Devil's Food Cake with Chocolate Ganache Frosting

It should come to be expected that every June you will see a cake recipe posted here. It's obligatory, really, the June birthday cake.

I and several of my friends celebrate birthdays in June or around this time, so we use this as an excuse to get together to eat and chat, catch up, and, undoubtedly, laugh. And so we do, until, of course, someone finally, and usually impatiently, asks, "so when are going to cut the cake?".

No birthday is complete without a surprise, right? There aren't any trick candles here (aren't those things annoying?) the surprise is that this cake is baked with pureed beets, which is a traditional way of making devil's food that dates back to wartime rationing.

Beets in cake?

Dessert justified?

Happy birthday to me!

Devil's Food Cake

from Mother's Best: Comfort Food That Takes You Home Again, by Lisa Schroeder

I can't stress enough that you should freeze the cake layers after you've baked and cooled them, and the reason is two-fold. One, it breaks up the baking and assembling process, which, done all at once, can be quite daunting and Two, it's so much easier to assemble and frost frozen layers. 

To freeze your cake layers, let them cool completely after baking. Then wrap each layer thoroughly in plastic wrap and place on a flat surface in the freezer. I stack mine on small cookie sheets placed on top of my stackable cooling racks.

For the cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

2-1/4 cups packed light brown sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature, divided

1 (15 ounce) can beets (not pickled!) with the juice, pureed until very smooth

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Using butter, oil, or nonstick cooking spray, thoroughly grease the bottom and sides of two 9-inch cake pans and line their bottoms with parchment paper circles.

2) Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3) Place a medium saucepan about one third full of water over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low to keep the water warm but barely simmering. Place the chopped chocolate in a double boiler or bowl that fits over the saucepan. Set the bowl over the barely simmering water and heat, stirring now and then, until the chocolate is melted. Set aside to cool to lukewarm.

4) Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat on high speed, stopping to scrape down the sides now and then. Beat until light and fluffy and pale in color, about 5 minutes.

5) Reduce the speed to medium-high and add the eggs, one at a time, beating until fully incorporated after each addition. Reduce the speed to low and pour in the melted and cooled chocolate. Increase the speed to medium and beat for another minute, until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

6) With the mixer on low speed, add one-third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add 1/4 cup buttermilk. Repeat the process, ending with the last third of dry ingredients. When incorporated, add the pureed beets with their juice and mix on low speed until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

7) Evenly divide the batter between the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cakes on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes, then remove cakes from pans and cool completely on wire rack before frosting or freezing (see note above).

For the frosting:

1 cup heavy cream

16 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1) Place the cream in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.

2) Remove the cream from the heat and whisk in the chocolate. Keep whisking until the chocolate is melted.

3) Let the mixture cool on the counter, stirring occasionally, until spreadable, about 2 hours (the time it should take to make, bake, and cool the cake layers, if you choose not to freeze the layers).

Assemble the cake:

1) Place one cake (bottom side up) in the center of a serving plate. Tuck a few strips of parchment or wax paper under the edges of the cake to keep the plate clean. Place one-quarter of the frosting in the center of the cake and spread to cover the surface. Place the second layer on top of the first and frost the top and sides of the cake. Remove the strips of parchment paper when finished.

Cranberry Ginger Upside Down Cake

I have a few holiday traditions that I look forward to. Such as writing holiday cards. Not just signing my name to them, but writing messages to the recipient and personalizing the card. Then there's the tree decorating. I've been collecting ornaments since I was a child and every year I enjoy unwrapping each ornament and remembering the special memory connected with it. There's also all the baking. So much baking. But it's fun, knowing I'll be able to give out homemade treats to friends and family, and maybe even eat a few myself.

