Plum cake

This cake might end up a little mushy, but that's because of all the delicious plum juice leaking into it. The cornmeal/semolina gives it a really nice grainy snap that contrasts well with the plums. Another treat too awesome not to share with everyone at work.

From epicurious:

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons finely ground cornmeal or semolina flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of kosher salt
13 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
4 large egg yolks
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 plums, cut in half and pitted
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Grease and lightly flour an 8 x 2-inch round cake pan or an 8-inch springform pan, tapping out any excess flour. Set aside. In a small bowl, toss the cornmeal, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and granulated sugar together with an electric mixer, until pale yellow and creamy, about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the whole eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Mix in the lemon zest and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and blend until just combined.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Place the plum halves, skin side down, at even intervals on top of the batter. Sprinkle the brown sugar on top of the fruit and batter. Bake until the cake is golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

New England spider cake

This is a new one for me. I was intrigued by its description in the New York Times Cookbook, and I had all the ingredients on hand--and you know I'm a sucker for anything cooked in a cast-iron skillet. Plus, I used up the last of the cornmeal.

The finished product is part cornbread cake, part cream cake, part spoonbread cake. There's a fascinating range of flavors and textures, from the cream in the middle to the crackly crust. And it's really easy to throw together.

I could definitely eat this for breakfast, maybe with some fruit, and feel totally healthy and justified for doing so.

2 cups whole milk
4 teaspoons white vinegar
1 cup flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350. Combine the milk and vinegar and set aside to sour. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Whisk the eggs into the soured milk, then stir into the dry ingredients to combine.

Melt the butter in a cast-iron skillet. Pour in the batter. Pour the cream into the center of the batter; do not stir. Slide the skillet into the oven and bake for 45 minutes. The center should still be bouncy when you remove it from the oven. Let cool 5 minutes, then slice and serve warm.

Honey-spice cake with coffee glaze

This cake is honey and coffee and warm spices and fall all rolled up into one. Do not be ashamed to eat this for breakfast. Preferably with coffee, extra coffee glaze, and maybe even a honey drizzle on top.

From Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian:

2 tablespoons butter, plus butter for the pan
1 tablespoon grated or finely minced orange zest
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rye or whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch salt
Pinch each ground allspice, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup freshly brewed coffee

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Grease a 9- by 5-inch loaf pan (if you double the recipe, you can use a tube pan). Combine the 2 tablespoons butter and the zest in a small saucepan over medium heat; cook until the butter sizzles, then turn off the heat. Combine the dry ingredients (minus the sugar) in a large bowl.

Beat the eggs and sugar together until the mixture is light and thick; beat in the honey and coffee, followed by the butter/zest mixture. Add the dry ingredients by hand, stirring just to combine; do not beat. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let the cake rest in the pan for 5 minutes before inverting it onto a rack. Remove the pan, then turn the cake right side up. Let cool before slicing.

Coffee glaze:
1/2 cup freshly brewed coffee
1/4 teaspoon each cinnamon, allspice, and ginger
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter

Combine the sugar, butter and spices in a small pot. Cook at a slow bubble, whisking frequently, until the sugar is dissolved and the liquid is slightly thickened, 10 minutes. Let cool to room temperature. Add the coffee.

Pour over the still-warm cake.

Ginger-cornmeal pound cake

Bonus points: I used up all the rest of the crystallized ginger and a large scoop of cornmeal.

Extra bonus points: This is a very delicious cake.

2 sticks unsalted butter, soft
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
5 eggs, separated
2-4 tablespoons crystallized ginger (or 1 teaspoon vanilla, if not using ginger)

Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt and set aside. Beat the two sticks of butter until they're smooth. Add 3/4 cup sugar and mix til well blended. Add the egg yolks one at a time; add the ginger (or vanilla) and blend well.

Mix in the dry ingredients by hand until just smooth; do not overmix or beat. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, with the 1/4 cup sugar. Fold gently but thoroughly into the batter (the base batter is very thick).

Turn into a greased 9x5 loaf pan and bake at 325 until a toothpick comes out clean, 1 hour and 15 minutes or so. Let rest in the pan for 5 minutes before inverting. Cool before slicing.

Almond coffee cake

While cleaning out my fridge the other day, I found an unopened tube of almond paste. And since I'm currently trying to use things up, I figured it was time for some almond cake.

Warning: this makes 2. You will eat both. With extra icing.

Reprinted from Two Tarts:

Yield: 2 coffee cakes, each serves 8. Before the final rise (*noted in instructions below), the coffee cakes can be frozen for future use if desired.

