It's cake time! And by cake time I mean that it's time to share this month's cake baked to you from the Cake Slice Bakers. Well, I'm actually a little late, it being the 21st and all, but more on that later.
I know I've been on a hiatus for a little while, and I probably will go back to that after I share this post. But it won't be for long. I'm just trying to settle in and get used to things. It's only my fourth day in my new "home" and I think I'm already starting to miss the normality of my home back in Colorado.
Even though I haven't been posting anything recently, I did manage to make this cake a week before my road trip (my dad and I drove 1,700+ miles just so you know!). This month's cake happened to be a lemon roll cake. Now I've never made any sort of roll cake in my life, ever, so this was new and exciting for me, and dare I say it a dern good success! But when I think of lemons, I think of Spring, not Summer, but because this was the cake that won, I was obligated to make it, and I'm so very glad I did.
This cake is called the "Ultimate Lemon Roll" for a reason. It is super duper tart and lemony and so, so delicious. The cake is light and springy, not too lemony, but just right. The filling, which I halved from the original recipe (the amounts I used are listed below), was super creamy and really sour, but a good kind of sour. It was like eating a lemonade milkshake. Granted, the filling was very loose and sort of squished out at the sides, but it was great nonetheless. My entire family liked this cake! Even my mom, who never goes back for seconds on anything I make, went back for seconds, and I think she wanted to go back for thirds, but was shy about asking. She thought it was a beautiful cake, and joked around saying it should be her birthday cake. I'll have to see about that, because her birthday is in November and if August doesn't scream "lemons!" then I don't think November will either. And even if she wanted it, I wouldn't be able to be there to make it. One of the downfalls of going to a different state for college, right?
Anyways, the reason this post is a little late is because my apartment's internet decided to disconnect. We were finally able to get a guy to come in and fix the internet today, and I'm so glad I'm not paying for the maintenance because all the guy did was unplug something and then plug it back in. Yay for college taking care of that stuff. Anyways, enjoy this cake, it is really fantastic, especially if you love tart lemons!
The Ultimate Lemon Roll
Makes one 11 inch cake roll
Slightly adapted from The Cake
Book
Lemon
Silk Filling
Ingredients
3 large egg yolks, room
temperature*
½ cup + 2 ½ tbsp. (233 g) sugar
1/3 cup fresh-squeezed lemon
juice
Pinch of salt
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, chilled
and cubed
¼ cup heavy cream
*I suggest holding on to at least
one egg white because you will need it for the cake.
Directions
Set a sieve over a medium bowl
and set aside. Whisk together egg yolks and sugar in a medium saucepan until
blended. Stir in the lemon juice, salt, and butter over medium heat. Whisk the
mixture constantly until it thickens. (I have an electric stove and used the
4.5 setting) The custard should leave a path on the back of a wooden spoon when
you draw your finger across it. Strain the mixture through the sieve and into
the waiting bowl.
Set the bowl containing the
custard in a larger bowl filled 1/3 full of ice water. Be careful when placing
the bowl with the custard into the bowl with the water; you don’t want the
water to splash into the custard. Stir the mixture frequently until chilled,
about 15 minutes.
Whisk the heavy cream in a small
bowl until soft peaks form. You can use your stand mixer fitted with the whisk
attachment; you can use a regular hand mixer; or you can chose to strengthen
your arm muscles and do it manually. Stir a spoonful of the whipped cream into
the lemon mixture and beat. This will lighten up the custard. Fold in the
remaining whipped cream. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to
use. This filling can be made two days in advance,
Lemon
Chiffon Sheet Cake
Ingredients
Confectioners’ sugar for
sprinkling
1 ¼ cup (125 g) sifted cake flour*
½ cup sugar (96 g)
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
3 large eggs, separated
¼ cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice,
strained of the pulp and seeds
¼ cup canola oil
1 tbsp. water
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 large egg white
½ tsp. cream of tartar
¼ cup (48 g) sugar
*Sift the flour first, then
scoop, measure, and level out.
Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Grease
the sides and bottom of an 11 ½ x 17 ½ inch jelly-roll pan. Line the pan with
parchment paper and set aside. Place a sheet of parchment paper (roughly the
size of the pan) on a clean work surface. Dust the top with confectioners’
sugar.
Sift together the sifted cake
flour, ½ cup of sugar, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Whisk the
mixture until well blended and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together
the egg yolks, lemon juice, canola oil, water, and vanilla extract until well
combined. Gradually fold in the flour mixture one quarter at a time. Mix until
just blended.
