Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

One of my good friends loves carrot cake, so I decided to make this simple recipe for him. Fortunately, the cake recipe proved to be extremely easy and baked well. (Though the cake did rise quite a bit so that the top was slightly burnt.) Since my friend really loves cream cheese frosting, he demanded that I slice the cake into two separate layers so that he could have a better cake-to-frosting ratio. Surprisingly, I had plenty of frosting for my little cake - though the frosting was extremely runny (which was a bit of a surprise since I used less than a full quarter pound of cream cheese - perhaps it was due to the omission of the pecans.) The most difficult (and disastrous) step was attempting to frost the sides of the cake; my frosting did nothing up run down the sides and pool at the bottom. If I was making this cake again, I would either add an extra ½ c of powdered sugar to the frosting - or else merely frost the top of the cake and forget the sides completely.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
(yields a 7-8" round cake)

2 eggs
½ c. and 2 T. vegetable oil
1 c. white sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
1 t. ground cinnamon
1½ c. grated carrots
½ c. chopped pecans

For the frosting
¼ c. butter, softened
1/4 lb. cream cheese, softened
2 c. powered sugar
½ t. vanilla extract
½ c. chopped pecans (optional)

Beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Combine liquid and dry ingredients and stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into greased and floured pan.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. For the frosting, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans.

Spiral Sugar Cookies

In my continued quest for new recipes, I thought I'd try this cool spiral sugar cookie (and idea I've had for awhile but never knew it was actually possible.) Although this recipe isn't the most difficult I've ever tried, it was a bit of a pain due to the long periods of refrigeration! I was also a little worried about the dough when I first started, since there are practically no "wet" ingredients - though I guess that massive portion of butter made up for the lack of everything else. Sadly, I decided to omit the almond extract (since I didn't have any in my pantry and thought it wouldn't make that much of a difference.) When I finished my cookies, I definitely wished I had added something for a bit more flavor (either the almond extract or a bit more sugar!)

Surprisingly, coloring and rolling out the dough was perhaps the easiest aspect of this entire recipe. However, rolling the two doughs together into a spiral proved a bit of a nightmare. However, the end spiral came out very nicely, so I guess you don't have to worry too much about this when rolling the dough together. I also didn't want to wait four hours while the completed log chilled; instead, I opted to simply freeze the dough for about an hour (which seemed to work fine.) Fortunately, the slicing and baking of the cookies was quick and easy, so I was soon enjoying a beautiful buttery cookie!

Spiral Sugar Cookies
(yields 2½ dozen small cookies

2 c. flour
½ t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
⅔ c. powdered sugar
¼ sugar
1¼ c. butter
1 t. vanilla extract
½ t. almond extract
gel food coloring (any color)
2 T. flour
1 c. multi-colored nonpareil decors or sprinkles

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugars. Cube the butter and cut into flour mixture. Continue to combine until it has a cornmeal consistency. Add the vanilla and form into a ball. Divide the dough into two equal parts. To one of the halves, add almond extract, enough food coloring to obtain the desired color, and 2 tablespoons flour. On wax paper or parchment paper, roll the dough into a letter-size (A4) sheet that is about &frad14" thick.) Repeat with the non-colored dough on a separate sheet of paper. Place another sheet of paper atop each piece of dough and chill in a refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Once the dough has chilled completely, remove the top layers of wax paper and stack both sheets of dough together. With a sharp knife, cut the edges. Carefully roll the doughs along the long edge. (You might have to wait 10-15 so that the dough will be soft enough to roll.) Pour the nonpareils in a flat pan, and roll the dough to cover all sides. (I used sprinkles and used far less than a cup - though I had problems with my sprinkles not sticking.) Chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours. Preheat the oven to 325°F (162°C.) Slice cookie roll into ¼" slices and bake on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet for 15 minutes.

Thin Mints

I was searching Pinterest a couple weeks ago in my quest for new cookie recipes and came across this great recipe for the classic Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie. Since this was my favorite childhood cookies, I knew I had to try it; however, I also wanted to make it a little more festive for the holiday season. In researching several recipes, I noticed that most of them called for flavoring the chocolate with mint. I have been dying to use my snowflake cookie cutter (my absolute favorite cutter) and because of the overpowering nature of mint, I figured that the flavor of the chocolate would be buried a bit - so white chocolate could be substituted.

Surprisingly, the cookies themselves proved extremely easy to mix, cut, and bake. The only major issue I had due to the fact that my small toaster oven only allowed me to bake three cookies at a time. I had to cut and re-roll the dough several times over the course of the evening, and the dough definitely incorporated a lot of extra flour during all these extra rollings. (Had I been using a regular over and larger cookie sheets, this wouldn't have been a problem.) ANother problem I had at first was the cookies cracking when I tried to remove them from the cookie sheet (this was before I discovered that they needed to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to the wire rack.) I'm assuming this would be less of a problem if a more basic (round) shape cookie cutter were used.)

When it came time to dip the cookies, I had no problems melting the chocolate (though it did require a couple tablespoons of shortening to get a silky smoothness.) Unfortunately, I found that when I actually dipped my cookie the weight of the added chocolate broke several more of my snowflakes. (I can definitely see why the Girl Scouts stick with basic circles!) However, after a couple cookie disasters (or sampling opportunities, if you want to be more positive), I mastered the dipping process. Sadly, my 2 cup bag of white chocolate only provided enough to coat about half my cookies. Fortunately, the cookies do taste exactly how I remember thin mints, and they are just as addictive!


