Boston Cream Pie

Two days ago marked our 200th sale at the catering/meal delivery place where I work. You know what I'm going to say, right? Time for cake! We decided on a Boston Cream Pie to mark the occasion.

Before making this cake, I had never made pastry cream. I had, however, made vanilla pudding. Turns out, they're basically the same. If you've never made a custard, fear not; homemade pastry cream is too easy not to make from scratch. Just please, for the love of all that is good and holy, do not buy pudding and stuff it between your cake layers. It will taste as bad as it sounds.

This recipe comes from King Arthur Flour, a wonderful and reliable recipe source. Boston Cream Pie has a few more steps than your traditional yellow cake with chocolate frosting, but a few elements can be made in advance. For instance, the pastry cream will last in the fridge for up to 5 days. Also, I baked the cake one day in advance, wrapped it tightly in plastic, and refrigerated it until I was ready to assemble the final cake.

Boston Cream Pie

For the cake:
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups cake flour*
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
*Don't rush to the store for cake flour; you'll need cornstarch to make pastry cream, so read the box. Cornstarch+flour=cake flour. Amazing, I know.

1 1/2 cups prepared pastry cream (see below)

For the glaze
1/2 cup heavy or whipping cream
1 tablespoon corn syrup
3/4 cup chopped dark chocolate or dark chocolate chunks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9" round cake pan with non-stick spray, line it with parchment, and spray the parchment.
2. To prepare the cake: In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until very thick, until the batter falls from the paddle in thick ribbons. This will take a few minutes. Beat in the vanilla.
3. Bring the milk and butter to a simmer in a small saucepan. Slowly stream it into the egg/sugar mixture with the mixer going, and beat for another minute.
4. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt over the cake batter. Mix on low speed just until combined.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Check carefully for lumps and remove any with a small spoon. Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes, or until it's a deep golden brown and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan.
6. Remove the cake from the oven, run a table knife around the edges, and set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Turn the cake onto to a rack to cool completely.
7. When the cake is completely cool, use a long serrated knife or a cake slicer to slice into two equal layers. Fill with the pastry cream, spreading it right to the edges. Replace the top layer.
8. Prepare the glaze by melting the chocolate, corn syrup, and cream together until smooth and lump free. Add the vanilla and stir well. Pour the glaze over the filled cake, allowing some to drip down the sides and serve immediately. Store any leftovers in the fridge, well wrapped in plastic.

PASTRY CREAM
3 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon flour
4 large egg yolks
1/4 cup butter

1. In a medium-sized saucepan, stir together 2 1/2 cups milk, sugar, and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
2. Meanwhile, whisk the cornstarch, flour, and egg yolks with the remaining 1/2 cup milk.
3. Whisk some of the hot milk mixture into egg yolks to temper them.
4. Pour the egg/milk mixture through a strainer back into the remaining simmering milk. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens.
5. Remove from the heat and strain through a fine sieve. Stir in the butter and vanilla extract.
6. Rub a piece of butter over the surface of the cream, top with a piece of plastic wrap (make sure it touches the top of the pastry cream so it doesn't develop a skin), and then refrigerate until cool.

Note: This pastry cream recipe yields 3 cups, or twice what you'll need for your Boston Cream Pie. It will keep, refrigerated, for up to five days. Makes a good excuse to try your hand at cream puffs!

Now, what does Boston Cream Pie have to do with today's holiday? Absolutely nothing. Happy Halloween!

Until next time!

A Chocolate Anniversary

Yesterday I celebrated my first full year of living on my own. Yay for me! Do you know what this calls for?
Cake! Chocolate cake!
Any excuse for cake is a good excuse. I'd celebrate the end of every week with a cake if I could get away with it. Why not? Cake is delicious. Especially if it's rich, chocolate cake with an espresso glaze and chocolate drizzle. Mmm...
I'd been holding onto this recipe for a long time and finally decided to give it a try. It took me so long to commit because the first step calls for letting the mixture rest for two hours.
It is more than worth the wait. You have to have sourdough starter on hand for this recipe--I've had mine for almost as long as I've been living on my own. I named him Derp. Fitting name for a gloopy, beige mass of starter, I think.

Freshly fed and happy!

