A Great Cake Recipe for Sculpting

It's National Pound Cake Day! Did you know that pound cakes are one of the best types of cake for sculpting?

By "sculpting" I mean cakes that can be sculpted into cake decorating masterpieces by the pros in big cities who make wedding cakes for the stars. You know what I mean.

Recently, I came up with a pound cake-esque recipe for Craftsy which was specifically designed with sculpting in mind. This firm, tender-crumbed cake is 100% perfect for sculpting, and tastes great.

It's a great way to get creative on National Pound Cake Day and make something beautiful!

Recipe here.

March 2: National Banana Cream Pie Day

I love Banana Cream Pie. Don't you? It's a great day for people like me: March 2 is National Banana Cream Pie Day.

On this hallowed day, I'd like to go back in the CakeSpy archives to bring you one of my favorite banana cream pie recipes ever: banana cream pumpkin pie.

What? Banana cream pumpkin pie? Yes, believe it. 

Pumpkin pie's earthy flavor gets a sweet boost from banana, and whipped cream covers it all for a memorable pie experience.

You've got to try this pie!

Recipe here.

March 1: Homemade Girl Scout Cookies for National Peanut Butter Lover's Day

Today is National Compote Day. LAME! Luckily, it's also National Peanut Butter Lover's Day. Much better.

And boy oh boy do I have some peanut buttery delights for you today: recipes for not one, but two different types of peanut buttery homemade Girl Scout Cookies!

First up? Tagalongs. 

Take a buttery shortbread-like cookie, and put a heaping spoonful of sweet peanut butter on top. Then cover the whole thing in chocolate. Girl Scouts, you have a good idea here, but the homemade version is even better. 

Recipe here. 

Next up? Do-si-dos. 

Listen, I won't lie: Do-si-dos are kind of the frumpy cookie in the Girl Scout Cookie collection. Delicious, yes--I mean, who could turn away a peanut butter cookie made with oats, which is then filled with peanut butter cream and sandwiched with a second cookie? But truthfully, yes, they're kind of beige and frumpy. But by photoshopping faces on top I've made them cute, and I know you'll enjoy eating them.

Recipe here.

How will you celebrate National Peanut Butter Lover's Day? 

The Unicorn Coloring Book

Surprise! I've released a new book. A coloring book. A *UNICORN* Coloring Book. Say hello to it: The Unicorn Coloring Book. I'm so proud of it. 

Inspired by the popularity of my coloring book pages, I've created a collection of completely unicorn-themed illustrations for you to color and enjoy. This book has 18+ involved illustrations to color, and is punctuated with inspiring quotes.

While the book was designed for adult coloring addicts, guess what? Kids find it fun, too. As proof, here is my nephew coloring with gusto. He was not paid for his product development services, I promise. 

How about a look at some of the interior pages? Here's one...

and another...

and another. See how funny and cute they are? They're really fun to color, too. 

You can order the book on Etsy; the books will be available to ship early next week. At this particular moment that is the only place to order, but in the coming weeks it will be available on Amazon, too.

Order yours now! 

February 28: National Chocolate Souffle Day

Happy National Chocolate Souffle Day!

If those don't look like chocolate souffles, it's with good reason: they're actually pots de creme.

You see, I've already blogged about chocolate souffle--and pretty recently--so if you're interested in that, click here, because it's worthwhile. But since I don't want to just repeat myself, how about we take a few minutes to talk about something else delicious....namely, the above-pictured pots de creme.

Creamy, decadent, and gorgeous, they will in fact make today or any day better. And they're adorable, too!

Recipe here.

February 27: National Strawberry Day

Happy National Strawberry Day! I've got an extra special guest post for you today, from Hannah of CakeJournal.com.

National Strawberry Day is February 27th!  It makes sense that a month filled with heart shaped foods and the color red all over the place would have a day dedicated to the strawberry!  Strawberries are super delicious, whether you're adding them to a dish or eating them by themselves.  

Strawberries are grown all over the world, except in the most frozen southern and northern areas.  Not to mention, there are over 600 varieties of strawberries!  The best time to buy strawberries is between April and August, but that doesn't mean you still can't enjoy strawberries year round!  Here is a wonderfully delicious ombre cake recipe to celebrate one of the most delicious days of the year!  

