Cooking for Seven

Devil’s Food Cake

Chocolate & Almond Biscotti

Macadamia Nut Brownies

Milan Cookies

.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Follow me on twitter…

.

The August 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers’ cookbook Kaffeehaus:  Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

I have wanted to make a many-layered cake ever since I saw a picture in a DK Geography book a few years ago. I searched the internet for a recipe, but couldn’t find one to my satisfaction.

I don’t believe that I am completely satisfied with this recipe (or my execution of it). The components were delicious. Vanilla sponge cake and deep dark chocolate buttercream frosting. How could I go wrong?

I totally ruined the caramel topping.

I didn’t cook the caramel nearly enough, so it seeped into the spongy cake and the topping was a soggy (yes, SOGGY) layer of lemon-flavored cake. Ah well, better luck next time. We just picked off the top layer and enjoyed the rest of the cake (with ice cream).

Now I’m dreaming of making a crepe cake. My sister Amanda (whom I thank for all of her help with making this challenge and whose feet you see in the above photo) has agreed to help me with that project. She informed me that she would go crazy if she took it on solo.

If you would like to try this recipe for Dobos Torte yourself, here is a link to the pdf file. Good luck!

You may recognize this recipe from a previous post - Our Christmas Brunch. It was buttery and a little crunchy from the poppy seeds, but not so rich as to make one sick. Perfect for brunch or a light dessert.

Sister Amanda liked it so much that she decided to serve it at our Girl’s Party.

Of course, we substituted whole wheat pastry flour for part of the AP flour. And we served ours with a mixture of cream cheese and orange zest. I’m not a big fan of sugar syrup.

.

:: Orange Poppy Seed Cake ::

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 sticks (1/2 pound or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup Demerara or granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• One 8-ounce container of sour cream
• 1/2 cup poppy seeds

Orange Cream Cheese Topping:

• 4 oz cream cheese
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2-3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2-4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice

Directions:

For the Cake
1) Grease a 9″ springform pan. Line the bottom with greased wax paper cut to size. Preheat oven to 350° F.

2) Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

3) Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until the mixture is very light, about 5 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure to beat the batter until it is smooth after each addition.

3) Decrease speed to low and add half the flour mixture. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides with a spatula. Beat in the sour cream followed by the rest of the flour mixture. Fold in the poppy seeds to give the batter a final mix.

4) Scrape the batter into prepared pan and bake for about an hour or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

For the Topping

1) In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer until smooth. Add the butter and beat until smooth.

2) Add the maple syrup, 2 tablespoons of cream, orange zest, and orange juice. Beat until smooth. Taste and add more maple syrup, if needed. Add more cream if necessary to achieve the desired consistency.

Last Friday us girls hosted a party for a few friends. It was so much fun to quickly throw a menu together. Join me for a look at our splendid little party.

Th

.

:: The Menu ::

Lunch

Appetizers:

Piped Deviled Eggs

Cheese and Crackers

Soup:

Creamy Onion Soup with Croutons

Sandwiches:

Chicken Salad Sandwiches on Toasted Bread

Salad:

Fruit Salad

Dessert

Vanilla Rice Pudding with Whipped Cream

Poppy Seed Cake with Orange Cream

~

.

Creamy Onion Soup, made by yours truly.

Janna made these delicious Chicken Salad Sandwiches, served on buttered, toasted bread.

Sister Amanda prepared these cute little deviled eggs. They were seasoned just right.

We decided to serve the fruit salad in tea cups. They looked so elegant.

We played a delightful little game. It is a Scandinavian tradition to place one almond in the rice pudding. Whoever finds the almond is promised to be the next to marry.

Breanna found the almond.

Amanda also made poppy seed cake. We served it with orange cream.

.

Are you hungry yet? I promise to give you at least a few of these recipes. For now, I must away and roll out tortillas for supper. How prosaic.

Would you like to see more photos of our party? Stop by my photo blog.

App

Monday was my sister’s Birthday. I knew she would like chocolate cake in some form, so I made her this. It is a very good basic chocolate cake recipe for you to play with. Frost with mocha icing and fill with vanilla pudding, or frost with peanut butter frosting, or transform it into a Coffee Toffee Trifle (as we did for my sister’s Birthday), or whatever you please!

My version is slightly healthier (surprise!) than the original recipe. I substituted half of the AP flour with whole wheat, and used a natural sweetener in place of the refined granulated white sugar. And it came out of the pan so easily, even without the use of parchment paper. This is certainly a keeper.

.

:: Devil’s Food Cake ::

.

Adapted from The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion

Ingredients:

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks, 6 ounces) butter
• 1 1/2 cups Sucanat, Rapadura or Demerara sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons  pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup (4 ounces) Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
• 1 cup (4 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup (2 1/4 ounces) natural cocoa powder
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) milk or water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans, two to three 8-inch round pans, or a 9 x 13-inch sheet cake pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, salt, baking soda, and vanilla until fluffy and light, about 5 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and cocoa.
3. Add the eggs to the butter mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. With the mixer on low, blend 1/2 of the flour mixture into the butter mixture, then half the milk, another third of the flour, the remaining milk, and then the remaining flour. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
4. Divide the batter evenly between the pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes ( a bit longer for the sheet cake, shorter for the 8-inch pans), or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, and the sides of the cake begin to pull away from the pan.
5. Remove the cakes from the oven. Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove to wire racks to cool completely. Wrap the cake in foil and store at room temperature or in the freezer.