Haitian Tea Cake {inspired by haiti}

The news and images that have been circulating around the web and on television has painted such a sad picture for the victims oh Haiti's shattering 7.0 earthquake. It has left me with many emotions of "I wish I could show my love"...nevertheless..I came up with the idea to prepare a Sunday dinner in honor of Haiti and for dessert I was inspired to fix a Haitian Cake, which is enhanced with milk and cinnamon sticks.

The aroma of the warm milk and cinnamon alone made me think of homemade chai, so I decided to add a little bit more spices to the mix: cloves, cardamom, ginger, etc. A warm cup of chai is a match made in heaven for this cake, hence the name that I have given it: "Haitian Tea Cake". I hope you all try this recipe and let me know what you think, Thanks to Haiti for such a wonderful sweet inspiration during such a sour time, and feel free to add more spice if you like, just be sure to balance out the brown sugar in the milk if you do! Enjoy!



Haitian Tea Cake
1 1/4 C. Milk
1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. Ground Cardamom
1/2 tsp. Ginger
1 Bay Leaf
Dash of Nutmeg
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 tsp. Rum Extract
3 Whole Cloves
2 Cinnamon Sticks
1 T. Light Brown Sugar
2 Sticks Unsalted Butter
3 C. Sugar
1/3 C. Sour Cream
5 Eggs
3 C. Flour
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt

Directions: Butter and flour your cake pan and set aside. In a small saucepan, slowly simmer on low your: milk, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. cardamom, ginger, bay leaf, nutmeg extracts, cloves, and brown sugar for about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat and discard your bay leaf, cloves, and cinnamon sticks. Pour your spiced milk into a cup, preferably something with a spout to make pouring easier/less messy(I used my glass measuring cup.)

Now sift together your: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp. cardamom in a large bowl and set aside. Now cream your sugar and butter until fluffy. Add your eggs one at a time. Now add your flour and milk, alternating between the two, ending with flour. Mix together and then mix in your sour cream.

Pour your batter into your greased cake pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 45 to 55 minutes OR until firm in the center and golden brown. Let cool. Serve warm with a cup of chai tea or vanilla ice cream!

Chocolate Sundae Fudge Cake {oh so rich}

I have been working on concocting recipes for chocolate cake for quite some time now. My last try was a three layer chocolate cake topped with chocolate ganache. The icing turned out wonderful, but I was so not pleased with the density and richness of the cocoa. So, I thought that I would give another try to my chocolate cake journeys. This time I made what I call a "Chocolate Sundae Fudge Cake", and I am quite happy with the results.

This cake is beyond rich and decadent and is overflowing with warm fudgy goodness. I layered the batter with store bought hot fudge from the fridge (smuckers) and chopped pecans, but you can definitely make your own fudge sauce. Just be sure it is completely cooled before layering it into your batter. The key to this cake is to be patient and let it cool off for a good hour, but as you can see, patience is a virtue and I cut into it well before an hour was up. Waiting for it to cool will give you less of a gooey cut, but either way you are sure to enjoy this sweet treat! Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whip cream!



Chocolate Sundae Fudge Cake

Ingredients
1 C. Semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 C. Milk
2 1/2 C. All Purpose Flour
1 Heaping tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
6 T. Dutch Cocoa
1 tsp. Molasses
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
3 C. Sugar
2 Sticks Unsalted butter
3 Eggs
1/4 C. Vanilla Yogurt
1 C. Buttermilk
1/2 C. Water
2 T. Vegetable Oil
Hot Fudge sauce - cold
Chopped Pecans
Confectioners Sugar - optional for garnishing

Directions: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour your bundt pan. Set aside. In a saucepan slowly melt your chocolate chips and your milk. Set aside to cool. In a large bowl, sift together your flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt. Using your mixer, cream together your butter and sugar. Gradually mix in your eggs one at a time. Now add your molasses, vanilla, melted chocolate, and your yogurt.

Alternately add in your flour mixture and your butter milk and water. Next mix in your vegetable oil.

Now take some of your batter and spread it evenly. Now take small dallops of your fudge sauce and dallop it in the center all the way around and top with a hand-full of pecans. Layer on top of the more of your batter, dallop fudge sauce along the center and again top with pecans. Pour another layer of batter on top and repeat with fudge sauce, this time leaving off the pecans. Be sure to leave about an inch or two to allow for rising. Note: You will have batter left over.

Bake for 45 minutes. Let cool for about 15 minutes before turning onto cake stand. let cool for at least an hour or overnight. Dust with confectioners sugar. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whip cream!

Sweet Potato Pound Cake with Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

I fixed this cake over the holidays and it was so rich, moist, and comforting, especially with the brown sugar icing and a warm cup of spiced tea to go along with it! It's super easy. I am still working on it's perfection, but this recipe was a hit! I especially love it with homemade vanilla ice cream, and I am sure you could turn these into scrumptious cupcakes as well! Yum!