First, you must compile your ingredients:

  • 2 boxes of white cake mix (or your own homemade cake recipe)
  • Eggs, water and oil to suit the necessary ingredients for your boxed cake mix
  • 6 teaspoons imitation strawberry
  • Red food dye
  • 2 cups of strawberries (or however many you desire)
  • Cream cheese icing

Next, I started mixing the cake mix and the  water, eggs and oil.  I used white cake mix that called for 2 1/2 cups of water, 2/3 cup oil and 6 eggs.  I then separated the cake mix into 3 equal bowls for the 3 layers of the cake.  

Then, I added in the imitation strawberry.  I added a little at a time and then tasted as I went along.  I ended up putting two teaspoons into each "layer".  You can opt-out of the strawberry flavor, or adjust to your liking.  Following the flavoring, I added the red food dye.  For the lightest layer, I used 2-3 drops of red dye.  For the middle layer, I used around 5 drops and for the darkest layer, I used 8 drops of  red dye.  Adjust quantity, if desired.  


Grease 3 8-in cake pans thoroughly and fill about 2/3 of the way full with cake batter.  Tap out the air bubbles.  Bake the cake for as long as the directions call for.  My batter took about 32 minutes to thoroughly bake.  Wait for the cake to fully cool before removing from the pan.  Level off the cake with a large serrated knife along the top of the cake and the sides of the cake.  Stack the cake layers on top of each other from darkest to lightest, using frosting as the glue in between the layers. Once they are stacked the way you wish, begin frosting the entire cake.  

Start with the top and work your way down and around the sides.

Next, garnish your cake however you desire!  I topped mine with cut strawberries on the top and around the bottom and some strawberry stems in the middle.

And you're done!  Ready to eat right away, but you can chill the leftovers in the fridge as well!  Wow your friends and family with a beautiful slice of cake to celebrate a sweet day!  

About the author: Hannah works for Today's Growth Consultant, a company that owns over 300 websites.  She works with cakejournal.com, a website dedicated to cake recipes, dessert tutorials and articles about the wonders of cake making.  Check out some of her work at cakejournal.com. 

February 25: Chocolate Covered Salted Cashews for National Chocolate Covered Nut Day

Sometimes you feel like eating all of the chocolate in the world. But other days, you just need a snack. Today being National Chocolate Covered Nut Day, I'd like to introduce you to one of my favorite snacks: small-batch chocolate covered salted cashews. 

Chocolate covered nuts are in fact a great snack, because they have enough nut that you can call them health food but enough chocolate so that they are pleasurable. 

My favorite nut to coat in chocolate is cashews. This is for a few reasons. I'll tell you a few of them right now:

1. You often see commercial confections featuring chocolate and almonds or peanuts. I've never seen a candy bar or commercial treat featuring cashews, have you?

2. If you go to a confectionery shop, you'll probably see chocolate-almond bark, you'll probably see pecan turtles, but rarely will you see a chocolate cashew treat. 

3. If you go to a bakery and they offer brownies with nuts, chances are the nuts in question are pecans or walnuts. I've never seen a cashew brownie at a bakery. 

What I am getting at here is that chocolate-cashew is for some reason not an exceedingly popular flavor combo. I don't really see why, because there is so much to love about the combo: the mellow, creamy-buttery cashew flavor is the perfect complement to chocolate. I prefer cashews with milk chocolate because it makes the flavor combo extra-creamy, and I prefer to use roasted/salted cashews, because I like a little crunch to the texture and I am basically addicted to salt. 

So, for National Chocolate Covered Nut Day, I'd like to make some chocolate covered cashews, and I'd like you to know how I do it so you can recreate the magic at home. 

This batch is perfectly sized to provide a few servings, but not such a huge batch that the nuts are going to go stale or the chocolate is going to get all weird and bloomed before you've devoured them. 


Small batch chocolate salted cashews

makes about 30

  • 2 ounces of milk or dark chocolate 
  • about 30 medium or large salted, roasted cashews 

Melt the chocolate. I like to do this in the microwave, in 20 second increments on high, until mostly melted. Give it a stir and any residual solid bits should melt into the mixture.

Toss 3-4 cashews in at a time, and turn them to coat, using a fork. Using the same fork, remove, let excess chocolate drip off, and place on a sheet of parchment or silicone to completely "set".

Store in a single layer to prevent the cashews from melting into one another, or if you don't care about that, just put them in a bag. 

