Archive for: cake
I like pie. I like cake. I have to admit that I have never felt a strong desire to combine the two desserts before. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a market out there for that sort of thing, which is why the Flying Monkey Bakery in Philadelphia invented the Pumpple Cake. This slightly awkwardly named dessert consists of two pies, a pumpkin pie and an apple pie, baked into two cakes, a vanilla cake and a chocolate cake. The cakes are stacked as they would be in a regular layer cake and whole thing is topped off with very generous amounts of buttercream. When finished, the cake weighs in at 15 pounds, stands more than a foot tall and will feed a pretty large crowd.
The cake is made by partially baking a pumpkin pie and an apple pie a day in advance. The pumpkin pie is placed into a cake pan full of chocolate cake batter and is completely covered. The apple pie is placed in vanilla cake batter. The cakes are baked until everything is set, then thoroughly cooled before being stacked and frosted. It takes about 2 days to make each cake.
I think that I’ll still keep a little distance between my cake and my pie, but this cake is a hit with customers of the bakery and probably a real problem solver for those with families that just can’t agree on what they want for dessert. It’s over the top, but this cake pretty much has it all.
Apples are a must-use ingredient in fall cooking, whether you’re going to make a fresh apple pie or some warming apple crisp. Here, I baked some diced apples into a Maple Apple Ginger Cake that is spiced with fresh ginger and lots of delicious maple syrup.
Maple syrup is a lovely flavoring to use in cakes, especially during the fall. It adds sweetness and also attracts moisture, meaning that you’ll end up with a cake that stays fresher, longer. In this case, it works very well with the flavor of the apples and gives the cake a really warm feeling. The fresh ginger adds a lot of spice, but unlike dried and powdered ginger, it has a much brighter taste to it that serves to contrast with the warmer maple and brown sugar flavorings already in the cake.
As a result, this is a cake with lots of fall flavor that isn’t just another gingerbread-type cake loaded up with the same four or five dried spices. It is very moist and very tender, not too sweet and with a great balance of flavors. I baked it in a 10-inch tube pan – the type that you might use to bake an angel food cake – so that the finished cake would have a very attractive shape to it. It could be baked in a bundt pan, but keep in mind that some of the apple pieces might end up sticking to the sides of the bundt, so don’t try to use a pan that is too detailed.
Like a quickbread, this cake keeps very well and can easily be served as is, with no accompaniments. If you want to dress it up a little bit, it goes well with a small scoop of ice cream or a little dollop of whipped cream. A drizzle of caramel sauce or maple syrup will finish off any presentation nicely.
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Some recipes look intimidating because they’re long. Sometimes, recipes are long because they are very complex and involve a lot of totally different elements. Sometimes, they’re long because the involve a lot of the same elements. Good spice cakes are like this because they often have a half-dozen more ingredients than a plainer version of the same cake. Luckily for those of us who like spice cakes, that long ingredient list is deceptive and it is still very easy to put a spice cake together.
This cake is infused with some of the flavors that are found in chai tea. I love using these spices in cakes and desserts because it’s such a great blend and makes for a finished product with a great depth of flavor. The cake includes cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves and black pepper, as well as vanilla and almond extracts. I mixed in some finely chopped candied ginger to spice things up even further. Aside from the spices, this recipe uses both butter and buttermilk and has a hint of buttery flavor and a tight, tender crumb.
The cake has a sturdy feel to it, which I like because it gives the impression that you can simply cut off a big chunk and take it with you, eating it straight out of a napkin or paper towel without having to fuss with a fork and plate. That said, this cake has such a great variety of spices to it that it goes very well with a drizzle of pastry cream or whipped cream, and can be turned into an elegant plated dessert if you slice it thinly. If you’re going for the more casual version, simply sprinkle your cake with some cinnamon sugar before serving.
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I like cakes that you can just throw together, the kind that are made with just a few ingredients that you almost always have on hand. I like cakes that you can just eat and enjoy on any random day at home because they’re not fussy and easy, the kind that don’t have to be saved for a special occasion or when you’re entertaining.
This is one of those cakes. It’s a very moist orange-flavored cake baked in a regular 8-inch square pan. The cake has a tight, tender crumb and is not too sweet, meaning that you can serve up some generous slices to munch on while you’re relaxing in front of the TV after a long day. Fresh orange juice is going to give you the best orange flavor, but you can certainly use store-bought oj for this cake, too, provided you buy the 100% juice variety.
Instead of frosting, this cake is topped with an ultra-simple glaze that makes it even more moist and tender, almost giving it as much moisture as a pudding cake. The glaze is just granulated sugar mixed with orange juice and poured over the cake while it is still hot from the oven. The juice soaks into the cake while the sugar forms a thin, sweet crust on top. If you serve the cake as soon as it has cooled and the glaze has set, the topping will have a nice crispness to it. If you cover the cake in an airtight container to keep it fresh, all of the glaze will soak right into the cake. It’s not fancy, but it sure is tasty!
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I’m always looking for a new variation on strawberry shortcake because I can’t resist putting fresh summer strawberries to good use in my kitchen. Strawberry shortcakes are always one of my favorite options. They’re easy to make and you use the berries when they are freshly sliced, so you can really appreciate that ripe berry sweetness. And while I like a berry by itself, having a strawberry with a bit of cake and whipped cream just makes it even better.
When I took a bite of the Saffron and Olive Oil Cake that I made recently, I immediately knew that it would make the perfect strawberry shortcake base. The cake has a tight, tender crumb and a mildly sweet flavor. You get a slight fruitiness from the olive oil in the cake (use a good quality olive oil that you like the flavor of). I knew that the berries would really stand out against it. I made it again and omitted the saffron – although it is good with that saffron flavor, too - then sliced the cake in half and piled it full of fresh strawberries and lightly sweetened whipped cream.
You’ll notice that I spiked the whipped cream with a little bit of plain, Greek-style yogurt. This makes it a little bit more substantial – although it does make it a little bit runnier than whipped cream alone – and the slight tang of the yogurt really helps the berries stand out even more. Be sure to add the filling just before serving and have plenty of extra strawberries on hand for garnish!
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