Thin Mints
(yields 3-4 dozen cookies)

1 c. butter, room temperature
1 c. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
¾ t. salt
1½ c. flour

Chocolate Coating
1 package baking chocolate (I used white chocolate, the but traditional recipe calls for semi-sweet chocolate)
1 t. peppermint extract
1-2 T. shortening (if needed to achieve creaminess)

Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Mix in powdered sugar and continue to cream. Stir in the vanilla extract and cocoa powder. (THe batter will be the consistency of a thick frosting.) Add the flour and mix until all the flour is incorporated. Form the dough into two flatten discs and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes. Roll out dough on a floured surface (dough should be extremely thin - about &frac18".) Cut your desired cooking shapes and place on a cookie sheet. (These cookies do not expand much, so feel free to place them quite close.) Bake at 350°F (177°C) for 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool for about 5 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack. When the cookies are completely cooled, melt chocolate and peppermint extract (I had to add a couple tablespoons of shortening to get the desired smoothness from my white chocolate.) Using a fork, dip the cookies in the mint chocolate mixture and place on parchment paper. Refrigerate or freeze to set chocolate.

Funfetti Donuts

I wanted to make a fun treat for my students, and how can you go wrong with a donut topped by sprinkles! I found this basic recipe online for a funfetti recipe and thought I'd give it a try. Sadly, I somehow left the baking powder out when I baked it (though it didn't seem to have any adverse affect.) However, I'm still not that impressed with baked donuts - though just don't compare with the fried goodness that is a bakery donut! Fortunately, my students didn't seem to mind since it was still a mouth-full of sugar.

Funfetti Donuts
(yields 8-10 donuts)

1 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
¼ t. baking soda
¼ t. nutmeg
&frac13 c. sugar
¼ c. milk
¼ c. Greek yogurt
1 egg
2 T. butter, melted
1½ t. vanilla extract
½ c. rainbow sprinkles

Frosting
Approximately 1 c. powdered sugar
1-2 T. milk
1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F (168°C). Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and sugar. In a separate bowl, mix milk, yogurt, egg, butter, and vanilla. Add the liquid to the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Gently mix in the rainbow sprinkles. Bake in a greased pan for 8-10 minutes. When cooled, frost and top with sprinkles.

Cranberry Shortbread Bars with Almond Streusel

Since today is Thanksgiving, I wanted to make a special dessert for my foreign students. Sadly, I have already made both pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie (as well as a pumpkin cake), so I had pretty much exhausted the traditional Thanksgiving dessert. (I had considered a pecan pie, but I really wanted to try something other than a pie.) After an extensive search of Pinterest for Thanksgiving recipes, I finally came across these cranberry bars - and since cranberries are all the rage in Korea right now, I was actually able to find a bag of frozen cranberries!

For the recipe, I didn't have an 8" square pan, so I had to divide the recipe between my 8" round pan and a small loaf pan I bought months ago. The recipe itself wasn't that difficult - though it does require many steps and messes a lot of dishes. I had never really made a shortbread before, but found it to be fairly easy (though a very dry dough.) I found that I actually had the best luck using my fingers to mix the dough (since the heat helped melt the butter.) Then, I just refrigerated the mixed dough for a few minutes to lower the temperature again. While the shortbread was baking, I made the streusel and filling - both without problem.

When the bars were finished baking, I discovered I have a very dense, but very delicious dessert! (I can't believe how much these bars weight!) The original recipe (with the square pan) instructed that you use leave long edges to the parchment paper line so that you can remove the bars by lifting up. I was unable to do this with my round pan, but did to it with the loaf pan; I have to say, I preferred it without the extra parchment (though still use it on the bottom.) With my loaf pan, the middle layer of cranberry formed a glue against the parchment paper - I actually had to cut the paper way! For my round pan, I was able to merely scrape the sides with a knife and then carefully turn the bars out with the help of a kitchen towel - the bars are like a solid brick, so it wasn't a problem.

Cranberry Shortbread Bars with Almond Streusel
(yields one 8" square pan of bars

For the Shortbread:
1½ c. flour
½ c. sugar
¼ t. salt
10 T. cold butter, cut into pieces

For the Streusel
½ c. flour
⅓ c. light brown sugar
⅓ c. sugar
¼ t. salt
¼ T. butter, cut into pieces
½ c. sliced almonds

For the Filling
8 oz. fresh or frozen cranberries
¾ c. sugar
½ c. water
1 t grated orange zest

Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C). Sift together flour, sugar, and salt for the shortbread. Mix in butter until large clumps of dough form. Place the dough into a parchment lined 8" square pan and press into place with a glass or measuring cup. Prick the dough with a fork, and bake until just starting to brown at the edges (about 25 minutes.) For the streusel, sift together flour, sugars, and salt. Add the butter, using your fingers to mix together. When completely mixed so that not flour remains, add the almonds. Break into kidney bean sized pieces and refrigerate. For the filling, mix the cranberries, sugar, and water in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil (stirring occasionally). Reduce heat to medium low and allow to simmer until the mixture becomes thick and syrupy (about 8 minutes). Remove the pan from the heat and stir in zest. When the shortbread if finished, reduce the oven temperature to 325°F (162°C). Pour the cranberry filling over the shortbread and spread evenly. Top with an even layer of streusel and gently press the streusel into the filling. Bake for an additional 25-30 minutes or until the filling is bubbling and streusel is golden brown. Cool in the pan for 30 minutes. Remove from pan and allow to cool on a wire rack for an additional 30 minutes.

