Joy the Baker » cake

Chocolate Beet Cake with Beet Cream Cheese Frosting

joythebaker — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:52:01 +0000

Hey Dude (that I’m currently dating),

We need to talk. It’s about your mother.

Mostly… it’s about how I need to meet your mother. We’ve been carrying on for a while now… and I need to meet the lady that birthed you, clothed you, slapped you upside the head, and made you the awesome man you are now. If I don’t meet her soon, she will surely think me some sort of hussy harlot who was born in a barn and doesn’t much care for other people’s mothers. This is not the case. I care about most mothers, often.

It’s a lady thing that perhaps you don’t understand. I need to be nervous. I need to bite off all my nails. I need to agonize over the perfect outfit that will make me look sophisticated, but sweet and approachable, womanly without being more womanly that her. I need the outfit that says I can damn well take care of myself, and keep her dear and darling son in line for the rest of his life. It’s a fine fine fiiiine line.

I need to let your mother look me up and down in examination. I need to stand there and let her envision me as her daughter-in-law. I need to eat her casserole, express my desire for the recipe… then I need to do her dishes.

I need to let her tell me how to do things that I already know how to do, like make a pie, and pluck my eyebrows. We need to watch 60 Minutes together. She in her recliner, me sitting on the floor. I need to offer to bring dessert. She’ll make a face when it’s being served, and enjoy it despite herself. It’s all a dance. Every moment of it. It’s all a test… because mothers do not let their sons go quietly… they let them go passive aggressively.

Lastly, she needs to see that I make you happy. That’s where you come in. Don’t act weird. Well, don’t act weirder than you usually act. Be natural… and put your arm around me once in a while. It’s your job to make sure that no one gets a third glass of wine. That’s when things get weird.

It’s also your job NOT to tell your mother that there are beets in the cake I’m serving for dessert. That will be our little secret. Unless she loves it… then I’m taking all the glory.

Cool.

Love,

Joy

Quite right. This chocolate cake is chocked full of roasted beets.

Beets are trimmed of their greens (which are delicious sauteed) and roasted whole in foil and just a touch of oil. You know… like you’re making a beet salad, but you’re totally making cake.

Besides beets, this cake also has the usual cake- y suspects: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, powder, and salt.

I love preparing cake pans for baking. Something about the ritual just calms me.

Parchment paper rounds (that are cut by hand) totally ensure that the cake will come out of the pan in one piece. It’s an extra bit of work, but I love the insurance.

Roasted beets are cooled and peeled (which is easy… not to worry), and grated on the fine side of a box grater.

If you’re wondering about beet stained hands… yes, I had two. They eventually wash clean.

Beets add moisture and sweetness to the cake. Beets do not make the cake taste like a salad. That’s an important thing to know.

The cake batter will be a purple color, but will bake into a moist chocolate cake with no trace of beets.

Let’s talk about frosting. Butter and cream cheese are left at room temperature until soft. They’re beaten with powdered sugar, vanilla, and a squeeze of lemon.

Beets, too! Beets, shredded and mashed add a slight sweetness and intense color to the frosting. It’s all you need for food coloring. It’s delightful and delicious. And again… it does not taste like salad.

You may have a few beet strands in your frosting as you decorate the cake. Think of it as nature’s sprinkles.

… I can’t believe I just typed that.

I’m sorry.

I want you to fall in love with this cake. I did.

The cake itself is moist and chocolate-y. It’s not too sweet either! Bonus. The frosting is bright pink, speckled with beet bits, and creamy sweet.

No one would ever know this cake is chocked full of vegetables. We can just keep that little bit of information between us. Secret ingredient power!

Pssst… Valentine’s Day Cake! I’m just sayin…

Chocolate Beet Cake with Beet Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes one 8 or 9-inch layer cake

adapted from Fine Cooking November 2001

Print this Recipe!

For the Cake:

2 medium beets, unpeeled but trimmed of their greens

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

6 ounces (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing the pans

1 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pans

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

For the Frosting:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

8 ounces (1 brick) cream cheese, softened

4 to 5 cups powdered sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons finely grated beets, mashed with a fork

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or scrapings of one vanilla bean pod

1-2 teaspoons milk, depending on desired consistency

1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

pinch of salt

Place a rack in the center and upper third of the oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Thoroughly wash beets under running water, and trim their leaves, leaving about 1/2 inch of stem. Place clean beets in a piece of foil. Drizzle with just a bit of vegetable oil. Seal up foil. Place on a baking sheet in the oven. Roast until beets are tender when pierced with a knife, about 1 hour.

