Homework? I think I'll bake a cake instead.

Sunday was a fantastic day.  It began with my first bike ride of the season, a 24 mile ride with a group of 8 people from the Triathlon Club.  It was a bit chilly cruising along at 20 MPH in the 52 degree weather and I will definitely be investing in a long sleeve cycling jersey this week.  Despite the chilly temperature, it was SO nice to get outside and ride-I reached my tipping point this week in cycling class and just cannot ride inside anymore this season.  After my ride, I spent the day doing homework at my favorite coffee shop.  I returned home and really just did not want to do more homework. The sun was shinning, buds were forming in the trees outside my window and I felt like celebrating.  What did I do? I baked a wholesome carrot cake and wrote a blog post. This cake is in loaf form-perfect for small households like mine. Baking this cake was definitely one of the best choices I have made lately.

  

Spelt Flour Carrot Cake (www.anjasfood4thought.com)
3/4 cup whole wheat or whole spelt floour
1/4 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup boiling water
1/4 cup butter, roughly chopped
1/3 cup palm sugar (substitute: 1/3 cup brown sugar mixed with 2 tablespoons molasses)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup coarse grated carrots
1/3 cup chopped almonds or walnuts
Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup cream cheese
3 tablespoons maple syrup
Directions:
Preheat oven to 175C/375F. Line medium-sized loaf pan with parchment paper.In a medium bowl, cover oats with boiling water. Place the butter on top of the oat water mixture so it will melt. Let stand for about 10 minutes to soak.In another bowl, combine flour salt and baking powder. Set aside. Whisk the eggs lightly, then add the palm sugar and beat until mixture is fluffy. Add the egg mixture to the oat mixture and stir until combined. Now combine wet and dry ingredients. Fold in grated carrots and chopped almonds. Transfer batter to prepared loaf tin. Bake for 40 minutes or until bakje tester comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then take out. Let cool completetely on wire racks. Just before serving, combine cream cheese and maple syrup until smooth. Apply frosting evenly on top of the cake. 
NOTE: As I was mixing up this cake batter, I came to the realization that it was missing something.  I quickly realized that carrot cakes normally have spices in them and this recipe did not. I quickly sampled the batter and knew I wanted to add spices, as I love spices.  I added a few teaspoons of cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg and allspice, along with a teaspoon of vanilla. 

Ginger cookies to the rescue.

Something rather strange happened over the past two weeks...I didn't bake a single thing. Yes, you read that correctly, NO BAKING.  Second semester came out of nowhere and seemed to knock me off the face of the earth for a while.  Many exciting things have occurred, one of them being the start of my first practicum in school psychology!  Two days a week, I drive to Westby and work under the district's school psychologist.  I have only been there three days, but I can already tell how much I love the school and the staff.  I have soooooo very much to learn in the next few years but cannot wait to begin working in my very own school.  I had never been to Westby prior to last week and really had no idea what to expect from a town of 2000 that is nestled back in the bluffs.  Although the town is extremely small and I cannot see myself every moving to a place such as this, it has many things I am dying to check out.  The town has strong Norwegian ties which became evident when I drove down Main Street (pretty much the only busy street in the town) and saw the Uff-Dah Mart, Borgens Cafe and Ole & Lena's Kaffe Haus. Hello Norway! I hope to take my Mother there when she visits me in a few weeks so we can spend an afternoon uncovering some of the Norwegian treasures in this small town.  I will be sure to fill you in on what we discover...
Okay, back to baking.  Due to my schedule, I did not have any time to bake which, more importantly, means I didn't have any baked goods to eat.  If you know anything about me, you know that this is the equivalent of a small crisis.  T came to visit this weekend and noticed the lack of baked goods in my kitchen...and decided we need to fix this problem at once.  We paged through Heidi's cookbook and could not resist making her Ginger cookies.  These cookies are somewhere along the lines of a molasses cookie, but with the lovely addition of fresh ginger, bright apricot pieces and freshly shaved chocolate.  Rolled in large grain raw sugar, they twinkle in the sunlight and pair perfectly with a warm cup of tea.

While the dough was chilling, we played cribbage and decided to start an official score card to track our wins.  Ever since he returned from the trail, T has been smokin me in cribbage....so I find it necessary to inform you that I finally won a game.  The official score is 1-0.

