A Little Bit of All Right

December brings an opportunity to bake any cake from this year's cook book that catches our fancy. There are several that I can't wait to bake including two that I have plains to make before the end of 2022, but I had a new-to-me angel food cake pan from the thrift store and a bowl of egg whites leftover from some Thanksgiving baking that pushed me in the Angel Food Cake direction. I had never made an angel food cake before so I followed the directions as closely as possible. The most important step appears to be making sure there is not grease on your pan as the cake clings to the sides of the pan which is what keeps it from collapsing in on itself. This recipe is flavored with a bit of lemon juice and has a layer of raspberries in the middle as well as a few more sprinkled on top before baking.  When the cake was complete, I tipped it upside down onto a cooling rack and left it there until it was completely cool. I then ran a paring knife between the edge of the cake and the

This cake was unlike any rum cake I'd ever had before. It is chock full of dried fruit, seasoned with warm spices, and sweetened with molasses. It seems similar to a Trinidad Black Cake though that recipe usually has cherries or cherry liquor as well.  Zoe's recipe calls for an optional topping of marzipan which I was unable to find and therefore left off. The batter has rum in it, and the dried fruit is supposed to be soaked in rum for at least 24 hours. Mine soaked for 4 hours and seemed pretty strong. I used a mixture for dried dates, cherries, currants, and cranberries. The batter is very thick and just about fills the cake pan. It took about an hour and twenty minutes to bake. The cake gets it's first brushing with rum as soon as it comes out of the oven. It then sits in the pan until cool. Then you remove the cake from the pan onto a plate, brush the sides and top with more rum, cover the bottom and sides with wax paper, and place into a clean cake pan. The top of my

 When I saw that this cake was one of October's choices, I knew I would have to make it. This cake appears on the cover of Zoe Bakes Cakes , and my children have been asking me to make it since the book first appeared in our house almost a year ago. Layers of chocolate cake with a cooked chocolate frosting, topped with homemade, toasted marshmallows, this cake is pretty tasty. I cook book provides instructions in the back for making marshmallows. It was easier than I imagined, and I plan to make them again. There were plenty leftover that we floated in cups of hot chocolate later in the week. The recipe says to toast them using your kitchen torch or over a fire, but I don't own a kitchen torch and cooking over a fire seemed a little risky for me, so I just piled them up on top of the cake untoasted. Besides, we don't toast them before we put them in our cups of hot chocolate. The cake itself had a nice chocolate taste - not too sweet or too bitter. It was also moist. The fr

Another delicious chocolate cake from Zoe Bakes Cakes . Not a surprise since this one also starts with the Devil's Food Cake recipe in the book and then has you layer hazelnut-flavored Swiss meringue buttercream and Nutella between the cake rounds. Hard to go wrong with this combination. Swiss meringue buttercream starts with eggs whites and sugar that get heated up enough to make them safe to consume (140 degrees F). Then you return to your mixer and whip until they cool down, and you slowly add in butter until a creamy frosting is produced. For this recipe, you then added pulverized hazelnut praline. I used only about the amount produced, and that was definitely a good choice - it added a nice flavor without completely overwhelming the frosting. This devil's food cake makes a great foundation for anything. It's moist and tasty enough to stand completely on it's own, but the hazelnut buttercream and Nutella sends it over the top. Everyone loved it. Each month T

Nothing is as abundant in our area during August as zucchini. Recipes using zucchini abound.  I had tried a chocolate zucchini recipe once before, but we were not fans. But when this recipe coincided with a birthday celebration, I decided to give it another go. The recipe suggests coating with cocoa powder, but I decided to add a chocolate glaze to make it a little bit more festive. This cake was a winner. It did not have the odd aftertaste the previous recipe I tried had. Everyone at the birthday party loved it, and all were surprised to find out that it contained zucchini. The cake was wonderfully moist and very chocolatey. I appreciated that it was not too sweet.   Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is Zoë Bakes Cakes  by Zoē François. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but