In the bowl of a clean electric mixer fitted with a clean whisk attachment, beat the 4 egg
whites and the cream of tartar on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually
beat in the sugar. Increase the speed to high and beat until the egg whites are
stiff but not dry. Using a rubber spatula quickly beat in one-quarter of the
egg whites into the cake batter. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites.
Scrape the batter into the prepared baking tray and smooth the top.
Bake the cake for 14-18 minutes
(it took 14 ½ minutes for me). The top should look like it’s just starting to
brown and it springs back when lightly touched. Run a paring knife around the
edges of the cake. Invert the hot
cake onto the sugar-dusted parchment paper. Take the pan off the cake and
gently remove the parchment paper from the bottom (now the top) of the cake.
Starting with the short end, gently roll the cake up, rolling the bottom sheet
of parchment paper along with it. Let cool like that completely.
Gently unroll the cake. Spread
the chilled filling over the surface of the cake, leaving a 1 inch boarder all
around. Reroll the cake (this time without the parchment paper). Place on a
serving tray and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. If you wish,
dust confectioners’ sugar on top before slicing and serving.
Guess
what?! I’m off to college! Ok I probably sound a little more excited than I actually
am. Sure I’m excited, but I’m also scared. I’m going to be in a new town, I’m
going to be completely surrounded by strangers, and just, everything is
changing. I’m trying not to sound like a cliché, but I think I am.
I just
hope I can handle it. I was used to elementary school; I was used to middle
school (a.k.a. the worst three years of my life!); I was used to high school,
but for some reason I can’t wrap my mind around getting used to college. I’m
worried that during the summer my drive to succeed decreased or maybe I’m just
not as smart as I thought I was; plus the new professors have me worried. I’ve
asked round and it seems like I’ve got a pretty good lot of professors, except
one. It turns out I’ve got the meanest, most harsh, most unforgiving wretch of
a teacher for my advanced English class – a class I’ve always excelled in.
Gah, so
anyways, this will probably be my last post for a couple days/weeks.
In other
news: I made brownies! Ok, maybe brownies are really all that special so some
people, but these are special brownies, and no not that kind of special.
These
brownies come from the lovely Martha Stewart! Sure she can come off a little
harsh on camera, but I don’t care, that’s what makes her so loveable. Plus she
can craft like no other. I wish I had the gift of craft like she does, but I
digress.
Instead
of pouring the batter into a square or rectangular pan, the batter gets poured
into a simple round cake tin and baked. Then, once the brownie has cooled
completely, a layer of rich ganache is poured on top, which puts this brownie
over the top! (Hardy-har-har)
Martha
has come up with a soft, but not cake-like (which is a sin in the
Brownieopolas) brownie that’s dark and dense, but not too rich. This really is
one of the better brownies that I’ve had. Also, for the first time ever, I
correctly made ganache! I’ve tried making ganache before, but it’s always too
liquidy and the chocolate never melts completely. Then I’m left with
liquidly-flaky chocolate soup. Boo. The ganache that goes on top is silky
smooth and sets up just right. It never hardens all the way, so you’re not
fighting it with your fork. It’s not good to fight desserts with your utensils.
Truffle Brownies
Slightly adapted from Martha
Stewart’s Cookies
Makes one 9” round
Ingredients
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
3 oz. semi-sweet chocolate,
chopped
½ cup (60 g) unbleached
all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¾ cup (144 g) sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
¼ cup milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate,
chopped
1/3 cup heavy cream
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease a 9
inch round springform pan with cooking spray (make sure you really get the
bottom). Set pan aside.
Put butter and semi-sweet chocolate
into a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Stir until the butter
and chocolate have melted together. Set aside to cool slightly.
Whisk together the flour, baking
powder, and salt in a small bowl; set aside. Whisk together the sugar and eggs
in a large bowl until pale and fluffy. Add chocolate mixture and stir until
combined. Stir in the milk and vanilla. Add flour mixture and mix until well incorporated.
Pour batter into the prepared
tin. Set on the middle rack and bake for 25-27 minutes or until a toothpick
inserted comes out clean except for a few crumbs. Let the brownie cool on the
counter while you make the ganache.
Place chocolate in a small bowl.
Heat the cream in a saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Pour over
chocolate and let sit for about 5 minutes. Gently stir until smooth. Allow
ganache to cool, stirring every 10 minutes, until thickened.
Pour ganache over cooled brownies
(still in the pan). Refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes. Once chilled,
run a paring knife around the edge of the cake tin. Remove the bottom of the
cake tin and cut brownies into wedges.
