Baked Sunday Mornings: Caramel Apple Cake

I had the privilege of making the Baked Explorations book's Caramel Apple Cake last weekend for my Baked Sunday Mornings group. Boy, what an undertaking! This was not your simple, thrown-together kinda cake. This was much more of a clear-your-calendar, spend the whole day covered in flour and frosting cake. But let me tell you, it was worth every second spent on it! It was nothing short of magnificent.

I broke the recipe up into steps; it made the whole thing so much easier and more manageable. I made the homemade applesauce, which goes into the cake batter, about two days before I was going to bake the cake. I made the homemade caramel, which is incorporated into the frosting as well as drizzled on top of the finished cake, about three or four days prior to baking day. I have to say, my confidence was totally boosted by making both the applesauce and the caramel; I had great success with both! I tend to mess up when making caramel, but this particular batch turned out pretty perfect. The applesauce was my first ever attempt at making it from scratch. It was completely easy to do and came together beautifully.

For the cake itself, I decided to cut the whole recipe in half. I was serving this for my brother-in-law's birthday, and there were going to be 7 of us eating the cake. Since this is a very decadent cake and I didn't really want there to be tons of leftovers lingering for days later, I thought a two-layer cake instead of a three-layer cake would be best. The cake was easy to whip up; I used two 9-inch round pans for it. The baking time was a bit less than the book indicated, but I am pretty sure it's because I switched things up.

The frosting, which is a cooked flour frosting, turned out way better than I expected it to. I've made this type of frosting before, and both times I have hit a bump in the road. Not this time. This batch came out great; satiny, luxurious, with a perfect hint of caramel flavor. Addictive stuff! I reduced the amount of frosting I made to just a third of the original amount, and it wasn't actually enough to frost the top and sides and fill the middle layer. So, I improvised. I had some leftover butterscotch frosting from my son's birthday cake, so I used that to fill the middle of the cake. It worked beautifully! The butterscotch complemented the spice cake so well, and the pale orange color coordinated nicely as well.

The cake was a huge hit, needless to say. Everyone really loved it. It was impressive to look at (even though my cake decorating skills need some work) and tasted unbelievably delicious. The cake was so moist from all that applesauce, and the spices were gentle but present. Everything comes together wonderfully in this cake; I don't know what else I can say about it!

But maybe there are some other people who have different things to say about it. Go check out the Baked Sunday Mornings blogroll to see the group's thoughts on this cake.

Mississippi Mud Cake

This is my birthday cake. At least, I think I can call it a cake. It's sort of a cake, sort of a pie. It's part pudding. All delicious, though. And decadent. I mean, just look at the thing. Chocolate, on top of chocolate, smothered with even more chocolate. Love!



It all starts with a chocolate cookie crust. The original recipe has you grind up a bunch of Oreo cookies and turn them into a cookie crust (oh, did I mention that the original recipe is from the Baked Explorations cookbook? Yeah. So I knew I was in good hands with this one.). However, I actually prefer the flavor of chocolate graham crackers, so I made my crust with those instead. It was a wise decision; I mean, the cake has enough sweetness (and calories!) without adding Oreo cookies to the mix. And those chocolate graham crackers are tasty.

So, once you have assembled and baked the cookie crust, you're ready to make the next layer: a flourless chocolate cake. Could you just die? It's an amazingly rich, gooey, almost molten cake. It closely resembles a brownie, actually, but I think it's even richer. It's very delicate, too, and it cracks on top while it's being baked. Then, while it's cooling on your counter, it deflates and sinks. It looks pretty cool, when all is said and done. So, once you have cooled your flourless cake layer, it's time to stick it in the fridge and let it set up for a few hours (overnight works even better, as it allows the coffee flavor to mellow out some).

Next, you make a dark chocolate pudding, and that is supposed to go on top of the flourless cake. Now, maybe I messed up on the pudding (and that is most likely what happened), but the pudding layer turned out very runny, at least the first night we ate the cake. I got a phone call while I was stirring the pudding over the stove, and I think the distraction proved to be my undoing. The pudding tastes phenomenal; rich, sweet, yet delicate. It just wouldn't set up and form a solid layer for me. So, as you can see below, as soon as we cut the cake into slices the pudding ran all over the place. An avalanche of yumminess. It was still totally edible. And addictive. And by the next evening, the pudding was much sturdier and held up on top of the cake very well.

The book suggests a whipped cream layer to go on top, but I decided that it was going to be good enough with just the three layers I made. I know it seems ridiculous given the sinfulness of this dessert, but I figured I really didn't need a fourth layer comprised pretty much completely of heavy whipping cream! Call me crazy. This cake is a chocoholic dream. It is not for the faint of heart, and it does take a bit of time to put together. However, I guarantee that you will absolutely love this cake if you are a huge fan of chocolate. It is worth the effort!

Mississippi Mud Pie (B), aka Muddy Mississippi Cake
adapted from Baked Explorations
makes one 9-inch round cake

Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cookie Crust:
24 full sheets chocolate graham crackers, broken into pieces
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 egg white

For the Flourless Chocolate Cake:
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
6 ounces good-quality dark chocolate (60 to 70%), chopped
2 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. instant espresso powder
1/4 cup strong coffee, at room temperature
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract
6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 cup sugar

For the Chocolate Pudding:
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup dark, unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Scharffen Berger)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
4 large egg yolks
2 1/2 cups whole milk
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3 ounces good-quality dark chocolate (60 to 70%)

For the Simple Whipped Cream (which I omitted):
1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar


Directions
Make the Chocolate Cookie Crust: 1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Lightly spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line the pan with parchment paper and lightly spray the parchment and sides of the pan.

2. In a food processor, grind the graham crackers to a very fine crumb. You should have about 3 cups. With the food processor running, stream in the melted butter and the egg white. Continue to blend until the liquids have mixed in.

