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Category Archives: Cakes

Snacks Ahoy! Butter Toffee Popcorn and Lemon Yogurt Cake

Yesterday I decided to make a couple of new snack and dessert items that I had downloaded recipes for a while back. Sean had picked out the first one as something he wanted to try, which is Butter Toffee Popcorn. he helped me make it and there is not much too this recipe as far as ingredients or effort, but the final result is a great snack. I got the recipe from Cook’s Country, one of my favorite sources for recipes.

Butter Toffee Popcorn

3 quarts popped popcorn

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) butter

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup dark corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups salted peanuts

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 250 degrees. Grease a large roasting pan and place the popcorn in the pan.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the brown sugar, corn syrup and salt and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the vanilla and the baking soda (the mixture will foam a little). Add the peanuts and pour the mixture over the popcorn, tossing well to coat.

Bake, stirring occasionally, until the popcorn is a deep golden brown and the caramel has set, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Cool to room temperature and serve. The popcorn can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 5 days.

This is certainly the easy way to make your own version of Cracker Jacks and save you some cash. You want to be sure to just use plain popcorn, not popcorn that is already seasoned with anything so you don’t get any additional flavors that might affect the caramel (unless that is what you want of course). Also, I used a disposable aluminum roasting pan when I did this to save myself the aggravation of having to try to wash a roasting pan with baked caramel stuck to it. Overall, it’s a pretty tasty snack that is very easy to make. I love toffee myself, so this worked out very well for all of us.

The second recipe I tried was one from Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa of the Food Network. It is for a simple Lemon Yogurt Cake that makes for a great item for a brunch, to bring to a party or housewarming, or just to have in the morning with coffee or for dessert.

Lemon Yogurt Cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

1 1/3 cups sugar, divided

3 eggs

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (about 2 lemons)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the glaze:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into 1 bowl. in another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup of sugar, the eggs, lemon zest and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure that it all gets well incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1.3 cup of lemon juice and the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place the cake on a cooling rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.

For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar and the lemon juice and pour over the cake before serving.

I did opt to omit the second glaze even though I am sure it looks great and tastes great too. I just thought it was too much sugar overkill for the cake and I liked the way it looked with just the first lemon-sugar mixture on it. It has just the right amount of sweetness and lemon flavor. It’s a great cake to make without needing a lot of time or ingredients if you want something at the last minute.

That’s all I have for today. Check back again to see what other recipes come along. I still have a number of recipes I have tried recently to put up, including a roast chicken and vegetables recipe from Marc Murphy, a grilled sausages recipe from Bobby Flay and a pulled pork sliders recipe from Williams-Sonoma, among many others. Check back and see what comes along. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on July 13, 2013 in Cakes, Cooking, Dessert, Snacks, Uncategorized

Tags: Barefoot Contessa, butter toffee popcorn, Cook's Country, cracker jacks, homemade cracker jacks, Ina Garten, lemon yogurt cake

It’s Not an Illusion – It’s Magic Bars

07 Jul

We’re always on the lookout for recipes that are great desserts to bring to a party or barbecue. As soon as I saw this one on the Food Network with Giada De Laurentiis, I knew we were going to have to give it a try. It combines a couple of things that everyone really loves – brownies, caramel and chocolate chip cookies. I have seen this dish called a few different things, but Giada called it Magic Bars. The real magic part about them is how fast they disappear.

Magic Bars

Brownie Layer:

1 box brownie mix

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons instant espresso powder

3 large eggs, at room temperature

Cookie Layer:

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, at room temperature

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Caramel:

3 bags soft caramel candies, unwrapped

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 13 x 9-inch baking dishes with cooking spray. Line each dish with a 15-inch square of parchment paper, allowing the excess to hang over the sides. Spray the parchment paper with cooking spray.

For the brownie layer: In a large bowl, blend together the brownie mix, vegetable oil, 1/4 cup of water, espresso powder and the eggs. Using a hand mixer, beat for 1 minute on medium speed. Pour the batter into one of the prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted about 1 inch from the edge of the baking dish comes out clean, about 25 to 27 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool for 1 hour.

Using the excess parchment paper as handles, lift the brownie layer from the pan. Run a thin spatula underneath to loosen it from the parchment paper. Keep the oven turned on.

