Anytime Vanilla Bean Simple Cake with Boiling Coconut Topping

Perfect Dessert to Dry up the tears of the RedSkin losing last week; Anytime Vanilla Bean Simple Cake with Broiled Coconut Topping (adaption of a Better Home and Gardens Recipe)

Welll… what can I say, Cake fixes everything!  After last week Redskins loss, my boyfriend's team, we needed some good old fashion bandaid dessert.   This easy cake  was the perfect cure. It is delicious!  Believe it or not, it was finished before the caramel brownies (recipe to follow soon).   The cake it light and flavorful and then coconut and pecan topping was amazing. Did I say how easy this cake was to make!  Yes, you can make it. I promise!! I hope you give this 
Anytime Vanilla Bean Simple Cake with Broiled Coconut Topping
 a try.  I will actually make this cake again this week, Faye… maybe I will drive one over to you!

And Redskins, we will be cheering you on next season!  Maybe this time the cake will be called a Victory cake.

Happy Cooking Everyone!

Ingredients
1 ½  cups all-purpose Flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cups whole milk
¼ cup sweet cream butter (soften)
1 egg
½ a vanilla bean (scrapped)
2 teaspoons vanilla

Topping
¼ cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons sweet cream soften butter
2 tablespoon whole Milk
½ cup flaked coconut , packed
1/3 cup chopped pecans
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Cake:
1. Pre-Heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Spray an 8 inch round cake pan with non-stick spray
3. Combine, flour, sugar, baking powder together in a large bowl . Set aside.

4. In a medium size bowl, combine  milk ,  egg, vanilla bean and vanilla.

5. Pour the vanilla mixture into the flour mixture. Mix until combined.

6. Add softened butter and mix till its blended, do not over beat.

7. Poor cake mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes.(do the toothpick test. Insert toothpick into cake and when it  come out clean.its done)

Topping
8. While cake is baking, make the topping.
9. Beat the butter with the brown sugar .
10. Add the milk and mix till smooth
11. Add the coconut and nuts.
12. Set aside till cake done.

Finishing Cake
13. Once cake it done, remove from oven and set the oven to Broil.  Move your Rack  so its about 4 inchs from Top.
14. Spread the Topping over the whole top of the cake. And put back into the oven

15. Broil for 3-4 minutes. Till top is bubbling.

16. Cool on wire rack.
17. Enjoy!

Chocolate Pecan cake with Caramel frosting

Chocolate Sour Cream Cake with Pecans & Caramel Frosting

Who doesn’t love chocolate cake?  Well, I can tell you who, my parents and sisters! Growing up, I always received a vanilla cake with white vanilla frosting for my birthday because no one in my family liked chocolate cake.  Yes, I was a deprived child : )  As I got older, I started buying my own birthday cake or actually Faye would make my favorite for me, German Chocolate cake (yummy!).

Back to my fascination with chocolate cakes....since I know how to make my own chocolate cake these days, I like to experiment whenever I get a chance. This is one of my recent experiments. Imagine these wonderful ingredients: chocolate, sour cream, pecans and caramel.  Alone they can stand on their own, but together they form the most amazingly moist cake with sweet caramel frosting on top.  The perfect chocolate cake can't be too sweet because the sweetness of the frosting brings it all together.  This cake and frosting combination was perfect. I hope you all give it a try. Happy Cooking everyone.

Cake

2 cups flour

1 ¼ granulated sugar (white sugar)

¾ cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 cup water
½ cup unsalted butter

1 cup Sour cream

2 teaspoons Baking soda

3 beaten eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

Frosting

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup half and half

½ cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

5-6 cups confectioners’ sugar

½ chopped pecans

36 pecan halfs

CAKE
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1.       Preheat oven to 350

2.       Prepare two 9 inch pans flour and grease them (I recommend you line the bottoms.  When I baked the cake, the bottoms got stuck even though I floured and greased them)

3.       In a large bowl (or Kitchen Aid) combine flour and sugars and salt.

4.       In a double broiler (or you can put a small metal bowl over a sauce pan, where the water just barely touches the bowl), put the chocolate, water, butter to melt.  Stir gentle until the chocolate is well combined with the water and butter. 

