Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake

You guys, it has not been a good week. I mean, I've said that before, in like a "Wow, I'm so busy, this week is crazy, whew!" But this... this has not been a good week.

This week was my first week in my new job, and that part of it has been great. A little crazy, but in a good way.

But also. I got into a cark wreck on Tuesday. Bodily, I am fine. Car-ily... not so much. And since I was the rear-ending car, it's of course going to go down on the record as my fault. So now I'm probably out a bunch of money we don't really have, and we're down to one car this week. Which you know, is sort of fun in a bonding activity kind of way, but certainly not in a convience way.

But as usual, all of that drifted away as soon as I started sifting my flour. Baking is like therapy, and I should probably start some sort of program for it.

Oh by the way... this cake is awesome. You should probably make it, even if you haven't had the kind of week that I had.

Also, don't be cheap and have to beg your husband to do this math- just buy cake flour.

Your ingredients: cake flour, butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, sour cream, an orange, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt

Sift together all the dry ingredients except the cocoa powder. Set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add in your eggs one at a time, beat well between each egg. Beat in your vanilla.

Now add in half your flour mixture and beat until combined. Now add in the sour cream, mix it in until just combined, then add the rest of the flour mixture. Your mixer is going to be working really hard at this point, but don't worry, that's just how this cake rolls.

Now- here's where it gets interesting. Divide your batter evenly into 2 bowls. In one bowl, add the orange juice and orange zest and mix together. In the other bowl, mix in the cocoa powder and chocolate chips.

Spread your orange batter into the bottom of the bundt pan evenly, then spread the chocolate batter on top of that evenly. Now bake it!

Voila! A very pretty, fancy-looking (slightly blurry, sorry) cake that tastes heavenly!

That makes you forget, for a second, about your smushed-up, towed, leaking fluid car. For a second.

Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake

Adapted very slightly from the always fabulous Joy the Baker

3 1/2 cups cake flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 sticks butter, room temperature

4 eggs, room temperature

2 cups sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups sour cream

zest of 1 orange

1 tsp. orange juice

4 tbsp. sifted cocoa powder

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°. Generously grease a bundt pan.

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

Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating well between each egg. Beat in the vanilla. Add half the flour mixture and beat to combine. Add the sour cream, beat until just combined. Add the rest of the flour mixture, beat until the batter is smooth.

Divide the batter evenly into 2 bowls. In one bowl, put the orange zest and orange juice and mix. In the other bowl, put the chocolate chips and sifted cocoa powder and mix.

Spread the orange batter into the bottom of the bundt pan and smooth out. Spread the chocolate batter on top of that, and smooth out.

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Lemon-y Lemon Lemon Cake

So, I don't know if I told you guys this, but I recently got promoted- yay! I'm going to be a real classroom teacher now. The current teacher is pregnant, and won't be returning after having the baby, so this is it! It's the real thing! I'll be half in charge of a classroom full of 12-month olds to 18-month olds!

So the thing is, this girl has been really great during the transition, and even gifted me her lesson-planning binder, which is a bigger deal then it sounds like.

Being crafty, I asked her what her favorite desert was and got the answer lemon cake- she dosen't like chocolate and peanut butter together, is that not the craziest thing you've ever heard?

So I decided to make her this beauty, which is a Joy the Baker specialty. And let me tell you, it is delicious. (I only know because the recipe makes 2 loaves, I didn't eat off of hers)

Your ingredients: cake flour, vanilla, lemons, eggs, baking powder, cream, sugar, butter (you're going to melt your butter and then let it cool while you're doing the other steps)

First, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside

Then, in a seperate bowl, zest the lemons into your sugar and then work the zest into the sugar with your fingers or a spoon so that you have lemon-drenched sugar. (I got to use my new Microplane, as you can see, and it is AWESOME, it makes me want to zest everything.)

Whisk in your eggs, vanilla, and then cream until you have a deliciously lemony gloop that looks like this.

Then switch to a rubber spatula and add in the flour mixture in 2 or 3 steps. The flour and the lemon-eggs are not going to want to blend, but you just gotta get in there with your spatula and say "YOU WILL PLAY NICE." Eventually they'll combine. Then just fold in your melted butter. Then pour into loaf pans and bake!

Comes out looking like this- delicious. There is a syrup that I skipped this time but if I made this recipe again I think I would do it. So I will include it for you.

Lemon-y Lemon Lemon Cake
Adapted from Joy the Baker
2 2/3 cup cake flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (or 1/2 a vanilla bean, scraped out into the lemon sugar and incorporated)
6 eggs, room temperature
17 tbsp. butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup heavy cream
zest of 2 lemons
2 1/3 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease 2 loaf pans and put a piece of parchment paper in the bottom of each pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Put the sugar into a large mixing bowl. Zest the lemons into the sugar, then work in the zest with your fingers or a spoon until you have lemon-drenched sugar. Whisk in the eggs until incorporated, then whisk in the vanilla, then the heavy cream.

Add in the flour mixture in 2 or 3 additions, combining well with a rubber spatula.

Fold in the melted butter in 2 or 3 additions.

Pour into the loaf pans and bake for 55-60 minutes, testing until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool on wire racks for 5 minutes, then turn out of the pans onto the racks to cool completely.

Syrup:
Joy the Baker
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
juice of 2 lemons

Stir the water and sugar together in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the sugar melts, then bring to a boil Remove the pan from heat and stir in the lemon juice. Pour the syrup into a heatproof bowl and let cool.

When the cakes test done, transfer them to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before unmolding them and turning them right side up on the rack. Place the rack over a baking sheet lined with wax paper and, using a thin skewer, cake tester or thin-bladed sharp knife, poke holes all over the cakes. Brush the cakes all over with the syrup, working slowly so that the cakes sop it up. Leave the cakes on the rack to cool to room temperature.




 

Apple Cream Bars

So I have this awesome cousin, her name is Kate, and she has a blog of her own! You should check it out- A Dash of Salter.

She alerted me to this recipe and so, I decided to "give these a whirl," as she suggested.

And you know what, they're easy, they're delicious, and Brandon had two. And the Husband says he even likes them better than Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes- I know, I know. Blasphemy.

So grab a couple of ingredients, and give these things a whirl, because my cousin Katie-poo had a stroke of genius when she told me about these things.

Your ingredients- a can of apple pie filling, yellow cake mix, sour cream, an egg, butter, sugar, and cinnamon

First, melt that butter and mix it together with the yellow cake mix until it looks crumbly like this.

Press it into the bottom of your pan and bake it a little bit.

Now, spread the apple pie filling evenly over that crust, then mix together the cinnamon and sugar. Then take a moment to think about how cinnamon and sugar together is never wrong.

Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar on top of the apples. I know it looks like a lot of sugar. It is, my friends, and I was nervous that it was way too much. But put it all on there , because it turns out delicious. Trust me.

Now, beat your egg, mix it into the sour cream, then spread that on top of the apples. If you want, you can reserve some of the cinnamon sugar and sprinkle it on top, like I did. Now bake that mess.

And look at that! Trust me, it doesn't look exciting but it tastes delicious.

Apple Cream Bars

From my beautiful cousin Kate

1 box yellow cake mix

1 can apple pie filling

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup sour cream

1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 350°. Mix together the melted butter and yellow cake mix until crumbly. Press into the bottom of a well-greased 9x13 pan. Bake for 10 minutes.

Spread the apple pie filling evenly onto the crust. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over the apples. Mix together the sour cream and beaten egg and spread over the cinnamon and sugar.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, until they are set.