For the cookie layer: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars in a large bowl until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and egg. Add the flour mixture and beat until a dough forms. Stir in the chocolate chips. Using your fingers, press the dough evenly into the bottom of the other prepared baking dish, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Bake until it is light golden, about 14 to 16 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes.

For the caramel: In a medium, heavy saucepan, combine the caramel candies, 2 tablespoons of water and vanilla over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the candies have melted and the mixture is smooth, about 10 minutes. Pour the caramel evenly over the cookie layer. Working quickly, place the brownie layer on top of the caramel. Gently press the brownie layer into the caramel. Refrigerate for 1 hour until the caramel has set. Allow the layers to come to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Cut into 24 bars and store it in an airtight plastic container.

The original recipe calls for some shredded coconut over the brownie layer and a cup of chopped walnuts in the cookie layer, but we omitted both since we were bringing it to a party and we weren’t sure if there were any dislikes or allergies involved, so we kept it simple. Everyone seemed to love the dessert and you got the best of both worlds with brownie and chocolate chip all in one. Michelle thought the caramel could be a little smoother and suggested added some heavy cream next time to the caramel to smooth it out some more. No matter how you decide to make it, it is very easy to do and tastes great. It’s definitely a good one to remember for a party.

That’s all I have for today. Check back again to see what other recipes I’ll be using in the coming days. Sean has been picking out some recipes he wants us to try, and this week I think we are going to make things like pulled pork sliders, Cobb chicken salad sandwiches, barbecued chicken and we are even going to try our hand at making some bagels. Check back and see how it goes. until then, enjoy the rest of your day, try to stay cool and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on July 7, 2013 in Cakes, Cooking, Dessert

Tags: brownies and chocolate chips, chocolate chip cookies, food network, giada de laurentiis, magic bars

Your Personal Blueberry-Lemon Cakes

03 Jul

Blueberries are in season right now and you can get them at a really great price. Not only are they great in things like fruit salads or your morning oatmeal, but you can do many different desserts with them. While I do love to make blueberry pie, I was looking for something a little bit different recently to make with some of the fresh blueberries I got. I came across this recipe from Williams-Sonoma and it sounded pretty good so I thought I would give it a try and see how they came out.

Individual Blueberry-Lemon Cakes

2 cups blueberries

1/4 cup plus 6 tablespoons sugar

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon cornstarch

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1/4 cup buttermilk

5 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly

1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease the inside of 6 small ramekins with butter. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the blueberries and the 1/4 cup of sugar and cook, stirring until the sugar is mostly dissolved, about 3 to 4 minutes. in a small bowl, whisk together the water and cornstarch and it into the saucepan. Bring it to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove the mixture from the heat.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and 6 tablespoons of sugar. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, butter, lemon zest and lemon juice. Add the flour mixture, whisking until the batter is just combined.

Spoon 1 tablespoon of the blueberry mixture into the bottom of each ramekin. Top each with 1/4 cup of the batter and then 1 tablespoon of the blueberry mixture. Place the ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until the tops of the cakes are lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Let the cakes cool completely in the ramekins before serving.

These cakes came out great. The blend of the blueberries with the lemony flavor of the cake is wonderful. You could easily double this recipe to make more if you want to make some for a larger crowd or even place them in larger ramekins if you want bigger portions. You can dust the tops with some confectioner’s sugar and serve them with some fresh whipped cream or some vanilla ice cream. in any case, it makes for a quick and easy dessert that you can make in no time at all.

That’s all I have for today. Check back again next time for some more recipes, including another blueberry recipe I just tried from Bon Appetit for blueberry hand pies. It’s very easy to make and they taste great too.I also have some other recipes I have tried recently for a new roasted chicken, braised short ribs, some roasted green beans, watermelon agua fresca and more, so keep checking in to see what’s next. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on July 3, 2013 in Cakes, Cooking, Dessert, Fruit

Tags: blueberries, blueberry-lemon cakes, individual blueberry-lemon cakes, williams-sonoma

Positively Perfect Pound Cake

28 May

We’ve done a lot of cooking and baking over the last few days, and it has given me quite a few recipes to work with. One of the things we made this past weekend was a classic pound cake recipe that I got from America’s Test Kitchen. I love just a plain piece of pound cake with a cup of coffee or maybe even a simple dollop of whipped cream or a little bit of fruit on the side. It’s a great thing to make it and doesn’t take a lot of work on your part so you could easily make one and bring it to a party or a friend’s home.

