Chocolate Raspberry Maryann Cake

This cake is dangerously delicious.  Consider yourself warned.  It's a match made in heaven, dark chocolate and raspberry, definitely rich, but not too sweet.  It was the perfect cake to celebrate the engagement of my daughter Melissa and my soon to be son-in-law, Mike, another match made in heaven.  Let me digress for a moment.  You may have noticed that I've neglected my blog for a while.  It's not that I haven't wanted to blog, I've just been busy.  Last month Paul and I headed west and toured the Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion National Parks, Monument Valley and Lake Powell.  We had a fantastic time and when we returned home, I intended to sort though my 2000 new photos, do some inspired cooking and blog about some wonderful southwestern food.  But you can see by the large gap since my last posting, that never happened.
A few days after we returned home, Melissa and Mike announced their engagement.  Not only did they announce their engagement, but they also announced that the did not want a long engagement and planned to get married this September.  Yes, I said THIS SEPTEMBER...time to kick it in gear.  They are young, they are in love, and they have energy.  They will make this happen even if it kills them!  All wedding craziness aside, I couldn't be happier for them.  Melissa found her soulmate and we are so pleased to welcome Mike into our family.  They complement each other...just like chocolate and raspberry.

Saturday night, Mike's mother hosted a dinner in celebration of Mike and Melissa's engagement.  My job was to bring dessert.  After much consideration I decided to make a Chocolate Raspberry Maryann Cake and this tart.  If you are not familiar with a Maryann pan, take a look at it here.   I've read that Crate and Barrel also carries them.  It's sort of an old fashioned cake pan, so maybe your grandma has one buried in the cupboard.

Cranberry Maple Pecan Breakfast Cake

Almost a month has passed since I've posted anything, and it feels like an eternity.  We had a full house for Christmas week, and even though I did a lot of cooking, there was no time to take photos let alone write about what I had cooked.  The day after Matt and Lauren went back to Florida, we received the news that my father-in-law had passed away and we were off to California.  These past few weeks have felt like a whirlwind.

I'm home now and have come to realize that I sort of missed my routine.  Don't get me wrong, I loved having the kids home for Christmas.  And as sad as it was to say goodbye to Paul's father, we had the rare opportunity to have the entire Kipp clan together, a bittersweet gathering.  Time passes all too quickly, and with the family spread all over the country, it seems as if weddings and funerals are the only times we all get to be in one place.

So, I'm back in NY, I've gone back to work, and wouldn't you know it, it's a three day weekend!  I LOVE three day weekends.  They allow me time to do my normal weekend things, with a bonus day to play and do whatever I see fit to do.  My "play" usually involves some culinary or photographic adventure.  Since it was absolutely FREEZING this morning, I opted to bake something and play around with my new lens that I have been dying to put to use since Christmas.  I've been also browsing through a cookbook I received for Christmas, and decided to make a simple breakfast cake.  It was a very good decision.  It was quick and easy to prepare, and quite delicious.  I had plenty of time to play with my camera.  I'm still learning my camera, determined to avoid using the auto mode, so photographing anything takes time...I'll get there eventually.

Gingerbread Heaven, Spice Up Your Life!

This is not a gingerbread for anyone who may be afraid of a little spice. It has beaucoup spice.  It has a deep, dark, rich flavor. It is ooey, gooey, and yes, a little bit chewy and did I mention it is delicious?  Well, it is.  I discovered this recipe a few years ago and have loved it ever since.  It was developed by a chef at the Gramercy Tavern.  I don't believe it is offered on their menu any longer, but the recipe is alive and well thanks to the internet.  This recipe has been written about so much, I hesitated to blog about it for fear of sounding redundant.  But if even one gingerbread lover reads it here and decides to give it a try, my efforts will not have been in vain.  I have no personal story about this cake, but I do have some strong words of advice.  Heed my warning and you will be rewarded.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Squares

Are you sick of pumpkin yet?  I'm not.  Pumpkin is one of those things that most people either love or hate.  I fall into the first category.  As much as I like pumpkin, I only cook with it in the fall.  Thanksgiving is the end of pumpkin season for me.  Earlier this week I made penne with a pumpkin sage sauce for dinner.  I used some canned pumpkin to make the sauce leaving me with a cup of pumpkin to either use, or let it sit in the fridge for the week and eventually end up in the compost bin.  A cup of pumpkin usually finds its way into a small batch of muffins, but I was feeling somewhat adventurous and decided to do something different.

