chocolate chip cake

When I saw this recipe I felt compelled to try it. So, armed with 2 tubs of sour cream in the fridge, I attempted it. I halved the recipe, and it seems that 2/3 of a tub of sour cream equates to 2/3 of a cup of sour cream, which means I ended up baking this cake 2 times with enough to spare for a third time, but decided that would be excessive so I used the remainder in this recipe instead. I like to think it's a little bit healthier than normal butter cakes, because there isn't as much butter as normal, but the cake is still very moist because of the sour cream. And sour cream is healthier than butter right? :)

Verdict: Delicious, and can I convince you (and me) it's healthier?
Score: 9/10

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Coffee Cake Cake 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick, 4 ounces or 113 grams) at room temperature 1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated sugar 3 large eggs, separated 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 cups (16 ounces) sour cream 3 cups (375 grams) all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 3/4 teaspoon table salt Filling and Topping 2 cups or 12 ounces semi- or bittersweet chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate bars 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-x-13-inch baking pan. If not nonstick coated, cover the bottom with a rectangle of parchment paper. Set pan aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together into a separate bowl. Alternately mix in sour cream and then dry ingredients into butter mixture until both are used up and the batter is smooth and very thick. In a medium bowl, beat eggs whites until stiff, then fold into batter. In a small dish, whisk together sugar and cinnamon for filling and topping. Spread half the cake batter in the bottom of prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of cinnamon-sugar mixture and 1 cup of chocolate chips. Dollop remaining cake batter over filling in spoonfuls. Use a rubber or offset spatula to gently spread it over the filling and smooth the top. Sprinkle batter with remaining cinnamon-sugar and remaining chocolate chips. With the palm of your hand, ever-so-gently press the chocolate chips a bit into the batter. No need to submerge them, you just want to make sure they adhere bit. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, rotating halfway through, until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

banana cake

I quite like this banana cake recipe because it uses an extra egg white, which means I get to use the spare egg yolk for this choc chip cookie recipe (which yields a pretty awesomely chewy cookie). It also happens to be delicious.

I've used this recipe a few times now, and on my most recent occasion I did have a couple of fundamental deviations (unintentional) from the original recipe - but this didn't affect it at all. Firstly, the recipe asks for 1 cup of mashed banana, however I only had 2 smallish medium bananas which didn't come up to 1 full cup, and I thought I could have done with another banana at the time. However it still had a good banana flavour, so I'd say it doesn't have to come up to 1 cup as long as you have good quality tasty bananas. Secondly I accidentally baked it in my loaf tin instead of the round cake tin (that's what happens when you plan to cook many cakes in one day I guess...) but I just added about 10 minutes to the cooking time, and ended up with something that looked like banana bread :)

Verdict: Great recipe if you have enough ripe bananas
Score: 8/10

Ingredients
1½ cups (210 g) flour 1 teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ¾ cup (150 g) sugar 2 tablespoons (55 g) melted butter (salted or unsalted) 1 large egg white 1 large egg, at room temperature 1 cup (250 ml) banana puree, made from about 2 very ripe medium-sized bananas ½ cup (125 ml) sour cream, regular or low-fat ½ teaspoon vanilla extract 1/3 cup (60 g) chocolate chips or 3 tablespoons (30 g) cocoa nibs (I omit these, might try adding them one day though!)

Method
Butter a 9-inch (23 cm) square pan and line the bottom with a sheet of parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350F (180 C). 1. Sift together in a bowl the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix in the sugar. 2. In a large bowl, mix together the butter, egg white, egg, banana puree, sour cream, vanilla and espresso, if using. 3. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and stir in the wet ingredients with a spatula until almost mixed. Add in the chocolate chips or cocoa nibs and stir until just combined, but don’t overstir: stop when any traces of flour disappear. 4. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes, or until the center feels lightly-springy and just done. 5. Cool on a baking rack.

spiced apple cake

I have been very bad at this blogging thing, but I'm going to give it another go (or just start blogging again and ignore the fact that I haven't blogged for months). I haven't stopped baking, not at all, but spending all your spare time baking means there's no time left for blogging. I also had this notion of coming up with a better design for my blog, but after many months I've accepted that that will not happen for a while, and so I will follow the advice of a colleague, and just post recipes, and hopefully polish up the commentary and design later.