Sugar Cookies with Colored Dough

I have been looking for new cookie ideas - particularly ones for the upcoming holiday season. Since the standard American sugar cookie coated in buttercream frosting is far too sweet for most Korean, I have been looking for ways to "decorate" the traditional sugar cookie without the need for all the extra frosting. I was searching Pinterest last week and came across this pin - which I thought was the perfect solution to my problem!

I made the dough according to the instructions and divided into sections to color. Sadly, my cheap plastic cookie cutters from Daiso (the Korean equivalent of a Dollar Store) didn't work so well. If I tried to make a thicker cookie, the dough got stuck in the cutter. I eventually got a stack of yellow stars and began to mold lengths of plain dough around the shape as instructed. Unfortunately, this completely failed! My original star shape was destroyed, and I ended up with a mess that looked much more like an egg yolk than a star! Fortunately, I was at least able to again separate the yellow and plain doughs. (If I was going to try this again, I might try freezing the yellow stars so that they hold their shape a bit better.

Since the original technique failed, I had to revert to plan B. I cut small yellow stars with my smallest cutter; then, I cut larger stars from the plain dough and made a smaller hole in the center. I, next, had to fill the holes with my yellow stars. It was a bit labor and time intensive, but I'm happy with the final results.



Sugar Cookies #2
(yields 2½ dozen cookies)

1½ c. flour
1 t. baking soda
½ c. sugar
½ c. butter, cold
½ egg
½ t. vanilla extract
food coloring (optional)

In a small bowl, sift together flour and baking soda. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture in parts. Once dough has formed, divide into three parts and color one part (optional.) Roll the color dough to about ¼" and cut with the smallest cookies cutter available. Roll the plain dough to the same thickness and cut with a larger cookie cutter. Use the original (smaller) cookie cutter to make a second cut in the cookie center. Fill with the colored-dough shapes. Bake at 350°F (176°C) for 8-10 minutes. Remove cookies before the edges brown.

Apple Pecan Cake with Caramel Glaze

After the sucess of my pumpkin cake last week, my students requested (demanded) that I make another cake this week. I had found this recipe for an apple pecan cake on Pinterest and thought it would be a nice fall recipe to try. This cake proved to be an extremely easy cake to prepare (though I'm not quite sure why it calls for quite so much vanilla extract!) The original recipe called for an 9"x13" pan, but I simply halved it and prepared it in an 8" round pan. (The original posting said that the secret to this cake was a thin, flat surface that would allow the glaze to seep in.)

The original recipe also stated that this cake would bake in 30-35 minutes; however, mine required at least 40 minutes (though my oven temperature might have been lower than the required 325°F since my toaster oven doesn't have clear settings.) After letting the cake cool, I prepared the glaze without any difficulties (though my glaze is far darker than that in the original recipe - I believe this is because I used a very dark brown sugar.) Before pouring the thin glaze atop the cake, I pierced the top of my cake with a fork (like you would for a tres leches cake to help the cake absorb more of the glaze.) I also discovered that the glaze is extremely messy when first poured over the cake. When I transferred the glaze, about half of the glaze ran off onto my cake platter. I had to transfer the cake to another plate and and re-pour the glaze collected at the bottom of the original platter. If I were making this recipe again, I believe I would allow the glaze to cool and solidify more (maybe 10-15 minutes) before coating the cake.



Apple Pecan Cake
(yields one 8"-9" round cake layer)

¾ c. vegetable oil
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1½ T. vanilla extract
1½ c. flour
½ t. salt
½ t. baking soda
½ t. nutmeg
½ t. cinnamon
½ c. pecans, chopped
1½ c. apples, diced

For the glaze:
¼ c. butter
½ c. brown sugar
½ t. vanilla
¼ c. milk

Preheat oven to 325°F (162°C). Mix vegetable oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until well blended. Sifted together the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Add to the liquid mixture. Stir until just combined. Fold in apple chunks and pecans. Pour into a prepared 8"-9" round cake pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes (or until a knife comes out clean.) Turn onto a wire rack and allow to cool complete. For the glaze, combine all ingredients in a saucepan and mix over medium heat until the mixture comes to a rolling boil. Pour the mixture atop the cake while the glaze is still hot. Allow to cool again before serving.

Pumpkin Cake

After my success with pumpkin purée last month, I decided to buy another pumpkin and try my luck again. I was originally hoping to try something savory with my new pumpkin - but after having it sit on my desk for two-weeks, I decided it was time to simply make another sweet. (Though, fortunately, the pumpkin was big enough that I have extra purée left over to try sometime new - maybe a soup.) Anyway, when I decided to make another pumpkin dessert, I searched online and found this delightful looking cake from Martha Stewart.

I found the recipe rather easy to follow (a rare feature for a recipe from Stewart!) The only problem I encountered with the recipe was the original "brown butter icing" that the recipe calls for. It states that you should brown the butter for about 10-minutes over medium-high heat; I did this over low heat for about 8 minutes and got nothing but a burnt butter nightmare! In the end, I decided to settle for my go-to frosting of powdered sugar, milk, and a small about of vanilla for flavoring. Fortunately, the end result was a beautiful cake that is as delicious as it is beautiful!


