Coconut and Citrus Cake

A while back I started melting butter for cookies and not just in cookies that required a brown butter component. I tried it because I’m always forgetting to take out butter to soften it and was too lazy to cut it up for more surface area to bring the butter to temperature quickly. That said I wanted to see how the melted butter methodology would work in cakes. I first tried it in this pound cake recipe, with no compromise in texture or rise. So I thought time to test it once more in this citrus cake.

It worked. The recipe I used to do the comparison is based on my recipe from here. As for the flavor, I love the zing and bite the Satsuma provides against the sweetness of the coconut. 

On a different note, if you read my post on Monday, than you know I was hit with some very disturbing news regarding my little guy. Thank you all for the thoughtful comments and emails. I’m happy to say that we are on a great start to resolving the problem.

 A few notes:

• Coconut cream is a base for many mixed drinks and can generally found near the liquor section of your store. Make sure to shake the can or the bottle before using as it can separate on the shelf.
• I used a 10 cup bundt pan but if you don’t have one a regular 10 inch cake pan will work just as well. If you use a 10 inch pan, make sure to check the center for doness.
• If Satsumas are not in season for your area, oranges will work just as fine. Lemons or limes will also work. If you use lemons or limes, I would reduce the zest by a tablespoon and adjust the juice to ½ cup since lemons and limes tend to be more tart than Satsumas or oranges.
• Cake is best consumed within two days.

Coconut and Citrus Cake              

Preparation: Cover a 10 cup bundt pan with bake spray and dust with flour.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup sour cream
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ cup coconut cream
• 1 ½ cup sugar
• 2 eggs plus one egg yolk
• ¾ cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ cup shredded coconut, sweetened
• ½ cup plus 2 tablespoon Satsuma juice, fresh squeezed
• 5 tablespoon of Satsuma zest (about 5-6 large Satsumas)
• 2 cups all purpose flour

Instructions:

1. Place sour cream and baking soda in a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside. Measure out coconut cream and set aside in separate bowl.
2. Place sugar and eggs in a stand mixer bowl, fitted with a paddle attachment, and beat on medium to combine. Add in melted butter and beat on high until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes (mixture should resemble pancake mixture in texture). Add in vanilla, baking powder, shredded coconut, Satsuma juice and Satsuma zest, beat to combine.
3. Turn off mixer. Combine coconut cream into sour cream mixture.  Using a sturdy spatula or a wooden spoon, fold flour in 3 batches into wet mixture, alternating with sour cream mixture. 
4. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cake rest in pan for 10 minutes then release cake onto cooling rack.

Low Fat Pound Cake

Let’s get this out of the way, and let me say, I don’t diet—I don’t believe in it. So if you think I’m trying to be coy by not mentioning the word “diet” on a blog that obviously pushes full fat, sugar and all the things that will make your skinny jeans protest with side-splitting seams—I’m not. But I do believe in finding balance, so if I over indulge one day, I just scale back the next day—I offset.

Call it semantics if you like. Whatever you call it, you can slice up this low-fat pound cake and feel good about having one or a few slices.

The other reduced fat pound cake recipe you can find is made with cream cheese, but since I already made that here I decided to cut the calories further by using cottage cheese.

I used Martha Stewart’s cream cheese pound cake recipe as the starting point and then quickly realized her recipe is the exact same one as Paula Deen, Food Network and All Recipe. All four of them have the exact cream cheese pound cake recipe? Yes, so I kept the ratios, but changed out the cream cheese for the cottage cheese to make it a low fat pound cake recipe.

Then moving pass the ingredients, I decided to change up the methodology-most significantly, I bypassed creaming the butter for melted butter. Then changed up the remaining order of how the ingredients are mixed with one another. I’m not sure if bypassing “creaming the butter” will work in other cakes, but I can’t wait to find out with my next cake recipe.

A few notes:

· For this low-fat pound cake recipe, make sure the cottage cheese is completely pureed with no lumps or else you will have white chunks in your pound cake.

