This month: Cakes!
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-JT
I almost always use cake mixes, and have found that Duncan Hines mixes are a notch above the others available. I also always use 3 eggs, but will need to remember and try your suggestions of milk and melted butter.
On the first: Yes, it works awesome with the extra egg and milk and butter (real unsalted butter). I am the executive chef in this household (and dishwasher, but I wash as I go instead of letting things pile up unlike someone I know).
On the second: That reads easy-peasy and yummy!
Thanks
Have you ever heard of a Tornado Cake? I make the best.
*PING* to Spanish Cakes. Got any local bakery favorites? :)
My Mom and favorite Auntie made this cake quite often because we ALL loved it. It’s still a favorite of mine to this day. It’s a perfect balance of sweet and tart and the cake is SO moist, it’s surreal. Also, it’s cheap and easy to make and extols the virtues of adding a box of Jell-O pudding mix to your baked goods. ;)
Lemon Poke Cake
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/17573/lemon-poke-cake-ii/
My husband uses that method for making cakes. I seldom eat cake, but he swears this does make a mix taste much better.
Yum... Cakes? I am thinking of baking a cake tomorrow. Pineapple Upside Down Cake...
I love lemon bars & I read about a simple way to make them: simply blend a can of lemon curd with a cake mix (yellow? lemon? can’t remember). I found it too thick to mix easily so I added an egg & a quarter cup of water. What resulted wasn’t really a lemon bar, but the softest lemon cake I’ve ever had. Yum!
Since I’m low carb, I rarely make cakes these days, but on the days when I just really really crave cake - I use the microwave and a mug:
Chocolate Cake in a Mug
https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a84317/chocolate-cake-in-a-mug/
This cake looks great, without the balsamic though. I don’t even understand that addition.
The Best Strawberry Shortcake Cake
Ingredients
Cake
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup oil vegetable, canola or light olive oil
1/4 cup sour cream regular, full fat
1 cup whole milk or 2%, but avoid lower fat
Strawberries
2 pints fresh ripe strawberries
1 tablespoon Sprouts Organic Balsamic Glaze optional
2 tablespoons sugar
Whipped Cream
2 cups heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup powdered sugar divided, see recipe below
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces cream cheese regular, full fat
1/4 cup diced strawberries with glaze from the recipe above
Instructions
Bake the cake
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Prepare three 8” cake pans by lightly greasing the sides of the pans and then dusting with flour, then line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk, then set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter until smooth. While mixing, slowly add sugar and continue to beat until the butter and sugar are well combined and the mixture is light and fluffy. Don’t skimp on the mixing at this stage.
While mixing, add the eggs one at a time, blending at least 10-20 seconds between each additional egg. Mixing well to incorporate some air is important in this step.
Add vanilla and oil, and blend well to combine.
Add sour cream and blend.
Reduce the mixer speed to low, and pour in about half of the milk, then half of the flour mixture. Repeat with milk and flour. Blend just until all ingredients are well combined. Stop mixer and scrap down the sides of the bowl, and stir (just a couple times) by hand just to make sure all ingredients are well blended.
Divided batter evenly into prepared pans.
Bake in preheated 350°F. oven for 22-30 minutes, or until the cake has a slight dome and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no wet batter.
Cool cakes in pans for 5-10 minutes, then carefully remove and continue cooling on a wire cooling rack (leave the parchment on the bottoms at this point). Once cakes are mostly cool, wrap well in plastic wrap and place cakes in the freezer. This will help keep them moist as they fully cool, and will make them easy to handle (stack and frost) when you’re assembling the cake.
Prepare strawberries
Dice strawberries and add to a large bowl. Set aside a couple whole berries for garnish, if desired.
Drizzle on the balsamic glaze, then sprinkle sugar over the berries and stir until the berries are evenly coated.
Cover and place in the fridge while you prepare the whipped cream.
Whipped cream
Place the entire mixing bowl and mixing beaters in the freezer for at least 5 minutes, while you gather you ingredients.
Add heavy cream into the chilled bowl and beat until it begins to thicken.
While mixing, add 1/4 cup powdered sugar into the cream (reserving 1/2 cup for later).
