Cake Slice Bakers - August 2013: Maple Pecan Chiffon Cake

So much is happening today! For one, today is my parent's 20th anniversary of being married! Which I think is pretty dang awesome for today's day in age where everyone is getting divorced or separated left and right (or does that only seem to be celebrities?). Today also marks my best friend's 19th birthday! Happy birthday, Z! And I can't forget about the Cake Slice Baker's cake reveal of the month!

August's cake happens to be a chiffon cake. I have never made a chiffon cake or angle food cake, yet I have the pan, odd. I have had the pan for several years with the best intentions of baking with it, but I was just never inspired. So needless to say I was happy when my choice of the maple pecan chiffon cake won. That is until a certain incident happened....

You see this pan was stored in my closet because there was no room in the kitchen. You should also know I am deathly afraid of spiders. My dad says I need to see a psychiatrist. I say he needs to realize that spiders are plotting my death. 

Anyways, when I went to get the pan from my closet a spider decided it would be a great time to make it's presence known to me. I screamed and threw the pan at the wall and I'm pretty sure I had my very first heart attack. God, I despise spiders.

Anyways after about 30 minutes of scrubbing that pan clean I got to baking. I thought it was a little weird not to grease the pan, but I must follow those kind of directions. The cake baked up all nice, tall, and fluffy. It looked so beautiful; I was so proud of myself.

Getting the cake out was kind of tricky though because I didn't know how to get the cake out without manhandling it. I finally managed it with only a few finger indentations on the top. But nothing a little frosting can't fix.

Oh my gosh the frosting is so delicious! It's basically the same frosting from my rice krispie cake, but I wasn't as scared about browning the butter this time, so the frosting had this intense nutty flavor! So good. And the cake was so delicious! It had this perfect brown sugar taste. I did omit th pecans because no one in my family is a big fan of the nuts and I knew no one would eat it if it had nuts in it. But no matter, the entire thing was gone within three or four days. So I will most certainly be making this again!

Maple Chiffon Cake
Slightly adapted from Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson
Makes 1 10 inch tube pan

Ingredients
2 cups minus 3 1/2 tbsp. unbleached all-purpose flour*
4 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch*
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
6 egg yolks, room temperature
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
8 egg whites, room temperature
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
1 recipe Brown Butter Icing (below)

*or substitute 2 1/4 cups cake flour

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line the bottom of a footed 10 cup tube pan. Leave the pan ungreased.

Sift together the flour and cornstarch 3 times. Whisk together the sifted cake, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the yolks, oil, maple syrup, water, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until smooth.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and increase the speed to high. Whisk until soft peaks form. turn the mixer speed down to low and gradually pour in the sugar. Turn the mixer back up to high and whip until firm, glossy peaks form.

Fold a third of the whites into the batter using as few strokes as possible. Fold in the rest of the whites until incorporated. Gently pour the batter into the lined (NOT GREASED) pan. Bake until the top springs back when gently touched and the top is a light golden brown, about 50 minutes.

Allow to the cake to cool upside down, so the cake is resting on its feet. If your pan does not have feet, use a wine bottle the support the chimney part of the cake. Once the cake has completely cooled, take a long, thin knife and run it along the edge of the pan. Gently knock to pan against a hard surface until it slide out. Top with the icing and serve. Note: when cutting, use a serrated knife and use a sawing motion so as not the crush the delicate cake.

Brown Butter Icing

Ingredients
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/4 cup whipping cream, cold
1/2 tbsp. pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Directions
Put the sugar in a medium bowl and set aside. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Keep heating until the butter turns from a lemony yellow to a dark golden brown. Once the butter has browned and has a nutty smell, add it to the sugar (do this while the butter is hot). Add the cream, vanilla, and salt. Whisk until smooth. As the butter cools the frosting will thicken. Once the frosting has thickened to the desired consistency, spread over the top of the cooled cake.

Brown Sugar-Sugar Cookies

I made cookies.

Ok, well that isn’t really giant, earth-shattering news, but cookies make people happy, right?

