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!

Pumpkin Nutella Bars with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

I'm loving that it's pumpkin everything season! And it's feeling a little more like fall outside too. Perfection. This tasty pumpkin treat is a Pinterest find. Actually, I saw that the brother had pinned it, so I made these for him because I'm a great sister. Most of the time. The bars are nice and moist. Have great flavor. And while they're not super healthy, my version did cut out 1 cup of oil, 1 cup of granulated sugar, 1 cup of powdered sugar, and 1/2 stick of butter. And I don't feel like they are lacking on sweetness at all. Next time around, I would probably take out more of the pumpkin batter before mixing in the Nutella (I've adjusted the directions below). Then, they might actually come out "swirled." 

Pumpkin Nutella Bars

Inspiration from The Gunny Sack

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups pureed pumpkin

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 cups AP flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 cup sugar

1 cup Nutella

• Preheat the oven to 350*F and prepare a jelly roll pan (16x12x1) with nonstick spray. 
• In a large mixing bowl/stand mixer, beat together the eggs, pumpkin and applesauce. 
• Add all the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
• Pour half the pumpkin batter into your prepared pan.
• Mix the Nutella in with the remaining batter.
• Drop spoonfuls of the Nutella mixture over the pumpkin batter. 
• Gently swirl with a knife.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz reduced fat cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

• In a large mixing bowl/stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy.
• Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating until smooth.
• Mix in cinnamon and vanilla.

I went ahead and put my frosting on with the bars were still warm. I feel like it makes them a little more moist. Also, I had just worked for 13 hours and didn't feel like staying awake for them to cool down… Enjoy!

Strawberries & Cream Bars

Well... Today has been, I guess, interesting. That's probably the simplest way to put it.  So instead of getting the story of my time in London, you're getting a recipe for these sweet treats. Naturally, I found these bars on Pinterest. They make for a great summertime dessert! They're pretty delicious. Four layers of sweet goodness. They don't last long. 

The recipe came from Lil' Luna. It's a sugar cookie base topped with a cream cheese & Velata white chocolate mixture, a strawberry mixture, and whipped topping. I think it'd be fun to try it with a dark chocolatey-brownie base sometime...yum. 

Strawberries & Cream Bars

Ingredients for the sugar cookie layer:

1/3 cup shortening

1/3 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Ingredients for the cream layer:

8 oz cream cheese, softened 

6 oz bag Velata premium white chocolate, melted

Ingredients for the strawberry layer:

1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

2 TBSP cornstarch 

8 oz whipped topping 

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan.
• Cream together the shortening, butter, and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla, and almond until well mixed.
• Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add to the creamed mixture until well blended. 
• Spread into the bottom of your prepared pan. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Let cool.
• Melt the white chocolate as directed on the bag. Mix with cream cheese until well blended. Spread over cooled cookie layer and pop it in the fridge.
• In a small sauce pan, mix together sugar and cornstarch. Add chopped strawberries and water. Heat on medium-high until it comes to a boil. Once it's boiling, remove from heat and let it cool for 10 minutes. Pour over cream cheese/white chocolate layer and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. 
• Top with your whipped topping of choice. I didn't use the whole tub. Just enough to make it look good. Keep it in the fridge until ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Blueberry Banana Cake

I'm loving how much baking I'm currently getting to do!  I made a blueberry banana cake the other night to share with some friends.  It was delicious!  Basically, I would say its like a wonderfully moist banana blueberry bread with cream cheese frosting.  Yum.  The original recipe is from theKitchn, which is where I'd previously found and tried a fabulous recipe for banana caramel cake.  I did modify the recipe a little though.  I didn't put lemon zest in the frosting or almonds on top.  I also left out the rum.  I figured that the kiddos would be a little weirded out by those things.  I know I was when I was a kid.  And, let's be real, while I thought the almonds were nice for garnish, I didn't really want to eat them on my frosting.  Like why would you want to ruin perfectly smooth, creamy frosting with nuts?  I also simplified things a little by leaving the cake in the pan versus taking it out and having to find a platter and frosting the sides.  I would caution you to know how your oven bakes and start checking on the cake EARLY, if you ever decide to make it.  I was house-sitting, and apparently that oven bakes quick.  The original recipe says 75 minutes, but my cake was done in 45.  I'm glad I checked on it when I did!  Unfortunately, this cake disappeared before I got a picture.  It seems as though the brother got a slice and forgot to put the rest up...leaving it easily accessible to a couple of dogs.  Argh.  However, I decided to solve this little problem by making another one.  After all, my mom hadn't gotten to try it and we're in Minnesota with family to share with.  And it's practically a health food, right?  It's got bananas, blueberries and lemon... That pretty much outweighs all the sugar, don't you think?  The second time around, I still left out the rum, but I did keep the lemon zest...which, I think, was a wonderful addition to the frosting!  This time, it took the full 75 minutes to bake.  Clearly, all ovens are not created equal!  I did manage a picture...although, not a very good one: