with an oiled knife.  Wrap each caramel individually in wax paper or cellophane.

Variations

Fleur de Sel Caramels: Extra salt, in the form of fleur de sel or another coarse flaked salt, brings out the flavor of the caramel and offers a little ying to the yang. Add an extra scant 1/4 teaspoon of coarse sea salt to the recipe. Or, to keep the salt crunchy, let the caramel cool and firm. Then sprinkle with two pinches of flaky salt and press it in. Invert, remove the pan liner, sprinkle with more salt. Then cut and wrap the caramels in wax paper or cellophane.

Nutmeg and Vanilla Bean Caramels: Add 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg to the cream before you heat it.

Cardamom Caramels: Omit the vanilla. Add 1/2 teaspoon slightly crushed cardamom seeds (from about 15 cardamom pods) to the cream before heating it. Strain the cream when you add it to the caramel; discard the seeds.

Another ground nut, torte-like cake this month. But not just any other – Hazelnuts, my favourite.
The nut so good, it tastes like chocolate.  …So much so we’ve all been blessed by that fantastic concoction of Nutella.

Even with my love for hazelnuts, I was a little miffed by what I figured to be a cooler weather cake. Of course I’d do anything for my beloved Daring Bakers – They’re global, so it’s not like our good friends down under don’t deserve some good seasonal comfort food too.

Although I feel I’ve been making a near career of grinding various nuts lately, skinning these hazelnuts were a task onto it’s own. The first batch of nuts I needed for the actual cake, I tried the Julia Child method of simmering them with a touch of baking soda for a minute or two. Half of the skins came off very well, leaving the others to pick and scrape at after retoasting. The next nut batch, I just put straight into the oven, figuring I’d have a little less mess, which was true, however I was distracted by my new 2:30am burn from pulling them from the oven to add to my collective “Scars of Pride”.

Being that it IS summer here, I’ve been desperately trying keep my expanding <<Daring Baker>> butter belly at bay and I halved the recipe, aiming for just double layer from an 8″pan. As Murphy’s Law would predict, my classic oober planning left me one lemon short. I figured it may not be quite as fresh, but I opted for a quick shot of lemon extract to pick it up in a pinch. The recipe also calls for an apricot fruit glaze, which I simply don’t have. I was sure it would make for an interesting flavour, not just one I was willing to buy especially for my beloved hazelnuts.

As luck would have it, I happen to have a lovely Swiss neighbour who loves chocolate and too shares a fondness for hazelnuts. I’d asked her about Swiss pairing traditions and she let me know that apples and plums are the popular match reached for by many Swiss bakers, however, seeing it’s not quite season here for either, I opter for the freshly picked raspberries I still had in my basket from only days before. Glaze and “no fresh fruit” was a rule for the month, but it is summer and that is when the best of rules tend to be broken. I did a test flavour run with my homemade Nutella, topped with a few ripe berries, squished in for good measure.
Mmmm. To those Swiss baker’s I offer a suggestion.

Any matching liquor was, of course, changed to Chambord, except for the ganache, which honoured two hits. One of the Chambord and another of Brandy, just ’cause.

Although freightened of the cake’s assembly, the praline buttercream was a scrumptious hit, which totally balanced my fears of lobsidedness. I made the full recipe of the ganache and good thing too. Making everything, in the long run, a success. Chilling is manditory in a sturdy construction, however, even liquid nitrogen couldn’t have kept my ganache from passing over the sides, skipping over and pooling at the bottom, as if it were taking it’s lead from the movement of Niagara Falls. The recipe called for the beveling of the top layers edge to aid in a consistant flow but no matter what or how I’d tried, I didn’t have much luck and opted for camoflage.

This was a totally surprising cake, which when willing to submit the time, I will certainly bake again.
Thanks for the recipe Chris, I never would have baked it without you.

I know that Mother’s Day has come and gone, but I just had to share this perfect everyday, great with tea or Coffee Cake.

One of the many things that I’ve learned through my Nana and her baking is that men love coffee cake. It’s a crazy notion, but you can go ahead and quote me on this. So with all my motherly advice aside for now, I’d been eying this recipe handed down from my Nana. Originally called Sour Cream Coffee Cake, it’s moist and satisfying and it’ll wrangle afternoon peckishness like the dickens.

