Mini Bundt cakes have become quite popular and trendy and they are ideal individual desserts that present so attractively on a plate. Today, I used my pan of fluted mini Bundt pan molds (each having a 1-cup capacity) to make individual Mini Blueberry Bundt Cakes with a lemon glaze. Continue reading Mini Blueberry Bundt Cakes
Victoria Sponge Cake – sometimes called Victoria Sandwich – is one of the most basic, simple cake recipes. Essentially, it is made with basic pantry ingredients, filled with a favorite jam and whipped cream, and is unfrosted. Continue reading Classic Victoria Sponge Cake Recipe
This old-fashioned country farmhouse crumb cake has been a recipe in my family for years. It quite resembles a coffee cake and is a hearty dessert that is tasty and not too sweet. Its crumb topping adds a lovely texture element to the cake.
Crumb cake is quite economical to make because it just takes basic pantry supplies and draws its flavour from the cinnamon and cloves. It’s always good to have a recipe that, if need be, can be quickly made without a special trip to the supermarket for ingredients.
I think this used to be a very popular cake in the country because it was a hearty dessert, it was not costly or difficult to make, and it did not require frosting. For many farm wives who often had large families to bring up while working alongside their husbands on the farm, this would have been a relatively easy-to-come-by dessert. This crumb cake is particularly tasty with a cup of tea or coffee.
The cake has a lovely tender crumb with an airy texture. To dress up this cake, sprinkle with a light dusting of confectioner’s sugar (aka icing or powdered sugar)
[Printable recipe follows at end of posting]
Ingredients:
1 tbsp vinegar
1 cup milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
½ cup cold shortening
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup raisins
Confectioner’s sugar for dusting (optional)
Method:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare 9”x9” square baking pan by greasing or lining with parchment paper.
In 1 cup measuring cup, place 1 tbsp vinegar. Fill cup with milk. Let stand 5-7 minutes to sour.
Meanwhile, in large bowl of stand mixer, combine the flour and brown sugar. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the shortening. Remove 1 cup of crumb mixture and set aside.
Add the salt, cloves, and cinnamon to the remaining mixture in the bowl. Stir well.
Stir the milk-vinegar mixture and transfer to small bowl. Add the baking soda and beaten egg. Stir. Pour over dry ingredients in bowl. With mixer on low/stir setting, incorporate the ingredients for 15 seconds. Increase mixer speed to medium low and beat mixture for an additional minute. Stir in the raisins.
Transfer batter to prepared pan and spread evenly. Spread the reserved crumb mixture evenly over cake. Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until cake tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Remove cake from oven and place on wire rack to cool completely before cutting and serving. Cut cooled cake into 16 pieces. Dust with confectioner’s sugar (powdered icing sugar), if desired.
Yield: 16 servings
Old-fashioned easy-to-make crumb cake uses standard pantry supplies. Flavored with cinnamon and cloves and dotted with raisins, this cake has a lovely tender crumb.
Stir the milk-vinegar mixture and transfer to small bowl. Add the baking soda and beaten egg. Stir. Pour over dry ingredients in bowl. With mixer on low/stir setting, incorporate the ingredients for 15 seconds. Increase mixer speed to medium low and beat mixture for an additional minute. Stir in the raisins.
By now, if you are a regular follower of my food blog, you have probably detected that I like vintage foods and those that could be called comfort foods.
I grew up with tomato soup cake as standard fare in the household. It’s such a simple cake and, while it may seem bizarre to add a can of tomato soup to cake batter, it’s really tasty when some spices are added. The tomato soup cake my mother used to make was always a single layer (and always made in the pyrex glass 8″ square baking pan). It was never frosted and was generally considered to be an “every day cake” as opposed to a cake for a special occasion. My mother’s cake was rather dense in texture and contained no eggs. Spices consisted of cinnamon and cloves.
I have used my mother’s recipe as inspiration but have completely revamped the recipe to turn this cake into a more decadent dessert. I’ve added eggs for lightness, moisture, and a tender crumb and added some molasses and a small amount of nutmeg for added flavour. A hefty dose of cream cheese frosting takes a plain old basic cake to new heights. On top of great flavour, the cake has a beautiful rusty-orange color.
I bake this cake in two 8″ round pans and the batter will rise to the very top of each pan. Nine-inch (9″) round pans can also be used but the cakes will obviously not be quite as thick and the baking time will need to be adjusted as they will take slightly less time to bake than the 8″ cakes. I highly recommend using bake even strips, dampened and wrapped snugly around each pan – these help to keep cakes even as they bake as opposed to tops that have peaks and valleys. These strips really do make a difference. That said, though, there is usually some leveling that still has to take place on the cakes and, for this, I recommend a cake leveler or, alternatively, you can use a serrated knife. Make sure both cakes are the same height and that any loose crumbs are brushed from the cakes before frosting.
(Printable recipe follows at end of post)
Ingredients:
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
2¾ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cloves
¼ tsp nutmeg
⅔ cup shortening, softened to room temperature
1⅓ cups sugar
2 large eggs (at room temperature for 15-20 minutes)
1 – 10 oz can tomato soup
2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp molasses
Method:
Preheat oven to 350°F and position rack in center of oven.
Prepare two 8” round cake pans by greasing the pans and lining the bottom of each pan with parchment paper .
In medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
In large bowl with mixer set at medium speed, cream the shortening and sugar together until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, combine the tomato soup, milk, and molasses.
Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternately with the liquid ingredients, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Beat well after each addition, scraping bottom and sides of bowl with rubber spatula as necessary to ensure all dry ingredients are incorporated. Finally, beat batter one additional minute at medium-high speed.
Divide batter equally between the two prepared pans, spreading evenly. Bake for apx. 38-40 minutes or until cake tester inserted into center of a cake comes out clean and cake springs back to a light finger touch. Transfer cakes to wire rack and let cool in pans for 10 minutes. With the edge of a small flat-edged paring knife, gently loosen edges of each cake from the pans. Invert cakes onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely before frosting with cream cheese frosting.
Yield: 1 – 8” layer cake, apx. 10-12 servings
Ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
½ cup butter or margarine, softened
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp milk
1 lb sifted icing (confectioner’s/powdered) sugar (weighed after sifted)
Method:
With mixer set at medium speed, beat cream cheese and butter or margarine until creamy and well-blended. Beat in vanilla and milk. Add about one-third of the icing sugar. Beat well to blend. Add remaining icing sugar in two separate additions, beating well after each addition and scraping bowl often with rubber spatula to ensure sugar is well blended into creamed mixture. Beat for 1-2 minutes longer until frosting is smooth, light, and fluffy.
Yield: Enough to fill and completely frost 1 – 8” or 1 – 9” layer cake.
To assemble cake:
Even each cake top by using a cake leveler or serrated knife, ensuring both cakes are the same height. Lightly brush away any loose crumbs remaining on the sides of the cakes. Sandwich together the two cake layers with a generous amount of cream cheese frosting. With the remaining frosting, cover the top of cake and, if desired, the sides or, alternatively, leave the sides without frosting for a more rustic looking cake.
A moist and flavorful spice cake with a tender crumb
Ingredients
Instructions
We are familiar with cakes made with vegetables like carrot and zucchini. However, have you ever heard of potato cake?
We Islanders like our spuds, there is no doubt about it. Potatoes are a very versatile vegetable and can be prepared and served in many different ways but have you ever heard of having them for dessert? Well, combine potatoes with chocolate and some light spice seasoning and you have a really tasty cake.
What follows is my creation of a recipe for chocolate potato cake. This is a fairly dense-textured cake so don’t look for it to have the same “foggy” and fluffy texture of a typical chocolate cake mix out of a box! Despite the two cups of sugar in the recipe, it is not overly or sickeningly sweet. The potatoes are cooked and mashed really well before adding them to the cake batter. It is important that they be lump-free as, otherwise, you will have lumps in the cake batter. The mashed potatoes should be warm when added to the batter.
You may find two or three of the ingredients different in this cake recipe. For example, I have added a pinch of cayenne pepper because I find it enhances the depth of the chocolate flavor. The key, of course, is not to overdo it – if you add too much, there will be excessive “heat” in the cake….just a pinch is all it takes. The addition of the espresso powder is also another good way to draw out the flavor of the cocoa and lend a mocha flavor to the cake. I have quite a collection of balsamic vinegars from our local Liquid Gold store here in Charlottetown. One of them is the dark chocolate balsamic vinegar which is delicious when simmered on the stove, reduced down, and drizzled over ice cream. If you have never tried a good quality balsamic vinegar reduction in this way, you are missing out on a delectable treat. I added 1/2 tbsp of this balsamic vinegar to the chocolate cake batter. This is a chocolate all-the-way cake!
I recommend baking this cake in a 10″ tube or bundt cake pan. These pans have a hollow tube in the center of the pan and this allows dense-batter cakes to rise and bake more evenly. There is also less chance of the cake falling in the middle or the outsides of the cake baking too quickly and drying out before the centre of the cake is baked.
The key to making this cake is not to overbake it. Start checking it at about the 40-45-minute baking point. If a cake tester does not come out clean at that point, continue to bake it but check it every 4-5 minutes. If it overbakes, it will be dry.
Chocolate Potato Cake
2½ cups flour
¼ tsp salt
2¾ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp soda
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp allspice
pinch cayenne
⅔ cup cocoa
¾ cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 cup warm mashed potatoes
½ cup milk
1½ tsp espresso powder dissolved in ⅓ cup hot water
2 tbsp Swiss Chocolate Almond Liqueur (or your favorite coffee liqueur)
½ tbsp dark chocolate balsamic vinegar (optional, but good)
1½ tsp vanilla
Method:
Assemble ingredients.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line bottom of 10” tube pan with parchment paper. Grease or spray cooking oil on sides of pan.
Sift or whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, allspice, cayenne, and cocoa. Set aside.
In separate bowl, combine the brown and white sugars.
In bowl of stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars until fluffy (2-3 mins on medium-high speed).
Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well to incorporate after each addition.
Add the mashed potatoes and beat on medium-high speed for 1-2 minutes until batter is smooth.
Add the coffee, liqueur, balsamic vinegar, and vanilla to the milk to make 1 cup of liquid. (Note – if you choose not to add the liqueur and/or balsamic vinegar, replace them with milk so that the liquid measurement equals 1 cup.)
Add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the liquid ingredients, starting and ending with the flour mixture (process is three additions of dry ingredients to two of liquid), mixing well after each addition.
Scrape sides of bowl with spatula as necessary to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.
Pour batter into prepared tube pan.
Bake for apx. 40-55 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center of cake comes out clean and the cake springs back to a light touch. Do not overbake or cake will be dry.
Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Ice with your favorite frosting.
Enjoy!
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