Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

When I was a pre-teen, I went through a phase where I wouldn’t eat anything with mayonnaise in it. About that same time my mom found a chocolate cake recipe, using mayonnaise, on the back of a mayonnaise jar. Stubbornly, I wouldn’t eat it, even though everyone told me how good it was. My anti-mayonnaise phase didn’t last too long and, eventually, I discovered how much I liked this cake!

Supposedly, this cake recipe originated in the Great Depression/WW II era when baking supplies were scarce and cooks had to be creative. Mayonnaise is basically eggs and oil, so using mayonnaise eliminates or reduces the need to use those ingredients. This cake is moist, chocolatey, and about as old-fashioned a cake there is.  On most Sundays I make dinner for my parents.  My Dad has a big sweet tooth so I always try to make a dessert, too.  I was craving a chocolate cake and remembered this recipe from long ago. It was as good as I remembered!

As it’s almost Halloween, I frosted the cake with a simple buttercream, tinted orange. I topped it with chocolate ganache and made a spider web effect with melted white chocolate. Along with a big glass of cold milk, this made a great Sunday evening dessert!

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mayonnaise
1 1/3 cups warm water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and lightly flour (or use baking spray) two 9-inch round cake pans *; set aside.

In medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder; set aside.

In large bowl, with electric mixer at high speed, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla for 3 minutes or until light and fluffy.  Beat in mayonnaise at low speed until blended.  Alternately beat in flour mixture with water, beginning and ending with flour mixture.  Pour into prepared pans.

Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. On wire racks, cool 10 minutes; remove from pans and cool completely.  Frost, if desired, or sprinkle with confectioners sugar.

*Or prepare cake as above and bake in a 13-x-9-inch baking pan for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Apple Puff Pastry Tart

I've expressed before how much I love puff pastry and that it's a staple in my freezer. Recently I had an overwhelming craving for something sweet.  I had a rough day at work and needed a little treat. It's relaxing for me to bake, but I didn't have a lot of time to devote to my sweet treat desire. I pulled out a sheet of puff pastry and made this quick apple tart. Easy, good, and just enough to satisfy my craving for a sweet! 

Any apple can be used with this tart.  Fuji apples had just been picked at my favorite fruit stand so I grabbed a bag of them one afternoon!

Apple Puff Pastry Tart

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
3-5 apples
1 large egg yolk, beaten with 1 teaspoon water to make egg wash
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Streusel Topping

1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Open pastry sheet and remove paper.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out pastry sheet into an 8-by-14-inch rectangle. Trim edges with a pizza cutter or knife, if necessary to make edges even. Transfer to a baking sheet; place in freezer.

To make streusel topping, combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Using a pastry blender, or two knives, mix ingredients until the mixture is crumbly and it starts holding together.

Peel, core, and slice apples 1/4-inch thick. 

Remove pastry from freezer.  Brush pastry with egg wash, avoiding edges. Using a sharp paring knife, score a 3/4-inch border around pastry (do not cut all the way through). Arrange apples inside border, and dot with butter.  Sprinkle streusel topping over the apples. Bake until pastry is golden and apples are tender, 30 to 35 minutes.

Slightly cutting around the edges allows the border to puff up and enclose the apples.

Pumpkin Beer Broccoli Cheddar Soup

When October rolls around, my Staub pumpkin pot comes out of the upper cabinets and remains a fixture on my cooktop throughout the fall season. It’s so cute and provides extra incentive to make a pot of soup. Overnight, it seems, it feels like fall in my area. We love soup, especially when it’s cold outside. There’s just something about a hot bowl of soup and some crunchy bread that makes a person feel cozy!

This soup recipe comes from the Half Baked Harvest blog. My Hubbers loves Cream of Broccoli soup so I thought he would enjoy this variation. It gets a lot of its flavor from the pumpkin ale and the cayenne pepper adds just the right amount of heat. We enjoyed this!

Pumpkin Beer Broccoli Cheddar Soup.

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons butter

1 small sweet onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups whole milk

2 cups low sodium vegetable or chicken broth

1 12 ounce pumpkin beer

3-4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, plus more for serving

2 bay leaves

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more, to taste)

1 large pinch kosher salt and pepper

4 cups broccoli florets

2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, plus more for serving

Heat the olive oil and butter in a large pot over medium heat. When the oil shimmers, add the onion and carrot and cook until fragrant, about 10 minutes. Whisk in the flour and cook until golden, about 2 minutes, then gradually whisk in the milk until smooth. Add the broth, beer, broccoli, bay leaves, nutmeg, cayenne, and a large pinch each of salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to medium and cook, uncovered, until the broccoli is tender, about 20 minutes. 

Remove the soup from the stove and puree in batches in a blender or use an immersion blender.  Return the soup to the stove and set over low heat. Stir in the cheese until melted and creamy. Add the thyme and cook another 2-3 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired. Ladle into bowls and top with a little extra cheddar and fresh thyme.