Pumpkin Cake
(yields 8"-9" single-layer cake)

½ c. (1 stick) butter
1⅔ c. flour
1 t. cinnamon
¼ t. nutmeg
¼ t. ginger*
½ t. salt
½ t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
1½ c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. pumpkin purée
½ c. warmed (110°F) milk


Sift together flour, spices, baking powder, and baking soda. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the two eggs. Add the pumpkin purée. Add the warmed milk. Add the flour mixture to the liquids until just combined. Pour into a buttered/floured 8'-9" round pan. Bake at 350°F (176°C) for about 55 minutes - or until the center is cooked (test with a knife or toothpick.) Allow the finished cake to cook in the pan for about 20 minutes. Turn the cake over onto a wire rack and coll completely. Frost with Martha's brown butter icing or my simple glaze (1 cup powdered sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla, and 2-3 tablespoons milk.)

Butterscotch Cookies

This butterscotch cookies recipe originated from a women's group in my hometown; every summer, they would bake these cookies and sell them at our county fair. As a child, these were one of my absolute favorite treats. I had never actually tried to bake them until now - though I remember whispers of horror stories from others who had tried this recipe (and had a cookie that failed to live up to the original!)

For me, the hardest part about this recipe was actually preparing them several days before I actually needed them. (Normally, my baking is more of a last minute decision; thinking several days ahead was difficult!) Fortunately, everything on my ingredient list was readily available in my kitchen - though I had order the cream of tartar online many months ago (since it's not available in Korea.) While I was preparing the dough, I was chatting with a Korean friend who was quite curious about why the dough needed to be frozen. I hypothesized that it had something with chilling the fats (the butter) so that it would bake at a much slower rate. However, once I'd finished mixed all the ingredients, I discovered that this explanation was completely wrong! The finished dough has the consistency of peanut butter (and is practically impossible to shape into a loaf); it needs to be frozen so that it can maintain its shape! I created a very rough looking loaf (using the foil to help.) Fortunately, after freezing for a couple hours, I was able to actually re-shape the dough into a true loaf (a single tube that was evenly shaped, and about the size of a rolling pin.)

When I went to bake the cookies a couple days later, I found that I had absolutely no trouble slicing and baking the cookies (though the dough was still much softer than I would have expected after several days in the freezer.) I will also say that my cookies did not really rise or flatten out during baking (which was nice since I was able to bake several cookies at one time.) Fortunately, the cookies were loved by everyone. (I sampled a small piece, and they definitely have a strong butterscotch flavor!)


Butterscotch Cookies
(yields about 6 dozen cookies - depending on how large or small you make your loaves)

2 c. brown sugar
½ c. butter, softened
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla
1½ t. cream of tartar
½ t. salt
3⅓ c. flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Sift together flour, cream of tartar, and salt. Add to the liquid ingredients. Shape into two rolls and wrap in aluminium foil. Freeze for at least 24 hours. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F (175°C.) Cut frozen dough into ¼ inch (½ cm) slices and bake for 9-10 minutes.

Pumpkin Tart

When I was living in the States last year, I had tried this recipe from Martha Stewart Living. Since I had success with it (and had purchased a tart-pan earlier this year), I decided to try it again. Sadly, my original recipe called for a 10-inch tart pan - and currently pan is only 7-inches, which made for some difficult reductions to the recipe below. I basically just used ¾ of everything for the crust (and had plenty of extra.) For the filling, I used just over half of everything (and still had extra.) If I was making this recipe again, I would probably just cut everything evenly in half.

Fortunately, most of the ingredients were readily available in Korea. I did have to start with fresh pumpkin rather than canned, but that was a surprisingly easy experience. I simply purchased a small baking pumpkin (much smaller than a Jack-o'lantern pumpkin.) I sliced the pumpkin into small chunks (removing the seeds & slimy inners and peeled the outside using a vegetable peeler.) Then, I simply boiled the chunks for about 20-minutes and passed through my blender. I was also unable to locate sour cream in my area, so I simply substituted Greek yogurt with a small amount of baking soda added (1 t. baking soda per cup of yogurt.) I will also warn that I used a dark brown sugar in the filling, which resulted in a much darker coloring; last year, I must have used the specified "light" brown sugar because the coloring was totally different! However, the end result was well-loved by both my co-workers and students, so I'm happy.


Chocolate Tart Crust
yields one 10-inch tart

1 c. all-purpose flour
¼ c. plus 1 T. sugar
¼ c. unsweetened cocoa powder
½ t. salt
½ t. cinnamon
½ c. (1 stick) cold butter
1 egg
4 oz. semisweet chocolate

Mix flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and cinnamon. Divide butter into small pieces and cut into dry mixture until butter pieces are the size of peas. Add the egg and mix until it forms dough. Roll the dough to approximately 1/8 inch on a well-floured surface. Press the rolled dough into a 10-inch tart pan (with a removable bottom.) Use a fork to prick the crust bottom, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Bake for 15 minutes at 350°F. Carefully remove from oven and add finely chopped chocolate over the warm crust. Spread with a spatula until completely melted and smooth.


Pumpkin Filling
1 can (15 oz) Pumpkin (not pie filling)
¾ c. light brown sugar
8 oz. sour cream
3 large eggs
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. ground ginger
¼ t. nutmeg
¼ t. salt
2 oz. semisweet chocolate (optional)

Combine all ingredients except for chocolate and stir until smooth. (Pass mixture through a sieve if large chunks remain.) Pour into chocolate crust and bake at 350°F for 40-50 minutes. Let cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes. Melt chocolate in a double boiler until the chocolate is smooth and creamy. Pour into a plastic bag with a small hole cut in a bottom corner. Pipe a spider web design on the top of the cooled pumpkin. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour (up to 1 day.)