3. Turn the crumb mixture into the prepared pan and press it into the bottom and up the sides, leaving about 1/2 inch between the top of the crust and the top of the pan. Use the back of a large spoon (the bottom of a heavy glass works, too) to get an even layer of crust. Place the pan in the freezer and let the crust set for about 10 minutes.

4. Bake the crust in the oven until it is dry to the touch, about 10 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool.

Make the Flourless Chocolate Cake: 1. Increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Using a double boiler or microwave, melt the butter and chocolate together. Set aside to cool.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the espresso powder, coffee, salt, and vanilla. Set aside. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg yolks with 1/2 cup of the sugar until the mixture is light and has almost doubled in volume, about 5 minutes.

3. Add the chocolate mixture to the yolk mixture and beat until just combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix on low speed for 5 seconds. Add the coffee mixture and beat until just combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix on low for 5 seconds.

4. In a clean bowl fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy. Gradually increase the speed to high and add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, beating until soft peaks form.

5. Scoop 1 cup of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold in the egg whites. After about 30 seconds of folding, add the remaining egg white and continue folding until they are almost completely combined. Do not rush the folding process, work gently, and take care not to overmix.

6. Pour the batter into the cooled cookie crust and bake for 38 to 42 minutes, until the cake is set but still jiggles slightly. It might not appear to be completely cooked. Transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely. (As it cools, the cake will deflate in the center and look sunken. Do not despair, this is just the way it settles.) Tightly wrap and refrigerate the cake for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Make the Chocolate Pudding: 1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch, and salt. Add the egg yolks and whisk until combined. The mixture will look like a thick paste. Slowly pour in the milk, whisking constantly.

2. Place the saucepan over medium heat on the stove and bring the mixture to a boil, whisking constantly to prevent it from burning on the bottom of the pan. Boil for 30 seconds, then transfer it to a medium bowl. Add the butter, vanilla, and chocolate and whisk until combined.

3. Continue to whisk for a few more minutes to cool the mixture slightly. Let the pudding stand for 15 minutes at room temperature. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming, and chill it for at least 3 hours.

Assemble the Mississippi Mud Pie: 1. Stir the pudding to loosen it, then pour it on top of the cake, making sure to stay inside the cookie-crust border. Use an offset spatula to spread the pudding into an even layer. Return the cake to the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes while you prepare the whipped cream topping.

2. Pour the cream into a chilled metal bowl and beat with a chilled whisk for about 1 minute or until soft peaks form. Sprinkle the sugar on the cream and continue whisking vigorously until stiff peaks form.

3. Remove the cake from the fridge and spread the whipped cream across the pudding layer, all the way out to the sides. Unmold the cake, and serve it immediately. The cake can be kept, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Burnt Sugar Bundt Cake

I decided to whip up an easy bundt cake to take to my in-laws' house not too long ago. My hubby's birthday is today (Happy Birthday, darling!), and so I figured it would be nice to have a cake that everybody could eat together, since he wouldn't be seeing any extended family on the actual day of. I knew I could turn to my Baked Explorations book for something that would be tasty and easy, but would still appear elegant and fancy enough to qualify as birthday cake.



This one is a real gem. It's listed in the book as Burnt Sugar Bundt Cake with Caramel Rum Frosting, but since I left out the rum mine is simply a caramel frosting. The cake is a simple one, but it is dressed up with the addition of a burnt sugar mixture, which is divided in half and added to both the cake batter and the frosting. A basic hard caramel candy topping is made on the stovetop, broken into pieces, and arranged on top of the frosted cake, dressing it up nicely. The book lists the topping as optional, but I totally think it's a must here.



I think I may have made my burnt sugar liquid a little, well, less burnt than I was supposed to. You're instructed to heat sugar in a saucepan until it melts and turns a dark caramel color. I thought I did that, but the resulting liquid (which is a blend of the melted sugar, heavy cream, coconut milk, and lemon juice) turned out an off-white color. The cake, which contains half the liquid, is a pale yellow color, while the picture in the book clearly shows a dark brown, almost chocolate-looking cake. However, I honestly don't think it mattered to anybody because the cake was positively scrumptious.



One little note about the frosting, though: I think it needs extra confectioners' sugar. The recipe calls for 2 1/3 cups, but I would venture to say that closer to 3 cups is called for here. When I attempted to apply the frosting to the cooled cake, I encountered a problem. The frosting ran, avalanche-style, down the sides of the cake! Because it's a liquid/confectioners' sugar blend, it eventually did set up for me, like a glaze, although I had to refrigerate it overnight to make sure everything stayed put. After that, it was firm and it stayed that way. The hole in the center of the cake was filled with extra frosting, since it had pooled down there before settling. Again, it did not affect the taste at all, but I just thought I'd issue a warning in case anybody tried to make this! It's worth the steps, and it's not complicated at all. Just perfect to take along to a party!




Burnt Sugar Bundt Cake with Caramel Frosting
adapted from Baked Explorations
makes 1 (10-inch) bundt cake

Ingredients
For the burnt sugar liquid:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
Approximately 3/4 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

For the bundt cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter
(2 1/2 sticks) cut into 1-inch cubes, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Burnt Sugar Liquid (see above)

For the caramel shard topping:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
About 1 tsp. water

For the caramel frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract
2 1/3 cups confectioners' sugar (or more, as needed)
Burnt Sugar Liquid (see above)

Directions
Make the burnt sugar liquid: 1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, slowly melt the sugar. Use a wooden spoon to stir it continuously to ensure even melting. When the sugar turns a dark caramel color, remove the pan from the heat and slowly stream in the cream while continuing to stir (don't worry if mixture starts to clump). Return the pan to medium heat and stir until completely combined; cook for 2 minutes longer, stirring.

2. Transfer the burnt caramel mixture to at least a 2-cup heatproof liquid measuring cup (like Pyrex) and add enough coconut milk to make 1 1/4 cups liquid. Add the lemon juice. Whisk to combine, divide the mixture in half, and set both portions aside.