 5. Once liquid chocolate is complete melted, Add the hot chocolate liquid to the flour mixture and blend.

6.  Add sour cream and baking soda to the chocolate cake mixture.

7. Beat eggs with vanilla.

8. Pour eggs into with the Sourcream and baking soda in the bowl and mix for 3 minutes

9. Pour finished cake mix into prepare cake pans and bake for 30 minutes

10. Remove cake pans from oven and cool for 10 minutes on a metal wire rack.  Once 10 minutes are done, remove cakes from pan and finish cooling them on the wire rake.

Frosting

1.  Combine half and half, brown sugar and butter in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Let it boil for about 1 minute.  Remove it from heat.  Pour the hot liquid in a large bowl and set it aside and let it cool for about 10 minutes.  

2.       With a tablespoon, take about 2 tablespoons of the caramel and pour over one of the cake bottoms and set aside

3.       With the remaining caramel, gradually beat in the 5-6 cups of confectioners’ sugar and the vanilla to make a nice thick frosting. 

4.       Starting in the middle of the cake with the caramel on it, start with about ½ to  ¾ cup of frosting and spread evenly over cake.  Sprinkle the chopped pecans. 

5.       Lay the other cake layer over the cake layer with the frosting and pecans.  Start frosting the cake starting at top and working your way to the sides. Make sure the cake is completely covered.

6.       Decorate the top of cake with the pecan halves

"Good bye and Good luck" German Chocolate Cupcakes

Today my husband organized a "Farewell" lunch for a coworker who is leaving for Bahrain. Since her favorite dessert is German Chocolate Cake, I offered to make German Chocolate Cupcakes to thank her for her service and sacrifice and wish her well. I thought it would be a great idea to post the recipe on the blog today in her honor. I hope she will have the chance to make these cupcakes herself whenever she's feeling homesick and wants a taste of "home".


Since German Chocolate Cake can be dry and lacking in chocolate flavor, I use my all-time favorite chocolate cake recipe as the base instead of the traditional german chocolate cake recipe. It is dark, moist and full of chocolate flavor, everything a chocolate cake should be. The thing I love most about this chocolate cake recipe is that it actually gets better with age! It is even more moist and the chocolate flavor gets even deeper the next day. It's a great cake recipe to use to make a day ahead and leftovers (if any) taste awesome even several days later! The Coconut Pecan Icing recipe is DIVINE and the best I have ever tried. I could eat spoonfulls of this icing just by itself.


I know most people are not fans of German Chocolate Cake, but this combination won me (a non-german-chocolate-lover) over. I hope you'll try it for the German Chocolate Lovers (and maybe even convert the non-german-chocolate lovers) in your life!




Coconut Pecan Frosting
Makes enough frosting for 24 cupcakes or an 8" layer cake


1 12oz can evaportated milk
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature, cut into small pieces
1 1/4 c light brown sugar, packed
3 egg yolks
1  tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
2 2/3 c sweetened flaked coconut
2 c pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped into large pieces (it is important to toast the pecans to bring out the nutty flavor)


In a medium size saucepan, combine the evaporated milk, egg yolks and brown sugar. Add the butter and cook over medium heat stirring constantly until thickened.

This process takes from 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and pour though a mesh strainer into a bowl.

Add the vanilla extract, salt, coconut and pecans and stir thoroughly to combine.

Cool completely to allow the frosting to finish thickening. It should become a thick spreading consistency. I usually cool mine to room temperature then put in the fridge for a few hours to finish thickening. You can also make it a day ahead.


 Source: Adapted from Martha Stewart




Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes 24 cupcakes or two 8" layers or one 13"x9" cake


2 cups granulated sugar
1 3/4 c all purpose flour
3/4 c unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 c milk (I used 2% but whole or buttermilk would work too)
1/2 c canola oil
2 large eggs at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c boiling water (I've also made this recipe by substituting 1 c hot coffee or adding 1 T instant espresso powder to the boiling water)


In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients. Add the eggs. milk, oil and vanilla extract. Using an electric hand mixer, beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in the 1 cup of boiling water until incorporated. At this point your batter will look very thin and runny and you might start to panic, but don't worry, you didn't make a mistake! That's just how the batter looks...


Pour into the prepared cupcake pans (or cake pans if using). Bake at 350 until done and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cupcakes usually take about 25 minutes and cake usually takes about 30-35 minutes but all ovens are different so be sure to start checking for doneness around 20-25 minutes into the baking process.


