Spice Cake with Caramel Icing

Cake:
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 stick  margarine
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 cups flour
2 t cinnamon
1/2 t mace
1/2 t allspice
1/4 t nutmeg
1/2 t cloves
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
1 cup plus 2 T whole milk
1 t vanilla
 Icing:
1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 t vanilla

• Heat oven to 325. Grease and flour tube pan.  With a mixer, cream butter, shortening, sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time and mix until smooth.
• Sift dry ingredients, twice.  Add to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk and vanilla.  
• Pour into pan and bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool in the pan 10 minutes and then turned out onto a rack until room temperature.
• Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the sugar and cream until smooth then bring to a boil for 1 minute.
• After the mixture has cooled, beat in the confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Ice the cooled cake.

This cake was added to the Thanksgiving dessert list this year instead of the fig thing. It's essentially a pound cake topped with an unbelievably delicious layer of unsightly icing.  If the icing seems too thick, keep beating it and adding dribbles of cream until you like it's spreadability.

Smell This!

Banana Chocolate Pecan Cake

2 1/2 c flour

1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened, plus 2 T melted and cooled
1 c sugar, divided
2  eggs
1 1/4 c mashed very ripe bananas, about 3
2/3 c plain whole-milk yogurt
1 t vanilla
1(3 1/2 to 4 oz) bar of bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 c pecans, toasted, cooled and coarsely chopped
1/2 t cinnamon

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees and butter a 9" square cake pan
• Mix together flour, baking soda and salt 
• Beat together the stick of butter and 3/4 c sugar until light and fluffy and then add the eggs to blend. Beat in bananas, yogurt, and vanilla (will look curdled).
• Add flour mixture, mixing until just blended.
• Mix together the 2 T of butter, nuts, chocolate, cinnamon and remaining 1/4 c sugar.  Spread half of batter in pan and sprinkle with half of chocolate mixture.  Spread the remaining batter over that and sprinkle with remaining chocolate mixture.
• Bake until cake is golden and a wooden tooth pick comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.  Cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting.  

I've used creme fraiche or sour cream instead of the yogurt, chocolate chips instead of the chocolate bar and if you prefer walnuts (can't imagine it) to pecans use them instead.  This cake seems to improve with time if covered or kept air tight.  So buy more bananas than you can eat...

Thanksgiving pt 1

We're having thanksgiving on Friday because my parents are both working tomorrow, but my mom is making a lot of food ahead of time, so it will be coming in slow installments. A lot of desserts this year.

Cranberry, Shallot, and Dried-Cherry Compote
(stewed, basically in place of cranberry sauce)

Makes about 3 cups
1/2 lb small shallots or pearl onions, left unpeeled
1 Tbsp unsalted butter or vege oil
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup white-wine vinegar
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup dried sour cherries (5 oz)
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (8 oz; not thawed if frozen)
1/2 cup water

Blanch shallots in 3 quart saucepan of boiling water for 1 minute, then drain. Peel them and separate into cloves if necessary.

Cook shallots in butter in the saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, 1 minute. Add sugar and 1 Tbsp vinegar and cook, stirring frequently, until sugar mixture turns a golden caramel, 15-20 minutes. Carefully add remaining vinegar, wine, and salt and boil, stirring, 1 minute. Add cherries and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until shallots are tender and liquid is syrupy, about 45 minutes.

Add cranberries and water and gently boil over moderate heat, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until cranberries have burst, about 10 minutes. Transfer compote to a bowl and cool completely.

Four-Layer Pumpkin Cake with Orange-Cream Cheese Frosting

For the cake:
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder, available in the spice section of most stores
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
2 cups (packed) brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 15 oz can pure pumpkin
1/2 cup whole milk

For frosting:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
2 8 oz packages cream cheese, room temp
1 Tbsp finely grated orange peel
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
Chopped walnuts, toasted

Cake: Position rack in bottom third of oven; preheat 350°. Spray two 9 inch cake pans with 1.5 inch sides with nonstick spray. Line bottoms with parchment; spray parchment.
Whisk flour and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat butter in another large bowl until smooth. Beat in brown sugar. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to blend between additions. Beat in pumpkin. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions alternating with milk in 2 additions, beating to blend between additions. Divide batter between pans.
Bake cakes until tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool in pans 15 minutes. Run knife around cakes to loosen. Invert cakes onto racks. Remove parchment. Using tart pan bottom as aid, turn cakes over onto racks, top sides up, and cool completely.

Frosting: Using electric mixer, beat butter in a large bowl until smooth. Add cream cheese and orange peel; beat until smooth. Add powdered sugar and beat on low speed until smooth.

Trim rounded tops from cakes.
Using long serrated knife, cut each cake horizontally in half. Place 1 cake layer, cut side up, on a large platter. Smooth 2/3 cup frosting atop cake; and over edges. Repeat 2 more times with cake and frosting; top with remaining layer, cut side down.

Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake.

Decorate cake with walnuts.

This is what the magazine's looked like. Pretty good!

Pecan, Caramel and Fudge Pie

For crust

1.5 cups chocolate wafer cookie crumbs (about 7 oz)

5 Tbsp butter, melted

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For filling

3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter

3/4 cup (packed) brown sugar

6 Tbsp light corn syrup

3 cups pecan halves (about 10 oz)

3 Tbsp whipping cream

2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

For crust: Blend all ingredients in processor. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and sides of 9 inch diameter glass pie dish. Cover crust and freeze while preparing filling.

For filling: Preheat 350°. Combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup in a heavy medium saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring often. Boil 1 minute. Stir in nuts and cream. Boil until mixture thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Add chocolate. Stir until chocolare melts and mixture is well blended.

Pour hot filling into crust.

Using a spoon, evenly distribute nuts. Bake until filling bubbles all over, about 10 minutes. Transfer pie to rack and cool.

Fig Crostata

I'm not going to put the recipe for this up because it was really hard to make, but if you really want it, email me.

This was the filling: