Posts Tagged ‘dessert’

Sugar, butter, chocolate, Dr. Pepper…

Nuf said?

Almost.

My daughter is a big Dr. Pepper fan, so I had to try my own version of the chocolate cakes I’ve seen here and there with either Coke or Dr. Pepper added. And boy am I glad I tried it. This cake? It’s a must do. Rich and moist, and oh, so easy – there’s no excuse not to try it at least once. Just make sure you’ve got a group to bake it for, ’cause it’s dangerous to have leftovers hanging around.

Look giant chocolate cake. Ooooooh. Ahhhhhh. Ohhhhhhh.

One of the things I like about this cake is the ease at which it comes together. Seriously simple. It bakes in 20-25 minutes – it’s gone in 10. All ingredients are combined in a saucepan and poured directly into a 13×9x2″ baking pan. Speaking of ingredients, see the brown sugar pictured?

I’ve baked this cake a few times, both using 1 c. brown sugar + 1 c. regular ‘ole white sugar, as well as all 2 c. of white sugar and I couldn’t tell the difference. Maybe I’m missing something, but if you need to combine, or just want to, go ahead. Just make sure at least 1 cup of the sugar is white. You probably would be able to tell a difference if all sugar used was brown. But I dunno.

Also, for both the cake batter and frosting, I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa powder. It’s good stuff. Hope you can find some.

Begin by combining the Dr. Pepper, oil, butter and cocoa powder in a saucepan over medium heat.

When it comes to a simmer, mix well and turn stove off.

Mix dry ingredients together (sugar, flour and baking soda), add to saucepan and mix well.

You don’t need to beat the heck out of it. It will be a little lumpy at first but just mix well until combined.

In a separate small bowl lightly beat the eggs and buttermilk together then add them to the saucepan.

Combine batter well and pour into a greased baking pan and bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Be careful not to over bake.

(Extreme cake bokeh – sorry folks.)

The frosting works the same way. Combine butter, cocoa powder and milk together in a saucepan, over medium heat, stirring occasionally until melted and smooth. Add in the powdered sugar a little at a time, combining after each addition until smooth.

Pour over warm cake. Yuuuum.

While the frosting is mighty yummy, I think the cake is quite tasty without it, or maybe just with a little dusting of powdered sugar and a tall glass of milk.

So what are you waiting for? Go grab a Dr. Pepper and get to work!

Dr. Pepper Chocolate Cake Recipe
(makes one 13×9x2″ baking pan)
(adapted from “Cracker Barrel Double Fudge Coca-Cola Cake Recipe” found at thatsmyhome.com)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup Dr. Pepper soda
• 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1 stick salted butter (8 tablespoons)
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder (again, I used Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder)
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350° F and grease or spray with cooking spray a 13×9x2″ baking pan.

- Begin by combining the Dr. Pepper, oil, butter and cocoa powder in a saucepan over medium heat. When it comes to a simmer, mix well and turn stove off.

- Mix dry ingredients together (sugar, flour and baking soda), add to mixture in saucepan and mix well. Don’t over beat.

- In a separate small bowl lightly beat the eggs and buttermilk together, then add them to the saucepan and combine batter well.

- Pour into a greased baking pan and bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Be careful not to over bake.

Chocolate Frosting Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 stick salted butter (8 tablespoons)
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 8 tablespoons milk
• 4 cups confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)

Directions:

- In a saucepan, combine butter, cocoa powder and milk together over medium heat, stirring occasionally until melted and smooth.

- Add in the powdered sugar a little at a time, combining after each addition until smooth.

- Pour over warm cake.

- Lock all the doors, draw the shades, don’t answer the phone and get the milk.

Enjoy! And let me know how it turns out.

I want to be a baker.

And not even a professional baker. Just a confident baker at home doing her thing. Right now I’m kinda so-so.

Yesterday I was talking with a sweet blogger friend and expressed my desire to be a better baker. She tried to reassure me that it was no biggy and that there are so many other things to cook. She’s right. And I do cook a wide variety of things that I don’t think twice about whipping up, but when it comes to baking I tense up.

I have to have everything just so. Clean. Organized. Solitude for no interruptions. I get a little anxious. It’s crazy really. It’s just butter, flour, sugar and other simple ingredients but there’s something about the exactness of it all that makes me clinch my butt cheeks a little too much.

There’s no rushing when baking either. It takes a certain amount of time. There’s usually no budging involved. The funny thing is that I was a chemistry major for a short period.

Very short.

Minute even.

But still, measuring, mixing and adding heat shouldn’t throw me. Maybe I need a Bunsen burner to work with.

Anyway, to combat my short-comings with baking, I recently purchased Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours. No messing around here folks. I’ve got a can do attitude and that, along with tight cheeks, can work magic.

I’ve enjoyed drooling my way through the cookbook. Dorie makes it sound so simple, so common – of course, for her, it is. But when I saw her description for the Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake, “…it looks fussed over and yet it takes no more time, effort or talent to make than a batch of brownies,” I knew she was talking to me.

Plus there was no picture, which usually bothers me, but I figured no pressure to measure up to some gorgeous photograph. Perfect.

This cake was just as Dorie said it would be, simple ingredients and quick to put together, with yummy results. And, I know it’s trite, but if I can do it you can do it.

The cake is a dense, rich, dark chocolaty, yummy goodness with subtle ribbons of sweet raspberry flavor running through it. The cake is cut into three layers which are spread with raspberry or cherry jam or preserves. I used raspberry this time around. Then the giant sandwich is frosted with a dark chocolate, sour cream frosting. Yum.