Filling
1 tube almond paste (7 ounces)
6 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar
2 tbsp. dark brown sugar
1½ tsp. ground cinnamon
4 ounces cream cheese, softened

Dough
1 1/3 cups warm milk (110ºF)
1/3 cup honey
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, melted
3 egg yolks (reserve whites for topping)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4½ cups flour, plus extra for work surface
1 package rapid-rise or instant yeast
2 tsp. salt

Topping
3 large egg whites
½ cup sliced almonds
1½ cups confectioners’ sugar
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp. milk
½ tsp. vanilla extract

For the filling: Fit stand mixer with paddle attachment and mix almond paste, confectioners’ sugar, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, and cream cheese until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

For the dough: Adjust oven rack to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 200ºF. When oven reaches 200, shut it off. Lightly grease large bowl with nonstick cooking spray. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Mix milk, honey, melted butter, yolks, and vanilla in large measuring cup. Mix flour, yeast, and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with dough hook. Turn mixer to low and slowly add milk mixture. After dough comes together, increase speed to medium and mix until shiny and smooth, 4 to 6 minutes. (Dough will be sticky.) Turn dough onto heavily floured work surface, shape into ball, and transfer to greased bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in turned-off oven until dough is nearly doubled, about 20 minutes.

On lightly floured work surface, divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll dough into 18-by-9-inch rectangle with long side facing you. Spread with half of filling and roll up dough. Brush top edge with water, then press to seal and transfer, seam side down, to parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Shape each cylinder into a ring or horseshoe. *Once dough is shaped into a horseshoe, it can be wrapped in foil and frozen for future use. Using paring knife, make cuts around outside of dough, about 1½ inches apart, leaving about an inch of intact dough at the top of your cut. In other words you are making slices but keeping the cake together as one unit. With your fingers, turn each “slice” of dough so that the filling is showing. Cover with plastic wrap coated with cooking spray and return to oven until rings have puffed slightly, about 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven and heat oven to 375ºF.

For the topping, whisk reserved egg whites in a small bowl, then brush rings with egg whites. Sprinkle with almonds and bake until deep brown, about 25 minutes, switching and rotating pans halfway through baking. 

For the icing: While rings are baking or cooling, whisk confectioners’ sugar, cream cheese, milk, and vanilla in small bowl until smooth. Drizzle icing over baked coffee cakes and serve warm.

Lemon-date cake

In an effort to use up some of the more esoteric ingredients in my pantry, I offer you lemon-date cake, made with lemon zest and dried dates.

It's more like a tea cake--crumbly, not very sweet--and the lemon flavor is subtle. If you wanted to punch it up, you could add some lemon icing.

1/2 cup olive oil, plus more for pan 
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 package (10 ounces) dried dates, coarsely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest (from 1 lemon)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom (or a cake pan lined with parchment paper) with oil; set aside. In a medium bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together oil, milk, and egg; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; add milk mixture, and stir with a rubber spatula just until smooth (do not overmix). Gently fold in figs and lemon zest. Spread batter in prepared pan; set pan on a rimmed baking sheet.

Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan 15 minutes before unmolding cake onto a wire rack to cool completely. To serve, cut into wedges.

Chocolate chip sour cream cake

You can substitute nuts, raisins or dried cranberries for the chocolate chips if you want.

5 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
3/4 teaspoon each baking powder and baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Add the melted butter to a mixing bowl and mix in the sugar, vanilla, salt, sour cream and egg. Add the baking powder and baking soda. Stir the flour in until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips, and pour into a greased and floured (or lined with parchment paper) loaf pan.

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. Let cool in the pan 10 minutes.

Whiskey cake

Yes, whiskey cake. Cake soaked in whiskey syrup. Doesn't that sound like the most awesome thing ever?

From the New York Times:

8 tablespoons butter, plus more for buttering pan
Fine dry bread crumbs for dusting pan (I used flour)
1 3/4 cups sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup bourbon (I used a combination of bourbon and rye)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a bundt pan and dust with bread crumbs. In a mixer fitted with a paddle, beat butter, 1 1/4 cups sugar and lemon zest until fluffy and fragrant. Beat in vanilla and 2 eggs. Add remaining eggs. Beat again.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add half the mixture to the batter and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Add remaining mixture and mix again until almost smooth; the rest must be done by hand using a spatula.

Scrape the batter into the bundt pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Meanwhile, combine remaining 1/2 cup sugar with 1/3 cup water in a saucepan. Boil until bubbles grow small and make fine snapping sounds, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool. Stir in the whiskey.

