Don't Forget Delicious!

Cinnamon Swirl Buttermilk Pound Cake (Lightened)

2012-04-20T13:43:40Z

Have I ever mentioned that I love cinnamon?
Oh, do I. I love, love, love it!

So I was very happy to see that this cake was chosen to be April’s Cake Slice cake – the Cinnamon Swirl Buttermilk Pound Cake. NOW we’re talkin’!

The Problem

As I’ve mentioned previously, however, we are working on getting healthier at my house. Learning to eat real, and at the same time trying to lose a little weight. That made this oh-so-tempting Cinnamon Swirl cake a bit of a problem. When confronted with a delicious cake like that, just sitting there on the counter…. calling to us to eat it….

Well. I don’t think my willpower is *quite* that strong.

So, a little tinkering on this recipe was in order. Judging by the other bakers in this group, the original recipe is just about perfect as it is, if you’re not worried about the calories. But at my house, a few changes made this a recipe we could enjoy without guilt (and who doesn’t want that?).

The Tinkering

One of the first things I decided was to do baby bundts instead of a full-sized bundt – automatic portion control. I know my man, and when cutting a slice from a full-sized cake, well, let’s just say that the number of servings indicated on the recipe is likely to be less in real life. So, individual servings takes care of that little problem.

Next, I swapped in white whole wheat flour in place of the all purpose. This added a little nutrition in the form of whole grains and fiber, but did you also know that white whole wheat flour is just a little bit lower in calorie than all purpose flour? Bonus! I left the cake flour alone, so as to hopefully keep from altering the tenderness *too* much. Next time, I may experiment with some whole wheat pastry flour to see how that affects the texture.

I reduced the butter in the cinnamon swirl by half, and it worked fine. Still delicious as could be. Oh, and I increased the cinnamon to 1/2 tsp (original recipe only calls for 1/4), just ’cause I love it. Then, I swapped in greek yogurt for some of the butter, and reduced the sugar just a bit, in the cake batter recipe. Still came out plenty tasty.

Nothing too drastic, but enough to drop the calories per serving by about half and increase the nutritional value a bit. Oh yeah – I left out the orange zest too, just because I didn’t have any (we didn’t miss it, though I’m sure it would be lovely).

The Outcome

A dense, tight crumb (as a pound cake should be), with a lovely cinnamony, slightly crunchy layer in the middle – this is right up my alley. Delicious by itself, topped with a dusting of powdered sugar, or with some vanilla ice cream on the side, it’s a bit of sweet happiness at the end of a meal, with no guilt to dim the glow.

Once again, I’ll tell you that this is a good book. Every recipe I’ve tried so far has been delicious (even with my tinkering). So I’m not going to provide the original recipe.

Instead, here’s my somewhat healthified version. Zapped in the microwave for 10-20 seconds and topped with powdered sugar for after dinner, or just plain in our lunch boxes, we’ve been enjoying these little baby bundts all week.

Cinnamon Swirl Buttermilk Pound Cake (Lightened)

12-16 servings

Ingredients

CINNAMON SWIRL:

1/2 cup (2.1 oz) white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup firmly packed (2.5 oz) light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 pinch salt (I use kosher)
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

CAKE:

2 cups (8.5 oz) white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup (2 oz) cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (I use kosher)
1/8 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cups greek yogurt (or 1.5 cups applesauce)
8 oz sugar
3 large eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

Instructions

Set a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325 F. Grease and flour a cupcake tin, mini-bundt pan, or a 10" regular bundt pan.

CINNAMON SWIRL:

Whisk together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add melted butter and mix until well blended and crumbly. If necessary, use your fingers to break up large clumps so that the entire mixture is relatively even in texture.

MAKE THE BATTER:

Into a medium bowl, sift the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cardamom. Whisk until well blended and set aside.