Cinnamon Rolls

I have been reading the children's novel Everything on a Waffle with one of my classes. Since the book features a recipe with each chapter, I decided to attempt one of these recipes - cinnamon rolls. Unfortunately, the recipe listed in the book is written in narrative form (with several vague details.) Sadly, this recipe was a yeast-based recipe - and as I started it, I discovered that my yeast was obviously dead and gone! Since I still wanted to make cinnamon rolls for my class, I did a quick Internet search for yeast-less cinnamon roll recipe.

Fortunately, the rolls I made were extremely easy to prepare (far easier than the yeast disaster from my book.) Sadly, the rolls seemed a little bland - they definitely weren't a moist or flaky roll.

Cinnamon Rolls
(fills a 7-inch round pan)

Dough
1 c. flour
1 T. sugar
2 t. baking powder
½ t. salt
1½ T butter, softened
3 oz. (⅜ c.) milk

Filling
2 T. butter, softened
½ c. sugar (brown or white)
2 t. cinnamon

Mix the filling ingredients to a crumbly mixture. Add ½ the mixture to the bottom of the pan. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut the softened butter into the flour mixture. Stir in the milk to form a soft dough. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until formed into a ¼ rectangle. Top with the remaining cinnamon/sugar mixture and roll. Cut into about ten even slices. Bake at 400°F (205°C) for 20-25 minutes. Create a basic frosting with a glaze created from powdered sugar and milk (probably about ½ c powdered sugar and 1-2 T of milk.)

Zebra Cake

I have been wanting to try my hand at a zebra cake for some time. I again used this basic white cake recipe that I had found online (I had previously used it for my Easter Chick Cupcakes.) I found this online video very helpful in the construction of the zebra stripes. The finished cake was extremely moist (I highly recommend this recipe!) Unfortunately, the stripes were a little less than I'd hoped for...

Zebra Cake (White Cake)
(yields one 9-inch round cake layer)

1 cup sugar
½ c. butter
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla
1½ c. flour
1¾ t. baking powder
½ t. salt
⅔ c. milk

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the sugar mixture. Add the milk and stir until smooth. If creating a zebra cake, divide the batter into two parts and color one with food coloring. Grease and flour a 9-inch pan. Pour ½ cup of the white batter into the center of the pan. Add ½ cup of the colored batter into the center of the first scoop. Continue adding batter in ½ cup amounts alternating between plain and colored batter. Bake for 35-40 minutes. When cooled, frost with buttercream frosting.

Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

This week, I continued my new-found love of donut baking with a batch of cinnamon-sugar donuts. Sadly, this recipe was extremely different from the one I'd used previously to make a chocolate cake donut. When I first followed this recipe, I found that it was practically liquid once I'd mixed all the ingredients. I added an addition ¼ cup flour to thicken it up, but it still left an incredibly thin batter.

When I baked the donuts, I did find that they rose quite a bit! I had initially filled the pan practically full since that worked so well last week. Sadly these donuts rose and completely covered the middle hole (and stuck to the ungreased sides of the pan. After my first failed batch, I used less batter (filling the wells about ½ full) for a small, but well formed, donut.

Once the donuts had cooled, I brushed them with butter and then coated with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. The original recipe called for ½ of both sugar and brown sugar, but I found this to be far too much. In my recipe below, I cut the amounts in half (and I believe it will still produce leftovers!) The donuts did look great when I first made them - though after storing them overnight, many of them seemed a soggy, butter mess. Still, my students definitely seemed to enjoy them (but how can you really go wrong with cinnamon, sugar, and butter!?!?


Cinnamon Sugar Donuts
yields about 12 donuts

1¼ c. flour
¾ c. sugar
¾ t. baking powder
¼ t. baking soda
½ t. salt
½ t. cinnamon
1 egg
½ c. plus 2 T. buttermilk*
1 t. vanilla
3 T. butter, melted


Coating:
¼ c. sugar
¼ c. brown sugar
½ T. cinnamon
3 T. butter, melted

*I used a milk/vinegar substitute in place of the buttermilk. (½ c. plus 1½ T. milk with ½ T. vinegar.)

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Combine egg and buttermilk. Melt 3 tablespoons over medium heat until brown and bubbly (the originally recipe stated that it should smell "nutty".) Add the melted butter to the milk/egg mixture. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour into a greased donut pan (filling the pan just slightly over halfway.) Bake at 350°F (178°C) for 9-12 minutes. Allow to cool in pan. Combine the dry ingredients for the coating. When completely cooled, brush with melted butter and dip in the sugar/cinnamon.

Chocolate Donuts

I had seen a recipe for baked donuts on Pinterest a few weeks ago, but thought I would merely have to dream about baking donuts since I didn't have a donut baking pan. Imagine my surprise when I was randomly strolling threw Daiso (the Korean version of a dollar store) and discovered the exact pan I wanted (for less than $5!) I thought this was definitely a sign that it was time for me to get in the donut business!

After searching for a few donut recipes (the original recipe called for far too many ingredients I could never find in Korea), I opted for this simply chocolate donut recipe (which was basically just a simple cake recipe.) I didn't really have any problems with the actual baking of the donuts - though my pan was too large to fit inside my small toaster oven, so I had to bend the pan and only use four of the molds (something that wasn't that big of issue since my recipe made eight donuts.) My only piece of advice for baking the donuts is to put the batter into a Ziploc bag and cut one corner to form a make-shift pastry bag. I originally tried spooning the batter into the molds, and that was a messy nightmare!

