Dreamsicle Cake

It's my friend Mary's birthday at work today, and it's freaking cold and rainy outside, and sometimes you just need a little sunshine. So, I made a dreamsicle cake! This is a vanilla cake with orange zest, soaked with an orange simple syrup, filled with orange marmalade, slathered with vanilla buttercream, and topped with candied oranges. Say all that in one breath! Nothing like a little vitamin C in cake form to help all your winter ailments.

This recipe makes three 8-inch round cakes OR 24 cupcakes plus a little extra batter.


For the candied oranges:
I used this recipe for the candied oranges with slight modifications.

1 1/2 navel oranges sliced into about 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick.
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups water
2 tbsp orange juice (from the other half of the second orange)

1. Put a pot of water on the stove to boil.
2. Make an ice bath in a large bowl and set by the boiling water.
3. Place orange slices in the boiling water for about one minute and then transfer them to the ice bath to cool. *The recipe said to drain them before the next step.... I didn't. I just kept them in the ice bath until my syrup was ready.
4. Bring the 2 cups water, granulated sugar, and orange juice to a boil on the stove. Once the sugar has dissolved, reduce to medium-low heat. Add orange slices in a single layer. *mine was not a single layer... It was still okay.
5. Simmer the orange slices for about 45 - 60 minutes, flipping every 15 minutes, until the rinds are slightly translucent.

6. Place orange slices on a cooling rack (preferably with something underneath to catch the drip) and allow to cool completely. *the recipe says at least an hour up to overnight. I did two hours, and it's fine, but I think next time I will do it overnight. For this cake application, two hours is fine. For like candy, overnight probably makes for a better chew. *Also, once they set up, I cut them in half to be able to place on the cake. Definitely wait until they have hardened!

7. Dust with additional granulated sugar to help with the stickiness.

8. RESERVE the syrup! That's your soak for the cake!

For the cake:
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/2 c unsalted butter (1 stick, room temp)
2 c granulated sugar
3 eggs
2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c cake flour

1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 c buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Zest of 1 orange

1. Preheat oven to 350F and prepare pans with goop. 
2. Combine vegetable oil and butter in the bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment.
3. Gradually add in the granulated sugar and whip until light and fluffy.
4. Add in eggs one at a time and vanilla to the sugar mixture.
5. In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
6. Pour 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture and mix to combine.
7. Pour 1/2 of the buttermilk into sugar mixture and combine.
8. Pour another 1/3 of dry.
9. Pour second 1/2 of buttermilk.
10. Pour in the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients.
11. Put in the zest and whip to incorporate.
12. Divide the batter between the pans. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
13. Once slightly cooled, turn out onto wire wrack to finish cooling before assembly. 
14. Once cooled, you can level off the cakes with a serrated knife if need be.

For the buttercream:
4 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
5 1/2 (ish) c powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
2 tsp vanilla
Splash of heavy cream (optional)

1. Put butter into stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment and start to mix.
2. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar. *I did sift my powdered sugar.
3. Add vanilla and salt.
4. Whip until light and fluffy. If you feel like it's too loose, add more sugar. If it feels too tight, add a splash of cream or milk.

Assembly:

1. For this, you will also need some orange marmalade. I did NOT make mine. I bought mine. You do you, boo. I used about half a jar (8ish oz in total, but buy a 15 oz jar in case you want more).
2. Take your cake stand and put a dollop of buttercream in the middle. Place your first cake layer on that dollop (this is just to ensure the cake doesn't move around while frosting). *If you didn't level your cakes, it may be best to flip them upside down because that side will allow the syrup to soak in better.
3. Take a pastry brush and brush the reserved syrup from the candied oranges onto the cake. *I still had extra syrup afterwards and put it in a mason jar to save for drinkie drinks!
4. Put some of your frosting into a piping bag and pipe a boarder on the top of the cake. This is a dam for the marmalade.
5. Scoop half of the marmalade onto the cake layer and smooth. *I am not here to tell you how to live your life. You do as much marmalade as you want. Just make sure that your dam keeps it in!
6. Place second layer on top. Repeat with the syrup and dam and marmalade.
7. Add third layer. Cover entire cake in buttercream. Add candied oranges on top!