Philly Fluff Cake

Yesterday was a freakishly cold and snowy day here in NY.  It was the kind of day that begged for the oven to be turned on.  It would have been the perfect day to have something slow roast in the oven, adding a little extra warmth to the house.  We were meeting friends for dinner, so there was no need to cook.  If it were December, it would have been the perfect day to bake Christmas cookies.  But it was not December.  I sat in front of the fire for a while and read through a bunch of recipes I had clipped from magazines and newspapers.  I remember cutting out a recipe for Philly Fluff cake a while back, and was hoping it was in that file.  My memory did not fail me.  I found the clipping taken from the newspaper on May 10, 2000.  Seriously, I remembered that?  After reading the recipe, I realized it called for an odd sized kugelhopf pan???  Definitely don't have a kugelhopf pan.  I jumped on the internet to research an equivalent, and came across an updated recipe that called for a larger bundt pan.  That, I had.

When I do my grocery shopping, I am always on the lookout for good sales on baking staples.  I'm talking about butter, cream cheese, chocolate, nuts, different flours and sugars among other things.  Last week I picked up a bunch of cream cheese and some 60% cocoa, bittersweet chocolate.  As I was putting the cream cheese in the fridge, Philly Fluff came into my head.

Swedish Apple Cake

October is flying by all to quickly.  I've wanted to share this recipe for some time now, I just haven't had the chance. It's a simple coffee cake, that tastes and smells like autumn.  Apples are the star in this cake, accompanied by a little cinnamon.  It's really nothing fancy, just plain old fashioned goodness.

Most of the apples from this year's apple picking adventure have been turned into apple sauce or apple butter and are tucked away on a shelf in the basement.  I had promised Paul an appley dessert, but had difficulty narrowing down what I felt like making.  He was pushing for a pie, but I prefer to make a pie when there are enough mouths around to consume it in a day.  Day-old pie just doesn't cut it in my book.  I wanted to make something that would last a few days, have an apple forward flavor, and not be overloaded with spice.  Oh yeah,  and I wanted something that Paul could put vanilla ice cream on so he won't think about the fact that I didn't make him a pie.  And then I remembered this recipe...Sockerkaka Med Applen, aka, Swedish Apple Cake.

Remembering Aunt Gloria and Her Carrot Cake

Aunt Gloria's original recipe card, from my mother's recipe box

Growing up, I spent some time at my Aunt Gloria's house.  She lived in Woodhaven (Queens, NY for those of you who may not be familiar).  There were several reasons I loved staying at Aunt Gloria's.  First of all,  I got to spend time with my cousin Lynda who was, and still is,  just a year younger than me.  We had the freedom to walk to the stores on Jamaica Avenue by ourselves. No one had to drive us.  I'm sure this excited me much more Lynda.  There were no stores to walk to in my neighborhood.  I felt like a country girl in the city.  Aunt Gloria's house was the "fun" house, never a dull moment.  My cousin Robert used to play 45's on the record player and show us his latest dance moves.  If I close my eyes I can see Robert dancing around the dining room table to "Spirit in the Sky".   John was just a baby and we were totally amused  listening to him learn to speak.  We'd say, "how hot is it John?"  He'd wipe his brow and reply, "it's hot ta hell" ( in baby-talk of course).  We would make him say it over and over again.  We'd laugh and he'd giggle.  We were so easily amused, and life was so simple.

Aunt Gloria had a zest for life.  She could turn any day into a party.  She was ready with her Johnny Mathis records, cold beer in the fridge,  a percolator with coffee and a tea kettle on the stove ready to be fired up, and if you were lucky, a freshly baked carrot cake.  People would just stop by her house.  Family lived closer.  It wasn't unusual for one or two of my uncles to stop in.  "Stopping in" was a way of life back then.   Everyone sat around the table, drinking, eating, sipping coffee, singing along with Johnny Mathis and just be together shooting the breeze.  OK, it wasn't always perfect, sometime the Irish blood got boiling and things would get a little heated, but in the end, everyone was family, they'd still get a hug and kiss before heading home.

So back to that Carrot Cake.  Aunt Gloria's carrot cake was my first, and the standard to which I have held each subsequent carrot cake.  I remember she'd say to Lynda and me, I'll bake the carrot cake if you grate the carrots.  Not a bad deal.  It was worth a few scraped knuckles. Her carrot cake had a fairly tight crumb.   It was an old fashioned cake, and baked in a tube or bundt pan.  She did not frost it rather, she sprinkled it with powdered sugar.  But today, people's expectations of carrot cake have changed.  Carrot cake is a common occurrence on most menus today.  Generally it is baked as a layer cake with gobs of cream cheese filling and frosting.  It may even have some pineapple or coconut tossed into the batter.