Unfortunately, after I'd baked the donuts and started washing the dishes, I discovered that I'd accidentally used 2/3 cups cocoa rather than ½ cup! (My ½ c. measuring cup wouldn't fit into the cocoa container, so I had to use the ¼ cup - or at least I thought I had! When I went to wash everything, I discovered that I had used the &frac13 cup instead. I'm hoping the the extra sweet glaze will draw away from any bitterness the extra cocoa might produce.


Chocolate Donuts
(yields about 8 donuts)

1¼ c. flour
½ c. cocoa powder
½ t. baking soda
¼ t. salt
½ c. milk
½ c. brown sugar
1 egg
4 T. butter, melted
2 T. coffee
1 t. vanilla extract

Sugar Glaze (optional)
½ c. powdered sugar
¼ t. vanilla
2-3 T. milk (or water)

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a second bowl, mix the milk, sugar, butter, egg, coffee, and vanilla. In parts, add the liquid mixture into the flour mixture. Stir until well combined. Fill a greased donut pan ¾ full with the mixture. Bake at 325°F (162°C) for 13 minutes (or until firm to the touch.) Allow to cool in the pan and then turn over onto a wire rake. Coat with powdered sugar or a simple glaze. For the glaze, mix all ingredients until very smooth (more milk or water can be added as needed.) Either spoon onto the donuts or dip the tops directly into the glaze.

Applie Pie Muffins

The past few weeks, I have been following a bit of a processed sugar/flour detox - so needless to say, that has cut out my weekly baking. However, I really wanted to bake something special for the women who work in my school's cafeteria, so I thought these Apple Pie Muffins would be perfect. I originally found this recipe on Pinterest a couple years ago and baked them once in the States (or at least I thought I had.) This recipe seemed very different from the muffins I remembered!

The biggest difference was the topping, which basically had the consistency of wet sand (rather than a crumbly texture I remember last time (the way the topping looked in the website's photos!) I was so worried that after mixing the topping, I had to return to my computer just to check that I had correctly copied the recipe (I though maybe it should have been white sugar rather than flour - but it definitely called for flour...) Fortunately, the batter proved to be no problem - or at least no more problem than the trouble of peeling and dicing two apples!

When I baked the muffins, I found the batter did not rise all that much - I definitely recommend filling the tins at least ¾ of the way full. Sadly, the topping did not behave as I remembered with my previous Apple Pie Muffins; this time, the topping basically melted and gave the muffins a darker sugar coating (rather than a crumbly top. Since I was not able to actually taste the muffins (since I'm still observing the no sugar/flour diet), I'm forced to rely on Korean taste buds for this review. My co-workers definitely enjoyed these muffins - though they thought the topping was entirely too sweet (I'm guessing that a Westerner wouldn't have had issue with this.) The cake seemed very moist, and definitely smelled wonderful!

Apple Pie Muffins
yields 18-24 muffins

Topping:
½ c. brown sugar
1/3 c. flour
1 t. cinnamon
2 T. butter, melted

Batter:
2¼ c. flour
1 t. baking soda
½ t. salt
1 egg
1 c. buttermilk (or 1 c. milk plus 1 t. vinegar)
½ c. butter, melted
1 t. vanilla
1½ c. brown sugar
2 c. diced apples (about 2 large apples)

Mix topping ingredients until crumb-like and then set aside. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together egg, buttermilk, butter, and vanilla. Stir in the brown sugar. Without mixing add the flour, baking soda, salt, and apples. Gently fold the mixture until the ingredients are just combined. Be careful not to overmix! Pour into a paper lined muffin tin and bake 375°F (190°C) for 20 minutes. Remove from oven when muffins are firm to the touch.

Banana Bread

Although I love banana bread, I have never been able to find what I consider the "perfect" recipe. I had tried this recipe in the past (and was somewhat satisfied), but I wanted to continue my search for something better. Searching online, I found this highly recommended recipe (though I used the users' comments to altered to get the recipe below.)

Although my Korean co-workers were very pleased with this cake, I was a little disappointed. I used 4 medium-sized bananas, but felt it lacked in banana favor; if I make this again, I would probably up the number of bananas to at least five. I also wish I had used more cinnamon and less nutmeg (I couldn't even taste the cinnamon.) However, my co-workers were quite please, so I guess it wasn't too bad. (It's not as sweet as many banana bread recipes, so that might be why it appealed to them so much...)


Banana Bread
(yields one 9"x5" pan)

2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
½ c. butter, softened
½ c. brown sugar
½ c. sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 t. vanilla
½ t. nutmeg
½ t. cinnamon
4 ripe bananas
½ c. walnuts, chopped (optional)

In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add eggs, vanilla, and spices. Mash bananas and mix with the liquid ingredients. Combine the liquid with the flour mixture, stirring until just mixed. Add the walnuts, and pour batter into a greased 9"x5" pan. Bake at 300°F (150°C) for about 1 hour.*

*The original recipe called for a bake time of 60-65 minutes. My banana bread was finished long before that; I would guess that it took closer to 45-50 minutes. Check regularly to see that your bread doesn't burn.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

A couple days ago, I went grocery shopping with a friend who just had to buy some discounted pineapple (he was hungry and impulse buying.) When it came time to eat dinner that night, he decided that he was too full to touch the pineapple he'd purchased for dessert. Since it was already past its prime when we bought it, I decided that it was best to make use of this pineapple before it simply rotted in my refrigerator.

