Bittersweet Chocolate Pear Cake

Hooray! I'm back!

Sorry for the break, but we've been moving these past couple of weeks. If you haven't moved lately I would advise against it, since it turns your whole life into a tornado of not knowing where anything is and a thousand boxes and discovering how dirty it is behind your furniture.

But, if you can persevere, the reward is, in our case, a brand new kitchen! It looks like this:

And it is wonderful and big and full of natural light and there's an oven in it that doesn't hate my guts.

So this week I decided to take advantage of it by making this Bittersweet Chocolate Pear Cake. I don't know about you but pears are one of my favorite fruits and any kind of desert with pears in it sounds like a good idea to me.

And that instinct is not wrong. The bittersweet chocolate... the pears... the browned butter...it all comes together so beautifully.

Your ingredients: Flour, sugar, baking powder, pears, bittersweet chocolate pieces, eggs, and butter

Whisk together the flour and baking powder.

Chop up your pears.

Beat your eggs until they are very pale and very thick. You can do it by hand but it takes forever. In a mixer it takes about 10 minutes.

While you're waiting on the eggs to thicken up, brown your butter in a medium skillet. Wait until the butter starts to make a nutty smell, but don't let it burn. Pour it into a bowl.

Add the sugar to the eggs, beat some more. Add in a third of the flour mixture, half the butter, another third of flour mixture, the other half of the butter, and then the last of the flour mixture. Mix the batter until just combined. Pour into a greased 9-inch cake pan, then put the pears on top. Then top with the chocolate pieces. Then just bake it! It's super easy. 


Mmmm, it's so good and light and fluffy. Please make this and eat it.


Bittersweet Chocolate Pear Cake
From The Pastry Affair
2 medium pears, diced
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 cup flour
3 eggs, room temperature
1 stick butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate pieces


Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9-inch cake pan.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. In an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs until they are pale and very thick- about 10 minutes.


While the eggs are beating, brown the butter in a medium skillet. Pour the butter into a bowl.


Add the sugar to the eggs and beat for about 2 minutes. Put the mixer on low, then add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then 1/2 the butter, then another third of the flour mixture, then the last half of the butter, then the last of the flour mixture. Mix until just combined.


Pour the batter into the cake pan, then top with the diced pear, then top with the chocolate pieces. Bake for about 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Gooey Butter Cake

The Husband's birthday was this week! And I don't know if I told you this but he loooooooves peanut butter. Like a lot. So for his birthday desert, all he said he wanted was, "Something with peanut butter." Super helpful, right? I know.

But don't worry, I have tricks up my sleeve. Tricks like Chocolate Peanut Butter Gooey Cake, which I don't even have a picture of because it's all gone already!! The Husband had two pieces in one night!

This recipe is full of win, and it is also SUPER EASY.

Ingredients: Chocolate cake mix, smooth peanut butter, butter, cream cheese, eggs, vanilla, and powdered sugar

First, combine your cake mix, one egg, and melted butter. Then press it into the bottom of a greased 9x13.

For the filling, beat together the cream cheese and peanut butter. Then add the eggs.

Add the vanilla, then the melted butter, and then the powdered sugar. It looks creamy and delicious and makes the whole house smell like peanut butter.

Pour it on top of the cake mixture, then bake it. It's deliccccioussss. Trust me, because I don't have any pictures. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Gooey Butter Cake

From Tasty Kitchen

18.5 oz.  box chocolate cake mix

16 tbsp. melted butter

3 eggs

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup smooth peanut butter

1 tsp. vanilla

16 oz. powdered sugar

For the crust:

Preheat the oven to 350°. Combine the cake mix, 1 egg, and 8 tbsp. melted butter. Press the mixture into a greased 9x13.

For the filling:

In a mixer, beat together the cream cheese and peanut butter until creamy. Add 2 eggs and mix until combined. Add 8 tbsp. of melted butter and the vanilla and mix until combined. Add the powdered sugar and mix until combined. Pour the mixture onto the crust and bake the whole thing and bake for 40-50 minutes.

Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Frosting

I'm sorry people. I made an Oreo Cheesecake last week planning to blog it, but it was a disaster. I mean, not taste-wise, but every other-wise.

After a series of unimportant and totally pointless freak-outs during the process of making this cake, The Husband said to me, "You just need to chill out when you bake." Which made me kind of miffed.

But icing a cake is a quiet, tedious process that gives you a lot of time to think. While I was icing this cake, I thought about it and realized that I am a selective control freak. In my dayjob as a preschool teacher, there is not a lot about my day that I can control. Dirty diapers, babies screaming, things spilling, toys getting dumped... So when I come home, I like the things that I can control to be just so.

So I won't be able to chill out when I bake. And that's okay. I'll just try to be less rude to the Husband about it. Even if he DOES turn off the oven and cause my layers to sit in the oven, not cooking, for 30 minutes.

Except, try not to think about dirty diapers while you're icing a cake.

Speaking of this cake, it is SUPER. Continuing my salted caramel binge, I chose this recipe and believe me, I did not choose wrong.

