Cabin in the City

Books, cats and midwestern charm.

Recipes

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If You Like Piña Coladas (and Zucchini Bread)

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If I’m being totally honest, I’m not huge on zucchini bread. I always think this bread would be good if only it didn’t have all these zucchini bits in it. But once in a while, a good recipe changes my mind. For me, it’s this one from Taste of Home – with a few adjustments of my own.

I’m big into this recipe because it’s full of just as much good stuff – AKA pineapple and coconut – as it is zucchini. I’m also a fan because in the hottest days of summer is when I’m craving tropical flavors the most. And I’ve got a bumper crop of squash.

Piña Colada Zucchini Bread Ingredients

OK, let’s cut to the chase. Here’s what you’ll need for this recipe:

  • 4 cups flour
  • 2½ cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1½ teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 4 eggs
  • 1½ cups vegetable oil (you can sub in some coconut oil if you want)
  • 2 tablespoons rum
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 cups shredded zucchini
  • 20-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained
  • 1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut, divided

Mixing It All Up (+ Baking)

Mixing this bread up is easy. Start by whisking together the flour, sugar, soda, baking powder and salt in a very large bowl. Then in another bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, rum and vanilla extract. If you have coconut extract, feel free to add a teaspoon. If you have rum extract, use a teaspoon in place of the rum in this recipe (it’ll be more potent).

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, along with the pineapple and stir until just combined. Then fold in the zucchini and three-quarters of a cup of coconut.

For baking, you can use just about any loaf pan you like, but this recipe divides perfectly into three 8×4″ loaf pans. Or two of those and two mini loaf pans. You get the idea. Just grease the pans and line with parchment. Fill them about three-quarters full and top with the remaining quarter cup of unsweetened coconut. Pop in a 350ºF oven for 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

How’s It Taste?

The result is pretty darn tasty. You get a little kick of rum but plenty of sweetness from the pineapple. Also, I’m a big fan of crunchy coconut on the top.

Personally, I’d eat this just for breakfast, but it’s got enough charm to bring to a party. Cheers!

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I Can Pickle That [Bread + Butter Refrigerator Pickles]

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One of my goals for the month was to can or pickle something. Pickling feels very on-brand for me in that Portlandia-adjacent way.

via GIPHY

But let’s be real, pickling and canning seemed like a bit too much for a first-timer like myself, so I decided to try a refrigerator pickle first. I modified a recipe from The New Midwestern Table (one of my favorite cookbooks) and I have to say, the pickles turned out pretty tasty! And making them was way simpler than I ever thought.

What You Need for Easy Refrigerator Bread + Butter Pickles

This is a great recipe because everything you need is easy to find and the bulk of it can be found in your own garden (or farmers market). Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 4 pounds pickling cucumbers
  • 5 tablespoons pickling salt
  • 4 cups vinegar
  • 1¼ cups sugar
  • Half sweet or Vidalia onion, sliced thinly
  • 6 cloves garlic, slightly crushed
  • 2 tablespoons mustard seeds
  • 1 teaspoon dill seed
  • 1 teaspoon celery seed
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric

How to Make Refrigerator Pickles

Making refrigerator pickles is so simple. Start by washing your cucumbers and getting rid of any spines (that’s more for any garden-picked cucumbers). Then slice the cucumbers thinly — about an eighth inch thick.

Toss together with the pickling salt and let stand for 30 minutes. A word on the pickling salt: It sounds kind of archaic or like it would be hard to find, but most grocers have it tucked in an unexpected corner. Just ask for it!

When the 30 minutes are up, rinse the pickles in ice-cold water and blot dry with a clean towel. Place them inside a large, dry bowl. Toss in the thinly sliced sweet onion.

Then add all the rest of the ingredients – vinegar, sugar, garlic, mustard seed, dill seed, celery seed and turmeric – to a saucepan. Heat on the stove until boiling, giving the mix an occasional stir. Once this is boiling, pour it over you sliced cucumbers and onions. All you have to do then is just let it hang out until the mixture is room temp.

How to Store Refrigerator Pickles

Once the pickles are up to room temp, put them into jars. I found the simplest way to do this was to pack jars full of cucumbers and onions first, then I came back through and filled the jars with the liquid. This batch made about 10 half-pint jars.