Sweet Potato Pound Cake with Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
1 ½ C. All Purpose Flour
1 ½ C. Bread Flour
½ tsp. Baking Powder
½ tsp. Baking Soda
½ tsp. Salt
2 Sticks of Unsalted Butter – room temperature
3 C. Sugar
1 ½ C. Cooked Sweet Potatoes – cooled & diced large
1/3 C. Brown Sugar
½ C. Buttermilk
3 Eggs – beaten
¼ tsp. Orange extract
¼ tsp. Almond Extract
¼ tsp. Vanilla Extract

Directions: Gently mix in your brown sugar into your potatoes. Set aside. In a large bowl, sift together your flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Using an electric mixer or a hand held mixer, cream together your 3 cups of granulated sugar, butter, sweet potatoes, buttermilk, and eggs. Gradually add in your dry mixture. Lightly mix in your extracts. Butter and flour your cake pan generously. Pour your batter in and bake on 350 degrees for 50 – 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn out onto your cooling rack, bottom side up and let cool.

For The Frosting
8oz. Cream Cheese – room temperature
1 Stick of Unsalted Butter
2 T. Sour Cream
¼ tsp. Vanilla
¼ C. brown Sugar
½ tsp. Cinnamon
3 T. Milk
3 C. Confectioners Sugar
Chopped pecans for garnish – optional
Allspice for garnish - optional


Directions: Simply cream all ingredients together EXCEPT your pecans and allspice. Place your icing into a pastry bag or a sandwich bag and clip the ends to make a small hole...big enough for your icing to come through. You may want to start off small and test it on a paper towel to get the size you want. Do not make your hole to big. Drizzle some icing on top of your cake. Sprinkle pecans on top. Drizzle more icing on top of your pecans and dust with a sprinkle of allspice. Serve with hot coffee, spiced tea, or vanilla or butter pecan ice cream!

Upside Down Peach Cakes

Mmmm...this looks delightful! I ran across this recipe in the latest Tea Time Magazine, which is filled with sweet loveliness and inspiration. I imagine that if you do not want to make 6 separate cakes, that you could do this in a circular cake pan.

Peach Upside Down Cakes
Makes 6 Individual Cakes
via Tea Time Magazine,July/August 2009, pg.19
3/4 C. Softened Unsalted Butter, divided in half
1 C. + 2Tbsp. Sugar
3 ggs
1/2 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 C. Cake Flour
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 C. Buttermilk
3/4 C. Brown Sugar
25 to 30 1/8-inch-thick peach slices

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 6 4" ramekins with nonstick baking spray with flour.

2. In a large bowl and using an electric mixer at medium-high speed, beat 1/2 C. butter until creamy. Gradually add the sugar, and beat until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla extract.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Sift twice. Alternately add the sifted flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter and sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

4. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the remaining 1/4 cup of butter. Divide the melted butter evenly among the prepared ramekins, then sprinkle each evenly with brown sugar. Arrange 4 to 5 peach slices in a single layer over the brown sugar. Pour batter over peach slices.

5. bake for 30 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in ramekins for 10 minutes. Invert a plate on top of each ramekin, and carefully flip cakes onto plate while warm.

Chocolate Chip Almond Cake {vegan testing}

Recently I tried making a vegan cake...and this is the outcome. It looks yummy doesn't it. Well, the taste was grand, but the cake was much too moist to where it would just fall/crumble apart. I used the Ener-G egg replacement. Does anyone have any suggestions on vegan baking for recipes that calls for eggs...any substitute suggestions? My recipe called for 3 eggs, so I used 3 tsp. of Ener-G plus 6 Tbsp. of Water(following the measuring suggestions on the box).

I am going to give my recipe another try soon, but with eggs to see if it comes out properly. I also used almond pulp which was leftover from my homemade almond milk. This may have contributed to the extra moisture. So next time I will use real eggs and loose the almond pulp(however, I must say that the pulp would go great in a sweet loaf bread)

Ok, so this recipe is still a work in progress. I will be back with revisions once I figure it all out and will still try doing a vegan version as well!

Tuxedo Truffle Mousse Bar Cake {heaven}

My husband brought home this most delectable slice of heaven the other day from the Fresh Market. Its called a "Tuxedo Truffle Mousse Bar Cake. This cake is beyond to die for and is most definitely at the top of my favorites lists. Its mildly sweet and has a rich and velvety ganache layered on top. It reminds me of tiramisu only without the coffee. There's a layer of white and chocolate marble cake with a light chocolate mousse on top, then another layer of cake and what I believe to be sweetened mascarpone cheese on top of that, and then another layer of cake that is topped off with the ganache and swirls of white chocolate! Oh my! I want to give this a try one of these days and when I do, I will be sure to post the outcome here. Can't wait to try it!