Chai Spice Buttercream Frosting

The mother's birthday is tomorrow, so we celebrated this afternoon. I decided to put a fall twist on The Best White Cake Ever by making a chai spice buttercream frosting. It was heavenly. I mean, anything with 4 sticks of butter tastes amazing, but it was rich and creamy with a perfect hint of chai. The brother said it tasted exactly like a chai tea latte he had the other day. Yum…

I'd imagine this frosting would be just as wonderful on say a spice cake, or even a pumpkin cake. I just opted for white because I'd actually had the cake in my freezer for the past several months. Thankfully, this particular cake freezes very well. It was still perfect. 

Chai Spice Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

Pinch of salt

3 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom 

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

5 cups powdered sugar

1 TBSP milk

Directions:

Beat the butter, salt and vanilla in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the rest of the spices and mix until combined. Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Add about a TBSP of milk. Beat for about 5 minutes on high or until the frosting is light and fluffy.

Apply a thin layer of frosting to your cake (crumb coat). Put it in the fridge for about 15 minutes. Finish frosting your cake and decorate as desired. I simply sprinkled a little extra cinnamon on top!

Enjoy!

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

Is it really June?! Time flies. It's crazy to think that I've been out of school for a little over a year and been working as a pediatric nurse for 8 months. It's amazing how much has changed. 

The brother has one year left as a teen. We had to celebrate a little early since he'll be off at camp on his real birthday. This year, he opted for a lemon poppyseed cake. I swear, the kid picks the weirdest things for me to make. Every other guy I know likes chocolate. But for the brother, I've done strawberry, white chocolate with raspberry, and now this. Gotta love him. 

The recipe is from Apple & Spice via Pinterest. I didn't change much, other than using whole eggs instead of just whites. And the brother vetoed the flaked almonds for decorating, so I used some extra lemon zest. Also, the original is all in metric units, so I'll give you the converted version. You're welcome. 

Basically, it tastes just like a lemon poppyseed muffin with frosting. It's pretty delicious if you're into that. It's moist, sweet, lemony, not too heavy. The brother was pleased with it, so I think that makes it a winner! 

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

For the cake:
2 1/2 cups AP flour
1 cup sugar
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 TBSP poppy seeds
3/4 cup unsalted butter
zest of 1 lemon
275ml buttermilk
5 large eggs

For the sauce:
1/2 cup sugar
75ml water
juice of 1 lemon

For the frosting:
8oz cream cheese
3/4 cup butter
5-6 cups powdered sugar
1 TBSP almond extract

• Heat the oven to 350*F and prepared 3 8-9" cake pans. 
• Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Gently mix to combine.
• Add the butter, lemon zest, and 200ml of the buttermilk. Beat on low until completely mixed. Raise the speed to medium and beat for an additional 1-2 minutes.
• In another bowl, combine the remaining buttermilk with the eggs. Whisk to blend thoroughly. 
• Add the egg mixture to the batter in 2-3 additions. Beat only enough to incorporate.
• Divide the batter between the three pans (it may seem a little thick).
• Bake for 20-30 minutes (depending on the size of your pans), until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. 
• Let the cakes cool in the pans for about 10 minutes before turning out.
• While the cakes are cooling, make the lemon sauce:
• In a small sauce pan, combine sugar, water, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
•  Generously brush the cakes with the lemon sauce while they are still warm. 
• Allow the cakes to completely cool before frosting.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter & cream cheese until light and fluffy.
• Gradually add the powdered sugar, scraping down the sides & beating well between each addition.
• Add the almond extract and continue to beat well for 3-4 minutes, until light & fluffy.
• I trust you can figure out how to assemble the cake!

Enjoy!

I seriously need to get back to cooking more. I've been eating like an unchaperoned 5-year-old at a birthday party. However, I've actually made some breakfast sandwiches and oatmeal cupcakes recently. They were pretty good... I'll TRY to get those posts up soon!

Oreo Crumble Cake with Mocha Frosting

It was someone's birthday today…so I made cake! I honestly haven't made anything else in like the last month. It's pretty sad. If it wasn't for peanut butter, and other people who will feed me, I would starve. I'm really only kind of kidding.