Using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, beat softened butter at medium speed for about 2 minutes, or until very creamy. Slowly add the sugar, then beat at medium-high until very well blended, light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Reduce speed back to medium and add eggs one at a time, beating well after each and scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Reduce speed to low and add your flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk, and mixing until just combined (don't overmix).

FOR A FULL-SIZED BUNDT (approx. 12 larger servings)

If you're doing a full-sized bundt, pour half of the batter into your prepared pan and tap pan against counter to even the top. Sprinkle the cinnamon swirl mix evenly over the batter. Top with dollops of remaining batter, then lightly smooth with a spatula into an even layer (without messing up the swirl layer, as much as possible).

FOR BABY BUNDTS (approx. 16 smaller servings):

Using a disher, or a measuring cup, scoop about 1/4 cup batter into each tin opening. Spoon about 1 tablespoon cinnamon swirl mixture over each (then go back and add a little to each until it's all used up). Then top each with another 1/4 cup (or so) batter. Carefully smooth so that it completely covers the cinnamon swirl.

BAKE:

Bake a full-sized bundt for 65 - 75 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

For baby bundts, bake for 20-25 minutes (begin testing at 20 minutes) or until a skewer comes out of the center clean.

For either, after removing from oven, cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then invert onto the rack and cool completely.

Dust the cake lightly with powdered sugar right before serving.

http://www.dontforgetdelicious.com/2012/cinnamon-swirl-buttermilk-pound-cake-lightened/

Nutritional Information calculated using Calorie-Count

	Original Recipe (12 servings)	Lightened Recipe (12 servings, full sized bundt)	Lightened Recipe (16 servings, baby bundts)
Calories:	448	321	243
Fat:	19.9 g	11.8 g	8.6 g
Cholesterol:	102 mg	73 mg	59 mg
Sodium:	307 mg	250 mg	187 mg
Sugar:	40 g	27.3 g	22.3 g
Carbohydrates:	63 g	47.9 g	38 g
Fiber:	0.9 g	2.7 g	2.3 g
Protein:	5.5 g	7.6 g	4.7 g

Individual Warm Chocolate Cakes

2012-03-20T14:55:11Z

This month’s Cake Slice baking group cake is a fun and easy one – Individual Warm Chocolate Cakes.

Compared to some of the others in the book (The Cake Book by Tish Boyle), this recipe is pretty quick and simple. There are only 6 ingredients, all normal pantry and fridge items. It really didn’t take much time at all to put the batter together, and it bakes up in only 10-15 minutes (your times may vary).

Interestingly, each baker found this cake a little different – for some, it was a molten cake, with a flowing liquid center. For others, it is just a delicious little cake. For me, it was not liquidy, which is exactly how I prefer it (I’ve never been a fan of the molten thing).

I only filled my ramekins about halfway because I wanted to make smaller portions (trying to watch the calories, you know). This worked out fine. The little cakes rose up above the ramekins anyway, making me wonder if filling them more would even work, but then they did sink as they cooled. Perhaps filling them more would have resulted in a denser cake, rather than a higher-rising one, but we liked them this way just fine.

The smaller portion was perfect for me – this is a delicious, chocolatey cake with a shattering, crisp crust from the sugar-dusted sides of the ramekins in which they are baked. We tried them dusted with powdered sugar (yum), with a dollop of meringue-style whipped topping (also yum), and also topped with some mini-marshmallows, quickly browned under the broiler (again, yum).

This recipe would also probably work great for entertaining – just make up your batter and fill your ramekins ahead of time. After 10-15 minutes in the oven, just serve them directly from the ramekins, or inverted onto a plate or bowl. You could make them even smaller to stretch the recipe farther, if needed, and to make them easy to handle for guests.

This recipe will definitely be going into my keeper file and will probably see lots of use. Thanks Tish!

Individual Warm Chocolate Cakes

Serves 6-8

slightly adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

NOTE: I use organic ingredients whenever possible. So, even though each ingredient does not list "organic," you can assume it is.