Remove the beets from the oven. Open the foil and allow beets to cool completely. Beets will be easy to peel (just using a paring knife) once completely cooled.

Using a box grater, grate the peeled beets on the finest grating plane. Measure 3/4 cup of grated beets for the cake and 2 tablespoons for the frosting. Set aside.

Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Use butter to grease two 8 or 9-inch round baking pans. Trace a piece of parchment paper so it is the same size as the bottom of the cake pan. Cut it out and place inside the cake pan. Butter the parchment paper. Add a dusting of flour to coat the pan. Set pans aside while you prepare the cake.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars. Beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, for one minute after each addition. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Once eggs are incorporated, beat in beets and vanilla extract until thoroughly combined.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Add half of the dry ingredients to the butter and egg mixture. Beating on low speed , slowly add the buttermilk. Once just incorporated, add the other half of the dry ingredients. Beat on medium speed until milk and dry ingredients are just incorporated. Try not to overmix the batter. Bowl can be removed from the mixer and mixture folded with a spatula to finish incorporating ingredients. Cake batter will be on the thick side… not pourable.

Divide the batter between the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 23 to 25 minutes (for a 9-inch pan) or 30-32 minutes (for an 8-inch pan). Cake is done when a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove cakes from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting and assembling the cake.

To make the Frosting:

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, beat cream cheese for 30 seconds, until pliable and smooth. Add the butter and beat for another 30 seconds, until well combined. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl as necessary. Beat in the beets. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, milk, lemon juice, and salt. Beat on medium speed until smooth and silky. Refrigerate the frosting for 30 minutes before frosting the cooled cakes.

To assemble the cake, place one layer of cake on a cake stand or cake plate. Top with a generous amount of pink frosting. Spread evenly. Place the other cake on top of the frosting. Top with frosting. Work frosting onto the sides of the cake. You will have extra frosting left over. Refrigerate for an hour before serving (it will make the cake easier to slice). Cake will last, well wrapped in the refrigerator, for up to 4 days.

Strawberry Upside-down Cake with Cardamom

joythebaker — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 05:36:51 +0000

I thought upside down was one word. I was wrong.

You knew it wasn’t one word. You’re smarter than me.

Let’s learn a lesson… because I just learned it, and I want to share it with you.

Upside down is two words when you write something like “Oh crap… that pie just landed on the floor upside down!” Adverb nation. Wait… right?

Upside-down is hyphenated when it’s used as an adjective like, “Oh crap… Joy is totally obsessed with strawberries right now, and that Strawberry Upside-down Cake looks major.” Upside-down describes the cake… working overtime in adjective land.

… And this… this is why I’m not an English teacher.

Class dismissed.

I shoved this cake in my mouth on Sunday morning as I was rushing off to church.

I wasn’t late.

Ok… I wasn’t that late.

My point is that this cake is super easy to throw together on a Sunday morning.

And! It’s best eaten warm (when you’re in a hurry).

The cake batter is a simple brown sugar and sour cream cake. It’s sweet and moist, with a delicate but sturdy crumb. How’s that for food words?

Easy, uncomplicated, summer weekend dessert.

If you wanted to experiment with other berries for this recipe, I’d totally support you!

Strawberry Upside-down Cake with Cardamom

makes: one 8-inch cake

Print this Recipe!

For the Topping:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup sliced strawberries

For the Cake:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

2/3 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

I used an 8-inch round with 3-inch tall sides. You can also use a 9-inch round with 2-inch sides.

Place butter in the cake pan and place in the oven. When butter is melted, remove pan from the oven. Using two pot holders, tilt the pan around and around, coating the sides of the pan with butter. Once sides are coated, set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cardamom. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and brown sugar on medium speed. Cream until slightly pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stop mixer, scrape down the bowl with a spatula, and add egg and vanilla extract. Beat for 1 minute.

Turn the mixer off, scrape the bowl, and add the dry ingredients. Beat on low speed while adding the sour cream. Beat until the batter just comes together. Batter will be pretty thick. Remove the bowl from the mixer and finish incorporating ingredients with a spatula.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup brown sugar into the melted butter in the cake pan. Sprinkle strawberry slices over the butter and sugar in a single layer. Spoon batter over the strawberries and spread evenly with a spatula. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cake rest for 10 minutes before running a knife around the edge of the cake and inverting the cake onto a cake plate. Serve warm with sweetened sour or whipped cream.