And then there are the cranberries. I buy them in bulk and hoard them in my freezer to use throughout the year. Did you know they freeze well, and can be kept frozen for about a year? And that when you use them, you don't even need to thaw them, you just measure out what you need and use them frozen. When you love cranberries as much as I do (this is the girl who made her mom ship canned cranberry sauce to her in Mexico, if that gives you any kind of idea...) stocking up on cranberries now means hello homemade cranberry sauce in July! And now, it also means cranberry ginger upside down cake whenever I want it, which will be often.

I made this the other night to take to book club, because we just finished reading a murder mystery - and I won't tell you which murder mystery it was because I'm going to spoil it and tell you that the person was killed with a meat bullet! A hunk of meat, shaped like a bullet, shot out of a gun. Amazing. I can think of no better accompaniment to mayhem - or holiday gatherings - OR Mexican siestas! - than cranberries.

Hurry and go buy them - before I do!

Cranberry Ginger Upside Down Cake

from Cooking Light

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter

1-1/2 tablespoons grated, peeled fresh ginger

3 cups fresh (or frozen) cranberries

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large egg yolks

1/2 cup fat-free milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large egg whites

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2) Heat a 9-inch round cake pan over medium heat; coat pan with cooking spray. Add brown sugar and 2 tablespoons butter to pan, stirring until melted. Stir in ginger; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; arrange cranberries on top of brown sugar mixture.

3) Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk together. In a separate bowl, combine 1/4 cup butter and granulated sugar; beat with a mixer at high speed until fluffy. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.

4) Beat egg whites and cream of tartar with a mixer at medium speed until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into batter; pour batter over cranberries in prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean.

5) Cool in pan for 15 minutes; run a knife around the outside edge, place plate or serving platter upside down on top of cake pan; invert cake onto plate.

6) Eat while guarding your stash of frozen cranberries.

Five-Spice Sweet Potato Pie

It's only been a few short days since my favorite holiday of the year and I just now ate the last slice of the pie you see above. It wouldn't have made it to Friday night if we wouldn't have packed up the car and headed out to Sequoia National Park after waking up from our Thanksgiving induced food coma, but I decided to leave it at home to give us a nice treat for when we came home today, all grumpy and grumbly, knowing the hours to be few before we have to get back to real life and less fun, less calorie dense meals.

Had we not decided to take advantage of the long weekend to go away, and if we wouldn't have had to choose between so many delicious homemade pies on Thanksgiving, the lifespan of this sweet potato pie would have been measured in hours, not days. I am a fan of the sweet potato in any form, and because I don't make as many pies as I should, I rarely get to indulge in a good sweet potato pie. Which made deciding what dessert to contribute to the big meal all that easier.

Five-Spice Sweet Potato Pie

From Cooking Light

Five-spice powder is a blend of cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, star anise, and Szechuan peppercorns. It is usually sold in most supermarkets, but if you have trouble finding it, or don't want to invest in a spice you don't think you will use often, you can substitute pumpkin pie spice.

2 lbs sweet potatoes (about 5 medium)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder (or pumpkin pie spice)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

Homemade or store-bought pie dough*

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

2) Pierce sweet potatoes several times with a fork and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until tender. Cool slightly. Peel and discard skins. Place the sweet potatoes in a medium bowl and mash. Add 3/4 cup brown sugar and the next 8 ingredients (through eggs). Beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended.

3) Fit pie dough into a 9-inch pie plate. Pour sweet potato mixture into pie shell. Bake at 375 degrees F for 55 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool pie completely on a wire rack.

*I had the greatest of intentions of including a homemade pie dough recipe, but I had some issues with the recipe I used to make my pie and need to figure out what went wrong. Rest assured dough recipe experimentation and the results will be forthcoming.

Strawberry Butter Cake

There's a reason I've been baking so many cakes lately. A reason, I mean, other than the fact that I simply love cake (and I do. I really really do love cake). My friends, Ryan and Jennica, got married recently and they had this crazy, wacky notion that they could trust me to make a wedding cake for them. Not the wedding cake, mind you, because thoughts of cakes stacked upon cakes stacked upon more cakes, supported and held together by little more than large toothpicks, frosting, and good fortune had me sweating bullets. The wedding cake was a 7-layer multi-tiered Doberge cake; it was beautiful and insanely delicious. 