Ingredients

4 large eggs separated
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
6.5 oz dark chocolate, chopped
2.5 oz milk chocolate, chopped
2 oz butter cut into tablespoons
3.5 oz (1/2 cup) sugar divided

Instructions

Place the rack in the center and preheat your oven to 375 F. Thoroughly butter the insides of 6-8 ramekins, then dust the cups with sugar and tap out the excess. Place ramekins on a baking sheet and set aside.

Combine butter and chocolate in a large bowl (much larger than you need for the chocolate - you'll be adding big, fluffy whipped egg whites later). Melt the chocolate and butter together, either in the microwave in short 30-40 second blasts (mine took just 2 blasts) stirring well in between each, or over a simmering pot of water. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Whisk in 1/4 cup of sugar, then whisk in the egg yolks.

Using the whisk attachment with your electric mixer, beat egg whites with the salt and cream of tartar at high speed until the whites just begin to form soft peaks. Add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar slowly, then beat at high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture in three parts. Divide the batter among the prepared cups.

Bake the cakes, on the baking sheet, for 12-15 minutes, until they are cracked on top (the centers should still be moist - a toothpick won't come out clean). Let the cakes stand for 1 minute before unmolding.

Run a thing paring knife around the edge of each cake to loosen it from the cup, then invert onto a plate or into a small bowl and serve warm.

These store well in an airtight container. Heat in the microwave for 10-15 seconds before serving, or if doing the marshmallow topping, the broiler will heat it nicely for you).

Serving Options:

- Sift a light dusting of powdered sugar on top.

- Sift a light dusting of powdered sugar, then an even lighter dusting of cocoa powder on top.

- Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream alongside

- Serve with a dollop of whipped topping

- Top with mini-marshmallows and broil just until they are browned

http://www.dontforgetdelicious.com/2012/individual-warm-chocolate-cakes/

“Cut-the-Crap” Whipped Topping

2012-03-20T14:43:01Z

We’ve been trying to Get Real here at my house. I think I’ve mentioned before that I have high blood pressure and that heart disease and stroke runs in my family. Well, I’ve recently gotten re-motivated to make over our eating and health habits, this time for good!

You probably know that the conventional medical answer to high blood pressure is to eat a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet and if that doesn’t work, you take medications. I tried the low-fat, low-cholesterol thing and even lost 35 pounds a few years ago, with no effect on my BP whatsoever. So I’ve been taking medications for several years. They even had to change my medications a couple of times to higher dosages, and multiple medications.

And, even ON those multiple, high dosage medications, my blood pressure was still above the recommended numbers (under 120/80 is considered normal. Anything 120/80 and higher is bad).

Enter – Real Food and Yoga.

For the last couple of months, I have nearly completely eliminated processed foods from my diet. I say nearly because, as you might expect, I’m nowhere near perfect. I do eat out at restaurants and we do buy a few processed snacks and things. But for the most part, I’ve been cooking everything from scratch with whole ingredients – I’ve even mostly stopped using canned goods like tomatoes and beans, instead using fresh tomatoes and dried beans that I’ve cooked myself, in an effort to get as much processed sodium products out of my diet as possible.

In addition, I started doing yoga. I’ve been doing it almost daily for about 6 weeks now.

Guess what? My blood pressure dropped like a stone. It dropped so low that I stopped taking meds because I was getting light-headed from *low* blood pressure. This from the person whose BP wouldn’t budge for years with conventionally recommended diet, exercise and medications. Neat, huh?

Now, I’m no doctor, so if you have high blood pressure too, don’t go throwing your meds in the trash on account of what I have to say. Always be sure to check with your doctor and make sure what you plan to do *works* before you take any rash actions. I don’t know how much of my health improvement is due to the diet, and how much is due to the yoga, and frankly I don’t care. This is my path going forward. I’m hooked!

“Cut-The-Crap” Whipped Topping

You may be wondering what *any* of this has to do with whipped topping?

Well, I’ll tell you.

