Molten Chocolate Cake

This is a really quick and delicious recipe for molten chocolate cake. You don't need to break out the mixer for this, just stir a few ingredients together and pop it on the oven. Take it out of the oven, let it REST (I was too eager with the first cake and ended up with half a cake on the plate, half in the ramekin).

I made a cinnamon whipped cream while the cake was in the oven- also very easy. Make this the next time you're craving a rich chocolate cake.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

This is a reaaallyyyyy good recipe for carrot cake. I used this recipe for the cake and this recipe for the frosting. I didn't use the can of crushed pineapple and it was still ridiculously moist and delicious. I'm not sure how it would even stay together if I had used the pineapple.

I even liked the frosting! And I'm not a big fan of cream cheese frosting (tastes... weird to me), but I used a whipped cream cheese so it was very light.

Chocolate cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Sorry peanut-allergic friends, it's another peanut butter recipe. This time it's a dark chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting. I had some soft caramel candies left over from the samoa's so I melted it in intervals in the microwave. Be sure to use a very large bowl because the caramel bubbles as it heats up and if you don't use a huge bowl you'll end up cleaning caramel off the bowl sides and the microwave like me.

These were really good- you can't go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter. I also chopped some pecans and sprinkled some on top so you weren't as overwhelmed by all the sugar. The cake was surprisingly not that sweet so you can eat the whole thing without feeling like keeling over from sugar overload.

Castella or Kasutera Cake

This is a really good cake. I first had it a few years ago when a family friend made it- I got the recipe from her, but I was never able to really duplicate it. I found this recipe online and it magically worked. The cake is really light, like a spongecake, and only slightly sweet from the honey. I'm not sure why it's so light considering the amount of eggs and oil... but it was really good and maybe the small amount of sugar makes up for the amount of eggs?

Funny thing is that this is actually a Portuguese cake. It was brought to Japan in the 16th century by Portuguese merchants (according to wikipedia).

German Chocolate Cake

This is a very rich cake. I made this for a roommate's birthday, but I don't think he was able to handle more than a small slice because it is so rich. It is also time consuming, but put in the time and you will be happy with a giant german chocolate cake. I had to make this over two weeknights.

For some reason my ganache was clumping up everytime it cooled down. I tried to pipe a decorative border, but that was a big, giant fail so I made this little ridge to keep the pecan/coconut topping from running over.

Speaking of, I now have a bunch of coconut flakes and pecans to use...

Green Tea Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

Green tea and strawberries is like peanut butter and jelly. This is a REALLY good recipe for green tea cupcakes and strawberry buttercream. I didn't think 1 tablespoon of green tea powder would be enough to color and flavor the cake, but it was very green and green tea flavored. The butter cream recipe is strange- egg whites are involved??? But it came together fine and tastes reallyyyy good. I'm glad it uses strawberry jam instead of real strawberries- my buttercream always looks funky/congealed when I use real fruit.

Tuxedo Cake

Look at this beautiful cake. It is so beautiful. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but this is the most pristine looking layered cake I have ever made. I didn't accidentally break the cake levels in half (hehe although I did break a few bits off here and there) and I didn't make the frosting curdle. PROGRESS!

I had to do this to protect the cake from saran wrap.

It's been awhile since I've made a cake so I decided to make this beautiful tuxedo cake. In the end though I didn't make the chocolate sauce on top since it was already really good. The chocolate cake is really moist and sweet, even when I used whole wheat flour. The frosting is whipped cream, which I loooveeeee. Asian cakes normally use whipped cream instead of the overly sweet buttercream on regular cakes so I'm used to it's texture and taste. Also it's a lot easier to make than say... strawberry buttercream.


This cake took a really long time to make. I only have 2 cake pans so it took me awhile to just bake the cake. Then I had to let it cool down and then do a crumb coat for each layer and then frost it. I was exhausted (this was a weeknight), but it was well worth the reward of eating cake for breakfast and dinner the next 3 or 4 days. You would do it too and you would love it because this cake is GOOD.