I baked this gorgeous apple cake a few weeks ago - it's actually not a very sweet cake, and stewing the apples beforehand means the apples come out soft and full of flavour once the cake is baked. I also topped the cake with demerara sugar which gave it a lovely crunch, but I think it would probably taste just as good without it, if you wanted to be a bit healthier :)

The original recipe can be found here

Verdict: Delicious! Make me again!
Score: 9/10

Spiced Apple Cake

Sauteed Apples

2 tart apples (about 1 pound)

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons sugar

Cake

12 Tablespoons butter, at room temperature

1 cup packed light brown sugar

4 egg yolks, at room temperature

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon clove

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon sour cream

1/4 cup raw sugar (or granulated if you don’t have raw on hand)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and place a rack in the center of the oven. Butter and flour an 8-inch spring form pan and set aside.

To sautee the apples: peel, core and dice the apples into 1/4-inch cubes. Melt the butter in a saute pan over medium heat until butter beings to bubble. Add the diced apples and cook for one minute, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the sugar and continue to cook for 2 minutes. Turn the heat to low and cook the apples, uncovered for 4-5 minutes until they are softened. Remove from heat and allow to cool. You’ll only use the sauteed apples for the recipe so you can discard any liquids that may have accumulated.

To make the cake: cream the butter, sugar and spices in a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment until light in color and fluffy. This may take 6 to 8 minutes. Stop the mixer occasionally, to scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue beating until mixture is light and fluffy.

Add the egg yolks one at a time and continue beating until fluffy and glossy.

Measure out the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. With the mixer set on low speed, add half of the dry ingredients to the batter. Mix until no flour streaks remain. Add the sour cream all at once and incorporate. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until no traces remain. Fold in the cooked apples with a rubber spatula. The cake batter will be thick.

Spread the cake batter into the prepared pan and distribute evenly. Take a knife and run it in a singular circular motion through the batter 1-inch from the edge of the pan. This will help the cake to rise evenly. Sprinkle the cake with the raw or granulated sugar and bake for 60- 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing the sides of the spring form pan.

banana cake

I have been very quiet of late. This is mostly because I put myself on a baking hiatus, after realising that my dedicated visits to the gym were not making much of a dent in my expanding waistline. And when you stop baking, you lose interest in blogging about it. However, I have started running again (fingers crossed I can keep running), and so I am very tentatively emerging from my self-imposed hibernation.

A group of us at work have been celebrating our birthdays by organising a cake and card for the happy birthday girl (or guy). So we've only had 2 so far, but I'm sure it will continue! I missed out on the first one, due to being insanely ill, but for the second one, one of the girls asked if I'd be able to buy the cake. Now, why buy a cake when you can bake one...? :)

We'd already had chocolate cake, and while another girl and I knew Sarah would love a carrot cake, I figured that after already having force fed the girls two different types of carrot cake, that I should probably not go for it a third time. So I decided on a deliciously moist banana cake with white chocolate frosting instead, which I found here.

You'll notice in my photo below that I also made my first attempt at cake writing :) Not a bad first attempt, ignoring the fact that I had fully intended to write 'happy birthday Sarah' and not 'Sarah happy bday'... Anyway, the photo was actually taken before I smudged some of the letters while trying to make space for the cake in the fridge, so if any of the girls are reading this that would explain why it may not look *exactly* how you remember it :)

Ingredients

2 very ripe bananas (of large-ish size)
125 ml sour cream
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
170g caster sugar (or soft brown sugar)
125ml vegetable oil
200g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Method
1. Grease and line a 23cm round cake tin.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
3. Sift together the flour, salt and leavening.
4. Mash the bananas and mix in the sour cream and eggs, with electric hand beaters.
5. When the mixture is smooth, beat in the oil and sugar. Then add the dry ingredients and beat on high speed for 2 minutes.
6. Pour the mixture into the pan, and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the cake tests done.
7. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a wire rack.
8. Frost.

And for the white chocolate cream cheese frosting...

Ingredients
200g full fat cream cheese
200g white chocolate

Method
1. Melt the chocolate and cool slightly.
2. Stir in the cream cheese.

(for the letters I made a cone out of baking paper, cut a hole in the tip of the cone, melted some dark chocolate, added some icing sugar, spooned some of the chocolate into the cone, and hoped for the best!)