Enjoy!

February 24: National Tortilla Chip Day, and a Pancake Experiment

Today is National Tortilla Chip Day. Now, don't get me wrong. I have nothing agains tortilla chips. I've even created tasty desserts with them. But I have a different carb on my radar today: PANCAKES. 

You see, a few weeks ago Krusteaz sent me a whopping box full of every sort of breakfast boxed mix, including Belgian waffles, blueberry muffins, and plain buttermilk and blueberry pancakes. They sent it to me because February is Hot Breakfast Month (did you know?) and they want to promote the idea of breakfast all day, including for dinner. They asked, in return, that I tell you about this coupon. Well, I've done it. You might want to use it after you see what I did with their mix. 

As readers of this site well know, a boxed mix to me is like a written experiment to conduct a culinary experiment. So while I looked over my box of goodies, I found myself wondering one thing above all:

What would happen if I mixed up a batch of pancakes, but instead of cooking them on the griddle, baked them into one big pancake in a pie plate? 

Well, let me tell you, the oven was set to preheat to 350 (I just stuck with a moderate temperature) within the minute, and I hastened to grab and grease a pie plate.

I prepped the blueberry pancake mix per the instructions, which I can summarize in two easy words for you: ADD WATER.

A batch of 6-7 servings was 1 cup of mix plus 2/3 cup of cold water; figuring a pie plate typically has 8 or so servings, I upped the quantities slightly, using 1 1/2 cups of mix and 1 full cup of cold water. 

I poured the mixture into the prepared pie plate...

and let it bake. I started out at 15 minutes; at that mark, the edges were golden but the center was still light. I let it bake for 2 more minutes, but at that point I took the pancake out because I didn't want the edges to dry out, and the top did look cooked through. 

I took that baby out of the oven, and here's what it looked like: 

I let some butter melt on top, and garnished with a strawberry. Oddly I had no syrup in the house, but as my mamma taught me, a good pancake really doesn't need syrup; it should be able to stand on its own. So how would this one stand up? 

Since there are no rules about how to cut a large pancake baked in a pie plate, I bravely forged my own path and decided to serve it in wedges. It sliced nice and cleanly. Nice, toasty edges, but soft in the center.

The texture was fluffy and perfectly done. I dug in with my fingers, because A) I am a LADY, and B) the closest fork was a marathon 20 feet away. 

Well, I'll be. This worked pretty darned well! The texture was very fluffy. While the finished creation looked cake-like, it definitely still had the soul of a pancake. It was a fun and novel way to serve them, and the mix tasted just fine without syrup, I think. 

This experiment got my mind going in so many directions.  You could doctor the mix up with add-ins like chocolate chips, nuts, or banana slices; or, what if you baked up two large pancake rounds and stacked them with a maple buttercream for a sort of ultimate breakfast pancake cake?

Or, in keeping of the "Breakfast Night" theme, you could top this sweet pancake with eggs, sausage, and/or bacon for a savory delight.

Of course, you could just bake it up and serve hot little pancake wedges, like I did.

If you want to recreate this magic, here's how I did it!

Oven blueberry pancake 

  • 1 1/2 cups Krusteaz Blueberry Pancake Mix
  • 1 cup cold water 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease a pie plate.

  1. Mix the pancake mix and water together with a wooden spoon, only long enough to moisten.
  2. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.
  3. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until the edges are golden and the top has a matte finish (it may still be light in color).
  4. Remove from the oven, let cool slightly, and serve. 

Have you ever baked pancakes in the oven? 

February 23: National Banana Bread Day

So, today is National Banana Bread Day. I say you celebrate with something slightly better than banana bread--BANANA CAKE.

Forget you, banana bread! 

Hummingbird cake is a delicately-textured spiced banana cake. While it has characteristics of banana bread, its texture and sweetness bring it firmly into cake territory.

Traditionally, hummingbird cake is made with pecans and bits of pineapple. But recently, I did a little experiment where I substituted "pineapple" for "chocolate bar" and "pecans" for "hazelnuts" in the recipe.

Did it alter the finished flavor? Yes. Is it traditional? Not quite. But will you forgive me because of its insane deliciousness? I sure hope so. 

Chocolate-hazelnut hummingbird cake recipe here. 

February 22: National Margarita Day.

