Make Mine a Double: Triple-Layer Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I recently received a request to make a carrot cake for a going-away party at work, and I was happy to have the opportunity to try out a new carrot cake recipe. I wanted to stay pretty traditional (no coconut, no pineapple), so I decided to try the recipe for Triple-Layer Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting from epicurious.com.

I made the cake itself without any modifications, except that I divided my batter between only two round baking pans instead of three. My oven is not large enough to fit three cake pans on a single rack, and I always bake on only one rack at a time to avoid getting inconsistent results. Even though my cake layers were a little thicker, they still finished baking in only 45 minutes. I also skipped the frosting recipe and stuck with my favorite cream cheese frosting of all time -- the one from the epicurious.com recipe for Pumpkin-Raisin Bars. It's easy to spread, not too sweet, full of cream cheese tang, and I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't like it. I took the easy way out when it came to frosting the cake, and I pressed toasted pecans into the sides so that I didn't have to bother with trying the make the sides look too neat. The swirl on top is easy to achieve by holding the tip of an offset spatula at an angle against the frosting while you turn the cake on a turntable and slowly move the spatula in towards the center.

The cake itself was very moist and certainly above average. However, I don't think it would be all that interesting to eat on its own. The cake (like most carrot cakes, I think) really needs the cream cheese frosting to carry it through. But the combination of the cake and frosting together was quite delicious and I'm sure would be appreciated by any carrot cake connoisseur.

Recipe: Triple-Layer Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting from epicurious.com. (Frosting recipe from Pumpkin-Raisin Bars from epicurious.com.)

For the Hostess with the Mostess: Madeleines

This afternoon I wanted to whip up a quick hostess gift to take to a friend and her husband who invited us over to their house for dinner tonight. (My deliberate effort to find a quick recipe didn't reflect any lack of appreciation for the dinner invitation or our hosts, but rather, a desire to spend as little time as possible in the kitchen on a day when it was 103 degrees outside.)

I decided that some madeleines should make a lovely hostess gift. I found a recipe on epicurious.com with very favorable reviews that was very quick to put together. You just beat some eggs and sugar together, add vanilla, salt and lemon zest, mix in flour, and pour in melted butter. Including melting and cooling the butter, zesting the lemon, and buttering the madeleine molds, it only took about 10 minutes before I had my first pan of madeleines in the oven.

I used a #50 scoop (slightly over one tablespoon) to parcel out the batter into the buttered molds, and I got 24 madeleines. My madeleine molds are nonstick with a dark-colored finish, and my first batch came out a little too dark. I lowered the oven temperature and baked the second pan at 350 degrees. They came out perfectly.

The madeleines had a beautiful golden brown crust with a wonderful firm texture. The inside of the cakes was dense and buttery with a bright lemon flavor (I added an entire large lemon's worth of zest, which was definitely more than half a teaspoon). These were incredibly delicious, and quite beautiful to boot, even without any powdered sugar or extra adornment. To be honest, I now feel a little silly for putting so much time and effort into the Keswick Hall pistachio madeleines I tried last winter; these are much quicker to make, and just as delicious.

I plan to return to this recipe regularly from now on. For a very small investment of time and ingredients, it produces a hugely tasty and satisfying return!

Recipe: Madeleines from epicurious.com.

Previous Post: "Stuck in the House with a Bunch of Pistachios: Nut Brittle and Madeleines," December 28, 2009.

A Cream Puff in Hiding: Almond Puff Loaf

As I was browsing the King Arthur Flour online recipe collection last week, I noticed a very interesting looking recipe for Almond Puff Loaf. When I saw the picture accompanying the recipe, I thought the item was a Danish of some sort and I was puzzled why the recipe was called a "Puff Loaf." When I looked at the step-by-step pictures of the recipe on the King Arthur Baking Banter blog, the plot thickened. This is not a Danish made with laminated dough as I had assumed from the photo. Instead, this pastry is made with two layers -- the bottom layer consisting of a rather austere mixture of flour, butter, salt and water, and the top layer being almond-flavored choux paste. Choux paste is what you use to make cream puffs or profiteroles -- so it's no wonder that the loaf puffs up during baking (and accordingly, the name "puff loaf" makes perfect sense).

