There are times when I (or my husband) crave a homemade chocolate-y dessert but don’t want to make it a big production. If you’ve ever felt that way, this is the perfect recipe for you. This cake is made in one bowl, without using a mixer — a whisk or wooden spoon and a bowl is all you need. Plus it tastes out-of-this-world delicious — fudgy, moist and tender. I found the recipe on The Seasoned Mom website while searching for a chocolate cake to make with the leftover buttermilk in my fridge. If you haven’t got buttermilk, no problem. Just add a few squirts of lemon juice or vinegar to regular milk and let it sit for 10 minutes or so. The original recipe makes a much larger cake — calling for twice the ingredients and a 9″ x 13″ baking pan. However, I cut everything in half and baked it in an 8″ x 8″ pyrex pan. It is the perfect snack cake, and one I’m sure I’ll rely on time and time again in the future. The Seasoned Mom topped her cake with a ganache-type frosting, but I made a buttercream frosting instead. It stays nice and soft on the cake, while ganache hardens. Either way, I’m sure you’ll love this cake.
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Fresh figs are months away here in New Jersey , but this cake makes use of dried figs, readily available any time of year. My dad’s wife made this cake years ago and gave me the recipe, one she got from her local newspaper, but it’s attributed to chef Al Paris, of Philadelphia’s (now closed) Heirloom and Paris Bistro restaurants. With almond paste as one of its ingredients, the fragrance alone is inviting. The flavor is every bit as delicious as the smell that will permeate your kitchen while in the oven, and the texture is dense and moist. The recipe calls for dried figs, but once fresh fig season arrives, this would be delicious with those as well.
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I hope you’re not “pumpkined-out” yet this fall, because this is one recipe (from the website “Handle With Heat” ), you need to try. It’s got that seasonal pumpkin and spice flavor, it’s moist, and has an irresistible crunchy crumb topping, finished with a glaze of maple sugar. Don’t fight it — just make it!
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I don’t know about you, but when peaches are in season here in New Jersey, you won’t find any other fruit that’s as delicious, in my opinion. They’re juicy, full of fragrant flavor and plentiful — although this year, I’ve found that the cost has risen significantly (but what hasn’t?). In addition to eating them in my morning oatmeal, and just out of hand, I had to bake with some of them, and the combo of brown sugar, butter and peaches is hard to resist in this upside down cake. The recipe comes from Cake By Courtney but I skipped the vanilla and added Amaretto liqueur instead. The almond flavor is subtle, but detectable and adds even more reason to dig in for a second or third slice.
The cake has a fine crumb and tender bite to it, and it’s good the second day too, but like most fruit-topped cakes, it’s best eaten the day it’s made, especially fresh from the oven. A scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side would be most welcome too.
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2 cups (300 g) peeled and sliced peaches about 3 small to medium size peaches
juice of half a small lemon
1 teaspoon (2.4 g) cinnamon
3 tablespoons (42.4 g) butter
⅓ cup (73 g) brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon Amaretto liqueur
FOR THE CAKE
½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup (150 g) sugar
2 eggs room temperature
1½ cups (180 g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon (6 g) baking powder
½ teaspoon (3 g) salt
¾ cup (180 g) buttermilk
1 teaspoon Amaretto liqueur
Instructions
FOR THE PEACHES
Stir together the sliced peaches, lemon juice, cinnamon and Amaretto liqueur.
Set aside.
Melt the 3 tablespoons of butter in a cast iron skillet on medium heat.
Once the butter is melted, add the ⅓ cup brown sugar.
Cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar has completely melted. Add the sliced peaches and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes, just until the peaches soften a bit.
Set aside.
FOR THE CAKE
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Stir in the Amaretto liqueur.
Gradually add in the dry ingredients, alternating with the buttermilk, starting and finishing with the dry ingredients.
Mix on low speed until just combined.
Gently spread the batter in the cast iron skillet over the peaches.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs on it.
Loosen the edges of the cake with a knife, then using oven mitts on both hands, place a serving platter over the pan and invert onto the serving platter.
If ever there were a cake to knock the socks off you chocolate lovers, this is it. Picture a light chocolate sponge cake, with a luscious mousse and chopped hazelnut filling, smothered in a decadent chocolate ganache. We first tried it at Bàcaro, our favorite restaurant in the Cayman Islands where we spend a week each winter. After enjoying it twice in one week, I asked for the recipe and Head Chef Federico Destro generously gave it to me. It was written in metric measurements, but I’ve converted them into the cups more familiar to Americans. However, if you buy a kitchen scale, I recommend using the metric system measurements, since baking by weight is always more accurate than using cups.