Make the bundt cake: 1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Generously spray the inside of a 10-inch Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray; alternatively, butter it thoroughly, dust it with flour, and knock out the excess flour.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Add the vanilla and beat for 5 more seconds.

3. Retrieve one of the reserved portions of burnt sugar liquid. Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the burnt sugar, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat again for 10 seconds. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a small sharp knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Gently loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and turn it out onto the rack.

Make the caramel shard topping: 1. Place the sugar in a small saucepan. Add enough water - it takes approximately 1 tsp. - to make it the texture of wet sand. Cook on high heat until the sugar turns amber. Pour the caramel onto a half-sheet pan lined with nonstick aluminum foil. Let cool. Break the cooled caramel into small shards and use them to decorate the frosted cake.

Make the caramel frosting: 1. Put the butter, vanilla, confectioners' sugar, and remaining portion of burnt sugar liquid in a food processor. Pulse in short bursts until the frosting is shiny and smooth.

Assemble the burnt sugar bundt cake: 1. Use an offset spatula to spread the frosting over the crown of the Bundt in a thick layer. Top with caramel shards. Let the frosting set before serving. The cake will keep in an airtight container, at room temperature, for up to 3 days.

Chocolate Chip Sesame Street Cupcakes

Usually, on the 15th of each month, I will post a cupcake that has been chosen by a member of the Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club. This month, I just had too much going on, what with throwing my youngest son and his cousin a birthday party this past weekend. I decided to skip the MSCC for this month, as much as it pained me to do so. However, it just wouldn't be the 15th without a new cupcake recipe to post here! So I'm going to tell you about the cupcakes I made for my son's birthday.



Since the birthday boys were turning 2 and 1 this year, I decided to throw a Sesame Street-themed party, and to decorate some cupcakes to look like a few Sesame Street characters. In honor of the Cookie Monster (my son's favorite), I made some of Martha Stewart's Chocolate Chip Cupcakes. I'd been itching to try them anyway, and now I finally had a bona fide excuse to do so! I browsed the internet briefly, just to see what other creative souls had done to design Sesame Street character cupcakes. In this post, you see the results of my searches, adapted to represent my own style. I'm pretty proud of these little guys, because when it came time to actually decorate them, I did it all freehand, without a picture in front of me as a guide.

Here's the lowdown: I whipped up 2 dozen regular-sized cupcakes and 3 cupcakes that were baked in oversized muffin cups (because the recipe yield was 30 cupcakes, and each jumbo cupcake was the equivalent of 2 regulars). Meanwhile, I had tinted some of Martha's Fluffy Vanilla Frosting (which I love, and have posted about before, here) in various colors, to represent Elmo, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, and Ernie. I sliced some large marshmallows in half, and these served as eyeballs for Elmo and Cookie, as well as for jumbo Oscar. I would use mini marshmallows for Oscar's and Ernie's eyes, and jumbo marshmallows, sliced thinly, to represent the eyes of jumbo Elmo and jumbo Cookie.

When it came time to decorate, I used a Wilton piping tip that is used to create "hair" (tip 233) for Elmo, Cookie, and Oscar. For Ernie, I just piped medium-sized dots for his skin, but I used the hair tip again to give him his black patch of hair on top of his head. Then came eyes, noses, and mouths. Instead of a mouth on Cookie Monster, I inserted half a chocolate chip cookie into the cupcake, to make it look like he was in the middle of eating a cookie. Those ended up being the biggest hit, and were the first to disappear. I can see why; you get a cupcake and half a cookie, all in one fell swoop!

I gave the giant Elmo cupcake to my one year-old nephew, and the giant Cookie Monster to my two year-old son. I wish I had a picture of him actually sticking his face right down into the cupcake (because he totally did that) but this picture of his blue mug will have to suffice. He loved the cupcakes, but I think he loved the cookie more!

I know they're not perfect, and I have a long way to go before my cupcakes look bakery-ready, but I was happy with these. More importantly, the birthday boys enjoyed the whole experience, so my goal was accomplished. Oh, and the cupcakes were pretty delicious, although I have to say that they almost reminded me more of chocolate chip muffins than cupcakes. That was fine with me, but just be warned about Martha's recipe. Good, but not super light and fluffy.

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Fluffy Vanilla Frosting
from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
makes 30 cupcakes (or in my case, 24 cupcakes and 3 jumbo cupcakes)


Ingredients
3 1/4 cups plus 1 Tbsp. sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
4 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. milk
1/2 cup plus 6 Tbsp. (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
5 large egg whites, room temperature
2 cups (12 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
Fluffy Vanilla Frosting (recipe found here)
Gel-paste food coloring
Various-sized marshmallows (mini, large, jumbo)
3 small chocolate chip cookies, halved (or more, if you want to make more Cookie Monsters)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together 3 1/4 cups cake flour, the baking powder, and salt. Stir the vanilla into the milk to combine.

2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter until smooth. Adding the sugar in a steady stream, beat until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk mixture, and beating until just combined after each.

3. In another bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form (do not overmix). Fold one-third of the egg whites into the batter to lighten. Gently fold in the remaining whites until just combined. Toss chocolate chips with remaining tablespoon cake flour, and gently fold into batter.

4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean and the tops are springy to the touch, about 22-24 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes (although I removed mine after 10 minutes). Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

5. Prepare Fluffy Vanilla Frosting. Divide the frosting into 1/2 cup black, 1/4 cup brown, 3/4 cup orange, 1 cup red, 3/4 cup blue, and 3/4 cup green. Using a Wilton 233 tip (or hair/grass tip), pipe fur onto 6 cupcakes in green, 6 cupcakes in blue, and 6 cupcakes in red. Using a Wilton 21 tip, pipe skin onto 6 cupcakes in orange. (I then piped fur onto 3 jumbo cupcakes to make one Elmo, one Cookie, and one Oscar.)