Not really surprisingly, if you think about it, after changing my diet and doing daily yoga, I started to drop a few pounds without even really trying. Which, of course, motivated me to actually try and see how well I could do. I’ve just been tracking calories and trying to reduce portions and such – nothing too drastic, but some additional weight loss would definitely help my blood pressure issues and just make me feel better about myself in general.

When it came time to make these adorable Individual Warm Chocolate Cakes, I didn’t want to totally blow my weight loss trend, y’know? Instead of serving these little cakes with a big, delicious (but fattening) scoop of vanilla ice cream, I decided to try this “Cut the Crap” Whipped Topping I found in the Biggest Loser Dessert Cookbook.

However, there was one problem. The original recipe called for 3/4 cup of light agave syrup. From what I can see, agave syrup is about as healthy as high fructose corn syrup. Yes, it’s made from a natural source (but so is HFCS) and apparently doesn’t spike your blood sugar, but it’s about as processed as processed can get.

So I decided to try it with raw honey instead. Turns out, I could use even less honey than the recipe called for and it worked just fine (may use even less next time). It gives the topping a lovely, floral honey flavor that we really enjoyed at my house. Next time, I think I will try it with maple syrup – I bet that will be good, too.

The advantages of this whipped topping recipe over, say, whipped cream, is that it keeps really well in the fridge without losing its fluffiness. And, you can even freeze it, according to the book (haven’t tried that yet). And, on top of it all, it’s healthier. A whole half cup of this topping is only 69 calories (obviously loaded with sugars, though, so if you’re diabetic or watching your sugar, please take note). We didn’t use anywhere near a half cup – a couple of tablespoons is more like it.

Anyway, with that long, involved introduction, here’s my version of this yummy whipped topping that I can use without feeling guilty:

“Cut-the-Crap” Whipped Topping

Serves 12-24, depending on serving size

Image: Pumpkin Pie Bites from The Biggest Loser Dessert Cookbook. Image credits: Rodale Books

Recipe adapted from The Biggest Loser Dessert Cookbook

NOTE: I use organic ingredients whenever possible. So, even though each ingredient does not list "organic," you can assume it is.

Ingredients

2/3 cup honey (or try maple syrup)
3 large egg whites, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Instructions

Fill a medium saucepan with water until it is about 1/4 full and bring to a boil over high heat.

Separately, combine all ingredients in a large, tall metal or heavy glass bowl, that will fit onto the top of your saucepan without touching the water. Use a hand-held mixer and beat on medium-high until well blended.

Using an oven mitt (bowl may get very hot, especially if it's metal), place your bowl over the pot of boiling water. Beat for 5-7 minutes, occasionally running the beaters around the sides of the bowl to scrape any of the mixture, until stiff peaks form.

Remove bowl from the pan (off the heat) and continue beating for another 5 minutes more (up to 7 if you need it - I didn't), rotating the bowl and scraping down the sides with the beaters as you do, until the mixture is thick, very fluffy, and has very stiff peaks.

Chill until ready to serve. Freeze as desired.

http://www.dontforgetdelicious.com/2012/cut-the-crap-whipped-topping/

Banana Boston Cream Pie

2012-02-23T14:04:49Z

I’m late! I’m late! For a very important date!

Sorry y’all – I’m a few days late posting for this month’s Cake Slice. I unexpectedly had to go out of town for a week, so I made sure to make this cake the day before I left, but then didn’t get the post put together in time. It’s all my sister’s fault.

That’s my story and I’m stickin’ with it!

Seriously, though, this cake was a good one. My boyfriend was very excited when I informed him that this month’s cake was Boston Cream Pie. He lurves Boston Cream Pie, so he was quite impatient for this one to get made. Almost every night he would ask me, “Are you making Boston Cream Pie tonight?” Poor baby, he’s so deprived, isn’t he?