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

The Santa Ana winds are back and that means it's officially Fall/Winter here in Los Angeles, which also means it's time for pumpkin! I love pumpkin, but it feels wrong to eat it at any other time. This recipe for spiced pumpkin bread is reallyyyyyy good. It makes two small loaves, but of course because I'm impatient I crammed it into one loaf pan making for a really big loaf. I had to cut the top off when it started getting a wee bit burnt while the inside was still mush. Good thing Ilya likes crusty/burnt bread. Although this isn't bread, it's just a big frosting-less cake.



The before: the pan overfilleth with pumpkin bread. Do not do this unless you want to cut the top crust off and have burnt edges.

Chocolate Raspberry Cake and Honey Lavender Ice Cream

the elusive organic lavender

I had dinner at Fraiche a few months ago and the food was very good, but the dessert was mind blowing-amazing-awesome. I had a scoop of honey lavender ice cream- I picked it spontaneously. This ice cream tasted like a savory, subtle honey ice cream infused with flowers. It was so good- almost savory. I thought about that ice cream for a very long time and I found this recipe and made it and guess what... it tastes exactly the same!!! It took me 3 trips to different Whole Foods and Ralphs' to finally find some organic edible lavender, but it was worth it. SO WORTH IT.



And I made a huge chocolate cake. I didn't have raspberry jam so I used strawberry and it turned out pretty well (although I should really listen

Focaccia Pizza and Green Tea and Chocolate Marbled Cake

Just look at this magnificent pizza! It combines focaccia bread + pizza. I freaking love focaccia- this was awesome. It's still a thin crust pizza so it doesn't turn into a chicago deep dish, but enough bread so you get the focaccia feel in the crust- still chewy, crisp on the edges.


Okay now look at my new measuring spoons- aren't they awesome? They're skinny so they can fit into all sorts of spice jars. I got them from Sur La Table.

Okay now look at this awesome mixing bowl! I had to buy new stuff since I was using my old roommates baking equipment. This one is from Giada De Laurentiss' line for Target. I was debating between this plastic set and the stainless steel and decided I needed the larger bowl so I got these. I like that there's a little spout so it's easy to pour batter out and a rubber ring on the bottom so it doesn't slide everywhere. The only problem is when I need to melt chocolate or use it over a hot pot of water, but I can switch to the various glass bowls I have instead.

Anyways... I made green tea and chocolate swirled cupcakes. I like the way the loaf looks, but it's easier to hand out cupcakes. It's really good, but possibly too moist? I guess I like my cake a little dryer, but the 1 cup of yogurt really made these sticky/fudgey despite being cooked all the way through. They looked great though! Chocolate and green tea are a great combination.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake & Curried Potato Chips

This is a surprisingly good healthy(ish?) cake. There is shredded zucchini and I replaced the oil with unsweetened apple sauce- you really can't tell when you eat the cake. It's really moist and chocolatey, I even added walnuts to mine (still trying to use up all the nuts). I was really surprised I couldn't taste or feel the zucchini, I'm pretty skeptical of recipes like this that try to hide vegetables in desserts. The texture is a bit off compared to regular cake, this was softer, lighter.

soaking the potatoes to get rid of excess starch.

I saw a recipe for making potato chips in a microwave, but it looked too labor intensive. You can only make as many chips as fit in your microwave at at time. I saw this recipe for curried potato chips, which uses an oven. I made one batch with curry powder and one batch with cheddar bacon salt. The cheddar bacon salt turned out MUCH better- the curry chips tasted a tiny bit bitter towards the end. The author warns against this and I could probably avoid the problem by slicing the potatoes thinner. My kyocera mandolin is arriving in a week or two so I'll try making chips again with it.