6. Using the Wilton 3 or 4 tip in black, pipe smiles onto the red, green, and orange cupcakes. Place halved large marshmallows on the red and blue, and mini marshmallows (whole) on the green and orange for eyes. Pipe small black dots onto the marshmallows for pupils. (When I did my jumbo cupcake characters, Elmo and Cookie had jumbo marshmallows, sliced thin, for their eyes. Oscar had large halved marshmallow eyes.)

7. Complete Elmo by placing an orange nose underneath the eyes. Complete Cookie Monster by placing half a chocolate chip cookie towards the bottom of the cupcake, to look as though it is sticking out of his mouth. Complete Oscar by piping his brown eyebrows over his eyes with a Wilton 16 tip. Complete Ernie by piping his nose with a Wilton 21 tip in red, and give him some black hair with the Wilton 233 tip. There you have it: Sesame Street cupcakes!

Scooby-Doo, and a Recipe Too!

Okay, first of all, I should apologize for the lighting in these photos. Boy, it really makes everything look unnaturally bright and washed out. These pictures were taken late at night before my son's 5th birthday, and I found that the cake looked even worse in the morning light the next day. Go figure! So I'm presenting you with the lesser of two evils.

This cake was the capper on a week of Scooby-Doo treats that I had prepared for his special day. There were the cookies, then there were the cupcakes. He wanted everything to be Scooby-themed; even most of his gifts this year were Scooby-related. This cake was the piece de resistance, the crowning touch to end the festivities.

We were fortunate enough to find this cake pan at a Michael's store about 5 months ago. I made Xander promise me that he would not change his mind about wanting a Scooby-themed birthday party this year, and he kept his word. Hard to believe, but he is still just as much in love with Scooby now as he was 5 months ago! Anyway, we grabbed the cake pan that day at Michael's because they don't usually carry it, and it was on clearance. I've never seen another one since, so I'm glad to have found it.

This was hard, intricate work, let me tell ya. I've done a pirate ship-shaped cake before, so I was familiar with this style of decorating. This was much more difficult, though. It required you to first frost the sides and background sections with plain white frosting. Then, you had to trace Scooby's entire outline in black frosting. Andy helped me do Scooby's nose and mouth, while I worked on his tongue and eyes. Next, you could fill in the brown fur sections and his dog tag and collar. Finally, I did Scooby's hamburger, and then I outlined the entire cake with a bunch of orange stars (Xander's favorite color is orange, and I thought it went just fine with the rest of the cake).

I used a new cake recipe for this one, and I was really happy with it. It comes from a cookbook I've come to really enjoy lately, The Craft of Baking. It's for a basic yellow layer cake with a milk chocolate buttercream, but obviously I went in a different direction with my frosting. This cake almost reminds me of sponge cake; by folding egg whites into the batter before baking, you produce a light, airy cake that holds together incredibly well, and is tender and moist at the same time. Best of all, it is not too sweet, so the buttercream I used paired well with the cake.

In case you're wondering about the frosting, it's actually the Wilton recipe for buttercream. It's sinful, I know, because it contains some shortening. I justified this by reasoning that since I was using up all the Crisco I had in the house (which I had bought when I took Wilton's cake decorating classes), and because it was a special occasion, it'd be okay. And it does work very well for this type of decorating project. To make the brown for Scooby's fur (I think I made it a bit too dark) and the black for his outline, I added some cocoa powder to some of the frosting, then added a bit of water to thin it out. Then I just tinted the rest of my white frosting with various shades of gel-paste food coloring.

I'm including the recipes for the yellow cake and the Wilton frosting below. I would love to try this cake next time with the frosting in the cookbook, though. I have no doubt it would be sublime. Until then, here you go!

Yellow Layer Cake

from The Craft of Baking

makes one 10-inch layer cake (or one Scooby-Doo cake plus about 4 cupcakes!)

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. unbleached all-purpose flour

12 Tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, very soft, plus extra for the pans

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

7 large egg yolks

3 cups cake flour

1 tsp. kosher salt

3/4 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. sour cream

7 large egg whites

Directions

1. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with rounds of parchment paper. Butter the tops of the paper liners, and then dust the pans with the all-purpose flour, tapping off any excess. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter, 1 1/2 cups of the sugar, and vanilla extract on medium speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl several times, until pale and fluffy, 5 minutes. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, letting each become incorporated into the batter before adding the next.

3. In a separate bowl, sift together the cake flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Reduce the mixer speed to low and alternate adding the flour mixture and the sour cream to the butter mixture, adding one third of each at a time and letting them fully mix in before adding the next. When all of the flour mixture and sour cream have been added, turn the mixer to medium-high speed and mix for about 2 minutes, to fully incorporate the ingredients and help build the structure.

4. Scrape the batter into a large mixing bowl. Clean the bowl to the mixer well and, using the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on low speed until frothy, about 5 minutes. (Instead of doing this, I just used a hand mixer and whipped the egg whites in a smaller bowl, then proceeded with the recipe.) Add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and increase speed to medium high. Whip whites to soft peaks, then fold them into the batter in 3 additions.

5. Divide the batter between the three prepared cake pans and spread it out evenly with a spatula. Place pans on two baking sheets. Bake the cakes, rotating the pans and switching the cakes between the upper and lower racks of the oven halfway through, until they are lightly golden on top, gently bounce back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. (Mine obviously took about 15 to 20 minutes longer, due to the size of the Scooby pan.)

6. Transfer the cake pans to a wire rack and let the cakes cool for 30 minutes. Then remove them from the pans and let them cool completely, at least 3 hours, before frosting.

Buttercream Icing

from Wilton

makes about 3 cups

Ingredients

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

1 tsp. clear vanilla extract

1 Tbsp. meringue powder

4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (about 1 lb.)