This week is the start of the annual two week state testing what-cha-ma-call it in Colorado. I’ve had to take that stupid test for eight years…EIGHT YEARS! It’s pure torture; the prompts are dumb and it’s just not a fun test. Last year was the first year that I didn’t have to take the state test, but I had to go to ACT prep classes. This year I am totally FREE! So what do I do? I make brown sugar-sugar cookies.

Yup. I absolutely love the taste of brown sugar. I think it is God’s gift to the baking world. It makes everything taste so warm and homey. Mmm. I’m not much of a sugar cookie gal, but when I found these on Joy’s site and just fell in love with the idea of having a sugar cookie, but have it taste like brown sugar.

The cookie dough is kind of crumbly, but when packed it forms nicely together. The cookies are soft but firm at the same time. Joy also added cinnamon and ginger to amp up the flavor profile. As the cookies baked, the whole house smelled of spice, and as soon as I opened the oven door, a wave of cinnamon passed through, which made me sigh in delight.

My family seemed to really like the cookies, even my sister, who as I’ve mentioned before, never eats anything I make. I will admit, though, that these are not my favorite cookies. I have to be in a certain mood, and outside has to be just right for me to enjoy a spice cookie. But, when I want to feel warm and cozy, I’ll probably bake these up again.

Brown Sugar-Sugar Cookies
From Joy theBaker
Makes 26 cookies

Ingredients
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground ginger
6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
½ cup + 2 tbsp dark brown sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 egg yolk

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, and ground ginger; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and brown sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in the egg yolk and vanilla and beat on medium for another minute or two.
3. Slow the mixer speed down to low and add the flour mixture all at once. Mix until all of the flour mixture has been incorporated. Turn the mixer on medium and beat for another 30 seconds or so. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  
4. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes. Once the dough has chilled, use a cookie scoop to portion out the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Make sure to space the cookies about two inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before moving them onto a cooling rack.

Brown Sugar Brown Butter Birthday Cake

Birthdays are so much fun to celebrate, especially when they are close to holidays. Maybe I’m wrong, but it makes your birthday seem extra special when it’s on a special event, I think. However, I have met some people that hate having their birthdays near the holidays, especially Christmas, because the day isn’t about them and Christmas and Birthday presents are intermingled and all that. Everyone in my family has a birthday close to the holidays, well everyone except my sister. My dad was born around Father’s day, which means every once in a while he gets to have an extra special day of peace and quiet; my dog was born on Halloween, which means she doesn’t get chastised for eating people food (it’s her little birthday treat); I was born 12 days after Christmas (the Epiphany); and my mom was born around Thanksgiving, and this year her birthday happened to fall on the 4^th Thursday of the month, Turkey Day!

My dad asked me if I wanted to make my mom’s cake this year or should we just get it from the store. I opted for baking the cake because I don’t like the store frosting and I can manipulate whatever flavors I want into the cake. The first thing that came to mind for my mom was a brown sugar cake. I don’t know what it is about brown sugar, but I absolutely love it!

So, on Thanksgiving morning, I woke up at 6:15 am in order to get to work on her birthday cake. The recipe I used would make a 3 layer cake, and I figured that because it’s Thanksgiving, no one is going to have room for a 3 layer cake, so I cut the recipe into thirds and because not everything cuts evenly, I apologize in advance for the wonky amounts of ingredients. Also, I made this cake in an 8.5x4.5 in loaf pan to accommodate for only four people eating it.

The recipe called for brown butter, which I have only worked with brown butter once before, and I can’t remember which recipe it was. I was a little nervous about the butter burning, so I think I took it off the stove a little too early because it was more of a honey color, but no matter. The batter came together perfectly. It was probably the silkiest batter I have ever laid my eyes on and it poured into the loaf pan like a dream.

The final product was even better! I was a little anxious about it being over done because I had to experiment with cooking times on a count of me using a different pan, but when I sliced into the cake after the meal, it was perfectly moist and soft and everything a cake should be! The taste was fabulous too. Even after such a big meal, the cake was halfway gone in mere minutes. This cake was seriously addicting, so go on, what are you waiting for? Go make this cake for someone you love or you could make it for yourself and not share.

