Blueberry Crumb Cake

Now normally when I go to the dining hall in the morning in the fruit parfait bar nothing really changes my eye. There’s a selection of a couple fruits but mostly canned ones such as pears or sour melon. However, this morning after finishing my Vietnamese final I was starving. Seriously, my stomach was rumbling every ten minutes, it was quite embarrassing. To my surprise I saw these delicious blueberries so I scooped up a couple handfuls and decided that I was going to bake something that had blueberries in it. This recipe comes from one of my all time favorite food blogging sites: The Pioneer Woman. However when making it, for some reason the crumbly topping didn’t turn out crumbly but rather just baked into the cake. Nevertheless, it still tasted delicious and it’s nice to have a dessert every once in a while without chocolate!

Ingredients
½ sticks Butter
1 Tablespoon (additional) Butter
¾ cups Sugar
1 whole Egg
½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 cups All-purpose Flour
2-¼ teaspoons Baking Powder
½ teaspoons Salt
¾ cups Whole Milk
2 cups Fresh Blueberries
_____
FOR THE TOPPING:
¾ sticks Butter
½ cups Sugar
½ teaspoons Cinnamon
½ cups Flour
¼ teaspoons Salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine flour, baking powder, and a salt. Stir and set aside.
Cream 1/2 stick plus 1 tablespoon butter with cinnamon and sugar. Add egg and mix until combined. Add vanilla and mix. Add flour mixture and milk alternately until totally incorporated. Do not overbeat. Stir in blueberries until evenly distributed.
Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Pour in batter.
In a separate bowl, combine topping ingredients and cut together using two knives or a pastry cutter. Sprinkle over the top of the cake.
Bake cake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Sprinkle with sugar. Cut into squares and serve with softened butter.

Apple Crisp

A delicious somewhat healthy dessert that I made using apples from the dining halls.

Ingredients
4 medium tart cooking apples, sliced (4 cups)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/2 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions
1. Heat oven to 375ºF. Grease bottom and sides of 8-inch square pan with shortening.
2. Spread apples in pan. In medium bowl, stir remaining ingredients except cream until well mixed; sprinkle over apples
3. Bake about 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender when pierced with a fork. Serve warm with cream.

Recipe from Betty Crocker.

Tiramisu Cake

For my birthday celebration this year I decided to make my own cake. Although tiramisu is quite commonly found as ladyfingers layered in a dish, I wanted a proper cake to blow my candles out. Creamy marscapone frosting was layered in between two vanilla sponge cakes. I used home made whip cream to frost the cake and cocoa powdered as decoration. To create the pattern on top of the cake I simply used a doily which I cut out to fit the cake.

Pumpkin Bundt Cake

A cake I made for my friend Sara’s birthday. As you know, bundt’s are my new favorite thing to make! Sara’s birthday was a lot of fun, I enjoy dressing up and going out with my girls. We ate this cake after a delicious dinner at Pasta Pomodero and one of my personal favorite activities, karaoke! Recipe from Epicurious

Dry ingredients

Creaming the butter and the sugar together.

Adding in the eggs.

Mixing in the pumpkin.

The cake batter.

Ready to bake!

Ingredients
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for greasing bundt pan
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting pan
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin (from a 15-ounce can; not pie filling)
3/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs

Directions
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter bundt pan generously, then dust with flour, knocking out excess.
Whisk together flour (2 1/4 cups), baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together pumpkin, 3/4 cup buttermilk, and vanilla in another bowl.
Beat butter (1 1/2 sticks) and granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes, then add eggs and beat 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and add flour and pumpkin mixtures alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until batter is just smooth.
Spoon batter into pan, smoothing top, then bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50

minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 15 minutes, then invert rack over cake and reinvert cake onto rack. Cool 10 minutes more.

Grade: B+
This cake was very soft and moist however didn’t have a strong enough pumpkin flavor that I wanted.

Chocolate Cinnamon Bundt Cake

How I wrapped up my bundt cake.

