Lemon and Pistachio Cake with White Chocolate Sour Cream Icing

This cake is simple to make and delicious.

 

I recently made it as the dessert for an outdoor dinner.

You can see more of that dinner HERE.

 The cake is made with cake flour and ground pistachios along
with yogurt, lemon juice, and lemon zest. The icing
 is to die for! As simple as melting a bar of white chocolate 
and combining it (once it has cooled a little bit!) with sour cream.

 I want to give due credit to the source of this recipe 
(at least where I found it) which can be found HERE but
 beware, there are some measurements listed in metric

that can be easily converted by searching on your iPhone.

This is a keeper recipe!

Thank you for stopping by!

I will be joining the following blog party:

Rattlebridge Farm's Foodie Friday

 Fondly,
~Karen

Flourless Chocolate Cake on St. Paddy's Day

I was taught in culinary school different ways to use a flourless chocolate

cake.  A flourless chocolate cake is just that - flourless.
Instead of using flour, egg whites are whipped and added to the

chocolate batter instead of dry flour ingredients like we are
more familiar with. After taking out of the oven, the cake
will deflate leaving a moist spongy-like cake.

I like to "stamp" different-shaped pieces out of the flourless chocolate

cake, depending on what I am wanting to make and use them for.

I recently made this cake and "stamped" out hearts as a garnish for a

dessert I made for my sorority.  You can see that post here.

The top-right photo above shows those hearts which I also added a

drizzle of chocolate to, to dress them up and add to their flavor,

since the dessert they were garnishing was not chocolate.

 

I had some of the cake not used when making the hearts and placed

that remaining cake into the freezer. I pulled it out of the freezer

and decided to use it for this small tiered St. Paddy's Day cake. Well,

actually, I had the thought to pull the cake out of the freezer because...

the other day I had lunch with a friend at Opera Cafe and Patisserie

and had to bring home a few mini-macarons - in GREEN!

I thought to use a little macaron to top this little tiered cake.

Then eat the rest! Ha!

I pulled the cake out of the freezer, pulled out my circle cutters,

and while the cake was still quite cold, cut out the needed circles.  

I used the 2 1/2" - 58 mm cutter. 

I cut out more than I needed because the cake can get

quite moist and a little sticky as it thaws, making it sometimes

difficult to take out of the cutters in one piece.

I also had some buttercream in my freezer which I took

out one day before to bring back to room temperature,

then re-whipped it, and added the color green.

This was actually quite easy to put together. Nothing fancy here.

Piped a dab of buttercream on the plate to anchor the cake,

placed the first cake layer on top (using my offset spatula),

piped a swirl of buttercream,

 placed the second cake layer on top,

piped another swirl of buttercream, and

placed the final third layer of cake on top.

 

Althought I was planning on topping it with a final swirl of

buttercream and the green mini-macaron, I thought

it looked a bit plain and need more chocolate. (Right?)

I decided to drape it with some ganache.

For the ganache,

I placed semi-sweet baking chocolate into a bowl along with some cream.

I microwaved it for 45 seconds, then stirred until it became smooth,

shiny, and the pouring consistency I wanted.  Sorry, but I didn't measure.

I did end up adding a little more cream for a better pouring consistency.

But, no, I never put it back into the microwave.

I then lightly poured the ganache over the little tiered cake

and left it to drip down its sides. 

 Lastly, I added one last swirl of buttercream

then topped it off with the mini-macaron.

Yum!  I just love cake and I just love buttercream.

And, the macarons are just a very special treat.

 

Here is the recipe:

 

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Source - Southerner At Heart

 

10 oz. semi-sweet chocolate (not chips)

10 oz. butter

10 large egg yolks

3 oz. sugar

8 large egg whites

3 oz. sugar

 

Melt chocolate and butter together. Whisk egg yolks and 3 oz. sugar in a separate bowl. Fold in melted chocolate mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Whip egg whites and 3 oz. sugar to medium peaks. Fold chocolate mixture into egg white mixture. Spread into a half-sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Bake 350 degrees until center is set. Let cool completely in pan.

 

Enjoy!

 

Thank you for visiting my blog!

 

This week I will be joining

Rattlebridge Farm's Foodie Friday

 

 

Fondly,

~Karen

 

 

 

 



Happy Birthday Pumpkin Cake with Ganache

 

For my sister's birthday, I made her this pumpkin layer cake

along with some delicious Pumpkin White Chocolate Fudge

that I previously posted about.  You can check it out HERE.

 

 

This cake has a cream cheese and whipped cream filling

with a semi-sweet chocolate ganache  poured over

and was delicious! If you are a bittersweet

chocolate lover feel free to use that! 

 

Here is the recipe:

 

Pumpkin Cake with Ganache Icing

 

Cake and Filling Ingredients:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3 eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup whipping cream

1/2 of an 8 oz. pkg cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

Note:  I made this cake recipe twice to get a total of 4 cake layers.