Vegan Mexican Chocolate Cake

Surprise, a healthy delicious chocolate cake! I skipped their glaze and made a ganache of heavy whipping cream and dark chocolate (2:1 ratio). Delicious. It's a very dense cake and it stayed relatively moist over the next 3-4 days.


This is the first time I've used cayenne pepper and I underestimated exactly how spicy it was going to be. Holy crap. Good thing I followed directions and used only the suggested amount. It was a very interesting cake, sweet and spicy.

Pumpkin Brown Butter Cupcakes & Baked Ziti

I made these cupcakes back in fall (kinda back logged here so I'm posting more frequently). I love pumpkin and I love brown butter so this was awesome. Although I thought it was more muffin-y because it was so dense (or maybe I made it wrong...). I forgot to take a picture of the cupcake sans wrapping, but you should go here and look at the recipe and the blogger's photos. Her photos are way way way better than mine.


Here's another great comfort food for fall or any cold day: baked ziti. Cheese + pasta = you're good. Also I really like recipes that involve the oven because you don't have to fuss around with it.

Both recipes use sage so it's a great way to get to know the herb or use all of it.

Red Velvet Cake Truffles

This one was inspired by a colleague of mine who shares my love of red velvet cake. She sent me this link: http://www.bakerella.com/red-velvet-cake-balls/ and I couldn't agree more--one of the best ideas EVER. This also happened around Valentine's Day and right before I was sent on a business trip to visit coworkers, so I thought why not make some for everyone? Determined to wow and please my boyfriend, friends, and coworkers (that's just how I am with my food/baking creations), I set myself up for a long and arduous journey. It took me several hours for two days to perfect this one. It's pretty clear from her photos and lack of explaining techniques that Bakerella is obviously a much more experienced baker than I am. So let me just put a disclaimer here: this recipe is not an easy feat... but I'll try to explain everything I did wrong and right so it'll be easier for you. :) Here we go!


Let's start with Trial 1.

I used this cake recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Red-Velvet-Cake-III/Detail.aspx with a box of Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Classic White Cake mix. (I couldn't find the red velvet cake mix.)

I also used this frosting: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Carrot-Cake-III/Detail.aspx, that I made in an old blog post because I love, love the cream cheese frosting recipe and I didn't want to take the pre-made store stuff for an answer.

Tips:

Get a deep mixing bowl or prepare for splatter.

Get a nice mixer. Otherwise I hope you have a good strong spoon... stronger than mine.

When I mixed the two together, I got this:

And immediately I knew something wasn't right. It was too mushy and I PANICKED. I had only so much time to make these and I knew I had screwed something up! (I'm talking about mushiness to the point where the mixture felt like cake mixed with a lot of water.) My thoughts were that maybe the mushiness would settle once I put it in the fridge to cool. I went ahead and let it solidify but even in that state it just looked wrong. I thought maybe I could still salvage it and it could taste good (the cake recipe was pretty good) so made 3 truffles with it anyway, albeit doubting that it would turn out ok.

When I ate them I couldn't bring myself to being satisfied. They tasted pretty good, but the texture was off (too mushy for cake) and they left a horrific aftertaste that I can only describe as being similar to the taste of aspartame (the fake sugar they use in those diet products). And I could not, for the life of me, stand that kind of taste!


So on to Trial 2.

This time I searched and found the red velvet cake mix from Duncan Hines.


I figured since I loved the cream cheese frosting from the carrot cake recipe, it had to be something in the cake recipe that was causing the terrible taste and texture. (Vanilla pudding, maybe??) And here are the results of the cake:


Just looking at that beautiful red color in comparison to the terrible pink, I could already tell that I had done it right this time.

When I mixed it with the cream cheese frosting this time, it didn't turn mushy. I also opted to use only about 8oz of cream cheese frosting, perhaps less. I was careful with the amount I put into the cake because I didn't want to make it too sweet or mushy. I don't agree with Bakarella's 16oz of cream cheese frosting, but that might be a difference of her using store-bought and me using homemade.