I took a couple of different recipes and came up with an Oreo Crumble Cake topped with mocha frosting…there is also like a cookies & cream filling involved. The father (it's his birthday) is a fan of Oreos, chocolate cake, and coffee…so it was kind of a perfect combination.   

The cake itself has a fantastic texture. Super moist. The frosting is divine. Perfect touch of coffee flavor. The filling is great too…and I think next time I would double the recipe on the filling…or maybe just 1 1/2 it. It's a pretty fantastic cake. Really rich. Like, rich for me, rich. So for those of you who do not handle sweets well, beware. I recommend having a glass of milk. 

I will say that slicing it evenly & getting it out is a little challenging with the layer of Oreos in the center. But, hey, it's still delicious.

Oreo Crumble Cake

About 10-15 Oreos

2 cups AP flour

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup cocoa

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 packet Starbucks Via Italian Roast (or other EXTRA BOLD roast)

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

• Preheat the oven to 350*F and prepare 2 9" pans appropriately. Twist apart enough Oreos to line the bottom of one of the pans, cream side up.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour through instant coffee). Add the milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until combined. (I use my KitchenAid stand mixer because it's fantastic.) Reduce the speed & carefully add the boiling water so you don't slosh batter everywhere. Then beat on high for about a minute to add some air & fluff. 
• Distribute the cake batter evenly between the pans. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 
• Remove from the oven & let cool in the pans for about 10 minutes. Then, remove the cake from the pans onto a wire rack & let cool completely.

Filling:

1/3 cup whipping cream

2 tsp powdered sugar

1/8 tsp vanilla

5-6 Oreos, well crumbled (I recommend using the "pulse" button on a food processor a couple times)

• In your stand mixer (with whisk attachment), whip the cream, sugar & vanilla until stiff.
• Fold in the Oreo crumbles
• Keep chilled until you're ready to use it!

Mocha Frosting

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

1 cup cocoa

5 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla

1 packet Starbucks Via Italian Roast (or other EXTRA BOLD roast)

• Add the cocoa to a large bowl or stand mixer. Whisk through to remove any lumps.
• Cream together the cocoa and butter until well combined.
• Add the powdered sugar and milk to the mixture by adding 1 cup of sugar, followed by 1 TBSP of milk. After each addition has been combined, beat on high for about a minute. It will get nice & fluffy.
• Add the vanilla & instant coffee & mix until well combined.

I feel like putting this all together is fairly self-explanatory. And there's really no art to decorating it. I piped a little frosting around the bottom edge to finish it off a little. I crumbled the spare naked Oreos that went unused from the one with cream that were baked into the the cake…sprinkled them on top. Then I just broke a few more apart & put them on. Pretty simple. Super yummy. Enjoy!

Birthday Week Adventures

It's been a great birthday week! I've had a few nights off to recover from the crazy amount of hours I put in last week. Yea for sleep! I FINALLY went to see "Frozen." It's pretty fantastic. Very musical. Good storyline. Hilarious. Literally laughing out loud, hilarious. I was like, "I'm 23, I should not be this captivated by an animated film." It's that good. If you haven't seen it, you definitely should. This will obviously be added to my movie collection.

On Monday, I ran around Mitch Park a couple times. I think that's like 5.6 miles. It was nice and sunny, and I finished up right before the wind got really bad. It was a great way to enjoy a pretty day! And because it's fun for me, I also got in some X2-Core before cleaning up & heading out to dinner. 

I polled my Facebook friends for a good place to go for birthday dinner. I always try to pick somewhere I haven't been. All the suggestions were great! In the end, I went with Inca Trail (partly because I couldn't talk the family into going downtown and partly because it was the most different...I've NEVER had Peruvian food before). It was delicious! It looks a little sketchy, and it seems like one guy does everything. But the food is good. I make it a point to get the sampler app platter (above) when I go someplace new, especially if it's a new kind of cuisine. I'm a huge fan of the calamari. I ordered the ceviche mixto (below), which was recommended to me by a work friend. Excellent. I was kind of nervous about the raw, chopped fish thing...which is weird since I like sushi...but anyways it was fantastic. Served up with yucca, corn, onions and a clam. Yum!

That was followed up with the perfect birthday cake. I went back to the basics with this one. White cake, buttercream frosting, and sprinkles. You can see my full post with links to the recipes by clicking here. This is the first time the smoke alarm has gone off when I blew out my candles...