· Since I was experimenting with the ingredients and the methodology, I did not add any glaze or embellishments so could do a visual comparison of my pound cake recipe against a more traditional pound cake. For an easy lemon glaze click here or you can accompany the pound cake with some seasonal berries and a coulis.

· The pound cake will store for up to 3 days at room temperature covered in plastic.

Low Fat Pound Cake

Preparation: Heat oven to 350 degrees F | Lightly coat pan with bake spray and flour.

Ingredients:

· 1 ½ cups butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

· 8 oz. 4 percent cottage cheese, pureed

· 3 cups sugar

· 1 tablespoon vanilla

· 1 teaspoon salt

· 6 eggs

· 3 cups all purpose flour

Instructions:

1. Place butter in a saucepan over low heat to melt; set aside. Place cottage cheese in a food processor or blender and pulse until pureed and no lumps remain; set aside.

2. Fit stand mixer with a paddle attachment and add melted butter and sugar into stand mixer bowl. Mix on medium-low for 1 minutes or until well combined. Add in pureed cottage cheese and mix on medium for about 2 minutes until well combined and light. Add in vanilla and salt and mix until well combined. While mixer is running, add eggs in one at time and mix well after each addition. Turn mixer down to low and keep mixer running while gradually adding in flour.

3. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees F until golden and a toothpick inserted comes out almost clean, approximately 60-70 minutes. Allow cake to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Turn out cake onto a cooling rack with topside down. Cool completely before cutting.

Chocolate Cranberry Port Wine Cake

As many of you know I rarely take more than two days off from posting, but the last few days I took a bit of a break to enjoy the holiday with my son who was over the top excited for Christmas.

Funny thing was when Christmas Eve came around he was off. See that picture below-I was able to catch Mr. Mopey in full gear. I should mention he is seldom like this. Most of the time he’s Mr. Happy, so of course, I was a tad impatient with this on the eve of Christmas.

Then Christmas morning came and – no running from his room to the Christmas tree, no screaming to open presents. In fact, he made his way to the sofa and plopped himself down and said he didn’t want to open presents. Literally, “I don’t want to open presents”.

What. The. Hell. What kid looks at an overfilled stocking and a stacked tree and wants nothing to do it?

I tell you what kind of kid – a sick kid. As in projectile throw-up and you know what from the other end. He was sick and was sick the day of Christmas Eve when I was all impatient with him.

How did I miss this? I missed this because the kid never complains. Still how did I MISS this? I have no idea – but I felt guilty, so I baked this cake after reading him to bed to Zen myself out.  

It worked and it’s delicious.

A few notes:

• If cranberries are not in season for your area, try using oranges.
• For the cocoa powder, I used Scharffen Bergers Unsweetened Natural Cocoa Powder. I strongly recommend using this product as it makes a huge difference in your baked goods in terms of flavor. You can order it online or find it at Sur La Table and William Sonoma.
• The pan I used is a 10 cup Kupelhopf pan, but any bundt pan type of the same capacity will work just fine.

Chocolate Cranberry Port Wine Cake

Preparation: Lightly cover pan with bake spray and flour. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup boiling water
• ¾ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 ½ cup cake flour
• 1 ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup sour cream, room temperature
• ½ cup port wine
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cups cranberries

Port Wine Reduction Glaze:

• 2 cups of port wine
• 4 tablespoons of sugar

Instructions:

1. Add cocoa powder to boiling water and whisk to combine. Set aside to cool while assembling the remainder of the cake
2. Place cake flour and sugar in a stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment and beat to combine. Add in butter and oil and beat to combine.
3. In a separate bowl combine eggs, sour cream, wine and vanilla and lightly whisk to combine. Add in baking soda and salt and whisk to combine.
4. With mixer on low add the cooled cocoa powder mixture to the flour mixture. Turn off mixer and scrape down the bowl. Resume mixing on low and gradually add the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Turn off mixer and fold in cranberries.
5. Pour cake batter into cake pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 50-60 minutes or until insert toothpick comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in pan completely before removing.