Federico’s recipe says it makes 30 portions, but the portions at Bàcaro are much smaller than what I served at my recent dinner party. I cut mine into 24 portions, still a huge amount for most home cooks, but I froze half of the cake for later gratification. It freezes perfectly with the chocolate mousse inside, but wait until the day you serve it to pour on the ganache, otherwise you risk losing that lovely sheen and soft texture.
Make sure you sift the dry ingredients and have the eggs at room temperature before beating them with the sugar. Beat for the required 10 minutes to give them the volume necessary for the cake to rise, since it contains no other leavening.
Pour into a pan that’s been buttered and floured. I also lined the bottom with a piece of buttered parchment paper to help release the cake without sticking.
When it cooled, I cut the cake in half down the middle since half serves 12 people, and cutting it in half then makes it easier to cut it into horizontal layers. You’ll spread the mousse between the two layers.
In my experience, the mousse is the hardest part to make, since it uses Nutella, which is stiff and difficult to incorporate smoothly with the melted chocolate, egg whites and whipped cream.
Blend in just about a third of the egg whites with the melted chocolate and Nutella to get the mixture a little lighter. Keep whisking until it starts to loosen a bit.
Add another third of the egg whites after the initial egg whites have been whisked in. It will still be stiff, but a little easier to whisk.
By the time you add the last third of the egg whites and the whipped cream, it will become much lighter in color and texture.
Spread the mousse over the bottom layer of the cake and sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts.
Place the top layer of cake over the mousse, then drizzle some of the diluted espresso coffee over the cake. As you can see, I lined each section of the cake in the pan with plastic wrap, to make it easier to remove one section and leave the rest in the freezer. Place the cake in the freezer for at least 4-6 hours.
After removal from the freezer, carefully cut into 12 sections.
This is the messy part — pouring the ganache on top. The recipe below includes more of the ganache than Chef Destro recommended, partly due to the fact that I’m not a chocolatier and wasted a good bit of chocolate, and partly due to the fact that I’ll take any occasion to eat more dark chocolate!
Here’s the way it’s served at Bàcaro, and you can see how much smoother the outer coating is, when a real professional is pouring the chocolate!
Still, there were no complaints about my version either. Place the cakes in the refrigerator, but set aside about 1/4 cup of the ganache and refrigerate it too. When it starts to harden just ever so slightly, scoop a little out with a demitasse spoon to make a chocolate ball on top, and place a hazelnut on top of the chocolate. I also added a small sliver of gold leaf — totally optional, but don’t forget the whipped cream!
The recipe may seem daunting, but you can make it the day before a dinner party or event, and keep it refrigerated. One caveat though – they look really tempting to husbands grazing for a midday treat. You’ve been warned.
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1¾ cup (400g) heavy cream (whipped to medium hard peaks)
4 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp rum
4 eggs
FOR THE GANACHE (This is enough for half the cakes, since I froze half the cakes unfrosted. Just double if frosting the entire cake).
2 cups (about 425 grams) heavy cream
12 oz. chocolate (I used three, 4 oz. bars of Hershey's Special Darrk)
Instructions
TO MAKE THE SPONGE CAKE:
Whisk the eggs and sugar at high speed for about 10 minutes.
Sieve the cocoa powder, flour and corn starch and add them to the egg mixture gradually and folding slowly.
Pour the mass into a half-size hotel pan (my pan measured 15" by 10" x 2.5" but the chef used a pan that was 20" x 10" x 2.5")
Bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes or until cake pulls away from sides of pan.
Let cool at room temperature, then wrap with plastic film and store in the fridge or freezer until needed.
Cut the cake in half to make for easier handling, then cut each half in half horizontally, in order to have two layers.
Then put some plastic wrap on the bottom and sides of the pan where you baked the cake, and put the layers inside, with separate pieces of plastic wrap for each half of the cake.
That way, you can easily remove only half the cake and leave the rest frozen for later use.
Each half of the cake made 12 servings, (30 for Chef Destro who cuts smaller portions) so unless you have a crowd of 24, you can keep half frozen.
TO MAKE THE MOUSSE:
Separate the egg whites from the yolks and set aside.
Whisk the yolks with sugar and rum.
