Garden Cake

I know it's been awhile since I've been on here but I'm trying to be better about that and share all the recipes I've been working on. This was another fun collaboration with Ella Newman and her wonderful photography skills, it was so much fun and this cake is just perfect for festive summer parties and celebrations. I think my favorite cooking of all is summer cooking, lots of things are growing begging to be used and its easy to make everything delicious. I love being able to carry a big feast out the back door and eat in the yard in the happy summer light where the sun doesn't leave till 9:00. I think this is the perfect cake to carry out after a delicious dinner on the patio and serve to your friends and family for the perfect sweet finish. With a strawberry rhubarb jam sandwiched in between layers of  soft cream and vanilla sponge cake topped with tons of berries its the perfect dessert to celebrate summers abundance. Once again the lovely Ella of ellanewmanphotography took these photos and they are just perfect, go check out her sight!

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam:

• 5-6 stalks of rhubarb chopped

• 1 basket of strawberries

• Sugar

• Fresh squeezed orange juice

Throw all your ingredients in a sauce pan with a bit of fresh orange juice and 1/2- 1 cup sugar, or more, depending on the sweetness of your strawberries. Cook over medium high heat until combined and softened. The rhubarb will take a little longer to soften than the strawberries. Overall it will probably be about 10-15 minutes of simmering to get it where you want it. Let it cool completely and refrigerate until ready to use. The jam will keep in the fridge for 3 weeks.

Sponge Cake (from the "Decorated" cookbook)

• 8 oz unsalted butter

• scant 1/3 cups caster sugar

• 4 medium eggs lightly beaten

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 4 oz whole milk

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Start by preheating your oven to 335 degrees, then begin to cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Once it is creamed add the eggs slowly until combined. Sift all your dry ingredients into a clean bowl and then add half of the dry mixture to your butter mixture. Then add the milk and vanilla extract and finish by adding the last of the dry mixture. Mix till just combined. Cook in greased, cake pans until skewer comes out with only a few crumbs. For a normal 9 inch cake pan its about 30 minutes. 

Whipped Cream :

• 2 cups whipping cream

• 3 tablespoons powdered sugar or more depending on how sweet you like it.

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• Fresh berries for decorating

Whip the cream until you have soft peaks and then stir in the sugar and vanilla and you're ready to pile it onto the cake.

To Assemble:

Cut your cake layers in half through the middle, I do this with a bread knife and a careful sawing motion, once they are completely cooled from cooking. Once they have been cut in half layer jam on the bottom half some cream on top and sandwich it with its top half. put cream in-between the two cake layers and then do the same with the jam and cream for the second sandwich. continue this pattern for as many layers as you have. Then top with remaining whip cream, let it flow down the sides and pile in delicious mounds for a relaxed look. Then cover it with berries, shove them wherever they will fit till its ready for a garden party!

Ina Garten's Coconut Cake Dressed for Christmas

When it comes to recipes, Ina Garten is a wizard. I have never made anything of hers that wasn't a hit. You can tell she's tested every recipe over and over and everything is always delicious. This coconut cake is a favorite in my family that we make for everything. I decided this year to decorate it up for Christmas with a few bottle brush trees and some easy to make marzipan mushrooms. It was begging for Christmas decoration since it was already covered in coconut snow. So whatever Christmas party you're having, make this cake, it is always a hit. 

Ina's Coconut Cake

3 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan

2 cups sugar

5 extra large eggs at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

3 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pans

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 

1 cup milk

4 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

Frosting

1 pound cream cheese at room temperature

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature 

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 lb confectioners sugar sifted

6 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease two round cake pans. I like to also line them with parchment paper so they're super easy to get out. In a mixing bowl, or the bowl of your electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until they're nice and fluffy and pale yellow. Ina always uses lots of butter and we love her for it. Then add the eggs one at a time and scrape down the bowl between each addition.  Finally, add both the vanilla and almond extract. In a separate bowl sift your dry ingredients and with the mixer on low speed alternate adding your dry ingredients with the cup of milk. Do this in three parts, starting and ending with dry ingredients. Once it is incorporated fold in your 4 ounces of coconut and pour evenly into your two pans. Bake for 45-55 minutes (mine usually is ready at about 40) or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. For the frosting, in your mixing bowl add the softened butter and cream cheese and mix until creamy. Add vanilla and almond extract. Once it's smooth, add the powdered sugar on low speed until smooth and don't whip. Then you are ready to assemble. Place one of your cakes on a cake stand and spread with frosting, top with the second layer and cover completely. Then using the 6 ounces of coconut press it into the sides and top for a snowy effect. Serve at room temperature and thank Ina for another delicious cake! 

Now I know you want to learn how to make these cute little guys. These are a staple of mine that I've been making for years to top all sorts of cakes and they're delicious. If you are an almond fan, you will love these little marzipan mushrooms!