To make Port Wine Reduction Glaze:

1. Place port wine and sugar in a small pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes or until wine is reduced by a little more than half. Reduction will become even thicker as it stands.
2. Using a pastry brush glaze onto cooled cake. Allow to dry before applying second glaze coating.

Cake with olive oil? Yes, it’s true and it’s mighty good. Yeah, I was skeptical myself, but what a pleasant surprise. The key to finding the right flavor in an olive oil cake is using a high quality olive oil that is good enough to eat on its own.

Citrus Olive Oil Cake

Simple enough right? Yes, but you would be surprise how many types and flavors there are when it comes to olive oil. The spectrum can run anywhere from fruity to peppery and from smooth to robust. To run an olive oil taste test think wine, beer and coffee and follow the same four S’s” (Swirl, Sniff, Slurp and Swallow)

For this cake I used Carapelli’s Il Numerato Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Smooth in flavor and low in acidity it lent a subtle flavor and added a great amount of depth in terms of creating a moist and hardy crumb. To compliment the olive oil are some orange and lemon zest for a citrus Bundt cake that is subtle in sweetness but bursting with flavors.

Here’s a $1.00 OFF coupon at www.CarapelliUSA.com

A few notes:

• The recipe I used is an adaptation of Giada De Laurentis Almond Citrus Olive Oil Cake.
• The adaptations I made were: (1) I skipped the almonds so that the olive oil and citrus flavors would shine through uninterrupted. (2) I also kicked up the citrus zests amounts from two teaspoons to three. (3) I skipped the accompanying citrus compote and opted to keep the cake simple with a glaze.
• For this recipe I used a food processor instead of mixer and found the results to be quite fantastic. The food processing blade easily blended the oil in the batter.
• For this cake I recommend using Carapelli’s Il Numerato or Carapelli’s Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil that has a slight fruity bite with the subtlest hint of pepper, the pepper would be a great added dimension to this cake. The mildest in flavor that would also work for this cake or for any other baking substitutions is Carapelli’s Extra Light in Taste Olive Oil.

Citrus Olive Oil Cake

Adapted from Giada De Laurentis

Makes on 8 inch cake | Preparation: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil an 8-inch-diameter cake pan

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 1 1/2 cups aal-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons orange zest
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Citrus Glaze:

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 4-5 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions

1. Add flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and whisk to blend; set aside… Using an electric mixer or a food processor beat the sugar, eggs, and zests in a large bowl until pale and fluffy. Add in milk and beat until combined. Keep the mixer or food processor running and gradually add in oil and continue to beat until combined. Turn off mixer or food processor. Add in flour mixture into wet ingredients and using a sturdy wooden spoon or spatula fold and mix until combined.
2. Pour batter into prepared cake pan or Bundt pan and bake until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 35 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool completely before glazing.
3. To make the citrus glaze:
4. Add powdered sugar and lemon juice in a bowl and mix to combine. Pour finished glaze over cooled cake and set aside for 30 minutes for glaze to set.

$1.00 OFF coupon at www.CarapelliUSA.com

Chocolate Peppermint Roll

As many of you know I seldom deviate from my favorite Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMB). But this recipe needed a filling that would not disappear mid-chew while the crumb was left hanging with no counterpart. And since the classic buttercream is slightly heavier in texture than SMB, that’s what I used. With the right textural balance in place and the flavor nailed down it was time to get on my fancy pants on and finish a humble cake roll with an elegant touch that would not require flipping it to a Buche de Noel.  I thought about getting all fussy with maybe piping some swirls on top and finishing with chocolate curls, but I decided against it.

Cake rolls of any sort always remind of the holidays, so I wanted that to dominate the plate. With that I went with a chocolate pour and shaved chocolate for a more quiet but rustic finishing touch.

And if you’ve never made Genoise cake before, it’s so easy-so don’t hesitate. Especially since the recipe I used is from Martha Stewart and really easy to work with.

