Crazy for Hot Milk Cake & Caramel Frosting

Our family has discovered Hot Milk Cake and boy oh boy, has it become a cake of choice around here!  Apparently, it has a LONG history of being an old-fashioned favorite.  So glad we've discovered this classic!

Almond Cake

If you're looking for a buttery, rich, dense, great with a cup of coffee kind of cake...look no further!

Sweet Rice Cake

Many, many moons ago I went to a birthday party in Hawaii.  It was a huge bash and the recipient of such an enormous party was a one-year old.  I had never been to such a big birthday party, but I learned then that 1st birthdays are a big thing in Hawaii.

One of the desserts we had was a dense Filipino cake made with Sweet Rice Flour.  I loved this cake!  Sadly, at the time I couldn't find anyone who could give me the recipe. 

Over the next few months, through a lot of questions to various people I was able to reproduce a cake similar to what I enjoyed in Hawaii.

This cake has been a family favorite.  It is made with rice flour so it's great for those on a gluten-free diet.

Tonight one of our kids made it. It's super easy and if you like treats like mochi, you'll love this cake!

Sweet Rice Cake


1 cube butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 cups coconut milk (full fat)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 box Mochiko Sweet Rice Flour (16 oz)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour 9 X 13 baking dish.  Combine butter and sugar.  Add eggs.  Mix thoroughly.  Pour in coconut milk.  Blend.  Add dry ingredients, mix until combined.  Spread batter in 9 X 13 baking dish.  Batter is thick.  Bake 30-40 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Mochiko

Enjoy!  

Fruit Topped Butter Kuchen

There are a couple recipes from my childhood that have become family favorites. This cake recipe was shared by a German neighbor who made it and then topped it with Italian Prunes.  This is a dense, not-too-sweet cake that is GREAT served with a fresh cup of coffee for breakfast or a mid-afternoon treat.  And if you have an vivid imagination, you can make this cake, grab a cup of good coffee, take an afternoon break and imagine you're sitting at a cafe in Europe.

Butter Kuchen

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
6 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
fruit of choice

Grease and flour a 9 X 13 baking dish.  Mix butter, sugar, and eggs until creamy.  Add vanilla and flour.  Top with fruit (we used Italian prunes/plums).  Sprinkle top with sugar.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes.

Grease and flour a 9 X 13 pan

Spread batter in pan

Turbinado sugar

Batter topped with plums and sugar

Just out of the oven

Add a cup of coffee...great treat!

Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting: Gluten Free, Vegan and Paleo-ish

Everyone has a birthday and most likely, even if you're on a very regimented eating program you still want to celebrate your special day with a little treat.  Today one of our fellow Crossfiters celebrated her special day.  She's gluten-free and many of us try to eat a paleo diet so I found a recipe that would fit the bill.  Note this isn't completely sweetener free as it has agave, but as far as birthday sweets go, I think it is a keeper.

I found the recipe on nourishing meals.com

Gluten-Free Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting

Ingredients

3 cups blanched almond flour (Almond flour can be very expensive, but I have found the finely ground almond meal works well and is and economical alternative).
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 cup canned coconut milk (full fat)
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line one 12-cup muffin tin with paper muffin cups.

In a medium-size mixing bowl sift together the almond flour, cocoa powder, arrowroot, baking powder, sea salt, and xanthan gum.

In a separate bowl whisk together the remaining wet ingredients.  Add the wet to the dry and whisk together well.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.  Bake for about 25 minutes.  Let cool in the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Chocolate Ganache Frosting

1/2 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate (about 3 ounces)
1/4 cup canned coconut milk
2-3 tablespoons agave nectar

Place all ingredients in a small saucepan.  Heat over low heat melting chocolate. Stir continuously until melted and thickened, about 2 minutes.  If frosting is a bit too thick, add a additional tablespoon of coconut milk.  Taste to make sure it is a suitable sweetness.  Remove from heat and let cool about 5 minutes then spoon over cupcakes.

So shiny!  Almost like a chocolate mirror!

A delicious, rich, paleo-ish, sugar-free, vegan, gluten-free dessert option!
Enjoy!

Book Study: Out of the Dust Week 3

Week 3- Spring 1934 and Summer 1934

Last week we introduced an art project, self-portraits.  In our hour long class, many students were only able to make it through the drawing of the face, so we  will continue working on this project this week at the end of class.

Review assigned Out of the Dust Study Guide pages from Progeny Press.  

This was a really tough week for readers.  Learning of the devastating accident Billie Jo's family experienced created a heaviness for the class.  I had one student tell me while her mom was reading, she began to cry.  Crying is a good thing.  As readers we're grieving along with the character.  In a sense, we've come to know and have grown attached to Billie Jo.  We've gotten a sense of the hardships she experienced with her family in Oklahoma during the 1930's.  It was difficult to read of yet another difficult time for this young girl.

Through reading a chapter like this the door is opened for discussion on dealing with unexpected accidents, death, and grief.  As an additional activity, students may research the grieving process more thoroughly.  This discussion also invites readers to examine the way the different characters handled the situation:  Billie Jo, her dad, the ladies who came to help.

