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.

M&M Cookies

When I was in elementary school, one of my classmate's mothers always baked the best M&M cookies. I had hoped to replicate her cookies by finding the perfect recipe online. Sadly, all of the recipes I found were basically just chocolate chip cookie recipes that substituted M&Ms for the chocolate chips.

Although these cookies were easy to bake (it's almost identical to my chocolate chip cookie recipe), I was a little disappointed with the end result. I think regular chocolate chip cookies would have been better - guess I'll have to keep searching for the M&M cookie that will live up to my memories...

M&M Cookies

yields 4 dozen cookies

½ c. butter

½ c. shortening

1 c. packed brown sugar

½ c. sugar

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

2½ c. flour

1 t. salt

1 t. baking soda

M&M candies (8 oz.)

Preheat oven to 375°F (180°C.) Cream butter, shortening, and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, salt, and baking soda. Combine flour mixture and butter mixture. Drop by tablespoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Add 3-4 M&Ms to the top of each cookie. Bake for 10 minutes.

Strawberry Cheesecake

"Cheesecakes" are quite popular in Korea; however, their version of cheesecake is quite different from the standard American version. (I would say that a Korean "cheesecake" is merely a normal cake with cheese added to the cake batter - at least that's what I'd assume from taste taste and texture.) When I mentioned this to a Korean friend, she told me she'd like to try the American version - thus my quest for the best cheesecake began.

Now, I'm not a particular fan of cheesecake (and I've definitely never baked one.) However, I found this popular (and simple) recipe online and thought it looked do-able. The only negative was the fact that this recipe originally called for a 9" springform pan; since my oven best handles a smaller pan, I had to adjust the recipe for a 7" pan (which resulted in some rather odd measurements.) I would also advice adding more of the strawberry sauce directly to the batter before baking. The original recipe only calles for a thrid of the sauce to be added before baking; if I was making this again, I'd probably double that and only reserve the smaller portion for the final topping sauce.

Strawberry Cheesecake
(makes one 7" cheesecake)

1. cup cookie crumbs*
3 T. sugar
2 t. cinnamon
3½ T butter, melted
12 oz. frozen strawberries (sweetened)
2 t. cornstarch
16 oz. cream cheese
9 oz. sweeten condensed milk
2 T. plus 1 t. lemon juice
1¾ eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
2 t water

* The original recipe called for graham cracker crumbs, but those are not sold on my island. I used crisp butter cookies instead.

Combine the cookie crumbs, sugar, and cinnamon. Add the melted butter and press firmly into the bottom of a 7" springform pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. In a blender of food processor, puree the strawberries and cornstrach. Place in a saucepan and bring to a boil for 2 minutes or until thicked(stirring continuously.) Set aside a third of the strawberry mixture for use in the cheesecake; chill the rest for to serve as the topping. Whip the cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the condensed milk and mix well. Mix in the lemon juice and vanilla. Gently fold the eggs into the mixture until well combined (don't overmix or the cake will likely crack during cooling.) Add ½ of the cheese mix to the top of your crumb crust. Add ½ of the strawberry mixture by ½ teaspoon drops. Gently add the rest of the cheese mixture and top with the remaining strawberries (using the ½ teaspoon again. Using a knife. Pull through the strawberry drops to create a heart pattern on the top of the cake. Bake at 300°F (148°C) for 45-50 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a metal rack. After 10 minutes, carefully run a sharp knife around the sides to loosen the cake. Allow to cool for an additional hour. Chill over night. Serve with remaining strawberry sauce, which can be thinned with the 2 t. water listed above.

Lemonies

I recently found this recipe on Pinterest and thought it looked absolutely wonderful! While I'm normally more of a chocolate fan, I thought these would make for a nice change from my normal baking routine. Plus, how can you not adore the name lemonies (lemon + brownies.)

Before I made these lemonies, I was a little concerned that they would be nothing more than a lemon square (I mean that's pretty much what the recipe sounds like - plus it's been so long since I've had an actual lemon square I couldn't really remember the difference.) After looking at a few recipes (and pictures online) I found that these do seem to have a more solid "cake-like" texture than traditional lemon squares. I also found them extremely easy to bake (the only issue I really had was the fact that lemonies seemed to rise very unevenly - though pressing the finished dessert back into a flat layer was quite easy while it was fresh from the oven.) I did bake them in a 9" round pan rather than the recommend 8x8 - but I don't really think that would cause the uneven rising.

As far as the finished result, I'm still partial to "real" chocolate brownies, but these lemonies definitely are a nice change. I did discover that my Korean co-workers aren't quite as fond as lemon desserts as I might have hoped. You would have though I had given them real lemons to suck based on their expression after one bite. One of them even compared the taste to soap! I guess it's a good thing that I enjoy them at least.

