Peach Pound Cake

Seems kinda funny to be posting this when most of the recipes I see popping up are for chili, apple or pumpkin inspired something etc. Well, fall in Arizona is (unfortunately) quite different as we are still well in the 90s. Sigh. A few weeks ago we got a load of Utah peaches and this was a great way to finish them off.

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups white sugar, plus a bit more for dusting pan
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2- 2.5 cups fresh peaches, pitted and chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Butter a 10 inch tube pan and coat with white sugar.  

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla and almond extract. Reserve 1/4 cup of flour for later, and sift together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Use the reserved flour to coat the chopped peaches, then fold the floured peaches into the batter. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes (mine baked at about 65) in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy warm or at room temperature, perhaps even with whipped cream and additional fresh peaches.

 slightly adapted from allrecipes.com

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Since part of our wedding cake was carrot cake we thought it would be a fun tradition to make some around our anniversary. We spent a lazy Sunday afternoon watching our wedding DVD with Siena and eating too many cupcakes. (They were made with the intention of freezing some...I think we all know that did not happen.)

Yes, this is the exact recipe I have posted for carrot cake...with one key difference. We decided cupcakes are the way to go when it comes to a frosted dessert. We left the cupcakes themselves at room temperature and pulled the frosting out of the fridge as needed to frost (smother?) each individual cupcake. The cake stayed so moist this way and the cooking time was drastically cut down-who wants to wait 50 minutes when a cute cupcake is ready in 18?




Ingredients

Cupcakes
3 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
3 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2-3 cups grated carrots (use larger side of grater)
8 oz. can crushed pineapples
1/2 cup coconut
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Frosting
1/3 cup butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2-3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan, or two 9-inch round pans.
In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, applesauce, sugars, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Gradually add dry mixture to wet mixture. Stir in carrots, pineapple, coconut, and fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.

2. Bake standard cupcakes for 18 minutes, extra large cupcakes 24-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

3. To make the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese together until completely blended. Add vanilla and blend. Gradually beat in sugar to desired consistency.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

I know it's pretty un-American, but I think pumpkin pie is kinda gross. In fact, I don't think I've eaten any the last 4 or 5 Thanksgivings. A few weeks ago my mother-in-law made this pumpkiny dip and paired it with gingersnaps... I knew I had to make a cheesecake that incorporated those same flavors. Turns out there are others who like this combination as well, but I took the standard recipe I use for cheesecake and just tweaked it a bit to be Thanksgiving worthy.

Ingredients
Crust
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup crushed gingersnaps (use a high-quality kind with lots of ginger!)

Filling
4 (8 oz) cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice {can google for recipes to create your own with correct ratios}
1 Tbsp. vanilla
3 Tbsp. flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a water bath by placing a large baking dish with 1" of water in the oven. To make cheesecake, grease bottom and sides of a 9" spring form pan. Wrap outside of pan with two layers of foil.

2. To prepare the crust,  in a medium bowl combine butter, sugar, and gingersnap crumbs. Press onto greased spring-form pan.

3. In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar just until smooth. Be careful not to over beat. Switch to a wooden spoon and blend in eggs (one at a time), mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, and flour til smooth. Pour over the crust.

4. Place pan in 1" water bath. Bake in the oven for 1 hour. Turn oven off- allow cheesecake to cool in the oven for 1-6 hours with the door closed. Remove from oven and chill in fridge until serving.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

 Can you tell I've been eating my feelings lately? Don't worry, this was actually made for a get-together for Nick's work. It wasn't until Sunday morning that he realized we should probably bring something and the event was that afternoon. Luckily, this is made with things that are almost always on hand.

    I can be tricky to check the 'doneness' of a bunt cake unless you have super long toothpicks. Or uncooked spaghetti noodles. These work well...unless you accidentally let it snap inside and later your husband thinks he is eating a fingernail. Otherwise, it works really well. {This happened maybe 4 years ago, and I've since perfected the spaghetti technique.}

  Another cooking mishap happened a few years ago when I made this for a breakfast at work- only to find out that one of the cupboard corner cushions had somehow fallen into the batter and found it's way into the gym teacher's mouth. 

In conclusion: delicious with or without hidden goodies inside.

