Taste and Create - Babka Cake

For Taste & Create this month, I was paired with Vanillastrawberryspringfields. This is quite the picture blog. She has a ton of awesome photos and is quite talented!

I chose the Babka Cake because I thought it looked interesting. I am Polish and my great aunt makes Babka frequently but I know that she uses yeast in it. Or I am fairly certain that she does? I didn't know that there was even such a thing as Babka Cake.

The original recipe called for a custard filling in the middle. There was not a custard recipe posted and I didn't want to look any further for a custard recipe. So I decided to just go ahead and make it without. While it was baking I figured that I could put some strawberries on it with Cool Whip and it could be very tasty. This is the perfect cake for strawberry shortcake.... That is for sure. It is a great cake and I am very glad that I chose it.

All in 1 Holiday Bundt Cake - TWD

I was not excited to make this bundt cake. For some reason it didn't seem appealing to me in the slightest. Even though I kept reading good reviews about it. The cranberries and nuts really turned me off. But I knew that Ben would enjoy it. He loves cranberries, nuts, apples and pumpkin.

So I forced myself to make it...I have a really cool stoneware bundt cake pan that I enjoy using too and thought that this would be a good excuse.

SURPRISE!!! It is really good. I chopped up the apples, cranberries and nuts super fine. It baked last night before I went to sleep. I left it cooling in the bundt pan overnight and covered it with some foil. After lunch today I removed it from the pan and thought that it was really pretty, but was still not convinced that I would really like it. Before serving it I dusted it with some powdered sugar.


YUM! Here is another dessert that I am going to have to limit myself to one a day. I think that I will bring it to a mom's meeting that I have on Thursday. It would probably make a really good mid-morning snack. Ben really enjoyed it too!

Thanks to Britin for choosing it. Be sure to check out her blog to find the recipe.

Vanilla Ice Cream and Banana Bundt Cake

I have been awful about getting any blogging done lately. No excuses!

I made the vanilla ice cream last week. It was yummy and everyone enjoyed it. I followed Megan's recommendation and only used 3 eggs. The recipe was chosen by CafeLynnylu and can be found HERE.

Today I baked the banana bundt cake. Also a winner. It was moist and delicious. The recipe was chosen by The Food Librarian. I did use light sour cream though. I tried to make it less fattening. Yeah right:)!

Perfect Party Cake - TWD

This is quite the party cake. I will make this one again in a heartbeat. Carol of mix, mix, stir, stir chose this party cake. It is a white, lemony cake layered with raspberry filling. The frosting is made with a buttercream and topped with shredded coconut.

You can find the recipe HERE or on pages 250-252 in Dorie's cookbook. It really is not that difficult of a recipe to bake and put together.

I baked the cake in celebration of my friend's birthday. We went camping together and I brought it to the campsite. It seemed to be enjoyed by all. When I make it again I plan on using some other frosting though. The amount of butter used is literally shocking! I will also skip the coconut next time. I just am not a big fan. Other than these two minor issues, it is a great cake.

Tiramisu Cake - TWD

I was super excited about the chosen recipe for today. Megan from My Baking Adventures chose the recipe. I love Megan's blog and faithfully check hers everyday. I love the recipes that she posts and am glad that we "met" each other. Check out how her cake turned out HERE and she also has the actual recipe posted.

This cake is a good one. It was fun to put together and even though I am not a coffee drinker in the slightest, it is delicious. My little guy loved the frosting and of course the chocolate chips on top. I was already a tiramisu fan though. I really liked the yellow cake, the filling and the frosting. The chocolate in the middle is just an added bonus.

Be sure to check out what everyone else did for this recipe. There are some really creative ones from sushi to cupcakes and more cupcakes.

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway for Mother's Day!!

Blueberry Crumb Cake - TWD

Even though I don't like coffee, this cake was delicious. I baked it for brunch when my Dad and his girlfriend were down visiting. It was easy enough to prepare but seemed to involve a lot of steps. It was worth it though.

The recipe was chosen by Sihan. You can find the recipe HERE or on page 192-193 in Dorie's cookbook.

My only variation to the recipe was to substitute chopped pecans for walnuts. The Hubster hates walnuts and I am not too keen on them myself. The topping for this coffee cake was delicious. I could have eaten that crunchy topping without the cake it was that good. I would love to try this cake with raspberries next time.

