German Chocolate Cake

I found this recipe for German Chocolate Cake in my very first issue of Food Network Magazine. My very favorite magazine and now our family's favorite cake! One thing I discovered in making this recipe is that I am no good at making jelly rolls. Every time I make it the cake just flops into three sad, broken layers, but it still tastes amazing. :) This time I made the cake for our 16th wedding anniversary and since I wanted to post pictures of it, I added one teaspoon of baking powder so that the cake would rise a bit. Then I used two 8-inch round pans and made an actual layered cake.



Look at how pretty their jelly roll cake turned out! Good thing this cake is fabulous no matter how it is baked. One note, though...this recipe uses a lot of bowls, measuring cups, pots, pans, ingredients, and counter space. That's why I only make it on special occasions.



You will need:

1 cup evaporated milk
2 1/4 cups white sugar
3 large egg yolks
3 large eggs
2 1/2 sticks butter (Smart Balance!)
3 tsp vanilla
1 2/3 cups sweetened, toasted coconut
1 cup chopped pecans (optional--I don't use them)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ounce finely chopped German chocolate
1/3 cup strong, hot coffee
1/3 cup buttermilk

See, lots of ingredients.

If you can't find toasted coconut you can do it yourself. Spread out the coconut on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 5 minutes, then remove, toss, and put it back in the oven for 5 more minutes. Then toss it again and see if it is toasted to your liking. You can always give it a couple more minutes. Then just leave the oven on at 350.



While the coconut is toasting, add the evaporated milk, 1 cup sugar, 1 stick of the butter (cubed), and the 3 egg yolks to a pot.



Whisk constantly over medium heat until it is thick and creamy. It will take about 10 minutes.



Remove from heat and add one tsp of vanilla and the coconut. Pecans, too, if you are using them. Unfortunately, my youngest has braces and can't have nuts. Mix together and set aside to cool completely.



Try not to taste it while it cools. Seriously, it is so good that you won't be able to stop "tasting." I put the frosting in another room because it is just too darn tempting!

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl and set aside. Whisk the cocoa and chocolate in another, smaller bowl. Add the hot coffee mixture to the chocolates and whisk until smooth. I measure 1/3 cup of hot water in a 2-cup measuring cup and add one full single-serving envelope of instant coffee, then mix. You get a nice strong coffee flavor. Then add the buttermilk and vanilla to the chocolate/coffee mixture.





Set both bowls to the side.



Beat together the remaining (1 1/2 sticks) softened butter and 1 1/4 cups sugar in a large mixer bowl on high speed until light and fluffy. It should take about 4 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and add the 3 whole eggs, one at a time, until combined. Add one third of the flour mixture and beat just until combined.



Then add one half of the chocolate mixture and beat on low until combined.



Add another third of the flour, combine, add the rest of the chocolate mix, combine, and end with the rest of the flour. Your final mixture will be a light chocolate color and very fluffy.



I greased two 8-inch round pans with cooking spray and evenly divided the cake mix between them. Bake for about 20 minutes, checking them after 18 minutes. I used a toothpick to check for doneness. (The dark coloring on the edges of my cake is from the cooking spray.)



When the cakes are completely cool spread about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of frosting on the bottom round, top with second cake, then dump all of the remaining frosting on top. I spread it just to the edges and then let it slide down however it likes. There is enough frosting to completely cover the cakes, but I like the way it looks with the natural drips.





This cake is worth every dirty pan, pot, cookie sheet, mixing bowl, measuring cup, and teaspoon. Absolutely delicious!!

Cooking Light Yellow Sheet Cake

I found this cake recipe on Cooking Light's website. I made a couple of changes and used Martha Stewart's frosting instead, and I made a couple of changes to that, too.



For the cake--with my changes:
1/2 cup butter (1 Smart Balance stick)
1 cup fat free plain yogurt
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk

After reading through the recipe I was unsure that it would work, but the reviews were good and that is the best indicator of how a recipe will turn out. The directions call for whisking the butter and yogurt (they used sour cream) until combined.



Then add the sugar and vanilla and beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. I used the whisk attachment on my mixer to combine the butter and yogurt, then switched to the paddle after adding the sugar.