Add the chocolate (previously melted) folding it slowly, then add the Nutella and combine (This is the hardest part because the Nutella is quite stiff. But keep at it.)
Whisk the egg whites to hard peak, then gradually fold them into the chocolate mixture (again it's hard because the Nutella is so stiff, but once you have all the egg whites added, it loosens up and when you add the whipped cream, it will be just right consistency.)
Fold in the whipped cream and set in the fridge until ready to use.
TO ASSEMBLE THE CAKE AND FILLING:
Leave the cake in the pan and remove the top layer.
On the bottom layer of the sponge cake, drizzle with half the espresso.
Set half the mousse on top of it and sprinkle with the hazelnuts.
Place the top layer over the mousse and drizzle with the other half of the espresso.
Cover and chill in the freezer for at least 4-6 hours.
FOR THE GANACHE:
Heat the cream, turn off the heat and add the chocolate, stirring to combine until smooth.
TO FINISH THE CAKE WITH THE GANACHE:
Cut the frozen cake in 24 portions, if you plan to serve all at one time.
In that case, double the ingredients for the ganache.
Otherwise, place half the cake in the freezer and cut the other half into 12 portions.
Place them on a perforated rack and quickly coat them with the warm ganache.
Place back in the freezer to harden.
Repeat the coating process once more and place in the fridge until ready to serve.
Save a bit of the ganache to use as a center dollop with a hazelnut perched on it.
If you have any gold leaf, add a small piece to the top.
Boston Cream Pie is a classic American dessert that’s really not a pie at all. It’s a sponge cake, layered with a custard center, and topped with a river of chocolate ganache. Its origins hail back to the late 1880s, when a French chef at Boston’s Parker House Hotel created it. Apparently, cakes used to be baked in pie tins back then, hence the name. I was inspired to try a recipe from Ina Garten’s cookbook, “Modern Comfort Food,” but made a couple of changes. The first was cooking it in a springform pan and cutting it into the traditional two layers, not four as her recipe calls for. I also took a shortcut and didn’t make the pastry cream from scratch, substituting a box of instant vanilla pudding with some whipping cream added in. I took the photos the first time I made it during a big snowstorm, but I’ve made it again several times and it always disappears quicker than a melting snowflake.
I topped it with a little gold leaf just to gussy it up a little, but the taste is so good, it really doesn’t need any help. Please use all the liquid called for in the soak. It may seems ike a lot, but the cakes just absorb it all and the flavor it adds is crucial.
Butter a 8 or 9 inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper, buttering that too.
Sprinkle flour over the pan, then tap out the excess.
For the cake, scald the milk and butter in a small pan over medium heat.
Off the heat, add the vanilla and orange zest.
Cover the pan and set aside.
In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar on medium high speed for 4 minutes, until thick and light yellow and the mixture falls back on itself in a ribbon.
By hand first whisk in the warm milk mixture and then slowly whisk in the flour mixture.
DO NOT OVERMIX.
Pour the batter evenly into the pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let the cake cool in the pan, then release the sides and place on a baking rack.
Cool to room temperature.
FOR THE SOAK
Combine the orange juice and sugar in a small pan and heat until the sugar dissolves.
Off the heat, add the orange liqueur and set aside.
FOR THE PASTRY CREAM:
Follow the directions on the pudding box, but instead of using 2 cups milk, mix the powder with 1½ cups milk.
Whip the cream until stiff peaks form, then fold into the pastry cream.
FOR THE CHOCOLATE GLAZE:
Combine the havy cream, chocolate, corn syrup, vanilla and coffee in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Stir occasionally with a spoon, just until the chocolates melt.
Remove from the heat and set aside for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is thick enough to fall back on itself in a ribbon.
TO ASSEMBLE:
Cut the cake in half horizontally.
Put the bottom layer back in the springform pan.
Brush half of the orange liqueur soak over the cake.
Spread the pastry cream over the cake.
Place the second layer over the pastry cream and brush with the rest of the orange liqueur soak.
Pour the chocolate ganache on the cake, allowing it to drip down over the sides of the cake.
Place in the refrigerator to firm everything, then serve.
If you’re looking for a delicious cake that only improves as the days go by, look no further. This recipe, from Rosella Rago’s Cooking With Nonna website, is moist and packed with flavor — and it tastes even better a day or two after it’s baked. That’s because it contains ricotta, orange peel, chocolate chips and pistachios. How’s that for a winning combination? Feel free to substitute almonds if pistachios are not your thing, but they are classic flavors in a traditional cannolo and I love them all.