Lemon Brownies

¾ C flour
¾ C sugar
¼ t salt
½ c. butter (1 stick butter), softened
2 eggs
juice from ½ lemon (about 1 T.)
zest from ½ (about 1 t.)

Preheat over to 350°F (178°C). Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Mix in the softened butter. In another bowl whisk the eggs with the lemon juice and zest. Add to the flour/sugar mixture and stir well. Pour into greased 8x8 brownie pan and back for 25 minutes. Remove and let cool, then glaze.
You can double the recipe and bake in a 9x13 pan for 30 minutes.


Glaze

½ c. powdered sugar
1 T lemon juice
additional lemon zest

Combine to create a thin glaze, and spread over the cooled lemonies.

Apple Pie

I arranged a Christmas Tea with some of my co-workers this week and wanted to provide something good to eat (preferably a new recipe.) Since I've made so many different cakes in the past and was giving various cookies as the actual Christmas presents, I decided to try another pie since I'd had fairly good luck with the sweet potato pie at Thanksgiving.

This time, I decided to make an apple pie (largely because I had a large bag of apples in my refrigerator getting closer and closer to their rotting point!) For the recipe, I researched a few of the more popular options on allrecipes.com - though most of the options were more complex than I was really wanting to try (I just wanted a simple, classic pie recipe since I also baked a batch of sugar cookies this evening for a massive 6-hour baking marathon!) Fortunately, I was quite happy with the following recipe; it proved to be a very traditional all-American apple pie. The only alteration I might attempt with this recipe is slightly pre-baking the bottom crust before adding the apple-mixture. I had read in the online comments how this had helped prevent a soggy bottom (but I failed to remember this when baking this pie - though, fortunately, it wasn't that soggy.)


Classic Apple Pie

(makes one 9" pie)

7 cups thinly sliced peeled baking apples
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon water
a double pie crust (I simply doubled this recipe from my sweet potato pie)

Prepare the dough for the double crust, dividing so that one is slightly larger than the other. Chill for at least 2 hours. In a bowl, toss apples with lemon juice. Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg; add to apples and toss. Pour into crust; dot with butter. Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pie; cut slits in top. Place over filling; seal and flute edges. Beat egg yolk and water; brush over pastry. Bake at 425°F (218°C) for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°F (175°C) ; bake 40-45 minutes more or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly.

Moist Chocolate Cake

A few weeks ago I had a friend post this recipe on Facebook (as what she thought was a wishful, but impossible request on our island.) When I mentioned that I'd easily be able to bake it, she instantly demanded I give it a try!

Surprisingly, most of the ingredients were readily available at my local grocery store - the only thing I was unable to find was the buttermilk. Instead, I found a simple substitution of lemon juice and regular milk. I was a little surprised at just how liquid-y this recipe was however. I mixed the first set of ingredients (everything except for the final cup of hot water) and the resulting batter was the normal consistency for a cake. However, when the extra cup of water was added (I'm not a big coffee fan), the result was a thin batter with the consistency of chocolate milk! (I was a little worried at this point!!!)

I originally planned to bake this cake in my 7" spring-form pan (since it allows for better airflow in the oven); unfortunately, I discovered that the batter was far too runny for this. (A lesson I didn't learn until chocolate batter had dripped all over my kitchen counters and on the bottom of my toaster oven....) Luckily, I was able to quickly grease my 9" pan and transfer the batter into it. I, then, simply baked the two layers one at a time.

Amazingly, the thin batter did end up congealing into a perfectly formed cake. In fact, I was greatly impressed with how easily this cake fell from the pan (it was almost like during the baking process the cake had actually pulled away from the sides of the pan.

To complete the cake, I simply frosted it with a classic chocolate buttercream frosting (from the Wilton website.) The final cake was extremely dense and rich!

Moist Chocolate Cake

2 c. sugar
1¾ c. flour
¾ c. cocoa
1½ t. baking powder
1½ t. baking soda
1 t. salt
2 eggs
1 c. buttermilk
½ c. butter, melted
1 T. vanilla
1 c. hot coffee (or hot water)

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Mix sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla. Beat for 2 minute on high speed. Stir in hot coffee (or water.) Bake for 30-35 minutes in two greased 9" pans.


Wilton Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

½ c. shortening
½ c. butter, softened
¾ c. cocoa
1 t. vanilla extract
4 c. powdered sugar (1 lb.)
3-4 T milk

Cream shortening and butter and add vanilla and milk. Mix cocoa and powdered sugar. Slowly mix the sugar mixture with the liquid ingredients until very well mixed. Add more milk if needed for a smoother, creamier frosting.