Suzi's Blog

Spice Cake with Peanut Buttercream

by Brian on March 5th, 2010 in Cookbook Reviews, Dessert Digest, Recipes No Comments

If the baking community were to create a royal family, then my vote for the Queen of Cakes would be easy: Rose Levy Beranbaum. After all, she did write the Cake Bible. Rose is one of those personalities who just command a room. She’s a lovely, energetic lady whose knowledge and experience are quickly evident.

After a bible, what is there left to do? Rose must have a religious thread somewhere because she has just written Rose’s Heavenly Cakes. This hefty work is just as impressive as the Cake Bible and just as important. This is one of those if-I-were-headed-to-a-desert-island-what-would-I-take books.

What makes this book so special? First, it’s a Rose book. So it comes with very precise lists of ingredients and instructions. Typical of Rose’s books, those ingredients are presented to you by volume, by weight in ounces, and weight in grams. And when Rose says exactly 5.6 ounces, she means it.  You see, the second thing special about a Rose book is a guarantee of success. Follow her recipe to the letter and you really will be in cake heaven.

Lastly, the third special feature of Heavenly Cakes is the variety of sensational ideas here. Americans love cake, but we don’t bake them very often. Our flavor spectrum trends to the basic: vanilla and chocolate and yellow for the cake, vanilla and chocolate and perhaps lemon for the frosting. With cake decoration shows now the rage on television, there seems to be an overwhelming emphasis on how a cake looks. So, how often are you personally going to build a cake duplicating Notre Dame Cathedral?

In Heavenly Cakes, Rose gives you a bevy of brilliant cake ideas — ones you can truly do yourself. In turning the pages, I was struck by the recipe below, Spice Cake with Peanut Buttercream. Spice cake is one of those neglected flavors, lost in the maze of vanilla and chocolate. And Peanut Buttercream? How could you not be intrigued by that? Then to combine the two — just what would that combination taste like?

It tastes like heaven. It’s a superior cake, distinct in flavor, and thoroughly satisfying.

Give this recipe a try. Following Rose’s detail, I’ve listed the ingredients both by volume and where appropriate by weight in ounces. Take a look at Heavenly Cakes, browse the recipes and you’ll probably succumb to bringing it home.

Oh, I do have one confession. I am a vanilla-and-chocolate addict. So I also made Rose’s White Velvet Cake with Milk Chocolate Ganache. It’s a serious reason to have this book open in your kitchen. Or to take with you to that desert island.

Spice Cake with Peanut Buttercream

Yield: one 9” round layer

Ingredients for the Cake:

2 large eggs at room temperature [3.5 ounces]
⅔ cup buttermilk [5.3 fluid ounces]
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups cake flour [7 ounces]
1 cup superfine sugar [7 ounces]
1 ½ teaspoons unsweetened (alkalized) cocoa powder
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves
8 tablespoons butter

Cake Preparation:

Special Equipment. Encircle one 9 by 2-inch round cake pan with a strip of parchment paper. Coat the bottom with shortening and top with parchment. Coat the parchment with baking spray and then flour.

Prepare the Oven. Twenty minutes or more before baking, preheat the oven to 350° F.

Mix the Liquid Ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, 3 tablespoons of the buttermilk, and the vanilla just until lightly combined.

Make the Batter. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater, mix the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and cloves on low speed for 30 seconds.  Add the butter and the remaining buttermilk. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Raise the speed to medium and beat for 1 ½ minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Starting on medium-low speed, gradually add the egg mixture in two parts, beating on medium speed for 30 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure. Using a silicone spatula, scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface evenly with a small offset spatula.

Bake the Cake. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a wire cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the center. The cake should start to shrink from the sides of the pan only after removal from oven.

Cool and Unmold the Cake. Let the cake cook in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Run a small metal spatula between the sides of the pan and the cake, pressing firmly against the pan, and invert the cake onto a wire rack that has been coated lightly with nonstick cooking spray. To prevent splitting, reinvert the cake so that the top side is up. Cool completely.

Ingredients for the Peanut Buttercream

½ cup Peanut butter, preferably Jif, at room temperature [4.7 ounces]
½ cup minus 1 tablespoon cream cheese (65-70°) [4 ounces]
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (65-70°) [2 ounces]
2 teaspoons sour cream
¼ cup powdered sugar, lightly spooned into the cup and leveled off, plus 3 more tablespoons
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Buttercream Preparation:

Make the Peanut Buttercream. In a food processor, combine the peanut butter, cream cheese, butter, sour cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla and process, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, until the butter cream is smooth and uniform in color.