My cakes were to be for the reception being held in Los Angeles. So, a little less stress than making the actual day-of-the-wedding cake, but still, I have high standards. I wanted these cakes to be great. Better than great. It's the least I can do for good friends.

So I baked. And I baked. And I baked. Because we weren't sure what kind of cake to make, so we had to taste test. Then it was decided there would be more than one cake; there would be three.

We decided on the Sour Cream Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting & Chocolate Peanut Butter Glaze, Grandma Merrow's Chocolate cake with Grandma Merrow's Chocolate Icing, and this one: Strawberry Butter cake with Strawberry Filling and Cream Cheese Frosting.

Because I suppose you can't live on chocolate cake alone. 

Strawberry Butter Cake

From Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes, by Alisa Huntsman & Peter Wynne

(Strawberry filling from Wilton)

For the cake:

4-1/2 cups cake flour

3 cups sugar

5-1/4 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1-1/4 cups strawberry puree (I buy frozen strawberries, thaw, then puree)

8 egg whites

2/3 cup milk

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter three 8-inch round cake pans. Line with a round of waxed paper and butter the paper too.

2) Put the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. With an electric mixer on low speed, blend for 30-seconds. Add the butter and strawberry puree and mix to blend the ingredients (*note, the batter is very thick). Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. The batter will resemble strawberry ice cream at this point.

3) In another large bowl, whisk together the egg whites and milk to blend. Add the whites to the batter in 2 or 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl well and mixing only to incorporate after each addition. Divide the batter between the 3 prepared pans.

4) Bake the cakes for 30 to 34 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the layers to cool in the pans for 10 to 15 minutes. Invert and turn out onto wire racks. Peel off waxed paper and cool completely.

*Note, I highly recommend wrapping the layers in plastic wrap and freezing for a minimum of 30 minutes prior to assembling and decorating; it makes life a lot easier if you do this. 

For the Strawberry Filling:

1 package (16 ounces) frozen sliced strawberries packed in sugar, thawed

1/3 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1) Drain strawberries, reserving liquid. Add enough water to liquid to equal 1-1/4 cups.

2) In a large saucepan, combine strawberry liquid, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice; mix well. Heat and stir until mixture boils and thickens. Cool completely.

3) Stir strawberries into the cooled mixture. Refrigerate until ready to use. (Makes 2 cups of filling)

For the cream cheese frosting:

3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

3 cups confectioners' sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1) In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually mix in the confectioners' sugar. 

Frost & Assemble the cake:

1) Line edges of a platter or cake stand with strips of waxed paper. Place one cake layer on top. Spread with 1 cup of strawberry filling. Repeat with the second layer and remaining strawberry filling. Add the top layer and frost the top and sides of cake with the frosting. Remove the strips of waxed paper.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting & Chocolate Peanut Butter Glaze

I’ve learned that, no matter what you've read elsewhere, when it all boils down, there are only two kinds of cakes. Really. 

There are nice, sweet, fun, sentimental cakes, like the kind that you grew up eating. You are comfortable with these cakes and rely on them to be your go-to desserts. They complement any party or are simply nice companions for when you want to wolf them down all by yourself. These cakes are delicious. I love these cakes.

Then there are cakes that demand your attention. They don’t want to merely sit on a table at your party and act as a decoration; they kick the door down and announce, “I am here. Eat me NOW”. You stare wide-eyed, because you can’t believe that there actually exists a cake such as this. That one day someone decided that yes, yes you can take a chocolate sour cream cake, make three of them, stack them together, surrounded by peanut butter cream cheese frosting and THEN pour a peanut butter ganache over the entire thing.