Sour cream, which is used in both the batter and the frosting, gives the cake a special sumpn,’ sumpn.’

The cake is fairly basic. Start by sifting all dry ingredients together. I used Hershey’s Dark Cocoa Powder.

In a separate bowl beat together sugar and butter until light and fluffy, then, one at a time, add the eggs followed by the sour cream. Next gradually add dry ingredients until just combined. Do not overmix.

That is one thing I’ve learned so far, to not overmix batters, or you’ll end up with a tough cake – which is fine if you’re in the market for a door stop.

After mixing in all dry ingredients, pour batter into a greased and floured loaf pan and bake. When baking is finished and cake has cooled, the fun begins. The plan is to cut the cake into three layers length wise.

Mine weren’t perfect by any means but once it’s frosted who cares? Basically the top becomes the bottom and vice versa. Place the bottom layer (which is really the top) on the bottom, cut side facing up, and spread half of the jam/preserves over the layer. Jiggy?(Take note that my cake was not overmixed – hardly. Swirls of butter and sugar were showing but it didn’t matter to me – it was yummy.)

Add next layer and repeat with remaining jam/preserves. Now you’ve got a three layer giant chocolate sandwich.

The frosting is made by melting the chopped chocolate over a hot water bath.

Stir until smooth. Add the sour cream and stir again until smooth and shiny.

Frost the top and sides of cake however you like.

I went for a smooth and sleek finish because that’s how I roll.

A chocolate sauce, ice cream or whipped cream would be a great topper finish for this cake. But, most certainly, a tall glass of cold milk is a must have with this deliciousness.

I usually post the full recipe here when trying out a new recipe, but this time, I’m not. I know, bummer. Dorie can’t be duplicated, adapted or improved upon. Go buy her book or borrow it from your local library. Again, it’s called Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

It’s a sweet treat to behold. A real page turner.

So tell me, have you stumbled upon any new cookbooks that you’d recommend?

Or how about any good baking tips you can pass along?

I don’t know about you, but I’m already wishing for warmer weather. This frigid winter has left us pining for the warm blue waters of the Caribbean.

A few weeks ago, when I happened across a lime cookie recipe at The Parsley Thief, I immediately thought of our trip to St. John last summer. Lime and coconut were pretty much on every menu on the island. So for a respite from the heavy winter foods, I decided to make a batch of these lime meltaways and add a little twist with some coconut.

Fresh lime zest and juice is a favorite ingredient for me when baking.

The original recipe called for coating the cookies after they cooled with powdered sugar. Powdered sugar is delightful, but I’ve had more than one coughing/choking fit when eating goodies coated with the sweet stuff. For some reason I can’t manage to breathe and chew at the same time. Plus I wanted to combine the lime with the coconut, so instead of the powdered sugar, I decided to try to make a sandwich cookie with coconut icing.

These lime meltaways, adapted from Martha Stewart: Cookies, are a light shortbread cookie, and as named, melt in your mouth. They’d be perfect for a ladies tea, shower or luncheon. Very delicate and not too sweet, so pairing them with coconut icing didn’t add too much. It was a nice balance.

Since I was making a sandwich cookies out of them, I made the cookies a tad bit thinner than in the original recipe. They really are very delicate so be careful when sandwiching them together.

I made two attempts at the icing. The first batch was made with sweetened shredded coconut. I grated it a little in my mini food processor (y’all, I use this one almost as much as my full size food processor) for a finer texture. Even though it wasn’t fine enough to fit through an icing tip, it was tasty, with a mild coconut flavor. It had to be spread on instead of piped which was totally fine.

For the second batch of icing I used cream of coconut in order to pipe it on the cookies. Both icings tasted similar – not too coconut-y. Whatever one you choose would just depend on how you want to apply the icing. Both icing recipes are below. Everyone seems to have their own preference when it comes to icing so adjust the ingredients to your liking but note that you want the icing to harden slightly so the cookies will stick together.

Lime Sandwich Cookies with Coconut Cream Frosting
(discovered at The Parsley Thief; adapted from Martha Stewart: Cookies)
Makes approximately 80- 1 1/4″ sandwich cookies

Cookie Ingredients:

• 3 3/4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter; room temperature
• 2/3 confectioners’ sugar
• Zest of 4 limes (about 2 1/2 tablespoons)
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:

- In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch and salt; set aside.

- In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment beat together the butter and confectioners’ sugar until light and fluffy; about 4 minutes.

- Beat in lime zest, juice and vanilla until combined; remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times.

- Add the dry ingredients (flour, cornstarch, salt) in small batches and mix until just blended.

- Divide the dough into quarters.

- Roll each quarter of dough into a 1 1/4″ diameter log and wrap in parchment paper.

- Chill dough for about an hour or until firm. Or freeze dough up to 2 months.

- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350° F.

- Remove dough from the parchment paper and slice into 1/8″-1/4″ rounds.

- Place cookie rounds on parchment lined baking sheet about 1″ apart.

- Bake for 11-13 minutes or until just beginning to brown.

- Place on cooling rack; let cool.

Coconut Cream Frosting (2 versions)
Makes enough for 80 sandwich cookies and then some.

Version 1 Ingredients:

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter; room temperature
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2-3/4 cup sweetened grated coconut
• 3-4 tablespoons milk

Version 2 Ingredients*:

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup cream of coconut
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup powdered sugar

- For both icing versions mix ingredients together until smooth.

- On the side that was face down during baking, apply icing then gently place another cookie on top of the icing/filling and lightly press to form sandwiches.

* Icing Version 2 can be put in an icing bag fitted with a large opening tip for icing cookies.

Hope you enjoy! Happy baking!