It's a little daunting once you see the ingredient list, but don't be frightened away, it's not hard and it's super delicious.

(Most of)Your Ingredients: Sugar, Flour, Brown Sugar, Sour Cream, Eggs, Cream Cheese, Baking Soda, Buttermilk, Vanilla, and that's right, almost 4 sticks of butter. Not pictured: Coffee and Salted Caramel

Cream together the butter and sugars, add in the eggs, and then the vanilla. It looks like this- sort of goopy and gross. Don't fret. It gets better.

Mix together your cream cheese, sour cream, and coffee in a bowl. In another bowl, sift together the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, and salt.

 
Now just mix it all together and get your batter, and bake it into two delicious, gorgeous chocolate layers.

Whip up your frosting, which is a beautiful, light caramel color.

Now just frost your cake, and eat it up! Nom nom nom.

Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Frosting

From Around the Table on Blackberry Farm

Cake:

12 tbsp. butter, room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup light brown sugar

2 extra-large eggs, room temperature

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature

2 tbsp. good brewed coffee

1 3/4 AP flour

1 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Frosting:

1 cup salted caramel

16 tbsp. butter, room temperature

8 oz. cream cheese

3 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease two 9 or 10 inch cake pans (doesn't affect anything but the size of the layers).

Cream together the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs in one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in the the vanilla and mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix together the sour cream, buttermilk, and coffee. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. 

Add the buttermilk mixture and the flour mixture alternately to the butter, starting with the buttermilk and ending with the flour mixture. Mix until just combined.

Pour batter into layer pans and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let layers cool completely on a wire rack.

For the frosting:

Cream together butter and cream cheese until creamy. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and mix together. Add in the cup of salted caramel and mix. Add powdered sugar until you have the consistency of frosting that you want. 

Frost your cake and enjoy!

Strawberry Layer Cake

This cake, wow. People, this week was a little nutso. It sort of feels like I say that every week, doesn't it? But I mean it every time. 

This cake started as an opportunity to make the strawberry cake I've always wanted to make from the lovely Joy the Baker for forever, because strawberry cake is my favorite kind of cake.

This week was made all the more stressful because six years ago this week my wonderful and beautiful mother left this earth. It felt strangely appropriate to be baking on that day, and baking a cake that she faithfully procured for me each birthday, knowing that strawberry cake is my favorite.

So I invite you to make this strawberry cake and think about your mother, wherever she is.

Your ingredients: White Cake mix, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla, self-rising flour, cream cheese, butter, sugar, strawberries, powdered sugar, and strawberry jello mix

In a bowl, whisk together the cake mix, jello powder, sugar, and flour. Don't eat it. It SMELLS SO GOOD, but don't eat it. 

Add the oil, eggs, water, and strawberries, and mix.

Pour into two greased 10-inch cake pans and bake for 25-35 minutes

Now make your icing- sorry, no pictures. Now ice it up however you see fit and decorate with strawberries!

Strawberry Layer Cake

Adapted from Joy the Baker

Cake:

16.25 oz. white cake mix (with pudding)

3 oz. package strawberry jello mix

1 tbsp. self-rising flour

4 tsp. sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup strawberries, finely diced

Icing:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 lbs. powdered sugar

pinch of salt

strawberries for decoration

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease 2 10-inch cake pans.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together cake mix, jello mix, sugar, and flour.

Add in oil, stir. Add in eggs one at a time, mix well between each egg. Add the water and strawberries in and mix well. Divide batter evenly between the two pans and bake for 25-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on wire racks.

Icing:

Beat the cream cheese and butter until soft and fluffy. Add 1 lb. of powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla extract, beat well. Add in the rest of the powdered sugar.

Frost and decorate your cake!

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.




 

Pumpkin Poundcake with Cinnamon Glaze

I was all set to tell you a story about how my friend (and future co-teacher what-what!) Paige's mom's pumpkin cookies changed my blah attitude towards pumpkin deserts.

But that was before the missing baking soda. Remember how I don't like to stray from the recipe at all? Well, as I was stacking up ingredients, I realized the baking soda box was gone. "Baking soda," I said. "Where is it?"

"Oh sorry," said the Husband. "I used the last of it trying to clean the dishwasher."

What ensued was me freaking out, and him trying to get me to find a substitute, and saying "That's how I cook," and me snapping back, "Well I'm not cooking I'm baking, and I don't like improvising, and I'm already using canola oil instead of vegetable oil!!"

To which he quietly replied, "They're practically interchangeable," and I said, "BUT THEY'RE NOT THE SAME THING."

Then I turned on Rick Astley and decided, aloud, to turn my attitude around. I had been looking forward to baking this cake all week. I finally learned a trick to foil my dastardly oven (Literally, because putting foil over my cakes and breads makes them cook evenly, LIKE MAGIC). So I put on a smile and made myself happy.