If you, like me, believe that chocolate and peanut butter are perfect together, belong together, were meant to be together, then you must make this cake.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting & Chocolate Peanut Butter Glaze

From Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes, by Alisa Huntsman & Peter Wynne

but first gawked at and drooled over at Smitten Kitchen

Makes an 8-inch triple layer cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

2-1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process

2 tsps baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup neutral vegetable oil, such as canola, soybean, or vegetable blend

1 cup sour cream

1-1/2 cups water

2 tbsp distilled white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs 

Peanut Butter Frosting

Makes about 5 cups

10 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature

5 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

2/3 cup smooth peanut butter (commercial brand, not all-natural)

1) In a large bowl beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl often. Continue to beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Glaze

Makes about 1-1/2 cups

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

3 tbsp smooth peanut butter

2 tbsp light corn syrup

1/2 cup half-and-half

1) In the top of a double boiler, or in a bowl set over simmering water, combine the chocolate, peanut butter, and corn syrup. Cook, whisking often, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

2) Remove from the heat and whisk in the half-and-half, whisking until smooth.

BAKING THE CAKE:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.

2) Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine them well. Add the oil and sour cream and whisk to blend. Gradually beat in the water. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed. Divide among the three prepared cake pans.

3) Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Let cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Invert onto wire racks, carefully peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely.

*Optional* Assembling and decorating layer cakes is much easier when working with frozen layers. After cooling the cake wrap each layer tightly in plastic wrap. Freeze for a minimum of 30 minutes to overnight.

ASSEMBLING & FROSTING THE CAKE:

1) Place one layer flat side up on a cake stand or large serving plate. Spread 2/3 cup of the Peanut Butter Frosting evenly over the top. Repeat with the next layer. Place the last layer on top and frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. 

*Optional* A crumb coat (a thin layer of frosting that, when set, binds the dark cake crumbs to the cake so they don't mix into the light frosting when spread over the cake) is recommended. After the crumb coat is spread, chill in the refrigerator for 15 to 30 minutes until firm, then use the remainder of the frosting to create a smooth final coating.

2) To decorate with the Chocolate–Peanut Butter Glaze, simply pour the glaze over the top of the cake and, using an offset spatula, spread it evenly over the top just to the edges so that it runs down the sides of the cake in long drips (it helps if you have refrigerated the cake before pouring the glaze on; the cooler the cake is, the slower the glaze will dribble down creating a nicer visual drip effect). Refrigerate,uncovered, for at least 30 minutes to allow the glaze and frosting to set completely. Remove about 1 hour before serving.

Grandma Merrow's Chocolate Cake

The reason for starting this blog was simple enough: to have fun. Maybe I would amuse someone. Perhaps I would figure out how to use my camera. Surely I would eat a lot. And possibly I might finally organize the mountain of recipes that I have collected over the years.

Well, the massive stack of recipes is still here, but one thing is for certain, I have been having fun. I didn't know quite how this project would turn out, but it's turned out well so far, I think, and along the way I've had a nice sprinkling of surprises. Comments from friends who say they have been inspired to try a new food, cook a meal from scratch for the first time, or simply get back in the kitchen again. Requests for recipes not yet posted. Questions about something I made or wrote. Seeing someone new stop by, joining the little community of readers that has developed here.

One of the nicest surprises came recently from Kate, of Hiccups & Fairy Dust, a blog I've been reading for some time now. She's a great writer who incorporates really fun ideas into her blog, like photo challenges and "Snippets". (No, I won't tell you what snippets are, you must go discover them for yourself). She also happens to work magic with a needle and thread. Read this, then check out her store on Etsy. Why didn't I pay attention in home ec? Or to my grandma? Or to my mom? Because if I would have, I might have been able to make something like what arrived one day, out of the blue, in my mailbox:

 

Cutest Apron Ever

Do you believe I cook in a dress?

It's quite possibly the cutest apron ever. Kate is a genius. 