I made this as a token of appreciation for the dental office I worked at over summer. This was my second time making a bundt cake using my new bundt cake and first time ever baking with chocolate and cinnamon. I’ve mixed these two ingredients before but that was for making Mexican hot chocolate which I adore, but not for making. I know the pairing is not common but the cinnamon added a nice kick to the chocolate flavoring. I think bundt cakes are the perfect gift, they’re easy to make and more importantly easy to transport and wrap up unlike cupcakes which I have to use my cupcake transporter or else frosting will get everywhere. Originally I was planning on decorating the cake with a simple glaze made out of powdered sugar and milk, however when I inverted the cake out of the pan, part of the top came stuck to the pan. Instead I quickly improvised and made a simple chocolate frosting and decorated with Christmas sprinkles. I then wrapped up the bundt in some red cellophone and tied a pretty ribbon around it. As I have mentioned before bundt cakes are my new favorite thing and I got the inspiration and recipe for this cake from The Food Librarian who had a 30 day journey of making 30 bundt cakes which I think is amazing!
Ingredients
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1/4 c plus 1 T (or 5 T) cocoa (I have used both Dutch processed and natural cocoa with fine results)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 c buttermilk
1 t baking soda
2 eggs
1 t vanilla

Instructions
1. Bring to a boil in a pot: Water, oil, butter and cocoa
2. In a large bowl, combine together with a whisk: flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon
3. Add the chocolate mixture to the flour and mix until combined.
4. Add the buttermilk and baking soda and mix.
5. In a small bowl, combine the eggs and vanilla. Add to the batter and combine.
6. Pour batter into greased 10 or 12-cup Bundt pan (I prefer to use Pam with Flour or Bakers Joy) and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 30-35 minutes (the original recipe says 25 minutes, so start checking then).
7. Cool in pan.

Chocolate Frosting
from Hersheys (I halved the recipe)

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

Nutella Bundt Cake

One of the perks of being home other than being with my loved ones and eating 4 meals a day (It’s official, my cooking sucks and college food is soso) is being able to bake in my kitchen! My kitchen is TINY! My pillow offers more space than our counter. I made this cake for Thanksgiving lunch with my mom’s side of the family with a new Bundt pan that my mom bought for me from Ross. Finding inspiration from Mary the Food Librarian and her 30 day’s of Bundt Cakes I decided to try her Nutella Bundt Cake recipe after discovering a jar of Nutella in the fridge. To make this cake I first made Martha Stewart’s Basic Yellow Cake, then mixed 1/3 of the batter with 1 cup Nutella and 1 egg. However instead of using 1/3 of the batter I used too much, probably 1/2 so my cake had more Nutella batter in it. However, that is not a problem at all! After this recipe, I think Bundt cakes are my new thing! (Of course they’ll never replace my first true love-the cupcake!)

A slice of the cake. Look how moist and light it looks!

Ingredients from Martha Stewart
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
1 1/3 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted, plus more for pans
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup milk
For the nutella batte:
1 cup nutella
1 egg

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 12 inch Bundt pan.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture and milk to the egg mixture in three additions, beginning with the milk and ending with the flour, and alternating with the milk.
3. Reserve 1/3 of the cake batter and mix in 1 egg and the nutella.
4. Alternate the nutella and yellow cake batter. Since I had more of the nutella batter I poured it in first, followed by the yellow cake batter and then the rest of the nutella batter.
5. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clearn.

Grade: A+
Honestly you can never go wrong with Nutella and a Martha Stewart recipe. This cake was sweet but not too sweet and the texture was very light, fluffy and airy. This would go perfect with coffee or a sweet brunch meal. Even my Dad who normally does not eat sweets enjoyed it. Everyone loved it!

Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting

This cake was made for my friend Sean’s birthday. Normally my go to chocolate cake recipe is the one I find on the back of the Hersey’s unsweetened cocoa powder box but I decided to give this recipe a try after seeing it on my new favorite blog: Baked Bree. This is originally an Ina Garden recipe and her recipes always turn out delicious. The cup of coffee adds an extra kick and living on campus I love how I can go to the dining halls and grab a cup since no one at my home drinks coffee. For the frosting I cheated and used a box mix from Trader Joe’s-hey I’m a poor college student!

