Whole Wheat Spice Bundt Cake

The teen requested a spice cake for his birthday cake (which is almost the default cake for him - but sometimes he surprises me).  His birthday was earlier this week but since his Dad wasn't home, we opted to wait for him so we could celebrate together.  We went to a movie and shopped on his birthday and he said he had a good day...but it was a bit strange not to have a cake or presents that day.  He's 19 now, so I guess it was more my issue than his.  He wanted to wait.

The expected return for Mr. Flip Flop was the 10th...on Friday I got a text saying "Lucy, I'm Home!" and I threw on my flip flops and flew down the stairs nearly barreling us both down a flight of stairs when I pounced on him!  I'd talked to him earlier that day and he let me believe he was on his way to work when, in actuality, he was on the 350 mile drive home.  He doesn't manage to surprise me often, but when he does, it's a biggie!  Ian was so happy he gave him a big hug and smile (which is not the norm for him either)!  All-in-all, an excellent turn of events.  EXCEPT, I hadn't planned a cake, wrapped the gifts, nor spiffed up the house as I am wont to do when Papi comes home.  I always like things to look "nice".  I doubt he even notices.  So, since I could do nothing about the cleaning portion of the deficit, I focused on birthday preparations this morning when I got up.  We were going out to dinner, on the island I imagined, and we'd have cake and gifts when we get back.

I decided to go with a recipe that I've made before as mini bundts, but in a full-size bundt pan.  I made one boo boo and used baking powder instead of baking soda, so it was even more dense than expected.  I was freaking out a bit because it wasn't rising as much as I anticipated, but it all came out okay in the end.  This is a very dense cake anyway... it uses 100% whole wheat flour...but the white whole wheat, which is slightly lighter.  I also didn't have regular yogurt, so I used 1/2 fat free yogurt and 1/2 ricotta cheese.  I hate being risky when baking a birthday cake...but I knew if it just absolutely flopped, I had a chance to go to the store and start over.

So, here's the recipe... my husband loved it - ate several pieces.  Ian and I both would have preferred a less dense cake.  The flavor was excellent though!  I particularly liked adding some cinnamon to the vanilla bean glaze I used - perfect for the cake.  If you like a super dense cake - this is a good one.  I would, however, likely use baking soda next time, and not a fat-free yogurt!

WW SPICE BUNDT CAKE

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated vanilla sugar
1 cup turbinado sugar
1 cup room temperature butter
1/2 cup fat free vanilla yogurt (I used Dannon) - room temp
1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese - room temperature
3 large eggs - room temperature
1/2 Tablespoon Vanilla Bean Paste
2 1/2 cups White Whole Wheat Flour (I use King Arthur)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (not powder like I used)

Method:

Prepare a bundt pan with Baker's Joy or grease/flour preparation.  Make sure to get all the crevices and go all the way to the edge of the pan and the cone in the middle.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In bowl of a stand mixer, cream both sugars and the butter until fluffy (I let it go about 3 minutes).

Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.  Add the vanilla bean paste and beat until incorporated.

In a bowl or large mixing cup, whisk together the dry ingredients.

In a small bowl, whisk together the yogurt and ricotta cheese until smooth.

Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl with the mixer running on low.
Add 1/2 of the yogurt/ricotta mixture
Add 2nd 3rd of the dry ingredients followed by the remaining yogurt/ricotta mixture.
Add the final 3rd of the dry ingredients.

Scrape the bowl and beat on medium high for 60-90 seconds until smooth and fluffy batter.

Use a large spoon to place the batter evenly around the bundt pan.  Smooth it with the back of the spoon.

Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 50-60 minutes.  Use a cake tester for doneness.  The cake was not ready at 50 minutes but 5 minutes later it had cracked (which was fine - it's the bottom) and became perfectly done with a cake tester.

Remove from oven to a cooling rack for about 15 minutes.  Turn onto a cake plate and allow to cool completely before frosting or glazing.

Ian elected a glaze since it was a bundt cake.

I made a Vanilla Bean and Cinnamon Glaze... very tasty with this cake!

VANILLA BEAN CINNAMON GLAZE

Ingredients:

1 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon melted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 to 4 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream

Method:

In the small bowl of a food processor, with the small blade, pulse the sugar, butter, vanilla bean paste and cinnamon to mix.  Begin by adding 2 tablespoon of heavy cream to the mixture and pulse.  Carefully scrape the bowl, avoiding cutting your spatula on the blade, to ensure all of the sugar is off the sides and bottom.  Pulse again and add more cream to get it to the proper consistence you desire.  I wanted a thick enough glaze that it would drip down the side but not so loose that it would pool under the cake.  I wanted it on top of the cake!

The thickish glaze worked beautifully!

Admittedly, not my favorite cake - but it is definitely something I'd make again with a few tweaks (which actually go back to my original recipe!)

Bon Appetit, Y'all!

Cream Puffs

Unfilled puffs cooling (small in back tray - medium in front)

A few days ago I posted the recipe for the basic sweet Pate a Choux - for pastry puffs. Today is baking day!  I'll only be filling a few - the rest will go into the freezer to take with us to Austin (where I'll re-warm, fill, and glaze).  Today, though, the teen is very interested in having some filled with "cherry curd" instead of lemon curd.  I can't say I'm interested in making any from scratch...and I've never seen any on the grocery shelf locally, but what I believe he is looking for is something similar to the jelly in the middle of a jelly donut.  I'll be heading momentarily to the grocery store to pick up a can of Cherry Pie Filling - I think if I run it through the food processor, it will have a similar taste, even with some cherry bits.  Actually, sounds delicious.  Maybe a chocolate ganache topping?  Similar to chocolate covered cherries in nature?  We'll see how it goes.