2 Tbsp. milk

3 Tbsp. cocoa powder

1-2 Tbsp. water

Gel-paste food coloring

Directions

1. In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with an electric mixer. Add vanilla, then the meringue powder. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

2. For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

3. For chocolate buttercream, proceed through the confectioners' sugar addition, then add cocoa powder. Add water gradually, a bit at a time, then the milk, until the desired consistency is achieved. Add more or less than the recipe calls for, depending on how thick/thin you'd like your icing to be.

Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes with Fluffy Vanilla Frosting

Well, the Scooby-Doo theme continues! The other day I posted about my Scooby-Doo Dog Tag Sugar Cookies, and now I'm going to tell you about my Scooby-Doo Cupcakes! For my son's 5th birthday party at a local children's bouncey house, I decided to go with cupcakes because they're easy, they're kid-friendly, and it would give me an excuse to once again whip out my trusty Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book!



I knew the birthday boy would want cupcakes that were as plain and simple as could be. Therefore, this was the perfect opportunity to finally try out Martha's Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes with Fluffy Vanilla Frosting. My son's kinda strange, for a 5 year-old. He does not like chocolate cake, only vanilla. He absolutely hates frosting; I had to serve him a plain, "naked" cupcake with no frosting on top. And I wouldn't even dream of offering him ice cream with his cake; he won't even touch the stuff. I thought I'd be safe with the yellow cupcakes, and I could give the vanilla frosting to his party guests, but not to him.



I was lucky enough to find these adorable Scooby-Doo cupcake papers on Ebay, and I originally contemplated frosting each cupcake with two different-colored frostings at once. However, that made me nervous because I've never done something like that before. I decided I didn't want to risk there being a cupcake disaster the morning of the party! So in the end I kept it simple and did half the cupcakes bright orange (Xander's favorite color) and half the cupakes teal. The colors were great, really vivid, and I thought they represented the colors on Scooby and the gang's Mystery Machine quite nicely! I used Wilton gel-paste food colors for the frosting.



The cupcakes were delicious. They were light, tender, and very moist. They were like the quintessential kids' birthday party cupcakes. I can definitely see why so many other people say that these are their go-to yellow cupcakes.

And the frosting was fabulous, too! So often, American buttercream icing can be so cloyingly sweet that you get sick from eating it. That's not the case with this frosting. The technique Martha employs, of alternating between beating it at a very high speed for short bursts, and beating it at a lower speed for longer periods, really made the frosting super fluffy (hence the name). It wasn't a dense, heavy frosting; rather, it was light as air and almost felt, texturally, like whipped cream. I even got compliments about it; one person said they don't normally like frosting, but she liked this frosting. I wonder what she'd think of Swiss Meringue Buttercream...

So these were a tremendous hit, cake, frosting, all of it. The little party favors adorning the cupcakes were a hit, too! I found these little Scooby-Doo rings that I was excited to use. It was so easy; I just nestled them right into the frosting. The kids got to take them home with them. My younger son, the 20 month-old, used his ring as his fork. He kept dipping his ring into the frosting, and then ate the frosting off. I thought it was creative!

There will be even more cupcake fun later on this week. The Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club will be making Triple Citrus Cupcakes!

Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes

from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

makes 36 cupcakes

Ingredients
3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/4 cups sugar
5 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Fluffy Vanilla Frosting (recipe follows)
Gel-paste food coloring, optional
Colored sprinkles, optional

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium. Add whole eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add yolks, and beat until thoroughly combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and beating until combined after each. Beat in vanilla.

3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until cupcakes spring back when lightly touched and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers. (I froze these the week before the party, and what I did worked well. I place them back in the muffin tins after they were cool, then triple-wrapped each muffin tin in saran wrap. I placed all the tins inside a large plastic bag and pushed as much air out of the bag as I could. Then I tied it off and placed the whole bag in the freezer. When it was time to defrost, I took them out, unwrapped everything, and took the cupcakes out of the tins. Then I allowed them to thaw. They were perfect!)

Fluffy Vanilla Frosting
from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
makes 4 cups

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 lb. (4 cups) confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions
1. With an electric mixer, beat butter on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes.

2. Reduce speed to medium. Add the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed; after every two additions, raise speed to high and beat 10 seconds to aerate frosting, then return to medium. This process should take about 5 minutes. Frosting will be very pale and fluffy.

3. Add vanilla, and beat until frosting is smooth. If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to 10 days in an airtight container. Before using, bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes. (If coloring your frosting, it can either be done right after beating, or after storing in the refrigerator and beating again. Add gel-paste food coloring until you reach the desired shade. Frost and decorate cupcakes as desired.)

Scooby-Doo's Dog Tag Sugar Cookies

Behold, my first attempt at making sugar cookie cutouts that are decorated all fancy-like. Xander just had his 5th birthday party (so expect more posts in the next week or so about some of the other stuff I made for the birthday boy!) over the weekend. For the theme, he chose Scooby-Doo. This was hardly a shock; the boy is Scooby-obsessed lately. So I decided it would be fun to make some decorated sugar cookies and put them in each of the goody bags we would give out at the end of the party.

I realized when choosing a design that I needed the shape to be as simple as possible. I mean, I'm just a beginner at this, so I didn't want to worry about cutting out dog shapes or something difficult like that. I settled on Scooby's diamond-shaped dog tag, on his collar. Following Martha Stewart's recipe for basic sugar cookie cutouts was easy. It turns out that you really have to devote a lot of time to chilling the dough, then letting it rest, then rolling out the shapes, then freezing the shapes before baking. That last step really helps a lot. It helps so much with maintaining the shape of the cookie while it's in the oven.

So now that I had my perfectly formed cookies, I was all set to decorate! Now, I made some mistakes this time around, but I have learned from those mistakes and I'm getting the hang of things. I had been debating whether to outline the diamond in yellow, then flood the entire inside with the blue. After letting that sit for at least 12 hours, I could then pipe Scooby's initials on top. As it turns out, that would have been smart, but I didn't go that route.