Lemon Cornmeal Breakfast Cake

joythebaker — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 07:30:13 +0000

There are only three reason why I would rip the shirt off my body in public:

1. If a kitten were on fire and I needed to smother him, put him out, cuddle him, give him food, and make him mine forever.

2. If I discovered a bee… a ferocious, man-eating bee, down my shirt.

3. If a handsome young fireman needed my shirt to wipe his sweaty brow after saving a grandmother and her fluffy orange cat from the top of a burning tree. But even then… I’d make the fireman take his shirt off first. I have standards.

Yesterday, I ripped my shirt off in a spazzy, screaming fit on Main Street in Santa Monica. There was no kitten nor fireman in sight. There was a bee down my shirt. A live bee… buzzing down my shirt. Standing in front of a bike shop and across the street from a busy cafe, I full on FREAKED OUT and tore my shirt off my body. There was also FREAK OUT screaming involved. Then I spent another agonizing ten seconds trying to brush the bee off my body with the shirt I was supposed to be wearing.

Then I was just standing there… on the street… shirtless… in my ugly bra… the one that looks like my grandma’s sprotsbra. I just stood there, holding my shirt and staring squarely at the ground… at the bee struggling to walk away… at the bee that had rendered me shirtless. I knew that if I looked up from the ground I would be mortified times one million.

As I’m struggling with the sleeves, trying to get my shirt back on… I see a pair of feet stroll past me. I didn’t see one of those red tipped seeing eye sticks, so this person was clearly a seeing person. A witness. Ok. Carry on.

My sleeves were all wonky, I couldn’t button my shirt inside out. I was a hot mess… so I had to take my shirt off (again!) invert the spazzy sleeves and put my shirt back on. That’s twice that I’ve taken my top off… Enough!

I never did look up from the ground. I never did blush. I did, however, want to dig a whole through the concrete and tunnel home instead of putting my shirt back on and riding home. But that’s just what I did. And if anyone was pointing and laughing… well, I guess I can’t blame them. I was quite the site.

Lessons were learned. Always wear a cute bra.

In more important news, I made a lovely lemon cake.

Let me tell you about it… it’ll distract me from the humiliation.

This lemon cake is simple and unassuming. It’s combined with cornmeal and baked up in a cast iron skillet. It’s sort of like hearty Southern cornbread meets dainty lemon tea cake. The cake is topped with sweet lemon glaze while it’s still warm, and the sweetness seeps into the cake itself.

What the name of this cake doesn’t tell you is that is has browned butter in it. See? We’re friends for life.

This is not a fancy pants dessert… that’s why I call it a breakfast cake. Breakfast cakes don’t wear their pearls to the table… obvi.

Lemon Cornmeal Breakfast Cake

makes one 9-inch cake

recipe adapted from Bon Appetit, April 2009

Print this Recipe!

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup yellow cornmeal

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

2 large eggs

1 tablespoons lemon zest

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus one tablespoons unsalted butter, melted until browned then cooled slightly

Lemon Glaze:

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

3 to 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

In a 9 or 10-inch cast iron skillet, melt butter over medium heat until browned and fragrant. Use a potholder to grab onto the cast iron and carefully tilt back and forth so the melted butter greases the sides of the pan. Remove browned butter from the cast iron to cool, and set the buttery cast iron aside. That’s what we’re going to bake the cake in!

If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, simply butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan. Set aside. Brown the butter in a skillet over the stove top and incorporate into the recipe just the same.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugars, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, carefully whisk together eggs, buttermilk, lemon zest and butter. Add the wet ingredients, all at once, to the dry ingredients and fold together with a spatula. Fold until very few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared buttered pan and place in the oven.

While the cake bakes, whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice for the glaze. Set aside.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Use a skewer or the tines of a fork to poke holes in the bake. Sporadic holes here and there will do. Pour over the glaze, spread evenly and let rest for about 30 minutes before serving. This cake will last for up to 4 days, well wrapped, at room temperature.

Lemon and Matcha Marble Pound Cake

joythebaker — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 06:11:03 +0000

My friend makes one small mention of Rachel Zoe this morning and here I am, shoulders deep into a Rachel Zoe Project marathon.

Shameless.

I keep telling myself that I’ll just watch one more episode… one more… then I’ll think of something to write on my blog.

