Strawberry Cream Cake

I typically only post recipes that I like but I'm going to make an exception this time because there was part of this recipe that I really liked and a part that I didn't like, at all. I've been craving a fruity dessert, maybe a fruit tart or something. Then I thought about the Asian cakes that my Mom used to buy for me when I was little. One of my favorite was a strawberry cream cake. Whipped cream filling and icing with lots of fresh strawberries. I've also had pineapple and other fruit ones but there's just something about strawberries and cream

I came across a recipe on Cook's Illustrated online called (wait for it) Strawberry Cream Cake! Huh, whatta y'know? After reading through it, I knew I had to try it. This was the result.


I think the cake is very pretty and simplistic. But what you can't tell from the picture was that the cake sucked. I mean, I didn't like it at all, hated it so much that I ended up discarding the cake and just eating the strawberry and cream.

I was very disappointed with the cake's texture, heavy, dense, and bland. Now I know adding whipped egg white to a cake batter produces a lighter, almost spongy like texture. It was spongy, but firm and not quite the light fluffy cake I was expecting. Maybe I overmixed the batter or didn't do something quite right in the folding. But beyond the texture, which I didn't think complemented the strawberry and cream at all, the cake was just blah on flavor.

The cream, on the other hand, was a winner! I don't recall having whipped cream with cream cheese combine but it was delicious. The cream cheese was subtle that creates a distinctive taste, heavier than stiffed whipped cream. It complimented the strawberries (which were quite good for this time of the year). I'm not sure how many people have tried it this way but I highly recommend it if you like strawberries and whipped cream.

Whipped Cream-Cream Cheese:
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon table salt
2 cups heavy cream

Instructions:

In a standing mixer bowl with the whisk attachment, combine cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Whisk everything at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula as needed. How long will depend on your mixer. It took mine about 3 minutes with a couple of scrapings. Reduce the speed to low and add heavy cream in a slow and steady stream. After adding all the cream and when the mixture is almost fully combined, increase the speed to medium-high and beat until mixture holds stiff peaks, scraping bowl as needed. This took about 4 minutes for my mixer. You should have about 4 1/2 cups of the final cream mixture.

The cream mixer is pretty thick and holds well to spreading. I'm actually thinking about trying the cream as a frosting on cupcakes and maybe adding some sliced fruit on top. It might be good with the cake recipe from the vanilla-vanilla cupcakes since that cake is pretty light and fluffy. Or if I'm being really lazy, have it with some Sara Lee frozen pound cake (love that pound cake!). Mmm, think I'll go scoop some leftover strawberries and cream for an afternoon snack now!

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Red Velvet Cake

I have a couple of friends who love red velvet cake. They get all giddy just at the mention of it. After all the drooling stopped, they asked (insisted was more like it) if I would make one with cream cheese frosting. I've never made it before so once again, I was on the hunt for a good recipe. I settled on Emeril Lagasse's "Sylvia" recipe because I wanted a butter recipe and not a traditional shortening recipe. I just prefer butter cakes.

I also took this opportunity to try a homemade marshmallow fondant (MMF) recipe. Why not? Could be great, could be disastrous. I was up to the challenge because I too like to live dangerously! My plan, 2 smaller cakes, one with cream cheese frosting and the other one with buttercream and fondant.

The MMF cake turned out pretty good for my first fondant cake ever. I used only a touch of a red gel color, trying to achieve a pink marble look on the band and the dots. The taste of the MMF is quite sweet but it was good, certainly better than some premade fondants out there (that Wilton stuff tastes awful!). With the MMF being so sweet, I probably could have even gone thinner on the rolling. Next time.

Here's anther picture of the buttercream and fondant version.

Here is the cream cheese version and you can see how red it is inside. I think if I used 2 oz, the red would have been deeper.

Between the two, I liked the buttercream best. The Mister liked the cream cheese. I think I would have liked it better with my own cream cheese frosting recipe, but next time. Friends split down the middle as to which they liked best.

Here's the recipe for the cream cheese version.

Cake Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons cocoa powder (Dutch processed recommended)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 - 2 ounces red food coloring
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting Ingredients:
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened (I prefer LAND O LAKES)
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. I added parchment paper to the bottom of the pan and greased with butter. To avoid white powdery look on the finished cake, I used cocoa powder to dust the pans instead. Worked great.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on medium-high speed cream together sugar and butter, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Reduce speed and alternatively beat in the flour mixture and buttermilk (1/3 flour, 1/2 buttermilk, 1/3 flour, 1/2 butter milk, 1/3 flour). Scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Add food coloring and vinegar, mix well. Beat in vanilla.