How on earth could this really work? And how does the final result end up looking like a Danish? I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't made it myself. The loaf puffs in the oven but deflates upon cooling to become fairly flat, and the inside ends up being filled with moist layers of pastry that are essentially what you get inside of a cream puff (although with a cream puff, these are the excess bits of dough that you pull out and throw away to make more room for filling). The top and bottom of the pastry are crusty, just like a Danish. I'm still amazed that this little culinary magic trick works.

I topped my puff loaf with apricot jam. The icing -- which I made exactly according to the recipe -- was tan colored. I have a hard time believing that you can add 1 teaspoon of vanilla to a half cup of powdered sugar and end up with a lily white icing like the one in the King Arthur picture. But no matter. The whole thing was delicious and I'm not complaining. Each bite has a fabulous variety of textures -- the crisp top and bottom layers, the moist inner layer, and the crunch of almonds. Even though there is no sugar in the pastry itself, the overall amount of sweetness with the jam and icing is perfect. If you like almonds, I can't imagine you won't like this pastry.

I think I might have underbaked my puff loaf slightly. In the center of the loaf, the interior was quite moist and the layers of dough were pretty compact (as in the picture above). Around the edges of the loaf, there was a bit more puffing, and the interior layers of dough showed more separation (as in the photo below).

Apparently this recipe is a classic of sorts that has been around for years. I don't know how I never came across it before now, but better late than never!

Recipe: Almond Puff Loaf from King Arthur Flour.

Woolly Biscuits Take II: Coconut Teacakes

Last week I received a King Arthur Flour catalog that included a recipe for some gorgeous looking Coconut Teacakes -- white cubes of cake coated in red raspberry glaze and coconut. These little gems are a raspberry variation of a Lamington. After having discovered Lamingtons only a couple of months ago, I was eager to try the recipe.

I made one slight change to the recipe. I didn't have any coconut milk powder on hand. Instead, I used one cup of light coconut milk in place of the coconut milk powder and milk. I also didn't use any additional coconut flavor. While the raw batter did have a distinct coconut fragrance, the baked cake had no discernible coconut flavor. As it turned out, I don't think this made a huge difference. Given that the cakes are rolled in coconut, there is plenty of coconut in every bite!

The cake was extremely dense but also very moist and still spongy. When it comes to baked goods, the word "dense" can have a variety of connotations. There's the bad sort of "dense," like a year-old fruitcake. But there are also good sorts of "dense," like a super fudgy brownie. This cake was dense like memory foam (very similar to Marcel Desaulniers' white chocolate patty cake), which is a great thing in my book.

The texture of the cake was easy to slice and held up very well to being coated with raspberry jam and rolled in coconut. I only had one minor issue with the raspberry glaze. The mixture thickened as it cooled, so I had to reheat the glaze a few times to maintain a fluid consistency when it started to get gloppy (but the glaze did set up perfectly at room temperature on the finished cakes). I also toasted my coconut until it was golden brown, so my Lamingtons didn't have the same snowy white appearance as the ones in the picture from the King Arthur recipe.

These little cakes were fantastic. The cake was moist, the raspberry jam was lovely, and the texture of the toasted coconut was delightful. All of the flavors went together beautifully, and the teacakes were adorable. I cut mine into 2-inch cubes, which were pretty sizable. The recipe directs you to cut the cakes into 3-inch squares, which I think would be ridiculously large, unless maybe you're trying to feed an entire family.

These super cute cakes taste as good as they look!

Recipe: Coconut Teacakes from King Arthur Flour.

Previous Post: "Bloody Poofy Woolly Biscuits: Lamington Cupcakes," May 2, 2010.

