Spattered Chocolate & Lemon Cake

Posted by ExtremeBaking on 5 August 2008 under Cakes | No Comments

This unusual cake is a big hit with both adults and children; especially the frosting. The original version of this recipe is from The Birthday Cake Book, by Sylvia Thompson. It is a tartly filled, marbled buttermilk cake, frosted with creamy lemon, splashed with chocolate.

    For the cake:

  • 1 firm lump of unsalted butter
  • 2 & 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 & 1/4 sticks mushy, softened, unsalted butter
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 extra-large egg whites, warmed in shells before separating
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract
  • 6 ounces melted unsweetened chocolate (2 for the cake; 4 for the decoration)
  • pinch of cinnamon
  • optional: 2 bright Meyer lemons (for decoration)
    For the frosting:

  • 1 stick mushy, softened, unsalted butter
  • 6 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
  • 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup chilled heavy cream
  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Run the lump of butter over the bottoms of two 9 x 1&1/2 inch round cake pans. Smooth a round of waxed paper into each. Then butter the papers.
  3. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
  4. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy.
  5. Continue while sprinkling in the sugar, a tablespoon at a time. Beat until very light.
  6. Add the egg whites one at a time; beat until blended after each one.
  7. Then beat until the mixture is very light and creamy.
  8. Sprinkle the flour over the bowl in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk in two parts, while beating at the lowest manageable speed, and only beating until each addition disappears.
  9. Fold the batter with a large flexible rubber spatula to finish blending thoroughly.
  10. Turn half the batter into another bowl. Fold the lemon extract into one batter; fold 2 ounces of melted chocolate, plus the cinnamon, into the other batter.
  11. Now divide each of the two batters in half; one half for each pan.
  12. In each pan, smooth just enough lemon batter over the bottom to cover it. Drop half the chocolate batter in random spoonfuls around the the pan. Then smooth it over the lemon with the back of the spoon. Repeat with the rest of the lemon; then with the rest of the chocolate.
  13. To create the marbling effect we want, push the batter slightly up against the sides of the pan. Then send the tip of a knife straight down in the center of the batter, just short of the botom. Genty lift and turn the knife over, folding the batters together. Repeat every two inches around the pan.
  14. Bake both pans in the middle of the oven, stagering them on the rack. Bake until a toothpick emerges clean from the center of the cakes; 25 to 30 minutes.
  15. Cool in the pans, on racks, for 15 minutes; then turn out onto the racks, top side up, to cool completely.
  16. For the frosting, cream the butter in a mixer at medium speed.
  17. Gradually blend in the sugar, lemon juice, and cream.
  18. Beat on high speed until fluffy and light; be careful not to overdo it; don’t let it thin out.
  19. Assemble the cake up to six hours before serving: Set the first layer, bottom side up, on a platter. Smooth 2/3 of a cup of the frosting over it.
  20. Set the second layer on, top side up. Frost the top and sides of the cake.
  21. Wait for the frosting to set.
  22. While someone holds and tilts the platter for you, dip a fork into the remaining 4 ounces of melted chocolate, and splash and snap and swizzle it, first over the sides, then the top.
  23. Keep cool until served. Optionally, just before serving make a border of overlapped lemon slices around the platter, round sides out. Or make fancier “flowers” of the lemons if you prefer: Make grooves in the lemons from stem end to blossom end with a canelle knife; then slice the lemons very thin and make a border of these “flowers” around the cake.


This clever, Italianate cake is incredibly light on the day of baking, but the baked layers can be wrapped airtight and kept in a cool place for one day. The frosting can be made one or two days in advance and stored in a refrigerator if tightly covered. If necessary, beat it again to restore creaminess before spreading.

Enjoy!

Tishpishti — a diabetic’s nightmare

Posted by ExtremeBaking on 4 August 2008 under Cakes | No Comments

Here’s a spectacular Jewish dessert from Greece. The honey, cinnamon, rum, and orange blossom water make Tishpishti an intense treat.
Click to continue…

maple-lemon-pear-cake

Posted by Josephine on 22 July 2008 under Cakes | No Comments

Recipe
maple-lemon-pear-cake
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. grated lemon peel
1 1/2 cups plain nonfat yogurt
1 Tbsp. arrowroot dissolved in 1/4 cup skim milk (I used cornstarch with milk)
1 large pear, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. maple extract
Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Use a 9 x 13-inch nonstick baking pan or
line a baking pan with a baking pan liner or lightly coat with nonstick
spray.

Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl. Stir
in lemon peel, yogurt, skim milk with arrowroot, pear, and vanilla and
maple extracts until well combined.

Transfer batter to baking pan. Bake for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick
inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cut into 12 pieces.

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