Small puffs piped and ready to bake


I've made the dough and piped a set of very small puffs - and a set of medium puffs.

Medium Puffs Piped and Ready to Bake

I'll go ahead and put the recipe here again so it is easy to have in one blog post - and I will make it very specific to the way I did everything today...so you'll see small differences.





MINIATURE CREAM PUFFS (Pate a Choux)Prepare your pans - line shallow baking sheet with parchment paper - or use a baking mat (I did) if you don't need to draw out your circle sizes.  If you want to ensure you have uniform puffs - use a template to draw circles with a pencil on the parchment paper (leave at least 2 inches between circles) and then turn it over - you can see through the paper to pipe the dough!  I piped free hand today - small ones and medium ones!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1/2 cup unsalted butter (one stick - I used salted butter today - that's all I had)
1 tsp sugar
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
4 large eggs (should equal 1 cup of eggs - if your eggs don't equal one cup of eggs - add an egg white or another egg to get it to the right volume - I had to add some egg white to get an exact cup today)

Method:
In a saucepan, bring water, butter, and sugar to a boil over high heat.  Immediately remove from heat.
Add flour and stir with a wooden spoon until mixture pulls away from the side of the pan. (takes just a couple of minutes). 

After flour added - it pulls away from sides of pan

Let cool for a couple of minutes to the point you don't curdle the eggs when you add them next (just about 5 minutes) OR you can move everything to the bowl of a stand mixer at this point which hastens the cooling process (me, I don't want another dirty bowl to wash - and I cooled my pan in a bowl of iced water which worked perfectly).



Add eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition with the wooden spoon until smooth.  It gets gummy looking and then smooths out...that's when you add the next egg.  And, believe me...you have to stir industriously...but, it's meaningful that way :-)  Be careful not to slop it out - those eggs are slick!

After egg added you work it, work it, work it



After eggs all worked in





Transfer batter/dough to a large pastry bag with a 1/2 inch round tip (if you are doing the miniatures - larger tip if larger puff) OR you can use a Ziploc bag (I prefer the freezer bags as they are sturdy and less likely to pop on you).  If you use that method, move the dough to one corner and twist down the excess bag so the dough doesn't move backwards when you pipe.  Snip the corner of the bag about 1/4 inch up, and start piping.

Prepared dough/batter in the bag - ready to pipe

Pipe batter into mounds - keeping at least 2 inches apart.  If you are using parchment paper, and your paper slips around, anchor it by putting a dab of batter in each corner between the bottom of the parchment paper and the cookie sheet.  It will hold it in place.  After all your piping is finished, smooth the tips of each batter mound with a lightly wet finger (put a little water in a ramekin and dab your finger to keep it moist while smoothing the tops of the batter mounds).
 

Bake at 425 for 10 minutes - reduce oven temperature to 350 and bake until puffs are golden brown - another 20 to 30 minutes. (the small ones took 10 minutes at 350 and the medium ones took 15 minutes at 350...so I imagine the original recipe is really pushing it for 30 minutes unless you are making some pretty big puffs).  They should feel light and hollow if you lift one off the parchment.  Mine turned out perfect...these are so easy folks :-)

Allow to cool on baking sheets placed on wire racks.

How to Fill:

Use a toothpick to make a small hole in the bottom of the baked puff.  Wiggle it around to make about 1/4" hole.  Fill piping bag (or Ziploc bag) with whatever you want to fill the puff with.  Pastry cream, homemade or store bought lemon curd, flavored whip creams, instant or cooked and cooled pudding, or as I'll be doing, a whipped jelly.  Snip the corner of the Ziploc in the same way you did when piping puffs - hold puff upside down in one hand and insert piping tip in puff hole you made - and squeeze to fill the puff with goodness.  Place hole side down on the same baking tray.  If you are using a cold filling, place tray in fridge while you make your glaze.

How to Glaze:

Vanilla Glaze:  1 cup sifted powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar), 1/2 tsp good vanilla extract, 1 1/2 to 2 tbsp milk or cream.  Whisk or stir until smooth.  Start with less liquid and add to get the consistency you want.  A thin glaze will dry to a light crust where a thicker glaze will dry in more of a dollop.  Spoon a small amount over the puff - or dip it in upside down...either way works.  Let glaze harden.

Lemon Glaze: 1 cup sifted powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar), 1/2 lemon, zested before juicing, 2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice,   Whisk or stir until smooth.  Spoon a small amount over the puff - or dip it in upside down...either way works.  Let glaze harden.

Chocolate Glaze:  In a medium heat-proof bowl, place 4 oz. rough chopped semi-sweet or dark chocolate (make sure it's of good quality).  If you want a really shiny glaze, add 1 tablespoon light corn syrup to the bowl.  In a small saucepan, bring 1/2 cup heavy cream just to a boil and immediately remove from heat.  Pour cream over chocolate and allow to sit for a couple of minutes.  Stir until mixture is smooth.  When it is a dipping consistency, spoon a small amount over the puff - or dip it in upside down.  Refrigerate to harden the chocolate.

Serve same day as filled for best results.  All cream-based fillings must be refrigerated until served.  Unfilled baked puffs may be kept in airtight container in fridge for one or two days - and frozen for up to 6 weeks.  Bring to room temperature on rack before filling after thawing.  Can be recrisped at 350 for 5 minutes, cooled and filled for best flavor after freezing.



Bon Appetit Y'all!!!