Divide the batter evenly in the pans. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Check it early because you don't want the cakes to over bake. That would lead to dry cakes and not very tasty.

Cool the cakes in the pans on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Turn out the cakes onto the rack to complete cooling. While the cakes are cooling, prepare the frosting.

For the Frosting:

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese and butter. Beat in confectioners' sugar until fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Use as the cake filling and frosting if desired.

Once the cakes have completely cooled (about 1 hour or so), fill and frost.

I crumb-coated both cakes and let sit in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. I should have let them sit a little longer. By the time I got to the sides, I was struggling a bit with crumbs. But nothing a thick layer of frosting won't cover up!

Have a terrific week. And if you haven't started planning your Thanksgiving dinner yet, maybe I can put the bug in your ear about brining your turkey. Me? I've talked the Mister out of a turducken and we're going to deep fry the turkey this year. Yikes!

Now go and eat well.

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Vanilla-Vanilla Cupcakes

I've really become quite fond of making cupcakes. Well, and eating them too. They are quick to make and easy to eat. A cupcake a day keeps all your blues away (but not your waistline). My favorite is a yellow cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting, which is also my basic (foundation) yellow cupcake and frosting recipe. The recipes can be modified to make chocolate or several other types of flavors.

I dubed this my Vanilla-Vanilla Cupcakes (or Vanilla Squared Cupcakes) and used vanilla sugar in the batter. Vanilla sugar is easy to make if you have a vanilla bean. Combine the vanilla bean and sugar in a jar with a lid. Close lid and let sit for several days. Sugar will smell and taste (a bit) like vanilla. I try to keep some on hand for baking.

I kind of switch back and forth in the type of flour that I use, depending on the type of cake I want. If you prefer a slightly crumblier type of cake, use only all-purpose flour. If you like more of a cakier, pound cake like texture, substitute 1/2 cup of the flour with cake flour. The recipe below is for the latter. I really enjoy pound cake and find that this vanilla frosting goes very well with the cake. The vanilla frosting is sweet but not overly sweet like many of the ones out there. I have yet to try the recipe with all cake flour.

Makes 12 cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar (vanilla sugar if you have it)
1 stick (1/2 cup) of unsalted butter, softened (I like to use LAND O LAKES)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk (I use whole milk)

Vanilla Frosting:
1 stick (1/2 cup) of unsalted butter, softened (I like to use LAND O LAKES)
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1 pinch of table salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Note that I actually use 325 degrees because my muffin pan is the non-stick, darker kind. By turning down the oven temp and "maybe" extending the cooking time (just a wee bit) will prevent the cupcakes from getting a little too dark on the bottom and sides. Keep them light and tender!

In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Beat sugar and butter on medium speed until creamy, scraping bowl occasionally to ensure thorough mixing. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each one. Add vanilla. Reduce speed to slow and alternately add flour mixture and then the milk, mixing after each addition. I add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix, followed by half of the milk and mix, then anther 1/3 flour mixture and mix, then the remaining milk and mix, and finally the remaining flour mixture and mix just until everything is incorporated. (Did you get all that?) Don't over beat the batter or the cupcakes can get tough. Scraping down the sides of bowl down as needed will help. Remember, keep them light and tender!

Divide batter into prepared muffin cups, filling about 3/4th full. Bake until the cupcakes are lightly golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. This will be about 18-20 minutes. If baking at the lower temperature, I still recommend checking the cupcakes around 18 minutes but it usually takes 20 minutes in my oven in my pan.

Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Then transfer the cupcakes to the rack and cool completely. You can use a butter knife to help get the cupcakes out of the pan. Cooling can take anywhere from 30-60 minutes.

Prepare the frosting while the cupcakes are cooling. Put the butter in a bowl and beat on medium-high speed until the butter is creamy and pale in color. This may take up to 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium and add the sugar, 1/2 cup at a time. Mix well after each addition, scraping the bowl as needed. Add vanilla and salt. Increase mixer speed to medium-high and beat until smooth, for about 1 minute.

Frost the cupcakes. I like to use an open flower tip to create various decorations just because I suck at frosting with a small offset spatula. I also don't mind too much on cleaning. I'm still practicing with other type of tips, too, just for the fun of it.

Frosted cupcakes can be kept in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Now go and eat well.