A few notes:

• When heating the eggs and sugar, Martha’s instructions indicate that the mixture is ready once it becomes warm. Since I’ve made this recipe several times, I find for the best results the “warm” should be about 100-110 degrees F. For a non-thermometer gauge, the mixture should feel warm to the touch. That’s warm, not tepid. The time approximation is about 3-4 minutes.
• Once the egg mixture enters the whisking stage Martha’s instructions includes whisking the mixture until it almost triples in volume. I find what is more helpful is keeping that in mind and looking for the mixture to create ribbons (see picture).

Chocolate Peppermint Roll

Serves 8 people

For the chocolate genoise recipe, click here.

Ingredients:

Peppermint Buttercream Frosting:

• 12 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 5 tablespoons of heavy cream
• 2 cups confectioner sugar
• ½ cup chopped Peppermint Andes

Chocolate Pouring Sauce:

• 2/3 cups dark chocolate
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 4 tablespoons powdered sugar, sifted
• 4-5 tablespoons water, warm

Instructions:

Peppermint Buttercream Frosting:

1. Place all ingredients in a bowl and beat until smooth.

Chocolate Pouring Sauce:

1. Place chocolate and heavy cream in a bowl over simmering water. Let chocolate and cream sit for 2-3 minutes to melt without stirring. Then slowly stir mixture to combine. Add powdered sugar and mix to combine. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing after each addition until pouring consistency is reached. Set aside and let sauce cool to warm.

Assembly:

1. Unroll Genoise and spread filling to a 1/4 inch in thickness. Roll filled cake from end to end. Trim ends as needed for a clean finish.
2. Place fully assembled roll on a serving plate (or on a cooling rack for a cleaner pouring finish) and pour chocolate on top.
3. Finish with peppermint Andes shavings.

Cranberry & Pear Brown Butter Almond Cake

Too bad it was 80-plus degrees this weekend. So while my cake may have smelled like Christmas, as Matt describes it, we both bemoaned the fact that it felt like summer. I couldn’t help it though, I’m one of those annoying people when Halloween is over I’m ready for the Christmas decorations to come out and play. Well since Halloween isn’t until tomorrow, I was itching to get started with some Christmas, so I baked a cake.

Makes perfect sense.

I should warn you, not only is this post long with pictures, but it’s long in text. I did some recipe testing this weekend on buttermilk vs. cottage cheese in this cake and I wanted share and chronicle the results, so grab a cup of coffee.

I’m sure some of you are wondering, cottage cheese? Yes-cottage cheese. If you are a regular reader than you know last year I made a  Fat Cinnamon Roll with a Vanilla Glaze. I was skeptical at first, but it was a recipe from Fine Cooking magazine, so I knew it couldn’t be off base. Sure enough the recipe delivered-big time. My family loved it.

Fast forward to this weekend and as I was writing up this recipe I thought why not give the cottage cheese another shot, but in a cake this time.

First run with the cottage cheese yielded an unbaked cake center after 90 minutes while everything was turning a dark brown. Second run, I decided to place it in a pan that would conduct heat at the center from the get go. Enter the angel food cake pan-bingo that fixed the center.

Having fixed that portion of the recipe I moved on to tackle the flavor. I had mixed opinions on the cake being spiced just right and it being a tad too spiced. With that, instead of dropping the spice measurements, I tired off-setting the spice with another flavor: almonds.

If you’ve been reading you know, I’ve been on a kick of using Blue Diamond’s Roasted Salted Almonds in my baked goods. I love eating them straight out of the bag, but I especially love them in baked goods. They give everything a nice sweet and salty combo and using them in this cake was no exception. I took the almonds and finely ground them to make almond flour and then dropped the flour measurement to accommodate it. This minor tweak took care of the spicing and now I was ready to move on to the last part of the recipe testing . . . buttermilk.