Are you getting hungry? Here...have a bite just to hold your appetite.

I've made Aunt Gloria's carrot cake many, many, many times.  Over the past year or so, I have made a few changes and I've been very pleased with the results.  I've lightened it up a bit, substituting half of the oil with apple sauce.  The cake is a bit more dense with a larger crumb as a result, but not so much that it changes the integrity of the cake.  She always used Presto self-rising flour.  I don't, so I've added leaveners.  I always add walnuts and a few raisins.  I bake it in my mother's trusty tube pan.   This cake is a big, and serves 12 to 15 people depending on how big you slice it.  It is incredibly moist and will last for days.  I like to make a batch of cream cheese frosting and keep it refrigerated.  I don't frost the whole cake.  I frost it by the slice; if you like your cake frosted, or if you are into nostalgia, I can serve it plain sprinkled with powdered sugar.  I aim to please.

The Best Chocolate Cake

I have the recipe for the best chocolate cake.  Yes, that is a BOLD statement, but I truly believe that it's a TRUE statement.  If you made this cake, you would understand where I am coming from.  For me to consider a chocolate cake to be really good, it has to meet a certain criteria.  Here is my criteria for what I believe constitutes a good chocolate cake:

This is what my best chocolate cake looks like

1. A good chocolate cake should not be a mere vehicle for frosting or butter cream.  A good chocolate cake should be able to stand on its own.
2. A good chocolate cake should have depth of flavor.
3. The only after taste a good chocolate cake should have is chocolate.
4. A good chocolate cake should have a fine crumb.
5. A good chocolate cake should be moist, and remain fresh if properly stored, for a few days (if you hide it from your husband the masses).
6. When a good chocolate cake is baking, it should fill the air with an aroma that stops people dead in their tracks and makes them think they have died and gone to heaven.
7. When you eat a small piece of a good chocolate cake, you contemplate each bite and nothing else in the world matters.
8. When my husband eats you eat an even bigger piece of a good chocolate cake, you break out in a  chocolate sweat, right between your upper lip and your nose.
9. A good chocolate cake makes your mouth feel happy.

Last weekend we were invited to a dinner party and I volunteered to bring dessert.  I did not not know everyone attending, so I thought it safe to bring one chocolate dessert and one non-chocolate dessert.   The only chocolate cake I considered bringing was this Chocolate Guinness Cake.  The Guinness and the little bit of molasses, not to mention the brown sugar, give this moist cake a deep, complex flavor. Yes, it was the right choice.

Apple Spice Cake

It seems as if cake and desserts have undergone somewhat of an evolution over the past twenty years.  Dessert is so much more sophisticated than it used to be.  Maybe it really isn't, but since the advent of The Food Network and the internet, it sure seems that way.  Sophistication has its place, but sometimes I just want to make a cake that is homey and nostalgic.  I came across this Apple Spice Cake recipe on this site.  After reading all the comments, I had to give it a try.  This is one of the simplest cakes in the world to make.  It satisfied my nostalgic urge, that just-like-mother-used-to-make kind of cake.  It was heavenly with a cup of coffee and stayed moist for days.   My dad would have loved this cake.  He was a no-nonsense cake kind of guy; he didn't go for cakes with mounds of frosting.  He loved coffee cakes, pound cakes, pies and anything my mom would bake in this pan.

I have a nice bundt pan, but to add to the nostalgia, I thought my mom's old tube pan would be appropriate.  It's an old soldier.  This pan has to be at least 50 or 60 years old and bakes cakes like a charm.  I line the bottom with parchment or wax paper so it doesn't leak....this pan has been through a lot.  I tweaked the recipe just a little to reduce the amount of fat.  I also used a combination of brown and white sugar, just because I like the brown sugar - cinnamon combo.  I hope you like it too.

Isn't That Just Peachy: Peach Blueberry Cake

When I started this blog, I fully intended to write at least one entry a week.  I've been negligent.  It's not that I haven't been cooking; far from it.  I've just been enjoying summer too much.  I have a ton of pictures and quite a few recipes that I planned on blogging about.  I've written the blogs in my head.  I usually do that when I have trouble sleeping, which is quite often.  I have to restrain myself from getting out of bed in the middle of the night and jumping on the computer.  I've learned that can be counterproductive to my sleep cycle. So my big dilemma is, where do I start?  Since I am smelling the aroma of freshly baked peach blueberry cake, I guess I will start there.