Dry ingredients.

Liquid ingredients.

Cake Batter.

Cooling.

Construction of the bake:

Done and ready to be eaten!

Recipe from Ina Garden at Food Network.

Ingredients:
For the cake:
1 3/4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.
2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
3. Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

Grade: A++
This cake is so DELICIOUS. I almost ate it for breakfast except one of my apartment mates was doing dishes and would have thought I was crazy. This is my new go to recipe.

Raspberry Cake

All I do in my free time when I take a break from studying other than watching tv or sleeping is go on my laptop and look at various food blogs. (Hey it’s the life of a foodie!) One of my favorites is the Food Librarian. I found this recipe titled the “Easiest Cake Ever”. Since I have less than 3 feet of my counter space in my kitchen it’s nice to bake things that do not require a lot of prep and bowls. In order to celebrate taking my physics quiz and not having to live at the library I decided I wanted to make this cake. (Physics is painful!!!) I used raspberries I found at one of the school’s market place.

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
zest of 1 lemon
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 carton of raspberry

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream eggs and sugar together. Mix in oil and vanilla. Add in the flour, baking powder and lemon zest.
3. Pour batter into a cake pan. Sprinkle with choice of fruits and 1 tbsp of sugar.
4. Bake for 35 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Grade: A
Perfect for baking in a college apartment! Sweet but not too sweet, a nice break from the cakes with frosting.

Green Tea Sponge Cake with Strawberry Mousse

Let’s just say that this was a somewhat difficult cake to make because the recipe I used was in METRIC MEASUREMENTS! Do you know how hard it is to convert lbs to the good old measuring cups??? Did you know that there are different measurements based on type of ingredient? For example flour is difficult from powdered sugar because of the texture? Also how do you measure something that is 1.034 of a cup?? This cake reminded me of fourth grade, when I failed math because I wasn’t able to understand the metric system!!

Other than that I think this cake turned out pretty well despite the fact it didn’t taste like green tea but rather a regular sponge cake. However the strawberry mousse was delicious but it reminded me of strawberry whip cream.

Chocolate Cake Balls

Out of all the things that I bake these fall under the category of the top three things that my friends love. The other two are my chocolate chip banana muffins and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. While those are pretty easy and quick to make, these are a lot more time consuming, however the end result is just pure chocolatey goodness. What exactly is a chocolate cake ball? You may known these as cake truffles or some of my friends even call them chocolate balls. Cake balls are a rolled up mixture of cake crumbs and frosting covered in chocolate. They’re very simple to make, but just requires a lot of planning ahead since you have to let the cake cool and then roll out each individual ball. Since these are rather tiring to make I cheat by using a cake mix and canned frosting. However, everyone I know love love loves these so if there’s someone you need to impress or win the heart of, definitely try these balls.

Cake crumbs. I used a food processor and it always turns out perfect.

After mixing in the frosting.

Cake balls ready for the refrigerator and afterwards to be dipped in chocolate!

Melted chocolate for dipping.

Ingredients
Cake mix
Canned frosting
Chocolate chips
Shortening

1. Prepare the cake according to the directions.
2. Once the cake is cooled either use a food processor or a fork to create crumbs.
3. Mix the can of frosting with the crumbs until you get a mixture that is able to be rolled into balls, not too sticky but not too crumbly.
4. Roll the mixture into little balls, if you want to make lollipops, place a stick in them. Place in the refrigerator for about 3 hours.
5. For every once of chocolate chips add 1/2 tsp of shortening. I like to start off with about 6 ounces of chocolate chips and 3 tsp of shortening and if I run out of chocolate mix some more.
6. Dip the chocolate balls into the melted chocolate and place back in the refrigerator to cool.

Grade: A+
I’m pretty sure my cake balls are more famous than me. If I was a chocolate cake ball I think I would be the most popular girl in the world. Enough said.