Since buttermilk is more traditional in cakes. I wanted to test and see how using an all buttermilk would hold up against the cottage cheese and buttermilk blend.

Here’s the verdict. While the cake was still really good and moist made with all buttermilk, the cake made with the cottage cheese and buttermilk blend was hands down the winner by everyone who tried both cake versions.

The cottage cheese gave the cake not only a more tender crumb but a weighted crumb. The added density gives the fruit something to merry itself onto, so that each bite is balanced without any one texture dominating and it kept the tartness of the cranberries from racing to the front in flavor.

A few notes:

• If you don’t have Blue Diamond Roasted Salted Almonds, you can replace it with regular finely ground almonds or ready-made almond meal.
• If you don’t have cottage cheese, replace that portion with buttermilk. Albeit the cake won’t be quite as moist, you will probably not notice too much of a difference since you won’t be doing a head-to-head taste like I did.
• Make sure the buttermilk is room temperature before mixing it in with the melted butter or else the cold buttermilk will cause the butter to congeal. And yes, I made this mistake, so don’t do it! However, if you do, place the mixture in the microwave on medium for about 30 seconds and everything will blend after a few whiskings.
• Make sure to puree the cottage cheese with a food processor or blender until smooth. DO NOT just throw it in the cake mix, or you will have chunks of cottage cheese in your cake. Pureed cottage cheese will have the texture of thick sour cream.
• The recipe can be made in one large angel food cake pan or you can make minis like the picture. If you go the mini route, the recipe will yield approximately 8-10 mini angel food cakes and approximately 18-20 cupcake size mini portions.
• And if you are a regular reader, than you know I love photography almost as much as I love baking. As a result, I sort of love taking pictures, especially of cupcake liners, clean or dirty-I just love shooting them. My apologies if this post is a bit photo heavy, but along with baking I’m chronicling my photography journey on the blog.

Cranberry & Pear Brown Butter Almond Cake

Preparation: For large angel food cake pan heat oven to 375 degrees F. For mini angel food cake pans and cupcake pans  heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and lightly flour sides of pan(s). If using cupcake pan, fill wells with cupcake liners.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup of butter plus 3 tablespoons of butter, for divided use
• ½ cup dark brown sugar
• 12 oz cranberries
• 7 oz. pear, chopped (about one large pear, skinned and seeded)
• ¼ cup of water
• 1 ½ cups flour
• ½ cup Blue Diamond Roasted Salted Almonds, finely ground
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon allspice
• ¼ teaspoonnutmeg
• ¾ cup cottage cheese, pureed
• ½ cup buttermilk

Instructions:

1. Place 1/2 cup of butter in pan over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally until butter becomes brown in color and has a nutty aroma. Set aside.
2. In a 10 inch skillet melt remaining 3 tablespoon of butter and dark brown sugar, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add in cranberries and pear, stir until both are evenly coated. Add water and cover the pan and cook until the cranberry juices are released, about 3 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook and stir over medium heat until cranberry mixture is thick and gooey like jam, about 5 minutes. Pour cranberry mixture into bottom of pan and spread evenly to edges of pan; set aside.
3. Place flour and finely ground almonds in a food processor or blender and mix until well combined. Add flour and almond mixture into a large bowl with the sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, all spice and nutmeg.
4. In separate bowl, whisk together cottage cheese, buttermilk and remaining ½ cup of butter until blended.
5. Add in one third of dry mixture to the wet mixture and fold to combine. Continue working in thirds two more times until all dry and wet ingredients are combined.
6. Pour cake batter into pan over cranberry mixture. Batter will be thick, so use a spatula to spread batter to edge of pan and to smooth out batter on top.  Bake large angel food cake pan for approximately 80-90 minutes,  for mini angel food cake pans bake for approximately 16-20 minutes, for cupcake pan bake for approximatley 14-16 minutes or until cake turns dark golden and toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Strawberry Icebox Cake

Rounding out this week’s 4th of July dessert group is this simple  and delicious dessert that you can throw together in less than  thirty minutes. Icebox cakes are about as easy as it gets; sculpt, chill, serve and enjoy the compliments.

