Thursday, May 19, 2011

Bundt Cake #14 of Bundt Cake Season 3: Orange Yogurt Pound Cake with Orange Glaze


This is a recipe that caught my eye last Bundt Cake Season, but I was stymied by the fact that it called for mandarin orange yogurt, which A) I'm not sure is even made anymore, and B) definitely isn't one of the flavors available from the local purveyor of yogurt I like to buy. It wasn't until the end of BCS2, that I came up with a solution, so this cake had to wait until Bundt Cake Season 3.

The solution I came up with was to simply buy a can of mandarin oranges, chop them up, and add them to the batter, to have the equivalent of mandarin orange yogurt. It worked well enough, though there were very few mandarin orange pieces in the cake (I chopped 'em pretty small), so if I were to make this cake again, I'd definitely use two cans of mandarin oranges. Also, I'm not entirely convinced that what they meant by mandarin orange yogurt wasn't simply orange-flavored yogurt, much like lemon yogurt.

This was a very nice orange-flavored poundcake, and I do love an orange glaze. What put this cake over the top, however, was when I took my friend Resa's advice. Last year, when I was posting about the bundt cakes of BCS2 on Facebook, at some point, Resa posted the following suggestion, "You toast that shit. And you butter it." (These may not have been her exact words, but it's damn close.) When toasted, this cake was transformed into something really delicious. When I gave slices to my friends, I was very clear that to properly enjoy it, they needed to toast it. The toasting tip was especially helpful when the cake was starting to edge toward staleness. I did not actually butter any toasted slices of this poundcake, but I bet it would be tasty.

The recipe is from the Bundt Cookbook:

6 eggs, separated
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
2 tablespoons orange juice
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mandarin orange yogurt (or 1 cup plain yogurt and one to two 11-ounce cans of mandarin oranges drained and chopped)


Directions:

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Beat egg whites with cream of tartar and 1/2 cup of sugar until very stiff.

In a separate bowl (Or, like me, you can beat the egg whites in your stand mixture, then transfer them to another bowl, and then mix up butter, etc., in the stand mixer bowl), cream butter with remaining 1 1/2 cups of sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in egg yolks one at a time.

Blend in orange peel and juice.

Add the flour mixture, alternating with the yogurt, to the butter mixture. Mix until smooth and creamy.

Thoroughly fold beaten egg whites into batter.

Bake in a greased and floured (or sprayed with baking spray) 10- or 12-cup bundt pan for 50-55 minutes, or until cake tests done.

Cool in pan for 10-15 minutes; turn out on wire rack or serving plate to complete cooling.

Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar or orange glaze (I definitely recommend the orange glaze).


Orange Glaze
(I usually make just half a batch, but I also seem to like my glaze on the thinner side, so a half batch goes further. Making it thinner means that I also use more orange juice than 1/2 a recipe calls for. Here's the full batch recipe.)

2 cups sifted confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon soft butter
2-4 tablespoons orange juice
1-2 teaspoons grate orange peel


Directions

In a small bowl, combine sugar and butter. Add orange juice gradually to achieve desired consistency and stir until smooth. Add peel and stir until fully incorporated.


I'm not sure how much you can tell from this picture, but this cake rose pretty high out of the pan. I think it's because I made sure the butter was properly softened and I used the trick I learned from Kiss My Bundt to make sure that the eggs were at room temperature. (Supposedly, eggs are easier to separate when cold, but I didn't really have any problems with these room-temperature eggs.)

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Bundt Cake #13 of Bundt Cake Season 3: Coconut Mini Bundts with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting



You may be noticing a trend here, with the mini bundts and the cream cheese frosting; trust me, this is an excellent trend. One of the toppings suggested for this cake was actually a coconut buttercream, which I considered (because I had done two cream cheese frostings in a row), but in discussing the matter with the Main Squeeze, he confirmed my concern about trying a frosting I didn't know if we would like, especially when I had had such success with the cream cheese frosting thus far. And we were right. The coconut cream cheese frosting was perfect!

