Flourless Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Glaze

The 17th was my Mom’s 59th birthday. Happy birthday Mom!!

She stays away from gluten, so I went on the hunt for something that she could feel good about having a big ole piece of. After searching through some recipes that called for 3-4 different types of flour that I didn’t want to go out and buy, I searched for “flourless cake” and came up with this one. It was perfect for her birthday/Easter egg hunt/dinner at my sister Angela’s house.

This was the cake after baking and before it was inverted on to a cake plate.

I added sliced strawberries to the finished product.

 

The cake is an amazing combo of cake/brownie texture. Very fudge-y but not heavy. Super smooth and moist. Ultimate chocolate flavor! Super awesome with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. One of those go-to recipes that will WOW your guests (from 17 months to 59 years).

• 12 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips (2 1/2 cups)
• 1 cup (2 sticks) plus 3 tablespoons butter, cut into chunks
• 1 cup sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/4 teaspoon gluten-free pure vanilla extract
• Garnishes: sliced strawberries or raspberries

Method

• Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray, then line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper. Spray the paper with cooking spray, too, then set the pan aside.
• Place 8 ounces of the chocolate (2 cups of chips) and 1 cup (2 sticks) of the butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat (I used a large heatproof bowl over simmering water instead of placing the chips and butter directly in a pan). Stirring often, melt chocolate with butter until completely blended. Remove from heat. (Alternatively, you may use your microwave to melt the butter with the chocolate, if desired). Add sugar and mix well until it’s almost dissolved. Add eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Sift cocoa into bowl and stir until just blended.
• Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cake has risen and top has formed a thin crust. The cake should be just firm in the center when done. Cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a plate, removing sides of springform pan. Remove and discard parchment paper and set cake aside to cool completely. (I made the cake the night before, then made the glaze a little while before serving).
• When cake has cooled, make the chocolate glaze. Melt remaining 4 ounces chocolate and 3 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat, then stir in milk, honey and vanilla. Pour glaze onto the center. Using a spatula or the back of a spoon, very gently smooth glaze along the top and sides of the cake. Chill cake, uncovered, for 30 to 60 minutes before serving to set the glaze and make the cake easier to slice.

Slightly adapted from Whole Foods

Thanksgiving Menu 2013

There were a total of 17 family members at our Thanksgiving table this year! My sister Angela, her husband Troy and their 2 children. My sister Zandria and her fiance Paul from Buffalo. My Mom. My 2 brothers. My Aunt Annette and her fiance G.K….and her daughter Jacquelyn and her new husband Shawn. My Dad. And the three of us!

Zandria and I:

Isaac, Ben and Devin:

G.K., our dog Walter and Travis (I’m pretty sure this was after they ate!):

I went by this checklist as I was cooking (which started on Tuesday!).

Thanksgiving Menu:

Apps

• mini crab cakes
• Plate of Baked brie w/ misc crackers
• veggies/dip tray

Main meal:

• Cornbread stuffing with fennel, celery, onions and shiitake mushrooms
• Butternut squash, goat cheese and mushroom risotto
• Marinated carrots
• Cauliflower and potato mash w/ buttermilk
• Roasted brussel sprouts
• A 23 pound Turkey: followed these instructions. I added tons of rosemary, lemon, salt, pepper and buttered under the skin and on top before roasting!
• gravy
• Roasted Cabernet and Citrus Cranberry Sauce
• 5 cheese mac-n-cheese (my sister Angela)
• Sweet potato casserole (Aunt Annette)
• Collard greens (Mom)
• Yeast rolls (Mom)

Desserts

• Grandma’s pound cake (sorry – secret fam recipe! And it’s baked in a cast iron bundt pan!!)
• Pumpkin Oatmeal White Choc Chip Cookies (Angela)
• Pies: Buttermilk, pumpkin and sweet potato (Mom)
• chocolate cherry cake and buttermilk pie (Aunt Annette)

*All made by me unless noted otherwise.

Maple Glazed Pumpkin Coffee Cake

Here’s something for your Thanksgiving brunch! A not too sweet, crumbly, yumbly, coffee cake…and something to do with the other half of the can of pumpkin that you used in a recipe and don’t know what to do with!

Use only pure maple syrup in the glaze, otherwise it’s cheating (and won’t taste as good).

Pecans, brown sugar, maple-y yummmm!

For the cake:

• 2/3 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 tablespoons butter (at room temp)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

For the streusel topping:

• 1/3 cup pecans
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter

For the glaze:

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

Method

• Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl mix first 6 ingredients together (pumpkin-vanilla). Sift in flour, baking powder, salt and spice. Stir until just combined. Pour batter into a greased 8×8 baking dish.
• Combine pecans, flour, brown sugar and butter (I used my fingers) and sprinkle everywhere (ok…evenly) over batter.
• Bake for 30 minutes.
• In a small cup stir together powdered sugar and maple syrup. Add more syrup as needed until it’s a little runny. Drizzle over cake just after it comes out of the oven.

Acorn Squash Spice Cake

I bought this acorn squash at the SOTJ farmer’s market and had no idea what to do it…I had never used one before. When I cut it open it looked like a pumpkin so I decided to use the roasted flesh like pumpkin puree and bake a loaf cake! After the squash was baked it was easy to mash! My squash produced two cups of puree. I used one cup for the cake and put the rest in the freezer to use in another cake or maybe as a yummy addition to risotto! The cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger and cloves smell amazing when they come together in the batter.

