dimply plum cake - homage to my fave

I'm going on record and stating that my ultimate favorite food blog is Smitten Kitchen. Deb is so eloquent and captivating, not to mention her food choices fall along the lines of my own (vegetarian generally, not too presumptuous). And only until I moved into my own 20 square foot kitchen via NYC, I fully understood her tribulations. I could even somewhat accredit her for my own ambition to start a food blog with dazzling photos and witty composition.

So when I find a recipe from my favorite-est blogger incorporating fresh seasonal fruit and a tangy spiced loaf, I make it! It also doesn't hurt that the name for it is "dimply plum cake." (Adorbz much?)

One small dilemma, I'm no fan of zested orange. In fact, I have never been much of a fan of any zested citrus. Only until recently, I have avoided this step in most recipes, just to appease my own palate. But hold on one second, it did come from Deb's site, ergo, it must be scrumptious. I think I'll give it a shot.

I can remember the smell of the cake as I carried it out of the oven- a strong sweetness of the fresh plums, wafting with orange tints and cinnamon backdrops.

As tasty as it smelt, I was hesitant to pair the bite with scent. I think I may have done something wrong. The cake part was utterly gooey and mushy, as if the plums had purposely secreted all their juices to overpower the deliciousness of the cake. I knew I shouldn't have added that darn orange zest!

Whatever mishaps happened, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was able to look past the mushiness of the cake and the thickness provided by the plums skins, and savor the overall dish. Hey, I was even able to get over my aversion to orange zest. Win!

---RECIPE---

Taken from Smitten Kitchen.

ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Scant 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup flavorless oil, such as canola or safflower
Grated zest of 1 orange
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
8 purple or red plums (or even Italian prune plums, when they are in season), halved and pitted

directions:
1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan, dust the inside with flour, tap out the excess and put the pan on a baking sheet. (Alternately, you can use this spray to butter and flour, which is indeed my greatest baking Joy.)
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together.
3. Working with a mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until it’s soft and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes, then add the eggs, one at a time, and beat for a minute after each egg goes in. Still working on medium speed, beat in the oil, zest and vanilla; the batter will look smooth and creamy, almost satiny. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated.
4. Run a spatula around the bowl and under the batter, just to make sure there are no dry spots, then scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Arrange the plums cut side up in the batter–Dorie says she usually makes four rows of four plum halves each–jiggling the plums a tad just so they settle comfortably into the batter.
5. Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes (Dorie says 40, mine was done in 30 so check early and often), or until the top is honey brown and puffed around the plums and a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 15 minutes during which time the plums juices will seep back into the cake then run a knife around the sides of the pan and unmold the cake. Invert and cool right side up.

tiramisu - granting the final of the trifecta

The day before I left for California, my boyfriend and I contemplated what to bake for the day (seeing as how we both needed our daily fix of sweets). My boyfriend, as predictable as he is, generally craves the same things. Besides the good ol' chocolate chip cookies and chewy chunky blondies, he's constantly on the request for red velvet cake, napoleons, or tiramisu. While I've granted him both the red velvet cake and the napoleon, I still have yet to make a tiramisu for him. What a poor, deprived baby.


Truth is, I've made tiramisu before (while at my parents' house over last winter break). It came out decadent and delicious, and quite possibly equal to the tiramisus I've tasted in Italy.


The reason why I've never made tiramisu at home is simple- money. Go and call me cheap, but when a recipe calls for 1.5 pounds of mascapone cheese (up to $4 for a single 8 oz. cup), more than 50 lady fingers, and a ton of heavy whipping cream, tell me you wouldn't do the same and put this pricey cost upon your parents.


Well I guess my boyfriend was craving tiramisu to the ultimate extreme that he was willing to forgo these pricey costs just to have a slice. But once I mentioned to him that there was a minimum 24 hour wait before taste time (which from my last experience I'm capable of attesting to this fact), he slowly surrendered.