What we did (because I'm impatient and I asked Andy to help decorate after I'd done only 3 cookies) was outline the entire diamond in yellow, then write the SD initials. After about an hour, when the yellow had hardened, we flooded the rest of the cookie with blue.

I'll back up a bit here. I'd been looking at other blogs the week leading up to this decorating extravaganza, getting an idea of what I should do. Among the best resources out there were Bake at 350 and Sweetopia; I think so, anyway. I learned all about how the outlining should be done with the royal icing that you initially make. Then, when you need to flood, or fill in, the cookie, you need to thin out the royal icing so it's a good consistency for filling and spreading. I did all that without a hitch. However, having never worked with the thinned icing before, I didn't realize how much harder I was making it on myself to have to fill in all the nooks and crannies around the SD initials.

So it was slow and tedious work. But it won't be next time I decide to make cookies, because now I know better! If I had just saved the initials for last, it would have been a piece of cake. But as I said, I've learned now, and I can only improve from here!

I thought, after everything was said, and done, and decorated, that they turned out really cute. I was very aware of the spots that weren't perfectly smooth, or the places where I had accidentally smudged blue up over the yellow lines, but nobody had anything negative to say about them. Plus, they were....original! I mean, you could definitely tell they were handcrafted, for better or worse. They were like snowflakes; no two exactly the same! I had a blast with this, and I can't wait to try again. I need the practice!

Sugar Cookie Cutouts

from Martha Stewart's Cookies

makes about 2 dozen 4-inch cookies

Ingredients

4 cups sifted all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Royal Icing (optional, recipe follows)

Directions

1. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.

2. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Divide dough in half; flatten each half into a disk. Wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Let one disk of dough stand at room temperature just until soft enough to roll, about 10 minutes. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to just under 1/4 inch thick, adding more flour as needed to keep dough from sticking. Cut out cookies with desired cookie cutter, transferring shapes to parchment paper-lined baking sheets as you work. Roll out the scraps, and repeat. Repeat with remaining disk of dough. Chill cookies in freezer until very firm, about 15 minutes.

4. Bake, switching positions of sheets and rotating halfway through, until edges turn golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. To decorate, tint icing with food coloring, if using. Flood tops of cookies with icing. Continue to decorate as desired. After icing cookies, let them sit out overnight to set. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

Royal Icing

from Bake at 350

covers 2-3 dozen cookies in 2 colors

Ingredients

4 Tbsp. meringue powder

scant 1/ cup water

1 lb. powdered sugar, sifted

1/2 tsp. light corn syrup (optional, but I used it)

few drops clear extract (optional, but I used it)

gel-paste food coloring (optional, but I used it)

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the meringue powder and the water. Beat until combined and foamy. Sift in the powdered sugar, and beat on low to combine. Add in the corn syrup and extract, if using.

2. Increase the speed to medium-high/high and beat for about 5 minutes, just until the icing is glossy and stiff peaks form. Do not overbeat.

3. Cover with plastic wrap covering the surface of the icing, or divide and tint as desired. (I stored mine in the refrigerator until ready to use.)

CEIMB: Pesto Potato Salad

This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe comes to us from Liz over at The Not So Skinny Kitchen. We love all things pesto around these parts, so of course we were very excited to make this one. I have to confess, I didn't actually make it; my hubby did. We had this dish on my birthday, and it was one of Andy's gifts to me to make the entire dinner we ate that evening. Hey, I wasn't about to put up a fight, even though technically I felt like I should prepare the potato salad. After all, it's my assignment, not his. But I think it still counts for the group. I ate it, so I totally participated!

Funny story, though. The next morning, I went into the refrigerator to try and figure out what leftovers I had on hand to serve for that evening's dinner. I couldn't find the leftover pesto, so finally I asked Andy where he had put it. Well, as it turns out, there was no leftover pesto! That's right; he had used the entire batch of fresh pesto in the potato salad! I thought mine looked particularly green, but I just figured that's the way it was supposed to look.

It didn't matter to us, though, because we loved it just the way it was! I'd like to try it the right way in the future, but for this meal I thought it was great. I absolutely love pesto, so having extra on my salad surely wasn't a problem for me. I'm just sorry I don't have another pesto dish to look forward to now with the leftovers. Oh, well. It'll give me an excuse to make more, I guess!

With this potato salad, we ate some fried chicken and waffles. I have always wanted to try chicken and waffles together, and I'm so glad I finally did. I loved it! I can't say for certain that the pesto salad paired up perfectly with waffles, but I didn't care. I loved everything I ate that night. And it was my birthday, after all, so as long as it made me happy, that's all that matters. And even though my older son initially found the mashup of foods on his plate a little weird at first, he ended up loving it, too!

Thanks to Liz for the great pick. A winner around here, made incorrectly and all! The recipe for the potato salad can be found on Food Network's site, here. The recipe we used for the fried chicken can be found on Recipezaar, here. Finally, the recipe for the Brown Butter Waffles can be found on the Daydreamer Desserts blog, here. Sooo very good!

Sweet and Salty Cake

No picture I could ever take of this cake could do it the true justice it deserves. No picture is ever going to capture the deep, dark, chocolatey fluffiness of the frosting. I won't be able to sell you on words alone on the moist, tender crumb of the three chocolate cake layers. Likewise, I'm probably never going to convince you that the salted caramel layers are nothing short of a revelation, lending an amazing depth and complexity of flavor that just elevates the entire cake to a whole other level. But hey, I'll do the best I can!

This cake caught my eye immediately about a year ago, back when I first purchased the Baked cookbook. As I flipped through the pages, reading recipe titles, none sounded quite as interesting, as innovative, as downright delicious to me as this one. Sweet and Salty Cake. How intriguing. The idea of sweet and salty together in an almost absurdly decadent chocolate cake definitely appealed to me. This, I thought, was the very embodiment of indulgence.