A few notes:

• To simplify this icebox cake further I used Cool Whip instead of making my own whipped cream.
• For the flavor I used fresh strawberries and pureed them, but any type of berry or fruit will work.
• For ease of layering, I used a pastry bag to pipe the strawberry whipped cream layer.
• This can be assembled two days in advance (up to the point prior to frosting) and kept tightly wrapped in plastic.

Strawberry Icebox Cake

Makes an 8X8-inch cake | Preparation: Line an 8×8-inch cake pan with plastic wrap overlapping all the sides by at least one  inch all around.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups (16oz. container) of Cool Whip, divided use
• 2 cups pureed strawberries (about 4-5 cups of whole strawberries)
• 12 graham crackers

Instructions:

1. Place 4 cups of Cool Whip in a bowl and gently fold in the pureed strawberries.
2. Place graham crackers on bottom of cake pan. Pipe approximately one and a half cups of strawberry/Cool Whip mixture on top. Use a spatula to smooth out the whipped cream surface. Continue layering, by alternating graham crackers and whipped cream until the cake is completed. Move the cake to the freezer and chill for at least 30mins.
3. Remove the cake from freezer and cut in half. Stack the cut portions one on top of another for a tall, narrow cake. Alternately, keep the cake as originally assembled for a 8×8-inch square cake. Finish by frosting the cake with the remaining two cups of Cool Whip.

It’s Sunday morning and I’ve been so good with my workout lately, so what do I do? Coffee. Plate. Knife. Two huge slices of the Dulce de Leche Banana Cake later, I’m hitting the stairs and running 16 stadium-like sets to balance out my lack of moderation.

Am I sorry? Nope.

At least I’m not for now, although I may be tomorrow when I’m walking like Tin Man because my legs are so sore and stiff.

But somehow, I doubt sore legs are going to stop me from having a few more slices tomorrow.

A few notes:

• You can use store-bought or homemade dulce de leche. For a step-by-step picture tutorial and recipe to making homemade dulce de leche, click here.
• The cake can be made up to two days in advance and kept tightly wrapped in the refrigerator.
• To finish the icing the cake like the picture, use an angled offset spatula like Ateco’s icing spatula #1383.  Starting from the edge of the cake, using the spatula, draw an arch towards center of the cake all the way around.

Dulce de Leche Banana Cake

Makes one, 9-inch cake

Preparation: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter cake pan and then lightly dust with flour. Place parchment round on bottom of pan.

Ingredients:

Cake:

• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mashed bananas (about  1 ½ large bananas)
• ¾ cup dulce de leche

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8oz cream cheese, cold
• 8 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 ½ cups of powdered sugar, sifted

Instructions:

Cake:

1. Place sour cream in a bowl and add baking soda; set aside.
2. Mix butter and sugar until light and creamy.
3. Add eggs in one at time and beat until combined. Add vanilla and beat until combined.
4. Mix flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Mix bananas, dulce de leche and sour cream mixture. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with banana mixture. Mix after each addition until just combined.
5. Pour mixture into prepared cake pan and bake at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes or until cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cake for 5 minutes in cake pan. Remove cake and continue to cool cake completely on a wire rack

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1. Mix cream cheese and butter until combined. Add vanilla and mix until combined.
2. Gradually add sifted powdered sugar and mix until fully combined.

Assembly:

1. Frost cooled Dulce de Leche Banana Cake to preference.

This is a sponsored review from BlogHer and Kraft.

Banana Split Surprise Cake ~ Get your eating pants on; this is a fork-to-mouth, plate-clearing addiction! This three-story cake has two layers of banana flavored cake with a surprise cheesecake-centered layer dressed up with a funfetti effect.  Caught between those layers is a light banana cream frosting, and finishing it off (like a traditional banana split) is chocolate drizzling, sprinkles, and maraschino cherries.

