A Recipe Too Good Not to Try! or Bit O'Chocolate Chiffon Cake

I just had to find the time to try this scrumptious looking recipe! So today was the day and I decided to make it for my quilt group. What a surprise for them, they loved it! Originally I saw a clip of this cake on this blog page and they were kind enough to put the recipe on for me. The original recipe comes from Betty Crocker.
Here is the blog address that I fist saw this recipe:
http://rocknrecipes-rocknquilts.blogspot.com/2011/03/betty-crocker-suggests-bit-ochocolate.html
Once it cooled enough to turn onto a plate, I cut a slice for me and my grandson. I asked Soren for a word I could use besides delicious. So he said, "Exquisite!" What a good word, the cake was exquisite! Light, fluffy and downright great!

I am also putting the recipe here, but please read MaryAnn and her mother's blog. Lots of good recipes on it. And I love the picture of their recipe box, as I had one just like it at one time. I actually followed the cake recipe and came up with the frosting.



Bit O'Chocolate Chiffon Cake by Betty Crocker

Step 1
Measure and Sift together into mixing bowl:
2 cups sifted GOLD MEDAL "Kitchen-tested" Enriched Flour (spoon lightly into cup, don't pack)
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
Make a well and add in order:
1/2 cup cooking (salad) oil such as Wesson
7 unbeaten egg yolks (medium-sized)
3/4 cup cold water
2 tsp. vanilla
Beat with spoon until smooth.
Step 2...in a large mixing bowl
1 cup egg whites (7 or 8)
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
Whip until whites form very stiff peaks.  They should be much stiffer than for angel food or meringue.  DO NOT UNDERBEAT.
Step 3...Pour egg yolk mixture gradually over whipped egg whites - gently folding with rubber scraper just until blended.  DO NOT STIR.  Sprinkle over top of batter gently folding in with a few strokes:
3 sqaures unsweetened or sweet chocolate (3 oz.), coarsely grated
Pour into ungreased  10" tubed pan immediately.

Folding

 

More gently folding.

BAKE
10-in. tube, 4-in. deep 325 F for 55 min., then 350 F for 10 to 15 min.

Before putting in the oven.

9x13x2-in. oblong 350 F45 to 50 minutes
...or until top springs back when lightly touched.

It's done!

Immediately turn pan upside down, placing tube part over neck of funnel or bottle, or resting edges of square, oblong or loaf pans on 2 other pans.  Let hang, free of table, until cold.  Loosen from sides and tube with spatula.  Turn pan over and hit edge sharply on table to loosen.

Doesn't this look divine?

 The frosting: 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips melted. Add to this 1 big tablespoon marshmallow creme and about 1 1/2-2 teaspoons of milk. Stir until smooth and put on top of cake.

And here's a piece for you! 

 Thanks RocknRecipes for putting this recipe on your blog!

I am submitting this to the : http://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com/2011/04/sweets-for-saturday-12.html

Sunshine on a Plate

‘Sunshine on a Plate’ should be the perfect title for this lovely orange chiffon cake.  It reminds me of the great California oranges, that hung over our backyard. We use to pick them and sit and eat them. I love the white inside flesh, which I found that this is where flavanones come from.

The recipe itself is called, ‘Heavenly Orange Chiffon Cake’ from the magazine Quick and Simple.

This is a great light cake and taste ooooh so good!

I have found out by using powdered egg whites in some of the wedding cakes, that I have made it gives the cake a lighter spring to it. Since this recipe calls for 5 egg yolks and 7-8 egg whites, I just used the powdered egg whites for the two extra that it calls for in the recipe, so that I wouldn’t waste extra egg yolks.

Also I didn’t use this icing recipe, I used the one that follows the main recipe, and we think it tastes better, not as sweet.