Ginger Cookies (Heidi Swanson, Super Natural Everyday)

1/2 cup large-grain raw sugar
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2 cups spelt or whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1/4 cup unsulphured blackstrap molasses
2/3 cup fine-grain natural cane sugar
2 tablespoons peeled and grated fresh ginger
1 large egg, well beaten
1 cup plump dried apricots, finely chopped

Directions: Put the large-grain sugar in a small bowl.  Chop the chocolate into small pieces, more like shavings.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground ginger and salt.  Heat the butter in a saucepan until it is just barely melted.  Stir in the molasses, fine-grain sugar, and fresh ginger.  The mixture should be warm, but not hot at this point.  If it is hot to the touch let it cool a bit, then whisk in the egg.  Pour this mixture over the flour mixture and add the apricots.  Stir until barely combined.  Stir in the chocolate.  Chill for about 30 minutes (or long enough to play a game of cribbage!) long enough to let the dough firm up a bit.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with rack sin the top and bottom third of the oven.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Scoop out the dough in exact, level tablespoons.  The tear those pieces of dough in two and roll each piece into a ball.  Grab a small handful of the large-grained sugar and roll each ball between your palms to heavily coat the outside with sugar.  Place the cookies a few inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.  Bake the cookies, two sheets at a time, for 7 to 10 mints, until cookies puff up, darken a bit, are fragrant and crack.

We used Ghiradelli Bittersweet Choclate...perfect choice.

Rolled in large grain sugar, ready for the oven.

Perfectly cracked ginger cookies!

baked pears.

I have a confession to make...  I have a slight major obsession with pears.

 In high school, I painted countless pictures of pears, one of which my mother has framed and hung in her kitchen.  Another is in my apartment.

I am surprised this hasn't surfaced earlier, but the secret is out now. 

I often find myself browsing through the pears at the Co-op looking for the perfect pear to photograph.  Strange?  Probably.

Ever since I read Molly Wizenberg's post on Orangette (http://www.orangette.blogspot.com/2011/12/to-poach-pear.html), I have wanted to make poached pears, but I struggled to find just the right recipe. After searching through countless cookbooks and websites (and discovering that many recipes call for at least ONE CUP of white sugar, which is outrageous), I finally found a recipe I wanted to try.  It is from eatingwell.com and combines two of my favorite things: pears and wine.  How could it not be delicious?  After a long session at the pool this afternoon, I realized that I had nothing planned for my the rest of my day. (oh, winter break, how I love you).  I picked up my camera and spent a good hour shooting these bosc pears.  I'm sure many of you are wondering why anyone would spend an hour taking pictures of fruit...but these pears were just sooooo perfect.  To minimize the appearance of just how many pictures I took, I spread them out throughout this post.  I'm sure you haven't noticed, right?

Anyways, after my afternoon photo shoot, my mother arrived home with the Riesling wine required for this recipe... it was time to give poached pears a whirl. This recipe is extremely simple and does not require many dishes or ingredients.  Never in my life have I tasted something so wonderful and delicate.  I decided to serve the pears with a bit of vanilla ice cream.  As I worked on this post, I realized that the title is "baked pears" not poached pears.  After a bit of research I discovered that poaching actually involves cooking in liquid on the stove....which is essentially what this recipe is...just in the oven. Poached or baked, they are to die for.

Riesling Baked Pears (www.eatingwell.com)

Ingredients:

• 4 ripe pears, preferably Bosc, with stems, washed and dried
• 2 cups Riesling or other fruity white wine
• 1/4 cup honey
• 4 cinnamon sticks
• 4 bay leaves (I didn't add bay leaves)
• 4 strips orange zest, (see Tip)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Cut a thin slice off the bottom of each pear, so they will stand upright. Arrange the pears in a 9- to 10-inch pie pan or similar baking dish. Whisk wine and honey in a medium bowl until well blended; pour over the pears. Add cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and orange zest to the wine mixture around the pears.
3. Roast the pears, basting every 15 minutes, until they are wrinkled and tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the type of pear used.
4. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pears to shallow dessert bowls. Pour the wine mixture into a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Boil until slightly thickened, about 6 minutes. Drizzle over the pears and garnish with the cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and orange zest. Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled.

Eat. Sleep. Breathe.