Double Chocolate Pound Cake

I've been working with pound cake recently and wanted to do a chocolate version. I had planned to go
off of my other recipe that I did, but then I was looking at chocolate pound cake recipes, and a lot of them called for some kind of milk as well. Then I was like should I do that? Anyway, long story short, I said fuck it, and did my usual ratios, and I was not disappointed. This cake is dense in the best way, with a great crumb, and hidden chocolate chips scattered throughout. This is a pound cake, so you know the rules. Equal parts (by weight) butter, flour (and cocoa), sugar, and eggs. This amount of batter made 5 mini loaves, or it is great for a bundt pan. Next time, I may even put chocolate ganache on top for a triple threat.

For the Batter:
3 sticks unsalted butter, room temp (12 oz)
1 1/2 c granulated sugar (12 oz)
7 eggs (12 oz- my eggs were small, so it is best to weigh if you can)
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c cocoa powder (combined with flour for 12 oz)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips *I just decided to do the whole bag so that we would stay on the 12 oz train

1. Preheat oven to 325F and prepare your baking pan, whatever that may be. Goop is a good application here, especially if you're using a bundt pan.
2. In a stand mixer, combine sugar and butter and cream for about 2 minutes.
3. Incorporate the eggs one at a time until fully combined.
4. Add vanilla.
5. In a separate bowl, put all dry ingredients and mix to combine. Slowly add to the stand mixer of wet ingredients.
6. Stir in the chocolate chips with a rubber spatula so that the stand mixer doesn't kill them.
7. Pour into your prepared pan. If it's a mini loaf, mine took about 48 - 50 minutes. If it's in a bundt pan, it can take a little longer. Test with a toothpick, and take it out when it comes out clean- reminder that there's chocolate chips in here, so it won't be perfectly clean ever.
8. Once slightly cooled, you can turn them out onto a wire wrack to cool completely.

 

Apple Pie Cupcakes

Let's be honest here; these cupcakes were born out of the fact that I had to buy a whole bag of green apples from Aldi when I only needed one apple. What to do with extra apples? Cook them up and shove them inside a delicious cupcake, of course! These are pretty hearty cupcakes. They are moist and dense and spicy and the apple goes perfectly with them. I am still working on my non-chocolate batters, so this is similar to my other spice cake, but I have been playing with the ratios, and in this one, adding sour cream. I like the added tang and moisture that the sour cream brings.




For the Cupcakes:
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/2 c unsalted butter (1 stick, room temp)
2 c granulated sugar
3 eggs
2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c cake flour

1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp apple pie spice (I didn't actually have any this go around, so I just used cinnamon, clove, ginger, and cardamom)
1 1/2 c buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350F and prepare 24 cupcake tins with liners (and an extra little cake pan for the extra batter. No batter left behind!)
2. Combine vegetable oil and butter in the bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment.
3. Gradually add in the granulated sugar and whip until light and fluffy.
4. Add in eggs and vanilla to the sugar mixture.
5. In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and spices.
6. Pour 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture and mix to combine.
7. Pour 1/2 of the buttermilk into sugar mixture and combine.
8. Pour another 1/3 of dry.
9. Pour second 1/2 of buttermilk.
10. Pour in the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients.
11. Put in the sour cream and whip to incorporate.
12. Divide the batter between cupcakes liners. Bake for 18 - 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

For the Apple Pie Filling:
4 granny smith apples, peeled and chopped (rather small since it needs to fit into a cupcake)
1/2 c granulated sugar
Juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp corn starch
1/2 tsp salt
A pinch of the following: cinnamon, cloves, ginger, (and I put cardamom as well). I didn't measure these. I added a larger pinch of cinnamon than the others. I'm sorry. I'm the worst. I'll work on it.

 

1. Combine all ingredients into a pan on medium-low heat. Bring to a boil. Once it's boiling, it will start to thicken. At this point, taste it and see what you think about the flavors. I added a little extra lemon juice. Keep boiling until it gets to a fairly sticky filling- mine took about 7 minutes. This way it won't just soak into the cake. Allow to cool before putting inside the cupcakes.