 

Heavenly Orange Chiffon Cake

 

Cake

2 ¼ cups sifted cake flour (do not pack)

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup vegetable oil

5 large egg yolks

Juice of 2 medium oranges, plus water to make ¾ cup

1 tablespoon grated orange zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup egg whites (from 7 or 8 large eggs)

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

½ cup sugar

 

Icing

2 cups powdered sugar

2-3 tablespoons orange juice

 

1. Preheat oven to 325˚F. Place a rack in the lower third of the oven.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the oil, egg yolks, juice, zest and vanilla. Stir together with a wooden spoon until smooth.

3. Whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until foamy. Add remaining sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, and beat until very stiff peaks form.

4. Pour the batter gradually over whipped egg whites, gently folding with a rubber scraper until just blended. Do not stir. Immediately pour the mixture into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan.

5. Bake 65-70 minutes, or until top of cake springs back when lightly touched. Invert pan over the neck of a bottle and let it sit for at least 1 hour, or until cool. Use a small knife to loosen cake from sides of pan; remove cake to platter.

6. Meanwhile, make icing; In a small bowl, mix powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons orange juice until smooth. Add more juice if needed for the consistency you want. Drizzle glaze over cake.

Serves 16.

 

Orange Glaze

1/3 cup butter

2 cups powdered sugar

½ teaspoon grated orange peel

2-4 tablespoons orange juice

Melt butter in small saucepan. Blend in powdered sugar, and orange peel. Stir in juice, 1 tablespoon at a time, until glaze is of proper consistency.

Glazes a 10” tube pan cake.

 

*Note to self: Future son-n-law, doesn’t care for the sweetness of cakes, but had 2 pieces of this one!!!!!                                                                                                             

 

 

Carrot Cake

Did try a new carrot cake recipe that has more fruit and is less calories, less sugar.

As I thought this would be great, it was drier and not as tasty, the first day. But today it did taste more moist, maybe because I put the cake into a plastic container and that gave it some time to moisten up over night. It also tasted better. I looked at a couple of recipes and decided to add the prunes and an apple, these are put into a food processor with some boiling water and pureed. Sounded very good, but just didn't give me the flavor I wanted, so back to the old.

I haven't baked a carrot cake in a long time and thought maybe the kiddies would like to remember what it taste like.

Anyway, here is the recipe I really do like. If Anne Cerny from 1974 who lived in Houston, during that time remembers me, this is still the best recipe I have tasted. Others are close but I really like this one. Thanks!

Carrot Cake

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon (I only use 1 teaspoon)

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 1/2 teaspoon salt (I only use 1 teaspoon, sometimes I don't add the salt)

3 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup vegetable oil

small can crused pineapple, plus juice

1 - 10 ounce package of coconut (I only use 1 cup)

2 cups grated carrots

1 cup nuts (opt.)

Mix all ingredients well. Grease and flour 9x13 inch pan. Place mixture into pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes.

Also will put on the other recipe as you can decide which one you might prefer.

Carrot cake #2

1 cup pitted prunes

6 tablespoons hot water

1 apple, cut into quarters

2 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 larges eggs

2 egg whites

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 cups grated carrots

8 ounce can of crush pineapple, thoroughly drained

1 cup coconut

Frosting

8 ounce package Neufchatel cheese (reduced-fat cream cheese)

1 cup marshallow cream

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

To make cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 inch pan with non-stick cooking spray. In a food processor, combine prunes, apple and hot water, process until smooth. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk foul, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, egg whites, sugar, oil and the reserved prune mixture. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and stir with a rubber spatula until blended. Stir in carrots, pineapple and coconut. Put into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

To make frosting: In a mixing bowl, combine Neufchatel cheese, marshmallow cream, and lemon juice; beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Frost cake.

Winter Cake

I saw a picture of a beautiful wedding cake and so I thought that would be a nice cake for winter time. So here it is, not great as the one I saw but the family and neighbors enjoy it.

Over the week-end I did some baking:

Coconut Cake with Strawberry Filling
I made the white cake from the King Arthur cookbook page 353. I didn't have enough egg whites so tried the Deb El - Just Whites®. It worked! The cake was light and fluffy. We all enjoy it. Sometimes it amazes me when there isn't enough of something and you try what you have on hand and it works. I also didn't have enough strawberries, so I mixed them with some of the frosting for the filling of the cake. It tasted great.
Isn't it fun to make something new?