Seeing that I have a habit of buying up anything organic or that I’d want to see in stock at my local grocery store just to send a message, I was the new owner of some soy yogurt. I’m good with tofu but I won’t be eating the “soygurt” à la carte again. However, as an equal replacement for the original sour cream in this recipe, I know I’d buy it again.

Although a nice bundt pan would be pretty, my Nana is of the depression generation so you can put it in what ever pan fits. I used a square 8×8 and it worked out really well, just could have been bigger since, even with all the birthdays lately, this is about the fastest I’ve seen cake go around here in a long time.

NANA’S COFFEE CAKE

1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Margarine, softened
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 Cup Soy Vanilla Yogurt, plain is o.k. in a pinch, just add 1 tsp vanilla
1/2 Cup Plain Soy Milk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

TOPPING
1 Cup Walnuts, broken
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Toss the walnuts, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.
Cream the sugar with the margarine, then add the baking powder and continue to mix until fluffy.
In a measuring cup, combine the yogurt, soy milk and baking soda.
Add half of the yogurt mixture to the creamed sugar, then half of the flour, mixing until each is combined, repeating with the remainder.
Lightly spray and dust an 8×8 cake or bundt pan with flour.
Add half of the cake batter to the pan. Add half of the walnut topping. Finish with the remaining batter, then evenly sprinkle over the last of the topping.
Bake in the center of the oven for 45 – 50 minutes.
Cool completely in the pan before turning it out to a serving plate.

This is twice now that I’ve suddenly noticed Daring Baker posts all over the interwebs a little early. I quickly found that we were able to post three days before the end of the month. Regardless, I learned my lesson in reading the fine print and got to the recipe. … And then I found how many it made. Not typically a huge fan of cheesecake, I decided to reduce the recipe. Shrunken by more than half, the recipe made about a dozen of these little delights and they were fantastic. Even for me – revealing that bite sized portions really are an amuse for my bouche.

I’ve been quite lucky lately getting these great recipes challenges to make with the surplus of birthdays in my house.
My son, my sous chef, turns 3 tomorrow, so the last of the terrible two tantrums were taken out on me not letting him lick the raw batter fast enough. You might assume he enjoyed it – thoroughly.

I wanted to jazz these up a bit for the adults coming to the party who rarely gorge on cake in the same way three year olds can. I’d recently been out specialty food shop browsing and discovered this great line of Belgian chocolate bars. The flavour combinations included, Provincial Lavender, White Pepper and Cardamom from Guatemala and Japanese Matcha, just to name a few. So after dipping the cheesecake pops, I melted down the 1oz Matcha and drizzled it over. Mmmm.

Such a fun recipe co- hosted by Deborah at Taste and Tell and Elle of Feeding My Enthusiams . Even if you’re not in the middle of a birthday mayham, they’re fun and they’re good – give them a try.

CHEESECAKE POPS
Adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey
by Jill O’Connor
Makes about 10 pops

1 – 8oz Package Cream Cheese
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon All Purpose Flour
Pinch of Salt
1 large Egg
1 Egg Yolk
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1 Tablespoon Heavy Cream, 35% whipping
4 oz Semi-Sweet chocolate, good quality chips or chopped chunks
1 teaspoon Vegetable Shortening
Lollipop Sticks or Candy Apple Skewers
Sprinkles, Sanding Sugar or Contrasting Chocolate for decoration

Preheat oven to 325F. Set some water to boil.
In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed.
Add the whole egg and the egg yolk, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition.
Beat in the vanilla and cream.
Pour the batter into a wide loaf pan, coated with cooking spray. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan and fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the loaf pan.
Bake until the cheesecake is firm in the center and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
Carefully insert a stick or a straw into each cheesecake ball.
Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

In a small saucepan, heat the chocolate and the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set.
Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

In response to a quick visit from an old friend coming for tea, I naturally made for the kitchen. I’d set aside my quest for a recipe to use up the copious amounts of extra coconut I had from the Perfect Party Cake and thought that the best morning treat with tea would have to be scones.

My friend is a super baker, so as I thought for a bit about tea from porcelain and creative flavour combinations, yet still I settled on simplicity and tradition.