Today is National Margarita Day. Do you like margaritas?

I'll tell you a secret: in general, I don't. I will make exceptions for exceptionally well-made specimens, such as the wonderful ones my friend Susannah made when I went on a food blogger trip to Florida. 

But what I do like is chocolate, and cleverness. In that order, most of the time. And this tutorial fits the bill for both: how to make chocolate cups that look like margaritas. They're inexpensive to make, look adorable, and in my opinion, taste better than an actual margarita.


Of course, if you prefer your margarita in cake form, you could try out this margarita cupcake recipe. It's worth your time.

Tutorial for white chocolate cups that look like margaritas here.

February 21: National Sticky Bun Day

It's National Sticky Bun Day. I'd take sticky buns over buns of steel any day.

A couple weeks ago, I received a recipe submission from Grand Lux Cafe--a little something called warm sticky bun bread pudding. Sticky buns = fantastic. Sticky buns coated in custard and baked to sweet perfection? OMG territory.

I'd never heard of Grand Lux before, but apparently they have locations in several states, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Illinois. Who knew? Not me. But upon perusing their dessert menu, I don't think I'd mind paying them a visit at all. 

But I digress. Let's get down to the buns at hand!

Warm Sticky Bun Bread Pudding Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 pound Brioche or Challah
  • 8 ounces (2 sticks) melted butter
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp. nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp. salt     

For the custard

  • 2 cups milk
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 4 whole eggs
  • 4 egg yolks
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Cut the bread into 1” cubes. Place the bread cubes into a large mixing bowl.

3. Combine the butter, sugars and spices in a mixing bowl, whisking to combine completely.

4. Pour the mixture over the bread, tossing to fully coat the bread cubes with the mixture. Spread out into a 9x13 baking dish.

6. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.  Be sure to stir the bread cubes once or twice while toasting.

7. While the bread is toasting, make the custard. Whisk all ingredients together until evenly combined. Once the bread has toasted, remove the pan from the oven.

10. Pour the custard over the bread cubes. Allow the mixture to sit for 10-15 minutes before cooking. 

12. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and place into a 300° oven. Bake for 20 minutes.

14. Remove foil from pan and continue to bake for an additional 20-25 minutes, or until light golden brown and the custard has set.  You can test this by inserting a paring knife into the center of the pudding. If the knife comes away clean, or with very little pudding clinging to it, the pudding is ready.

15. Allow the pudding to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. To serve:

  • Top the pudding with toasted pecans and warm caramel sauce.
  • Serve with either vanilla ice cream or crème anglaise.

Enjoy Sticky Bun Day!

Baker's Dozen: A Batch of Sweet Links for National Chocolate Mint Day

Happy Chocolate Mint Day. Let's link. 

DIY Thin Mints cookies. Yes! (CakeSpy for Craftsy)

Mint chocolate cream pie. YES! (Guest post from Sally's Candy Addiction)

Homemade Andes mints. (Homestead and Survival)

Mint chocolate chip semifreddo cake. WOW. (Gringalicious)

Mint chocolate chip whoopie pies! (CakeSpy for Serious Eats)

Thin mint chocolate cake. Does this ever look good! (Bay Leaf Kitchen)

Mint chocolate cake. Like Grasshopper brownies but in cake form. YUM. (Sweetest Menu)

Dark chocolate mint avocado pudding. Looks awesome and intriguing. (Delightful Adventures)

OMG! These little chocolate-mint puddings look like tiny adorable planters!! (Martha Stewart)

Mint chocolate chip shamrock marshmallows. Cute! (The First Year)

Mint chocolate chip oreo cupcakes. These look amazing. (Peas and Peonies)

Vegan peppermint chocolate cupcakes. I haven't been able to get these out of my mind since I first saw them. (Eva Bakes)

These brownies are kind of christmasy, but delicious all year round (just use starlight mints instead of candy canes!). (CakeSpy for Perugina)

Mint chocolate cheesecake brownies. I'll just be alone in the corner crying until I get one of these in my mouth. (The Floating Kitchen)

Book of the week: Mint Chocolate Chip Murder. Because seriously, it exists and that makes me happy. 

February 18: National Crab-Stuffed Flounder Day and National Drink Wine Day

Well, well, well. Today just so happens to be National Crab-Stuffed Flounder Day. No, I wouldn't kid about such a thing. Luckily, it's also National Drink Wine Day. I think I'll stick with the latter. And to make wine really stand out, I know just how to enjoy it: with cake.