NEXT TUESDAY: Coconut Butter Thins

Chocolate Armagnac Cake - TWD

This RICH, dense chocolate cake was brought to our friends' home for dinner a week ago. I know that I am behind in posting but it was actually made on the date that it was due. It was good and you really couldn't taste the prunes in the slightest. It was so rich though. And extremely chocolately! The recipe was chosen by Lyb of And then I do the dishes. The recipe can be found HERE.

So, after stepping back for a couple of days and getting a few other things accomplished.. I am back. I am going to stick with TWD and possibly CEiMB. I really like both of these groups and have fun baking/cooking with both. I just have to stick with my exercise routine to burn off the baked goods calories. I learn a lot from baking with this group and since it is one of my favorite hobbies, I really want to continue. I also want to thank Sara for coming forward and assuming responsibility for CEiMB. I am sure that she will do a fantastic job maintaining and running this awesome group.

Devils Food White Out Cake - TWD

This will be short and sweet. I made this today for my birthday! It is seriously so good. I think that I will be making this one again and again. It is probably the one of the best birthday cakes I have ever had. And all my guys liked it as well. It was fun to bake and put together and I don't really want to toot my own horn but I can't believe that I made something that looks this incredible.

You can find the recipe HERE or on page 247-249 in Dorie's cookbook. And yes....it is the cake from the front of the cookbook. DELICIOUS.

Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread -TWD

Edited to add: The gingerbread cake is gone this AM. Our food loving beagle somehow wrangled it off the counter. The glass baking pan shattered all over the floor. The cake had to be thrown in the garbage, which may be a good thing. The Hubster is very sick this AM as well. He doesn't know if it was from the gingerbread or the buffalo wings he ate last night for dinner. For all we know it could be the flu. Hopefully it was the gingerbread and not a second round of flu raging through our house again this month.

I was not very excited about this recipe. I really am not one for gingerbread and can take it or leave it. Most of the time leave it. But usually anything goes good with chocolate, right? I gave it the benefit of the doubt. The recipe was chosen by Sherry Trifle. You can find the recipe HERE, or on page 212 in the cookbook.

While making the recipe I was astounded by the amount of ginger that it called for. I used what the recipe called for though. The fresh, ground and crystallized ginger...I left nothing out. I did substitute semi-sweet chocolate for the dark. I used a 7" x 13" pan that didn't overflow while baking. However, it took much longer than the 40 minutes bake time. I think that mine baked for well over an hour.

For the frosting, again, I used semi-sweet chocolate. I really wish that I hadn't added the 1 tablespoon of coffee granules. I did not like the frosting at all. I am not a coffee drinker and this frosting was horrible. The cake was OK. I sure am not looking forward to eating it tomorrow though. The Hubster thinks that it is good. He liked both the cake and frosting. I guess that it won't go to waste! Good thing that I gave a hefty 3 pieces away to our babysitter too!

Berry Surprise Cake - TWD

The recipe started out disastrous! I started the cake around noon figuring that I would have plenty of time to get it baked, cooled and assembled for dinner this evening. I was concerned after reading the P&Q that the cake would not go my way. It sounded like a huge science experiment with the "diva eggs", heating them to 110 degrees, not over mixing, avoiding flour pockets in the batter, deflation, etc. I was extremely apprehensive.

I did not have a 8 inch springform pans. I decided to use one of my circular ceramic casserole dishes that was almost 8 inch. I greased the heck out of it and lined the bottom with parchment paper. I put the cake in the oven and was thrilled that there were no flour pockets and the batter appeared to be high. I baked it for exactly 33 minutes and then decided to take it out of the oven. The top was super jiggly but I didn't want to put a knife in it because the recipe stated that it would most likely deflate and the eggs in the cake were still fragile. I left in cooling in the pan cooling for 5 minutes before removing. Then it happened. The cake completely deflated in front of my very eyes and the batter came oozing out of the cake. It was so underdone and I should have left it in baking for at least another 10-15 minutes. It then found a home in the garbage.

I am not one for defeat. If at first you don't succeed...try try again. I made the entire cake AGAIN! This time I think that I whipped the eggs and sugar a little longer than I did the first time. While it was baking in the oven, the batter rose over the pan and fell onto the baking sheet. I let it bake for at least 45 minutes before taking it out. When I did, it looked deformed. I obviously had to do some trim work to make it look better and circular though. The Hubster cut the top off the cake and then hollowed out the middle for me (He told me that he wants credit for that). We did enjoy the cake by itself. It has a very good flavor and is nice and soft.

