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What Icing Goes Well With Spiced Cake Recipe - Yahoo Recipe Search
Food52It’s apple season! A fruit that honestly I'm pretty tired of; but, they are around and they are abundant and when they’re good they’re good. This cake has all the fall hits; cinnamon, cardamom, maple syrup, flannels. Apples are a tough one for me. When they see heat, they become leathery and almost unsightly inedible to me. The great thing about this cake is that it sauces itself, dressing the apples and keeping the cake moist. When it comes to the spices to use; use whatever you want. Obviously cinnamon is everywhere in the fall and for pretty good reason, it’s warming and it goes a long way when cooked with. A spice that I find to be often swept under the rug is cardamom. Cardamom is a seed, native to the Indian Subcontinent. It is more citrusy and herbal which compliment apples like Wayne compliments Nicki. The type of apple that you use really doesn’t matter, but what does matter is that it is not the best apple you can find. Like all fruit in baking, you really want to find fruit that is a little dinged up. Really good in season fruits and vegetables should just be eaten raw. Galas are aplenty and everywhere so they are really I think the best choice. Some contenders; Honey Golds, fujis, red delicious. I would honestly stay away from baking with granny smith and honey crisps. They should be eaten raw, honey crisps just like a normal apple and granny smiths shaved thinly on a salad. Maple Syrup. Real maple syrup is gross. Sorry I actually do make the rules because it’s my recipe. Use it if you want but I won't be. Corn syrup is also gross, which is the bulk of mass consumer maple syrup. Find one in the middle that you like and go for it. No cake is better than pie, but it is faster than pie. The great thing is that this tastes like fall apple pie in a quarter of a time. Serve it with vanilla ice cream (the best ice cream, don't come for me). It’s a good time and so is fall.Food52We’re well into pumpkin season and I’m almost embarrassed that this is the first pumpkin recipe I’ve shared on the blog, but it sure is a good one to start with. Like most, I love pumpkin. Carving pumpkin, pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice, and of course all food with pumpkin. What’s great and universal about this vegetable is that it pairs well with both sweet and savory dishes: pumpkin risotto, pasta, pie, cookies, ice cream, bread, soup, chilli, pancakes, muffins...etc. I could go on and on with the list, but I’ll spare you the excess. Now let’s get to the best part — the cake. A simple but decadent cake, rich but also light in its layers (sounds like an oxymoron, but trust me, once you try it, you’ll understand), the batter smooth and so it the baking process. There’s no butter, no creaming of sugar nor whipping of eggs, just mixing together the dry and the wet ingredients. It’s just a matter of a few whisks and stirs that will result in a delightfully moist cake in under an hour! The cake tastes similar to carrot, but lighter and smoother than its cousin. So what better to go with pumpkin than cream cheese. That’s why I decided to make a pumpkin-spiced cream cheese frosting. Because the batter is not too sweet, a rich buttercream pairs wonderfully with the cake. Made with cream cheese, butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and pumpkin liquor, this frosting is sinfully delicious. The vanilla extract perfumes the cream cheese and elevates the aromas, the cinnamon is added for warmth and spice, and the pumpkin liquor, which is optional and you could substitute heavy cream, lightens the frosting and gives it that extra pumpkin kick. I made 4 mini cakes by baking the batter on a sheet pan and using a stencil to cut out 3 inch rounds. I love these little individualized cakes because they are fun to make and feel personal. It’s a great party activity whether you’re decorating or serving these to your guests. Something about having an individual cake versus a slice makes it all that more special. As mentioned above, this batter will work for any kind of cake mold or cupcake. Just note that the cooking time will vary per method. These pumpkin mini cakes are perfect Thanksgiving, Halloween (you could dye the frosting black for a spooky theme) or for a fall gathering. These cakes are fantastically festive, incredibly delicious, and so easy to make. It’s a quick cake that you’ll surely want to keep the recipe on hand, if friends or family are coming over. It’s sure to impress and you’ll be even happier once you taste it yourself!Food.comThis wonderful icing is used for icing cakes and cookies as well as for borders and art work on cakes. It makes a delicious filling also between the layers of cakes and under Fondant Icing. You can make roses but it takes 3 or more days to dry them depending on the humidity. There are many versions of “Buttercream” icing. Some are made with eggs and all butter. Some varieties, you have to cook your sugar to a softball stage. Others are 100% shortening or a combination of shortening and butter. Each decorator has his or her favorite. I personally think that the best taste and textured recipe is the one that has you cook your sugar, add to whipped eggs and use pounds of butter per batch. BUT…. I live in a state that can easily be a 100 degrees for days on