I believe I have made a pineapple upside-down cake at some point in my life - but it would have been ages ago. I decided to try this relatively simple recipe, which I found after viewing many other not-so-simple sounding recipes. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy this cake was! The only challenges were melting the topping (it seemed like my sugar mixture stayed "gritty" even after boiling for the recommended time.) I also got another work-out with the challenge of beating egg whites to stiff peaks with just a whisk. (I really need to invest in an electric mixer!)

Fortunately, all the effort was worth it because this might be my best-tasting cake yet! I was extremely pleased with how moist the cake was. My only complaint was that my pineapple slices shifted when the cake baked and expanded. If I was baking this cake again, I would probably try to arrange the pineapple rings more tightly in the pan - that or I might just try cutting the slices into smaller chunks so that it formed a more solid layer of pineapple. However, since the cake is delicious, I really can't complain.


Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
(makes one 8-9 inch round cake)

Topping
¼ c. butter
¾ c brown sugar
sliced pineapple

Cake
1½ c flour
2 t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
½ c. softened butter
1 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs, separated
½ c. milk
¼ t. cream of tartar

Melt the butter and brown sugar in a saucepan until completely dissolved. Heat the mixture for an additional couple minutes until bubbles form. Pour into a greased 8" (or 9") pan. Add a layer of pineapple rings. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a second bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla and egg yolks (one at a time.) Add the milk and flour mixture, alternating between wet and dry ingredients. Mix the egg whites and cream of tartar. Beat until stiff peaks form and gently fold into the cake batter. Pour atop the pineapple and bake for 45-50 minutes at 350°F (177°C.) Remove from oven and allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack and then turn over onto a serving dish.

M&M Blondies

I have been buying M&Ms for the past several weeks with the hopes of making M&M blondies - though the M&Ms somehow always seem to disappear long before I get around to the actual baking. Fortunately, I managed to save the required cup of M&Ms this week and make this decent recipe from The Chew (an American cooking show I really miss.)

Sadly, I decided to use dark brown sugar rather than the light brown sugar the recipe called for; the end result was a dessert that should probably be called brunette-ies rather than blondies - though the flavor is still delicious! I also lack an 8-inch pan, so I had to divide the batter into two batches so that I could use my 6-inch square pan (though this also posed no problem other than doubling the amount of time I needed to run my toaster oven.) Overall, I was very happy with the recipe!

M&M Blondies
(makes one 8"x8" pan)

1 c. light brown sugar
1 large egg
1½ t. vanilla
½ c. butter, melted
1½ c. flour
pinch of salt
½ t. baking soda
1 c. plain M&Ms

Beat together the brown sugar and egg until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes.) Add vanilla and melted butter. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Combine the flour mixture with the liquid ingredients. Mix half the M&Ms into the batter. Pour into a greased pan and top with remaining M&Ms. Bake at 325°F (162°C) for 20-25 minutes.

Angel Food Cake

This weekend, I actually made two of these cakes. I was worried that the tube pan I'd purchased barely fit inside my toaster oven - the metal "tube" actually touched the top of my oven, so I wanted to do a "test" cake before I actually baked for my co-workers. Fortunately, I discovered that the center of my oven is slightly taller than the opening, so the pan didn't actually touch the oven's roof - but it was very, very close! The top did burn a little during baking, but I was easily able to trim the burnt pieces after cooling.

As for the actual recipe, it is fairly straight-forward. The only aspect that posed any challenge is beating the egg whites to a stiff peak - which is quite the workout without the aid of an electric mixer! I was also a little curious as to why the dry ingredients needed to be sifted so many times (the original recipe called for 5 siftings - I only did three and had no issues.) Although the cake is a little denser than what I'd have in the States, it was still very tasty. (I believe the denseness might the be result of overmixing the dry ingredients into the egg whites - less is more when it comes to stirring with whipped ingredients!



Angel Food Cake
(yields one 6-7" tube pan)

¾ c. egg whites
½ c. plus 2 T. flour
¾ c. plus 2 T. sugar
&frac18 t. salt
½ t. cream of tartar
¼ t. vanilla
¼ t. almond extract*

Beat the egg white until they form stiff peaks. Add the cream of tartar, vanilla (and optional almond extract) and mix well. Sift together flour, sugar, and salt. Re-sift two to three additional times. Gently combine the egg whites with the dry ingredients and pour into an ungreased tube pan. Place cake in a cold oven, and set temperature to 325°F (165°C). Bake for approximately 55-60 minutes or until golden brown. Invert pan and allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the pan.

I omitted this since I didn't have almond extract and don't think of angel food cake as having an almond-y flavor.

Easter Chicks

Last year, I had made these cupcakes when I was still living in the States - and had a regular oven. I wanted to replicate them again this year (especially since I had brought a small bottle of leftover yellow sugar crystals with me.) I didn't really have much issue with the cake recipe (though it's not the greatest of cake flavor-wise.) Still, the original recipe was for one 9-inch square cake, so I didn't have to alter anything to get the right size for my cupcake batch.

For the actual decoration, I found that it was far more work than I remember (though I do remember it being more time-consuming than it would appear.) I made a basic buttercream frosting from the Wilton website - though I found that I had to add several additional tablespoons of water to get the correct consistency! I iced the cupcakes with yellow and the added the yellow sugar. (I was actually surprised at how much more yellow sugar I used this time. I had only used &frac13 of my bottle last year...this year I used all the remaining sugar!)