Pound Cake

1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) butter, melted and hot

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350°. Lightly coat a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with vegetable oil spray, then line the bottom with parchment paper. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.

Process the sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a food processor until combined, about 10 seconds. With the machine running, pour the melted butter through the feed tube in a steady stream, about 30 seconds. Pour the mixture into a large bowl.

Sift one-third of the flour mixture over the egg mixture and whisk in. A few streaks of flour should remain. Repeat twice more with the remaining flour mixture and continue to whisk the batter gently until most of the lumps are gone. Do not over mix.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Wipe any drops of batter off the sides of the pan. Bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out with just a few crumbs attached, about 50 to 60 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then flip it out onto a wire rack. Turn the cake right side up, remove the parchment paper, and allow it to cool to room temperature, about 3 hours.

There are few notes about this recipe. You could easily vary the recipe up a little bit and add some flavor to it. Adding 2 tablespoons of grated lemon zest and 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice to the sugar just before you process everything in the 2nd step will give you a nice lemon pound cake. You can do the same with a tablespoon of grated orange zest and a tablespoon of orange juice and get an orange flavor instead. If you don’t have any cake flour on hand, you can make your own replacement. For every 1 cup of cake flour, you need 7/8 of a cup of all-purpose flour and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch in order to get the same results You can serve this cake with a variety of different fruits on the side or some homemade whipped cream. Remember that blueberry sauce I made about a week ago? I used that on the cake and it tasted great.

That’s all there is for today. Next time out I held be sharing the recipe Michelle uses for her oatmeal raisin cookies. I also have some other recipes to try to share this week so keep checking back to see if there’s anything you like. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on May 28, 2013 in Cakes, Cooking, Dessert, Sauce

Tags: America's Test Kitchen pound cake, americas test kitchen, classic pound cake, lemon pound cake, orange pound cake, pound cake, pound cake recipe

Irish Onion Soup and a Couple of Desserts

17 Mar

Yesterday we decided to make our St. Patrick’s Day dinner instead of doing it today. With that in mind I have posted recipes before for corned beef, colcannon, Irish coffee, Shamrock shakes and other recipes that I picked up while we were in Dublin last year. I did make corned beef and cabbage and boiled potatoes yesterday for them to dinner but I also added a few other items to the meal. One that stands out the most was an Irish onion soup that we made. It was pretty simple to make, didn’t take much longer than an hour to assemble and cook and it tasted great. The recipe itself is pretty simple and you could really make this any time of year not just for St. Patrick’s Day.

Irish Onion Soup

2 tablespoons butter
2 medium yellow onions, have lengthwise and sliced into pieces
3 tablespoons Irish whiskey
1 tablespoon granulated it sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus a pinch
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup dark Irish beer, such as Guinness
6 1/2 cups beef stock or broth
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Day-old baguette, sliced into 3/4- inch slices
Irish cheddar cheese, sliced into 1/4- inch thick slices

in a large skillet set over medium heat melt the butter. Once the butter is melted and the white foam subsides add the sliced onions. Cook using a wooden spoon to stir occasionally, until the onions are soft and gold in about 20 minutes. Add the Irish whiskey. If you have a gas burner, carefully till the pan toward the flame to flambé the onion of whiskey mixture. If you have that electric cooktop, use a long match to flambé the whiskey or you can skip the flambé altogether. Stir in the granulated sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions turn darker shade of brown, approximately 4 to 6 minutes. Stir in the pinch of kosher salt, the all-purpose flour, and the finely chopped garlic. Cook until the garlic is fragrant, about two minutes. While stirring pour in the Irish beer. Simmer, stirring occasionally until the beer is reduced by 1/3, about five minutes. Add the beef stock, 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Bring the soup to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 20 minutes.

Adjust an oven rack to the upper middle position and heat the broiler to high. Divide the soup among oven-safe bowls and set them on a rimmed baking sheet. To each bowl add two bread slices. Cover each slice of bread with two pieces of the Irish cheddar. Set the rimmed baking sheet on the upper middle oven rack and broil until the cheese is melted, golden and bubbling, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

You could certainly use a different type of cheese if you prefer not to go with the Irish cheddar. Personally, I didn’t put any cheese on mine and just had the onion soup itself. The recipe itself makes enough for four servings, but I had a little bit more so we can make it for six people. There were no leftovers it off from what I made.