Spice Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

I’ve been in such a baking mood lately. I am behind on fall gardening chores, need to start on making Christmas tags, have two quilt tops to finish, but I seem to be spending all my spare time in the kitchen. I love fall baking. Not only do I enjoy eating and sharing the baked goods, but the aroma of the spices  as they are baking is heavenly. Who needs to buy scented candles? Just bake something with cinnamon, nutmeg or ginger and your house will smell good for hours!

This spice cake has all the above-mentioned spices, plus the less commonly used, cardamom.  Neither spice overpowers the other, it all blends together so nicely. Sour cream in the batter makes for a moist and tender cake. There is a little bit of orange rind in the cake, complimented by the addition of rind in the cream cheese frosting. Everyone loved this cake!

Spice Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whole milk

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter three 9-inch round cake pans.  Line bottoms of pans with waxed paper.  Butter and flour pans; tap out excess flour (or use baking spray). Sift first 8 ingredients into medium bowl.  Using electric mixer, beat sugar, butter and orange peel in large bowl until fluffy.  Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. In a small bowl, combine sour cream and milk. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture alternately with the sour cream-milk mixture. Divide batter among prepared pans.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer pans to racks and cool 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto racks and cool completely. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)

Place one cake layer on platter.  Spread 2/3 cup frosting over. Top with second layer.  Spread 2/3 cup frosting over.  Top with third cake layer.  Cover top and sides of cake with remaining frosting.

To make the frosting, using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until well blended.  Beat in sugar, then orange peel and vanilla. 

I had leftover decorations from making gingerbread houses, they added a little fall festivity to the cake!

Ebelskivers

Many years ago, when our children were little, we made a road trip to southern California and Disneyland.  Along the way, we stopped at the little Danish town of Solvang.  It's full of quaint gift shops, art galleries, and bakeries. Most notable of the baked goods was ebelskivers, a round Danish pancake.  We tried some and were hooked!  Around the same time, a restaurant opened in our area that served a breakfast called "1-2-3"; 3 ebelskivers, 2 slices of bacon and 1 egg.  We would go there often, mostly to get the ebelskivers. My family kept telling me I should learn how to make them.  At the time, finding an ebelskiver pan was not easy (no Amazon back then!) I finally found a cast-iron one at a small cookware store.  The owner of the store gave me a recipe for them, which was nice because the recipes were hard to find, too! Well, I discovered that ebelskivers are very easy to make and it's become a family-favorite breakfast ever since!

Due to the sour cream, this recipe produces a very rich and tender batter.  We love them best dusted with powdered sugar and served with homemade strawberry jam to dip them in.  I have an ebelskiver cookbook full of various recipes for sweet and savory ebleskivers, as well as ebelskivers filled with apple filling and other fruit mixtures.  I keep saying I'm going to try something different, but each time I pull out my pans I find myself making our favorite.

Recently my Hubbers and I had a long weekend get-away and found ourselves in Solvang one afternoon.  We ordered a batch of ebelskivers and were so disappointed.  Theirs were drenched in a berry syrup and the ebelskivers were very grainy.  They were definitely not as good as we remembered them to be (maybe another bakery would have been different?) Ever since then I've been craving them and finally got around to making them one day for breakfast.  My Hubbers and granddaughter were quite happy! I shared with my next-door neighbors, much to their delight.  The ebelskivers are such a wonderful morning treat!

An ebelskiver pan has hemispherical indentations for the dough to cook in. Once turned, you have a round pancake! My drag racing friends can appreciate the irony of me baking with a "hemi" pan!

Ebelskivers

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups sour cream

Sift dry ingredients into bowl, add eggs and sour cream and mix until smooth (batter will be thick).

Brush ebelskiver mold indentations with melted butter, then fill half-full with batter. When light brown turn with skewer or fork and brown other side. Use rather low heat so inside of ebelskiver will be done, use a toothpick or skewer to check for doneness.

Serve with jam or syrup.

Pear Streusel Pie

In just a short week it is starting to feel like fall. The mornings are a little cooler, I need a sweater in the evenings, the sky is darkening earlier. The trees are slowly starting to change color and some leaves are falling (it will be time to rake soon! Heavy sigh!) I love being able to leave the windows open during the day instead of having to rely on air conditioning. 

With the changing season comes fall food.  The foods most associated with fall are apples and pumpkins.  But there are other fruits and vegetables that shine this time of year that are often overlooked, one of which is pears. Pears can be used numerous ways; sliced up in a grilled cheese sandwich, added to a fall salad, an easy appetizer is pear slices with cheese and crackers (baked brie is really good!) Hot biscuits with this pear jam is especially nice on a cool morning.  But baking with pears is my favorite.  I love pear crisps and pies. This pie, with its streusel crust and flavorful nutmeg, is especially good. Serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  For an extra-decadent treat top it with some caramel sauce. This is a great autumn pie to have with or, in addition to, an apple pie after the Thanksgiving meal.