Scones are standard pantry fare using most ingredients typically on hand. One of those ingredients for scones and pastry alike is chilled shortening. For this, I like to keep mine in the freezer, so it’s ready and waiting to keep whatever my cold hands have in mind for it to make light and flaky.

The scones are lightly sweetened with brown sugar and maple syrup, making them slightly caramelly. Quick to put together, the batter is easy and forgiving.

BROWN SUGAR SCONES

2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar, loosely packed + 1 Tablespoon
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 Cup Vegetable Shortening
3/4 Cup Soy Milk
1/2 Cup Maple Syrup

Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, 1/4 cup of brown sugar and salt.
Add and cut in the shortening with either two knives or a pastry cutter to a coarse crumb texture.
Add the milk and maple syrup and stir well with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together, finishing up by hand if necessary to form a ball.
Transfer the dough ball to the parchment lined baking sheet and flatten to 3/4″.
Cut the dough into 8 wedges and sprinke with the 1 tablespoon of remaining brown sugar.
Bake for about 20 – 25 minutes or until golden.

For something a little extra, you could try a drizzling of maple glaze or for a vegetarian version, a little of my latest addictions, David Lebovitz easy recipe for Dulce de Leche.

There’s something wonderful about the Daring Baker group that I’d recently joined.
Well, a few things actually. For starters, it’s a great community of super talented baker/bloggers. With currently over 600 members, it’s a fabulous place to have a question about baking. It’s also great to discover all these new and wonderful recipes, getting me to completely read a recipe over like a little school girl.

I was delighted to have cake as the challenge for this month (it’s my birthday month). Of course, Morven of Food Art and Random Thoughts did not choose just any cake. This one is perfect, Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party Cake.

I left the challenge to the end of the month for one reason and naturally opted to bake my own birthday cake this year. With a small houseful of friends and family, I decided to bake two versions. When I joined the Bakers, I’d sworn to stick to the rules, which means sticking to the original recipes, so I’ve posted the true version over on my Food+Photography blog.

However, for you and my vegan house guests, I baked up this version. Although intimidated by the pillowy bowls of whipped egg whites, I tried my darnedest to stick to the essence of the original. Only lacking the meringue buttercream, side by side, this version got fairly close to the original – and if I dare to say it: A Practically Perfect <birthday> Cake. Yum.

VEGAN LEMONY WHITE PARTY CAKE

2 1/4 Cups Cake & Pastry Flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
3/4 Cup Margarine or Butter
Zest of One Large Lemon, about 1 Tablespoon
1 3/4 Cups Soy Milk, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon Pure Lemon Extract
1 Tablespoon Vinegar

Measure and leave the soy milk to come to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Prepare two 9″ round or 8″ square pans by lining the bottom with fitted parchment or wax paper, lightly spraying then dusting with flour.
Sift the flour, baking powder, soda and set aside.
Rub the lemon zest with the sugar until evenly distributed and fragrant.
If using a stand mixer, use the whisk attachment and cream the margarine with the zested sugar until well blended; about 3 minutes.
Add the lemon extract and combine along with 1/3 of the flour mixture.
With the motor running, add half of the soy milk, followed by another 1/3 of the flour.
Once the flour has absorbed add the remaining soy milk and mix well.
Add the vinegar and the last of the flour, beating until smooth.
Halve the batter and pour into prepared pans.
Bake for 30 minutes. Check with a cake tester or a toothpick for doneness.
Cool slightly then invert onto a rack to cool completely before icing.

CREAMY LEMON ICING

2 Cups Confectioners Sugar, sifted
3 Tablespoons Margarine
3 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon Vanilla

In the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, combine the sugar with the margarine and lemon juice.
Once it has come together, then add the vanilla to incorporate.
Continue to blend on med-high speed until light and creamy.

Putting It All Together

You will need, 1 jar of the preserve of your choice, I went with strawberry for this one, gently heated and strained to remove seeds.

Line the edge of your cake plate with strips of wax or parchment paper.
With a long serrated knife, slice the the cakes through the middle horizontally and lay one layer in the center of your cake plate over the waxed paper.
Using either a pastry brush or a butter knife, evenly spread 1/3 of the jam over the top of the sliced cake, carefully toward the edge.
Top with another layer and repeat with another 1/3 of the jam.
Add another layer and finish with the remaining jam and last cake layer.
Dollop the prepared icing in the center of the top of the cake and using a spatula, evenly spread the icing over the top and sides of the cake.
Decorate to your liking with fresh berries, candied lemon peel or sugared pansies.