Brown Sugar Brown Butter Birthday Cake

adapted from And Now for Something Completely Delicious

Ingredients
1 ¼ cup unbleached all purpose flour
½ tsp + 1/8 tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
¾ cup brown sugar
5 tbsp unsalted butter
½ cup
1 egg + 1 egg white
2/3 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a saucepan over medium low heat, melt the butter completely. Then let it continue to cook until it turns golden brown in color. Don’t stir, but swirl the pan periodically to ensure it browns easily. Keep your eyes on it, you don’t want it to burn. When browned, put in the fridge to solidify. This will take about 20-30 minutes. You want the butter to still be soft, but not liquid.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 8.5x4.5 in loaf pan.
3. Sift the all purpose flour a few times. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sifted flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the brown sugar, brown butter, and ¼ cup + 2 tbsp of the buttermilk. Mix on medium speed until smooth.
4. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, egg white, the remaining 2 tbsp buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Add to the mixer in two additions, mixing after each until just combined. You will need to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Then turn the mixer up to medium high and beat for a few minutes until smooth.
5. Pour batter into prepared loaf tin. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 28 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, before inverting onto a cake pan to cool completely before glazing.

Maple Glaze

from Joy the Baker

Ingredients
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tsp maple syrup
2 tbsp milk

Directions

1. Dump the confectioners sugar into a medium-sized bowl. Pour on the maple syrup and milk. Stir with a spoon until the glaze falls down in a ribbon. Set the cake over parchment paper (or serving platter if you wish the have luscious pools of glaze surrounding your cake) and spoon over the cake, letting the glaze drip down the sides. Let stand for a few minutes for the glaze to harden.

Cake Slice Bakers - September, 2011: Brown Sugar Pound Cake

Ok, so I lied last month; the Hungarian Coffee Cake was not the last cake the Cake Slice Bakers was going to bake out of Cake Keeper Cakes. Katie from Apple and Spice decided to surprise us by letting us choose the real final cake to make from this book.

Based off of what I’ve read, many bloggers chose the Nutella Swirl Pound cake. I have to admit, the thought of making that pound cake crossed my mind a few times, but that is not the cake I chose to bake this month. The cake I decided to make is also a pound cake, but it is a brown sugar pound cake.

This particular pound cake isn’t really like a pound cake, at least I don’t think it is. The cake turned out super moist and tender, and before you go assuming that I’m complaining, I’m not. I just associate pound cakes to be very thick and dense were as this cake was so soft. You can really taste the brown sugar in it because that is the only type of sugar that is used in the recipe (unless you count the cinnamon sugar topping). Oh yeah, did I mention there is a cinnamon sugar topping? Yeah, there’s a little sprinkling of cinnamon sugar on top before the cake bakes and it made my whole house smell of cinnamon sugar for a good three hours after the cake was out of the oven. And there may be a bit of cinnamon sugar residue on the top, but that quickly melts away as it cools and the cinnamon sugar leaves a nice crunch on the top.

I only had the pleasure of eating the cake cold because I forgot to warm it up in the microwave, even though I told myself I would do that. Funny how quickly I forget things, even if I was just thinking of it just moments before. Even though the cake was cold, it was fabulous. My dad had a slice when it was still warm and he said that a little scoop of vanilla ice cream would be the perfect accompaniment, and I do imagine he is right.

By the way, there are a few openings available if you want to join in on the monthly cake baking of the Cake Slice Bakers. If you are interested in joining the Cake Slice Bakers, please email Katie at appleandspice[AT]hotmail[DOT]co[DOT]uk. Don’t forget to mention your: name, blog name, blog URL, and the email you use in order to access your blog. Remember, since there is a limited amount of space, it is first come first serve to join.

Check back next month to see what cake we are baking from our new cookbook we will be using for the next twelve months.