I made a couple of small tweaks to Rossella’s recipe and you can choose to follow them or leave the recipe exactly as she wrote it. In her recipe she says to put the pistachios in a food processor and process until fine. I found that the pistachios will turn to a paste if you’re not careful, so I added part of the flour to the food processor while processing the nuts. This way, you can be assured they’ll grind to a powdery consistency, just like the flour. For the glaze, I added orange juice to the confectioner’s sugar instead of milk, to give it a light orange flavor. I also didn’t have any candied orange peel (a situation I hope to remedy soon), so I used orange peel shavings to decorate the top, along with some of the mini chocolate chips and chopped pistachios. This is a recipe I’m sure will become a regular in my household.
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Candied orange peels, orange zest, mini chocolate chips and extra pistachios for decorating
Instructions
To make the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a Bundt pan with baking spray, or butter and dust with flour.
Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Set aside.
If using whole pistachios, add the pistachios to the bowl of a food processor and process until fine, about 30 seconds.
(I added some of the flour mixture to the pistachios in the food processor. It helps avoid getting a pistachio paste and encourages a texture more like the fine texture of flour.)
Set aside.
In another mixing bowl, combine the butter, sugar, orange zest and vanilla extract.
Beat with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Beat in the ricotta until fully combined.
Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully combined.
Beat in the dry ingredients until just absorbed.
Do not over mix.
Fold in the chocolate chips and ground up pistachios.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50-55 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Cool completely before glazing.
To make the glaze and decorate:
In a bowl, whisk together the confectioners sugar and orange juice, or milk until smooth.
The glaze will be thick.
Pour the glaze over the cake and top with candied cherries, orange slices (or orange zest) and crushed pistachios.
Is it even Fall if you haven’t made an apple cake? There are so many recipes out there for apple cake that it was hard to choose, but any recipe that includes almonds and apples has my vote. I found this winner of a dessert on a website called The Sugar Hit and made it last year but never posted it. Hey, it’s time to make it again! Whenever I’m peeling apples, I have a contest with myself to try to keep the peel intact in one piece. Yea! I did it! (I know, nerdy)
I used a buttered springform pan, placing a piece of parchment paper on the bottom. I then layered some of the batter over the paper, and placed apples over the batter in a neat pattern.
Repeat with the batter (don’t worry if you don’t get complete coverage), then more apples.
When you’re finished with that layer, scatter the almonds and sugar topping all over, then bake. (I overbaked it by five minutes and the bottom layer was too browned.)
Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar when cooled.
Enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee (and some vanilla sauce or ice cream wouldn’t hurt either).
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3 medium granny smith apples (or whatever kind you like)
1 tbsp caster sugar (for you Americans, use superfine granulated sugar)
pinch of cinnamon
1 tsp rum
For the cake batter:
1 + ½ sticks (150g) butter
½ cup (110g) caster sugar (superfine granulated sugar to you Americans)
2 eggs
1¼ cups (185g) plain flour
¾ cups (85g) almond meal
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp rum
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
1 tsp. almond extract
¼ cup milk
⅓ cup sliced almonds, mixed with sugar and cinnamon
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375F/180C and grease a 9 inch/22cm springform cake tin.
Peel and core the apples, then quarter them and slice them into thickish pieces.
Toss the pieces with the sugar, cinnamon and rum and set aside while you prepare the batter.
Cream together the butter and sugar, until they are light and fluffy, then add the eggs and beat them in well.
Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and slowly mix or fold until everything is well combined. The batter will be very thick.
Scrape 2 thirds of the batter into the greased cake tin, and spread it evenly over the base (it will seem like there's not enough, but there is).
Scatter most of the apples evenly over the cake mix, leaving enough slices for a second layer.
Then dollop over the remaining batter and spread carefully over the apples.
Add the rest of the apples, arranging the slices in a concentric circle.
Scatter over the chopped almonds and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out without any raw batter clinging to it.
Leave to cool for at least 10 minutes in the tin, before carefully unmolding it and scattering over a little sugar to decorate. This is best served warm.
I’ve been making the well-known plum cake from Marian Burros and the New York Times for years, but recently decided to try a similar one in Domenica Marchetti’s cookbook “Rustic Italian.” Her recipes are always winners and this was no exception. It incorporates a little almond flour in addition to all-purpose flour, but what really sets this apart is the sugary-almond topping nestled over the plums. The crunchy coating takes it over the top, although it loses its crispness when it sits overnight. No problem, because it’s so delicious, you’re not likely to have any leftovers the next day.
