Mexican Chocolate Cake

(Picture above is courtesy of this post on Serious Eats - their recipe is very similar to this one.)

Just in time for Cinco de Mayo! A delicious, vegan, Mexican chocolate cake. Enjoy! This recipe is really from Mom, but I re-found it a few days ago and thought I'd post it...

CAKE:

1 ½ cups flour

1 cup sugar

½ cup unsweetened cocoa

2 t. cinnamon

1 t. baking soda

¼ t. cayenne pepper

¼ t. salt

1 cup cold water

¼ c. canola oil

1 T. balsamic (or other) vinegar

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat cake pan with cooking spray.
2. In bowl combine all ingredients, and stir until smooth.
3. Pour into pan and bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
4. Cook in pan for 10 minutes.

ICING:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

½ c. cocoa

6 T water

1. In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, cocoa and water.
2. Pour glaze over cake.
3. If desired, dip small strawberries into glaze and place strawberries on to of cake.
4. Set aside for about 30 minutes.

Fresh cherry compote -- 2 recipes, sweet & "savoury"

It's fresh cherry season! I use sweet cherries that I pit using my fingers. Cherry compote/sauce is wonderful on ice cream, on cake, with yogurt, as a side dish with meat or fish. And, it uses about 10% of the sugar required for jam.

CHERRY COMPOTE #1: SWEET

· 4 cups pitted sweet cherries (about 1 1/2 pounds)

· 1/4 cup granulated sugar

· 2 tablespoons water

· 2 teaspoons cornstarch

· 1/4 teaspoon almond extract

To prepare compote, combine cherries, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons water, and cornstarch in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in extract. Cool.

Options: add a pinch of salt, amaretto, lemon juice

CHERRY COMPOTE #2: SAVOURY

• 1 pound halved and pitted fresh sweet cherries (4 cups)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• Coarse salt and ground pepper

1. In a small saucepan, combine cherries, sugar, fresh rosemary, and 1 tablespoon water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until cherries are nice and tender and liquid is slightly thickened, 12 to 15 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and stir in vinegar; season lightly with salt and pepper. Let stand at room temperature until cool. Serve or store.

Two Blackberry Cakes

Blackberries have been on sale for the past few weeks, so...

1. Blackberry Upside Down Cake

Adapted from this Gourmet magazine recipe

• 2 1/2 cups fresh blackberries (12 ounces), washed and dried
  
• 1/2 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  
• 1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
  

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Line bottom of a buttered 8- by 2-inch round cake pan with 2 rounds of parchment paper, then butter parchment. Dust pan with some flour, knocking out excess.

Arrange blackberries in 1 layer in cake pan. Sprinkle berries with 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar and shake pan to help distribute sugar.

Whisk together 1 cup flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Beat together butter and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and mix at low speed until just incorporated. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk in 3 batches, mixing at low speed until just incorporated.

Spoon batter evenly over berries, smoothing top, and bake in middle of oven until top is golden and a tester comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes.

Run a thin knife around edge of pan, then invert a large plate over pan and, using pot holders to hold plate and pan together tightly, flip cake onto plate. Peel off parchment and serve!

2. Walt's Blackberry Cake

From 1001 Low-Fat Desserts

• 6 T butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 3/4 all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• pinch ground nutmeg
  
• 1 1/2 cups pureed fresh or frozen (thawed) blackberries
  
• 1/2 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Beat in egg. Mix in combined dry ingredients (flour --> nutmeg), alternating with blackberries, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.

Pour batter into greased and floured 6-cup fluted tube pan. Bake at 350 until toothpick comes out clean, 40-45 minutes. Cook cake in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Optional: Drizzle with sugar or brown sugar glaze.

Maple Blueberry Coffee Cake

A delicious, wholesome coffee cake with a interesting flavor twist. Adapted from this post on Food Loves Writing - Shannalee calls it "a sparkling blueberry coffee cake, the kind that is dense, with sweet crumbles all over the top and chock full of dark blue berries that stain all the dough they touch, creating bursts of almost-purple throughout." I used frozen Maine blueberries that my roommate picked last summer. Yum!

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3 tablespoons rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
scant 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
pinch of chopped dried thyme
pinch of chopped dried rosemary
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup maple syrup, room temperature
1 large egg, room temperature
zest of one lemon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/3 cups fresh wild blueberries (or other berries)

for topping:
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut 1/4-inch cubes
1/3 cup brown sugar
pinch of chopped dried thyme
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
a couple teaspoons sugar

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350F degrees, with the rack in the middle. Butter a nine-inch round cake pan or something similar, and line it with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, thyme and rosemary, and set aside. In a separate large bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer or by hand until light and fluffy. Drizzle in the maple syrup and beat until well incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times. Beat in the egg, lemon zest and vanilla extract, scraping the sides again.

