My Recipe Reviews

Recipe Reviews, Recommendations, Tips and Musings. Thanks for visiting!

cakes

Walnut, Pear and Espresso Cake (The Cake Slice Bakers)

by

Walnut Pear Espresso Cake

It’s November (!) and we’re winding down the year of baking through The New Way to Cake by Benjamina Ebuehi. What a wonderful, tasty ride it’s been!

If you’re looking for amazingly unique cakes, you’ll want to pick up this cookbook and open your mind to new combinations of flavors.

Today I’m making the Walnut, Pear and Espresso Cake (called Hazelnut, Pear, and Espresso Cake in her cookbook).

Walnut Pear Espresso Cake

You’re thinking, ‘Espresso with Pears…?” It’s almost like having a delicious little piece of this cake with a side of coffee. But the coffee is in the cake!

Oh, and if you’ve ever read many of my posts, you’ll know that hazelnuts and I have a good and evil relationship. Hazelnuts being the evil one. Long story, but in my younger years I once ate too many hazelnuts and to this day can’t be near them. Use them if you’d like.

What do I like about this cake? It’s tasty, soft and not too sweet. It uses one bowl, one baking pan and a few utensils. Stir the batter together and pour it in the pan.

Walnut Pear Espresso Cake

The most time-consuming part of Walnut, Pear and Espresso Cake is dicing the pears. My Bosc pears were particularly juicy and slippery, so I had to be very careful with the knife. A cake decorated with a thumb is not a pretty thing.

I am so happy to be a part of Cake Slice Bakers and to have had the opportunity to discover this great cake cookbook. Again, the recipes have a few unusual ingredients, but there are substitutes you can use. Or find your local ethnic groceries, wander around, and experience something new!

Other Delicious Cakes from The New Way to Cake:

Walnut Pear Espresso Cake
 

Slice of Walnut Pear Espresso Cake on a white plate

Walnut Pear and Espresso Cake

Yield: 8 slices
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour

One-layer pear cake with a scent of espresso.

Ingredients

  • 2/3 C walnuts (or hazelnuts), plus extra to decorate
  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 C plus 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 1/3 C all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp instant espresso powder
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 3/4 C butter, melted
  • 4 Bosc or Conference pears, divided

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°. Spray the bottom and sides of a 9" round cake pan and fit a piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan.
  2. Pour the walnuts or hazelnuts onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Toast them for 8 minutes, tossing half-way through roasting. Remove them from the oven and set aside to cool.
  3. Turn the oven down to 350°.
  4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla until combined. Stir in the flour, baking powder, espresso powder and cinnamon and mix well. Pour the butter in the bowl and combine until smooth.
  5. Peel, core and finely dice 2 of the pears, lightly patting them dry if overly wet. Chop three-quarters of the walnuts or hazelnuts. Gently fold in the pears and nuts, then pour the batter into the prepared pan.
  6. Cut the remaining 2 pears in half and core (with the skin left on). Slice the pears thinly and place them in a nice pattern on top of the batter, overlapping the slices. Sprinkle the batter with the remaining nuts.
  7. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the cake is risen and rather firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. It will pull away from the edges a bit. Turn the cake out onto a rack (removing the parchment paper) and let cool completely, about an hour.

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

Original recipe uses hazelnuts, but use whatever nut you have/want.

After you pour the melted butter into the batter, stir it in well.

Careful when slicing the pears - they can be slippery.  

To core the pears easily, use a melon baller to scoop it out.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1 slice
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 340Total Fat: 25gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 116mgSodium: 256mgCarbohydrates: 24gFiber: 2gSugar: 6gProtein: 6g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

© Benjamina Ebuehi
Category: Cakes
 
 

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is The New Way To Cake by Benjamina Ebuehi. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th – never before – we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!

Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the thumbnail pictures below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.

The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.

 
 

It is a new year and a new book – The New Way To Cake – and our choices for November 2020 were ~ 

 
 

Hazelnut, Pear & Espresso Cake

Hot Chocolate and Halva Pudding

Double Ginger and Grapefruit Cakes

 

Chocolate-Beet Cupcakes (#thecakeslicebakers)

by

Chocolate Beet Cupcakes

I’ve never been a fan of beets, but when these Chocolate-Beet Cupcakes came up as one of the cake choices for The Cake Slice Bakers this month, I thought – why not? They’ll be sweetened, cooked, processed and blended with chocolate. How bad could that be?

Plus, I can eat cupcakes and tell myself they’re healthy.

Chocolate Beet Cupcakes

Beets are a very good source of manganese, potassium and copper. They’re are also a good source of dietary fiber, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamin C, iron and vitamin B6. Wow, what a miracle vegetable! Doesn’t change the fact that I always thought they taste like dirt and, when cooked, have a strange texture.

These Chocolate-Beet Cupcakes may have changed my mind. The beets blend in nicely with the chocolate and other cupcake ingredients (including whole wheat flour) without losing the essence of the beet flavor. What a good way to get your vegetables in!

Chocolate Beet Cupcakes

The cupcakes are soft, but have a little texture from the beets and whole wheat flour and although the ATK cream cheese frosting recipe goes well with it, I think I’d prefer a thicker, sweeter vanilla buttercream frosting on top.

Don’t get me wrong – their cream cheese frosting is delectable and I’d slather it on a carrot cake all day long. Bret grabbed a spoon so he could clean out the frosting bowl for me. He’s such a big help.

America’s Test Kitchen’s (#atkcake) take on the Chocolate-Beet Cupcakes in their introduction to the recipe was that they are “something similar to a red velvet cupcake minus the dye and plus intense chocolate flavor and a delicate earthiness.”

Chocolate Beet Cupcakes

Be sure and wear your latex gloves when cutting and processing the beets. That juice gets everywhere. And it’s very, very red!

