Cakes

Chocolate Terrine with Sea Salt and Thai Basil Ice Cream

July 12, 2013 by Erica

Chocolate Terrine with Sea Salt and Thai Basil Ice Cream

It’s chocolate lovers only from here on out. This is some serious chocolate.

Chocolate Terrine with Sea Salt and Thai Basil Ice Cream

A few years ago, I had this dessert at the restaurant Ten Tables in Cambridge, MA. I was out to dinner with my mom after work, and naturally ordered the most chocolaty thing I could find on the dessert menu – chocolate terrine with sea salt and Thai basil ice cream. I thought Thai basil ice cream sounded weird and that I probably wouldn’t eat that part; I was mostly interested in the chocolate. So misguided.

The first bite blew my mind. An ultra-chocolaty flourless chocolate cake topped with crunchy sea salt and fresh, creamy basil ice cream. The combination was SO unexpectedly delicious. I was in heaven.

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Coconut Rhubarb Cake

June 26, 2013 by Erica

Coconut Rhubarb Cake

I couldn’t let the season go by without posting some rhubarb recipe. It’s no secret that I love colorful foods, and rhubarb is right up there with the prettiest of ’em.

Coconut Rhubarb Cake

I hope rhubarb is still in season where you are! That way you can make this yummy cake.

Coconut Rhubarb Cake

Now I wasn’t raised on rhubarb; I don’t recall my mother ever making a strawberry rhubarb pie. In fact, I think last year was the first time I’d ever had rhubarb! It cracked me up when I first tasted it – looks like red celery, tastes like sour apples. What a funny little stalk!

I have a lot more experimenting to do with rhubarb, but let’s focus in on this particular experiment: coconut rhubarb cake.

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Blood Orange, Rosemary and Pine Nut Upside Down Cake

March 1, 2013 by Erica

blood orange, rosemary & pine nut upside down cake

Nate is going out of town this weekend, and I plan on taking full advantage.

blood orange, rosemary & pine nut upside down cake

Starfishing in my bed. Drinking the whole pot of coffee. Parking in our one covered parking spot. And cooking all his least favorite foods.

Now, you can’t get much more easy-going than my partner in crime. He’s an adventurous eater, and happily eats anything I put in front of him. He never once complained during my 6 months of strictly vegan cooking – I think that pretty much says it all. But there are a few flavors he doesn’t prefer… and some of them happen to be my favorites.

blood orange, rosemary & pine nut upside down cake

That’s why I’ve had my weekend blog cooking menu ready since Monday. I won’t give it all away, but the general idea is this:

– Something with tahini.

– Something with horseradish.

– Something super spicy.

(Those are going to be different dishes, by the way. Not looking to make anything with so much horseradish that I cry.)

Anyway, I can’t wait. For the cooking, that is! I’ll miss Nate while he’s gone :)

But I’m getting ahead of myself… that tends to happen on Fridays when anticipation for the weekend is running high. In the meantime, I give you this glorious cake.

blood orange, rosemary & pine nut upside down cake

This was inspired by my mom, who has taken to emailing or texting me whenever she eats something that I need to try. (Thanks Mom!) A while back, she emailed me a picture of a blood orange upside down cake she’d made, saying that she loved the idea of it, but didn’t think the recipe she’d followed had ended up looking or tasting as good as expected. She was sure I could do better! I wasn’t as sure… but I too loved the idea, and really, any excuse to cut into one of these beautiful blood oranges is enough to tempt me. Challenge accepted.

Blood Orange, Rosemary & Pine Nut Upside Down Cake | coffeeandquinoa.com

Mom said the recipe she used wasn’t flavorful enough. Luckily, I had long ago bookmarked a rosemary, pine nut and orange cornmeal cake to try at some point. This seemed like the perfect opportunity! And so this lovely cake was born.

blood orange, rosemary & pine nut upside down cake

If blood oranges aren’t available where you are, by all means use regular navel oranges. Opt for ones with thin peels, if you can, since you’ll be putting orange slices, peels and all, on the bottom of this cake. The peels do add a touch of bitterness, so you can cut them off before slicing if you’d like, but I do think the look with them on just can’t be beat. So pretty!

Blood Orange, Rosemary & Pine Nut Upside Down Cake | coffeeandquinoa.com

And if you’d prefer to use the oranges just as a garnish, you don’t have to eat them. I kind of like peeling them off and eating them first :) But be warned: you may want a sharp knife to cut this cake. Otherwise you run the risk of dragging the oranges all over like you’re eating a slice of pepperoni pizza. Just sayin’.