I am alive, I swear. My lazy summer afternoons are long gone and I have found myself knee deep in graduate school.  Leftovers and PB&J sandwiches have been the name of the game lately, I was in need of groceries all week long but did not make it to the coOp until Friday night at 9 PM.  Welcome to grad school, Laura....where Friday nights are fun filled with overdue grocery shopping. Despite the level of choas in my life- I am loving every moment of school!  I have this overwhelming feeling that I am right where I need to be in life and it feels wonderful. I have not become disapoointed or overwhelmed.  All of the hard work is 120% worth it because I am working towards a goal that is very, very important to me AND everything I read/write it so incredibly interesting.  I am also surrounded by extremely intellegent people who are motivated in their work, which creates an outstanding learning evironment.  Being told that we should expect to do 60+ hours of homework each week was a bit frightening, but I'm managing to keep my head above water.  Just barely.

There has been one major development in my kitchen over the last few days...a very exciting one.  I AM THE PROUD OWNER OF A FOOD PROCESSOR.
 You might be wondering why I'm acting as if I won the lottery...most 23 year olds would not be so ecstatic about a kitchen appliance. I cannot begin to count  the number of times over the past year where I have found an excellent recipe, only to discover it required a food processor.  I had to save recipes for trips home over Christmas break so I could use my Mother's.  No more of this nonsense.  T surprised me for my birthday, as if him returning from the Appalachian Trail in one piece wasn't enough...I am one LUCKY girl.  We were both so excited to use the food processor we started rummaging through the refrigerator  to find something to chop up. Then we began a list titled "things to make using the Cuisinart."  Best list ever?

Last Saturday I needed a break from reading and writing reports.  I remembered I had chopped up frozen bananas for a recipe I stumbled upon for dairy-less banana-chocolate-peanutbutter ice cream AND I was craving ice cream.   A little food processing therapy was just what I needed.  In all honesty, at first glance this recipe seems downright weird (and the pictures I took of the finished product do to).  However, it tastes delicious, it is easy AND its healthy.  It was the perfect Saturday afternoon pick me up and I have enough of it to enjoy throughout the week to come!  Please pardon the sub-par pictures following the recipe-somethings gotta give and this time it was in the photography department.

Dairy-less Ice Cream
Ingredients:
4 overripe bananas, sliced into discs and frozen solid
2 TBPS natural peanut butter
2 TBPS cocoa powder

Place frozen banana slices in the bowl of food processor.  Pulse the bananas.  First they will look like small rocks, but keep pulsing until the mixture becomes smooth and creamy.  When the bananas look like whipped cream, add the peanut butter and cocoa.  I ate a bowl right away and put the rest in the freezer.  Enjoy!

Pre-slice bananas before freezing them

Pulse frozen bananas in food processor, add PB and cocoa powder

Process until smooth

Enjoy, along with some light School Psychology reading!

berry bonanza

As promised, I spent time in the kitchen this past weekend and have plenty to write about.  The entire weekend revolved around strawberries.  I would not be surprised if I turned into a strawberry myself due to the overwhelming consumption of berries.  Each June, my Mother and I journey to the strawberry patch to pick a few flats of berries.  Other than the 4th of July, this is the summer day I most look forward to. Each year on the way to the berry farm, we promise each other that we will pick fewer berries than the previous year but somehow we manage to leave with at least 30 pounds of berries.  We arrive home to find that only half of the berries fit in the refrigerator and immediately start thinking of ways to incorporate strawberries into everything (pf course, we eat handfuls of berries while we come up with ideas).  This year, berry season is running a few weeks behind due to the unusually cool spring.  I have been anxiously awaiting the time when the berries are ripe and the day finally came on Friday!  In addition to the beautiful weather, we kept our promise and picked less than 30 pounds! 

I think we consumed about 4 pounds of berries on the drive home, which is only about 10 minutes.  The strawberry concoctions began just seconds after placing the berries on the kitchen counter. 

The first thing we whipped up was strawberry lemonade in the blender. So refreshing in the 90 degree heat.

Dinner was followed by strawberry milkshakes.

After the milkshakes on Friday night, I think we were all in a strawberry coma.  We waited until Saturday evening to make a strawberry lemon buttermilk cake and this turned out to be the real star of the weekend. Just to give you an idea of how out-of-this-world the cake was, we made it at 9 pm Saturday night and this is all that was left by Sunday morning at 10AM:

You get my point.  You all know that I would much rather have chocolate baked goods over fruity baked goods, but not this time.  I have never, ever tasted something quite like the flavor of this cake.  The batter was the perfect consistency, and once again, I loved the subtle lemon flavor from the zest.  I cannot wait to use the batter in combination with other fruits such as blueberries, plums and apricots. I will bake this cake again this weekend, guaranteed.