Lest you think I am completely careless, these are the worst things that have happened in the kitchen... that I'm aware of :)

Ingredients

Filling

1 generous cup brown sugar

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 generous cup finely chopped walnuts

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Cake

3 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cup sour cream

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

3-4 Tbsp. milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour bunt pan. In a medium bowl, use a pastry blender to combine filling ingredients until crumbly. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Add eggs and vanilla and continue to beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Alternate adding flour mixture (approx. 1 cup) and sour cream (1/3 cup) to the sugar mixture- at a time, beating on low speed until combined. Repeat two additional times.

3. Pour 1/3 of batter into the prepared pan and layer with 1/3 of filling. Repeat with additional layers. 

4. Bake for 1 hour- until toothpick in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool an additional 20 minutes. Prepare glaze and drizzle over coffee cake. Serve warm or room temperature.

Crumb layer

 Since deciding to and then actually going to Italy, we haven't been doing much in the way of gifts. 

Christmas? "Italy"

Valentine's Day? "Italy"

Easter? "Italy" 

Mother's Day? "Italy" 

Anniversary? "Italy" 

So when it came to Father's Day the answer was easy.

I did ask Nick what dessert he'd like and carrot cake was his choice. Good choice.

I think probably a lot of people know how to properly frost a cake so it doesn't get crumbs all over. Judging by this, I clearly didn't.

Here is a little something that seemed to be the ticket...

make a 'crumb coat' or crumb layer: ensure cake is entirely cooled, brush off any crumbs, take a bit of the frosting (like a 1/3 or 1/4 of it) and dilute it with water or milk (I used milk), apply all over cake so it appears to be glazed, and allow to cool/harden a bit in the fridge (30 min or so)

apply the remainder of frosting, lick remaining frosting from the dish.

Divine

Yep. You've seen this beauty before. But I made it while I was in Denver and my mom & Greg loved it as much as we did. I even shared a little with Siena...and that's a big deal.

Reese's Cup Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

from Annie's Eats 

Ingredients

For the cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ½ cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled (optional)

For decorating:
1 ½ – 2 batches peanut butter frosting
miniature Reese’s cups, halved and/or chopped

Directions

1.  For the cake, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°.  Butter two 9×2” round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess and line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper.  Place the pans on a baking sheet.

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

3.  In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy.  Add the sugar and beat for about 2 minutes, until thoroughly blended into the butter.  Add the eggs and yolks one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Beat in the vanilla.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk; add the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the buttermilk in 2 (beginning and ending with the dry ingredients).  Mix each addition only until it is blended into the batter.  Scrape down the bowl and add the melted chocolate, if using, folding it in with a spatula.  Divide the batter between the prepared cake pans.

4.  Bake for 24-28 min minutes or until the cakes feel springy to the touch and start to pull away from the sides of the pans.  Transfer to wire racks to cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners.  Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.

     To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on cake stand.  Spread peanut butter frosting on top of the cake layer.  (If desired, sprinkle with chopped Reese’s cups.)  Place the second cake layer on top of the frosting.  Frost the top and outside of the cake with remaining peanut butter frosting. 

  

5.  Decorate with halved and chopped Reese’s cups as desired.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
6-8 ounces Philadelphia brand cream cheese*, at room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract plus 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter and flour a 12-cup bunt pan.

2. Place the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl and beat with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar, increase the speed to high, and beat until light and airy, at least five minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the vanilla, almond, then the flour and salt all at once. Beat just until incorporated.

3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and shake lightly to even out the top. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean, 65-75 minutes.

4. Place the pan on a cake rack and cool for 20 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and let it cool completely. Serve at room temperature.

* Philadelphia cream cheese is often recommended for baking for consistency purposes, as in, bakers know this brand works, and because it contains less water than other brands. The cream cheese is really what makes this so incredible!

Serve with fresh fruit or a generous dollop of whipped cream.

Carrot Cake

Ingredients

3 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
3 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2-3 cups grated carrots (use larger side of grater)
8 oz. can crushed pineapples
1/2 cup coconut
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Frosting:
1/3 cup butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2-3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan, or two 9-inch round pans.
In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, applesauce, sugars, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Gradually add dry mixture to wet mixture. Stir in carrots, pineapple, coconut, and fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.

2. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, (18-20 min for 9-inch rounds) or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

3. To make the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese together until completely blended. Add vanilla and blend. Gradually beat in sugar to desired consistency.

*cupcakes-18 min, extra large cupcakes 24-25 min

adapted from Allison & Laurie