end during the summer and you know what butter does on hot days. It melts! A greasy puddle of melted icing on a cake plate is not something I want to look at or eat. Your top notch decorators have a few options we don’t. They have huge refrigerators to store their cakes in, and refrigerated vehicles that they can use to deliver decorated cakes. I even know a few that refuse to deliver at all. If you want their cake, you come and get it and it’s your responsibility if it melts. These decorators don’t even turn on their ovens for a wedding cake for less than $2000. The following recipes for Buttercream Icing hold up pretty well in the heat and humidity, but if you know that your cake will be out in very high temperatures, then don’t use any butter and use only a high quality shortening. Shortening: Solid Shortenings definitely have their place in baking. So I’m going to talk taste tests. Crisco is the hands down winner. It has a clean taste with the melting point of 106 degrees. Butter melts somewhere between 88 and 98 degrees F. depending on the amount of fat in the brand. You can see that if you need to serve a pure buttercream decorated cake, on a hot August afternoon, you could have melted roses (and I do mean greasy puddles) on the tablecloth. This is when a good quality shortening will be a great blessing. I have been told by decorator friends that some of the warehouse brand shortenings leave a grainy consistency to the icing no matter what you do. Powdered (Confectioner's) Sugar: Regarding Powdered Sugar. Please use a Cane Sugar. I prefer C&H Powdered (confectioners) Sugar. Many of the cheaper brands use sugar beets for their base. I don’t know the chemistry behind it but you definitely get different textures to your icing that can vary from batch to batch. I spent a few months being very frustrated with the quality of my icing until a kind lady did a bit of trouble shooting for me. She recommended the cane sugar and I’ve been blessing her ever since. Top-Quality Brands: Please be safe, buy a quality brands and then stick with it for the best results. A friend of mine, who is a wonderful cook and baker, travels a lot and she often prepares treats for her hosts. She’s learned to ask the host to have her favorite shortening and flour on hand. She has even made up a little makeup type case that carries her favorite extracts and precious spices. That way she knows what she is working with, how it handles, and what tastes she can expect for the finished product. Some surprises are NOT pleasant. Storing Buttercream Icing: If you are not going to be using the icing right away, place it in a clean, sealable bowl. Store it in the refrigerator but please don’t place it next to the marinating salmon, garlic or broccoli. You do NOT want those flavors in your icing! I like to use my icing within a few days but it will hold in the cold refrigerator for a couple of weeks if necessary. I often make a double batch of icing the night before I have a baking project. That way I know that I have plenty of icing, it’s fresh and I don’t have to make it while I’m in the middle of baking the cakes. The extra can always be used for a batch of cupcakes. When you remove the icing from the refrigerator, you might notice that the icing has taken on a sponge like texture. Do yourself a favor and place the icing in a bowl and mix by hand using a back and forth, smashing motion with a spoon or icing spatula. What you want to do is to smash the bubbles out of the icing. This extra step will help to give you the smoothest icing for a pretty top and sides of the cake. I have found that you will get an even better texture of icing if it is at room temperature before you try to do your icing. Bad Buttercream Icing Days: One thing that seems very silly but is true. There are Bad Buttercream Days! I’ve asked quite a few decorators about this and every one says “Yes, there are lousy days”. I’m not sure what causes the problem. It could be that every human has bad days so they blame the buttercream. It may be the humidity or that there is a low pressure system hanging over your town. I just know why but it is a perceived fact. The way I have handled the problem is that I changed the decoration on the cake. I couldn’t get the smooth top or sides as I originally planned. Writing a greeting on a messy top would look awful so I changed the design idea and put flowers everywhere. I could have also done a basket weave technique around the sides. Just go with the flow, and don’t get frustrated. Aunt Martha won’t chuck the cake at you if you don’t write her name on the top this time. Remember that you are creating something that is to be eaten so have fun with it. Different Mixers: If you have a heavy duty counter mixer, you can prepare a whole batch at one time. If you are using a hand mixer, divide the recipe in half. If you notice the mixer getting hot, please stop and let the machine cool off. I also prefer to mix the buttercream on a low setting. It seems that the higher setting do the job faster but you also will get a spongy texture to the icing. I don’t want that quality in my final ice coating or flowers on the cake. Using Weight Scales: 1 cup of Crisco weighs 6 ounces. I put a piece of wax paper on my scale and start plopping spoons of shortening on until I get the desired weight. It really saves on the cleanup. Recipe from Peggy at WhatsCookingAmerica.net