Five hours later… here I am, alone in my house, wearing heels and my chunky sweater. I may or may not have just shopped for a furry vest online… and I’m so invested in Rachel getting pregnant, it’s ridiculous.

I need a Rodg… or a psychiatrist… or a bottle of vodka… or just someone to come turn off this program. I’m not sure.

Swoon.

In other news… I made this really beautiful cake.

I’m so happy with this little darling. It’s marbled, green, flavorful and delicate.

Dreamboat situation.

Matcha.

The lemon portion of this pound cake is pretty simple. Lemon. Juice and zest. We all know what that is. Bright and delicious.

What’s Matcha?

Matcha is a finely milled green tea. When combined with hot water, it creates the most beautifully green, super flavorful, luxurious green tea. It’s the whole tea leaf, ground super fine so you get all the goodness of green tea in a super powerful way. Fancy.

Matcha is used as a ceremonial tea so there are often fancy whisks and bowls to accompany the tea. I forgo those items and manage to make myself a beautiful cup of matcha with just the powder almost every morning.

Besides a nice morning cup of matcha (with milk and honey), the green powder is great in ice creams, custards and cakes.

Matcha is a really lovely ingredient in baking. Green secret weapon.

But! Matcha is a tad bit more expensive than regular old green tea.

I use The Art of Tea Matcha… it’s really lovely.

Splurge a little. I think you’ll really like it.

But maybe I’m just saying that because I really want you to make this cake.

I mean really… look how pretty this is!

The brightness of the lemon. The earthiness of the green tea. Eggs, butter and sugar. This cake is delicate and impressive. See, I just used food words.

But be prepared to get stray powder on your shoes and your jeans. And please pay no mind to the gravy stain I also have on my shoes.

That’s just embarrassing… but seriously, who doesn’t love gravy?

You get the idea, right?

I’m sorry to leave you like this… it’s just that I have a few more episodes of Zoe to go.

Lemon and Matcha Marble Pound Cake

makes one 9x5x4-inch pound cake, plus 12 mini muffins (see… I had a little extra batter and I didn’t want to overflow my baking pan)

Print this Recipe!

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/3 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

zest of one lemon and juice of half a lemon

1 Tablespoon matcha powder

1 stick plus 7 Tablespoons (15 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the loaf pan, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Also butter a mini muffin pan or line a regular muffin tin with cupcakes papers for the small amount of excess batter. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Whisk the eggs into the sugar. You can use a large bowl with a whisk for this. You don’t really need a big mixer for this recipe. Beat until the eggs and sugar are thoroughly incorporated. Whisk in the extract, then whisk in the sour cream. Continuing with the whisk, or switching to a large rubber spatula, gently stir in the dry ingredients in 3 or 4 additions; the batter will be smooth and thick. Finish by folding in the melted butter in 2 or 3 additions.

Divide the batter in half (just eyeball it) into two separate bowls. In one bowl add the zest and lemon juice. In the other bowl, fold in the matcha tea powder.

Pour some of the lemon batter into the pan. Top it with a portion of the green tea batter. Add more lemon and top with more green tea batter. Fill the loaf pan, leaving at least 1-inch of room at the top of the pan for the cake to rise. Swirl gently and minimally with a butter knife to get a good swirl effect. With the remaining batter, make mini muffins or cupcakes.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. The mini muffins will take about 15 minutes and the cupcakes will take about 18-20 minutes.

Once removed from the oven, allow the loaf to rest in the pan for 20 minutes before running a knife along the edges of the pan and inverting the cake onto a cooling rack.

Poppy Seed Cake with Blueberry Glaze

joythebaker — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:52:15 +0000

Two days ago my sister was out in Seattle having dinner with a friend. Simple enough, right?

She was approached my a friendly faced woman and asked “Are you Joy the Baker’s sister?” My sister burst into confused laughter. They carried on a short, smile filled conversation and went on with their meals… my sister still slightly confounded.

Lauren is Joy the Baker’s sister… that’s not the confusing part. The confusing part is that you all might recognize my sister in the world. Awesome. Odd. Strange. And awesome again.

Have I told you how awesome you are? How glad I am that you’re here? How glad I am that you would say hi to my sister if you saw her in Seattle? Well…. you are awesome. I’m so stoked that you’re here and thanks for being nice to my sister. For. Reals. Cause if you weren’t nice to her… we’d have to fight. That would be weird.

In other news… I can’t find my tweezers and I made you a cake. Let’s discuss.