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Carrot Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

I recently came across a carrot cupcake recipe on the William Sonoma site that didn't have the traditional ingredients in a typical carrot cake (no raisins, cinnamon, other spices, or nuts). Since I'm not a big fan of nuts in my baked goods (much to the Mister's chagrin), I thought I'd give the cupcakes a whirl. The recipe is very simple and comes together quickly. Although I didn't have any mascarpone on hand, I decided to make a vanilla cream cheese frosting since I have really good vanilla extract and a huge stash of wonderful Tahitian vanilla beans. What's a carrot cake without cream cheese frosting, right?

Like I said, this recipe comes together quickly. It took longer to wait for the cupcakes to cool than to make them. I followed the recipe with one minor adjustment. I only added 1 tablespoon of grated orange zest. Two tablespoons seemed quite a lot and I'm glad I adjusted it. The cupcakes were very moist and tender.

While the cupcakes are cooling, you can prepare the cream cheese frosting. This will make a bit more than what is needed for the cupcakes.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped


Directions:
Place butter and cream cheese in the bowl and beat with electric mixer until creamy. On low speed, slowly beat while adding vanilla extract, seeds from vanilla bean, and confectioners' sugar. Continue beating until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Extra frosting can be kept in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. (BTW, this frosting makes a nice cake filling, too.)

Spoon a large dollop on top of cooled cupcake and spread with a small offset spatula. And voila, yummy carrot cupcakes. I like the look of the vanilla bean seeds in the frosting.

If the frosting is getting too soft, put the cupcakes in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to firm a bit. I put a few in the refrigerator overnight and had them the next morning with coffee. The cupcakes lost some of its tenderness. I recommend storing them in an airtight container but just note that the cream cheese filling will be on the softer side. Overall, these are nice (and quick) little treats for carrot cake lovers. But if you're more of a traditionalist, I'm sure your favorite carrot cake recipe will do just as well in cupcake size.

Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend. Now go and eat well.

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Coconut Cake Revisited

About 3 weeks ago, I made the "Ultimate" coconut cake using Robert Carter's recipe. I froze about 1/4 of the cake (cut into 2 very large slices) using a vacuum bag. I decided to open it this week to see how the cake faired. Here's a picture of the cake after thawing in the refrigerator overnight. The cake was a little compressed but looked pretty good overall.

The edges were a bit unsightly from the bag compression but slicing off just a hair on both sides made a more presentable cake. Here's what a slice looked like, not bad.

So how did it taste? After letting the slice warm up a bit but still slightly cool, it was still pretty good. The cake didn't taste as fresh before the freezing but definitely not stale. The cream cheese frosting and the custard filling still tasted exactly the day I made it. Still very very sweet and after only 4 bites, I went into sugar overload. Overall, the cake faired pretty well! I still have the other 1/8 slice in the freezer and will try that one in about 3 weeks, if I remember.

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Ultimate Coconut Cake

To celebrate our wedding anniversary last week, I decided to make the Ultimate Coconut Cake for the Mister. He loves coconut, especially baked goods with coconut. Me? Well, I'm not a coconut fan unless it's deep fried around shrimp, hehe. But since the Mister is kind of special, I thought I'd bake him what has been touted as the Ultimate Coconut Cake. This cake has been featured in 2 Food Network Challenges and show cased on Martha Stewart's show. THE cake is the famous coconut cake by Chef Robert Carter of the Peninsula Grill.

If you haven't seen the throwdown from Bobby Flay or Chef Carter's guest appearance on Martha, let me try to describe this cake for you. It is 10 inches in diameter. It is 6 layers of cake and 5 layers of custardy-coconuty filling tall. It weighs approximately 12 pounds. Each slice served at the Peninsula Grill is 1 pound. Hefty! Just some idea of exactly what goes into this cake: 9 cups of sweetened coconut, 2.5 lbs of European butter, 3 3/4 cups of sugar, 5 cups of confectioner sugar, 6.5 cups of heavy cream, and 8 oz of cream cheese. No wonder it's so darn heavy!

I contemplated about making Bobby Flay's recipe, which won against Chef Carter's. But wanted to try my hand at the Ultimate cake first. With that kind of moniker, I went through my usual couple of weeks of trepidation, going through the process in my head, watching both the throwdown and Martha's show (you can watch that part of the episode on her website here), taking notes, planning and replanning again. I'm a decent cook but I'm a lousy baker. I do bake a handful of really good desserts, but cake, that's a whole other story. And from scratch. Hmmm...