This is no ordinary cake. It just so happens to be a decadent flourless chocolate cake served with a red wine glaze. The red wine adds a pleasing acidity to the sweetness of the glaze, which works wonderfully with the extra-dark chocolate. So have your wine, and eat it, too! 

Here's the recipe for flourless chocolate cake with red wine glaze.

What is the Difference Between Marzipan and Almond Paste?

Happy National Almond Day, February 16! On this nutty day, I thought I would explore something I have personally been wondering about: what is the difference between marzipan and almond paste? 

Both are thick pastes, both are made with almonds. So are marzipan and almond paste the same thing? No.

Photo licensed via Creative Commons by Flickr member Aurelien Guichard

Photo licensed via Creative Commons by Flickr member Aurelien Guichard

What is marzipan? 

Marzipan has a fairly broad description: "a confection made from sugar or honey and almond meal". It's an extremely fine dough with a very smooth texture and snow-white color that could easily be confused for fondant. While it wasn't specifically mentioned in any of the definitions I saw, I can tell you anecdotally that marzipan is typically made with almonds from which the skin has been removed (blanched almonds); this allows the mixture to have such a bright color. 

How is it made? 

Here are the key steps in making commercial marzipan.

1. First, the almonds are cleaned, and skins removed, so that the almonds are blanched.

2. Next, the almonds are cooled and then ground with a significant amount of sugar (up to 35% of the mixture). This makes a sort of sweet almond flour, which is then roasted and cooled.

3. Finally, more sugar and a binding agent (starch, sorbitol, etc) are added. From there, the mixture is molded; if you're buying it in the USA, it's probably molded into a little tube and packaged for sale.

While in my reading I discovered that different methods of making it exist. For instance, in Germany, whole almonds are ground with sugar then dried; in France, ground almonds are mixed with sugar syrup. Sometimes, it is made using egg whites. But ultimately it amounts to a similar substance: a stiff, fine dough that can be sculpted, rolled, and used to flavor or fill sweets. 

 

Did you know?

Marzipan has a cousin: persipan. It's a similar but less pricey item to produce, where almonds are replaced by apricot or peach kernels.  

What is almond paste? 

Not to confuse things, but the description of almond paste will probably sound rather familiar after what you just read: 

"Almond paste is made from ground almonds or almond meal and sugar, with small amounts of cooking oil, beaten eggs, heavy cream or corn syrup added as a binder." 

So, what's the dif? 

Primarily, it's an issue of texture. Almond paste is coarser than marzipan, less like fondant; more like the texture of a natural peanut butter that has been left in the fridge and has become firm. This makes it less suited for the delicate sculpting for which marzipan is famous; if you made fruit sculptures from almond paste, they would have a less smooth texture. 

However, that's not always the only difference. While almond paste is usually made with blanched almonds, it isn't always. So sometimes, you'll have almond paste which has little brown flecks of skin in the mixture, which give it an even coarser texture and more beige-y color. 

Additionally, anecdotally, I see more variance in consistency with almond paste than with marzipan. While it's often stiff, sometimes it is much softer than marzipan. 

Here's a recipe for homemade almond paste.


Can they be used interchangeably?

Well, that depends on the use, and it depends on the almond paste and marzipan in question.

 If you're making a filling for almond croissants or for between cake layers, quite frankly, you'll probably be fine substituting a firm almond paste for marzipan. However, as previously noted, the texture of almond paste will make it ill-suited for delicate sculpting or creating cake decorations. 

If the almond paste is softer than marzipan, it might not work as well if substituted in a recipe. 

So here's my advice: use common sense. If the almond paste/marzipan is mixed into other ingredients, or is used in a way that seems like the fine texture of marzipan isn't vital to success, go for it. If it seems like it is going to make your life harder to try and substitute, just go out and buy the other ingredient. 

Hello, what about frangipane?

Frangipane is another almond-scented mixture which is used in pastry, but it's more like a pastry cream, made using almonds, butter, sugar, and eggs. It's a delicious filling or topping used in pastry-making. While it's wonderful, it shouldn't be substituted for either marzipan or almond paste. 

Have you ever baked with marzipan or almond paste?