The starter in the recipe seems to mellows out a bit once its mixed with milk and flour and allowed to sit out. Then it bakes and creates a deep rich cake with no sour or tart notes whatsoever. If you don't have your own starter, go to the kitchen right now and make one. Seriously. Not only can you use it to make this unbelievable cake, but you can also make the best breads, rolls, pancakes, muffins, waffles, quick breads, and pizzas you have ever eaten. I love having a starter on hand. And I love this cake recipe.

Where's my fork?

What can I say? The folks at King Arthur Flour really know what they're doing. Now go get baking!

Until next time!

Kitchen Inferno

August at my latitude is unreal. Living without central air at my latitude is also unreal. Baking in the summer teeters on suicidal.
A couple weeks ago I made a lemon cake as a send-off treat for someone I worked with. It nearly killed me. Having the oven on raises the temperature in my kitchen to around 90 degrees Fahrenheit! Why not just crack a window, you ask? Because all the windows in my lovely abode have been painted shut. Not by me, I'll have you know!
So where am I going with all this whining? I'll tell you: the joys of a microwave mug cake.
I love being able to have a single-serve dessert without the fuss of baking. If you're new at microwave 'baking,' give it a shot. I trust I don't have to tell you how much better these are than storebought. And no p.h.o.!
This recipe is my go-to when I'm craving a melty chocolate treat. I love it because it calls for pantry staples and doesn't even require an egg! There are many, many more microwave cake recipes out there. My only advice? Try them all!

Brownie-in-a-Mug
4 Tbl flour
4 Tbl sugar
2 Tbl cocoa
dash salt
2 Tbl vegetable oil
2 Tbl water



In a large coffee mug, mix flour, sugar, cocoa and salt using a fork. Add oil and water and mix to combine. Pay attention to the bottom of the mug--make sure you get all the flour mixed in. Microwave for about one minute. Brownie should still look wet in the middle. Do not overcook this, let it be gooey and glorious!
Enjoy experimenting with mug cakes--don't let the heat get you down!

Until next time!



Bye Bye Cake

With very little warning and no turning back, one of my supervisors left the company last week. Staying true to the nickname she dubbed me, I baked her a send-off cake for her last day.
I made her a mini double-decker lemon cake with a lemon glaze, using my knock-off Starbucks Lemon Loaf recipe. She was very appreciative and it was the least I could do.
The recipe itself is so tasty and spot-on with the Starbucks version, you really don't need an excuse!

Copycat Lemon Loaf
Cake:
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs, room temperature
1 c sugar
2 Tbl softened butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon extract
1/3 c lemon juice
1/2 c vegetable oil
Glaze:
1 c + 1 Tbl powdered sugar
2 Tbl milk
1/2 tsp lemon extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease mini pans and line bottoms with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of your stand mixer, place eggs, sugar, butter, extracts, and juice and mix to combine. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Add oil and mix well. Pour into prepared pans and bake 20-25 minutes. Cool in pans on a cooling rack. Mix your glaze ingredients. Remove cakes from pans and ice with the glaze. Slice when set.

 

If you bake mini cakes, you will wind up with extra batter. No worrries--pour batter into a greased 9x9 pan and bake for 35 minutes or until it tests done. Ice it with your leftover glaze.
Alternately, you can forget the mini cake plan and bake the whole recipe in a greased 9x13 loaf pan for 45 minutes. Cool it in the pan on a rack and ice when cooled.

Until next time!

Fishy Birthday

It's MoMo's birthday! Well...it was. Back in April. It may have taken me until Mother's Day to post about it, but her birthday cake was on time!
Sure, I could have settled and bought a pre-made monstrosity from the grocery store...who am I kidding? Buying a cake would probably cause me to burst into flames, and I don't want to risk that. Besides, to me, store-bought birthday cakes always tend to look something like this:

I don't even want to know

Instead of questionably themed, chemically altered baked goods, I read a little on shaped cakes. Inspired by this cake from Martha Stewart magazine, I decided to take the plunge. MoMo loves the ocean, spends her summers on the beach, and has Finding Nemo practically memorized. I knew she'd get a kick out of a fish cake.
It was very do-able. There was no fondant rolling or finicky layer-stacking. Just a 13x9 yellow cake and a small mountain of lemon buttercream.
My fishy isn't perfect, but MoMo loved him. She said it was the best birthday cake she'd ever had. Not bad for my first try!

I reduced the size of the pattern pieces so they'd all fit on one 13x9 cake. The original instructions called for two cakes, and I thought that was too much. I fastened the pieces down with toothpicks so they wouldn't shift as I cut them out with a paring knife.