Michelle made two different cakes for dessert. We actually got the recipes from two different sources. We had seen the recipe for the Fallen Chocolate Cake in the recent Bon Appétit magazine. It sounded really good and it’s basically a flourless cake, so we thought we would give it a try.

Fallen Chocolate Cake

1/2 cup (one stick) butter, cut into 1-inch pieces, plus more, room temperature, for the pan
3/4 cup +2 tablespoons sugar, divided, plus more for the pan
10 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 large eggs
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup chilled heavy cream
1/2 cup marscarpone
3 tablespoons powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350°. Lightly butter a springform pan and dust with sugar, tapping out any excess. Combine the chocolate, oil, and half cup of butter in a large heatproof bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan of slow simmering water and heat, stirring often, until melted. Remove the bowl from the sauce pan.

Separate 4 eggs, placing the whites and the yolks in separate medium bowls. Add the cocoa powder, the vanilla, salt, 1/4 cup of sugar, and the remaining two eggs to the bowl with the yolks and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Gradually whisk the yolk mixture into the chocolate mixture, blending well. Using an electric mixer on high-speed, beat the egg whites until frothy. With the mixer running, gradually beat in 1/2 cup of sugar; beat until firm peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture in 2 additions, folding just until they are incorporated between additions. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the top and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Bake until the top is puffed and starting to crack and the cake is pulling away from the edge of the pan, about 35 to 45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let the cake cool completely in the pan. The cake will collapse in the center and crack further as it cools.

For the topping, use an electric mixer on medium high-speed to beat the heavy cream, marscarpone, and powdered sugar in a medium bowl until soft peaks form. Remove the sides of the springform pan from the cake and mound the whipped cream mixture into the center of the cake.

We found that the cake itself seems to taste awful lot like a really good, thick brownie. The cream used on the top was really great it combined with the cake itself. We were little worried as to how this one would turn out, which is why we decided to make a second cake along with it. For the second cake, we opted to make a Dark Chocolate Guinness Cake with Bailey’s Buttercream Frosting. I saw a bunch of recipes on the Internet, but opted to go with this one that I saw at The Procrastobaker. This one is a more traditional cake, besides the addition of the alcohol.

Dark Chocolate Guinness Cake with Bailey’s Buttercream Frosting

1 1/2 sticks butter
1 cup Guinness Extra Stout
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs

3 sticks butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 to 4 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish Cream liqueur

Preheat the oven to 350°. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan and remove from the heat and whisk in the Guinness, the vanilla and cocoa powder. While the mixture cools slightly, grease and line 2 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper. Whisk together the sugar, flour and baking soda in a large bowl. Pour the Guinness mixture into the flour mixture and then whisk in the two eggs. When the batter is completely smooth, divide the batter between the two cake pans. Place the cake pans in the oven and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Leave the cakes in the pans to cool.

To make the buttercream frosting, whip together the butter and sugar until very pale, adding in enough Bailey’s for it to be loose and fluffy. To assemble the cake, level off the cake layers if needed using a serrated knife. Spread roughly 1/3 of the buttercream frosting on the bottom layer of the cake. Top with the second cake layer and wiggle it until the line up correctly. If you wish, you can do a crumb coat by using another 1/3 of the buttercream and spreading a thin layer all over the top and sides of the cake. Refrigerate to set the frosting, for a few hours or overnight if you wish. Once the crumb coat is firm to the touch, spoon the final one 1/3 of the frosting on top of the cake and spread evenly all over.

Everyone loves the taste of this cake, although we seem split on which cake everyone seemed to enjoy better. For me personally, I preferred the Guinness cake. I like the taste of the buttercream frosting and the cake itself had an awesome flavor to it. Just my personal preference, as I’m not always a big fan of the brownie and the fallen cake seemed to taste more like that to me. However, if you are looking for a gluten-free alternative, the fallen cake is a pretty good choice.

That’s all I have for today. I hope everyone enjoys their St. Patrick’s Day if you are celebrating and have a good time while staying safe. I’ll be posting some of the recipes this week, including one of fish sticks and sweet potato fries that I made. Check back that this week for other recipes. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!