Marzipan Mushrooms

4 ounces (more or less) marzipan (find this on the baking isle of most grocery stores)

1 tiny drop red food coloring 

Making these is pretty simple. I take about 4 ounces of marzipan and split it in half. I then use a toothpick to carefully add red to one half of the marzipan and I use my fingers to work it in. Once you have your red it's really just free forming the little mushrooms. I usually start with the little stumps, and then add the caps, and finally the small white spots. I make some smaller and some larger so I have a good variety.  Merry Christmas!

Almond Raspberry Baby Cake

Well it is finally March, which calls for a celebration! Spring is on it's way! I have been super behind putting this cake recipe up with more of Ella Newman's darling photo's, but i'm finally getting around to it! This cake is so delicious there is nothing better than the combination of raspberries and almond, it's a match made in heaven. For the base of this cake I used a great recipe from livforcake.com and it is oh so good, she knew what she was doing with this one. I just added some almond flavor and more raspberry and put my own little spin on it. It's hard to find a good white cake recipe and I think this is just that! 

White Cake from livforcake

1 1/2 cups cake flour sifted

2 teaspoons baking powder 

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 oz. room temperature butter 

3/4 cups granulated sugar 

1 large egg 

1/2 cup milk 

1 teaspoon vanilla (I add a tsp of almond extract as well)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk all dry ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside. Cream butter, and sugar on medium high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, and almond if using, and mix until combined. Alternate adding flour mixture and milk to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Divide batter evenly amongst your pans and bake for 25-30 minutes. You don't want to overcook because the cake dries out quickly so watch them closely. She baked them in three 4"x3" cake pans, I baked it in two pans one slightly bigger than 4"x3" and one slightly smaller, so it evened out. Just remember when you're thinking what pans you want to use this recipe doesn't make enough for 2 standard round pans.

Raspberry Buttercream

1 stick softened butter

2 cups powdered sugar (may need a little more or less)

2-4 tablespoons milk 

3 tablespoons raspberry jam 

1 teaspoon almond flavoring 

red food coloring (optional)

To make your butter cream whip the softened butter in a stand mixer at medium speed. Slowly begin to add 1 cup of the powdered sugar until it is well combined, it will seem really thick. Add a couple tablespoons of milk and mix again, then add the last cup of powdered sugar. After mixing the sugar in you may need another tablespoon of milk. You want it to be thick but spreadable. Lastly, stir in the almond extract and raspberry jam. You can leave it as is, it will be a muted purple color, or you can add a drop of red food coloring to give it a more pink hue, which is what I did.

*** Here are my tips to go about frosting the cake, these steps will insure your cake looks flawless!

1. I put the cake in the freezer wrapped in plastic wrap for about an hour so it was nice and cold and didn't crumble when I cut or frost it.

2. I then sliced the 2 layers in half so I had a total of 4 layers. Slather raspberry jam in-between the layers before you stack the cake and frost it.

3. I started with a crumb coat, or in other words just a thin layer of frosting that holds all the crumbs in. After you apply this thin layer pop it in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour so it can harden up.

4. Pull it out of the fridge and top with your final frosting layer, it can be a little on the thicker side so you don't scrape into the crumb coating. Finally top with raspberries and you're ready to celebrate!

Easter Lemon Bunt Cakes

Easter is just around the corner and what better way to celebrate than mini lemon bunt cakes that double as a little bird nest? I don't think there's anything more festive. These cakes are so simple I just used Ina Garten's recipe for lemon loaf cake and added on a few extras. The cakes are moist and delicious because they are soaked with lemon syrup right when they come out of the oven and then covered in a sugar glaze...my mouth is watering just thinking about it! These light happy little cakes are the perfect way to celebrate the coming of spring and a glorious Easter holiday. You can whip these up in about an hour and be ready to entertain family and friends anytime!

Ina Garten's Lemon Yogurt Cake

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 1/3 cup sugar divided
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• /2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice 

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar 
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice 

To start, set your oven to 350 degrees and grease your mini bunt pans or muffin tins. Sift the dry ingredients into a small bowl and then in a separate bowl mix the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Once those are all mixed, slowly add the flour mixture to the wet and mix till just combined.  Lastly, stir in the 1/2 cup of vegetable oil and you're ready to bake! Pour each cup 2/3 of the way full and bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. While the cakes are baking take your reserved 1/3 cup sugar and 1/3 cup of lemon juice and heat them in a saucepan on the stove over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved, then set it aside to cool. 

Once the cakes are out, poke them with toothpicks and pour a spoonful of cooled syrup over each of them. While the syrup soaks in make your glaze, simply combine the powdered sugar and lemon juice to create. Let the cakes cool before drizzling the glaze over each one.

The last step is to add the nests. put about 1/2 a cup of shredded coconut in a dry pan and toast over medium heat until it's got some color on it. Watch it carefully because it can burn, take it off the heat when it's just starting to turn brown and let it cool until it's easy to handle. 

To top the cakes, just place a little handful of coconut right in the center of the bunt, it should stick to the slightly wet glaze. Then add whatever candy egg you like, I used a chocolate covered almond, but you could use cadbury eggs, or jellybeans...anything would work! Then all you have to do is enjoy your little lemon nests, and have a happy Easter!