Woo! I think we all know those scraps were put to good use ;]

Fit the pieces like a tasty puzzle and use light blue buttercream to hold together

Before you dye the buttercream blue, put 1/8 c aside and dye it red for the mouth.

Crumb coat

I refrigerated the cake between the crumb coat and the second layer of icing to keep the buttercream from getting unruly.

Clean, neater fin details

Darken the remaining icing and pipe scales using a petal icing tip

Add a squiggly smile!

It's time for your close-up! The camera loves you!

I covered the pan with blue Mardi Gras beads and sprinkled paper spirals over the top. Each spiral had a 'remember when' line on it. It was so fun watching MoMo unfurl each spiral and laugh.

Happy birthday MoMo! Just keep swimming!

Until next time!

Shortcut German Chocolate

Happy Birthday to me! Now where did I put that can of frosting? Just kidding!

It’s time to bake my annual Cheater’s German Chocolate Birthday Cake! This cake is called a cheater because it is so easy to throw together it just feels like you’re breaking the rules. Sadly, I do not know who to credit for the original recipe; my copy was passed down from my grandmother. Thanks GMom!
The beauty of this cake is that you do not need a mixing bowl, you don’t need beaters…heck, you don’t even need any non-stick spray to throw it together! Let’s get this party started!

Cheater’s German Chocolate Cake

3 c flour

2 c sugar

1/3 c cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

¾ c vegetable or canola oil

2 c water

2 Tbl white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325˚F

Sift dry ingredients into a non-greased 9x13 pan. You can use either a metal or a glass pan, either way you can’t go wrong!

Level the dry ingredients with a fork,

then make three wells in the dry mixture.

Put vinegar in one well, vanilla in another, and oil in the last. No worries if your oil overflows like mine did. It’ll be okay. Deep breaths.

Add water and mix (don’t beat)...

until there are no lumps. I traded my fork in for a silicon whisk at this point—make sure you get the corners well mixed!

Bake 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

This cake is perfect as is—a moist, rich, chocolate cake that doesn’t even need icing. And it’s vegan! But seeing as how this is my birthday and I promised y’all my German Chocolate Cake…we will proceed.

While the cake bakes, you can make the frosting.

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, milk, egg yolks, butter, and salt. As you can see, I toasted my pecans while I cooked the frosting base, but you can toast your nuts ahead of time. Simply place them in a dry skillet over medium heat and give them a stir every minute or so. They’re toasty when you can smell them. Doing that ahead of time sure would have made my frosting-making a bit less hectic—just a heads-up.

Cook the milk mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture starts to boil and thicken.

Remove from heat and add pecans, coconut, and vanilla.

Stir to combine.

Let it cool until spreadable, 15-20 minutes. Avoid the temptation to simply grab a spoon.

You can stop here, with a beautiful chocolate cake with coconut-pecan frosting. Or you can push it just one step further…

To make a pretty glaze for the top, I combined 3 tablespoons of evaporated milk (leftover from the frosting) with the same amount of chocolate chips. Since I don’t own a microwave, I thought I would be clever and melt it on the stove. Bad idea.

Oh, in the name of all that's inconvenient!

But after a quick break to restore my stove to his former glory, we carry on.

Oooh, glossy!

I used my favorite tiny whisk to stir together the hot milk and chocolate together. When you're heating them up, make sure they do not boil, you only want the milk hot enough to melt the chocolate.

Once the cake has cooled, slather it with frosting!

Then, pour/scoop your chocolate glaze into a zip top bag, snip a tiny bit off one corner, and go crazy.

Until next time!

Cheater’s German Chocolate Cake

3 c flour

2 c sugar

1/3 c cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

¾ c vegetable or canola oil

2 c water

2 Tbl white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325˚F. Sift dry ingredients into a non-greased 9x13 pan. Level off with a fork, then make three wells in the center. Pour vinegar in one well, vanilla in another, and oil in the third. Add water and mix (don’t beat) until no lumps remain, paying careful attention to the corners. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

Coconut-Pecan Frosting

1 ¼ c chopped pecans, toasted (I used an entire bag, about 1 ½ c)

1 c sugar

1 c evaporated milk

3 egg yolks, lightly beat

½ c butter, cubed

1/8 tsp salt

1 ½ c sweetened coconut (I used more like 2 c)

½ tsp vanilla

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, milk, egg yolks, butter, and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture starts to boil and thicken. Remove from heat and stir in pecans, coconut, and vanilla. Cool until spreadable, 15-20 minutes.