Sally Lunn Sourdough

Sprinkle:
1 package yeast over:
¼ cup warm water (105˚)
Let set about 5 minutes to proof

Put in a large bowl and mix together:
¼ cup cooled, melted butter
1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs

Next put in the yeast mixture and add:
1 ½ cups sourdough starter

Start adding:
4 ½-5 cups flour and knead all of this together with:
1 teaspoon salt
This dough will be sticky, but knead for about 7-8 minutes adding a dusting of flour on the counter top as you knead.

Take this dough and put into a large greased bowl and let rise for 1 to 1 ½ hours, covered.
While this is rising go ahead and greased two loaf pans.
After the rise, take out of bowl and knead just a bit, then divide the dough in half.
Roll out and make two loaves, put into prepared loaf pans, let rise until to the top of the pan, covered and free from drafts for about one hour.
Preheat oven to 350˚. Bake for about 40-45 minutes, check to make sure the tops are not over browning. If so, then put a piece of foil on top to prevent burning and use the toothpick method to check and see if the bread is done. When done, take out of oven and cool on wire rack.
Makes: 2 loaves


Mostly what I tried new with this batch of bread was instead of rolling the dough out, I stretched it out and folded it into 3rds, then stretching it out again and folding, then took the loaves and put them into the pans. Usually I rolled out the dough and then roll it back again and put into the pans. I liked this method and will use it again. I saw this method on a web and I tried looking for it but can't remember what web page, sorry.

Other cakes

Here are the two pictures, one of the wedding cake, (a different idea from Martha's cake) and the grooms cake.  The grooms cake was different for me, as his mother makes the frosting with flour. There are recipes online. And another cake in which I did at cake class:

I will add my frosting recipe, so that if someones needs it, I will know where to find it.

Glenda's Icing Recipe

1 pound powered sugar
1/2 cup shortening - I use 1/4 Crisco and 1/4 store brand (with 3 grams trans-fat) *
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 teaspoon  meringue powder (Wilton brand)
1/3 cup water (may need a drop or two more, depending on the consistency you like)

Mix all this up well, enough to frost double layered  8" cake or 9"x13" pan.
*Notes: I use the Crisco and store brand vegetable shortening together because Crisco alone with the trans-fat taken out, doesn't hold together well. You can use half and Crisco and half butter. Can use milk in place of water, it is just safer with water in the heat and humidity.

Martha Stewart Books

Thought today I would do my review of Martha Stewart books that I have.
First I will say that yes, I do watch the Martha show, I like it and I am always learning new things. Like using cold, cubed butter instead of soft butter in cakes and cookies, it works! I like her little food magazine too, the books are too cute and have quick ideas for meals. I also have checked out some of her other books from the library; it’s a “good thing” to do, when you can’t afford to buy them.
I mostly want to talk about the wedding cake book, as I think that is one of the best books out there for many different type of cakes and frostings. I enjoy the different ways people have put together new types of wedding cakes and can use them for other occasions. It inspired me to take a cake class on fondant which gave me more techniques.
In the ‘Baking Handbook’ on page 210, I made a cake for my daughters’ friend wedding. (To which I can't seem to get the picture off the disk, so will add it sometime later, sorry.) Since then I have made a couple more wedding cakes and used some ideas from the ‘Wedding Cake’ book.
When my family or other friends have come over they too love the ideas in the ‘Wedding Book’.
I like the ideas on the different types of cakes and frostings with pictures. The book goes into great detail with pictures on how to make the perfect wedding cake for the wedding couple. It also goes into some detail on how to work with chocolate.
What a great book!
Here are a few pictures of the cakes I have done, two of them are practice cakes.
Not perfect by any means, but they sure tasted great and the bride and grooms love them.
Go to Martha’s blog or web page and get great ideas on most anything!
http://www.marthastewart.com/