In any case, we ended up baking the cookies and the blondies, for which I would bring half to my family in California. My conniving boyfriend on the other hand waited patiently for my return so we could finish up on his request. We spent the entire day preparing this boozy Italian cake, and then waited the allotted 24 hour span for it meld. (And yes, I was a tiramisu nazi making sure he didn't sneak a slice when I wasn't looking.)


When the appropriate time arrived, I cut him a big ol' slice of tiramisu. His eyes watched in amazement as these layers of cake and cream that he really did help create, magically transformed into this famous Italian "pick me up".


The taste was just as delicious as the first time I made it, (maybe even more, because I had a delicious boy helping me create it).

---RECIPE---
Taken from Cook's Illustrated.

Recipe found here.

chocolate easter cupcakes - the birthday girl keeps getting gypped

Recall the decadent flourless chocolate cake my cousins and I created? Well as you know, the cake came out flawless and we were immensely satisfied. But what about the birthday girl who were originally going to bake the cake for? She, unknowingly, had just been denied the privilege of such a cake (or any birthday bakery for that matter). So while at the grocery store shopping for the ingredients in our indulgent flourless chocolate cake, we quickly grabbed a box of chocolate cake mix.


Anyone who knows me (even someone who is barely able to call me an acquaintance) will tell you how much I detest using anything boxed. With that said, this is not my friend's birthday cake, nor am I the one buying the ingredients.


Needless to say, I did not oppose to my cousin's choice of this box cake mix. I mean after all, I have found a great doctored recipe to use on box cake mix. Every time I've used it- the cake had been flawless and extremely delicious. Never any issues whatsoever.


Something I hadn't realized until after we placed the cupcakes in the oven was that this wasn't the typical Betty Crocker cake mix. I reread the box and it appeared to be one of those special fancy super-de-duper moist cakes. Well, I mean whatever. I guess the cake would be superly extremely moist then. No one ever complains when a cake is too moist, right?


Funny thing is that we had so much extra batter (from all my add-ins) that we could make a whole batch of cupcakes plus a little 8x8 tin. We figured my cousin could decorate and give the 8x8 cake to her friend, and we'd keep the cupcakes for ourselves (muaha). Shown here are the cupcakes my little cousins and I decorated. I commend them on their great decorating skills (I'm loving my little cousin's carrot here).


If you haven't got the hint by now, these cupcakes were specifically decorated with Easter themes in mind (given the date and all). This cute little bunny rabbit (don't forget the cute grass as well) was my creation.


Okay- I'll pat my own back on this one. I mean come on, given the circumstances and tools around me, I did an awesome job. We were given a can of vanilla icing, 4 shades of food coloring, a butter knife and a few ziplocks. Voila! Imagine what I could accomplish with fancy cake decorating tools.


After the mini photoshoot with my bunny, it was time for a taste test. We all sat there with our cupcakes in hand, ready to taste my supposedly awesome doctored-up box cake mix. Let's spare the details here. The cupcake tasted fine, nothing spectacular, however was more so on the moist side. Although not technically a fail, I do feel bad for the poor birthday girl who was given the 8x8 inch cake of this stuff. Because of its size, that cake must have undoubtedly been extra moist. Happy birthday to my cousin's friend! (Hehe).

---RECIPE---
Taken from multiple sources and mostly from experience.

1 box cake mix (for future reference, don't get anything already super moist)
1 box instant pudding mix (flavor depending on the type of cake, for this we used chocolate)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs

Bake as directed on box.

flourless chocolate cake - no cake for the birthday girl

After spending a few days with my family in California, I realized how much I've matured. Although I'll probably always remain slightly immature and silly (maybe more than just slightly), at least I can understand the importance of family and bonding time. Throughout our little "bonding moments", multiple stories had been exposed of my cooking/baking experiences. It must had been so strange for them to hear me baking huge layered cakes and cooking penne alla vodka. Among these food stories was the decadent flourless chocolate cake, which particularly excited one of my cousins.


Apparently she had been thinking of making this cake for her friend's birthday the following week. Goodie roo! Now that I am the baking expert (or so I'd like to think), I offered my assistance in this project.