I used blackberries because they were on sale for $0.99 a pint. I also used blackberry syrup instead of chambord. To view the recipe for this experiment, please visit Mary Ann's blog and find her masterpiece HERE. I was initially very excited to do this recipe but just wasn't all that impressed.

The filling for this cake BLAND. The Hubster is convinced that I forgot an ingredient. I double checked numerous times and did not miss anything. I normally love cream cheese and this taste like nothing. It needs something else. Maybe I should have drenched the cake more with the syrup sauce before assembling. I only lightly brushed it with the blackberry syrup mixture before adding the berries and filling in the center.

After the top is placed back on the cake, it is frosted with a whip cream topping. There is just too much fluff to this cake. The Hubster said that it was a waste of the delicious blackberries that I prohibited him from eating in the refrigerator all weekend. He thinks that it would have probably been better to just dump all the berries in the center, forget the cream cheese filling and top it all with whip cream. I know....he doesn't get that it would defeat the purpose of the recipe and it would basically be shortcake then. Maybe it will be better tomorrow after it sits overnight and the flavors soak together.

COMING NEXT TUESDAY: Chocolate Gingerbread Cake

Kugelhopf - TWD

The past 2 chosen recipes for TWD have been things that I have never eaten or heard of, much less able to pronounce. But I guess that is the fun of this. You try new things, cook new things and learn. This week's recipe was chosen by Landa from The All-purpose Girl. If you would like the recipe, you can find it posted HERE on her blog or on pages 61-63 in the cookbook.

I obviously didn't have a kugelhof pan so I bought a silicone bundt pan for this assignment. This recipe was very involved. It took an entire afternoon to get my initial dough to rise, slap down, rise again, slap down, rise again....you get the point. I was shocked when it said to refrigerate it overnight. I was sure that it would kill the yeast. Little did I know! I made some polish doughnuts earlier this year that involved yeast. The results were disastrous the first couple of times. I didn't give up though and required a lot of help from my great aunt. Eventually I figured it out and am happy to say that I succeeded on the first time with this recipe as well.

I used raisins and made the recipe exactly as Dorie called for. I did consider using mini chocolate chips but decided against it at the last minute. I wanted to get rid of some of the raisins in my cupboard.
First I boiled some water to steep my raisins. However, the pictures did not turn out. Next, I used barely warm milk and dissolved the yeast in it. I then added flour and salt to the milk/yeast mixture.

The eggs (2 eggs and 1 yolk) were lightly mixed and added to the dry mixture above.

I added the sugar and 8 tablespoons of soft butter little by little to the batter. It was fun to use my dough hook for my mixer that I rarely get to use. I must have kneaded the batter for a good 10 minutes at least.

The raisins were added to the batter. I let it raise, then slapped it down several times. The process was a long one! It then slept in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, I set my oven to 200 degrees and popped the dough into my new pan. I let it sit on the stove top for 3+ hours. It rose almost to double in size. Into the oven it went where it cooked for 10 minutes. I tented it with some tin foil and let it cook another 15 minutes.

After it came out of the oven, I used a pastry brush and drenched 4 tablespoons of melted butter on the top. I used a ton of powdered sugar and sprinkled it on top. It looked very nice.

As for the taste....it wasn't bad, just not that great. The cake is very airy and light. It doesn't have much flavor to it though which was disappointing. I did like the raisins and probably would have really liked chocolate chips and vanilla in it. Maybe next time? Probably not! I am proud that I made it and had another victory with yeast, however, I didn't enjoy how much time it took to make.

Thanks Landa for picking the recipe this week. It is fun to try new recipes!

Perfection Pound Cake

I made this cake this weekend. It was originally chosen back in January when there was only a few TWD members. You can find the recipe here if you want or on page 222-223 in Dorie's cookbook. I actually made this pound cake twice. The first time I used cake flour and the second time I used all purpose flour. It was not what I was expecting at all. I am used to pound cakes being extremely moist. Both of the batches that I made weren't dry....just not as moist as I would like. I almost had myself convinced that I forgot to add the sugar my first attempt. I served the cake with whipped cream and fresh strawberries, blackberries and blueberries. It was very tasty and I would make this poundcake again. It does have a very good flavor.