Oh
biscuit dough, how lovely you are. Biscuits are so simple and easy to put
together. It probably doesn’t even take 10 minutes to go from measuring out
ingredients to having those little round gems onto a baking sheet.
There
are so many kinds of biscuits out there I’m not even sure where to start. There
are the crispy and flaky, the soft and fluffy, the dense and buttery, the light
and airy. And don’t get me started with the different add-ins.
What I
have for you today is not really a biscuit, but it uses the same mixing
technique.
I was
going through my cookbooks, trying to decide which ones I would take to college
and which ones I was going to give away. As I was looking through my little
collection I spotted a cookbook that I had made a couple recipes from, but hadn’t
used in ages! I was flipping through the pages and stopped dead in my tracks on
page 51. On that page is a picture of the most beautiful scones with chocolate
chunks peeking out from the crust. These looked so delicious and reminded me so
much of the chocolate-hazelnut scone I had in England that I just HAD to make
these, and boy I’m so glad I did.
These
taste almost the same as the ones from England (without the hazelnuts of
course). These were so light and buttery. It was like eating little clouds with
a chocolatey surprise. These didn’t have the super crunchy shells that the
English version had, but I liked it so much better that way.
These
have become one of my favorite things I’ve shared with you guys. Hopefully you
enjoy!
Chocolate Chip Scones
Adapted from 1001 Cupcakes,
Cookies, & other tempting treats
Makes 8-9 scones
Ingredients
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, chilled
and cubed
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
1/3 (75 g) cup semi-sweet
chocolate chips
2/3 cup milk + extract for
brushing
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a
large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Sift flour into a large bowl. Add
the butter and rub into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture is
coarse and looks like bread crumbs. Mix in the baking powder, salt, and sugar.
Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour the milk into the flour mixture and mix until
the dough had just come together.
Roll the dough onto a lightly
floured surface and pat until it’s about 1-1 ¼ inches thick. Firmly press (don’t
twist) a round cookie cutter into the dough. Peel away the scraps and place the
rounds of dough onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches apart. Re-roll
the dough and repeat until all the dough has been used. Brush the tops with
milk.
Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes,
or until the scones have risen and the tops have become golden brown. Another
way of testing a scone’s doneness is by carefully lifting the scone (remember,
they will be hot) and tapping the bottoms. If you hear a hollow sound, the
scones are done. Remove from baking sheet and transfer to a cooling rack.
I know this
is highly insignificant, but last Friday it rained. Not like a little drizzle
rain or like a ginormous downpour of rain, just… rain. When it rains, I crave
cookies. Well actually I crave making cookies, which is completely different
than wanting cookies.
The
difference between the two is: when I want cookies I long to watch the little
dough rounds slowly spread and puff in the oven; I patiently wait for
the cookies to cool down before I remove them from the hot pan to my plate,
more often than not breaking the cookie in the process; I love pulling apart
the warm and soft freshly baked cookie; and I savor each and every gooey bite.
When I want to make cookie dough I gather all the ingredients and get everything
set up first; I’m totally patient and content with the waiting period for the
butter and sugar to cream. Sometimes I get hypnotized by the motion of the
beaters and the silky texture of the creamed butter and sugar. I’m fascinated with
how the dough can look so dry when you first put in the flour to how smooth and
soft the dough becomes. I love taking my cookie scoop and scooping out the
dough rounds. Making dough just relaxes me, and it’s something I love to do
while it rains. As soon as the rains stop, I kind of get uninterested.
So like
it said, last Friday it rained, so I excitedly went to Foodgawker (my absolute
favorite site to find recipes I’ve decided) to see the different kinds of
chocolate chip cookies I could make. Uhmm, I think I have about sixty-six
cookies favorited on that site, thirteen of which are just chocolate chip (no
add-ins like oats or M&Ms or whatever). What’s a girl to do? Well I kind of
just did eeny-meany-miney-moe, and wound up baking these cookies from Bibberche.
This
recipe yields a flat, yet surprisingly chewy cookie. Because I love soft, chewy,
and puffy cookies, I can’t say that these are my favorite, but I did enjoy
eating them. They have a nice brown-sugary taste to them and they are the
perfect color! I know it’s weird to discuss a chocolate chip cookies color, but
if I had a lighter chocolate chip cookie in front of me and a slightly darker
cookie was placed next to it, I’d go for the darker cookie. It’s more aesthetically
appealing, and plus it gives the promise of a rich brown-sugar taste, which I
love.