Cake and Topping in Perfect Harmony: Sour Cream Coffee Cake from Heirloom Bakery and Cafe

Recently, the Los Angeles Times Culinary SOS column featured a recipe for a sour cream coffee cake from Heirloom Bakery and Cafe in Pasadena. Although I've never been to Heirloom or tasted their cake, I have been generously rewarded by Culinary SOS recipes time and again, and I have great faith that any baking recipe in the column is definitely worth a try.

In my experience, a common problem with coffee cakes is that the cake portion is often just so-so, and the only part that's really worth eating is the topping. This cake, however, was very moist and flavorful; it would actually be worth eating alone. I have to admit, I was a little concerned when I mixed the topping together and it looked a lot like potting soil. But the mixture of brown sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, chocolate chips, pecans, and melted butter turned out to be outstanding.

There is a layer of topping in the middle of the cake, as well as one sprinkled on top. Both layers of topping dispersed through the entire cake during baking, which turned out to be a huge plus. (As I've observed in the past, the best cake topping isn't always on top.) The topping was delicious without being overpowering, and it was wonderful to get bites of pecan and chocolate chips in each bite. The cake and topping end up as an integrated and harmonious whole.

I would definitely recommend this coffee cake to anyone. Since the topping is chocolate colored and sinks in, it's not as pretty as other cakes with a undisturbed layer of cinnamon crumbs on top. But this cake can definitely compete with any other coffee cake I've tasted when it comes to flavor!

Recipe: Heirloom Bakery Sour Cream Coffee Cake, from the June 24, 2010 Los Angeles Times.

You Can Do What with White Chocolate?! Caramelized White Chocolate Cakes

Last week I noticed a post on David Lebovitz's blog with a recipe for Caramelized White Chocolate Cake. I was stopped in my tracks upon reading the post title. Caramelized white chocolate? What madness was this? How could I never had heard of this substance?

Lebovitz discovered caramelized white chocolate at Valrhona Chocolate School. To make this luscious treat, you put white chocolate pieces on a rimmed baking sheet in the oven at low temperature for about an hour, stirring the pieces every ten minutes or so, until you end up with what looks like golden brown liquid caramel and tastes a little like dulce de leche. Lebovitz provides the recipe here. I had some trouble caramelizing my white chocolate; although the chocolate turned a beautiful golden brown color, it never became liquid and retained a dry and chalky texture. I think this is probably because my white chocolate might not have had a high enough cocoa butter content, as Lebovitz mentions this as a potential problem (I used Orchid White Laelia from Albert Uster Imports, and I'm not sure of its exact cocoa butter content). I stirred in some heavy cream at the end and I was able to get it smoothed out.

After making the caramelized white chocolate, it's pretty easy to put together the cake recipe, which comes from Laura Adrian of Hidden Kitchen. I decided to bake the batter in regular muffin tins, and I ended up with 16 little cakes.

The texture of these cakes was quite dense, although I think I probably overbaked them a bit. They tasted strongly of white chocolate with a warm caramel-y overlay. The almond flour was undetectable. I think this cake definitely should be served warm. I'm not sure if the heavy texture of my cakes was due to the problem I had caramelizing the white chocolate; I'd definitely like to try this recipe again when I happen to have some high-quality white chocolate on hand.

Recipe: Caramelized White Chocolate Cake, from Laura Adrian of Hidden Kitchen, via David Lebovitz (see also Lebovitz's recipe for Caramelized White Chocolate).

Summer Fun for All Ages: Strawberry Shortcakes

Today I had to pick a dessert to make for a backyard barbecue we were hosting for both adults and kids. I quickly decided that strawberry shortcake should have broad appeal. I looked around for a recipe and I settled on one from epicurious.com that actually involves making a cake -- in the past, I've always made biscuit-type strawberry shortcakes.

The cake batter includes cream cheese and milk, and it baked up into a rather plain looking cake. The strawberry sauce takes a bit of time and effort -- you cook down some chopped strawberries with lemon juice and sugar, puree the mixture, strain it, and the chill the sauce for a few hours. You add the sauce to some quartered strawberries that have been tossed with sugar and left out at room temperature until juices form.