But that wasn't all. She also sent her grandmother's recipe for chocolate cake, a recipe she made mention of a few posts ago. I said I wished I had it, and ta-da. Oh my heavens.

If I can say one thing about this cake, it's that it's lucky that it got baked at all, because this recipes produces, without a doubt, the best tasting batter I have ever licked off of a spoon (who's kidding who here, I was licking the bowl, the beaters, the spoon....).  Grandma Merrow knew her cakes; thank you for sharing, Kate.

Grandma Merrow's Chocolate Cake

The original recipe calls for baking this in a 9 x 13" pan. For the moment I am still hooked on layers, so I baked this in two 9-inch round cake pans, both buttered and with a round of wax paper on the bottom, but I see myself craving this cake a lot and baking it altogether in one large sheet pan will make it oh so easier to get this into my belly.

The recipe was also sent without a frosting recipe. Apparently, it changed often, depending on the occasion the cake was baked for. I used a basic cream cheese frosting, but it was agreed that it didn't complement the cake well (don't get me wrong, it was still delicious), therefore I haven't included a frosting recipe. I might opt for a lighter chocolate frosting next time. If I have to - (dramatic sigh) - I will bake a lot of cakes until I find the right frosting. 

It also seems appropriate to mention that this would make an excellent birthday cake, as today is my oldest brother's birthday, or at least, it's still his birthday in my time zone, and I think that still counts. He claims to read my blog, so this will be the true test, to see if he reads all the way down here. Happy Birthday Dan!

Cake Ingredients (finally!):

1 egg 

1/2 cup cocoa

1-1/2 cup flour (I used cake flour, but I almost used all-purpose, because I imagine that's what Grandma Merrow would have used)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup buttermilk, or whole milk

1/2 cup hot coffee

1) Mix ingredients together in one bowl (*after baking so many cakes lately that call for specific steps in adding ingredients, and warnings of what happens when you fail to, I was almost hesitant to do this, but again, I went with what I thought Grandma Merrow would do, and you know, it all worked out just fine).

2) Pour batter into prepared pan(s). Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 - 35 minutes, depending on the size of pan you are using. I advise to check at the earlier time and go from there. The cake is done  when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

3) Remove cake from layer pans and cool on wire rack, or cool in 9 x 13" dish. Assemble/frost when cake has cooled completely.

Chocolate Joy Cake

Thanks to Betty Crocker, I now know what men from 1938 like: they apparently liked Chocolate Joy Cake. 

I know this because it comes from a recipe out of a 1938 Betty Crocker cookbook called New Editions of Old Favorites Men Like. I wasn't reading that book exactly, the recipe was reprinted in one that I was, called Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America's First Lady of Food. 

It's not a secret that I am an avid reader. I go stir crazy if I don't have something to read, so I usually have more than one book going at the same time:  one on my night stand, one in my purse, and one definitely in my car (most practical people prepare for the unfortunate occurrence of car trouble by keeping tools in their car; I keep reading material). I enjoy reading many different types of books, but lately I’ve been going through a phase of reading about anything food-related. This is a broad category encompassing juicy chef memoirs, intensely informative books on the consequences of our eating habits, and books on the history of food and the food industry.   

This is where Betty, and my newfound knowledge of her, comes in. Invented in 1921 as a marketing tool for the Washburn Crosby Company (which later, through mergers and acquisitions, would become the General Mills that we know today), it was interesting to learn that a lot of people thought Betty Crocker was a real person. The public would write letters to her seeking advice about cooking, but also about love and marital issues, which, really, is kind of strange. But knowing the time period, and that Betty was fielding questions on that topic, it's not strange to see that an entire cookbook was created with recipes that women could use to woo and keep their men. Hence: Chocolate Joy Cake. I saw the recipe in the book and thought: Why not?

Considering what I went through last time, making this cake was simple, and, I'd even go so far as to say relaxing (but that's also because I had an entire lazy Saturday to spend on it). 

