peach cornmeal upside down cake

I neeeeeed to make this when it's peach season:
https://www.marthastewart.com/316964/peach-and-cornmeal-upside-down-cake

ricotta almond cake

I want to make this some day soon:
http://www.italianfoodforever.com/2014/04/ricotta-almond-cake/

Yellow sheet cake

I don't usually make sheet cakes because in the faraway past my 9x13 cakes used to sink the middle. So I switched to making bundt cakes instead. They're beautiful and there's no middle TO sink.

And I'm not a frosting person, either.

BUT. I wanted to make a birthday cake for my friend, who asked for yellow cake with chocolate frosting. You can't really do that with a bundt cake. Drizzle, sure, but that's not the same.

So I made this recipe, which promises to be pretty foolproof:
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2009/07/best-birthday-cake/

And you know what? It seems to be foolproof indeed.

I did not use cake flour; I sifted regular flour, then measured it, added the salt and leavening, and sifted again.

I lined my 9x13 with parchment paper and then sprayed with with flour-oil spray just to be sure. I baked it for somewhere around 43-45 minutes and let it cool for 10 on a rack and then inverted it onto a cookie sheet, where it currently awaits its fate (frosting, then being eaten.) It came out of the pan beautifully and while it got a bit domed in the oven, it fell just enough to be pretty flat and smooth as it was cooling - perfect.

I made this frosting recipe: http://comfortablydomestic.com/2012/02/14/milk-chocolate-buttercream/

but using better millk chocolate than Hershey's, and using half and half instead of heavy whipping cream because that's what I had around and I don't think it will affect the consistency.

 VERDICT: quite excellent for a yellow cake. Quite good for a not super chocolate-y frosting (which is what my friend wanted.) Also? If you cut raspberries along their equator, they look like flowers. Nice for simple cake decorating for people that don't like wacky colors of icing. (I decorated the cake with melted chocolate chips in a piping bag...well, ok, in a ziploc bag with a tiny corner cut off. Bonus is that the chocolate hardens so the writing won't smear when you're transporting the cake.)

Almond Bundt Cake III (I think, for this blog)

I used this recipe:
http://www.bubblews.com/news/914894-almond-bundt-cake-recipe

but I made my own almond paste, using this recipe:
http://candy.about.com/od/nutcandyrecipes/r/Easy-Almond-Paste.htm
(actually, I used 3/4 of that recipe - 12 oz out of a supposed 16). I used blanched slivered almonds from trader joes and I doubled the amount of almond extract it called for. It looks nice and smooth and not homemade at all. I let it process for a long long time.

For the cake itself - the recipe's unclear but I mixed the sugar with the almond paste first (I pretty much had to use my hands instead of hte mixer) and then added in the butter. It took some strength to get it done--I was glad for my heavy glass bowl, which stayed in place as I used to hands to corral the mixer. (Oh to have a KitchenAid!)

I was happy with how it turned out. Also this bundt cake was a little taller than some bundt cakes I've made (my pan has tall sides so cakes never fill it up entirely.  It says 10-15 cups on it.) 

Almond cake!

Last night I made this:
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/06/almond-cake-recipe/

I made it in a 8.5x8.5 square pan. I'm convinced it would have been nicer in a round pan, but ya do what ya have to, right? I don't have a round pan right now.

Wouldn't this have been prettier if it were round?

It was good, but unfortunately I used salted butter instead of unsalted by accident, and I think the salt overwhelmed the almond taste a little bit. It wasn't bad, but almond's a delicate flavor and doesn't stand up to salt the way that chocolate or caramel does. I bet it'll be fabulous with the correct butter. And it's definitely a bit better after it's had some time to sit - it gets moister and the flavor matures somehow.

So I'll have to try again.

Also, n.b., Bob the food processor, whose work bowl is only about 7 cups or so, was a tight fit for this cake. I had to dump the batter into a separate bowl before adding the flour. Not surprising, really--poor Bob has always been on the small side, as much good food as I pour into him.