And then I promptly left brown sugar out of the ingredients picture. But don't worry, because that long story brought you here. To this wonderful, beautiful, spicy fall cake that even sounds impressive.

And after pulling my perfectly baked cake out of the oven, I turned the bundt pan over, and in an unprecedented event, it came out PERFECTLY. It didn't stick at all- it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, and I called the Husband in and he danced with me and so the story has a happy ending.

Make this cake. The end.

Your ingredients: Flour, sugar, brown sugar (pretend it's there), baking soda (pretend it's there), pumpkin puree, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon, ground cloves, vanilla pudding mix, powdered sugar, and vegetable oil.

First, whisk together the brown and white sugar and the oil. Then whisk in the eggs one at a time.

In a seperate bowl, whisk together the flour, spices, baking soda, vanilla pudding mix, and salt- it smells delicious and spice-y.

Alternately add the pumpkin puree and the flour mixture to the sugar-oil-egg mixture. Whisk together until smooth. Be aware that if you're not a huge fan of the smell of just plain ol' pumpkin, this is not a good time for you. But don't worry, it all comes together.

Pour it into your greased bundt pan and bake! I greased mine with Baker's Joy spray, which is pretty awesome in my opinion.

And if you're lucky the cake comes out looking like this- HOLY MOLY that's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

YUM.

Pumpkin Pound Cake with Cinnamon Glaze
Adapted very slightly from Baked Bree

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup oil
3 eggs
3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1 3.3 oz pkg. vanilla pudding mix
15 oz. can pumpkin puree
Glaze:
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
3 tbsp. water
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350°. Grease a bundt pan.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the two sugars and the oil. Then whisk in the eggs one at a time.

In a seperate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, spices, salt, and pudding mix.

Whisk the pumpkin puree into the sugar-oil-egg mixture, alternating adding it and the flour mixture until all is combined.

Pour the batter into the bundt pan, smooth and even it out, and then bake it for 60-65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes before turning the pan over to get the cake out. Let the cake cool completely on a wire cooling rack.

For the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar, water, and cinnamon. Pour over the top of the cake once it has cooled.

Sunshine Pound Cake

It's been awhile! Did you miss me? I'm back with a bang. A lemony, citrusy bang.

So, the blog that this cake came from is one of my favorite new discoveries- it's been around for a while, but somehow I never came across it. This cake takes a little while to make, but it's not hard, and it's delicious.

Plus it has sunshine in the title, amirite?

Here are your ingredients: butter (except that's way too much), eggs, lemons, limes, an orange, baking soda, cake flour (info below), vanilla, sugar, and sour cream.

First, cream together your butter and sugar for about 3 minutes.

In a seperate bowl, sift together your flour and baking soda. A word on cake flour- if you don't want to buy any, it's very easy to substitute AP flour, which is what I did. You just need some cornstarch. Check out this link for instructions. Add in all your zests and whisk together.

In another bowl, mix together the sour cream, lemon juice, lime juice, orange juice, and vanilla.

Add the eggs to the butter-sugar one at a time, mixing well between each one. See? It's looking sunshin-y already.

Alternate adding the flour mixture and sour cream mixture, starting with and ending with the flour mixture. Pour the batter into a thoroughly greased bundt pan and level it off, shaking the pan around until it's even.

Bake it for 65-70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack before you turn it over and pray that it comes out of the pan. If it doesn't, don't panic, just knife around the edges until it wants to slide out.

Hopefully you have someone like The Husband who spends 5 minutes telling you that it's okay that it didn't come out perfectly.

While the cake is cooling down to room temperature, make your glaze. Whisk together the ingredients, then, once your cake is cooled, pour it on top! It's okay if it runs off a little. It looks pretty that way. Don't skimp on the glaze, either. It's delicious.

Seriously, look at it! It's beautiful! You can't even tell that it didn't come out of the pan perfectly.

Sunshine Pound Cake
From Ezra Pound Cake
For the cake:
1 cup butter, room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream
zest of 1 lemon
zest of 2 limes
zest of 1 orange (save one tsp. of the zest for the glaze)
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 tbsp. fresh orange juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
For the glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. lime zest
1 tsp. orange zest
1/4 cup fresh orange juice

Preheat your oven to 325°. Thoroughly grease a bundt pan. In a mixer, cream your butter and sugar for 3 minutes on low speed. Meanwhile, in a seperate bowl sift together your flour and baking soda. Add your zests, whisk it together and set aside.

In another bowl, combine the sour cream, lemon juice, lime juice, orange juice, and vanilla. Stir together and set aside.

Add the eggs into the butter and sugar one at a time, mixing well between each one. Alternately add the flour mixture and the sour cream mixture starting and ending with the flour mixture. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl to get any stray ingredients. Put the mixer on medium speed for about 20 seconds.

Pour the mixture into your bundt pan, making sure the top is even. Bake for 65-70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning the pan over and letting the cake cool on the rack. While the cake cools, make the glaze.

In a bowl, whisk together the glaze ingredients. When the cake has reached room temperature, pour the glaze on top.