While we gathered the ingredients in the grocery store, the thought hit us that if this were a cake to be given away, we would have no chance to eat it for ourselves. Destructed by the thought of not being able to taste the deliciousness ourselves, we opted to instead bake this cake for ourselves (selfish much?).


Moving along, the process went fairly smoothly. I had my two younger cousins following my every order while I watched over them carefully. The chocolate got properly melted and the egg whites were gently whipped. Once the two bowls were folded together (by the delicate hands of yours truly, of course), we poured it into our baking dish.


While I prepared the plating and slicing of the cake, my aunty whipped up a bowl of raspberry sauce to drizzle over. From what I recall it was frozen raspberries and sugar cooked over the stove.


Basically everything came out perfectly flawless. I couldn't have been more happy that we decided to make this cake for ourselves, rather than for some little girl's birthday.

---RECIPE---

Recipe found here.

banana cupcakes - for the banana in my life

One of my darling cousins was coming to visit me on her Spring Break at college. I love her dearly, and being I haven't seen her in more than a year, I was extremely excited to see her again. I felt a little baking would be the perfect welcoming present for her (especially since she was unfamiliar to my new baking-self). Her nickname is banana, because it rhymes (sort of) with her name. Going along with that theme, I figured I'd bake some banana cupcakes for her. I knew I was taking a risk baking banana-anything (because I can never get anything tasty out of these damn fruits), but I figured why not- She'd still love me anyways.


I have tons and tons of frozen bananas in my freezer (my roommates tend to forget about their bananas and let them spoil, so I wrap them up and freeze them).


Before I started baking these, I made sure that I found a recipe for banana cupcakes, and not banana muffins. I wanted these to turn out like regular cupcakes, but with a subtle hint of banana.


They came out looking pretty good I must say, although I didn't know what they tasted like. The recipe only make 11 cupcakes, and that was the exact amount of cupcakes I needed in order to spell out her name.


While the cupcakes cooled, I prepared the chocolate frosting. The website I got the cupcakes from (Martha Stewart) used a Honey-Cinnamon Frosting, but I decided to scratch that idea and go with a more ordinary flavor.


The buttercream frosting was gently slathered on, and then the lettering was piped on top with a darker chocolate frosting.


Okay, so they definitely looked adorable, but would my lovely cousin think they tasted as good as they looked?


Only once she got to witness the arrangement and the beauty of my cupcakes, was I able to have my first bite.


We both uniformly agreed that these were indeed not good cupcakes. Essentially they were banana muffins that were impersonating cupcakes- which was not cool in my book.


However, there was one good thing that came out of this cupcake catastrophe- The chocolate buttercream frosting. My boyfriend (who claims to be anti-chocolate) can even attest to this frosting- it was creamy and smooth, not heavy at all, and had a pleasant flavor of chocolate. Most of the cupcakes were licked clean by myself, and then promptly thrown in the garbage.

---CUPCAKE RECIPE---
Taken from Martha Stewart.

ingredients:
1+1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1+1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas)
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. Make a well in center of flour mixture. In well, mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix). Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups.
3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Spread tops with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting. Just before serving, peel and slice banana into rounds, and place one on each cupcake, if desired.

amount:
Makes 12 cupcakes.

---FROSTING RECIPE---
Taken from Joy the Baker.

ingredients:
1 1/2 cup (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup Ovaltine (omitted, because I don't even know what Ovaltine is.)

directions:
1. Cream together butter, cocoa powder and salt. Butter mixture will be very thick. Turn off the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add powdered sugar. Turn mixer on low and mix in powdered sugar while adding milk and vanilla extract. As the sugar incorporates, raise the speed of the mixer to beat the frosting. Beat until smooth. In a 2 cup measuring glass, stir together heavy cream and Ovaltine. Turn mixer speed to medium and pour cream mixture into frosting in a slow, steady stream, until you’ve reached your desired consistency. You may not need the full amount of Ovaltine and cream.

Amount:
I think this makes frosting for about 4 dozen cupcakes, which is why I one-fourthed the enormous recipe.