Text of recipe reproduced after the jump in case it ever goes away (because you bet I want to make this again):

French Yogurt Cake

Making this French yogurt cake:
http://orangette.blogspot.com/2004/08/slow-roasting.html

Omitting lemons, adding a splash of almond extract for flavoring, baking in an 8x8 nonstick square pan sprayed with PAM. I'm not sure that the almond flavor pairs well with tanginess of yogurt, but we'll see. I used full-fat yogurt because that's what I had. I am confident that it will be cake, regardless, and cake is good.

Verdict: my housemates loved it. See above re: cake is good, etc. I don't think the tanginess of the yogurt was an issue. However, I prefer to add almond flavor to things that have more substance. Like, say, some ground almonds. 

Solo Almond Bundt Cake

From http://www.solofoods.com/recipes/almond-bundt-cake
This cake requires a can of Solo brand "Almond Cake and Pastry Filling" and the recipe is generally printed on the back side of the can's label.This stuff has ground almonds in it but it's NOT equivalent to marzipan. It's kind of hard to find; in the San Francisco Bay area I've only seen it at Andronico's, even though I've seen Solo products advertised in Lucky's circulars occasionally. At some point I'd like to figure out how to replicate it without the canned stuff, both 'cause it's pricey ($5/can) and because it has corn syrup in it (which I'm not terribly against in moderation, but if I'm baking, why not use real sugar?)  In the meantime I make it anyway, because it's more almondy than the other almond bundt recipe I tried.

ANYWAY. I don't really modify this recipe at all:

1 cup butter (or margarine), softened

2 1⁄4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoon baking powder

3 eggs

1⁄2 teaspoon salt

1 can Solo Almond Cake and Pastry Filling (protip: open one end of the can, the flip it over the bowl and start opening the other end. That will break the suction/vacuum and it'll all fall out of the can neatly in one chunk.)

1⁄4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour 10-inch tube pan or 12-cup Bundt pan and set aside. Beat butter and granulated sugar in large bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in almond filling until blended. Stir flour, baking powder, and salt until mixed. Add to almond mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.  Beat until blended. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on rack.

Chocolate Bundt Cake

Modified from here

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces butter (2 sticks)
• 1/2 3/4?-1 cup Dutch process cocoa (I used regular, TJ's)
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 cups granulated sugar (I used slightly less, maybe 2-3 tbs less?)
• 1 cup sour cream I used the top of TJ's French Cream Line yogurt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, stir before measuring
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (+ 1/2 tsp, + 1/8 to every 3 TBS of extra non-Dutched cocoa)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

Grease and flour a 10- to 12-cup Bundt pan with Baker's Joy or another flour+grease spray. (Seriously, that stuff is magic for bundt cakes.) Heat oven to 350°. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat; add cocoa, stirring until smooth. Whisk in the water and remove from heat. To the warm cocoa mixture, add the sugar, sour cream, 1 tablespoon vanilla, and eggs; whisk until smooth. In another bowl combine the flour, soda, and salt. Add all at once to the first mixture, whisking until well blended.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until it feels firm to the touch and has slightly pulled away from the sides of the pan. Cool in pan on a rack for 20 minutes. Carefully loosen the cake with a knife and invert onto a large plate.

NOTES: the extra cocoa was good. The yogurt seems fine, it seems moist enough. I wasn't sure it was mixed all the way at the end--it felt like there were what were either bubbles or tiny lumps of flour, but it was fine. I think I actually cooked it for close to 45 minutes and it was fine, not dry.)


*If you're using a standard baking cocoa (not Dutch-process or high-quality) add 1/2 teaspoon more of baking soda to the dry ingredients.

peach cobbler

Used these two (very similar) recipes
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/easy-peach-cobbler-10000000257827/
http://southernfood.about.com/od/peachcobblers/r/r70913a.htm

which both do the odd thing where you melt butter in a pan in the oven and then pour a batter directly over it and then dump fruit over it and supposedly the batter/topping magically rises to the top. We'll see. I'm doubtful but I figure nothing with this mix of ingredients could taste bad, so who cares?

