Eggnog cake

For my own future reference, before I forget more of what I did

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|| *Eggnog Cake* || (Kristal BDay 2018)
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A. Eggnog Chiffon
B. Eggnog jello
C. Eggnog Diplomat Cream

A *Eggnog Chiffon*
(Makes two 9x3 inch rounds)

DRY INGREDIENTS
14.5 oz cake flour
8.75 oz icing sugar
0.5 oz baking powder

WET INGREDIENTS
6.75 oz mix of homogenized milk and eggnog (ratio to your preference, I did half/half, I think)
6 oz canola oil
2 eggs
1tsp EACH of
- freshly ground nutmeg
- cinnamon
- ground cloves

MERINGUE INGREDIENTS
13 oz egg whites
9.5 oz granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375 F; butter two 9x3 inch round pans, then place parchment on the bottom and sides. Butter the parchment.

2. Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl

3. Mix wet ingredients into the large bowl to combine into a batter

4. Whip the meringue ingredients to medium peaks

5. Fold the meringue into the batter, pour into pans and bake at 375 F until set (i.e., until a toothpick comes out with no goopy stuff) - 20-35 minutes

6. Remove from oven and pan; let it cool on a rack

7. Slice off the bottom and top of the cakes. You can slice off the sides if they are uneven as well.

The chiffon can be made ahead of time and frozen wrapped in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Take it out to defrost a few hours before assembling the cake.

B. *Eggnog Jello*

0.25 C homogenized milk
1 packet gelatin
1.75 C eggnog

1. Sprinkle the gelatin onto the milk
2. Heat the eggnog in a saucepan until it is steaming
3. Dissolve the milk/gelatin into the hot eggnog
4. Pour the jello mixture into a 9x3 inch cake pan
5. Place the jello into the fridge to set, approximately 4 hours
6. Place a plate on top of the jello, to invert onto. Place the bottom of the cake pan in warm water for 3-5 seconds. Invert jello onto the plate.
7. Place plated jello back in fridge to set (in case it fell apart like mine did)

Slide jello onto a cake layer, then place the second cake layer on top. Place in fridge until you are ready to apply the diplomat cream.

C. *Eggnog Diplomat Cream*

3 large egg yolks
2.5 oz (1/3 C) granulated sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
8 oz (1 C) mixture of eggnog and homogenized milk (I used 3/4 C eggnog)
1/8 tsp salt
2 Tbsp unsalted butter

1tsp EACH of
- freshly ground nutmeg
- cinnamon
- ground cloves

1 C heavy cream

1. Whisk the first three ingredients in a medium bowl until the sugar is dissolved
2. Heat milk/eggnog mixture in a saucepan with the spices until steaming (medium-high)
3. Remove front heat and gradually whisk the egg mixture into the milk mixture in a steady stream
4. Return saucepan to low heat and cook, whisking constantly until the pastry cream thickens
5. Remove from heat and stir in butter; set aside until completely cool (I stuck it in the fridge). When completely cool, whisk it until it is of a uniform texture again
6. Whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks; gently fold into the pastry cream

Use the diplomat cream to cover the top and edges of the cake; pipe the remaining cream to decorate the top and edges of the cake.

Weekend Apple Cake

from Baking Chez Moi

Ingredients

- 1 1/3 (181gm) cup of flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 stick of butter ( 8 Tbsp, 4 ounces, 113 gm)
- 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
- 1/2 (60 gm) confectioner's sugar

- 3 large eggs (room temp)
- 1 Tbsp dark rum (or additon 1 tsp of vanilla extract)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 medium apples, peeled cored and cut into small chunks

- about 1/2 cup (106g) apple jelly or strained apricot jam (optional)

Centre rack in oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees
BUtter 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan, dust with flour, tap out excess, put pan on baking sheet lined with parchment or silpat

Whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt together

Beat butter on medium speed until smooth, add both sugars and beat until creamy.  Add eggs one at a time, beat for 1 min after each egg.  (the mixture will look curdled and be thin) Add the rum and vanilla.  Reduce the mixer to low speed and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the batter.  With a flexible spatula, fold in the apple chunks then scrape into the prepared pan.

Bake for 60 - 65 mins

Strawberry Mirror Mini Cakes

You can find the recipe for Strawberry Mirror Cake all over the internet, but I first found it here. I am now imagining putting mirrors on ALL my cakes.

Matcha Green Tea Mousse Cake

I told Kristal that she should make something like this awesome looking cake for Kim's birthday. I was surprised when she actually said she would, and she did! I think we upped the ante for any future birthday cakes with this one.

Monkey? or Bear?

