…Posts Tagged ‘Smitten Kitchen’…

Buckeyes

I’ve been thinking about Buckeyes ever since I went to Florida a couple months ago (I actually first had it in Ohio where the treat originated). The ones I had in Florida were vegan and amazingly delicious and light, so I wasn’t prepared to make them exactly the same but I did find a Smitten Kitchen recipe for it.

It includes cream cheese and while it adds an extra dimension of tang, I thought it kind of threw the Buckeye off a little. I don’t think I would add it the next time I make it but I wonder how that would affect the texture of it. I also did not temper the chocolate, which I regretted because otherwise it’s just a thin little coat of chocolate.

I did add salt though, which was definitely a necessary addition. They were delicious and decadent and it’s taken everything in me not to eat more than 1 in a sitting.

I followed the recipe so I won’t repost it here.

I have to say, this recipe was actually really easy to make. The most time-consuming part is rolling the dough into balls.

I got tired of making it look like buckeyes (which isn’t an eye of a buck, as I had thought) so I ended up just coating the whole thing in chocolate – making it more of a bon bon than truffle People who aren’t from the midwest don’t really care if it looks like a buckeye or not, I imagine.

Give it a try and let me know how it turns out!

Meanwhile, I’m going to try to make a lighter version of it – maybe I’ll even vegan-ize it

Heart Attack Cake

After my slightly disastrous cake-making attempt a few months ago, I decided to give it another go, but using a much simpler recipe. I searched online to find recipes that have pretty basic ingredients and landed at one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen. Her double chocolate layer cake looked delicious but I had been wanting to try Eat, Live, Run‘s Italian Brown Sugar Buttercream frosting so I made that to go with it.

I baked this for Adam’s birthday and lovingly called it “Heart Attack Cake” because of the three sticks of butter in the frosting. But trust me, it’s worth it.

I won’t repost the recipes here since I didn’t alter it in any way, but I will say, I only used 2 1/4 cups of sugar for the chocolate cake. Here are some pictures to salivate over…

Make sure to use the whisk attachment when making the frosting. When I bake, I use the paddle to cream the butter so I mistakenly used that to make the frosting but after it didn’t come together for over 5 minutes, I figured out that I needed to whisk it instead.

I actually made the cake and frosting a few days before serving so I wrapped the cake up in three layers of Saran Wrap and put the frosting in a plastic Tupperware. When you’re ready to serve, just defrost the cake overnight in the fridge and pop the frosting in the microwave for about 30 seconds or less. It’s easily spreadable when it’s a bit softer.

I can’t tell you how delicious and EASY it was to make this! This recipe is definitely a winner and the cake and frosting went beautifully together. I got a thumbs up from my Dad, who is VERY picky about his cakes. He said, “Even I think it’s good, so it must be good.”

We also had a typical exchange the other day, I thought I’d share:

Me: Oh! You hung up the picture I drew in Middle School!

Dad: Yeah, it’s very good.

Me: It’s upside down.

Dad: Are you sure? I don’t think so…

Me: Yeah, it’s Marvin the Martian and it’s upside down.

Dad: squints at picture …oh.

More cake pictures!!!

This is a really good first-time cake recipe so if you have a special occasion, give it a try! Next time, I’m going to try to decorate it all nicely

It’s like a Yodel!

As some of you know, I’m going to have to say good-bye to my borrowed KitchenAid mixer soon. It’s very very sad but my sister came to the rescue by lending hers to me until I buy my own. It’s so great for baking and saves time because you can just leave the mixer running until your butter is beating or whipped cream is whipped. Awesomepants.

But before I knew about my lovely sister’s offer, I knew that I had to say goodbye to the mixer in a fabulous way. When I saw a recipe for heavenly chocolate roll recipe on Smitten Kitchen, I knew I found the one. It was actually pretty easy to make and while you have to wait for the cake to cool before rolling it up, the rest of the steps were easy-peasy.

I followed the directions to a tee but I adjusted the ingredient measurements a bit. Here’s what I used…

Ingredients:

Cake layer:
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (actually, it may have been a combo of semi and dark chocolate)
3 tablespoons water
6 large eggs, at room temperature, separated
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, divided

Filling:
1 cup heavy or whipping cream (Actually, I recommend 1.5 cups but continue reading below)
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 10-by-15-inch shallow baking or jellyroll pan. I didn’t measure mine and I think it was a tad too big since the cake turned out thin and I rolled and rolled forever.

Line the bottom lengthwise with a piece of waxed or parchment paper so it hangs over the short sides.

Melt chocolate with water in a small saucepan over very low heat until melted, stirring often. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.

Separate your eggs…

For some reason I’ve been having a lot of difficulty cracking eggs. Bizarre…

I was actually making two cakes at once so I was using my KitchenAid for the other cake at the time I had to beat the eggs. So here is what I thought was going to be my new best friend:

Beat egg yolks with an electric mixer until pale and creamy.

This looked pretty pale and creamy…

Add sugar gradually, and continue to beat until yolks are pale and ribbony. Gently stir the chocolate into the yolk mixture.

It makes pretty little designs! Love!

In a clean bowl with clean beaters, beat egg whites with salt until they hold stiff peaks.

Like little clouds you want to dive into… (oh, just me? okay.)

Stir 1/4 of egg white mixture into the chocolate-yolk mixture to lighten it. Fold the remaining whites into the cake batter in three additions. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top.

Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or until cake layer feels dry to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. It will still seem a little underbaked.

Transfer to a cooling rack and cover the top with a light damp towel or two layers of damp paper towels for 10 minutes. Gently remove towels. (Some pieces of cake will come off with it but no worries) Run a knife around the edges of the cake.

Smitten Kitchen says to dust with cocoa powder but I’m not entirely sure why. If you don’t have cocoa powder, you probably don’t need it since it doesn’t add to the taste or anything. Perhaps it has to do with not sticking to the wax paper? Unclear. In any case, don’t fret if you don’t have cocoa powder. (Famous last words…)

Sift one tablespoon cocoa over the top of the cake and cover the cake with a layer of parchment paper that is a little longer than the pan. Place the back of a baking sheet or a large flat tray over the waxed paper and invert the cake and paper onto it. GENTLY peel back the paper that lined the pan.

Sift the remaining tablespoon of cocoa powder over the underside of the cake and cover the layer with a thin dish towel. Using the waxed or parchment paper underneath to help lift and roll the cake, roll the cake from short end to short end with the towel inside. Let cool completely.

As it’s cooling, beat heavy cream with powdered sugar and vanilla until it holds stiff peaks.

Unroll your cake carefully and then spread an even layer of the whipped cream on top. I wish I had more filling actually, so if you’re going to make this, I recommend beating 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream and adding 4 Tablespoons of confectioner sugar.

Using the towel as support, carefully roll the cake.

Mine cracked on top but I was still pretty impressed!

This picture doesn’t capture how wonderful it tasted and how cute it looked!

Basically it tastes like a Yodel but without the hard outer shell. The next time I make this cake (and I will because it was SOOOOOOOO good) I’m going to look into drizzling melted chocolate on top. It’s perfectly sweet but not too much and surprisingly light.

As long as you have a little patience, you can definitely make this cake easily. Don’t let the rolling of it daunt you. I made it the night before a party and it was even good the second day. Smitten Kitchen says that the filling will sink into the cake a little after the first day, but I didn’t think so at all.

Give it a try!

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