Print Page |
Email story |
A Piece of Cake
February 2007: Seventh Slice
Newsletter written by Anne Byrn February 14, 2007
A Word from Anne
Happy Valentine's Day to you all! I can't think of a group of folks I would rather give a big hug to than this Cake Mix Doctor online community as it approaches a population of 50,000. Yikes! Was it this time about seven years ago that I said I'd write a newsletter if maybe 100 people signed up to receive it? Be careful what you wish for...
What I love about you is your generosity and your creative ideas. Your Easy-Bake Oven ideas were fantastic and will be shared in the next newsletter. And your feedback on my idea to make my own cake mix was invaluable. Most of you said you would like a natural cake mix, not so much organic but one with the best ingredients. You would choose vanilla and chocolate first although you had loads of suggestions for fun cake mix flavors, such as tiramisu. You'd love recipes with the mix, but you're divided on whether the frosting/glaze should be included in the box. Some folks just like to make their own.
I know how that is, getting accustomed to a frosting recipe that works and gets rave reviews—you just stick with it. For me, that is the Chocolate Pan Frosting or the velvety Chocolate Ganache.
So what are you baking for Valentine's Day? Share your stories and pictures on the Community Board here. I'll share below how to turn your favorite chocolate cake recipe into a heart cake. And in the Recipe Swap I share a dreamy wintertime coffee cake, this one containing bananas.
Here's hoping winter will soon melt into spring, which will bring us strawberries and pleasant days in the sunshine.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Anne
[ Back to top ]
Word from Workman
More and more of you are enjoying A Piece of Cake from Anne each month, and we at Workman Publishing want to thank you for your support of Anne and her books. As our special Valentine's Day gift to you, we would like to offer you an ID code for a FREE online 2007 Page-A-Day Calendar. You can keep it for yourself, or give it to a friend or relative for Valentine's Day.
To redeem, just visit Pageaday.com, register, and use the following Calendar ID code: CMDV-7240000002.
(This offer expires on March 1, 2007, so be sure to sign up today!) And if you have any questions, send an email to info@workman.com with Free Calendar Offer in the subject line.
Happy Valentine's Day from all of us at Workman!
[ Back to top ]
Bits & Bytes
We Never Cook Alone: Carol Faver of Marietta, GA, read my story about feeling my late mother's love in the room when I spoke to a group of her friends recently. And Carol beautifully says, "We never cook alone." When we cook we "bring with us all the people from our past who taught us, cooked with us, inspired us, made us the cooks we are today. I feel the presence of so many people when I am in the kitchen that I seldom feel alone. Life continues through us and in the simple things we do each day of our lives."
 Bake a Heart-Shaped Cake: It's a cinch and you can do it tonight. I have a large heart-shaped pan, one that is about 10 inches wide and about 2 inches deep. It holds the same amount of batter as a Bundt pan.
I poured the batter for the Triple Decker Raspberry Chocolate Cake from the Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor into the prepared pan. You can get the recipe from CakeMixDoctor.com here. It takes about 50 to 55 minutes for this cake to bake. Then I frosted it with the Chocolate Ganache and topped it with fresh raspberries while the frosting was still a little sticky. Just before serving, I dusted it with confectioner's sugar. It was a winner of a cake, as you can see.
Should you not have a heart-shaped pan, pour your favorite chocolate cake batter into one 9-inch round pan and one 9-inch square pan, or a square and round 8-inch pan or 10-inch pan. Any size is fine as long as they match. When the layers have cooked and cooled on a wire rack, cut the round cake into two semicircles. On a large platter, place the square layer turned in such a way that it looks like a diamond. Place a semicircle on each of the two top sides, rounded edges up, to turn this into a heart. Frost and decorate with raspberries.
 What Can I Bring? Cookbook: This is the name of my newest cookbook, due in bookstores in early fall. Just in time for potluck season and entertaining, I hope, for this book answers that age-old question, the first one you ask when someone invites you to dinner.
Organized by salads, appetizers, vegetable sides, and desserts, it is where I hope you will go when you need to take a great salad or main dish or dessert to a party.
There will be plenty of menus to help you pair recipes that complement each other. And whereas this cookbook will be a bit of a departure for me (including a handful of wonderful scratch cakes), it will reach out to the busy cooks, those who don't have a ton of time to cook and want to rely on convenience and creativity. Here are some ideas from the new book on how to top your favorite box brownie mix before it goes in the oven.
10 Toppers for a Box of Brownies
Just before you place the pan of brownie batter into the oven, sprinkle a handful of something yummy over the top
- Crushed peppermint candy
- Chopped peppermint patties
- Toffee bits
- Chopped walnuts and semisweet chocolate chips
- Dried sweetened cherries and milk chocolate chips
- Chopped macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips
- Minced dried apricots tossed with a dribble of almond extract
- Miniature marshmallows and chopped milk chocolate bar with almonds
- Dollops of raspberry jam
- M&Ms
[ Back to top ]
Recipe Swap
Krista Donahue of Vista, CA, sent me this scrumptious recipe for banana cake. Krista bakes this in a tube pan and layers the oats and coconut mixture in the batter by spooning a third of the batter into the pan, adding some topping, etc., ending with topping. I liked the oats mixture so much better when it had browned in the oven, so I poured all the batter into the tube pan and then topped it generously with the oat mixture and baked. And, I added a little cinnamon to the batter because I thought those bananas were crying out for cinnamon. Once a cake doctor, always a cake doctor...
Banana Crunch Cake
Serves: 12
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Baking time: 50 to 55 minutes
Topping:
1/2 cup old-fashioned, uncooked oats
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons cold butter
Cake:
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (3 medium)
2/3 cup sour cream
4 large eggs
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix
1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan with vegetable shortening and flour. Shake out the excess flour and set the pan aside.
2. For the topping, place the oats, coconut, brown sugar, pecans, and flour in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture is crumbly. Set it aside.
3. For the batter, place the bananas, sour cream, and eggs in a large mixing bowl and blend with an electric mixer on low speed until just combined, 30 seconds. Add the cake mix, pudding mix, and cinnamon, and mix on low for 30 seconds, then scrape down the sides of the bowl, and blend on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes, or until smooth and well combined.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Spoon the topping over the batter and place the pan in the oven. Bake until the cake is well-browned and the top springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 50 to 55 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven to a wire rack to cool 20 minutes, then invert the cake onto the rack to finish cooling topping-side up. Slice and serve.
[ Back to top ]
Ingredient of the Month
Oranges
Don't let February escape without sampling some of the more dazzling citrus in the produce market. They perk up our cooking and make us healthier at the same time. I adore the Cara Cara oranges, which have this wonderful rosy tint to the flesh and a sweet floral flavor. And for a slightly deeper hue, I found blood oranges in Costco. Yes, you have to buy a large sack, but share them with friends. I sliced the peeled blood oranges onto a romaine salad with roasted beets, toasted walnuts and a little crumbled blue cheese. And I am planning to make my Orange Bundt cake from the first Cake Mix Doctor with the oranges—juice from the blood oranges in the batter—and thinly sliced and peeled oranges around the baked cake.
[ Back to top ]
Next Issue: April 2007
Springtime cake ideas, and all of your wonderful reader suggestions on creative baking using the Easy-Bake Oven.
[ Back to top ]
|
