A Little Bit of All Right

This month for the Cake Slice Bakers I chose to bake the Orange Marmalade Loaf  with Coconut Topping.  In addition to orange marmalade, the cake relies on fresh orange juice and orange zest to give that citrusy taste, making it the perfect cake for this time of year. The cake is topped with a crumble made with sugar, flour, butter, and unsweetened coconut that gets sprinkled on right before baking.  There was quite a bit of the topping, so I was concerned that it would fall off, but it did not.  It baked right into the cake to provide a little crunch. The cake was delicious when served warm that evening, and it was even better when I ate a piece for breakfast the next morning.  It was easy to put together and used readily accessible ingredients that I generally always have in my kitchen.  Definitely a keeper! Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is Little Everyday C...

 New year, new cake book!  This year the Cake Slice Bakers are baking from Everyday Little Cakes  by Candace Floyd.  Apparently there are folks who struggle with leftover cake - not a problem we have with 2 teenaged boys in our house - so she's designed recipes for smaller cakes.  The one I chose for January is baked in 2 6-inch pans instead of the 8-inch pans most recipes call for.  And if you think two inches shouldn't make a big difference in size, let me tell you it does!  A normal 8-inch layer cake is enough for our family for 2 meals, sometimes with a bit left over.  The 6-inch layer cake was enough for one meal with a bit leftover.  As my younger son pointed out, that just means I need to bake more cakes! To give some reference for size comparisons, in the picture below the cake is sitting on a standard Corelle plate. When I saw the January choices, it was a no-brainer for me.  Chocolate malt is one of my very favorite flavors, an...

December in Free Bake month for the Cake Slice Bakers; that means we each get to pick any recipe in that year's cookbook to make and review.  My family had been requesting something chocolate, and when I saw that I could make these tortes in a mini muffin pan, I was all in. This is definitely a more adult chocolate cake than most that I make as evidenced by my mini-chocoholic taking one bit and pushing the rest away.  It uses at least 70% dark chocolate and just a little bit of added sugar.  It's also gluten-free which made it perfect for delivering as part of holiday "cookie" boxes.  I could definitely taste the rosemary, but it was not overpowering, and most people couldn't identify the taste. The recipe made 24 little muffin sized tortes, and each mini muffin was exactly the right size for this rich, deep cake.  I imagine if you wanted to something a little sweeter, you could use a less intense chocolate and still have the recipe work. Each month ...

This month I felt the need for something rich and chocolatey.  This Hot Chocolate and Halva Pudding was just what the season ordered. It had a rich, dark chocolate cake with a gooey chocolate pudding-like layer hiding underneath.  Mixed into the cake layer were bits of Halva and chocolate chips. I served it about 10 minutes after taking it out of the oven.  The recipe suggests serving with whipped cream or ice cream, but we just ate it plan.  I did have a small bit leftover that I reheated in the microwave for breakfast the next morning, and it was still delicious. Another recommendation in the cookbook is to swirl in tahini for an extra sesame bite.  I did not do that, but as I was tasting, I was struck by how good this might be with peanut butter chips and a swirl of peanut butter or Nutella in the cake.  I imagine you could change up the recipe to suite any chocolate combination. Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes f...

This month, I baked a Caramelized Plantain Upside Down Cake.  It's a soft spice cake batter that gets poured over plantains and caramel.  The cake itself was really good!  It was super moist with just the right amount of spice.  I think the plantains would have been better if they had been cooked a little before they were placed in the cake pan.  I've never cooked or baked with plantains, so it's certainly possible they weren't ripe enough.  I also noticed that the plantains that I bought were larger than ones I've seen at some other stores, so there may be a variety of types. I do think this is a cake I would try again, probably after doing a little research on cooking with plantains.  My whole family have enjoyed plantains when we've eaten them in other settings, so I imagine if I figured out the secret and combined with this cake batter, I'd have a definite winner. Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the cu...

This month, I baked a Plum and Black Peppercorn Cake for my Cake Slice Bakers bake.  The cake itself was wonderfully moist.  The plums sunk into the cake, but that may have been because I caught the plums into eighths instead of fourths.  While it might have affected the look a bit, it did not negatively affect the taste. I do think the recipe called for a bit too much black pepper.  It calls for 3 t in the cake batter and then 1 t sprinkled on top.  I put 2 t in the batter and 1 t on top, and we all still found a bit overpowering.  I would definitely use this recipe as a foundation for other fruit-topped cakes.   Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is The New Way To Cake  by Benjamina Ebuehi. 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 ...

We love a good pavlova in our house, and one that's topped with rosemary-flavored peaches sounded ideal for a hot summer day.     My pavlova did not come out as delicate and easy to cut as Benjamina Ebuehi's in her cookbook A New Way to Cake .  Mine was as tall as a traditional layer cake and full of whipped cream and peaches.  I really need to learn to repress the urge to use all of the components when I make a cake.  It would have come together better with half the amount of whipped cream. Construction issues aside, how did it taste?  My family loved it, but I found the meringue layers to be too sweet.  I think it would have been a better balance of flavors with half the amount of sugar in the meringue, and then maybe a little bit of that sugar added into the whipped cream..  The rosemary definitely added to the entire composition and would be something I would try again. Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selectio...