This cake is sure to impress, on both looks and flavor. The rosemary, pine nut, and orange combo in the base of the cake is delicious, and then topped with more oranges, butter and brown sugar? Don’t mind if I do.

blood orange, rosemary & pine nut upside down cake

5.0 from 1 reviews

Blood Orange, Rosemary and Pine Nut Upside Down Cake

Hands-on time

20 mins

Cook time

3 hours 40 mins

Total time

4 hours

Author: Erica

Yields: 8-12 pieces

Ingredients

1 stick plus 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 blood oranges, sliced 1/4-inch thick, including peel (I recommend buying a few extra oranges in case you're a messy slicer like me!)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup finely ground yellow cornmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/3 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted and coarsely chopped
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 Tbsp finely grated blood orange zest
2/3 cup full fat Greek yogurt (I used Chobani)
4 large eggs
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 and position a rack in the center of the oven. Spray a 9-inch round cake pan and line bottom with parchment paper.
Melt 3 Tbsp butter in the microwave. Stir in brown sugar until melted. Spread in the bottom of the cake pan.
Arrange orange slices in an overlapping circle on top of the brown sugar mixture, with a few slices in the middle.
Sift the flour into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add the cornmeal, baking powder, salt, pine nuts, rosemary, and orange zest and stir to combine.
Add the Greek yogurt to a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking thoroughly between each addition. Whisk in the sugar.
Using a wooden spoon, fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in two batches, mixing until homogeneous. Melt the remaining stick of butter and mix in.
Pour the batter over the orange slices in the cake pan. Bake 40-45 minutes, until edges of cake are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs.
Run a knife around the edges of the cake. Cool completely on a wire rack. Once completely cool, invert onto serving dish and peel parchment paper away, if necessary.
Serve and enjoy!

Notes

Adapted from FineCooking.com. Cake will keep for several days in the fridge. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Red Velvet Beet Cake with Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

February 4, 2013 by Erica

Yes, it tastes like beets.

Had to get that out of the way.

On Saturday I mentioned that I had pinned many beet cake recipes in preparation for a post this week. Well, here it is! A bright red cake filled with roasted and pureed beets. Yum?

If you don’t like beets, I’m not sure if you’ll like this, to be honest. You can taste them, although if you didn’t know they were there, you might not guess it. If you’re OK with beets, though, you will absolutely love this cake, if for no other reason than the fun color.

In general, I’m not a huge fan of “secret ingredients” (a.k.a. hiding vegetables in things), but the beets aren’t hidden here. Boom, there they are! You can taste their earthy flavor and you can deeeefinitely see them right in front of your nose.

Can you believe there’s not a drop of food coloring in this whole cake?

We all know I’m obsessed with colorful food, so I just can’t get over this bright red batter. So beautiful! And perfect for a certain romantic holiday coming up.

And then there are the raspberries that make the frosting such a nice girly pink. Actually, these photos don’t even do the frosting justice. It was even pinker than this!

I made this cake on a snowy day, and learned the hard way that pink frosting is the most difficult thing EVER to photograph. Low blue light + reflective Barbie-pink surfaces = photography nightmare. Sigh. It tastes good, I promise.

Speaking of Barbie… I made this cake with Valentine’s Day in mind, but I can’t help but think that it would be adorable for a little girl’s birthday party. Or a big girl’s birthday party! As long as that girl loves pink.

So what do you think… will you allow some vegetables in your cake? I think these beets are pretty enough that they can get away with practically anything.

Red Velvet Beet Cake with Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Hands-on time

45 mins

Cook time

2 hours

Total time

2 hours 45 mins

This red velvet cake has a secret ingredient: beets! Topped with raspberry cream cheese frosting, it is bright pink from tip to toe.

Author: Erica

Yields: 1 cake, serves about 16

Ingredients

For the red velvet beet cake:

3 medium-sized beets
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature, divided
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
3 oz. dark chocolate (I used Ghirardelli’s 60%)
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup maple syrup
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg

For the raspberry cream cheese frosting:

12 oz frozen raspberries
juice of ½ a lemon (about 2 Tbsp)
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar

For garnish (optional):