At some point before the planned weekend, I seriously contemplated buying a cake from Peninsula Grill. Heck, what's a $100, right? (That's about $8.33/lb, heck, I've had lobster that cost more!) Well...it's not so much the $100, and after making it, I can honestly say that $100 is worth every penny. It was the $124 shipping tag that was the show stopper. YIKES!! Now we're talking $18.67/lb. And the thought of paying more for shipping than the actual item's cost just doesn't seem right. So back to making the cake myself. Maybe another time for a very very special occasion (like our 25th anniversary).

I set aside 2 days to make the cake. Day 1, I made the coconut filling. This needs to chill overnight. I also made the simple sugar and set that aside in the fridge, too. The next day, I started on the cake. A standing mixer really comes in handy here. I measured out all my ingredients and shifted all the dry ingredients, per instructions, before I started mixing anything. I cracked all my eggs into a bowl with spout, makes adding eggs 1 at a time much easier. After I got my cake batter poured and into the oven (stupid oven, more on that later), I began on the coconut cake frosting. Easy to make, just follow the instructions, just make sure the butter is room temperature to help with the mixing. Once the frosting was done, I set that in the fridge for later.

The problem with my oven is that it's 20 years old and on the smaller side. A typical oven. But it wasn't made to handle 2 - 10" cake pans. The only way it worked was 1 rack on the top and 1 on the bottom. There are only 3 positions the racks can be and the optimal spot, of course, is the middle. Having this setup meant the top shelf is too close to the top heating element and the bottom is too close to the bottom. So rotating the 2 pans half way through might help even out the baking. Well, sort of but not really. The sides were rising way too fast and the middle was still runny at the half way point. By the last 5 minutes, the pan on top started to brown too fast, and well, let's just say these weren't the most prettiest cakes. But I marched on like a trouper.

Once the cakes were out of the oven, I popped in the sweetened coconut for toasting.

After the cakes cooled, I flipped them out onto 10" round cake boards. Because of the uneven baking, the middle of the cakes were lower than the sides. That meant slicing down the cake until the top is even. Which meant not enough cake to make 6 layers. So I decided on 4 layers. Also, I should have chilled the cakes before slicing through because the cakes started to crack in some places. I also don't think the cakes were completely cooled through the middle.

Once the layers were sliced, I started the assembly. I followed the instructions and it went along pretty well. The only little hiccup was dealing with the layers that were cracking, needed some extra care when layering. Once everything was assembled and frosted, I pressed on the toasted coconut. I chilled the caked for 2 hours before serving (we couldn't wait for the whole 5 hours).

Results: My cake actually looked more like Bobby Flay's cake than Chef Carter's (sorry no picture but you can check here to see a frozen version of it). It was a little lopsided since my cake layers weren't completely even. I used an upside down steel bowl with a cookie sheet on top as a make-shift lazy Susan. It worked well enough.
Although the instructions says to serve it at room temperature, I find it to be waaaaay too sweet at room temperature. I recommend serving it cold, tastes much better. Since there is so much filling, you really need to cut the cake when it's cold, anyway. It also tasted better after chilling for more than 5 hours (I think all the layers needed to set up).

The Mister loved the cake and wouldn't have me change a thing. Me? It's pretty darn good, except I'd like a little less coconut in the filling. For it to be a cake that I would love would be no coconut in the filling and a little less sweet (must be the Chinese in me). But it sure doesn't stop me from eating it. Surprisingly, I could not eat a 1 pound slice of cake. Neither could the Mister. I thought I could but I couldn't. As a matter of fact, 3 bites of it is enough to fill me. That's how dense this cake is. Whew! I had to freeze half the cake because there was just so much. Overall, I would make this cake again with adjusts to the sugar in the batter, filling, and possibly the frosting. So to summarize:

Day 1
Make the coconut filling and the simple sugar, refrigerate overnight. Make sure to finely chop the shredded coconut before adding it to the filling mixture.

Day 2
Make the 2 cake layers. While the cakes are baking, make the cream cheese frosting and set aside. Check the cakes at about 40 minutes to check for doneness. Make sure the toothpick comes out clean before removing from oven. Let the cakes cool completely on cooling racks. I recommend chilling the cakes another 30 minutes or so for easier slicing into layers.

Follow instructions of the Coconut Cake Assembly. After assembly, let cake chill for at least 5 hours. This will help the cake firm up. Make sure you have room in the refrigerator cuz it's huge!
Now go and eat well. And have a good week.