Unfortunately, because I was rushing to get these pictures taken the night before I left town, they didn’t come out very well. They were all of them very overexposed. So don’t judge this cake by these less than amazing pictures – this is a delicious, easy to make cake that will keep in your fridge for several days.

I decided to add some banana to mine, and I’m glad I did. The cake is delicious in its own right, but we do like our bananas at my house, and that extra banana-y sweetness was delicious. I think it might be wonderful with some sliced strawberries in there, too. This recipe will definitely be going into my keeper file – which is good, since I expect my boyfriend will be campaigning for it regularly.

If this is your first visit, this cake was baked as part of the Cake Slice baking group. We are currently baking from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle. You should buy it. It’s a good book.

Banana Boston Cream Pie

from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

NOTE: I use organic ingredients whenever possible. So, even though each ingredient does not list "organic," you can assume it is.

Ingredients

Cake:

4.7 oz (1 1/3 cups) sifted cake flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk (I used 1%)
2 oz (4 Tbsp) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
3 large eggs, at room temperature
5.3 oz (3/4 cup) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract or paste

Filling

3 large egg yolks
1.7 oz (1/4 cup) sugar
0.5 oz (2 Tbsp) cornstarch
1 cup milk (I used 1%)
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
1/4 cup heavy cream
1-2 large bananas, sliced

Glaze

3 oz dark chocolate, finely chopped or grated
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Cake:

Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 350. Grease and flour the bottom and sides of a 9" cake pan.

Sift the cake flour, baking powder and salt twice, then set aside.

Combine milk and butter in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until butter is melted. Do not allow to boil. Set aside.

With an electric mixer, using the whisk, beat the eggs at high speed until well blended, approximately one minute. Slowly add sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until pale and tripled in volume, about 6 minutes.

Sift flour into the egg mixture in 3 separate additions, folding gently with a rubber spatula each time.

Reheat the milk and butter mixture almost to a boil. Pour all at once into the egg and flour mixture and gently fold. Scrape batter into your prepared cake pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until it springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick comes clean from the center. After cooling on a wire rack for 10 minutes, run a paring knife around the inside edge of the pan, then flip the cake over onto the wire rack. Flip cake back over (right side up) and cool completely.

Filling:

Whisk the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together in a bowl; set aside.

Using a medium saucepan, heat milk to a gentle boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat and whisk about 1/3 cup of the hot milk into the whisked egg yolk mixture. Pour the entire mixture back into the saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking constantly. Boil, whisking constantly, for one minute, then remove from the heat, scrape the bottom with a spatula and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the butter until melted and smooth.

Immediately strain the custard through a fine sieve into a bowl. Whisk in vanilla, cover surface with plastic wrap and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until well chilled, about 2 hours.

Glaze:

Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and add finely chopped chocolate to the pan. Allow to sit for about 1 minute. Stir until chocolate is fully melted and glaze is smooth. Stir in vanilla.

Cover surface with plastic wrap and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before using.

Assemble:

Cut the cake horizontally in half to make two layers. Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, add 1/4 cup heavy cream to the custard and beat at high mixture until light in color and soft peaks form, about 1 minute.

Set aside the smoothest layer of cake for the top. Place the other layer cut side up on your plate. Scrape filling onto the cake and spread evenly. Cover filling with sliced bananas, then top with the other cake, cut side down.

Pour warm glaze over the cake, allowing some to drip down the sides, if desired. Use an offset spatula to smooth evenly over top of cake.

Refrigerate until gaze is firm. Store cake in refrigerator in a covered container.

http://www.dontforgetdelicious.com/2012/banana-boston-cream-pie/

Buche de Noel – Two Ways

2011-12-21T01:19:02Z

I’ll be honest, I almost didn’t make this month’s cake for the Cake Slice group. Between craziness at work (plus everyone getting ready to leave for holiday vacation), monthly staff meeting, doctor appointments AND being informed that our Christmas celebration was going to be early (this past Sunday) due to family members traveling on Christmas day, well…. the cake just about got ditched. I guess a complicated, time-consuming recipe really isn’t the best choice to schedule for a week before Christmas.