That looks wrong, doesn't it? I saw that and thought, oh no! After the butter/sugar stage a cake mixture should be the epitome of fluffy, not grainy and so...wrong. At this point I figured my instincts were right and this cake recipe was not going to work. But instead of throwing it all away I thought, why not waste a few more ingredients and add the flour and buttermilk? :)

Add half the flour, baking soda, and salt and beat on low speed until combined. Then add the buttermilk, mix until combined. After adding the last of the flour and mixing (being careful not to overmix), the batter looks like this:




So right! It also may be the best tasting cake batter ever. Seriously delicious. I lowered their suggested temperature to 325 because I used a glass pan and baked for 35 minutes. After it was done I just left it in the pan and placed it on a raised wire rack to cool. Normally I would remove the cake from the pan, but I was just making it for our family and decided to frost it and serve from the pan.



Now the frosting...oh, my. So good. Martha calls for Valrhona cocoa, which is a fancy dutch processed cocoa. (And judging by the amazon.com reviews, overrated.) I didn't have any of that. Or any dutch processed cocoa. In fact, I was almost out of my regular Hershey's cocoa. So, I used:

1/2 cup cocoa
2 1/2 squares baking chocolate
9 1/2 T of butter (I know, weird, but I had to decrease the butter by 2 1/2 T because of the oil in the baking chocolate)
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla

I melted the baking chocolate in a double boiler





and then poured that chocolate over the butter and cocoa in my mixer bowl and mixed.



I added the rest of the ingredients all at once and beat it until it was creamy. I found that I didn't need to adjust the milk or powdered sugar amounts. Leave it to Martha to get it exactly right.




The frosting was so amazing that I will probably make it the exact same way next time, even if I have a truckload of cocoa. The cake itself was wonderful. I could tell that it wasn't a full fat cake, but it certainly did not diminish the flavor. The best part was that the cake was still every bit as moist the next day. That's a rarity with cake. I will definitely make it again!

The changes I made to the cake recipe were purely for personal taste. I dislike the flavor of sour cream in cakes and plain yogurt can be substituted (with a better result, I think) in equal amounts. I used Martha's frosting because I also dislike cream cheese frostings. Too heavy for me, especially since I prefer no frosting at all. :)

Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes

This week's found recipe is from Martha Stewart's website. I didn't try to make this recipe any healthier, sorry. It's been my experience that cupcake recipes do not like to be messed with. I made one minor substitution and doubled the recipe, but that was it. Now let me tell you about the taste...perfection. They were fluffy with a bit of heft, not-too-sweet, moist (even the next day), and even better without the frosting. I measure the success of a cupcake by how good they are without frosting. If they need it, the recipe needs tweaking. A cupcake should be able to stand alone and then the frosting is just an extra special treat.

I pureed enough strawberries in my mini food processor to make 2/3 cup. Half of that is for the cupcake batter and half for the frosting.



Your strawberries should look like this:





To the strawberries, add 1/4 whole milk (or heavy whipping cream, which is the only change I made) and one tsp of vanilla. Set that mixture aside.




Cream 1 stick of butter (Smart Balance stick) and 1 cup of sugar until light and fluffy. That is the secret to good cakes and cupcakes. You need to beat a lot of air into the butter/sugar combo.





It is also important to add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. The recipe calls for 1 large egg and 2 large egg whites. I put the 2 discarded yolks into a baggie and add them to the scrambled eggs in the morning. In a separate bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, and a pinch of salt. Add half of the flour mix to the butter, sugar, eggs mix and beat just until combined.




Then add all of your strawberry, cream, and vanilla mix.




The last step is to add the rest of the flour. Be careful not to overbeat! Just until combined.



Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners, fill, and bake at 350 for 22-25 minutes. I found that 23 minutes was perfect. If you overbake your cupcakes will be dry and sad.

The frosting is amazing, if unnecessary. I ran out of powdered sugar before I could give the frosting a fluffy texture and ended up with more of a glaze. But it was a darn good glaze!

3 squares white baking chocolate
2 T heavy cream
2 cups (more!!) powdered sugar
1/3 cup strawberry puree
3 T butter, melted



I melted the chocolate in a double boiler. Really just a metal bowl over a small saucepan. The water should not get hot enough to boil and should never touch the bottom of the bowl.





Add the rest of the ingredients to chocolate and beat, adding more cream or powdered sugar, until you get the consistency that you prefer. Thick is good. :)



You've fallen in love a little bit, haven't you? I can't blame you. The little guy tastes even better than it looks!