To serve the shortcakes, you cut the cake into wedges, split each wedge into layers, fill the cake with strawberry sauce, and garnish with sweetened whipped cream. The cake wasn't all that interesting, but it was moist and had the perfect texture to soak up the strawberry sauce. The overall flavor combination was quite nice, but then again, it's pretty hard to go wrong with strawberries and whipped cream. And the dessert certainly did accomplish the goal of appealing to kids and adults alike. One of our little guests pronounced it "awesome," showed me the dessert plate he had scraped clean, and asked for the recipe! What more could I ask for?

Recipe: Strawberry Shortcakes from epicurious.com.

A Baking Leap of Faith: Orange-Glazed Olive Oil Cake with Fleur de Sel

Tom recently surprised me with a new cookbook, The Perfect Finish: Special Desserts for Every Occasion by White House pastry chef Bill Yosses (yes, I do have an amazing husband - he cooks, takes out the trash, tends to the lawn, and keeps me supplied with a constant stream of new baking cookbooks).

I was immediately intrigued by Yosses' recipe for Orange-Glazed Olive Oil Cake with Fleur de Sel. Olive oil cake has become quite trendy of late (see, for example this New York Magazine article from last fall on the subject), but I've never tried making one before. This recipe caught my eye because it includes a six-panel photo spread with step-by-step pictures that seem totally bizarre. Not only is the cake batter mixed entirely in a food processor, but it includes two whole oranges -- peel and all. It seemed impossible that this could actually work to produce a good cake, but I was dying to give it a try.

The first step is to candy two oranges. You quarter the oranges ( leaving on the peel), and blanch them in three changes of water to remove the bitterness from the pith. Then you simmer the oranges for 30 minutes in a mixture of sugar and water until the rind is soft. The recipe says that you can keep the cooled oranges, in the syrup, in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. I tasted some of the orange rind after it had cooled and it was extremely bitter. I was seriously considering throwing away all of the oranges and scrapping the recipe entirely, but I had already invested a lot of time in blanching the candying the oranges. I figured I would put the oranges in the fridge for a day and see if they absorbed any more of the sugar syrup.

A day later, I tried another piece of rind, and it tasted sweet. I tried a piece from a different orange segment and it was bitter. I figured that I would roll the dice and go ahead and make the cake, hoping that the sugar in the recipe would even out the flavor. The recipe instructs you to take the oranges out of the syrup and puree them -- peel and all! -- in the food processor. Then you add in eggs, sugar, vanilla, flour, baking powder, and baking soda, and pulse until the batter becomes fluffy and pale. Finally, you add 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. You pour the batter straight from the food processor into the buttered baking pan. After the cake is baked and cooled, you glaze it with a mixture of equal parts powdered sugar and fresh-squeezed orange juice. For the final step, you sprinkle fleur de sel on top.

The cake smelled heavenly while it was baking, and it came out of the oven looking beautiful with a gorgeous dark brown and evenly-colored crust. I couldn't wait to cut into it. The inside crumb was very dark yellow to slightly orange-ish in hue and very moist. This cake is extraordinary. The sweet orange flavor is mild but definitely there, and the cake has what I would describe as a very fruity essence overall (I'm not sure if this resulted from the flavor of the extra virgin olive oil). Most of all, I couldn't get over how moist the cake was without any butter and only a relatively small amount of olive oil. The little bit of salt on top also added a wonderful bit of texture and sharpened the overall flavor.

I'm glad I took the leap of faith to make this cake, even though I was skeptical from the very beginning... This fragrant bit of deliciousness was a lovely and unexpected reward for sticking it out to the end!

Recipe: "Orange-Glazed Olive Oil Cake with Fleur de Sel," from The Perfect Finish: Special Desserts for Every Occasion by Bill Yosses and Melissa Clark. The recipe is available here at Saveur.com.