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Saturday, November 27, 2010

Pear Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Buttermilk Caramel Sauce

         For some reason, a majority of the birthdays in my family are in November.  Because of this I have found that during November I am constantly baking birthday cakes, pies, or whatever a person might request.  Then, smack in the middle of all this chaos you have Thanksgiving.  Don't get me wrong, I love Thanksgiving and all the food I get to eat, but ahhhh, I literally bake from 8 in the morning to 10 at night.  This year I made rolls, pumpkin pie, vegan pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and chocolate pudding pie. 
        So, anyways, the point I was getting to is that the busyness of November the reason this blog is so neglected, and come December (AND WINTER BREAK!) I  think I'll have more time.  But for now, here's an amazing recipe for pear cake (the recipe my Godmother requested for her November Birthday).

 Buttermilk Caramel Sauce [adapted from here]
3/4 c. buttermilk
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 stick real butter
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine all the ingredients (but vanilla) in a large pan, and boil until a deep caramel color.  Allow to slightly cool before stirring in vanilla.  Refrigerate leftovers.

Pear Cake [adapted from here] 
3  ripe Bartlett pears, peeled and diced (about 2 cups)
2 tsp  sugar
2 large eggs
4/3 cups  sugar
scant 1 cup  vegetable oil
2 cups  all-purpose flour (or use Pamela's Baking & Pancakes mix to make GF)
2/3  teaspoon  salt (1/2 if using Pamela's)
2/3 teaspoon  baking soda
2/3 cups  pecans, coarsely chopped
1 1/2  teaspoons  vanilla extract
1/3 cup buttermilk caramel sauce (recipe above)

Toss the pears and 2 tsp of sugar and leave to stand for 5 minutes.  
Mix the eggs, oil, and 4/3 cup sugar with a whisk until combined.
Whisk in the baking soda, salt, and vanilla.
Gently fold in the flour, followed by the pecans and finally the pears.
Pour the batter in a greased 9 x 13 pan and ladle the sauce over.
Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. (make sure you're testing the cake, not just the pears)  
Frost with Vanilla Bean Frosting (recipe below)

Vanilla Bean Frosting
 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup butter (1 stick, 8 tbs), room temperature
2 cups powder sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
Beat the cream cheese and butter in a hand or stand mixture until fluffy.  Gradually add in the powder sugar and beat for 5 minutes.  Stir in the vanilla bean paste.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Quinoa Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Frosting

I have some odd habits when it comes to baking.   For one thing, 70% of the things I bake are gluten free.  Not because I, or even someone I know is gluten intolerant, just because from a young age, I was told that eating gluten is bad for you.
This mentality began when I was seven and my dad decided to switch to an all raw diet.  One of his new beliefs was the idea that grains are bad for you (meant only for birds or something), especially grains containing gluten.
Ha! I don't know whether this is true, but I still try to cooperative with my dad's eccentricity none-the-less.  So, when I saw a picture of beautiful picture of chocolate cake on Babble.com, imagine my surprise when I realized it was completely gluten-free!
My dad even joined me to try a slice.  (His first slice of chocolate cake in more than 7 years!)
As a testament to the magic of this cake, I am fairly certain that my dad has been sneaking bites of it when no one's looking. Hmmm.
 
GF Quinoa Chocolate Cake (found here)
2/3 cup white or golden quinoa
1 1/3 cup water
1/3 cup milk
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup cocoa powder (high quality!)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Rinse the quinoa, and then combine in a saucepan with water over medium heat.  Bring mixture to a boil, and boil for 10 minutes.  Turn off heat, and leave the saucepan covered for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, sift together the sugar, cocoa power, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a blender or food processor, combine the eggs, milk, and  vanilla extract. Pulse until combined.  Add the quinoa and butter, and blend until smooth.*  Pour the mixture over the dry ingredients, and stir until moistened.  Divide the batter among 2 greased 9 inch cake pans, and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, or until toothpick comes out clean.
*note: If you don't blend until completely smooth, the final cake will retain some of the quinoa's texture. I loved the additional texture (that I got by neglecting to fully blend it), but I doubt most people would.

Chocolate Frosting (found here)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine the butter and cocoa, and alternate between adding the milk and powder sugar.  Whisk in the vanilla.

Friday, November 5, 2010

1 Minute Macadamia Nut Nutella

        About half a year ago my family received a box of chocolate covered Macadamia nuts.  Inside this box there were at least 60 of these chocolates, way too much for even an average family to consume.  Add a dad who doesn't eat chocolate, a mom who prefers savory food, and me who just doesn't love nuts...except when in Nutella. 
       In a whim, realizing these chocolates were very near their expiration date, I tossed them in my food processor, and sat back while they blended into a silky cream. (which took less than a minute, if you were wondering)
       This has to be the greatest 1 ingredient food ever.  How can a silky smooth, chocolately, macadamia nutty spread not be? 
       Now, please excuse me.  I need a moment alone with just a spoon and this nutella.

Macadamia Nut Nutella
Blend chocolate covered macadamia nuts into a food processor until silky smooth.
(the mixture will go through several stages, chunky, crumbly, clumpy, watery, silky smooth)