fresh raspberries

Instructions

First, roast and peel the beets. This is my preferred method. Then roughly chop the beets and puree them in a food processor until smooth. You should have about 1 cup of beet puree. Set aside. (This can also be done ahead of time.)
Preheat oven to 375. Grease and flour a bundt pan (or any cake pan of your choice).
In a large bowl, beat together 3/4 cup of the butter with the brown sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Melt the chocolate with the remaining butter in the microwave in 30-second increments. Beat the melted chocolate mixture, vanilla extract, maple syrup, and beet puree into the butter/sugar/egg mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda, salt, and spices. Dump into the wet ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined. Pour into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs. This took me about 40 minutes, but the original recipe says 60-70. The baking time will vary depending on which type of pan you use, so I would suggest starting to check at 40 minutes.
Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. After cooling, you can frost the cake immediately or wrap it in plastic and refrigerate it for up to 2 days before continuing.
While cake cools, make the raspberry cream cheese frosting. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the frozen raspberries and lemon juice. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the raspberries have broken down. Pour through a mesh strainer into a small bowl and cool completely. This should yield between 3/4 and 1 cup raspberry sauce.
Cream together the cream cheese and butter. Sift in the powdered sugar and beat until incorporated. Beat in the raspberry sauce. You can choose to use as much of the sauce as you want for a frosting anywhere from subtle to shocking pink!
Pour frosting over cooled cake and garnish with fresh raspberries.
The cake will keep covered for several days in the fridge. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Notes

Adapted from Straight from the Farm and Verve & Sass.

White Chocolate Leaf Cake

December 17, 2012 by Erica

I once bought a cookbook just because a cake like this was on the cover.

I think I was waiting for the bus. Next thing I knew, I had spent $25 on a cookbook. Oops.

I’ve since lost that cookbook during one of my moves. I don’t even remember the title or the author. It didn’t really matter – the cookbook, including the cake recipe that went along with the picture, turned out to be nothing special. Those beautiful white chocolate leaves, on the other hand, were something special. So special that I think they belong on your Christmas dessert this year. If you’re in charge of the sweets, you can’t do much better than a gorgeous cake that is so simple to decorate.

These chocolate leaves look like they involve some serious work, but they actually take only 10 or 15 minutes. Below is a step-by-step tutorial.

This weekend I made these leaves to go on a hazelnut brown butter cake from Smitten Kitchen with this vegan chocolate ganache. I baked mini cakes in 1-cup ramekins (1/2 cup of batter in each), and used 2 layers for each little tower. I highly recommend the hazelnut brown butter/chocolate ganache combo, with some extra ganache and chopped hazelnuts in between layers! (One thing to note about the ganache, though: it starts to turn a darker brown pretty quickly, so you would do best to decorate the cake within 2 hours of eating. If that’s not possible, use a different ganache recipe.) If you’re a white chocolate lover, a cake covered in white chocolate ganache, topped with these, and dusted with powdered sugar would be to die for.

White Chocolate Leaves

Makes leaves to cover a 9″ round cake

You will need:

several stems of lemon leaves
small pastry brush
4-6 oz white chocolate

Instructions:

First, get some lemon leaves from your local florist.

It’s helpful to call ahead, because you’ll sometimes get blank stares when you ask for them! Many florists have customers that buy lemon leaves for working with chocolate, but many others will have no idea why you want them. In any case, they’re cheap – I paid $2.67 for 4 stems. I tend to favor the small leaves, especially if I’m not covering an entire cake with them. You can ask the florist to try to pick out some stems with small leaves for you.

Pluck off the leaves you want to use and lay them face down on a flat surface. To top a 9-inch cake, you will probably want 20-25 leaves.

Melt the white chocolate in a small dish in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time. Stir in between. May I suggest that you have another 4-6 oz of white chocolate chips ready as a back-up? White chocolate burns very easily… I probably burn it 50% of the time I use it! So stirring every 30 seconds is important.

Now your chocolate is melted. Using the pastry brush, carefully brush the chocolate onto the back of each leaf. This way, when you peel the leaves off, the front of your chocolate will be indented.

The chocolate is heavy and a little more difficult to work with than you would think. It’s OK (in fact preferable) to give every leaf a thick coat. Don’t worry if it looks lumpy – you’re not going to see that part anyway. Just try to make smooth edges, because those will be visible from the front. If your chocolate starts to cool down too much and becomes too difficult to paint, warming it up for 15 seconds should make things easier.

As you finish each leaf, place them in a bowl to harden. You could also use a plate or baking sheet, but I like to use a bowl so that the leaves curl up a bit. They look more natural and elegant this way than if they are all flattened out.

Once you’re finished, place the bowl in the fridge or freezer to harden. This should only take a few minutes, but you can also leave them in the fridge overnight.

When you’re ready to decorate your cake, remove the bowl from the fridge. Place one leaf at a time on your palm for a few seconds to warm it up. Then carefully peel the leaf away. It should come off very easily. If it sticks at all, warm the leaf up with your hand for a few more seconds.

Now decorate your cake, touching the leaves as little as possible, as the white chocolate melts easily. If you’re decorating a whole cake, you can place the leaves in concentric circles and scatter some hazelnut halves or raspberries in the center. If you’re topping smaller cakes, you can place just a few on each cake.

So pretty. Definitely a special occasion dessert!

Enjoy :)

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