I associate coconut cake with my great aunts. These are the sort of women whose stories from their lives just makes you feel like a slacker (the same was true of their sister, my grandmother). I have the utmost respect and love for them. My Great Aunt Jane is currently battling pancreatic cancer, and tough as she is, the conclusion, unfortunately, is foregone. She's currently 89; she's lived a very full life. Up until last summer, she insisted that the maintenance crew at her retirement community leave the lawn mower, so that she could mow her own lawn--that's the sort of strong woman she is. She and my other great aunts, when they make coconut cake, they grate the fresh coconut themselves. I don't think I'm quite that committed, but like I said, compared to them, I'm just a slacker. :) And although this may not be their coconut cake recipe, it is very, very good! And I'll think of them whenever I make it.


Here's the recipe (from Kiss My Bundt):

2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 coconut extract*
3/4 cup whole milk**
1/2 cup coconut milk

* The recipe says this is optional, but I don't think you'll get the proper coconut flavor without the extract (plus you need it for the frosting).
** The recipe says that you can substitute the milk with more coconut milk, which is what I did, and I highly recommend it. So, instead of 3/4 cup of milk and a 1/2 cup of coconut milk, you would use 1 1/4 cups of coconut milk.

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2) Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside.

3) Beat butter with an electric mixer until creamy, about 2 minutes.

4) Slowly add the sugar. Mix for about 2 minutes.

5) Crack eggs in a separate bowl and add to the batter one at at time. Then beat on medium speed for additional 2 minutes.

6) Mix vanilla, coconut extract, and the two milks together (or just the coconut milk if you are going with that option--go with that option).

7) Beginning and ending with the flour, mix 1/3 of the flour into the wet mixture at low speed, then 1/2 the milk, alternating until all ingredients are mixed.

8) Transfer batter to cake pan(s) that have been coated with a baker's cooking spray that includes flour (or grease and flour the pans), filling until the cavity is about 3/4 full.

9) Bake cake(s) until an inserted toothpick or cake tester comes out clean--about 40 minutes for a regular-sized bundt pan and 18 - 22 minutes for mini bundts.

10) Invert cake(s) onto a cooling rack or serving plate. If cake resists, cool in the pan for 15 minutes before inverting. (It it/the still resist, then let them sit for 15 minutes more). Cool completely before frosting, at least one hour for a regular-sized bundt. Mini bundts are probably closer to 15 - 20 minutes.


As I finished up the batter, I realized that neither the cake nor the frosting called for any actual coconut! That struck me as not quite right, so I decided to add shredded coconut to the frosting (next time I make it, I might also add it to the cake itself). I added a 1/2 cup of shredded coconut to the frosting, which was perfect. Since it turned out that I was short on confectioner's sugar, I did half sweetened coconut and half unsweetened coconut, but I would definitely recommend sticking to unsweetened coconut (unless you only have sweetened, in which case, it'll be totally fine).

So yes, I was about to start the frosting, when I realized that I had forgotten to get more confectioner's sugar from the store. After some cursing, I decided to wing it. I think I had about a cup of confectioner's sugar (so half of what's called for). We also happened to have a box of superfine sugar (which we bought for cocktail making, but haven't had a cocktail recipe that called for it since then), but knowing that confectioner's sugar is sugar mixed with cornstarch, I didn't want to straight substitute superfine for confectioner's, so I used just half a cup of that. I sifted it with the confectioner's sugar, hoping that might help. I think having the coconut in the frosting helped to hide any granular-ness of the superfine sugar. So it turned out okay, but I wouldn't recommend using non-confectioner's sugar as a regular practice.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting:

4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened (again, I used Neufchatel, it worked very well here)
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
1/2 cup shredded coconut (preferably unsweetened, but sweetened is fine--of course, if you are like my great aunts, you can grate your own fresh coconut)

With an electric mixer on medium speed, cream the butter and cream cheese until soft and completely smooth, at least 2 minutes.