I’m a sucker for an easy bundt cake… especially when it happens to be covered in blue glaze. This cake is all sorts of straight forward. It comes together in two bowls and bakes up in 45 minutes. I love the teeny tiny crunch of poppy seeds. To make this more of a breakfast cake, you might add fresh blueberries into the poppy seed batter. To make this more of a simple and fancy cake, leave the blueberries only for the glaze. It’s pretty and tasty either way.

Poppy Seed Cake with Blueberry Glaze

inspired by Jun and Arlene

makes one 10-inch bundt cake

Print this Recipe!

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cup canola oil

1 cup buttermilk

2 large egg

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 Tablespoons poppy seeds

Blueberry Glaze

1/4 cup frozen blueberries, thawed but not drained

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons buttermilk (or regular milk is fine too)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place a rack in the center of the oven. Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. In another medium bowl, whisk together canola oil, buttermilk, egg, vinegar, and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients all at once. Whisk together until just combined and no lumps remain. Stir in the poppy seeds. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cook in the pan for 20 minutes. Carefully run a butter knife along the edges of the cake to assure that it is well loosed before inverting the cake onto a wire rack to cool.

Print this Recipe!

To make the blueberry glaze:

Mash the thawed blueberries in a medium sized bowl releasing lots of dark blue juice. Remove most of the blueberry skins from the juice and discard. Add the vanilla extract, buttermilk and lemon. Add the powdered sugar and whisk to combine. If the mixture is too thick, add more milk to reach the desired consistency. If the mixture is too thin, add just a bit more powdered sugar.

Drizzle the glaze over the completely cooled bundt cake and allow to set for 20 minutes before serving.

Avocado Pound Cake

joythebaker — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:30:09 +0000

I’d really like to conjure up some useful information for you. That would be nice, right? I could tell you all about avocados. Where they came from. What a lovely shade of green they are. Why they’re so expensive at the grocery store… you know, things like that.

But you didn’t come here for boring old information… did you!?

I didn’t think so.

You came here because you want me to admit to eating Pepperidge Farm Soft Bake Cookies…which is totally happening right now. You came here because you want me to admit to rrreeeeaaaalllllyyyy wanting to watch the season finale of The Bachelor… it’s true… it’s a problem. You came here because you want me to admit to wearing my big fluffy slipper socks. The dreaded socks/shoes that will keep me single for eternity. Well… I’m wearing them and I’m loving it.

So there, friends. It’s all out on the table. Now can we talk about cake?

I’ve baked with avocado before. Remember the Vegan Chocolate Avocado Cake with Avocado Buttercream? Yea… that was intense… and surprising… and bright green. Amazing.

I got my hands on another round of avocados and made some magic happen. This recipe makes two glorious loaves of cake. I’ve cut back on the butter and thrown in some ripe mashed avocados. The batter is moistened with buttermilk and bakes up with a lovely golden top and faintly green center.

Can you taste the avocado after the cake is baked? Heck yes you can! It’s subtle but distinct with a nice sweetness and a hint of crunch from cornmeal. I love this pound cake. It’s a home run.

We served this pound cake for The Violet Hour supper brunch with blood orange, pink grapefruit and pomelo segments and a lightly sweetened rose whipped cream. Whoa! Whole lotta yum.

Avocado Pound Cake

makes 2 9x4x3-inch loaves

Print this Recipe!

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

3 cups sugar

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup buttermilk

flesh of 1 1/2 ripe avocados, just over a cup to a cup and a half of avocado, mashed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two loaf pans and set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, sift together flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside. Set the four eggs out on the counter to come to room temperature while you beat the butter and sugar.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter on medium speed until softened and pliable. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the avocado and beat another minute to incorporate. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that everything is thoroughly mixed.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating 1 minute after the addition of each egg. Beat in vanilla extract.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and add half of the flour mixture, all of the buttermilk, and then the rest of the flour mixture. Beat just until combined.

Divide the dough between the two loaf pans and place in the oven. Turn the oven down to 325 degrees F. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. I checked my cakes every ten minutes or so after the 30 minute mark. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

My Favorite Fall Recipes

joythebaker — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:20:07 +0000

Autumn is settling in. Autumn has settled in, and here I am ready to accept it. I’m also ready to accept the fact that my days in the kitchen are about to dramatically increase (if you can believe that) as my cravings for apple crisp (lovelovelovelovelovelovelove), pumpkin cookies and cranberry treats become harder to ignore. I’m less ready to embrace the way my jeans are tightening around my thighs… or maybe it’s my thighs growing inside my jeans. Either way, the tightness and the sucking in of the tummy seems to be just a part of the season.

