Epic Portions

Tag: cake

  • Fancy Schmancy Carrot Cake with Mango-Cream Cheese Icing

    I must apologize for leaving you so long without a baking post, oh Epic Portions readers.  I know you need your sugar fix, but homework has been getting me down, the weather has been getting me outside, and rock shows galore have been getting me dancing… leaving little time for baking and even less for blogging.  I have been baking though, oh yes!  Expect three posts from me before the weekend is out – the first being this super awesome Fancy Schmancy Carrot Cake with Mango-Cream Cheese Icing!

    This is NOT your average carrot cake. Carrot cake? Yeah, I know – boring. Bland. Kind of weird, actually.  But this?  This is a moist, spicy, flavorful, fruit-filled concoction which you can add just about anything to and it only improves it. Seriously! Experiment with it. You will not be disappointed. Plus, you can make just about any kind of cream cheese icing to suit your flavor-and-color preferences, making it both beautiful and versatile. I chose mango because I made this cake on Easter and mangoes feel spring-like to me, but really: anything goes. Give it a try.

    (Note: this has a long ingredient list and if you don’t bake often it can be a pricey recipe, but if you do bake often you will probably have a lot of things on hand… and either way it is totally worth it. And, despite the long list, it’s a pretty easy recipe to actually make.)

    Fancy Schmancy Carrot Cake
    Makes a three-layer 8″ round cake. Or whatever comparable size you want to make.
    2.5 cups all-purpose flour
    2 tspn baking soda
    1 tsp baking powder
    5 tspn cinnamon (or to taste)
    3 tspn nutmeg (or to taste)
    3 tspn salt (or to taste)
    5 tspn ground ginger (or to taste)
    4 tspn ground cloves (you getting the idea here, yet?)
    4 eggs
    2 sticks (16 tblspn total) butter – SOFT
    3/4 cup white sugar
    3/4 cup light brown sugar
    5 oz crushed pineapple in juice
    5 oz mango – chopped, pureed, in really small pieces somehow
    2 tblspn vanilla
    4 cups shredded carrots
    4 to 5 oz copped nuts – I prefer hazelnuts, but walnuts are nice too
    3/4 dried cranberries, with liquor liquid of preference to macerate
    1/2 cup crystallized ginger, really finely chopped

    Let me start by saying: the mini chopper is your friend. Carrots? Chopped! Mango? Chopped! Seriously, I put almost everything in this recipe in there and it makes it so easy and so good. For this recipe to really work, it’s best to have everything in an even and fine consistency, and the mini chopper is your best answer. I skipped the OXO and got an electric one, and I have never looked back.

    Also, let me say: to bake effectively with dried cranberries, you need to macerate (er, soak) them for at least 4 hours, and 12 hours is really better. I prefer to soak cranberries in spiced rum, but this time I ran out of rum so I added dry red wine, and that was nice too.  It doesn’t, by any means, need to be liquor.  Just find something liquid and tasty, and give your cranberries a good long soak in an air-tight container before you bake ’em. Just make sure you drain them before adding to the recipe – you do NOT want to add your macerating liquid.  I recommend a sieve.

    Now.  In a small bowl, combine your flour, baking soda, baking powder, and spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger, salt, cloves and whatever else you feel like.  In a separate, large bowl beat the eggs, butter and sugars until combined and soft.  Add the pineapple (with juice), mango, and vanilla.  Add the dry flourspice mix and beat on low to blend.  Add the carrots, and beat to combine.  Add the walnuts, cranberries, and crystallized ginger, and combine.  Pour into three well-greased 8″ round cake pans, and bake all three for 30-45 minutes at 350F.  The length of time to bake will depend on how much liquid you’ve added in the form of fruit and such; really juicy mango will take longer, for instance. Depend on the age-old toothpick trick and know that moist is better than burnt, and you’ll be fine.  Cool on a wire rack until room temp, remove from the pans, and refrigerate the cakes for an hour or so to get them assembly-ready.

    Mango Cream Cheese Frosting
    16 oz SOFT cream cheese
    10 tblspn SOFT butter
    4 tspn vanilla
    2 cups (ish) powder sugar
    Mango puree to taste and texture (I buy frozen mango, thaw, and mini-chop.)

    Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until combined.  Gradually add sugar and mango until you reach a consistency, sweetness, and mango-ness that you enjoy.

    Assembly: Place bottom cake layer on a serving plate, and coat top with icing. Add second layer and coat top with icing. Add third layer, and generously coat top and sides with icing.  Smooth to make it pretty.  I finish mine off with edible ball bearings, because they are colorful and fun and add a little extra crunch, which I really like.

    Voila!  This has been the attendees’ second-favorite thing I’ve made, just after the Lumpy Bumpy cake. It’s a huge hit.  Enjoy!

  • Edible Books

    Faithful readers, cake eaters, sugar addicts, bacon lovers… I have entered the Edible Books Festival here in Champaign.

    Basically, I need to come up with the best book to make into a cake (and then make it into said cake, and also make it delicious).
    Prize categories are:

    • Highest Literary Merit
    • Best Visual Presentation
    • Most Appetizing
    • Funniest/Punniest
    • Entry Based on Book for Children or Teens
    • Best Collaborative Creation
    • Taste of Mexico — Inspired by the 2010 Big Read
    • People’s Choice

    I have no idea what to make!!
    Help a girl out, will ya?  Leave a comment with your suggestion for what book I should turn into a tasty treat!  (And, of course, a tasty blog post…)

    • Lumpy Bumpy Toffee Cake

      My friends were pretty excited when I announced that I’d be blogging here – not just because they’re supportive and stuff, but because I also announced that I’d be hosting regular dessert parties in order to have something to write about. This past Sunday was our first: I made Lumpy Bumpy Toffee Cake, a chocolate-mascarpone-Baileys-toffee creation that was even better than I expected… and which, aesthetically, lives up to its ridiculous name.

      I should note that I did not make the toffee myself. Have you ever tried to make toffee? Perhaps some day when I have nothing else to do, I’ll give that a shot. In this case, I already had two other delicious layers to make up, so I left the toffee to a pro: Audra Martin, a local toffee whiz. I bought a small jar of milk chocolate toffee and a small jar of dark, mixed them together in a ziplock bag, beat them into submission small pieces with a rolling pin, and I had my topping.

      As for the rest – this is a combination of about five recipes, inspired by a sort-of similar cake seen at Sugarland in Chapel Hill NC.

      Lumpy Bumpy Toffee Cake

      A chocolate sponge cake with Bailey’s-mascarpone cream and toffee topping.

      For the cake:

      6oz good-quality dark melting chocolate (I use Ghirardelli 60%)
      3 tablespoons coffee
      6 large eggs, separated and brought to room temperature
      2/3 cup white sugar, divided into two 1/3 cup amounts
      1/2 tablespoon salt (I prefer baking with popcorn salt for the texture)

      In a double-boiler, melt the chocolate and the coffee together, then allow to cool almost to room temperature. Don’t force it in the fridge, you’ll mess up the texture. Leave it be, go watch a movie or something, and just let it cool.

      In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks, 1/3 cup sugar, and the salt until it all turns pale and thick. Fold in the melted chocolate.

      In a separate bowl, with clean beaters, beat the egg whites until soft peak form.  Gradually beat in the other 1/3 cup sugar until it just holds soft peaks.

      Gradually fold the egg whites into the yolk-chocolate mixture. Pour batter into a 9″ springform pan and bake at 350F for about 25 min or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in the springform on a wire rack.

      A note: this cake is going to deflate while cooling.  One minute it’s filling the pan, then you set it to cool, and suddenly it’s 3″ tall. It’s OK.

      For the cream:

      100ml Baileys Irish Cream
      16oz mascarpone
      2 tablespoon white sugar
      slightly less than 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (the cream and Baileys should add up to about 3/4 cup liquid)

      In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone and sugar until combined. Add the Baileys and cream, and beat until it reaches a consistency you like. Try not to eat it all before you get around to assembling the cake.

      To assemble:

      Remove the cake from the springform and place it on a serving plate. If yours is anything like mine, your cake will have deflated, leaving a crater in the middle with slightly raised edges. Fill the cake crater with a thick, lovely layer of mascarpone, and top with roughly 2 cups toffee crumbles.

      Enjoy!