But I really wanted to make it, so I decided to set aside the Saturday before and bring the cake for our Christmas dessert.

Contrary to what many people say, I found this cake to be pretty easy to make. Time-consuming, definitely. But hard? Not so much. As long as you give yourself plenty of time to make all of the components at your leisure, you can make this cake, with all of its accoutrements, without stress. Many of the components can even be made days in advance

I’m not going to give you the recipe this time, because really, you should just go buy this book. It’s worth it! And it’s a really long recipe, not to mention that all the extras (meringue mushrooms, chocolate leaves, praline paste, etc.) have their own separate recipes.

Instead, I’m just going to share my learnings with you. Then, when you go to make one, you’ll breeze right through it. And you *should* make one. It’s fun! It’s festive! And it just tastes darn good. Everyone at our Christmas dinner was very impressed with these cakes and all agreed that it was just as delicious as beautiful.

Buche de Noel – Two Ways

from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

Ingredients

Components:

Chocolate Chiffon Sheet Cake (from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)
Hazelnut Syrup (from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)
Hazelnut Buttercream (from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)
Chocolate Buttercream (from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)
Praline Paste (from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)
Meringue Mushrooms (from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)
Chocolate Leaves (from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)
Chocolate Bark (from Martha Stewart)

Instructions

Chocolate Chiffon Sheet Cake

The cake is very easy to make. The only problematic part is after you remove it from the oven, the recipe instructs you to lay down another piece of parchment paper, liberally dust it with powdered sugar, then invert the cake onto it.

The problem is that the pan is very hot - it just came out of the oven. So inverting it in the pan is tough. But if you just lift the cake out with the parchment paper it was baked it, and try to invert it that way, you risk tearing the cake. Also, "liberally dusting with powdered sugar" means you end up with powdered sugar all over your kitchen (ask me how I know?).

Instead, lift your cake using the parchment paper it was baked in, and put it right back down in a different, cool sheet pan. Lightly sprinkle the top of the cake with powdered sugar, then lay another piece of parchment paper on top. Holding it all together at the sides, flip the entire thing over and lay it down on your work surface. Lift off the pan. Carefully peel away the parchment paper it was baked in.

Voila! Cake with no tears. Minimal powdered sugar on your kitchen counters.

Hazelnut Syrup

This recipe is for a Chocolate and Hazelnut flavored cake. You can easily customize the flavor to your preference by substituting the liquor in the syrup and the paste in the frosting (instead of praline paste, any nut butter will work, almond paste, poppy seed filling, etc.).

Buttercream Frostings

This is actually very easy to make - just VERY time-consuming. The first step consists of cooking the sugar, egg whites and water over a double-boiler until it reaches 160 degrees. This took me over 45 minutes and in fact, never quite reached 160 (I gave up at 158).

Firstly, you will need a lot more than the 1/2" of water in the pan that is specified in the recipe. Mine evaporated when I wasn't even halfway there. Secondly, you don't need to keep it at a low simmer, as instructed. Once it's good and warm, you can turn the heat up (watching carefully, of course). I had mine turned all the way up to high, trying to get it to come to temperature, and it all worked out fine.

Chocolate Leaves & Bark

These are also very easy, as long as your chocolate is tempered properly. Detailed instructions on tempering are included in the book (or you google it and find instructions all over the place). Basically, you just need to be patient and have a good instant-read thermometer.

http://www.dontforgetdelicious.com/2011/buche-de-noel-two-ways/

I couldn’t decide how I wanted to decorate this buche de noel, and the cake makes one very long roll. So I just cut it in half and did it both ways. It was fun to try to make it look as professional as possible (obviously I have a long ways to go, but it was fun anyway).

So, take it from me – next time you want to wow your in-laws, put together a buche de noel. They’ll think you’re ahh-mazing!