I must admit, the name of this cake, Hot Milk Cake, did not really excite me when I first saw.  But upon reading the introduction to the recipe I discovered that it was frequently used as the basis for a Boston Cream Pie and decided I should give it a try. Boston Cream Pie is vanilla cake layered with pastry cream and topped with ganache.  The donut form is a family favorite. The cake is relatively easy to make - whisk together the dry ingredients, whip the eggs and sugar together, heat the milk with some vegetable oil and a little more sugar, and then combine the parts.  Make sure you don't grease the sides of your cake pan so that the batter can cling to them and rise higher. At this point, the basic Hot Milk Cake is complete.  The author recommends serving with lemon curd or fruit, but I chose to make some pastry cream and create something a bit more exciting. Once layered, I wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated for several hours. Then I made some ganache, poured it over the

Several years ago the factory that made Hostess Twinkies was shutting down, and the world was preparing for life without the hand-held cakes with the frosting inside.  One of the morning shows has someone on who showed us how to make our own including using aluminum foil to make the iconic shape. Thanks to some fancy high finance (and possibly the public outcry), Twinkies are still with us, both the original yellow cake version as well as specialty versions that come out at different times of the year.  But just in case, Zoe Francois provides instructions for how to make our own.  Her version lacks whatever it is that makes them last through the apocalypse (remember the Chevy ad with raining frogs and the box of Twinkies), but that means that I had all the ingredients necessary in my kitchen. The recipe instructs the baker to acquire a nonstick hot dog bun pan to get the canoe shape.  There are several different types on the market; I opted for the Chefmade version.  The batter was eas

This month I chose the Cinco Leches cake as my Cake Slice Bakers cake bake.  It starts with a cinnamony flavored sponge that is soaked in a combination of sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream flavored with a bit of vanilla and rum.  Once the cake cools, you top it with heavy and sour cream mixed and whipped together.  Add a sprinkle of cinnamon, and you have a lovely dessert that's large enough to feed a large group.   This cake was delicious.  The milk soak makes it so moist, and I love the cinnamon flavor.  The sour cream adds just a little tang to the whipped topping to balance everything out. Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is Zoë Bakes Cakes  by Zoē François. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enj

Warning: the pictures that follow may be distressing to cake bakers. Do not worry; no cake taste was harmed during the deconstruction, and all cake was consumed with great gusto. Let's just get it out of the way: As I was finishing the top layer, the cake started to split.  Eventually, the entire cake split.  I have never had this happen, so it was a bit of early morning excitement.  I wish I could blame it on the recipe, but this was entirely my fault for not following the directions exactly. The recipe says to level off the cake layers before you start assembling.  I decided to ignore that step as I've not had the best result when trying to level off cake before and have never had it matter.  Well, it mattered today! Shortly after this picture was taken, part of the cake fell onto the table causing me to start shoveling it into a bowl.  Final result: So even though the assembly of the cake ended in disaster, I have to say that this was some of the best cake I've ever eate

This month I spent a snowy morning baking the Chocolate Devil's Food Cake.  If you are in need of a good chocolate cake recipe, this is it. The recipe calls for adding strong coffee and a bit of rum or brandy to enhance the chocolate flavor of the cake.  For those concerned that you might end up tasting the add-ins, I can assure in my family noticed even a hint of coffee or brandy taste.  What we all did notice was the intense chocolate flavor encased in a moist cake. The frosting recipe had me shaking my head a few times.  It starts with melted butter, something I've never seen before.  At one point, it was grainy and not very appetizing, but I just followed the instructions and added a bit of heavy cream, and the frosting smoothed right out.  Even then, I could not see how the concoction in my mixing bowl would turn into frosting, but when I started applying it to my cake, magic occurred.  It thickened up into an amazing fudgy frosting that perfectly complemented the cake. I