cake

I never liked cakes with heavy decoration from the bakery. But for my own birthday last week I made a cake with icing on top. This is the first time I used an icing reciepe and it turned out awfully sweet. My boys tried just one bite and they gave up!

After nearly a year of silence, I am back, and what a way to come back – with a Cake!!

I think this is more of a bread site, but what the heck – cake is cake, right :)

Full recipe on my blog here

Using the same filling and frosting as the YW Cinnamon Rolls, you can make a nice banana bread cake by substituting your favorite banana bead recipe for the dough - and you might need some sprinkles too!  Much better than plain old banana bread and 3 times as fattening too :-)

Dabrownman’s Banana Bread or Cupcakes

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 Dry Mix:

 1 ½ C plus 2 T flour

¼ tsp salt

1/8 tsp each ginger, cloves, allspice

1 tsp each cinnamon and nutmeg

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp baking powder

1 C chopped walnuts

1 C chopped chocolate chips

 Bourbon Fruit – add bourbon to below dried fruits in a Pyrex 1 cup measuring cup covered with plastic wrap.  Microwave on high for 30 seconds and set aside 15 minutes to plump up fruits.

 2 T bourbon

¼ C raisins or sultanas

¼ C dried cranberries

¼ C dried apricots cut into raisin size pieces

 Wet Mix:

 3 mashed up ripe bananas

1/8 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

½ C vegetable oil

½ C each brown and white sugar

 Add ½ C sugar, ½ C brown sugar and Bourbon fruits to wet mix and stir until sugar is dissolved.  Mix the wet into the dry and stir 50 times with spatula until the flour is incorporated.

Quickly fill cupcake paper liners 3/4th full or put into PAM sprayed large bread loaf pan.

 Bake cupcakes for about 12-16 minutes until wooden toothpick comes out clean.  Loaves will take 45 minutes or more for wooden skewer to come out clean. 

 After 20 minutes remove from pans and let cool completely on wire racks.  Ice both with cream cheese vanilla icing and put sprinkles on each to decorate per the holiday or special occasion.  Makes about 21 cupcakes or 1 large bread loaf pan.

 Cream Cheese Frosting

 Ingredients

 1/2 C butter, softened

1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened

1 (16-oz.) package powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

 Preparation

 Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until blended; stir in vanilla.

 Cut recipe in half for 20 Cupcakes or 9x13 sheet cake .

Black Prince Cake 

Known in Russia as Black Prince, this is a cake made with lightly moist chocolate sponge layered with sauce that tastes a bit like toffee, and finely chopped or ground nuts. My version also includes sour cherries which makes it similar to Black Forest cake. Black Prince in the Wood if you like J

 Ingredients

For the sponge

• 3 medium or 2 large eggs
• 180 g sugar
• 180 g sour cream
• 120 g plain flour
• 2 level teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
• 50-70 g dark or bitter chocolate, grated; or, 2-3 tablespoons cocoa powder; or, a mixture of both
• 50 g ground or finely chopped almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts

 For the sauce

• 400 g tin sweetened condensed milk, boiled (see below for instructions)
• 150 g butter
• 100 g ground or finely chopped nuts
• (Optional) 2-3 teaspoons brandy, cream liqueur or strong sweet wine

 Also

• 1-2 handfuls sour cherries, fresh or frozen, stoned

For decoration

• Some more ground/chopped nuts, and/or nut flakes
• A few cherries, if desired
• Butter-cream icing, if desired

Method

Sponge

Beat eggs and sugar together until pale and smooth. Switch your mixer to a low speed and add the sour cream in 3-4 increments (or more). Stir the bicarbonate of soda into the flour, fold into the egg mix. Add chocolate/cocoa. Lastly, fold in the nuts.

(NB Most common versions of the recipe don’t include nuts at this stage, but I find that they improve the structure. Made as is, with just 120 g flour, this cake had collapsed on me a couple of times. Adding a little nuts makes sure the cake keeps its shape, yet does not make the sponge denser in the way an equivalent amount of flour would.)

Transfer the batter into a greased cake tin. A springform tin is best, because you’ll be layering the cake in it afterwards. It’s important that the tin is no larger than 18 cm diameter because we want a tall cake. Don’t worry, the batter is too runny to bake to a volcano shape! Mine usually comes out with a perfectly flat top.

Bake at 180 C/350 F for approx. 30-40 min, or until a wooden stick inserted into the middle comes out dry.

Sauce

Boil the condensed milk. This will need to be done in advance.

Peel any labels off the tin and place it in a saucepan, on its side. Do not open or pierce the tin. Pour in enough water to cover the whole tin + an inch or so. Cover, put on a hob and heat until the water begins to boil. Then turn the heat right down and cook for 1 hr 30 min. Check that the water is bubbling slightly. Don’t worry the tin will not burst AS LONG AS you make sure the water doesn’t boil away.

Allow to cool completely before opening. When ready, boiled condensed milk has a dark caramel colour and a taste very similar to toffee.

Leave butter on the counter until it is room temperature. If you wish to speed up the process, cut into small chunks or slice. Cream the butter with a spoon or mixer on low speed. Add the cooled “toffee” and nuts and beat together until well combined.

Layering

Slice the sponge horizontally to make 3 equal size layers. If not using a springform tin, lay two sheets of parchment paper, crosswise, into the tin so you can later lift the cake out by pulling at the ends.

Lay the first piece of sponge into the tin. Place half of the cherries onto the sponge, holes down, so that the juices moisten the sponge rather than make puddles in the sauce. There’s no need to defrost frozen cherries, but if you have, pour the drained juice over the sponge. Spoon the sauce in between and over the cherries. Place the next layer of sponge on the top, then cherries and sauce. Finish with sponge and a layer of sauce, but reserve a couple tablespoons for later.

Refrigerate overnight.

Take out, carefully lift out of the tin onto a serving plate. Spread the remaining sauce over the sides.

Decorate as you wish, the easiest way to do it is to dust the top and sides with ground nuts. I used some cherries, almond flakes and butter-cream icing (creamed butter, icing sugar, cocoa powder), and dusted the sides with almond powder.

(Please be lenient on my decorating ability, this was only my third ever go with the icing bag!)

I also like this cake with pieces of prune instead of cherries.

The bottom of the dough.
200 gram flour
1 egg
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 tablespoon of fat (cold)
Pin 1 teaspoon salt
1 vanilla sugar
Baking powder ½
1 tablespoon sour cream

The sponge cake:
6 eggs
6 tablespoons powdered sugar
6evőkanál flour
2 tablespoons cocoa
Baking powder ½ Package

Spreading on the dough by 2 spoonful of jam.

Stuffing.
½ kg of sour cherry
4 medium apples
Optionally, sugar
3-4 tablespoons bread crumbs

The soft dough knead dough hozzávalóiból. If you are a bit stuck, a bit of flour to be.
Aside to rest.
Kimagozzuk Meanwhile, slice the apples and cherries. Not grated!
Put baking the dough, brush a very thin layer of jam. I had raspberry jam.

The pitted cherries and sliced ​​apples Sprinkle two tablespoons bread crumbs firstand then granulated sugar and mix. Sugar to taste.

The baking pastry brush spread with jam. It is very thin!
Alternating stripes we put cherries and apples.
I've also scattered tablespoon bread crumbs on top.