How fitting, then, that I should finally decide to make this as a very special birthday treat for....me! Yes, I am ridiculous and wanted to make myself a birthday cake. Why not? I enjoy baking, and I enjoy eating. Sounds like a great way to spend a birthday to me.



I had read on several other blogs about how other people had a devil of a time making this cake. People truly lamented their time spent slaving in the kitchen, all for the love of the sweet and salty. However, the unanimous consensus heard 'round the blogosphere, as far as I could tell, was that eating the cake was well worth the effort and hours.

The effort I speak of is as follows: first, you bake a three-layer chocolate cake; next, you make your own salted caramel. This will be drizzled on each cake layer and allowed to soak into the cake a bit.....yum! See above picture, in which the salted caramel is sprinkled with sea salt atop my second cake layer. Finally, you make even more caramel, to be incorporated into a heinously unhealthy (but ever so delicious!) whipped chocolate ganache frosting. You assemble the cake, garnish it with a final sprinkle of sea salt (or fleur de sel, as the recipe states), and there you have it.



Perhaps it is simply because I was warned about how complicated it was, but I really didn't find this cake all that complex. I mean, sure, there are a ton of steps. It does take a very long time to put everything together, beginning to end. There are elements that are tricky, such as making the caramel...twice. However, I felt as though I was successful in the end, and I was proud of the accomplishment.

I did face one complication, though. The recipe's instructions state that this cake keeps "beautifully" at room temperature in a cake saver. I finished making this cake around 10:30 p.m. When I lifted the lid to my cake saver about 12 hours later to admire it, I realized that some of the frosting had begun to roll, avalanche-style, down the side of the cake! I still don't know for certain why this happened, but I decided to bite the bullet and throw the whole shebang in the fridge to let the frosting firm up. I realize that refrigerating a cake such as this is violating like a hundred baking commandments, but I felt like my hands were tied in this situation. I couldn't have runny frosting!



Its brief stay in the fridge did allow me to fix the gooey side after a couple hours of chilling, and in the end I think it all worked out. The cake turned out divine, exquisite, like no other cake I've had. Each element is distinctly flavorful, but when combined it's just out of this world! My husband proclaimed this cake "the best one I've ever eaten." A superior compliment, to be sure, but I believe he has said this before about other cakes (or cupcakes) I've made in the past. So, he's either being way too nice and forgiving with me, or maybe I'm really improving with each cake I make. I don't know for sure, but I do know that this cake was among the best I've ever eaten, too. Seriously, I don't think I could have asked for a better cake for my birthday. Worth every second I worked on it, truly!

Sweet and Salty Cake

recipe from Baked

makes one 8-inch, 3-layer cake (I made mine in 9-inch cake pans)

Ingredients
For the classic chocolate cake layers:
3/4 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups hot water
2/3 cup sour cream
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (I used a trans fat-free variety from Whole Foods)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract

For the salted caramel:
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. fleur de sel
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
1/4 cup sour cream

For the whipped caramel ganache frosting
1 lb. dark chocolate (60 to 70% cacao), chopped
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
2 cups unsalted butter, soft but cool, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

To assemble the cake
2 tsp. fleur de sel, plus more for garnish


Directions
Make the classic chocolate cake layers: 1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter three 8-inch (or 9-inch) round cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper, and butter the parchment. Dust with flour, and knock out the excess flour.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the cocoa powder, hot water, and sour cream and set aside to cool. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in another medium bowl and set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and shortening on medium speed until ribbonlike, about 5 minutes. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add the vanilla and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the bowl and mix again for 30 seconds. Add the flour mixture, alternating with the cocoa mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
4. Divide the batter among the prepared pans and smooth the tops. Bake for 35-40 minutes (mine took 30 for the 9-inch cake pans), rotating the pans halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean. Transfer the cakes to a wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes. Invert the cakes onto the rack, remove the pans, and let cool completely. Remove the parchment.

Make the salted caramel: 1. In a small saucepan, combine the cream and fleur de sel. Bring to a simmer over very low heat until the salt has dissolved.
2. Meanwhile, keeping a close eye on the cream mixture so it doesn't burn, in a medium saucepan combine 1/4 cup water, the sugar, and corn syrup, stirring them together carefully so you don't splash the sides of the pan. Cook over high heat until an instant-read (or candy) thermometer reads 350 degrees F., 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool for 1 minute.
3. Add the cream mixture to the sugar mixture. Whisk in the sour cream. Let the caramel cool to room temperature, then transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate until you are ready to assemble the cake. (At this point, the caramel will keep in the fridge up to 3 days.)

Make the whipped caramel ganache frosting: 1. Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set aside. (I just placed mine inside the bowl that goes to my stand mixer, since we'll need the chocolate in there soon anyway.)
2. In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer over very low heat. Meanwhile, keeping a close eye on the cream so it doesn't burn, in a medium saucepan combine 1/4 cup water, the sugar, and corn syrup, stirring them together carefully so you don't splash the sides of the pan. Cook over high heat until an instant-read (or candy) thermometer reads 350 degrees F., 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the caramel cool for 1 minute.
3. Add the cream to the caramel and stir to combine. Stir slowly for 2 minutes, then pour the caramel over the chocolate. Let the caramel and chocolate sit for 1 minute, then, starting in the center of the bowl, and working your way out to the edges, slowly stir the chocolate and caramel mixture in a circle until the chocolate is completely melted. Let the mixture cool, then transfer it to the electric stand mixer.
4. Mix on low speed with the paddle attachment until the bowl feels cool to the touch. Increase the speed to medium-high and gradually add the butter, beating until thoroughly incorporated. Scrape down the bowl and beat on high speed until the mixture is fluffy.