When the cake is done, let it cool for a few minutes. Unmold onto a serving plate with a lip. (The whiskey may pool at the base.) Pierce the top of the cake in about 20 places with a skewer, then pour the whiskey syrup over it. Once the cake is cool, cover with plastic wrap. This cake is best served the next day.

Cranberry upside-down cake

And yet more fun things to do with cranberries that aren't sauce!

From The New York Times:

FOR THE TOPPING:

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
9 ounces (2 2/3 cups) fresh cranberries
1/4 cup fresh orange juice

FOR THE BATTER:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, separated
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

To prepare topping: In a 9-inch round cake pan over low heat, melt butter and add brown sugar. Stir sugar until it dissolves, swirling pan to coat bottom. When sugar starts to caramelize, remove pan from heat and allow to cool.

In a small bowl, combine cranberries and orange juice. Toss to coat berries well. Spread berries evenly in pan, and sprinkle with any juice remaining in bowl. Set pan aside, and prepare the cake batter.

To prepare batter: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, cream butter with sugar until pale, light and fluffy. Add vanilla, and beat in egg yolks one at a time, scraping bowl once or twice. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, ending with dry ingredients. Set batter aside.

Using electric mixer, whisk egg whites with cream of tartar just until whites are stiff enough to hold a slight peak. Fold whites into batter 1/3 at a time. Spoon batter into prepared pan, and spread it evenly over cranberries. Bake until top is browned and cake pulls away slightly from edges of pan, 25 to 35 minutes. Let cake cool for 15 minutes before turning onto cake plate.

Cranberry coffee cake

More fun things to do with cranberries that aren't sauce.

From The Joy of Cooking:


2 cups flour
1 teaspoon each baking powder and baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sour cream or plain/Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups cranberries

For streusel topping:
Pulse together in a food processor until mixture resembles coarse crumbs:
2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup pecans or walnuts
2/3 cup brown sugar
5 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Whisk the flour, baking powder and soda, and salt together thoroughly. Combine the sour cream/yogurt and vanilla in a separate bowl (you can add a little orange or grapefruit zest to this, if you have any).

In a large bowl, beat on high speed sugar and butter until lightened in color and texture. Add eggs one at a time. Add flour mix in 3 parts, alternating with sour cream/yogurt mix in 2 parts, beating on low speed.

Spread evenly into a greased 13 x 9 pan. Top with cranberries. Top with streusel. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Let cool briefly and serve warm.

Beet cake with orange glaze

Yes, beet cake. Remember how delicious that zucchini cake with lemon glaze was? This is just as delicious, and may I add, a really wonderful color. If you have a little girl who adores pink, you want to serve her this cake. (It tastes like cake, by the way, not like beets.)

My version is not uniformly pink, probably because I used one regular beet and one Chiogga beet (the stripey ones). I imagine the stripey-ness created the rainbow hue, above.

From Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian:

2 medium raw beets, peeled and quartered
1 1/2 sticks soft butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk

Grease a 9x13 pan with a little butter. Put the beets and 1/2 cup sugar in a food processor and pulse a few times to puree. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In your KitchenAid, beat the butter and 1 cup sugar till creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. Add the beet puree. Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture, then half of the milk, another third of flour, the rest of the milk, and then the rest of the flour. Stir gently until just mixed.

Bake at 350 45-50 minutes. Let cool completely before adding the orange glaze:

3 cups confectionary sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
a splash of vanilla (optional)

Mix until thick and smooth.

Red velvet cake, without the red (or the icing)

Then why make it, you ask? What's the point of red velvet cake if it's not red, and doesn't have icing?

Don't worry, it's still good.

Red velvet cake is a pet peeve of  mine. I can't tell you how many times I've had red velvet cake (usually at an office party) that is nothing more than regular white cake with a ton of red food dye added. People: This is not red velvet cake! I don't care how red it is.

REAL red velvet cake is made with cocoa and buttermilk. And tastes chocolate-y. The red color originally came from a chemical reaction between the unprocessed cocoa and the buttermilk. (Hershey's isn't the right kind of cocoa; but it's okay to use, that's what I used.) Some people added a little beet juice to enhance the reddish tinge (adding beet juice doesn't affect the flavor). Then I guess everyone decided they liked the red color so much, most red velvet cake recipes these days call for TWO BOTTLES of red dye.

Even if the cake is made the right way, with cocoa and buttermilk, if it has two bottles of dye in it, I can't taste anything but dye. (You do know food dye is made from petroleum, right?)

But I had some buttermilk I needed to use up, so I decided to make it anyway, with or without the red. I didn't make the icing because, hey, I was lazy. Plus I figure that way, it's more acceptable to have cake for breakfast. Without icing, it's just like a cake wedge-shaped muffin, right? Right?