What are you up to in the kitchen these days? Here’s some food for thought Yes… I totally just said that.

Mocha Hazelnut Marble Cake. This cake was gorgeous, classy and utterly fine… until I tried to transport it in a fancy cake stand and got this glistening chocolate glaze exactly everywhere. Everywhere. Lesson learned.

Sweet and soft Ginger Chewies. Full of molasses attitude.

Spiced Pear Walnut Cake with a praline walnut glaze. How about I just go ahead and make the glaze and then spoon it into my mouth… forget the cake. This beauty is all about the glaze.

Cinnamon Spice Buns. The dough is spiced. The filling is sugar and spice. There’s butter and glaze. Make this a part of your life please.

Vanilla Bean Rice Pudding. I ate the whole pot. The whole pot. By myself.

Pizza. Homemade pizza. Easy. Not hard. Worth it’s weight in gold and precious stones.

Spiced Apple Cake

joythebaker — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:05:24 +0000

I sometimes wish that my future self could just pop into my present world just to… you know… say hi, and let me know that everything in the future is going along just swimmingly. That never happens, but maybe I just haven’t given future me enough guidance. With this in mind… here’s a quick letter to future me. Now maybe 48 year old me will get crackin’ on some answers. Slacker.

Dear Future Me,

Hi. How’s it going? You look really pretty in that sweater.

I have a few questions for you. I hope you’ll indulge me.

Are you still unreasonably afraid of spiders? Probably. You know what? That’s ok. That’s what spouses are for… clearing spiders from anywhere that might interfere with you.

Speaking of spouses… do you have one? How’s that going? Awesome. I hope it’s awesome. I hope you two hold hands and take morning walks and go out on dates.

Do you still buy the cheap mascara? Have you been to Italy yet?

Tell me you still wear a little black dress and heels on occasion. Please.

Kids. Do we have Mom hands yet? Oooh, I love Mom hands. I can’t wait to have Mom hands… well I can wait. I’m waiting right this very second and I don’t feel bad. But Mom hands…. I bet we totally have Mom hands.

How do you feel about eggplant? Do you like eggplant yet?

What’s been good? What’s been not so good? Are you livin’ the dream?

Let me know how we are. Send me a sign… maybe a paper airplane with your answers… whatever you need to do.

I’ll be sitting here with a cup of tea and my Spiced Apple Cake waiting to hear from you.

Love,

Present Me

Quick Blurb of Shamelessness

Hi… it’s me, Joy the Baker. I hang out here a lot. So do you. I like that. Thanks.

Last week I was nominated for the Foodbuzz Blog Awards. The Best Baking Blog… go figure. If you’re feeling… votey, you might head on over to Foodbuzz to vote for all the fine folks that are up for an award. Yea? Thanks!

I love this apple cake. LOVE IT! It’s perfectly spiced, full of tart fall apples and moistened with sour cream. I baked my apple cake in an old fashioned tube pan, but I think this recipe is best made in a 8″ or 9″ spring form pan. Bonus! This cake freezes well. I sliced my cake and wrapped up pieces individually to grab as an afternoon snack at work. Spiced Apple Cake with hot tea… a perfect world.

Spiced Apple Cake

from The Sweet Life

Print this Recipe!

Sauteed Apples

2 tart apples (about 1 pound)

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons sugar

Cake

12 Tablespoons butter, at room temperature

1 cup packed light brown sugar

4 egg yolks, at room temperature

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon clove

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon sour cream

1/4 cup raw sugar (or granulated if you don’t have raw on hand)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and place a rack in the center of the oven. Butter and flour an 8-inch spring form pan and set aside.

To sautee the apples: peel, core and dice the apples into 1/4-inch cubes. Melt the butter in a saute pan over medium heat until butter beings to bubble. Add the diced apples and cook for one minute, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the sugar and continue to cook for 2 minutes. Turn the heat to low and cook the apples, uncovered for 4-5 minutes until they are softened. Remove from heat and allow to cool. You’ll only use the sauteed apples for the recipe so you can discard any liquids that may have accumulated.

To make the cake: cream the butter, sugar and spices in a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment until light in color and fluffy. This may take 6 to 8 minutes. Stop the mixer occasionally, to scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue beating until mixture is light and fluffy.