Postscript: I froze part of the cake (it's so dang big!). You can check it out here (and see pictures!).

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Angel Food Cake

This weekend, I decided to make Alton Brown's Angel Food Cake. I think I've only had Angel Food Cake maybe a couple of times in my like and they were the store bought kind, not impressive enough for me to remember more than I had a slice. Angel Food Cake (or Angel Cake) is a true foam cake. Just sugar, (lots) egg white, extract, and maybe a little water. That's it. As far as being healthy? For a cake, it fairs much better in the calories and definitely in the fat department than most cakes. No fat and around 120-160 calories per serving. I would even call it a "healthier" kind of cake. (Wonder how it holds up with Splenda?)

I highly recommend watching Alton's Good Eats episode on Angel Food Cake first for those who've never whipped egg whites. He talks about the difference between soft and medium peaks. A visual here is much more helpful and it's something you can't get from reading the recipe. He also provides several other good tips that will come in handy (aside from all the scientific mumbo-jumbo, which I find interesting--yeah, yeah, I know, I'm such a geek). If you don't get the Food Network, you can watch the episode on YouTube.

In the episode, Alton had to loosen the cake away from the pan to remove it. Uh, yeah, I didn't have that problem. As a matter of fact, I had a hard time keeping the darn cake in the pan while I inverted it. Darn thing decided to just flop on one side. Overall appearance was not too bad but lopsided enough where I decided not to take a picture of it. Besides, it looked similar to the final product in the episode, so there.

Overall taste? Not what I remembered Angel Food Cake to be. It was incredibly "fluffy" and tender but dense. It almost melts in your mouth. I used 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract but would have liked a little more next time, maybe even scrapings from a vanilla bean. But in all, a very nice delicate cake that I can have without feeling too guilty. And it's a good way to get protein with minimal fat!

Now if I can only figure out what to do with those 12 egg yolks that doesn't include lots of calories. Think the dogs will be getting these as a snack tonight.

Have a wonderful week. Now go and eat well.

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Best Cheesecake Recipe

Well, at least to me it is. I have been making this recipe for over a decade and have had many people ask for the recipe. I've made the tradition size in a springform pan and I've made cupcakes and mini cupcakes size, too. I first thought of the cupcake size back in 1993 in hopes to find an easy way to serve it as a snack. It worked, very well as a matter of fact.

This year, I had several people ask me about the recipe. The origin of the recipe is from a book I got long, long time ago, compliments from West Coast Federal Savings and Loans. I looked up the ISBN number since the book doesn't have a published date. Google gave the following: Publisher is Nitty Gritty Productions, 1978, "A 2-in-1 Cookbook" (with pies on one side and cakes on the other). The only things I've made out of this cookbook are the cheesecake and apple pie recipes. Both are delicious. So here it is with some modifications from me, "Liz's Cheese Cake" (on the cake side of the book, of course). Note, the recipe calls for a sour cream top but we don't like it that way and have always left it off.

Ingredients:
1/4 lb (9 double) graham crackers (I use graham cracker crumbs from a box)
2 Tbs sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
6 Tbs melted butter
3 pkgs (8 oz ea.) cream cheese
1 C sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (use a very good one)

Instructions:
Preheat oven at 375 degrees F.

Roll graham crackers into fine crumbs. [If you're using crumbs from a box, prepare that according to the instructions on the box.] Press onto bottom of a 10-inch springform pan. Set aside.

Beat cheese until creamy. Add sugar gradually and beat well. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. I always scrape the bowl after each egg to ensure that there's no lumps of cheese stuck to the side of the bowl. This will prevent cheese lumps. Add vanilla. Pour on top of unbaked crust. (See note below about using a water bath at this point.) Bake at 375 degrees 20-25 minutes or until slightly brown around the edges. I like the cake to have a slight jiggle and it will firm up once chilled. Cool at room temperature on a rack (helps prevent the crumb crust from getting soggy). Chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes before serving. You can add your favorite topping prior to putting it in the fridge to chill.

The baking method above may produce cracks in the top of the cheesecake but doesn't affect the taste at all. If you want a perfect presentation, then I recommend using the water bath method (I typically do this, even with the mini ones).

Water Bath:
Set the form pan on a large piece of aluminum foil and fold up the sides. This will prevent water from seeping into the seams of the springform pan. Carefully set the pan in a larger roasting pan. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan until the water is about halfway up the sides of the cheesecake pan. Bake as instructed.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

Have a wonderful Aloha Friday and weekend. Stay warm and eat well.

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