Compose the Cake. When the cake is completely cool, spread a little buttercream on a 9-inch cardboard round or serving plate and set the cake on top. If using the plate, slide a few wide strips of wax paper or parchment under the cake to keep the rim of the plate clean. Frost the top and sides with swirls of silky buttercream. If using the paper strips, slowly slide them out from under the cake.

Source: Rose’s Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum

Chocolate Cake with Caramel Benefits

by Brian on February 8th, 2010 in Cookbook Reviews, Recipes No Comments

I am a butter man. I bake with butter. When I see a recipe that uses oil instead of butter, my first reaction is to keep flipping the pages of that cookbook. Why? Well, probably because I like to eat the batter and I love butter but the idea of eating oil …

I mentioned that perspective to Suzen when I was looking at a chocolate cake recipe last week. She gave me her standard advice: “Don’t be an idiot.”

I am very thankful I followed her advice. She’s thankful now, too. And so will you be. This cake is spectacular. The cake itself is devils-food-style. It is dense but moist — because of that oil — but not oily at all to the palette. The cocoa flavor bursts through. The recipe calls for water or coffee: I used coffee which gave a richer flavor to the cake.

The better part of the recipe is the ganache between the two cake layers. How hard can ganache be?  Well, actually different recipes — and certainly different ingredients — can give you very different results. This ganache recipe has only two ingredients, but very careful instructions. The result is the best ganache I ever made. For chocolate, I use Sharffen Berger and I recommend it: www.scharffenberger.com.

Ah, and now for the best part. No conventional butter frosting on this cake. “Just” a coating of Caramel Whipped Cream Frosting. You have never, never experienced this before. And this frosting is the benefit of the cake: take the leftover frosting — there will be plenty — and use it in your coffee, your hot chocolate, or just eat it. It’s sinful.

Taken together — the cake, the rich ganache, and the amazing caramel whipped cream — and you have chocolate cake unlike any you have ever tasted. I suspect it will become a favorite, to enjoy time after time.

The recipe comes from Baking Unplugged, a new baking book from Nicole Rees.  I am looking at each and every delight she suggests.

Ganache-Filled Chocolate Layer Cake with Caramel Whipped Cream Frosting

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cake Layers

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
⅔ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups sugar
½cup oil
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 ⅓ cups warm water [or brewed coffee]

Ganache Filling

¾ cup heavy-whipping cream
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate

Caramel Whipped Cream Frosting

1 cup light brown sugar, packed
¼ cup water
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
⅛ salt
2 cups heavy-whipping cream [divided]

Preparation:

For the chocolate cake layers, preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9”- round cake pans. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl beat the sugar, oil, and eggs until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Alternatively add the flour mixture and the water [or coffee] to the sugar mixture, starting and finishing with the flour. Divide the batter evenly between the pans.  Bake for 23-25 minutes until the top springs back when pressed and a skewer inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in the pans on wire rack for 15 to 20 minutes.  Remove the cakes from the pans and cool completely.

For the ganache filling, in a small saucepan over high heat, bring the cream to a boil.  Remove the pan from the heat and add the chopped chocolate. Let stand for one minute; stir until smooth. Let cool to spreading consistency, about 30 minutes at room temperature.

To assemble the cake, trim one of the cake layers to level the top if necessary and place on a serving plate. Spread with the ganache filling and top with remaining cake layer, domed side up. Refrigerate until set.

Meanwhile, for the caramel whipped cream frosting, in a medium heavy skillet or saucepan over medium-high heat, stir together the brown sugar water, 2 tablespoons butter and the salt until dissolved. Bring to a boil. Cover and boil for 2 minutes, letting the steam wash down the sides of the pan. Uncover and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes without stirring until the temperature reaches 260°F. The mixture will darken at the edges and become fragrant as it caramelizes. Tilt the pan to swirl the caramel and ensure even caramelization. Remove the pan from heat stir in the remaining butter and ½ cup of the heavy cream. Pour into a large bowl and let cool until just barely warm — almost room temperature. If it’s thickens so it won’t pour, add a bit of warm water to loosen. Beat the remaining heavy cream to soft peaks. Fold a quarter of the whipped cream into the caramel to lighten it. Gently fold in the remaining whipped cream

To frost, spread the top and sides of the assembled chilled cake with caramel whipped cream. Chill until set. If desired, garnish with chocolate curls. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving

Source: Baking Unplugged by Nicole Rees