After frosting and sugaring the cupcakes, I used a piping tip to make the wings. I know the original design called for a 102 tip (which is shaped somewhat like an elongated teardrop.) Sadly, the decorating kit I purchased at my local Home Plus did not have anything similar, so I had to improvise with a leaf tip, which didn't give me as nice of shape as the 102. After coating the wings in additional sugar, I used my remaining yellow frosting as the base for my orange (for the beaks and feet.) Unfortunately, the second I added the red food coloring to the yellow frosting, I got a nasty salmon color rather than the bright orange I'd hoped for. Since I couldn't use the hideous salmon, I had to think of a quick substitute. Since I had made previously made owl cupcakes that used yellow M&Ms as beaks, I decided to copy that idea with orange M&Ms. I finished the cupcake with chocolate chip eyes with white frosting for the midle. Although I prefer the design with frosted beaks, my co-workers thought they were extremely cute. I think they spent more time photographing the cupcakes than they did actually eating them; they especially like how each chick was looking a different direction and seemed to have a unique expression.


Vanilla Cupcakes
(yields 16 cupcakes)

1 c sugar
½ c butter
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla
½ t. salt
1½ c. flour
1¾ t. baking powder
¾ c. milk

Cream butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs one at a time and beat until smooth. Add vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter and mix completely. Add the milk to complete the batter. Pour into a lined muffin tin (I used individual silicone cupcake molds.) Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 25-30 minutes.

Apple Walnut Bundt Cake

In Korea, the larger grocery stores are forced to closed two days/month so that smaller stores have a chance to compete. Sadly, most of these smaller stores are a bit lacking in their baking departments (you can get the basics, but nothing too fancy!) Because of this, I was somewhat limited to what I already had in my kitchen last night (though I did manage to find walnuts at a local corner store.)

For the actual baking process, I found this to be one of the more challenging cakes (though not because it was difficult, but simply because it dirtied a million different dishes so my small kitchen was very cluttered!) I did discover that I didn't reduce the original recipe quite enough - I again had the cake overflow and make a huge mess inside my toaster oven. I also found that my oven might be a tad small for the 7-inch Bundt pan I purchased; the top always seems to burn against my oven's roof (though that might only be because I overfilled the pan!)

Fortunately, the final result was a great tasting cake that was well-liked by my Korean co-workers (in fact, they preferred this to my 7-Up Cake last week. I think the fruit and nuts gave it a richer taste - and is more similar to the cakes you typically find in bakeries in Korea. It was a moist, delicious cake that I would definitely try again!


Apple Walnut Bundt Cake
(fills one 7-inch Bundt Pan)

1 heaping cup apples, pealed and diced
1¾ t. sugar
½ t. cinnamon
1¾ c. flour
1¾ t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
1 c. plus 3 T. sugar
½ plus 1 T vegetable oil
2 T. plus 1 t. orange juice
2 eggs
¾ c. chopped walnuts

Dice apples and mix with sugar and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. In a mixing bowl, mix sugar, oil, orange juice and eggs until smooth. Add the flower mixture to the liquid in three equal parts. Fold the walnuts into the batter. Pour &frac13 of the batter into a greased and floured Bundt pan. Top with half the cinnamon apple mixture. Add another &frac13 of the batter and top with the remaining apples. Add the final third of batter over the apples. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 hours (or until a knife comes out clean.)

7-Up Cake

After a shopping outing in Seoul this past weekend for cake pans, I have been excited to try my skill at toast oven baking again. I had originally planned to make a chiffon or angel food cake; unfortunately, I discovered that both those recipes require cream or tartar (something that I passed up in Seoul because I couldn't think of a single recipe that used it!) Instead, I went on a quest of find a good recipe to test my new Bundt pan.

In my search, I found a recipe for 7-Up Cake that looked both easy and delicious (and since I spent the past year in the American South, I thought it would be a nice fit.) The recipe proved to be incredibly easy (though the original recipe was written for a 12-inch pan, so I got some rather odd measurements.) I also discovered halfway through the baking process that I lack a liquid measuring cup - so I had to guesstimate on the amount of soda.

During the baking process, my apartment was filled with the most amazing scent - for the first 20 minutes. Then, I smelled something burning (which shouldn't have been my cake since it was still far too early.) I discovered that the cake had risen to the point where it was pressed against the roof of my toaster oven, and the top was slowly burning! Fortunately, I was able to take the cake out and merely cut the top part away so that it fit inside my oven and could finish baking. This also allowed me to taste the burnt parts - which were quite good. After another 30 minutes or so, my cake was finally finished (and looked perfect!) My only advice would be to hold back a little on the batter. I had saved enough for four cupcakes when I first poured the cake; if I could go back and start again, I probably would have saved enough for six in hopes that the Bundt pan wouldn't overflow!


7-Up Cake
(fills one 7 inch Bundt pan with batter left for 4-5 cupcakes)

¾ c. plus 2 Tablespoons softened butter
1¾ c. sugar
3 eggs
1¾ c. flour
1 t. vanilla*
¼ c. plus 3 T 7-Up (or any lemon-lime soda)

Cream butter and sugar until very well mixed (the original recipe stated 20 minutes, but I only mixed for about 10 and had no problem.) Add the eggs one at a time. Add flour and vanilla. Fold in 7-Up. Bake at 375°F (165°C) for about 50 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean.)

* The original recipe called for lemon extract, but I substituted vanilla since I didn't have any lemon. I considered just using lemon juice or zest (as recommended for substitution online); however, I have found that Korean aren't fans of lemon-flavored desserts - so vanilla became my substitution of choice.