 



Ganache Ingredients:

2 - 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate bars (I use Ghiradelli)

1 cup heavy cream

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Grease bottoms of two 8 inch round cake pans.  Line bottoms with parchment paper.  Grease sides of pans and lightly flour.  In one bowl, combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and salt.  In a second mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar with mixer until thickened - about 5 minutes.  Add pumpkin and beat until combined. Add flour mixture and beat just until combined. Spread cake batter evenly into prepared pans.  Bake 16 to 18 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool on rack for 10 minutes, then turn out keeping tops up, and cool completely.

 

For filling:

Chill your mixing bowl then beat whipping cream to soft peaks.  Set aside.  In a second mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth.  Add and beat in confectioner's sugar.  Carefully fold in the whipped cream.

 

To assemble cake layers:

Place one cake layer on a cardboard cake round (I used an 8 inch so the ganache would pour down the sides).  Spread cream cheese mixture over bottom cake layer and continue with other layers.  Carefully place on a wire rack sitting on top of a sheet pan.

 

For ganache:

Finely chop the semi-sweet chocolate bar and place in a bowl set on top of a double boiler (a sauce pan with an inch of simmering water is fine).  As the chocolate begins to melt, pour in the heavy cream.  Let sit as it warms and melt.  Stir until completely combined and is a shiny smooth consistency.

 

To complete assembly:

Pour warm ganache over cake starting on the top, letting it smooth out and drip down the sides.  Do not go back over the top or it will not stay smooth.  Working quickly, it helps to use a spoon to help spread the ganache on the sides covering any cake still showing.  The trick is to complete the pour while the ganache is still warm.  It will begin setting up quickly so work fast! :)

 

Let cake sit to firm up before carefully moving to a serving platter.  I do not like to put the ganache in the frig so its best to assemble the day it is eaten (because of the cream cheese filling).

 

Enjoy and thank you for visiting!

 

I will be joining the linky party at: 

 

Fondly,

~Karen

 



Voila! Surprise!

In a previous post on the Fourth of July I captured

Daughter #1's pending celebration.  She made a beautiful

cake that had a sweet surprise as she cut into it...

an American flag!  Inside the cake!  How cool is that?

I originally thought it was created by using one of 

those checkerboard baking pans - but it isn't.  

We can go HERE for the recipe and directions.

Let's make this next year!

Enjoy!

Fondly,

~ Karen

Margarita Cake

Cinco de Mayo is a week away.  

What better way to celebrate than with

a margarita and a margarita cake!

I don't use cake mixes often, but this cake is a what I call a

"doctored up" cake.  All cake mixes can be doctored up by using 

something other than water as the liquid and adding other flavors.

In this cake the liquid used is Margarita Mix (the lemon lime

mixer without the alcohol used for making margaritas).

It starts out with a butter, sugar, and crushed pretzels crust pressed

into the bottom of the pan than topped with the combined cake

ingredients.  One hint?  As you mix together the cake batter, be sure to

get all the delicious lime peel that collects on the beater(s)! 

Once the cake is baked and cooled, it is topped with Cool Whip.

I like to grate more lime peel over top to give a hint as to the

flavor inside.  I wish I could remember where I found this recipe

to give credit where credit is due.  I want to say it was from one of

Southern Living's special interest magazines or maybe

Betty Crocker?  I just can't remember! 

The Cool Whip makes it a refreshing cake and the pretzel crust

gives the taster that delicious salt-sweet taste.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Here is the recipe:

Recipe:

Margarita Cake

1 1/2 cups coarsely crushed pretzels (apx. 3 1/2 c. small pretzel twists)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist white cake mix

1 1/4 cups bottled nonalcoholic margarita mix

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 T. grated lime peel [more for sprinkling on the top]

3 egg whites

1 container (8 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed

350 degrees (shiny metal or glass pans)  325 degrees (dark or nonstick pans)

1.  Spray bottom only of 9x13 pan with nonstick spray with flour.  In medium bowl, mix pretzels, sugar, and butter.  Sprinkle evenly on bottom of pan; press gently.

2.  In a large bowl, beat cake mix, margarita mix, oil, lime peel, and egg whites with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds.  Beat on medium speed 2 mins., scraping bowl occasionally.  Pour batter over pretzel mixture.

3.  Bake 35-40 minutes or until light golden brown and top springs back when touched lightly in center.  Cool completely, about 1 hour.  Frost with whipped topping.  Store covered in refrigerator.  (High Altitude 3500-6500 ft. - Bake 40 to 45 minutes.)

Enjoy!

I will be joining:

Seasonal Sundays

and

Have a great week and enjoy Cinco de Mayo!

Just another reason to have fun! 

Fondly,

Karen