Anyway, here's the recipe. Should you choose to add the two bottles of dye (ewwww, btw), add that to the cocoa powder to make a sort of paste before adding it to the batter. And wear an apron, that crap stains.

2 1/2 cups sifted flour (sift by itself first, then sift with the other dry ingredients, as per below)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans. Sift the first three ingredients together, and set aside. Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then add vanilla and cocoa (or cocoa/dye paste). Add 1/3 flour mixture, then 1/2 of the buttermilk, and so on. Scrape down the bowl and make sure everything is well combined. In a separate bowl, combine the vinegar and baking soda (yes, it will fizz) and incorporate that into the batter. Divide into the cake pans, and back at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Icing:
Cook 3 tablespoons flour and 1 cup milk until thick. Cool COMPLETELY. Cream 1 cup confectioner's sugar, 1 cup butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla until fluffy, and fold that into the flour/milk mixture.

Another pet peeve: cream cheese icing on red velvet cake. Good and all, but the flour/milk icing above is the authentic one.

Zucchini cake with lemon glaze

Like carrot cake, only with zucchini!

Adapted from David Lebovitz. Copied below.

1 cup (135g) almonds, pecans, or walnuts, toasted (I used almonds)

2 cups (280g) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon dried ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 3/4 (350g) cups sugar
1 cup (250ml) extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups (300g) finely grated zucchini

For the lemon glaze:
1/4 cup (60ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup (65g) granulated sugar
1 cup (140g) powdered (confectioner’s) sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Grease a 10 cup (2.5l) bundt or tube cake pan with non-stick spray or butter, dust with flour, then tap out any excess.

2. Pulse the nuts in a food processor until finely chopped.

3. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside.

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs, 1 3/4 cup (350g) sugar, and olive oil for 3 minutes on medium speed, until light and fluffy. Stop and scrape down the sides of the mixer, then add the vanilla.

5. Mix in the dry ingredients, scraping down the sides of the mixer bowl to make sure everything is mixed in well, then beat on medium speed for 30 seconds.

6. Stir in the chopped nuts and zucchini.

7. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan, smooth the top, then bake the cake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the cake has begun to pull away from the sides of the pan.

8. During the last few minutes of the cake baking, make the glaze by whisking together the lemon juice, 1/3 cup (65g) granulated sugar, and powdered sugar.

9. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes, then carefully invert it onto a cooling rack. Brush the glaze over the cake with a pastry brush and let the cake cool completely.

Notes: Yum. Not too sweet, not too zucchini-like. A great way to use up zucchini.

Carrot cake

Mmmm, carrot cake.

And because it has carrots in it, it's healthy! (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

I used The Pioneer Woman's carrot cake recipe for this, because she's my hero. She took a blog about cooking and her wacky life and turned into a media empire. Which I'll do one day, never fear. I'm putting the final touches on the Broke Foodie Cookbook as we speak!

Anyway, the carrot cake. See PW's link for the actual recipe, but it's your basic standard carrot cake. Grated carrots, flour, sugar, vegetable oil, cream cheese frosting. PW put pecans in her cream cheese frosting, but I left them out.

Mmmmm, cream cheese frosting.

I think the icing costs more than the actual cake here. The cake ingredients were all bulk purchased (flour, sugar, eggs, carrots, etc.; cost estimation maybe $1.20); the icing calls for a package of cream cheese ($1.50), a stick of butter ($1) and a pound of confectionary sugar ($1). So $3.50 for the frosting, but only a little over a dollar for the cake itself.

But you can't have carrot cake without cream cheese frosting.

I'm going to go have another piece for breakfast right now.

Pound cake

Christmas is less than three weeks away, so I'll be posting holiday favorites. Today's is pound cake--dense, delicious, can be eaten plain or with any number of toppings/sauces.

3 sticks melted butter
2 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
8 eggs

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, beat until light and fluffy. Add flour ½ cup at a time while beating, add vanilla. Flour and grease bundt pan, pour in batter. Tap lightly to release air bubbles. Bake at 350 until done (when toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean).

With three sticks of butter and eight eggs, it's a heart attack on a plate, I know. But hey, it's the holidays. It's not like you're not gonna eat the pound cake.

Cost: 8 eggs x 17 cents each = $1.36, 3 sticks of butter = $3 (and that's REAL butter, not margarine), say 50 cents for the flour, sugar and vanilla. Just under $5 for the whole thing. As dense and rich as this is, that's a lot of pound cake.