Strawberry Lemon Buttermilk Cake (Anja's Food 4 Thought)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

75g butter (about 6 TBS)
2/3 cup agave syrup
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 to 2 cups fresh strawberries, trimmed and quartered
1 tablespoon sugar

Preheat oven to 200C (392F). Grease a 9 inch tart tin.
Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.In a large bowl, mix butter and agave with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add lemon zest, vanilla extract and egg and mix until well combined. Now stir in the buttermilk. Add the flour mixture in several batches and stir until just combined. Pour the batter into the cake tin, leveling the top. Scatter the strawberries evenly over the top and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for about 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean of the center of the cake. Let cool in the tin for 10 minutes, before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

new love

I don't know what has gotten into me, but I have a new love for all things lemon.  I have never disliked lemon per se, but have never truly enjoyed lemon flavored desserts.  After baking this heavenly lemon cheesecake and practically licking the pan clean in an effort to enjoy every last crumb, I have been searching for lemon recipes.  I just could not resist trying this lemon poppy-seed cake.  The cake was baked for a lovely afternoon coffee get together with dear friends J and A. I guess this is what you do after you graduate from college, not so bad, eh?  The original cake recipe came from eatingwell.com but of course I had to modify it in some way.  The addition of a lemon curd yogurt filling between the layers and chocolate butter cream frosting on top of the cake were the grand ideas of my Mother.  I have to admit I was a bit hesitant at first to pair lemon with chocolate, as it seemed like an odd combo.  Oh, was I wrong. With the butter cream frosting, this recipe probably wouldn't be found on a website promoting healthy recipes (oh well) but the addition of the filling and frosting is, in my opinion, absolutely necessary.  The recipe and directions look slightly daunting, only because you must make the cake, the frosting, and the filling.  This truly is an easy cake to make, its just that there are three separate parts; don't let the length of this post deter you from making it!

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake (www.eatingwell.com)

• 2 tablespoons plus 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons poppy seeds
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 6- or 8-cup tube pan with nonstick spray. Sprinkle pan with 2 tablespoons sugar, tapping out excess.
2. Whisk flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
3. Whisk egg in another bowl until frothy. Whisk in remaining 1 1/4 cups sugar, buttermilk, oil, lemon zest and vanilla. Gradually add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, whisking until just moistened. Pour batter into prepared pan.
4. Bake the cake until top springs back when touched lightly and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes. Immediately loosen edges and invert onto a wire rack. Let cool completely. 

*I made the cake gluten free by using a pre-blended mix of non wheat flours called Pamela's baking mix.  Everything else stayed the same.

Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting---Note: this frosting is something my mother just whips up with no directions or pre-measured amounts.  She is currently washing the dishes and rattling off approximations of how she makes this divine cake topping as I frantically try to type.  As a result, this is not an exact recipe.  Just use your judgement when making the frosting, you will know when your butter cream is perfect)

• 4 tablespoons butter, slightly softened
• 2 envelopes Nestle pre-Melted Choco-Bake
• Powered sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 2-3 tablespoons half and half

Place softened butter in a medium bowl and stir by hand or by mixer until creamy.  Add chocobake, mix well and add the salt.  Now it is time to add the sugar. Start by adding 1 cup of powered sugar and 1 tbs of half and half.  Beat vigorously until blended and smooth.  Taste and add more sugar or half and half as needed to get a nice, smooth frosting.

Lemon Curd and Yogurt Filling (Again, not an exact recipe)

• Lemon curd
• Low fat plain yogurt or sour cream

Combine half of a 10.5 oz jar of lemon curd and 3 tbs yogurt or sour cream in a small bowl.  Add more curd or yogurt/sour cream until filling is spreadable but not too runny.

Cake Assembly
Remove one cake from pan and place on desired cake plate.  Next, spread lemon filling on first cake.  Flip second cake out onto a separate plate and then flip over again when placing on cake (this allows you to place the smooth side of the top layer right side up, making frosting easier)  Place the second cake, right side up on top of the filling, Frost with butter cream and enjoy!