Assemble the cake: 1. At this point, I wrapped each cake layer in two layers of saran wrap and put them in my freezer for about 45 minutes, just to firm them up enough to trim the tops. The cookbook does not say to do this, but after reading up on this cake on other blogs, it seemed like a crucial step. I think it helped me out. But it is optional.
2. Trim each cake layer so it lays flat on top and on the bottom. Place one cake layer on a serving platter. Spread 1/4 cup of the caramel over the top. Let the caramel soak into the cake, then spread 3/4 cup of the ganache frosting over the caramel. Sprinkle 1 tsp. of the fleur de sel over the frosting, then top with the second cake layer.
3. Spread with caramel, then frosting, and sprinkle with 1 tsp. of the fleur de sel. Then top with the third layer. Spread with caramel. Crumb coat (spread a very thin layer of the ganache frosting over the entire cake) the cake and put the cake in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to firm up the frosting. Frost the sides and top with the remaining frosting. (I did generously frost my cake, but I still had some frosting left over.) Garnish with a sprinkle of fleur de sel.
4. This cake will keep (maybe?) in a cake saver at room temperature (cool and humidity-free) for up to 3 days. If your room is not cool, place the cake in a cake saver and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Remove the cake from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for at least 2 hours before serving.

A Week of Coconut: Fresh Coconut Cake

I saved the best coconut recipe for last. The most decadent, satisfying, yet challenging recipe for last. When I first received my April issue of Cooking Light, this is the one thing that jumped out at me immediately from its pages. I saw that this was a cake that they had taken, in all its full-fat, unhealthy glory, and made it over to be lighter and healthier. This was right up my alley; I love lightening up recipes, or figuring out ways to do so, and here the work was already done for me. The use of the fresh coconut was at once daunting and intriguing. If I could actually pull off using the coconut, I knew it would be a spectacular cake.

But first, I had to convince Andy to have a coconut cake for his birthday. He likes coconut just fine, but I know it's not his favorite, and normally people like something that they really crave for their birthday. Fortunately, he agreed to me making this right away; he liked the idea of making something so adventurous. The one caveat: I would alter the recipe just slightly, and make the frosting different from the one in the magazine. The lightened-up version calls for an Italian meringue frosting, which contains no fat. I decided to take this a step further and make an Italian meringue buttercream frosting, thus loading it down with lots and lots of yummy fat. It's a birthday cake; we needed to live a little!

I originally intended to take some pictures of the cake-baking process, and maybe some shots of the frosting in its various stages. In the end, I found that I was way too wrapped up in the actual baking and making to think about it. I need to get better at that! So anyway, instead we just have pictures of the cake as a finished product. It was pretty! This was my first layer cake made completely from scratch, and I was proud of myself, but I still have to beat up on my work a bit. If you look closely at the above picture, you can see that my layers are not even. There is a blank space in the top left half where the frosting did not quite meet the cake. This wouldn't have happened if I had taken the time to even out the layers. To be honest, I am still scared to level a cake. I've never done so, and I am almost positive I would mess it up if I did. I think when I finally do work up the nerve, it'll be because I've broken down and bought a special tool that leaves no room for error.

The cake layers came together just fine, although it really was a lot of work. To keep it lighter, you cut down on the use of butter and utilize egg whites instead of whole eggs. The wet ingredients were beaten in my stand mixer, and then in a separate bowl the 6 egg whites were whipped with a hand mixer to stiff peaks. After adding in the dry ingredients with the wet, and blending in coconut water (extracted from the fresh coconut!), you fold in the beaten egg whites gently to maintain volume.

Thanks to my kitchen scale, I was able to make each of the three cake layers the exact same volume, and then in the oven they went. I made the layers the night before, and then fretted about how I should store them overnight. After a long debate, Andy convinced me that it would be fine to leave them out on the counter on cooling racks. For the most part, that worked out okay, although the edges did seem a bit too stiff in the morning. I put them under my cake dome and they softened back up.

Now, it was time for the frosting! It was my first time making Italian meringue buttercream, and I was nervous. I watched a tutorial on YouTube by Warren Brown, whose recipe I intended to use for the frosting. I found it on Recipezaar (where else?) and then discovered that he had a video, which I was very excited about. I guess I'm a visual learner, because I definitely do better with something if I've seen it demonstrated for me first. I had never heard of Warren Brown before, but now I know he's the owner of a bakery called CakeLove, and that his recipe is awesome! He's got several locations, the newest one being in the mall we used to live by when we lived in Virginia. I was upset when I found this out; I would love to live right near this guy's bakery! Oh, well. I can still visit when we go back and see family in that area. Anyway, check out his website for more info on him.

Okay, I'm back on track now. Seriously, this frosting is unreal. You use an entire pound of butter, which of course I think goes against all laws of civilization. It is essential, I guess, to achieve the desired outcome, but it felt so wrong dumping all that butter into the mixer!

I'll back up just a bit here though. To achieve this buttercream, you cook a sugar/water mixture on the stove until a candy thermometer reads 240 degrees. While this is coming to temperature, you whip 5 egg whites in a stand mixer until they reach stiff peaks. Once the sugar is ready, you take it immediately from the heat and pour it in a slow, steady stream into the egg whites. Then, you whip it like crazy until the mixture is room temperature.

Now, it's time for all that butter! You dice the butter, making sure it is soft but still cool, and drop it in a bit at a time. Whip, whip, whip, and then you have buttercream! I added just a smidge (maybe 1/4 teaspoon) of coconut extract to the frosting, as well as about 1/2-3/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Even with the added flavorings, this buttercream is still very, well, buttery. I suppose it's right there in the title, huh? I should have anticipated it! It's the perfect frosting for those who do not like an overly sweet frosting, and the smooth texture just can't be beat. Honestly, I was just so giddy that I pulled it off without messing anything up, and on my first try!

After frosting the whole cake, the final touch is fresh shredded coconut, which has been toasted and cooled. That's it! It was an adventure, and it took me the better part of two days, but I am so happy that I accomplished the whole thing. The outcome was pretty awesome, we thought, and Andy was pleased with it, which was really the whole point. Success!

The recipe for the fresh coconut cake can be found here.

The recipe for Warren Brown's Italian meringue buttercream was found here.