Mmmm.

Hopefully this is the post worth waiting for. Since being whisked off for a quick French get away, I ate my way through all of Montréal’s renown food samples.

Squeaking a flight through a crazy snowstorm, even for Québec standards, safe at home I brought out my sack of goodness from a small approvisionnement de cuisine shop, still wet from the cookie sized snowflakes that were tumbling down around me. In it, my newly treasured Madeleine pan…

Madeleines are one of my most favourite things. Yes, Proust would be proud. I love these delightful tea cakes so much I named my first born after them. Really.

I couldn’t have been more excited while tredging my better half through this snowstorm to make it back to a little shop I’d originally peered through the window of as this recipe serendipitously came together.

You see, most of Northeastern Canada and U.S.A produces everyone’s supply of maple syrup, and it’s at this time of year, when the temperatures are at their crazy best that the maple sap begins flowing. Thankfully for where I’m at, Québec is one of the number one producers of the stuff – so imagine my pure delight, as I was picking up a few morning groceries, to discover Maple Flakes, even being Canadian I haven’t seen this stuff in the flesh and it hits me that these are where the French Petite Madeleine meets French Canadian. I have certainly found what I have been trying my hand at veganizing these “invasions of the senses” for.

MAPLE MADELIENES

1/4 Cup butter (or to make it vegan, lactose free margarine), melted
1/2 Frozen banana, thawed and pushed through a sieve to puree.
1/3 Cup Soy milk
3 Tablespoons Orange Juice
1 Tablespoon Orange Zest
1 Cup All Purpose Flour, sifted
1/4 Cup cornstarch, sifted
1/4 Cup Sugar,
1/3 Cup Maple Syrup
1/4 teaspoon Salt

Sift dry ingredients together.
Add juice to the soy milk and let rest.
Melt butter/margarine and let cool.
Beat banana and sugar together until very smooth.
Add the soy milk and maple syrup and zest to the banana mixture and combine well.
Whisk in the melted butter then, gradually whisk in dry ingredients with the wet until combined.
Allow the batter to set for about an 1/2 hour in the fridge while you
evenly grease and lightly flour your Madeleine pan.
While the oven preheats to 375ºF, fill each shell 3/4 full with batter and let the batter rest in the pan, popping any bubbles that rise to the surface.
Bake until centers have puffed and the edges are crisp and browned; about 15 minutes.
Cool completely before drizzling over the glaze and sprinkling with maple flakes.

MAPLE GLAZE

1 Tablespoon Margarine
1/4 Cup Maple Syrup
1/2 Cup Confectioners Sugar

Melt the margarine in a medium saucepan.
Add the maple syrup and continue to heat until bubbling.
Whisk in the confectioners sugar until smooth.
Reduce heat but continue to simmer until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Remove from heat and dip, dunk or drizzle, since the glaze will begin to harden and crystallize as it cools.

I was almost as excited when I was asked to review Hannah Kaminsky’s new cook book, My Sweet Vegan as I was tearing open the package sent with the book inside.
Inviting, fresh and bright, there are full page colour photos for every of the 77 recipes! Flipping through the pages there were so many delicious looking recipes I was ready to try.

Cooking vegan for my relatives, I almost always have a pantry prepared for just about everything. So, with one hand marking the pages of the many treats I wanted to try and the other preparing to grease my cake pans, I sat flipping eagerly, reading over each of the recipe ingredients. Sadly, I found that many desserts depended on specialty items like vegan eggnog, soy creamer, instant potato flakes or specific name brands like Ricemellow Crème. Without any substitution suggestions, my only option was to call around to the health food stores in the city or shop online. Either way, I’d be waiting to buy the ingredients, and if out of the city I might be out of luck for a while and that was way more than my urge to bake could handle.

Although disappointed, I did find the Bananas Foster Cake. Now, I don’t know too many people who wouldn’t love a banana cake and with five bananas in the mix, this one sounded fantastic.