Hello ! So it was Joanne's 18th birthday, we are both monkeys so we thought it would be fitting to make a monkey cake. We did "Baked"s white out cake, choclate ganache, and marshmallow fondant from the web. Cocoa definitely did the trick with making the fondant brown. Food colouring WAS NOT doing the trick. We still haven't tried the cake yet so don't know how yummy or yucky it is. Looks super cute regardless though!

White Out cake w/ Dark chocolate frosting and Pistachio Crumble

Props to Kim Kim for taking a FANTASTIC picture.

Natural Sunlight baby !

White out cake from "Baked".

Dark chocolate frosting left over from the chocolate cake two 1/2 weeks ago.

Pistachio crumble from Pie day one 1/2 weeks ago.

Looks impressive.

Cut out 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 sugar from the cake. Can't do that with this recipe. Cake ends up a little dry even though I only baked for 38 mins with two custard cups full of ice.

After tasting Mom asked me to frost the outside so I did.

I did not frost the underside of the layers. Mistake. Layers won't stick together due to pistachio crumble. Bothered me a lot so I separated the layers (after frosting the outside like mom requested), defrosted the remainder of the frosting and put it between the layers.

Meagan and I figured out what else I messed up on. I thought it was 1 Tbsp of baking powder and 1Tbsp of baking soda. Ha ha ha should be only be 1 Tsp of baking soda !!!

Did not stop Meagan, nor Kim, nor me from eating a 2nd slice.

Malteser Cake

Joanne's 1/2 birthday cake was a SUCCESS !!!

Recipe

• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate (I used semi-sweet chocolate chips)
  
• 1/2 cup hot water

• 1 3/4 cups cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups sugar (I used 1 cup)
  
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup whole milk (I used 1%)
• 1 tsp instant coffee (Meagan's suggestion )
  

Frosting

• 1 1/4 cups whipping cream
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 pound milk chocolate, chopped (I used 12oz dark chocolate chips)
  

Assembly

• 4 1.4-ounce chocolate-covered English toffee bars (such as Heath Bars or Skor), cut into 1/4-inch dice (I used crushed Maltesers)
  

• 7 ounces milk chocolate (such as one Hershey's bar or two 3- to 3.5-ounce milk chocolate bars) (I did not do this)
  

Preparation

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 3/4-inch-high sides. Line bottoms of pans with waxed paper; butter paper. Dust pans with flour; tap out excess. Combine chocolate and 1/2 cup hot water in small saucepan. Stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Cool to lukewarm, stirring often.

Whisk flour, baking soda and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then vanilla extract. Beat in chocolate mixture. Add flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with milk in 2 additions, beating just to blend after each addition. Divide batter equally beween pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean and cake just begins to pull away from sides of pan, about 35 minutes. (I baked for 32 mins with a bowl of water) Cool cakes in pans on racks 5 minutes. Cut around pan sides. Turn cakes out onto racks; peel off waxed paper. Cool cakes completely.

Combine cream, corn syrup and butter in heavy large saucepan. Whisk over medium heat until mixture begins to simmer. Add chopped chocolate. Reduce heat to low and whisk until frosting is smooth, about 1 minute; transfer to large bowl.

Fill another large bowl with ice. Set bottom of bowl with frosting atop ice. Whisk until frosting is cool and begins to thicken, about 8 minutes. Place bowl of frosting on work surface. Using electric mixer, beat until color lightens and just until frosting becomes thick enough to hold peaks when beaters are lifted, (frosting will continue to thicken as it stands).

Place 1 cake layer, flat side up, on 8-inch-diameter tart pan bottom or cardboard round. If desired, place pan bottom with cake atop 8-inch-diameter cake pan to make simple decorating stand. Top layer with 1 1/2 cups frosting, spreading to edge. ( I only did a thin layer) Sprinkle evenly with diced toffee. Top with second cake layer, flat side down; press slightly to adhere. Spread thin layer of frosting over top and sides of cake to seal and set crumbs. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake (if frosting becomes stiff, stir gently with spatula to loosen).

Stand chocolate bar on 1 short end. Using vegetable peeler and starting at top edge of 1 side, run peeler down length of bar (chocolate will come away from side of chocolate bar in curls). Pile chocolate curls atop cake. (I just topped with whole maltesers)

Chill at least 2 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover with cake dome and keep chilled. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.)

Apple Pie Cake

Apple Cake

Ingredients:
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter

2 eggs

1 c. and 2tbsp flour
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c. vanilla soy milk
2 large apples, peeled, cored, diced

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 deg. F.

Cream together butter and sugar. Mix in the eggs one at a time. Dump the rest of the stuff in and stir. It will seem like a ridiculously large amount of apples for such little batter. Don't worry about it. Load it into a greased loafpan.

Bake for approximately 50 minutes, take out and let cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely.

Personally, I think this cake tastes better the next day...