The new lemon zester that works fabulously (its my mother's)

fresh zest

My favorite brand of lemon curd: Trader Joe's

The finished cake with filling and frosting

We were too eager to try the cake that I do not have a picture of the whole cake!

Everything's changing

The last few days have been a whirlwind with graduation, moving, saying goodbyes to friends and a roommate, parting with two dear friends (one of them being my boyfriend) as they left to hike the Appalachian Trail for 5 months, and of course, celebrating recent accomplishments.  Many things are ending while so many new things are beginning. Today I went to my new (and quite empty) apartment and found myself sitting on the floor, taking in the last few days and thinking about the future.  I completed my undergraduate degree and will start the next school year as a graduate student.  I have a new apartment that is situated away from campus and I will live alone for the first time in my life.  Despite all of these major changes, one constant in my life is my desire to spend time in the kitchen.  Getting out my measuring spoons and turning on the oven is soothing.  And so, in between washing the cupboards and windows at my new apartment and taking the pictures off the walls at my old place, I baked a cake. Surprise? not really...

I made a pledge to myself that I would NOT go to the grocery store for anything other than fresh produce this week in an attempt to use up the neglected food in my cabinet before I head home for the summer.  I wanted to try something new: a recipe for an all natural cake that was relatively healthy as far as cakes go.  I found the recipe on a blog that I have been exploring lately, the author is vegan and emphasizes the use of natural, unrefined ingredients. This apple cake is filled with spices and has quinoa in it, my new favorite grain.  For those of you unfamiliar with quiona (as I was just a few months ago), it it a grain grown primarily in South America.  It is gluten free and is praised for it's high protein content of 12-18%.  With its outstanding protein, iron, fiber and magnesium content, quinoa has been making its way onto my dinner plate often. Its delicious with wilted spinach, cranberries or served with fish; its role in a cake is slightly unusual.

As I looked through my cupboards, I realized I did not have the exact ingredients that this recipe called for.  So, in the spirit of adjusting, I made some substitutions.  I looked up substitutions for palm sugar and soon discovered that brown sugar mixed with maple syrup works well; that is, if you have brown sugar.  I then discovered that you can make your own brown sugar with white sugar and molasses and decided to use raw cane sugar and molasses to keep this cake on the 'unrefined' track in which it was intended.  I did not have enough raisins, so I added in some dried cranberries.  I also added in a handful of chopped walnuts and extra cinnamon, for good measures. Not only does this cake have a few unusual ingredients, it is baked in a loaf pan making it the perfect size.  You aren't left with 26 servings of cake calling your name...

Making my own brown sugar with raw cane sugar and mollases

Quinoa

Cake before baking

Apple Quinoa Cake (www.anjasfood4thought.com)

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large apple, cored and coarsely grated
1/4 cup palm sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup cooked quinoa (1/3 cup uncooked quinoa)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons sunflower seeds
1/4 cup raisins

Cinnamon Oat Topping
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon palm sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease or line a loaf tin with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, palm sugar, baking powder, soda, ginger, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix the grated apple, oil, quinoa, vanilla, sunflower seeds and raisins. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until combined.

Pour into prepared pan and smooth the top. Combine all ingredients for the topping and sprinkle them on top of the cake batter. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until cake tester comes out clean. Let cool before cutting into slices.

sunshine & a slice of cheesecake

The past few weeks have not resembled spring in the least. Just yesterday (May 3rd) I wore mittens as I biked to class.  Yes, mittens in May.  I don't normally complain too much about the weather, but I am longing for sunshine and blue skies so I can wear dresses and feel the warm rays on my skin. As I type this post, the sun is shinning brightly in the blue sky for the first time in a long time and it is lovely.  Maybe the weather knew I wasn't speaking so kindly of it and decided to cooperate.  Imagine that!

Despite the absence of spring weather, I have been doing springtime-like-things such as baking a lemon cheesecake. Typically, I am a chocolate chip or chocolate truffle cheesecake-type-of-girl, which is right on track with my chocoholic tendencies. But something about lemon just screams spring, so I gave this new recipe a try.  It couldn't have turned out better; no cracks in the cake and it wasn't dried out (two common cheesecake problems-see below for tips).  The actual cake had a subtle lemon flavor and the two ingredient topping made with Trader Joe's lemon curd and sour cream adds just the right amount of lemon zing. Maybe, if I bake a few more lemon recipes, the sun will be forced to shine around here. 