The cake recipe was perfectly simple to mix up and the batter was light and fluffy. Although my baking time ended up a little longer that what was recommended, the cake looked delicious, even before it was doused in rum. I’m sure the golden and moist cake would have been more than perfect stopping right there!

…But Hannah couldn’t end her delicious dessert now, there was frosting and caramelized bananas to go.

Even though I’m not a fan of margarine, I opted to stick to the printed recipe. I had a tough time getting the frosting completely smooth and most of my testers (and surprisingly, my kids included) found the icing a bit sweet but admitted the caramel was a great combination with the bananas.

There is passion and talent all through this book. Hannah, who only just celebrated her 19th birthday, has has written a book filled terrific special occasion recipes and everyday treats. With all the photos and aThis is a book both you and your guests will love.

Now there are the rest of the earmarked pages for me to try. The tempting Pink Lemonade Tartletes, Pumpkin Toffee Trifle and the Silken Chocolate Mousse Cake are topping my list, I just have to wait for my order from the vegan surplus to come in.

This cake is super easy, really the toughest thing was prepping the pan. It’s a perfect balance of tart and sweet, elegant for tea and a perfect crumb for a picnic. Almost too perfect, I found myself snacking on it instead of lunch.

Every so often I come across a recipe that reminds me of my grandmother, creating memories of yeast and warm mittens. My Nana just recently celebrated her birthday so to find a cake that screams East Coast charm barely out of the 1930′s was so fitting to try. Plus, it’s red, sweet and a little bit tart, just like Valentine’s really is.

CRANBERRY UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

1 1/2 Cups Cranberries, frozen
2/3 Cup Walnuts, broken
1/3 Cup Demara Sugar, loosely packed1/2 Cup Margarine
2/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
2 Cup All Purpose Flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 Cup Soy Milk
2 teaspoons Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon Lemon Zest

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Spray an 8″ square cake pan and line it with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, toss the cranberries, walnuts and demara sugar to combine.
Evenly layer the cranberry mixture to the bottom of the pan.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the margarine with the granulated sugar until very smooth.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In a measuring cup, combine the milk with the lemon juice.
Alternately add the flour and the milk mixtures to the creamed margarine until the batter is thick but smooth, adding the lemon zest with the last addition.
Dollop the batter over the cranberries, spreading carefully and evenly.
Bake for 40 – 45 minutes, or until the edges are golden and a cake tester is cleanly removed from the center of the cake.
Cool completely then invert on to a board to cut, if desired.
Dust with confectioners sugar.
Serve with love and tea.

Not like there is any mystery that I love chocolate, but I’d realized that I hadn’t yet created a torte recipe.
What better than Valentine’s week to do the dessert cart?

Generally, a torte is a flourless cake, often using bread crumbs or ground nuts in it’s place, resulting in a dense and intensely rich cake.

I love the contrast of a tart, red raspberry with the intense chocolate, and not only because it’s Valentine’s Day. Raspberries perfectly balance the richness with a bit of pucker making this a pretty sexy end to any meal.

EGGLESS CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY TORTE

1 Cup Almonds, finely ground
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder, sifted
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
2 Tablespoons Safflower Oil
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 teaspoon Salt
4 oz Broken Chocolate Pieces, 70+% Dark, Semi Sweet or mixed
1/2 Package Firm Silken Tofu
3/4 Cups Frozen Raspberries

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Lightly spray or grease an 8″ cake or spring form pan, dusting it lightly with cocoa and removing any excess.
Finely grind the almonds in a food processor, adding a spoonful of the sugar, as necessary to keep it from clumping.
Transfer the ground almonds to a bowl.
Purée the tofu in the food processor, until very smooth, add the remaining sugar, cocoa, vanilla, oil and salt.
Using a glass bowl or a double boiler, heat water to a simmer in the lower pan to gently melt the chocolate above.
Pour the melted chocolate into the tofu, mixing to incorporate.
Add the ground almonds, pulsing just to combine.
Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan then evenly sprinkle the raspberries over the top.
Cover the raspberries with the remaining batter.
Bake for 45 – 50 minutes or until the sides have crackled and the center is firm.
Cool the cake completely in the pan or refrigerate until serving.
Run a knife around the edge and release the sides of the pan.
Dust with confectioners sugar and serve with a raspberry emulsion, if desired.