When done, remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to wire cooking rack to cool completely.

Frost your cupcakes (or cake) with the Coconut Pecan Frosting and decorate as desired. Since I made cupcakes, I just frosted the tops then drizzled with a little chocolate ganache.

When I make this recipe into a cake, I usually make a chocolate frosting and use the Coconut Pecan Frosting in the middle of the layers and on top.

Flour Bakery's Famous Banana Bread Recipe and a Bonus!

So I recently came home to a 40 lb box of bananas sitting on my kitchen table. If you don't know what 40 lbs of bananas looks like....

               (Either my husband had visions of Banana Bread loaves dancing in his head or we were adopting a monkey!)


Being the practical person that I am (most of the time), I made the Banana Bread. I already have my go-to Banana Bread recipe that I have been making for years. In my opinion, it is the best Banana Bread I have ever tasted. But I recently came across the recipe for Joanne Chung's famous Banana Bread from her bakery Flour in Boston. If you are not familiar with Joanne Chung, she is a baking goddess and one of my true inspirations. I have great admiration for her. Joanne graduated from Harvard with a degree in Economics then discovered her passion for baking. She opened a Bakery (Flour Bakery and Cafe) in Boston which garnered rave reviews from top pastry chefs and is the author of "Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Flour Bakery and Cafe". She even beat Bobby Flay in a Sticky Bun throwdown! Needless to say, a trip to Flour Bakery in Boston is on my bucket list.


As much as I admire Joanne, I was a little hesitant to try her recipe. Deep down inside, I was afraid to be disappointed. Would her famous banana bread measure up to or surpass the recipe I have been using for years? Since I had a few bananas to spare (haha), I decided to give the recipe a try.


The verdict? It was delicious. Did it measure up? Yes! Did it surpass my go-to recipe? I wouldn't say it did, but it is just as delicious and I will definitely be making it again. Even if you already have your own recipe that you swear by, I encourage you to give this one a try and let us know how it measures up to yours.


Flour Bakery's Famous Banana Bread
from Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Flour Bakery and Cafe


Ingredients:
1 2/3c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 c + 2T sugar
2 eggs
1/2 oil
3 1/2 very ripe bananas, mashed
2 T sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 c walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped (don't skip the toasting process, it makes a difference)


Directions:


Preheat oven to 350. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray and line the botton with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper with non-stick spray.


In a medium bowl. whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.


In a large bowl with an electric mixer, whisk the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy (approx 10 minutes). I used a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment so I didn't have to stand in front of the mixer for 10 minutes.

Gradually drizzle in oil. Add mashed bananas, sour cream and vanilla. Mix to combine.


Fold in the dry ingredients and the nuts just until combined. Do not overmix.

Pour into lined loaf pan and bake 45 minutes to an hour or until done.


Cool in pan for 15-20 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack.


Store in an air tight container for up to 2 days (if it lasts that long!)


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As a bonus, I made these delicious Banana Chocolate Chip and Espresso Muffins. Every once in a while, you come across a recipe that just blows you away and you want to share it with the world. This recipe, from one of my favorite Cookbooks, is it. If you like the combination of banana and chocolate, you will absolutely love these muffins. They are so moist and delicious, you won't be able to eat just one....


Banana Chocolate Chip and Espresso Muffins
from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

Ingredients:


1 1/2c all purpose flour
1 tsp instant espresso powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 c very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 c unsalted butter, melted
1/4 c whole milk (I used lowfat)
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (I recommend using the mini size chips)


Directions:


Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 12 c muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.


In a medium bowl, stir together the bananas, sugars, butter, milk, vanilla and egg until well combined.


In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and espresso.


Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix with a wooden spoon just until combined. You may still see small pockets or streaks of flour. This is ok, do not overmix or your muffins will be tough. Gently fold in the chocolate chips just until distributed throughout the batter.


Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pan making sure to divide evenly. The cups will be almost full.


Bake on the center rack of your oven for 20-25 minutes or until the tops are springy and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean but with a few moist crumbs.


Cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 15 minutes, then remove them from the pan.


These muffins keep well and stay moist and delicious when stored in an air tight container for up to 2 days.