Seeing Stripes

It's time to get creative! How about whipping up a couple zebra-striped cakes? And no, I'm not talking about these:

I'm talking about two miniature cakes, marbled with chocolate and vanilla. You in?

Zebra-Striped Mini-Cakes

¼ c sugar

1 egg

¼ c vegetable oil

¼ c milk

¼ tsp vanilla

½ c flour

½ tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt (1/16 tsp)

1 Tbl cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Lightly grease two mini cake pans (4” diameter), line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper, and then spray the bottoms with nonstick cooking spray.

Blend sugar and egg until light—about two minutes. With your mixer on low, blend in the oil, milk, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt. Then gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet. Combine on medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl halfway through mixing. Remove ½ cup of the batter and sift cocoa powder on top. Whisk until smooth.

Scoop a small amount (1/2 tablespoon) of vanilla batter into the center of each pan. Then using a different spoon, scoop the same amount of chocolate batter into the middle of the vanilla batter in the pan.

Continue doing this, alternating the batter flavors. You’ll see the batter spread out and form little rings, growing thinner as they move toward the edges of the pans. Pretty, huh?

Stop filling the pans once the batter reaches about halfway up the sides, or when you run out of batter. Whichever happens first.

Put the pans on a baking sheet to make them easier to handle and bake 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their pans for fifteen minutes on a rack before unmolding and letting cool completely on the rack.

These little babies don’t need icing, but feel free!

Until next time!

Mini Cakes

Here we go! Mini-baking—my new favorite food experiment. How perfect is this: the ability to have a homemade treat without filling your kitchen with a pile of cupcakes or feeling forced to settle for a store bought monstrosity.


A few years ago, I received a stack of tiny cake pans for Christmas. They’re so stinkin’ cute! If you happen to be lucky (or, like me, spoiled!) enough to have mini cake pans, feel free to break them out for this recipe. If not, never fear! Simply remove the labels from two 14.5 ounce cans and wash them well. Voila! A recycled mini cake pan!

Mini Chocolate Cake (makes 2 cakes-in-a-can, or one 2-layer mini-cake)

1/4 cup milk
1 ½ tablespoons pasteurized egg product (such as Egg Beaters)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Spray the insides of two clean 14.5-ounce cans with nonstick spray. Trace the bottoms of the cans onto parchment paper, then cut out the circles and line the bottoms of the greased cans. Line the sides of the cans with 10”x4.5” strips of parchment paper. Set aside. Alternately, butter the bottoms and sides of two mini cake pans and line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper.

In a small bowl, whisk together milk, egg, and vanilla.

Place a wire-mesh sieve over the bowl of a stand mixer. Sift flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into bowl. If you’re not working with a stand mixer, sift dry ingredients into a medium mixing bowl.

Add butter and half of milk mixture; beat at low speed until dry ingredients are moistened. Again, if you’re not using a stand mixer, use a handheld-mixer for this part—see the tip at the end. Increase speed to medium and beat until batter has lightened and increased in volume, about 45 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl.

Add remaining milk mixture, and beat until well blended, about 20 more seconds.

Scrape batter into cans or pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 20 minutes for mini-pan cakes and 30 minutes for can-cakes. Cool 15 minutes on wire rack. Loosen edges of cakes from pans using a small sharp knife; invert cans and remove cakes. Discard parchment paper and allow to cool completely before frosting. Cut in half crosswise; frost between layers and on tops and sides of cakes.

A little visual tip:

The cake in the foreground was created with a mixer, the cake in the background was beat by hand. The choice is yours. Although after leveling them in order to frost, the uglier background cake did yield more cake scraps to munch on…

The following recipe yields enough frosting to frost one 2-layer mini-cake

Small-Batch Chocolate Frosting

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, melted (you can substitute a dark chocolate candy bar for bittersweet baking chocolate if you’re determined to save a few pennies—just make sure it’s P.H.O.-free!)
1/2 tablespoon milk

Cream the butter with an electric mixer, and then pour in vanilla. Add powdered sugar gradually with the mixer on low speed. Beat in the melted chocolate. Slowly add milk, about a teaspoon at a time, with mixer on low speed, until the frosting is spreadable.

Until next time!