Add the egg yolks one at a time and continue beating until fluffy and glossy.

Measure out the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. With the mixer set on low speed, add half of the dry ingredients to the batter. Mix until no flour streaks remain. Add the sour cream all at once and incorporate. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until no traces remain. Fold in the cooked apples with a rubber spatula. The cake batter will be thick.

Spread the cake batter into the prepared pan and distribute evenly. Take a knife and run it in a singular circular motion through the batter 1-inch from the edge of the pan. This will help the cake to rise evenly. Sprinkle the cake with the raw or granulated sugar and bake for 60- 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing the sides of the spring form pan.

How To Make Cake Flour

joythebaker — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 19:28:23 +0000

Cake flour. Let’s face facts: I never have cake flour on hand when I need it. Luckily, there’s a super easy way to turn good old all-purpose flour into cake flour, lightening your cake crumb, making it super soft and delicious. Maybe you already know this trick. It’s a good one.

Here’s a step by step. From me to you!

How to Turn All-Purpose Flour into Cake Flour

Print this Recipe!

Step One: Measure out the all-purpose flour that you’ll need for your recipe.

Step Two: For every cup of flour you use, take out two tablespoons of flour and return it to the flour bin. Throw the cup of flour (minus the two tablespoons) into a sifter set over a bowl.

Step Three: Replace the two tablespoons of flour that your removed with two tablespoons of cornstarch.

Step Four: Sift the flour and cornstarch together. Sift it again, and again and again. The cornstarch and flour need to be well incorporated and the flour aerated. Sift the flour and cornstarch mixture about five times. Look at that! You just made cake flour!

Vegan Chocolate Avocado Cake

joythebaker — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:44:24 +0000

Ok… first of all, stop looking at me like that.

Yea, I can see that crazy look on your face. But it’s me. The same person that brought you amazing Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls and Perfect Lemon Pound Cake. We trust each other. We have an understanding. Just go with me on this.

Something about hot summer weather gets me to thinking (or melts my brain) and brings some strange recipes to the surface. Remember last year’s Blueberry Ice Cream with Homemade Hot Fudge? Yea… I got a few strange looks for that too.

Because I still see those raised eyebrows on your face, let me tell you a little about this beast of a cake. Believe me, I was super skeptical too.

The vegan chocolate cake is dense and moist, and everything you might want from a chocolate cake minus the eggs and butter. The fat in the cake is almond oil (or anything you have on hand) and one whole mashed avocado. It’s lovely, and I didn’t taste a lick of avocado in the cake.

The avocado buttercream is a dash more strange. Yes, it’s bright green. Yes, the only fat in the buttercream is avocado meat. It’s sweet with slight hints of citrus. I had my doubts, but when combined with the chocolate cake… holy wow! It actually worked! It was honest-to-goodness delicious! Not to mention vegan and full of healthy fats!

Your thoughts? Have I scared you off?

Vegan Chocolate Cake with Avocado

makes 2 8-inch rounds or 2 thinner 9-inch rounds

from Vegetarian in the Middle East

Print this Recipe!

3 cups all-purpose flour

6 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used almond oil)

1/2 cup soft avocado, well mashed, about 1 medium avocado

2 cups water

2 Tablespoons white vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8 or 9-inch rounds. Set aside.

Sift together all of the dry ingredients except the sugar. Set that aside too.

Mix all the wet ingredients together in a bowl, including the super mashed avocado.

Add sugar into the wet mix and stir.

Mix the wet with the dry all at once, and beat with a whisk (by hand) until smooth.

Pour batter into a greased cake tins. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let cakes cool in pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto cooling racks to cool completely before frosting with avocado buttercream.

Avocado Buttercream Frosting

from Alton Brown

8 ounces of avocado meat, about 2 small to medium, very ripe avocados

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 pound powdered sugar, sifted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Peel and pit the soft avocados. It’s important to use the ripest avocados you can get your hands on. If the avocados have brown spots in the meat, avoid those spots when you scoop the meat into the bowl.

Place the avocado meat into the bowl of a stand mixer fit with the whisk attachment. Add lemon juice and whisk the avocado on medium speed, until slightly lightened in color and smooth, about 2-3 minutes.

Add the powdered sugar a little at a time and beat. Add vanilla extract until combined. If not using right away, store in the refrigerator. Don’t worry. It won’t turn brown!