Brown Sugar Pound Cake
from Cake Keeper Cakes

Ingredients
½ cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, soft
¾ cup brown sugar
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9 inch loaf pan and dust with flour.
2. Combine the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla extract in a glass measuring cup and beat gently until the egg yolks have broken up. Set that aside. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set that aside as well.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and brown sugar for about 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Scrap down the sides of the bowl every once in a while if necessary.
4. Set the speed to medium-low and slowly drizzle in the egg and buttermilk mixture. The result will be a very lumpy mess; don’t worry, because once the flour mixture is added, all those weird clumps will disappear.
5. Turn the mixer to low speed and slowly add in the flour mixture about a half a cup at a time. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition. After the last flour installment, beat the batter on medium speed for about 30 seconds. The recipe called for 1 cup of raisins, but I omitted that, so if you would like to have raisins added to your cake, by all means, fold them in now.
6. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and ground cinnamon until thoroughly mixed and sprinkle as much as you want on the top. Place on the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake until the top is golden brown. The directions said this would take about 55 minutes, but mine was done after 45 minutes, but I left it in the oven two extra minutes for good measure.
7. Let the cake cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes. Invert the cake and turn right side up onto a cooling rack to cool for the remainder of the cooling process. Slice and serve any which way you want. Store the cake in a cake keeper or wrapped in plastic wrap for up to three days.

Brown Sugar Oatmeal Scones

Have you ever had one of those weeks that no matter how much stuff you’ve got going on, more stuff just seems to keep piling on until you feel that you just can’t get everything done on time? That’s been my week. And I’m sorry I haven’t posted anything in a long time, but I meant to, honest.

Last week I was going to update the blog with a nice flourless chocolate cookie recipe I found over on Shared Sugar, but, it kind of flopped. I could not get those silly things to bake all the way through, no matter what I did! After what seemed like 30 minutes of baking, I eventually just turned off the oven and let them sit (they still weren’t cooked). It was like a lava cake, only in cookie form. However, that does sound like a good concept.

Anyways, I wont keep you waiting from these scones. Well, at least I think they are scones. You see, I’ve never had a scone before. I’ve seen many a scone though. I see them all the time in the plastic containers at the grocery stores and I see them on my occasional trip to Starbucks, but I have never eaten one before. I got to thinking what I would make after my cookie fail and scones popped into my mind. I’ve really been in the mood for brown sugar, so naturally I googled “brown Sugar Scones”. I’ve got this thing where, if I look something up on the internet and I click a recipe, I bookmark it and “shop” around some more for other recipes. The weird thing about that is that I almost always go back to that first recipe. This recipe was no exception.

Like I said before, I’m not sure if these are actually scones because there is no butter in the recipe (unless you count the melted butter brushed on top). But is that what makes a scone a scone? I don’t know.

Whatever they are, they are sweet little things. I don’t mean sweet like sugary sweet, I mean like delicate and delectable kind of sweet. These scones had only been in the oven for five minutes before I could smell the brown sugar, wafting through the air. I kept checking on them, turning the oven light on and off, just to make sure my little darlings were cooking all the way through. They even finished a little early. The outer shell was a nice, golden brown color with a little dusting of white sugar. When I broke one of them open, I could see a little steam rising from the center and it called to me. It told me to take a bite, and I did. The pillowy interior was so soft, warm, and inviting. I loved breaking it off in little pieces and eating it that way. The outer shell was the best part though, I think it had more brown sugary flavor than the center. Plus, the crust is the best part of anything, isn’t it?

Brown Sugar Oat Scones
slightly adapted from The Cilantropist

Ingredients
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¼ cup brown sugar
1/3 cup rolled oats (not instant)
2/3 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup milk
1 tbsp butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, and oats. Slowly add in the milk, stirring constantly. The dough will start to become very sticky, so if you need to, use your hands for the mixing.
3. Turn the dough onto a well floured surface, and I mean well floured, this dough will stick if you don’t flour your countertop. Knead the dough for about a minute, just to make sure it is well combined. Put a little bit of flour onto your hands and shape the dough into a circle or rectangle. Take a 2 inch round biscuit cutter (or you can cut your circle into triangles or rectangle into squares) and press into the dough. You may need to flour the cutter a little if the dough happens to be extra sticky. Shake the dough out of the cutter and place on the prepared baking tray. With the left over dough, just knead it a few more times and repeat, repeat, repeat!
4. Place the dough circles about an inch or inch and a half apart. I got 12 two inch scones from this recipe, so arrange then in a manner where you can fit them all onto one baking tray. Next, brush a little bit of the melted butter on the tops and sprinkle with either oats, brown sugar, or granulated sugar. If you want, you can even do a combo, or no garnishing at all, it’s your preference. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. If you want to double check, insert a toothpick in the side, and if it comes out clean, they’re done.
5. Transfer the tray onto an awaiting cooling rack and let the scones cool while still on the tray for a few minutes. Then, take the scones off of the tray and let them finish cooling on the cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. I highly recommend serving them warm. If you need to microwave it, microwave the scone at a low setting for 10 seconds. Spread with butter or jam, or just eat it plain, they are good either way.