For the Buttercream:
4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
5 1/2 c (ish) powdered sugar, sifted
1 tbsp vanilla
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon *I am gonna be honest here- I didn't measure. I rarely do with cinnamon. This is my best estimate. Put some in and taste it and add more if you need to. That's all I got. 
**You could also add a splash of heavy cream to loosen it up if you like. I did not.*

1. Put butter into stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment and start to mix.
2. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar and cinnamon. *I actually sifted these two together. 
3. Add vanilla and salt.
4. Whip until light and fluffy. If you feel like it's too loose, add more sugar. If it feels too tight, add a splash of cream or milk.

Assembly:
1. Take a cooled cupcake and hollow out a hole in the center, just make sure to not go all the way to the bottom. I also pull off the innards and keep the little top hat to put back on once I fill the cupcakes (see below).
2. With a spoon, put some of the apple pie filling into the cupcake and top with your "cake topper".

3. Pipe cinnamon buttercream all over.

Lemon Coconut Shortbread Cookies

Spoiler alert- these are dairy free! Yes, I said dairy free, and completely delicious. I wanted to play around with a vegan cookie option because I know several vegans, and my belly prefers vegan options as well (although I was told they're not completely vegan because my sugar isn't vegan.. so if that's something that is a deal breaker for you, buy your vegan sugar and still enjoy this recipe). These are still sandy shortbread that melt in your mouth with a punch of tropical flavor. They are also pretty easy. This recipe made 12 BIG cookies or 24 normal sized cookies. You could do smaller and thinner cookies, but I was lazy and no one is mad at a bigger cookie. I am going to give you the weights here because I was doing a shortbread ratio of 1-2-3 by weight. I will also try to give you the approximate cups, but it is really just easier to pour into a bowl and weigh it in my opinion.

For the cookies:
100 grams granulated sugar (1/2 c)
200 grams coconut oil (about 1 c), solid (so room temp)
300 grams all-purpose flour (2 1/2 c)- *I used less the second time and they were better- about 2 1/4 c flour; it was easier to roll out and work with. 
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c toasted coconut *I used sweetened coconut flakes and toasted on the stove in a dry skillet for about 2 mins- watch this because it'll burn real fast.*

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Put sugar and coconut oil into a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment and mix to incorporate.
3. Add vanilla extract, lemon zest, and juice to bowl and mix.

4. Combine dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) into a small bowl and mix to combine. Slowly incorporate into the wet batter until course crumbles form.
5. Add coconut flakes.
6. Dust a clean surface with flour and turn the dough out onto the surface. Work until it forms a ball-  this is the hard part. *I have also tried to let it sit in the fridge after forming into a ball like a regular sugar cookie, and this was not the way to go. Keep it at room temp so that the coconut oil helps to keep these babies together.* See the cracking? Yeah- irritating, but the more you work it, the more it comes together. I promise. *And like I said, if you use a little less flour, it holds together MUCH better.

7. Flour a rolling pin and gently roll out to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness- mine were more like 1/2 inch. I wasn't mad at that though.
8. Take a spatula to transport onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
9. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes if they're thinner and 16 - 18 minutes if they're thicker. They are still going to be light in color when they come out of the oven. *mine took 18 minutes*
10. Allow to cool on a wire rack before topping with glaze. *Look at those flecks of lemon zest and coconut!

For the glaze:
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 2 lemons
1 c (ish) powdered sugar, sifted *If you are doing the drizzle, this is fine; if you want the full glaze, I put even more powdered sugar in to thicken it a bit. 

1. Put lemon zest and juice in a bowl.
2. Whisk in the sifted powdered sugar until you get the consistency you want. *Yes, you do really want to sift it* **This is not an exact science- I added sugar until it was thick but still pourable. ***You can't mess it up! If it isn't thick enough, add more sugar. If it's too thick, add more lemon juice. If you run out of lemons, add a bit of water.
3. Drizzle glaze on top of cooled cookies. You could also dunk them- they are super delicate though, so be careful!