Add half of the flour, stir just a bit, now add a splash of the buttermilk, stir again a little. Add the rest of the flour and stir, and now the rest of the buttermilk. Stir until everything barely comes together and then very gently fold in one cup of the blueberries. Scrape the batter evenly into the prepared cake pan and set aside.

Make the streusel: whir the flour, butter, brown sugar, thyme and walnuts in a food processor, pulsing about 20 to 30 times until the mixture has gone past crumbly/sandy to slightly moist, like the beginning of a dough. Crumble 2/3 of it over the cake batter, sprinkle the remaining 1/3 cup berries on top of that, and then add the last of the crumble. Barely pat in place with your fingertips.

Place the coffee cake in the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. When it is almost finished, sprinkle sugar all over the top to give it that extra sparkle. Let the cake cool for five minutes and then remove it carefully from the pan to cool on a rack.

Serves 12 – 16 modest slices.

Chunky Apple Cake

With the apples I picked in New Jersey during my recent vacation, I decided to make an apple cake. After perusing a new website I like a lot, tastespotting, which collects recipes from lots of blogs, I found a cake recipe on a blog called Smitten Kitchen.

(NOTE FROM MOM 11/6/10: To make this in a full-size bundt pan you need to double the cake recipe, and multiply the apple portion by 1.5)

I adapted the recipe slightly. Here's my version, which stayed moist for several days. Enjoy!

4 apples
2 t cinnamon
3 T sugar

- - - - - - - -

1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 C vegetable oil
1 C sugar
splash of OJ or AJ
2 t vanilla

2 eggs

2 T molasses

juice from 1/2 lemon, or to taste

1/2 C toasted, chopped walnuts

Peel and chop apples into chunks. Toss with cinnamon and sugar and set aside. Stir together wet ingredients + sugar. Add dry ingredients and walnuts. Pour half of batter into a grease pan (bundt or otherwise deep pan). Spread half of apples over it. Pour the remaining batter over the apples and arrange the remaining apples on top. Bake for about 45 min- 1 hr at 350 degrees, or until a tester comes out clean.

Fresh Peach Coffee Cake

This is really more like a big muffin cake - light, fluffy, and not too sweet. Adapted from Susan Purdy's book, Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too.

1 egg
1/2 c skim milk
1/2 c nonfat plain yogurt
3 T butter or canola oil
3/4 c sugar (more if needed)
2 c all-purpose flour
4 t baking powder
1/8 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 t vanilla
1/4 t almond extract
1 1/2 - 2 cups fresh peaches, peeled and cut into small pieces
1/4 c granulated sugar
1 t cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400. Coat an 11x7 (or similar) pan with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl or cuisinart, whisk together the egg, milk, yogurt, butter/oil, sugar, vanilla, and almond extract. Set a strainer over the bowl and add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir and sift the dry ingredients into the egg mixture, then stir to just blend. Don't overbeat. Fold in the peaches.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle on top. Bake for about 30 minutes (check after 25), until the top is well risen and golden brown, and a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool for about 5 minutes. Cut into squares and serve warm.

NOTE: To make these as muffins, cook for 15-20 minutes. This recipe will make about 12 muffins.

Farmgirl's Mexican Monkey Cake

This yummy cake comes from one of my favorite food blogs: www.foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com.

Makes One 8-Inch Square Cake

1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 cup (1 stick/4 ounces) butter, softened (or 1/2 cup trans-fat free margarine, such as Earth Balance)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1-1/4 cups mashed, very ripe bananas (they cannot be too ripe)
2 Tablespoons yogurt or sour cream
1 Tablespoon milk
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees (325 if using a glass pan such as Pyrex). Grease an 8"x8"x2" baking pan. In a small bowl, combine chocolate chips, brown sugar, walnuts (if desired), and cinnamon; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, and egg with an electric mixer until fluffy (I use a hand held mixer). Add bananas, yogurt, and milk, and mix well. On low speed, beat in flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt just until blended.

Spread slightly more than half of the batter in the pan. Sprinkle with half of the cinnamon streusel. Carefully spread the remaining batter over the streusel and then top with the rest of the streusel. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 40 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

This cake tastes even better the next day, and it freezes beautifully. You can freeze the cake whole or cut it into pieces, wrap them tightly in plastic, and place them in a zipper freezer bag. Defrost at room temperature--or in the microwave.

Robust Chocolate Veganry (aka best chocolate cake)

A staple cake from 3D 2007. Don't be fooled/turned off by the fact that this cake can be vegan. Its the moistest chocolate cake I know.

2 C brown sugar
1 3/4 C whole wheat flour
1 t salt
3/4 C cocoa
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 C milk (soy/rice/dairy, can be chocolate0
1/2 C oil
2 t vanilla
1 C boiling water

Mix and stir in boiling water. Bake 35 minutes at 350.