Yesterday, I got a massage and partied at Zumba. I've also managed to catch up on all the errands I've been needing to run this month...like getting a new driver's license. And I've finally finished up the P90X-3 workouts, so at some point I will have a post up on those. I've already repeated some, but I was holding out on a couple because they're mostly chest and back, which isn't really my favorite thing. It's been a nice and relaxing time! And I'm so thankful for all the birthday wishes I've received! 

The Best White Birthday Cake…SERIOUSLY!

It has been a great birthday week! I will have to share the details with you later. The birthday cake is the priority here. And while some people may take issue with baking their own cake, I'm not one of them. I love making cake...I'm also a fan of eating it. I guess I have a tendency to choose more extravagant cakes to make. You know, the kinds with filling, frosting, and ganache. More than one flavor. That kind of thing. But I also think there's something quite lovely about a simple white cake with buttercream frosting. And I wanted a really classic birthday cake-cake. I found the perfect recipe from Add a Pinch.

I cannot tell you how good this cake is. It's seriously amazing. I wish there was enough to share with you! It has a great texture. Perfectly moist. Excellent white cake flavor. The buttercream frosting compliments it beautifully. Although, white-cake-purists be warned: this recipe uses whole eggs (not just whites) and regular vanilla (not clear). Still, it's the best white cake EVER. Seriously. 

I jazzed it up a little by adding sprinkles! I mean, nothing says 'birthday cake' more than sprinkles, right? There's probably a better way of doing it, but I made my own stencil of sorts to get the numbers on the cake and leave space for the candles on the edge. It makes for a pretty fun cake. But sprinkles are to baking as glitter is to crafting, and I'm pretty sure I will be finding sprinkles in the kitchen for the rest of my life.

• To get the recipe for the cake, click here.
• To get the recipe for the frosting, click here. (I made 1 1/2 times the recipe and had just enough)

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

I love any reason to make cake, and today is the mother's birthday! Score! There were several recipes to choose from, but the winner was this Chocolate Pumpkin Cake with chocolate ganache and pumpkin whipped cream from i am baker. By the way, i am baker is one of my favorites for sweets. Great stuff. I'm generally against cake without frosting. I don't see the point. However, this cake is definitely the exception. The cake itself is perfectly moist. The pumpkin whipped cream is spectacular. And how can you go wrong with ganache? Deliciousness.  

I didn't really change anything from i am baker's recipe. My cake is just round instead of square. Mostly, well, all because I don't have a square plate…and a square cake on a round plate would really mess with my OCD. Here it is:

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

For the cake:

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 TBSP vanilla

4 eggs

1 cup pureed pumpkin

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 cups AP flour

2/3 cup cocoa

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

• Preheat the oven to 350*F and prepare two round or square baking pans.
• In a small bowl, mix together the pumpkin and buttermilk.
• In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, powder, soda and salt.
• In a mixer, beat the sugars, butter, and vanilla until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. 
• Alternating, add the flour mixture and pumpkin mixture to the sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix for about a minute on low, until fully combined.
• Divide the batter evenly among your pans. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Let cool in the pans about 10 minutes before inverting one onto your plate or cake stand, and the other onto a cooling rack or whatever you want to use!

For the Ganache:

12 oz Velata milk chocolate

6 oz heavy whipping cream

• Place your chocolate in a heat-safe bowl.
• In a small sauce pan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate.
• Mix together until smooth. Let it sit for just a few minutes to thicken.
• Pour over the top of each layer of cake. Spread to the edges &/or let it run over the edges. Let it sit for at least an hour.

For the Pumpkin Whipped Cream:

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

1-2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup pureed pumpkin

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp all spice

• In a small bowl, combine pumpkin and spices. Mix together.
• In a mixer, beat the whipping cream on medium-high until soft peaks are formed. Add 1 cup of the powdered sugar (1/2 cup at a time). Mix until combined.
• Fold the pumpkin mixture into the whipped cream.
• Beat in the remaining powdered sugar (1/4 cup at a time) until the desired texture is reached. I ended up using a total of 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar. 
• Let it chill in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

When you go to assemble your cake, I recommend using placing straws through the whipped cream and bottom cake layer to support the top layer. It'll keep the top layer from squishing out all the whipped cream!