Brown Sugar Fudge

So last week(ish) I said I wanted to make fudge, but I didn’t have a candy thermometer, so I opted for making butterscotch blondies. Well I shopped online for a while until I found a candy thermometer that was a good price and had at least 3 star reviews. After searching and searching, I found one made by the CIA; no, not the secrete CIA but the Culinary Institute of America. This is an awesome thermometer for a first time candy maker, like myself. But this isn’t a product review, this is about FUDGE! Brown Sugar Fudge to be exact.

I was so nervous when making this. I was checking and double checking the recipe instructions so many times, that I have probably memorized it. And then the temperature of the liquid fudge wasn’t rising and that was making me panic because I thought I would end up burning the sugar, but I realized I didn’t have the sugar to a full boil. But considering this was my first time melting sugar and making fudge, I think things went pretty smoothly.

Now this was originally for my sister since she loves brown sugar or anything with sugar for that matter. She says it tastes really delicious, like caramel. However, I don’t think it’s all that special, maybe I’m used to a more fudgy fudge, you know like the ones that are kinda soft, but yet really dense and just filled with yummyness? I’m not saying these are nasty or gross or anything, I’m saying they are different and I’m not sure I’m ready to call it fudge, but if I don’t call it fudge, I don’t know what to call it, so I’ll just stick with Brown Sugar Fudge for right now.

Isn't this a gorgeous site? I almost felt bad for marking out the squares is was so pretty.

But I had to mark the squares, otherwise I couldn't know where to cut.

However, the fudge didn't seem to want to cut to nicely anyways...

Brown Sugar Fudge
from 1001 Cupcakes, Cookies & Other Tempting Treats
makes 49 squares

Ingredients
7 tbsp unsalted butter (cubed)
1 ¼ cup whole milk
4 cups light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Line a square baking dish with tin foil and sray the tin foil with cooking spray
2. Place butter, milk and sugar into a heavy duty, large sauce pan and slowly bring to a boil (I started off with the heat at 8). Stir constantly until the butter has melted completely. Once the butter has melted, bring the mixture to a full boil and cover for 2 minutes as it gently boils. (I set the stove between 5-6, otherwise it would boil over.)
3. After the 2 minutes is up, take the lid off and bring back to a full boil, stirring occasionally. Once the temperature on the candy thermometer has reached *240 degrees F, removed from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Set the pan aside for 5 minutes to allow fudge to cool.
4. Once cooled, beat the liquid fudge until it has lost some of it's shine and has become thick and creamy. Pour immediately into the prepared baking dish (DO NOT scrape the bottom of the pan for it will add the unwanted sugar crystals into the fudge) and set aside to cool for a few minutes. Once cooled, run a knife through the fudge to mark out the pieces. After it has cooled completely, take a sharp knife and cut the fudge into squares.

*the 240 degree F temperature is for people at sea level. For every 500ft that you are elevated, subtract a degree from the final point. For example. If you are 3,500ft above sea level and the directions say to bring the mixture to 250 degrees then you subtract 7 degrees, so you stop boiling your product at 243 degrees instead.

Nutrition Facts
serving size: 1 square inching

Calories 77.1 Total Fat 1.8 g Saturated Fat 0.1 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g Cholesterol 4.8 mg Sodium 4.3 mg Potassium 0.1 mg Total Carbohydrate 16.0 g Dietary Fiber 0.0 g Sugars 16.0 g Protein 0.2 g