Because of the heaviness of this week, I decided to make something that would lighten the mood a bit before students left the class.

Billie Jo talks of apples just about every week.  This week we learned of her mother's apple trees failing due to the harsh dust storms and weather.  Since it is apple season, I made Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze  (recipe following) and gave each student a copy of the recipe.  

The Bible verses from this week covered everything from speaking words of encouragement to a Biblical view on conservationism and environmentalism.  They are as follows:

Bible Verses for Out of the Dust Spring and Summer 1934

Proverbs 11:9

 ⁹ With their mouths the godless destroy their neighbors,
   but through knowledge the righteous escape.


Proverbs 12:25
 ²⁵ Anxiety weighs down the heart,
   but a kind word cheers it up.


Proverbs 16:24
 ²⁴ Gracious words are a honeycomb,
   sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.


Proverbs 17:9
 ⁹ Whoever would foster love covers over an offense,
   but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.


Proverbs 17:22
 ²² A cheerful heart is good medicine,
   but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.


Genesis 1:28-30 

²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
    ²⁹ Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

Psalm 8:6-8

⁶ You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
   you put everything under their^[a] feet:
⁷ all flocks and herds,
   and the animals of the wild,
⁸ the birds in the sky,
   and the fish in the sea,
   all that swim the paths of the seas.

Leviticus 25:1-7

The Sabbath Year

 ¹ The LORD said to Moses at Mount Sinai, ² “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD. ³ For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. ⁴ But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. ⁵ Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. ⁶ Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you—for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, ⁷ as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.

Leviticus 26:34

³⁴ Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths.


2 Chronicles 36:21

²¹ The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah.

Matthew 18:21-22

The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

 ²¹ Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

 ²² Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.^[a]


Mark 11:25

²⁵ And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

Colossians 3:13
¹³


Matthew 7:1-4
¹ “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ² For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
   ³ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?


Ecclesiastes 9:11
 ¹¹ I have seen something else under the sun:
   The race is not to the swift
   or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
   or wealth to the brilliant
   or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.


Luke 13:1-5

Repent or Perish

 ¹ Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ² Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? ³ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. ⁴ Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? ⁵ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze
Makes 9 X 13 Cake

Apple Cake Ingredients:


3 cups all purpose flour
2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 eggs
1 cup canola oil
2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups finely chopped apples
1/2-1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional)

Brown Sugar Glaze:

1 cup packed light brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoon heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease an 9 X 13 rectangular pan  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Stir with a whisk to mix everything together.

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs until light in color and foamy.  Add the oil and vanilla and mix well.

Add egg mixture to dry ingredients and stir until flour disappears.  Do not over mix.  Add apples and nuts (if using).

Pour batter into prepared pan.  Bake 40-45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.

After removing cake from oven, make glaze.

Brown Sugar Glaze

Combine brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and heavy cream in saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the mixture comes to a gentle boil. Cook 3-5 minutes.

Spoon hot glaze over the hot-from-the-oven cake.  Let the glazed cake cool completely before serving.

Apple Cake w/ Brown Sugar Glaze

September 26th is a day for celebration.  It happens to be Johnny Appleseed's (a.k.a. John Chapman) birthday!  We always love a reason to celebrate and what else would Johnny want for his birthday but an Apple Cake?

I found a GREAT recipe for a scrumptious apple cake at http://www.lickthebowlgood.blogspot.com/  Just a couple glances at this website and you'll definitely be drooling uncontrollably.

In addition to it being Johnny's happy day, we're also baking this cake to compliment some of the book studies we're currently doing, namely Out of the Dust and Ox Cart Man.

Without further ado...

Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze
Makes 9 X 13 Cake

Apple Cake Ingredients:


3 cups all purpose flour
2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 eggs
1 cup canola oil
2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups finely chopped apples
1/2-1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional)

Brown Sugar Glaze:

1 cup packed light brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoon heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease an 9 X 13 rectangular pan  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Stir with a whisk to mix everything together.

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs until light in color and foamy.  Add the oil and vanilla and mix well.

Add egg mixture to dry ingredients and stir until flour disappears.  Do not over mix.  Add apples and nuts (if using).

Pour batter into prepared pan.  Bake 40-45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.

After removing cake from oven, make glaze.

Cake fresh from the oven.  Time to make the glaze

Ready for Glaze

See those apples?

Brown Sugar Glaze

Combine brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and heavy cream in saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the mixture comes to a gentle boil. Cook 3-5 minutes.

Glaze bubbling

Spoon hot glaze over the hot-from-the-oven cake.  Let the glazed cake cool completely before serving.

So incredibly moist and yummy!

A Fall Beauty!  Enjoy!

Birthday Idea: Krispie Treats Tower

This week we celebrated the last of our immediate family birthdays.  As I've mentioned before, on birthday days each kid chooses his/her special cake.  Sometimes there are two celebrations as the birthday occurs close to another function, so there may be two choices.  This was the situation today.  The birthday fell on the same day as a baseball get-together.  We'll be making the Chocolate on Chocolate cake for the party, but something special, that would feed a crowd was in order for the baseball gathering.