Enjoy!

#22

I guess it has already been 10 whole days since I hit 22! I can't say it's a real life changer...although for some reason I feel much older. Oh, well. I got lucky this year, and I had the day off clinical. Score! I enjoyed my day thoroughly. I started it off with strength and abs. Then did some Kenpo-X. And wrapped up the afternoon with some X2-Yoga. Oh, and I slept-in until like 0800. It was fantastic. Felt SO good. I realize that's not most people's ideal way to spend a birthday, but it certainly was for me. 

For dinner, I went out with the family to Capers Mediterranean Buffet & Bistro in NW OKC. I always like to pick someplace we've never been before. I've kind of been on a Greek and Mediterranean food kick since last year, when we went to Zorba's. So I hunted high and low on Urbanspoon until I found something that looked good. There were a few more casual Mediterranean food places, but not very many "nice" ones. Oklahoma is a little low on Mediterranean cuisine choices. I was kind of skeptical because I generally don't do buffets. However, I was pretty impressed. The gyro meat was by far the best I've ever had. EVER. There was a great selection of salads. They had some of my Mediterranean favorites--dolma and falafel. Bottom line: there was lots of tasty stuff. I definitely recommend it!

We went back to the father's house for cake. I found out a couple of days ago that the mother was actually going to bake me some kind of white chocolate raspberry cake, but she got distracted shopping for presents and ran out of time. SO, I ended up with white cake with butter cream frosting from Target...and I really can't complain. It's one of my weaknesses. I love Target cake. It's horrible. I don't even want to talk about the ingredient list. But it's so good.

Well, I'm sure that I really should get back to studying. I had a test yesterday, but there's another one tomorrow. That will be 3 since school started on the 7th. Story of my life. 84 days 'til graduation!

Artwork for Mom

In addition to the extremely delicious cake I made for my mother's birthday, I made some art.  She had seen something similar on Pinterest that she really liked.  However, it wasn't exactly the right colors and, as much as I love my mom, I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg to buy it off the Etsy shop it was linked to.  So I got my craft on.  I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to put the thing together.  I new I needed a canvas, paint, some kind of twig thing and paper flowers.  Obviously, I hit up Hobby Lobby to get the canvas (I literally got the cheapest one in the size I wanted...I think it's actually for water colors...but whatever), scrapbook paper for the flowers, craft glue, and (fortunately) there was a small branch thing that fit perfectly on the canvas.  Score.  In my head, the paint I needed for the base color was on the paint shelf in the garage.  To my surprise, it was not there.  I panicked a little...or a lot (I was literally doing this the day before her birthday).  Then, I got the idea to mix the paint from her bedroom walls ("Barefoot Beach") with the paint from the laundry room walls ("Polished Turquoise").  It couldn't have turned out better.  Seriously.  I managed to impress myself.  The color I mixed matches my mom's bed stuff perfectly.  After I painted the whole canvas with that, and let it dry, I started working on adding a couple other colors.  I wanted to just paint them on with like a brush, but it wasn't blending well.  I broke down and used my hands, which is a REALLY BIG DEAL.  I don't get my hands dirty.  Not as a kid.  Not now.  Never.  It really freaks me out.  But, desperate times call for desperate measures or something, right?  Once it was all dry, I glued on the branch and flowers I made with a hot glue gun.  Here it is: 

Mom, of course, loves it.  I would be happy to never make another paper flower ever again...but I think it's going to happen anyway!

Chocolate Raspberry Ganache Cake

My mother's birthday was last Saturday, so I made this cake I found on Pinterest.  I knew it would be a good one because it calls for weird things like sour cream and distilled white vinegar.  Also, who doesn't enjoy chocolate ganache?  The cake turned out well.  Super moist.  Super delicious.  Totally unhealthy.  Unless, you want to count the raspberry jam and juice as fruit and the chocolate as an antioxidant.  But seriously, the thing weighed 12 pounds.  Seriously.  I did 1 1/2 times the ganache recipe, however this baker knows her stuff, and, really, not making extra ganache would've worked well.  (There may or may not be a bowl of what was left currently hanging out in the kitchen.)  The cake was definitely a hit though.  I'm actually kind of surprised that the brother enjoyed it as much as he did.  Get the recipe by clicking here!