        

Luscious Lemon Cheesecake 
Crust:

Approx. 1½ cups lemon shortbread or sandwich cookies, crushed              

3 TBS. melted butter

Mix together and press into bottom of 9-inch springform pan.

Cake:

3-8 oz. pkgs. cream cheese-softened (can substitute 1 of the regular   cream cheeses with 1 Neufchatel.)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 large or two small lemons---will need the grated rind and the   freshly squeezed juice

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 300°. Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add sweetened condensed milk and beat until smooth. Add lemon rind and juice and eggs; beat until mixture is smooth and creamy. Pour over crust. Bake 65-75 minutes or until internal temperature of cheesecake measures 145°-155°. Turn off oven and open the door, but do not remove cheesecake. Let cheesecake remain in oven for about an hour, so that it can cool slowly. After removing from oven, place on cooling rack until cooled completely. 
*Tip-place a casserole dish of water on lower oven rack during baking of cheesecake to provide added humidity and help prevent cracks from developing.

Topping

Lemon curd (I prefer Trader Joes Brand)

Low fat sour cream

Mix 1 cup sour cream with a few tablespoons lemon curd until smooth. Adjust amount of ingredients to achieve desired amount of zing. Spread on top of cooled cheesecake. Refrigerate.

What's on my mind? cake.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about cake.  On Monday, I spent a good part of my morning searching for a bundt cake recipe and continued this search in the evening.  The search continued the next day. There are many other things I could be doing with my time, such as reading the 3 history books due next week or researching the history of preschool in the United States for my 15 page paper.  Instead, researching countless cake recipes has become my priority. And to be honest, I am okay with this. How many times are you a second semester senior in college? Once. And I'm going to celebrate this time by making bundt cake. I think I need to find more things to celebrate by making cake, birthdays just aren't enough.  I have never made a bundt cake during my 22 years of life, but the bundt pan I received from Pat around Christmas was looking awfully lonely on the shelf. I didn't know exactly what type of bundt cake I wanted to bake and was slightly overwhelmed as I came across hundreds of different recipes-chocolate, apple spice, lemon blueberry, vanilla bean with yogurt...I knew the perfect recipe when I saw it: chocolate stout bundt cake.
When I went to the store to purchase a single bottle of stout, I was not successful in finding any single bottles of Guinness.  After a bit of searching, I came across a coffee stout crafted by the New Glarus Brewery.  I couldn't have asked for a better beer to put in a chocolate cake.

Next thing I knew, I was spending a beautiful spring afternoon baking a bundt cake that contained chocolate and stout.  To begin, you heat the required amount of stout and butter on the stove, which makes a very aromatic, foamy mixture.  Then you realize that the recipe doesn't call for the entire bottle of beer, so you enjoy the remaining beer as the sun pours in through your kitchen window.  And then you realize that there is nothing you would rather be doing on a Wednesday, then baking a chocolate bundt cake, drinking a beer and listening to Jack Johnson.  Somethings just work out perfectly.

Back to the cake...its a fairly simple recipe.  I made a few changes to the recipe: I
added 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter; of course this was in addition to the chips in the ganache.  It just didn't seem right not to add some chocolate bits to the batter.  I also had to bake the cake for much longer than suggested, as it was still batter-like after only 35 minutes.  The cake stayed in the over for about 55 minutes.  Lastly, I didn't add instant coffee granules to the ganache because I did not have any on hand.  No loss there-it was heavenly.  The ganache added to the presentation of the cake- it dripped down the sides just a tiny bit until it hardened.  Oh, what a beautiful first bundt cake experience this was.

 

 

  

Chocolate Stout Cake (from smittenkitchen.com)
Adapted from the Barrington Brewery in Great Barrington, MA via Bon Appetit
.
1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
6 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons heavy cream
3/4 teaspoon instant coffee granules
Cake prep:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter or spray a bundt pan well; make sure you get in all of the nooks and crannies. (Some people even go so far as to brush the inside of their bundt pans with melted butter–you cannot be too careful!). Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cake to rack; cool completely in the pan, then turn cake out onto rack for drizzling ganache. For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Drizzle over the top of cooled cake.

***You can always leave the cake in the pan longer than 10 mintues before inverting onto a cake plate.  This will reduce the chances that the cake will stick to the pan.