How did it turn out? Well, I shared this with my husband (so that I can woo him and keep him happy) and my neighbors (because I need to woo and keep them happy, too). The agreed upon word to describe the cake is this: fudge. As in, it tastes fudgy and chocolatey and good. I had no complaints from anyone but myself: I didn't like the icing (it consists of a lot of powdered sugar). I would definitely make the cake again, but I would experiment with a different icing. Meanwhile, I've been told that the remaining cake will not be in existence much longer. Some men around here apparently really like it.

Chocolate Joy Cake

From New Editions of Old Favorites Men Like, by Betty Crocker

Reprinted in Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America's First Lady of Food, by Susan Marks

Cake:

3 sq. chocolate (3 oz), grated or shaved

1/2 cup hot water

1/2 cup shortening (I used butter)

1-2/3 cups sugar

3 eggs

3 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sour milk or buttermilk

2 cups all-purpose flour

Chocolate Icing:

6 tbsp shortening (I used butter)

1 egg yolk

3 cups confectioners' sugar

4 tbsp cocoa

3 to 4 tbsp hot water

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans.

2) Mix shaved chocolate with hot water and cook to a thick paste, stirring constantly, about 3  to 5 minutes (I did this by putting the chocolate and hot water in a small stainless steel bowl and placing it over a saucepan of boiling water, so that I wouldn't scorch the chocolate). Set aside to cool.

3) Cream shortening, then add sugar gradually and cream thoroughly. Beat eggs well and blend into the creamed mixture. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and blend well.

4) Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gradually add the buttermilk and flour mixture to the creamed by adding them alternately while blending thoroughly. 

5) Pour into the prepared cake pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, then loosen the cakes around the edges and invert onto the wire rack. Cool completely.

Make the icing:

Cream the shortening and blend in the egg yolk. Whisk together the flour and cocoa and alternate adding it and the hot water to the creamed mixture. Beat until smooth.

Assemble the cake:

Spread the chocolate icing between the layers and over the top and sides of the cake. *Note, I did find that I needed a double batch of icing, but it wasn't totally necessary: I just really loaded on the icing.

Melon Granita

Wow. I didn't mean to be away for so long. It's been almost a week, and I'll admit, it passed by kind of fast for me. It's not that anything exciting happened, I will simply confess to my laziness. Mostly, it was the heat. I would come home from work, change immediately into pajamas and spend the rest of the evening relaxing. I'll even admit that the meals around here were reduced to, well, slim pickin's. It's not to say anyone here was deprived, but, I think when I came home today with groceries, Jason breathed a little sigh of relief.

The weather has cooled off, too, slightly, but my urge to crank up the broiler has diminished. So I thought I would take fruit to the opposite extreme: freeze the heck out of it. I've been envious of everyone I know who has been making homemade ice cream lately, and have wanted to make a frozen dessert, but one that didn't require the purchase of an entire machine that I would need to find storage space for (although, for an ice cream maker, I would find the space). Granitas make perfect sense here.

I was a little hesitant to make this at first, because I came home with two great looking cantaloupes, and when I cut them up all I wanted to do was eat the melon slices as is, because nothing beats melon at it's freshest. I admit, I ate a few slices, but I went ahead with the recipe; I mean, technically I can go back to the market and buy some more cantaloupes. 

This turned out better than expected. I anticipated that the melon flavor would disappear when frozen, but it seemed to be enhanced (perhaps this is the job of the sugar syrup?). Jason and I both agree that this granita tastes exactly like the melon paletas we used to devour when we lived in Mexico, and that's a nice memory to bring back.  If only I had space to hang my hammock, I would be set.

Melon Granita

From Martha Stewart's Everyday Food

In this recipe you can also substitute one 5-pound honeydew melon for the two 3-pound cantaloupes.