I also bought all three types of chocolate chips (white, milk, and dark) for every type of chocolate fan (I had in mind serving about 20+ different people). Bakerella used chocolate bark, but I couldn't find this at my local grocery store. (I used Guittard dark and milk, and Ghiradelli white chocolates, by the way. Delicious San Francisco Bay Area local chocolates. :D) First attempt was white chocolate, and from my next mistakes I messed up most of the white chocolate that I had bought.

I used a double boiler set-up in my kitchen to melt the chocolate, but somehow it seemed to have dried out the chocolate. I started adding heavy whipping cream to it, and it made it a little clumpy. (My bad, I forgot you're not supposed to add cold liquids to heated chocolate.) With the curdle-y chocolate I somehow thought water would thin it out, but it didn't. Complete disaster. It was hard clumps of chocolate now. And to top it off, I threw it in the microwave to try to melt it again. I don't know why I was so stubborn with this one to try to get it to work, but in the end it only led to burnt chocolate. I suspect that white chocolate, because of its contents, has a different temperament than the others. Double boiler using dark chocolate has never given me such a hard time, as proven again with my "truffitizing" (yes, I made that up) my earlier messed up cake.


On to Trial 2.5.

See those pretty criss-cross chocolate lines Bakarella used on her truffles? I wanted to do that, and I was going to try with a some melted chocolate in a ziploc bag with a small bit of the corner cut off. Unfortunately, after messing up I didn't have enough white chocolate and ended up using the remainder to instead be melted for truffitizing. This time, instead of melting in a double boiler, I decided to do it the right way: read the instructions on the back of the package. I went with the microwave option and I'm pretty glad I did--this is WAY simpler than trying to use a double boiler, and I'd recommend it for anyone using chocolate chips.

Next was getting down the right technique. First, it's easier to handle the cake balls in chocolate when they are small, so make sure yours are relatively small and bite-sized. I ended up resizing twice before I got the final rendition. Bakarella says she made about 40-50, but I made probably around 60. Besides, you want to keep them small so your guinea pigs--I mean, friends, keep wanting more. :)

Second, I used two spoons to coat the cake in the chocolate. I coated both spoons with chocolate, generously, and used the spoons to toss the cake ball back and forth between spoons, evenly coating each ball and only picking up more melted chocolate as necessary. This step requires a lot of patience. If you're too hasty you'll want to try to coat quicker, but that will pull the cake away from itself and into the chocolate. I tried to let the cake gently fall into the other spoon as it wished, and it made a very even/smooth coating. Don't overcoat because it'll drip off and make a large, flat base for your truffles. I like to think of the most perfect truffles as round, without a base. :)


After they set a bit, I took it off the wax paper and put it into ziplocs and into the fridge. The ones I wanted to keep longer I froze. I found that, at least for ~65 degrees (maybe higher) indoors, these don't sit too well at room temp. I also found that they're best served right out of the fridge for a crispy chocolate coating. So recapping, was all this trouble worth it in the end? Yes. They were so delicious that I ate plenty (and I rarely do that with my own baking)! And unless people find pleasure in lying to me, I'd say it was a very successful hit all-around. Enjoy!

Pictures courtesy of my borrowed Nikon D90 (with the exception of the first & last photo, taken with a Canon 870IS point & shoot.

Sprinkle's Strawberry Cupcakes

Please tell me you've had Sprinkles cupcakes- they are one of the best LA cupcake eateries (also great? Kiss my Bundt, especially red velvet. They say they're the "first," but I have no idea who came first. My first experience with fancy cupcakes was Magnolia Bakery in New York- and I even had to wait in line. The cupcakes were sweet, teeth-achingly sweet. That killed the fancy cupcake scene for almost a year until someone introduced me to Sprinkles and the spark was rekindled. They are deliciously moist and not-too-sweet, not so tender that they come apart as you peel the paper wrapper.

Please ignore dirty oven/cupcake pan.