It uses Italian prune plums, and although Domenica’s recipe calls for nine of them, mine were smaller and I needed a lot more to fill the pan. It’s a cinch to remove the pits. Just slice down the middle, twist each half in the opposite direction, and pull out the pit. Lay the plums over the batter cut side up.
Top with the almond-butter-sugar coating and bake.
The crumb is really tender, the fruit is jammy and the topping is sugary and irresistible. I don’t know what took me so long to make this cake, but it’s now at the top of my list when I have a hankering for a slice of cake. I think this would taste great with apricots, peaches or other fruits too when Italian prune plums are hard to find. Grazie mille, cara Domenica.
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I’ve been overdosing on blueberries lately. It all started while I was in London and walked by a fruit vendor on a corner selling crates of blueberries for the equivalent of $4 U.S. I hit the mother lode, so how could I resist? The vendor dumped the blueberries out of the crate into a plastic shopping bag, and it was heavy – nearly the same weight as my one-month old granddaughter that I’d been visiting. On my 20 minute walk home, I had to continually shift the bag from my left hand to my right to keep my shoulder from hurting.
At a certain point, I cradled the bag of blueberries in my arms, which wouldn’t have been so bad except I was wearing a stark white shirt. You know where this is going. Fast forward to a spray I found in my daughter’s laundry room that miraculously took out the blueberry stains and returned my shirt to its virgin glory. I later found out later however, that it was bathroom cleaner with bleach, not a spot remover for clothes! Well, at least now I have another tool in my arsenal for removing stains.
But I digress — back to blueberries. I used them all up (finally) to bake three blueberry cakes, two pies and a dozen and a half muffins. The first cake I made was Ottolenghi’s well-known and delicious blueberry almond and lemon cake, which I’ve made many times and the recipe is here. I wanted to try a different recipe for the second go-round, and decided on a lemon blueberry pound cake from Once Upon a Cake. I made it, but substituted one cup almond flour for half the regular flour. It was good but it didn’t rise enough to create the attractive domed center that I was looking for. Moreover, after we each had eaten a slice of the cake, Trevor the cat found it on the kitchen counter and helped himself to a big chunk, causing us to toss the remaining cake, and wreaking havoc in Trevor’s “plumbing.”
photo credit: Ben Morse
When I got back home to the U.S., I decided to bake Once Upon A Cake’s recipe a second time, but this time exactly as it was written, eliminating the almond flour. The result was a perfectly domed center and a delicious pound cake.
I saved a few of the blueberries to cook down and tint the glaze, but you could keep the glaze white, or eliminate it entirely, dusting the top with only a sprinkling of powdered sugar.
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2 cups + 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled off with a knife
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries (if using frozen blueberries, do not defrost)
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1¼ cups gramulated sugar
2 large eggs
FOR THE GLAZE:
about six blueberries
2 tablespoons water
1 cup confectioner's sugar
freshly squeezed lemon juice, (about ½ lemon, or as much as needed to get the right consistency)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
Adjust an oven rack to middle position.
Butter and flour a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan, shaking out excess flour.
(Or butter the pan and line with parchment paper, then spray with nonstick spray)
In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
Let it sit for at least 10 minutes while you proceed with the recipe.
It will curdle, but that's fine.
In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 cups flour, baking soda and salt.
In a small bowl, toss the blueberries with the remainign teaspoon of flour.
Set both aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or beaters), cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl again.
With the mixer on low speed, beat in a third of the flour mixture, then half of the milk mixture.
Beat in another third of the flour mixture, then the remaining milk mixture, followed by the remaining flour mixture, scraping the bowl as necessary.
Add the flour-dusted blueberries to the batter and, using a spatula, fold until evenly combined.
Transfer the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and a tester comes out clean.
Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.
When the cake is cool, transfer to a serving platter.
Make the glaze by cooking the six blueberries with the water, pressing down on the blueberries to release the color, and cooking for a couple of minutes.
Strain the blueberries, retaining the liquid and tossing the squashed blueberries.
Mix the liquid with the confectioner's sugar, adding lemon juice if it's too thick.
It should be very thick, almost the consistency of molasses.
Spread the glaze over the cake, allowing some to drip down the sides.