Oh, and if you don’t want to mess with trimming, peeling, quartering, processing, and microwaving fresh beets, just used canned. I, unfortunately, thought of that too late. Duh!

Chocolate Beet Cupcakes

Chocolate-Beet Cupcakes

Chocolate-Beet Cupcakes

Yield: 12 cupcakes
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 22 minutes
Total Time: 42 minutes

Good cupcakes with a great frosting. Earthy and chocolatey.

Ingredients

  • 12 oz beets, trimmed, peeled, and quartered ** (see notes)
  • 2 oz 70 percent dark chocolate
  • 1/2 C (1 1/2 oz) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
  • 1/3 C vegetable oil
  • 3/4 C (5 1/4 oz) sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 tbsp milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 C (4 1/8 oz) whole-wheat flour
  • Cream Cheese Frosting:
  • 1 1/4 lb cream cheese, softened
  • 12 tbsp butter, cut into 12 pieces and softened
  • 2 tbsp sour cream
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 1/2 C (10 oz) powdered sugar

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 12-cup cupcake tin with liners.
  2. Use a food processor fitted with a shredding disk to process beets until all are shredded. Transfer the beets to a bowl and microwave, covered, until beets are tender and have released their juices, about 4 minutes. Stir halfway through microwaving.
  3. Fit the food processor with a chopping blade and pour the beets back into the processor bowl.
  4. In a medium, microwave-safe bowl, microwave the dark chocolate at about 50 percent power, stirring until melted (in 30 second bursts, stirring between times). Whisk the cocoa and oil into the melted chocolate until smooth, then pour the chocolate mixture into the food processor with the beats. Let cool slightly. (Or just used canned beets)
  5. Process the beets and chocolate mixture until smooth, about 45 seconds, scraping down the bowl if needed. Add the sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla, baking soda, and salt and process until the sugar is mostly dissolved and the mixture is completely well-blended, 15 to 30 seconds. Add the flour and pulse until just incorporated (don't over mix), about 5 pulses.
  6. Divide the batter evenly among the liners in the muffin pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs, 20 to 22 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.
  7. Let the cupcakes cool in the muffin tin for about 15 minutes, then remove them to a wire rack and let them cool completely. Spread with frosting when cool.
  8. To make the frosting: Using a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese, butter, sour cream, vanilla, and salt on medium-high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-slow and slowly add the sugar. Beat until completely incorporated and smooth, about 3 minutes.
  9. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until frosting is light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Spread generously onto cooled cupcakes.

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

**Duh...I figured out using canned beets would be tons easier and you could skip the chopping and microwaving part (thus, eliminating red fingers, red cabinets, red ceiling, red dog).

© America's Test Kitchen
Category: Cakes

Cinnamon Pudding Cake

by

The Cake Slice Bakers is such a fun group to bake with and besides the cake cookbook we’re going through in 2018 (America’s Test Kitchen – The Perfect Cake), once a month we can bake any cake from a book from a previous year. This month’s extra bake is from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman and I chose her Cinnamon Pudding Cake.

The recipe sounds so interesting! You make the batter, pour it into a well-greased 8-inch pan, then pour a really thin homemade caramel sauce over the top of the batter. After it bakes, the caramel sinks to the bottom of the cake, then you invert it so the caramel is now on top and drizzling down the sides. Excellent!

The texture of this Cinnamon Pudding Cake ends up soft and tender, kind of like a coffee cake, but softer. It has a deep cinnamon flavor and the caramel finishes off the cake perfectly. We both really love this cake.

I’m still not sure why it’s called a “pudding” cake, but I’m guessing it has something to do with the sinking caramel topping! Maybe it’s a British thing.

It’s a fairly rich cake, so cut the pieces a little smaller than usual. Also a scoop of ice cream really complemented the cake, but if you don’t have ice cream then grab a glass of milk or cup of coffee.

Cinnamon Pudding Cake

Cinnamon Pudding Cake

Yield: 9 - 12
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Soft texture, deep cinnamon flavor and dreamy caramel topping.

Ingredients

  • Caramel Topping:
  • 1 C plus 2 tbsp packed light brown sugar
  • 3/4 C water
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • Cake:
  • 2 C all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp butter, softened
  • 1 C granulated sugar
  • 1 C milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°.  Spray an 8-inch pan with non-stick cooking spray.
  2. For the Topping:  Combine the brown sugar, water, butter and salt in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil, stirring occasionally.  The sauce will be thin.  Remove from heat.
  3. For the Cake:  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  Set aside.
  4. Combine the butter and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl and combine until well blended on medium-high for about 2 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
  5. On medium-low speed, add 1/3rd of the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture, then the vanilla and 1/2 of the milk.  Add another 1/3rd of the flour mixture to the bowl and the remaining milk.  Finish with the final third of the flour.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat the batter for an additional 30 seconds on medium.
  6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with the back of a spoon.  Pour the caramel topping over the top of the batter.  Carefully transfer the pan to the oven and bake until set, 45-50 minutes.
  7. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes.  Invert it onto a large rimmed serving dish and serve warm.  Let leftovers cool completely, then store in the refrigerator if needed.

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

Yes, the caramel sauce calls for 3/4 cup of water.  It will be very thin, but will thicken while the cake is baking.

Spray the pan very well before pouring the batter in it.  The top (i.e., bottom, then top) might stick if not well sprayed.  If it does stick, use a spoon or spatula to smooth the stuck caramel over the cake.

A few changes I made to the original - I used salted butter (the recipe called for unsalted); I used 2% milk (the original called for whole milk).

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1 serving
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 194Total Fat: 3gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 9mgSodium: 274mgCarbohydrates: 38gFiber: 1gSugar: 21gProtein: 3g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

© sblades
Category: Cakes