It was dark by the time we sliced up the cake last night and unfortunately this is the only pic I have. I can’t take pics today because I covered it with foil last night so it looks quite smooshed! My sons friend Stu said it reminded him of zucchini bread…probably because it’s the only other cake he can think of that has “vegetables” in it. It came out super moist and really doesn’t need icing. I was just craving cream cheese and had to add it 🙂

• 1 small/medium acorn squash
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 brown sugar
• 1/4 organic canola oil
• 1/4 plain yogurt (I used Whole Foods organic brand)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground clove
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt

Method

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds and stringy insides. Put the squash cut side down on a high sided baking tray and fill the tray with ½ an inch of water. Roast for about an 1 hour, or until the squash is very tender. Remove from the oven and let the squash cool.  Scoop out the flesh with a spoon and mash with a fork until smooth. Set aside 1 cup of the puree for the bread (my squash produced about 2 cup).
• Set oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
• In a medium size bowl, blend together 1 cup of the squash puree, sugar, oil, yogurt, vanilla and eggs.
• In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Slowly add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir until no longer lumpy.  At this point you can stir in about 1/2 cup chopped walnuts if you want to (I didn’t have any).
•  Spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray and pour batter in. Bake for 45-50 minutes until set (test with a toothpick).
• Once the cake was cooled I added a cream cheese glaze. Set out 3 ounces of cream cheese until it comes to room temp. Stir in 3 tablespoons powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1 tablespoon milk and a few dashes of cinnamon.

Banana Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Banana Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting aka Banana Bread Cake. Banana bread with frosting that also has yummy hints of spice. SO GOOD.

After I took this picture I added about a 1/4 chopped pistachios to the top. I think it would be good with chopped walnuts too.

Last Saturday some of my family members visited. Zandria and Paul, Angela with my two baby nephews (19 months and 3 months) and later on my Mom and little brother Isaac. My boyfriend also had some friends over that were jamming guitar and drums downstairs so between them and the babies it was quite a lively household…and a good excuse to make cake. I’m always looking for an excuse!

• 4 bananas
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup (12 T.) butter, melted
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice

for the cinnamon cream cheese icing:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temp.
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temp.
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice

Method

• Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 9” x 13” pan (I used 2- 9 inch round cake pans) with cooking spray and set aside.
• In a large bowl, thoroughly mash the bananas. Add the sugar, butter, and sour cream, and stir to combine. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring to combine after each addition. Then stir in the vanilla.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and allspice.
• Add half the flour mixture to the banana mixture, and stir to combine. Then add the other half of the flour mixture, stirring again. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until nicely browned and a toothpick comes out with no wet batter. The cake surface should bounce back when you press on it. Cool completely before frosting.

for the frosting:

• With an electric mixer, combine all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Spread frosting evenly over cake. Slice to serve. Store any remaining cake in the refrigerator.
  

Recipe from A Farmgirl’s Dabbles

Sweet Potato Pound Cake

Do you ever make a recipe solely because you had an ingredient in your cabinet that needs to be used? I have had this can of pureed sweet potato that I bought at Trader Joe’s over a year ago. I pass by it every once and a while and always think, “I need to use this.” Well today I did the same thing (hello spring cleaning), except I also glanced at the expiration date and noticed it was July 2012. I hate waste and this was a great excuse to make cake!!!

I found Sing For Your Supper Blog while blog searching a couple of days ago while searching for Mexican food recipes and she has a recipe for a pumpkin cake that looked excellent. I decided to sub the pumpkin for sweet potato and go for it!

(Adapted from Sing For Your Supper Blog)

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar (packed)
• 1 cup canola oil
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 can, sweet potato puree (15 ounces)
• 1 package vanilla pudding mix
• confectioner’s sugar, for dusting

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix sugars and oil together. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well in between. Add sweet potato. Mix dry ingredients together including flour, spices and pudding mix in a separate bowl. Add about a cup at a time of the dry ingredients to the wet stirring to combine. Spray bundt pan using butter baking spray and pour mixture into pan making sure that it’s even. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 5 minutes (check with toothpick to make sure cake is done).
• Cool for about 10 minutes before removing cake from pan. Let cool. Sprinkle with confectioners sugar.

After 10 minutes of resting it was time for dusting!

I made my son, Devin, take this picture. He did grunt first!

This cake recipe is a keeper. It is crispy around the edges and moist and gooey-good on the inside. Sweet enough to be a dessert but also light tasting so that you could have a piece with coffee in the morning!

French Yogurt Cake

This recipe is another one taken from Bon Appetit magazine. I couldn’t resist the simple to prepare recipe and the claim that it was a “healthier” version of pound cake.

French Yogurt Cake, Bon Appetit, May 2012

I was also blessed with a kitchen assistant today that didn’t mind getting dirty and loves to be fed the yummy samples…my 10-month-old nephew Ryder! Here he is working by the oven 🙂

We had fun together in the kitchen! Because I was sharing it with him I wanted it to be as healthy as possible so I decided to swap out the vegetable oil with applesauce. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of oil, just use an equal amount of applesauce when swapping.

Doesn’t look lemon zest look beautiful against the sugar? It smelled divine!

French Yogurt Cake

(Adapted from Bon Appetit)

Ingredients

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
• 3/4 cup whole-milk Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350°. Coat loaf pan with vegetable oil spray.
• Whisk 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder and kosher salt in a medium bowl.
• Using a rubber spatula, rub sugar with lemon zest in a large bowl until sugar is moist. Add yogurt, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla extract; whisk to blend. Fold in dry ingredients just to blend.
• Pour batter into prepared pan; smooth top. Bake until top of cake is golden brown and a tester inserted into center comes out clean, 50–55 minutes.

It is yummy, moist, deliciousness! I already ate a piece and forgot to take a picture…I’m afraid if I cut another slice I’ll eat that too! I’ll add a picture once my boyfriend Travis or son Devin wants a piece 🙂

A few hours later…