Chewy
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Slightly
adapted from Bibberche
Makes about
32 cookies
Ingredients
1 ½ cups
unbleached all-purpose flour
½ tsp.
baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 stick
cold unsalted butter, cubed
½ cup
sugar
¾ cup
dark brown sugar
1 ½ tsp.
pure vanilla extract
1 egg,
lightly beaten
95 grams
semi-sweet chocolate chips (or desired amount)
Directions
Sift
flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl and set aside. In the
bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter and
sugars together. The butter and sugars will not look creamy because the butter
is cold, but once the ingredients have been combined, pour in the vanilla and
egg. Beat on medium speed until combined, you may need to scrape the sides of
the bowl.
Turn the speed down to low and slowly add in the flour mixture.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat on medium for 30 seconds. Pour in
the chocolate chips and mix until the chips have been well distributed
throughout the dough.
Refrigerate
the dough for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat
the oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Portion out the
dough with a 1 tbsp. cookie scoop (or just eye-ball 1 tbsp.-worth of dough).
Place on the lined baking sheet 2 inches apart, the cookies will spread quite a
bit. Bake the cookies for 7-10 minutes.
Allow
cookies to cool on the pan for 2-3 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
Oh Nutella. I’m pretty sure everyone
is in the know about this creamy hazelnut spread that is unless you live under
a rock.
When I lived in Puerto Rico my
parents would drop me off at Monsé’s house. Monsé was my nanny-baby sitter lady
who not only took care of me and my sister, but about ten other different kids
as well. She was like superwoman (in my eyes). I absolutely adored her. And
when all the kids were behaving, she would let each of us pick a candy from her
store (yeah, this woman had a candy shop built into her home!). I would
sometimes go for a gummy hamburger, but most of the time I would chose a case
of Nutella. These little cases came in the shape of the Nutella jar and came
with a little plastic spatula to eat off of. It was the most magical thing ever
I thought.
After we moved, I stopped eating
Nutella. I don’t know why, but I’ve pretty much stayed clear of it. I think my fondness
for peanut butter took over. But just the other day I had a sudden urge to use
Nutella. I looked under all the recipes I had using Nutella and I found about
four. Yeah, that doesn’t help much. I considered making donuts, but I wasn’t in
the mood for donuts. Then I thought about making Nutella oat bars, but when I
asked my sister if she’d rather have Nutella oat bars or Self-frosted Nutella cupcakes,
she leaped at the cupcakes. So cupcakes it was.
I was looking at the reviews for
the self-frosted cupcakes and none were too pleasant. Most of the comments were
centered on the cupcakes being too dry. I searched and searched, but the only
recipe I could find were very similar recipes to that one I had bookmarked.
Instead of going with a mediocre cupcake recipe I decided to just get a really
good vanilla cupcake base and swirl on some Nutella.
Kristin is the author of the beautifully
written The Pastry Affair. I can get lost in her posts all the time. And those
pictures, my god those pictures she takes are so stunning. Sometimes they make
me want to cry. It’s sad, I know. Kristin’s blog is where I found the most
heavenly vanilla cupcakes you will ever try, really. They are soft and delicate,
not to mention so, so airy! I don’t think I’ve ever liked a cupcake more. Plus,
the addition of a little swirl of Nutella makes it all the better, but next
time I’m going to give these babies the true royal treatment and top them with
some kind of fluffy frosting.
Vanilla Cupcakes with Nutella
Swirl
Recipe slightly adapted from The Pastry Affair
Idea from Self-Frosted Nutella
Cupcakes
Makes about 9 cupcakes
Ingredients
¾ cup + 2 tbsp. (112 grams) cake
flour
¾ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, room
temperature
½ cup (96 grams) sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 ½ tbsp. Greek yogurt (full
fat, low fat, or fat free)
2 tbsp. canola oil
1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
Nutella
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a
muffin pan with paper liners and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the
flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set the bowl aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer
fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar until well
combined, about 2 minutes. The mixture won’t look light and fluffy like normal.
Add the egg and beat well on medium. Add the yogurt, oil, and vanilla. Scrape
down the sides of the bowl. Turn the mixer down to low and gradually add the
flour mixture, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Slowly stream the milk
in and beat on low until the batter has become smooth.
Fill the lined muffin tins about
2/3 full. Take your Nutella (as much or as little as you want) and melt it in
the microwave. This will make it easier to swirl into the batter. Once the
Nutella has melted add about 1 tsp. to the tops of each cupcake. Swirl the
Nutella with a tooth pick.
Place muffin pan in the oven on
the middle rack and bake for 12-14 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
when inserted in the center. Place pan on a cooling rack and allow cupcakes to
cool completely before serving.