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp water

2 cantaloupes (3-pounds each), peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped

1) In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, heat 1/2 cup sugar with 2 tablespoons water, stirring occasionally, until dissolved; about 1 to 2 minutes. Set aside.

2) In a food processor (I used a hand-held immersion blender), puree melon with the sugar syrup until smooth. Pour into a large, shallow dish (I used a 9 x 13" pan).

3) Freeze, stirring and breaking up crystals with a fork every 30 minutes, until entire mixture is frozen and crystallized, about 3 hours.

Broiled Apricots

It's not yet 12:00 PM Noon here and the temperature is already way past sweltering. Thanks to the magical modern technology of meteorologists, I knew this weekend was going to be blanketed in blistering heat. I canceled bike rides, I've put off doing errands, and I haven't yet ventured walking the five feet to the apartment pool because I'm afraid that the moment I set foot outside the door I'll melt right down into the pavement.

So what do I do? I crank the oven as high as it'll go and make broiled apricots, that's what I do. I think the heat has officially affected my judgement. I read something once that said if you drink hot tea on a warm day it cools you off. Well, that's not true. It's also not true that turning on the oven on a hot day cools down a small apartment.

Yet, I am really glad I made these. I love apricots, but it seems that every time I buy them in the store they are lacking one rather important quality: taste. They look perfect, they feel perfect, they taste like nothing. I'm  not the only one who thinks this, either. Last week a really nice cashier at Trader Joe's vented to me about this very topic. She suggested I try angelcots. I will, and I will also suggest to her this recipe, which really brings out the flavor of apricots and takes virtually no time to make. I just suggest you have someone willing to spray you down with water as you're in the kitchen making them on hot days. Or, I suppose you could just wait until the weather isn't in the triple digits. That's an option, too.

Broiled Apricots

From Martha Stewart's Everyday Food

8 apricots (around 1 lb), halved and pitted

4 tsp light-brown sugar  

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1/8 tsp ground cardamom

Heat broiler to high, with rack set 4-inches from heat. Place apricots, cut side up, on a rimmed baking dish. Put a little piece of butter on each apricot half. Mix together brown sugar and cardamom and then sprinkle evenly over apricots. Broil until apricots just begin to char, 2 to 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Notes:

You can eat these just about any way imaginable: with whipped cream, with ice cream, with pancakes, alone. I have some in the fridge now, which we'll be feasting on cold later today.

Ginger Chiffon Cake with Lime Curd & Lime Buttercream Frosting

Another June comes to an end, and if yours was anything like mine you celebrated approximately 122 birthdays this month, right? (Including mine!) So, I figured this would be a good month to tackle something I've been meaning to for quite some time now: the layer cake. 

In my humble opinion, layer cakes are the epitome of birthday awesomeness (I, of course, am excluding ice cream cakes of any sort, which occupy a whole other level of awesomeness). Therefore, I thought June, the month it seems everyone is born, would be the perfect month to try my hand at constructing a layered creation. I found a book of insanely great-looking triple layer cakes and it was decided the big cake unveiling would happen on June 28th, Jason's birthday. Friends were told; a party was planned; I was beyond excited.

Important things to note: 

-I've only made one previous layer cake before, and that was with the help of someone with a lot of experience 

-The 28th was on a Sunday, and Jason and I were going away for the weekend. When did I think I would be making this cake?

-Buttercream frosting is my arch-nemesis

Things started off relatively painlessly. I decided to bake the cake layers on Friday after work and then wrap them and refrigerate them until Sunday. They didn't turn out as even as I would have hoped, but I wasn't too worried, figuring I'd fix it with frosting (the duct tape of the cake world!). So, with cakes baked, wrapped, and refrigerated, Jason and I headed off to a nice relaxing weekend up in the Santa Ynez Valley.