It probably would be prettier with fresh raspberries on top, but I forgot to get those!

It's so moist it doesn't stay together well and chocolate gets everywhere.  It reminds me of the chocolate cake on "Matilda" except probably tastier.

I promise I don't only eat cake.  I have mostly just been snacking lately though, since my stomach hates me.  I'll get to have like one bite of everything on Thanksgiving, but hopefully I'll be good to go for Christmas.  In other news, I was doing the splits last night when there was a loud ripping/popping sound.  Weirdest feeling ever.  And now my right hamstring is super messed up, which complicates working out even more.  I'm sure I should chill out and relax, but I don't really do either of those!  Hopefully, it will heal itself up extremely soon.  Like, in the next 5 minutes would be great...

The Messiest French Chocolate Cake

We flew back from Seattle last Saturday, which happened to also be my brother's 17th birthday, and then that very Sunday was Father's Day.  Obviously a cake was necessary.  My first problem might have been that I was baking this cake around midnight to 1.  I mean, it turned out totally delicious, but I would hate to have to guess the number of toothpicks that held this thing together.  And, with regard to the Oklahoma heat, I probably should have waited until I was ready to serve the cake before I put the Cool Whip on.  So, this was by far the messiest chocolate cake I've ever made.  Not at all pretty, but SO good.  I found the recipe in a "Taste of Home" magazine from summer '07.  It looks much prettier in there too.  I picked this one out to try because it has buttermilk and coffee in the cake.  That fact automatically makes it good.  Then, when it comes out of the oven, you pour a rum glaze over the top.  Between the two layers of cake, is chocolate goodness.  Are you following me?  While you will probably laugh at my picture, just know that it tasted amazing.  

The Messiest French Chocolate Cake

(aka French Chocolate Cake on pg. 53 of June/July 2007 "Taste of Home" magazine)

For the cake:

1/2 c butter, softened

2    c packed brown sugar

2    egg yolks

2   tsp vanilla extract

6   squares (1 oz each) semisweet chocolate, melted & cooled

1   c cold strong brewed coffee

3   c all-purpose flour

1 1/2  tsp salt

1 1/2  tsp baking soda

1  c buttermilk

For the glaze:

2/3  c sugar

1/2  c milk

1/4  c butter, cubed

1     tsp rum extract

For the filling:

1     c (6 oz) semisweet or dark chocolate chips (I like dark, personally)

1/4  c milk

For the topping:

1  carton frozen whipped topping (i.e. Cool Whip), thawed 

Throw on some chocolate curls, sliced strawberries, or rainbow sprinkles!

Directions:

Line 2 greased 9" round baking pans with waxed paper (also grease the paper); set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until crumbly.  Beat in egg yolks & vanilla.  Stir in chocolate and coffee (or else it goes EVERYWHERE).  Combine flour, salt & baking soda; add to chocolate mixture alternately with the buttermilk (batter should be thick).  Pour into prepared pans and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring sugar, milk and butter to a gentle boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat & stir in rum extract.

Invert cakes onto wire racks; drizzle with glaze (or just dump it on!).  Cool completely.  In a microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate chips with milk; stir until smooth.  Let cool until the mixture is spreadable, stirring occasionally.  

Place one cake on a serving plate; spread with filling.  Top with remaining cake, using toothpicks to secure.  Spread whipped topping over the whole thing.  Store in the fridge & garnish with the topping of your choice.  Eat up!

Caramel Banana Cake

Sometime last month, when my roommate & I should have been studying, we came across a recipe for a caramel banana cake.  As luck would have it, my father's birthday was last month, and he likes bananas.  So, I had the perfect opportunity to try this recipe.  And, OH MY GOODNESS.  It was SO delicious.  I mean, between the gluten & dairy, I almost died, but it was definitely worth it.  It was really moist, dense & perfect.  Well, taste-wise.  I'm not really fabulous at frosting, so it's not exactly the prettiest cake.  Also, for some reason, it's not suppose to have frosting on the top...I haven't decided how I feel about that.  I mean, it doesn't really NEED it, but I think it might make it look better.  So, don't laugh.  Here it is:

 

Here is the recipe for the cake: Caramel Banana Cake

And the frosting: Caramel Buttercream