Banana Split Surprise Cake

As a self-taught baker sometimes concept to reality can be a complete bust; others times things come out as expected.  And then there are the occasions when the results even exceed my expectation.

This Banana Split Cake fell somewhere between the latter two, depending on who in my group of friends you poll. Expectations for this cake were high since it’s a recipe I created for Kraft’s Philadelphia Cream Cheese in honor of the RWOP contest.

I wanted to create something worthy enough to be featured alongside the other recipes in the RWOP recipe community. You’ll find everything from fast and easy to show-stopping recipes that will pretty much leave you inspired to get baking and/or cooking. Hit the jump and take a look around and you’ll quickly see what I mean. When you’re done come back and share what you’ve bookmarked. And don’t forget to check out what these other participating bloggers created.

A few notes:

• Advance preparation: The frosting can be made up to five days in advance and refrigerated, then brought to room temperature for frosting. The cheesecake can be made up to one day in advance. The cake can be made fully assembled a day ahead of time.
• Keep cake layers cold for easy frosting.
• If you do not have a springform pan for the cheesecake, line a cake pan with foil and leave a one inch overhang for easy removal.
• To create the soft yellow frosting, I used Ateco’s yellow food coloring. The amount you add to create color may vary depending on the brand you use, so add only a few drops at time and check it.

Banana Split Surprise Cake

Banana Cake Preparation: Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter one 9×2-inch cake pan and then lightly dust with flour.

Banana Cheesecake Preparation: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter one 9×2-inch springform pan and then lightly dust with flour.

Ingredients:

Banana Cake:

• 14 tablespoons of unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 ½ cup sugar
• ½ confectioner sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mashed bananas
• ½ cup sour cream
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Banana Cream Frosting:

• 5 large egg whites
• 11/2 cup sugar
• 4 sticks unsalted butter, diced and softened
• 1/2 cup mashed bananas
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoon vanillas extract
• 5-8 drops of yellow food coloring (this amount may vary depending on the brand used)

Banana Cheesecake:

• 1 lb Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
• ½ cup confectioner sugar
• ¼ cup  granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup of mashed bananas
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons non-pareils

Instructions:

Banana Cake:

1. Add butter into a a stand mixer bowl, and with a paddle attachment beat the butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Sift both sugars together and then gradually add to the butter, mixing  until combined. Add eggs in one at a time and continue to mix to combine.
2. In separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. In another bowl add mashed bananas, sour cream, and vanilla mixing to combine.
3. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients and alternating with the banana mixture into butter mixture in three parts. Mix well after each addition and scrape down bowl as needed.
4. Pour finished cake mixture into cake pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cake on a wire rack.

Banana Cheesecake:

1. Add Philadelphia Cream Cheese in a stand mixer bowl, and with a paddle attachment beat cream cheese on medium speed until smooth – about 2 minutes.  Add sugar and mix until combined. Add eggs in one at a time and mix until just combined, making sure to scrape down bowl between each addition. Add mashed bananas and mix to combine. Add vanilla extract and mix to combine. Pour 1/3 of the mixture into the pan and sprinkle non-pareils on top; repeat this two more times. Do not stir as the non-pareils will streak and melt.
2. Bake at 500 degrees for ten minutes, then lower temperature to 250 degrees. To bring down the oven temperature quickly leave the door slightly ajar for 10 minutes. Close the oven door and bake for another 50 minutes. Remove cake from oven and rest on cooling rack.

Banana Cream Frosting:

1. Combine egg whites and sugar in a bowl placed over simmering water. Bring mixture to 150 degrees F while whisking constantly.
2. Transfer mixture to stand mixer bowl, fitted with a whisk attachment and beat on medium speed until mixture cools and doubles in volume.
3. Add butter in one piece at a time, mixing to incorporate after each addition. The mixture may appear clumpy and almost curdled-looking but this is normal. Keep mixing and it will become even and smooth again. Add bananas and mix to combine. Add salt and vanilla and mix to combine. Add 2-3 drops of food coloring at a time and mix to combine before adding in more drops. Continue until desired color is achieved.