We returned on Sunday later than I would've hoped, but I still had time to make the curd and the frosting, then assemble before it was time to razzle dazzle the crowds with my cake prowess. The curd came together easy enough, but whereas it's a beautiful shade of green in the cookbook, mine came out a shocking shade of yellow (shocking as in it's supposed to be green). I tasted it, though, and it was delicious, so I moved on to the frosting.

I've read before that buttercream is rather finicky. Instructions usually contain the sentence "just as you add the last of the butter, the frosting will appear to fall apart but don't give up because in another minute it will whip up beautifully". In other words, you beat beat beat, have a mild heart attack, then there's the frosting. OK, I can handle that. Or I could have if A) the instructions in the cookbook would've included one missing piece of information and B) I wouldn't have been rushed for time. My first batch of frosting failed.

I found another frosting recipe from another cake recipe, and batch number two turned out much better. By this time, friends had gathered and I was still in the kitchen, so I rushed through the assembly phase and while I wasn't pleased with my shoddy workmanship, we cut into it shortly after I finished. 

The cake was delicious. Ugly, yes, but definitely delicious.

I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get to spend as much time on the cake as I would have liked. I also feel like the frosting got the better of me. You can interpret this all to mean that you will most likely be seeing a lot more layer cake postings in the near future. Which I interpret to mean that it's time to learn how to sew so I can modify all of my pants to have elastic waistbands.

Ginger Chiffon Cake with Lime Curd & Lime Buttercream Frosting

Adapted from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne

Cake:

6 eggs, separated

1/4 cup neutral vegetable oil (such as canola, soybean, or vegetable blend)

2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated

6 tbsp water

1-1/2 cups sugar

1-1/3 cups cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottoms of three 8-inch round cake pans with parchment or waxed paper; do not grease.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, oil, ginger, and water; set aside.

3. Sift 1 cup of the sugar, the flour, baking powder, and salt into a large mixing bowl; whisk together gently to combine. Add the egg yolk mixture and whisk to form a smooth batter.

4. Place the egg whites in a large mixer bowl and beat on medium-high speed until frothy. Slowly add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and the cream of tartar and continue to whip until soft, droopy peaks form. Fold one-fourth of the beaten egg whites into the batter, taking care not to deflate the mixture. Gently fold in the remaining whites. Divide the batter evenly among the three prepared pans.

5. Bake for about 18 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the layers to cool completely in the pans. To remove, run a blunt knife around the edges, invert each pan, and tap out the cake onto a wire rack. Peel off the paper.

Lime Curd: 

6 egg yolks

1 tbsp cornstarch

6 tbsp sugar

6 tbsp lime juice (or key lime juice, which this was supposed to have been, if I could have found key limes)

2 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and cornstarch. Combine the sugar and lime juice in a non-reactive saucepan and whisk in the egg yolk mixture. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat, whisking gently the entire time. Allow to boil for 1 minute.

2. Pour through a mesh strainer into a heatproof bowl and whisk in the butter until it is completely melted. Let cool slightly, then cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until cold, at least one hour. 

Lime Buttercream Frosting:

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

2 eggs

3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

1. In a small non-reactive saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Continue to boil without stirring, occasionally washing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush, until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage (238 degrees F on a candy thermometer). Immediately remove from heat.

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs briefly on medium speed. Slowly add the hot syrup in a thin stream, careful not to hit the beaters (so the hot syrup won't splatter). When all the syrup has been added, raise the speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture is very fluffy and cooled to body temperature. This can take 15 to 20 minutes.

3. Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually add the softened butter 2 t0 3 tablespoons at a time, beating well between additions. As you're adding the last few tablespoons of butter, the frosting will appear to break, then suddenly come together like whipped butter. Beat in the lime juice, and the frosting is ready for use.

Assemble Cake:

Place one cake layer on a cake stand or serving plate and spread half of the curd over the top, leaving a 1/4-inch margin around the edges. Repeat with another cake layer and the remaining curd. Place the top layer on and frost all over with the buttercream.