We decided on the crispy treat tower.  Birthday boy got to choose four cereals for the treats.  He chose Rice Krispies, Cocoa Krispies, Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs, and Froot Loops.  We don't normally buy these sugar cereals so this choosing creates quite the excitement.

When making the treats, I've found melting the butter and marshmallows is much better in the microwave than on the stove.  The mess is minimal and the process seems to go much quicker.

To make, melt 1/4 cup butter and one package of Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallows in a large microwave safe bowl.  I recommend spending the couple extra cents and buying the Kraft Marshmallows.  They just seem to melt better.  Microwave butter and marshmallows for about one minute.  Remove.  Stir until smooth.  In a separate large bowl place the box of cereal.  I think the 12 oz. box is suitable for this amount of marshmallows.  Pour marshmallow mixture over cereal and stir to coat.

Line a 9 X 13 pan with parchment paper.  Pour cereal mixture in 9 X 13 pan and pat down evenly.  We find it is best to also butter your hands when patting down.  The cereal/marshmallow mixture will not stick.  When cooled it's so easy to lift the parchment paper and treats right out of the pan, no mess.  Cut treats into squares.

Finished and cooling

Rice Krispie and Froot Loops

Cocoa Krispie and Reese's

Easily lifted out of the pan

A candle, just because it's a birthday

Kids love these

Colorful Treat

Enjoy!

A Cake-A-Day Week Comes To An End. See What I Found to Celebrate The Week

This has been such a great week making and posting delicious cake recipes.  I know my family has loved it along with many friends.  I'm kind of sad to end this little venture, but it'll be back for sure.  I really enjoyed the theme week.  We'll see what we come up with next.

Here's a recap on what was made this week.

Day 1: Oatmeal Cake

Oatmeal Cake

Day 2: German Chocolate Cake

German Chocolate Cake

Day 3: Pistachio Pudding Cake

Pistachio Pudding Cake

Day 4: Angel Food Cake

Angel Food Cake

Day 5: Rich Chocolate Layer Cake

Rich Chocolate Layer Cake

Day 6:  Art Smith's Hummingbird Cake

Art Smith's Hummingbird Cake

Day 7:  Root Beer Bundt Cake

Root Beer Bundt Cake

In honor of this great week, I found a GREAT wine to celebrate the end of this theme.

Layer Cake Shiraz

Here's to layered cakes, bundt cakes, tube cakes, sheet cakes, Birthday cakes, and cake balls! 

To CAKE!!!  Cheers!

Day 7, A Cake-A-Day: Rootbeer Bundt Cake (A.K.A. Insanely Amazing Chocolate Cake!!)

The name of this cake is misleading.  The recipe was described as having a "pronounced" root beer flavor.  I was expecting something root beer-ish, like a root beer float.  I can't describe this cake as having a "pronounced" root beer taste.  In fact, I didn't really taste the root beer at all, but what I did taste was an incredibly delectable, moist, semi-dense rich chocolate cake.  If you're a fan of scrumptious chocolate cakes, this is a cake for you!

First off, I'd like to mention this cake is from a wonderful cookbook titled Baked by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  Matt and Renato own a bakery called Baked in Brooklyn, New York.  I had the opportunity to meet Matt and Renato last year.  They were delightful men with fresh ideas in baking.  One day I hope to visit their bakery for a firsthand experience.

Here I am with Matt and Renato

Baked- The freshly baked cookbook

 Root beer Bundt Cake

Cake:

2 cups root beer (do not use diet)
1 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Generously butter inside of a bundt pan, dust with flour.  Set aside.

Pan is buttered and dusted

In a small saucepan, heat the root beer, cocoa powder, and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted.  Add the sugars and whisk until dissolved.  Remove from the heat and cool.



Butter, cocoa, and root beer



Cocoa mixture with sugars- let cool

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together.

Dry ingredients, whisked

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until just beaten, then whisk them into the cooled cocoa mixture until combined.  Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture.  The batter will be slightly lumpy, do not over beat, it will give the cake a rubbery tough texture.

The eggs whisked.  Notice the cute new bowl from Crate and Barrel?  Love it!

Lumpy batter

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a small sharp knife inserted in cake comes out clean.  Note: rotate the pan halfway through the baking time.  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.

The cake, ready for the oven

Finished baking

You can just see how moist this cake is!

Ready for frosting

Frosting coming up...

Frosting

2 ounces dark chocolate (60% cacao) melted and slightly cooled
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (I always use unsalted butter), softened
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup root beer
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)

Put all the ingredients in a food processor.  Pulse in short bursts until the frosting is shiny and smooth.  Use a spatula to spread the fudge frosting over the crown of the bundt in a thick layer.  Let the frosting set before serving, with ice cream on the side.

I'd like to introduce you to my new Cuisinart.  My faithful Cuisinart Custom 11 has served me well for the last 18.5 years, but she needs to rest.  It's time for the younger generation to take over.

 

Tastes even better than it looks



Speechless...so good!

Serve with ice cream and a little chocolate sauce.  Enjoy!