Pear Streusel Pie

1 unbaked single pie crust
5 cups peeled and sliced pears (5-6 medium), cut into 1/2-inch slices
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Streusel Topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Prepare pie crust and line the bottom of a pie dish with it; flute edges.

In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the streusel topping and stir to combine. Set aside.

Peel and slice the pears and add them to a large bowl.  Add the sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt; gently toss to combine. Let sit for 5 minutes so juices can form.  Arrange the pear filling in the prepared crust.  Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the pear filling.

Bake for 60-70 minutes or until the filling is bubble and the crust and topping are golden brown. (If crust is browning too quickly, cover edges with foil).

Fall In The Courtyard

The seasons change slowly in my area of California.  We are still having temperatures in the high-80's, yet the pumpkin patches and corn mazes are open. I have a hard time getting into decorating for fall when I'm still in my summer clothes! I've not done much interior decorating, we are going to be in and out the last few weeks of the month so I know I won't get too carried away with this year's decorating. I did do some fall decorating of our courtyard.  It was time to replace the summer annuals with flowers that will last through the winter; pansies and snapdragons are my favorites for that. We dragged out some old crocks from storage and I filled them with colorful mums.  A few pumpkins and we're fall festive!  I can't quite let go of summer so left my sunflower wreath on the door for a few more weeks.

When we bought our home in 1984, the courtyard area consisted of a small grassy patch and flowerbeds on each side.  It was hard to maintain and was really a waste of space.  I told my Hubbers many years ago that I wanted a brick courtyard.  Well, we had kids to raise, college to pay for, so that project got put on the back burner.  About five years ago we were finally able to complete that project.  I love our courtyard and spend a lot of time in it, especially in the late afternoons.  It's shaded by then, I sit out in one of the chairs and stitch or read.  I'm entertained by the hummingbirds coming to feed at the feeder or play in the fountain.  The fountain is also used by the finches and sparrows that frequent our yard.  Every now and then we even get a hawk that comes to take a water break! It's a very peaceful spot for me. Decorated for fall, it's even more special!

This morning my Hubbers and I watched a hummingbird taking his morning bath in the fountain!



I got my cat, Krisha, in 1981.  She lived 21 years.  I adored her.  She loved to curl up in this spot so her ashes are buried under the figurine.



My Hubbers lost two of his brothers to lung cancer last year.  One of his clients bought us this rose bush as a remembrance. It's growing like crazy!

My old guy, Harley, wanted his picture taken, too!  He will be 15 in January.  He loves to sit out in the courtyard with me!

2017 Halloween Gingerbread Houses!

Another year has come and gone, and the calendar reminded me that it was time for the annual gingerbread house decorating with my grandchildren.  This year marked the 8th year I've done this as well as the most ambitious and exhaustive. I'm a planner, a fairly organized person.  I've been buying candy and supplies for weeks but, due to two parties and a long weekend away, I was not able to begin the baking and assembling of the houses and accessories until the week of our event. Gosh, did that make for a crazy week!  Each night I would come home from work and make dough and/or cut and bake.  Friday night my Hubbers and I put the houses together and we made the licorice trees the night before that.  I spent most of Friday decorating cookies, making fences, and doing the "glass" windows. Saturday I organized the table for the girls.  My almost-three year old grandson is too young to participate, but I made him his own house Sunday morning. By the time my three granddaughters left that afternoon and I cleaned the kitchen (I swear I will be cleaning up sprinkles and gingerbread crumbs for weeks!), it was after 5 on Sunday.  I made my Hubbers take me out to dinner AND a drink!

Oh, but I enjoy this day.  It's a day that I get to selfishly spend with my granddaughters, with no other happenings or people to take their time.  I love how their coordination and imagination grows each year. I especially saw that with the youngest girl.  In prior years she tended to copy her older cousins.  This year she had her own ideas.  My oldest granddaughter needed very little help from me this year, she had her own ideas and knew how to do it!

For whatever reason, my creative side was in full force with this year's endeavor.  I decided to do a little witch theme so spent an afternoon playing with fondant; making witches' hats, shoes and cauldrons. Each time I would shop for candy or sprinkles I would see something that I just knew would work.  Trust me, the girls had no lack of supplies to choose from! I learned how to use Isomalt, which is a liquid sugar, to make the windows. My Hubbers bought battery-powered lights and we put them inside the houses.  The girls loved this!

It was fun, I'm glad it's over, I'm glad my kitchen is no longer consumed with all things gingerbread.  But we had a few discussions yesterday about next year's houses and I'm already making notes!

This post is heavy on pics, there are so many fun elements to share!

Each girl was given an identical house, tree, fence and props.  After that it was up to their imagination and the supplies we had!

I love our cauldrons with the bubbling mixture boiling away.  Oops, looks like a witch crashed and fell into the brew!

 

Such concentration!

 

 

 

 

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