Continue to beat, and add vanilla.
Beat until light and fluffy and holds a soft peak.
Remove whipped cream from mixing bowl and transfer into a different large bowl. Place in the fridge for the moment.
In the now empty mixing bowl (should be scraped clean, but no need to wash), add cream cheese and blend until fully smooth. Do not move on until the cream cheese is smooth.
Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar (that you reserved earlier) and blend until fully combined with the cream cheese.
Scoop out 1/4 cup of the glazed strawberries from the fridge, and blend with cream cheese mixture.
Remove whipped cream from fridge and add one large scoop (about 3/4 cup) whipped cream to the mixing bowl and blend on low. Mix just until the cream cheese mixture has gotten a bit fluffier. Add the remaining whipped cream and blend on low just until all ingredients are combined. This step may be done by hand if desired. Be careful not to over mix.
Assemble the cake
Remove cake layers from freezer, unwrap and remove parchment from cake bottoms.
Stack one layer of cake, then about 1/3 of the whipped cream and spread with an offset spatula as needed to level.
Add a layer of strawberries (about 1/3 of the total mixture). You do not need to use all the liquid at the bottom of the bowl.
Repeat with another layer of cake, whipped cream and strawberries, then repeat for final layer.
Garnish cake with a few whole strawberries, if desired.
Serve immediately, or refrigerate until serving. Best when served within 1-2 hours of assembly.
Notes
You can divide the work up a bit by baking (and freezing, as directed) the cake layers a day (or a couple days) in advance.
https://www.glorioustreats.com/the-best-strawberry-shortcake-cake/
I’m going to try these the next time I make cookies.
Orange Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 tablespoon fresh orange zest finely chopped
For the glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon fresh orange zest
Instructions
Make the cookies
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This should take about 3 minutes.
Add the egg, vanilla extract, almond extract and orange zest and beat another minute or so.
Add the flour mixture slowly. (Be careful not to add too much at a time or you will have a snowstorm of flour.)
Blend until all of the flour is incorporated and the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
Take the dough out of the bowl and place it on a piece of parchment paper.
Using your hands, knead the dough a few times.
Place the dough in a large plastic (ziplock type) bag and refrigerate for about 2 hours. If you want to speed up the chilling process, place the bag of dough in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes. Just don’t forget it in the freezer, or it will become too firm to work with (and then you’ll have to wait for it to thaw).
When it’s almost time to remove the dough from the refrigerator (or freezer), preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).
Roll out dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Cut out desired shapes, and place on a baking sheet. Place the entire baking sheet of cookies in the freezer for about 5 minutes (this helps prevent the cookies from losing their shape when baking).
Once chilled, bake cookies at 350* for 8-10 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies.
Allow cookies to cool, and prepare orange glaze.
Make the glaze
In a medium sized bowl, melt butter in microwave (less than 30 seconds). Add all other glaze ingredients, and stir well with a whisk. If the glaze is too thick, add a tiny bit more orange juice, if the glaze is too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar.
Drizzle glaze over cookies, as deisred. You can put the glaze into a small ziplock-type baggie, snip off the end, and use that to drizzle on the glaze.
https://www.glorioustreats.com/orange-zest-sugar-cookies/
Limoncello Cake
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (187.50 grams)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
3 large eggs*
1 egg yolk*
1 1/2 cups + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (325 grams)
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use corn oil) (100 grams)
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons Limoncello* (72 grams)
zest 1 lemon*
*Ingredients should be room temperature, remove from fridge 45-60 minutes before using.
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 350F (180C). Grease and flour a 9 inch (23 cm) bundt pan or 8 inch (20 cm) cake pan.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In a medium bowl beat until stiff peaks appear the 3 egg whites.
In a large bowl beat the 4 yolks and sugar until light and creamy (about 3-5 minutes). Then add the vegetable oil, limoncello and zest, beat until smooth.
Stir the flour mixture into the yolk mixture and combine, then gently fold in the egg whites until combined. Spoon into prepared cake pan. Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool before dusting with powdered sugar. Enjoy!
https://anitalianinmykitchen.com/homemade-limoncello-cake/