Assembly:

1. Cut cake evenly in half horizontally. Place bottom side of cake down and evenly spread a layer of frosting on top. Place cheesecake layer on top and press it down slightly into the frosting. Spread second layer of frosting on top of cheesecake. Place second cake layer on top and press it down slightly, then spread remaining frosting on top and all over sides. Finish frosting to preference.

*To finish like the picture, take a small icing spatula or butter knife and drag diagonally from bottom to top. Pipe rosettes on top, drizzle melted chocolate on top, and finish rosettes with a maraschino cherry on top. Sprinkle jimmies and nonpareils on top.

Oreo and Chocolate Silk French Cake

If you are familiar with a traditional French Silk Pie, then I’m sure you are reading this with one eye brow raised. French Silk Pies are, well, pies, not cakes. But they are also usually made with 16 tablespoons of butter and this Oreo and Chocolate French Silk Cake is made with 4 tablespoons. How’s that for low fat?

I know I’m taking a lot of liberties here with a classic, but let’s call it a personal riff. I’ve replaced the chocolate and butter with chocolate and milk in a pudding form. Not necessarily for a lower calorie count, but hey, it can’t hurt with bikini season in a month or two.

Actually, I lightened up the whole pie turned cake for textural reasons, especially since the Oreo layer is Cool Whip. Yes, I could have made my own whipped cream and I do many times, but for this I wanted Cool Whip. There’s just something about Cool whip that reminds me of being a kid.

In fact I wanted the whole nostalgic feeling of having a kid dessert-chocolate pudding and Cool Whip, but dressed in adult sophistication. If you know me or if you’re a regular reader, you know I didn’t grow up with many desserts. A dessert like this one was something that was either a once-in-awhile treat or something I enjoyed at a friend’s home.

So of course now it seems that I’m trying to right that wrong my parents inflicted on my sweet tooth.   And this cake did some serious make-up!

A few notes:

• If you prefer, this can just as easily be made in a 9inch pie pan. If you would like to make it as it appears in the picture, I used a 3×6 springform pan because I wanted a tall cake like appearance.
• This can be fully assembled the one day ahead of time.
• For a step-by-step picture tutorial to making the homemade chocolate pudding portion click here.
• I assembled mine and then actually froze it overnight and moved it to the refrigerator 2 hours prior to serving for a firmer texture. This gave the Oreo and Chocolate French Silk Pie Cake an almost ice cream cake like texture.

Oreo and Chocolate French Silk Pie Cake

Makes one 3×6 cake or 9in pie pan

Ingredients:

Oreo Crust:

• 24 Oreo cookies, crushed
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Chocolate Pudding:

*For a step-by-step picture tutorial click here.

• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 3 cups cold whole milk
• 3/4 cups dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Oreo Layer:

• 2 ¼ cup Cool Whip
• 1/3 cup crushed Oreos

Instructions:

Oreo Crust:

1. Place Oreos in a food processor or blender and pulse until cookies are finely crumbed. Alternatively, place Oreos in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Set aside 1/3 cup for the Oreo Cool Whip layer. Mix remaining portion with the melted butter and then firmly press crumbs into place to create a crust. Bake crust at 350 degrees F for 7-10 minutes.

Chocolate Pudding:

1. Combine cornstarch, sugar, salt and milk in a blender or food processor and pulse until well blended. Alternatively, combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk vigorously. Transfer mixture to a heat proof bowl and place over (not on) simmering water for approximately 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pudding is ready when mixture coats the back of the spoon.  Add chocolate stir to combine. Add vanilla and stir to combine.

Oreo Layer:

1. Place Cool Whip and crushed Oreos in a bowl and mix to combine.

Assembly:

1. Pour chocolate pudding over the Oreo crust. Pour Oreo Cool Whip layer on top of the chocolate pudding. Finish cake to decorating preference. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.