The recipe for the strawberry cupcake is posted online at Martha Stewart's website. Sprinkles also sells cupcake mixes, but they're $15 I think? You should just make these instead- there are actual strawberries in the recipe.


Word of caution: if you are using frozen strawberries, make sure you drain them well for the frosting. I didn't do that and ended up with frosting that looked curdled. Delicious, but curdled.

Red Velvet Cake

food coloring going into the liquids

This is my 2nd favorite cake EVER (1st favorite is chocolate stout cake). My favorite is from Sprinkles and I'm still looking for the perfect recipe. I've had this recipe bookmarked for awhile and I thought I should finally make it.



I do not know if my cocoa is dutch-process or not. It's the generic cocoa from Ralphs and I didn't have white vinegar so I substituted apple cider vinegar. I used half the amount of food coloring because I read some scary articles about it. I guess originally it turned red because of the cocoa they used back in the day and how it reacted with the vinegar and buttermilk (wikipedia), but now it's just food coloring (or beets).


I also added some slivered almonds because I had them on hand and I liked the crunch. I also think that next time I'd make either a 9 inch cake or make 3 layers because the layers were a bit tall.

The oil was great because the cake was moist and dense, but I didn't like the slight tang that it had from the buttermilk and vinegar. I'll probably add less of them next time. But this is a very moist, not too sweet, slightly chocolately cake that you should try and make. This is my favorite recipe for red velvet cake so far. Other ones have turned out dry or too chocolate-y.


Instead of their recipe for frosting (which looked interesting- I just didn't have most of the ingredients), I made a regular cream cheese frosting. It's just a matter of taste- some people like the frosting slightly tangy still, I like mine sweet (but not sweeter then the cake). (And Joanne made this awhile ago too and she had a really really good vanilla bean frosting that went so well with the cake!)

Oh, also helpful is a crumb coating, which I didn't do because I was impatient. This is great when you have to slice the top off because your layer isn't completely flat. You basically frost the cake with a very thin layer of frosting and then put it in the fridge or freezer for a bit until it sets up. Then take it out and put more frosting over. So the first layer catches all the crumbs so the second layer is crumb-free.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese

Carrot Cake

I finally found a baking recipe that I truly love--to the point that I literally have to stop myself from eating it (and that means a lot coming from a non-sweet-tooth individual). It's so good I'm not even sure if I (or anyone else) can make better. It's possible perhaps, but generally "better" in baker's language is interchangeable with "fattier".

Recipe adapted from: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Carrot-Cake-III/Detail.aspx

Pretty much followed exactly. Like I said, I don't really mess around when it comes to baking.

Notes:
I added cinnamon very generously. Quite possibly at least double what the recipe called for. I do this a lot in recipes that call for cinnamon. I also tend to add more vanilla extract than described. All other ingredients I keep to pretty well.

I took it out at around 40 minutes (the earlier time period). I'm kind of a snob when it comes to cakes/brownies/cookies--I like them moister and denser and I absolutely hate it when the texture is, well, dry and cake-y... so I tend to slightly undercook my desserts on purpose. (And I absolutely despise American-made cakes, or at least the ones I've tried because of their cake-y characteristics.) 40 mins was good enough time in my oven to take out a toothpick clean.

I also let the cake half-cool before I started throwing the frosting on. I know you're not supposed to do this until the cake is completely cooled (because frosting melts from the heat emitted by the cake and makes it too difficult to spread an even layer, or you can spread too fast and you'll remove a thin delicate layer of cake with your tough frosting), but I wanted to go for a more "melty" look of frosting and I did it anyway in spite of the rules--with extreme caution. You know what I mean by "melty": when it doesn't look like the frosting and cake are completely separate layers--it looks like the frosting is slowly creeping into the pores of the cake, becoming united as one. I actually have no idea if this method really works, but I got what I was going for in taste and looks and it was absolutely phenomenal.