Turn the mixer speed to low and slowly add the powdered sugar a 1/2 cup at a time, making sure to scrape down any frosting stuck to the sides of the bowl.

Add coconut extract.

Mix on medium speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy.

Add the shredded coconut and mix until the coconut is throughly incorporated.


This cake got rave reviews from my coworkers; so yeah, if you like coconut cake, or just coconut, I definitely recommend it.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Bundt Cake #12 of Bundt Cake Season 3: Cappuccino Mini Bundts with Frangelico Cream Cheese Frosting



Since the first set of mini bundts turned out so well, I was enthusiastic to use the mini bundt pans again. I also wanted to try another recipe from the Kiss My Bundt cookbook, since the Red Velvet mini bundts were so delicious. The Cappuccino cake recipe caught my eye in no small part because of a favorite cappuccino muffin that was sold at a local breakfast/lunch place in town (which sadly, went out of business years ago). I still periodically crave those muffins. So I had high hopes for this recipe.

The recipe recommended cream cheese frosting as the topping for this cake, and being a fan of cream cheese frosting in general, and especially on the aforementioned Red Velvet mini bundts, I decided that it was an excellent suggestion; however, I wanted to mix it up a bit and decided to flavor the frosting. My initial thought was to make a Kahlua cream cheese frosting, but then I hit upon an even better idea: Frangelico. Hazelnut coffee is my favorite, so a cappuccino cake with a hazelnut-flavored frosting seemed perfect.

The cake was very good, just not quite as totally awesome as I had hoped. I definitely recommend it, especially with the Frangelico cream cheese frosting!

Here's the recipe:

2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup whole milk*
5 tablespoons instant coffee granules**

* I'm pretty sure I just made this with 1 percent milk. Though if we had any half and half, I may have used some of that to get the milk closer to 4 percent.

** If you are at all coffee snobbish and pooh-pooh the idea of instant coffee (hey, I'm not judging you), you could definitely try substituting some of the milk (as much as half?) with brewed and cooled coffee. I'm considering trying that the next time I make this recipe myself.

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2) Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside.

3) Beat butter with an electric mixer until creamy, about 2 minutes.

4) Slowly add the sugar. Beat on medium speed until the mixture is fluffy, about 2 minutes.

5) Crack eggs in a separate bowl and add to the batter one at at time. Then beat on medium speed for additional 2 minutes.

6) Add vanilla to milk. Then dissolve the coffee granules in the vanilla-milk mixture.

7) Beginning and ending with the flour, mix 1/3 of the flour into the wet mixture at low speed, then 1/2 the milk, alternating until all ingredients are mixed.

8) Transfer batter to cake pan(s) that have been coated with a baker's cooking spray that includes flour (or grease and flour the pans), filling until the cavity is about 3/4 full.

9) Bake cake(s) until an inserted toothpick or cake tester comes out clean--about 40 minutes for a regular-sized bundt pan and 18 - 22 minutes for mini bundts.


Frangelico Cream Cheese Frosting recipe:

4 oz unsalted butter softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened (I used Neufchatel, but in this case, I think the tanginess of it worked less well with the Frangelico than regular cream cheese would.)
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 - 4 tablespoons of Frangelico (or other liqueur of your choice)


1) With an electric mixer on medium speed, cream the butter and the cream cheese until soft and completely smooth, at least 2 minutes

2) Turn the mixer speed to low and slowly add the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, making sure to scrape down any frosting stuck to the sides of the bowl.

3) Add vanilla extract.

4) Mix on a medium speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy.

5) Starting with a tablespoon at a time, add Frangelico to frosting, until you get your desired level of Frangelico flavor. I think I used about 3 1/2 tablespoons, and still thought it could use a little more, but didn't want to overwhelm the other folks who would be having the cake.

Your frosting will be a bit thinner with the additional liquid, so make sure you are paying attention to that as well as you add the Frangelico.