Modifications/notes:

Used extra lemon juice (2TBS?) because I like that slight citric acid counterbalance in my fruit
Used (I think) 5 very large peaches, sliced in cubes, which filled up (brimming) a 2-qt pyrex casserole
1/4-1/2 cup of sugar in the peaches - a cup seems like too much
2ish tsp of baking soda (oh shit I just realized it says baking powder...hmm. gah. it's been a long time since I made that mistake.)
used the 1 tsp vanilla
didn't boil anything
didn't peel anything
1/2 cup of sugar in the crust/dough

notes on how it turned out to come.

ETA: brought this to a party and everyone seemed to like it--it had a good amount of sugar. It was more liquidy than would be ideal, probably because I used extra peaches. Next time I won't pour in the extra liquid left sitting at the bottom of the bowl after I made the fruit mixture, and perhaps add some tapioca or cornstarch. The unpeeled peaches were fine. I baked it for 45 minutes (or more) but part of that was because I could see it was so liquidy. Some of the batter did rise to the top, but not all of it. Again, probably because I used extra peaches (or maybe because of the baking soda mixup--which didn't seem noticeable as far as flavor, fortunately.)

Also, for the love of Bob, if you can find freestone peaches or nectarines, do it. It's hard to cut fruit off a pit and into nice slices. 

Almond Bundt Cake

Quick and dirty notes:
Used this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Glazed-Almond-Bundt-Cake/Detail.aspx

Put in closer to 3 tsp of almond extract and 1.5 tsp of vanilla extract.
As per usual, used salted butter and omitted the added salt.
The batter didn't seem to have as much volume as I remembered bundt cakes having, but it's been a while and it expanded enough to fill the pan to a decent extent.
Baked for 60 minutes (on a low rack of the oven.) My oven miraculously stayed very close to 350 the entire time! It could have taken a tad less time but definitely not more, and it wasn't burned.

It was good but I feel like it could use more almond flavor somehow, maybe with a little less sweetness.

Poppyseed Bundt Cake

I haven't made this in years, but I have a photocopy of the recipe that I keep losing track of, so I'm putting it here. It is tasty and moist and makes me wish I had a bundt pan around. It's from The Pleasures of Your Food Processor by Norene Gilletz. You could probably make it with a mixer instead (mixers are better than food processors for making cake anyhow). I could probably make it with a mixer instead, too. Hmm, I should get a bundt pan. 1/2 c. poppyseeds 1 c. buttermilk or sour milk (I've used 1 c. soy milk + 1 TBS vinegar or lemon juice) 1 c. butter or margarine, cut in chunks (I've only used margarine because I've always made it dairy-free in the past) 1.5 c. sugar 4 eggs 2 tsp vanilla extract (or ALMOND) 2.5 c. flour 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda Soak poppyseeds in milk for at least 1/2 an hour. Using the food processor's steel knife, process butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla for 2 minutes. Remove cover and add poppyseed/milk mixture to batter. Process for 3-4 seconds to blend. Add dry ingredients and process with 5-6 on/off turns. Mix through with a rubber spatula if batter is not completely blended. Pour into a greased and floured 12-cup Bundt pan (Bakers Joy flour spray is awesome for this). Bake @ 325 degrees for 50-60 minutes, until cake tests done. Cool 15 minutes before removing from pan. NOTE 1 - baked this in an oven at almost exactly 325 (thanks to my oven thermometer--a new thing for me) and it seemed done-but-moist at 45 minutes--toothpick was clean.) It was fine, and probably wouldn't have seemed unpleasantly underdone if I'd pulled it out at 40 or 42 minutes. NOTE 2 - tried making a vegan version of this - soy milk, margarine, and aquafaba substituted for the eggs (3 tbs to an egg) and it came out pretty well. I did that version of it in a kitchenaid mixer because that's what I had access to.

Chocolate Dump Cake/Wacky Cake

Some people mix this in the (ungreased) baking pan. I think it's a pretty fast, easy recipe even if you use a separate bowl, and I think the tiny additional effort is worthwhile.

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup cocoa

3/4 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 TBS vinegar
2 cups water

Combine dry ingredients. Add in wet ingredients, mix well, dump into greased 9x13 pan and bake for 40-50 minutes (or until done) at 350°F.