After that, just screw on the tops and pop in the fridge. Eat them within a few months. Trust me, they are so good you won’t have any problem polishing them off (I made my first batch a week ago and the first jar is almost gone).

These bread and butter pickles aren’t precisely bread and butter, but I don’t mind. They’re a touch sweet but plenty salty and flavorful thanks to all the add-ins. I will be making everyone I know try these until they’re all gone (and then I’ll make even more).

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Stamped Rolling Pin Sugar Cookies

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For my birthday, my amazing sister-in-law brought me this totally gorgeous rolling pin all the way from Poland. I had seen plenty of these before (though never one so pretty) but hadn’t ever used one. Of course, I had to get to work right away making some cookies. I’ll give you my recipe plus a few tips on how to use one (because it took me a minute to master it).

The Classic Stamped Sugar Cookie Recipe

According to the box, this is the cookie recipe to use with this rolling pin. Who was I to argue? I just converted the measurements as best I could from metric and here’s what I’ve got:

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1-1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons almond extract
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3-1/3 cups flour

It’s a pretty simple recipe. Just cream together the butter and confectioners’ sugar. Then add in the egg and almond extract and beat until nice and light. Mix in your salt and flour until combined and you’re done!

Roll out the dough until nice and thin with a regular rolling pin – I’d say somewhere between a quarter and an eight inch thick. Then go over with the stamped rolling pin and cut out shapes with any cutter you like (I just used a basic round one). Pop in the oven at 375ºF for about ten minutes (or golden brown). Done!

Chocolate Stamped Cookies

Of course, I couldn’t just stop with almond cutouts, I had to try some chocolate ones, too. For a while, I was really wracking my brain if my family’s regular chocolate cutout recipe would suffice. Then I was frantically googling recipes. In the end, the answer was right under my nose. Truly. My friend got me Bravetart for my birthday and on the cover are stamped sandwich cookies. I gave those a shot. Here’s the recipe:

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1-1/4 cups flour
  • 1/3 cup cocoa powder

To make these, combine the butter, sugar, syrup, salt, baking soda and salt together in a stand mixer. Beat until fluffy – about five minutes. Scrape the sides and then gradually add the dry ingredients.

It will look pretty dry at first, but if you keep it going with the mixer, it will smooth out.

Bake at 350ºF for 10-15 minutes.

Some Stamped Rolling Pin Tips

I’ll tell you right now that using this rolling pin took a little practice, but I think the effect is worth it. So just follow these tips and you’ll be on your way to some darn pretty cookies.

  • Don’t chill the dough. I know. This goes against everything you’ve ever learned about rolling out cookies, but with this recipe, it’s best to just work with the dough right out of the bowl. Chilled it’s just too crumbly and the dough really wants to pull up with the decorative rolling pin.
  • Give the pin a dusting.Like with any cutout cookies, you should give the rolling pin a dusting of flour ahead of time. Same goes for this decorative rolling pin. Because this one has so many crevices, I took a clean (and never been used) paintbrush to get the flour into those nooks and crannies. It helps tremendously.
  • Firmly press with the rolling pin. Cue this Spongebob clip. Then really do press down firmly to imprint the design. The more definition you have before going into the oven the better. You’ll end up with more distinctive cookies after baking.
  • Be patient. Patience is not my strong suit, but it’s worth working on for these cookies. Until you get the dough the right temperature (I chilled my first and then learned from that mistake) and the pressure just right, these cookies can be a bit tricky. But once you get the technique down – it took me probably three or four passes – it gets much simpler.

Good luck with your fancy rolling pins!

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A Junk-Foodie’s Perfect Dessert: Compost Cake

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It’s been a while since I’ve shared a recipe on this blog! Mostly because I’ve been sharing my bakes over at Taste of Home. But I thought I’d share a new-to-me recipe here today.

This past December, I got to interview Christina Tosi and I totally fell in love with her new cookbook All About Cake. I whipped up her birthday sheet cake for an assignment. It was fantastic, but a lot of work. Paging through the book, I found a casual recipe that was more my speed for everyday sweets: compost cake.

What really caught my eye was the pretzels and potato chips sticking out the top. I’m big on salty-meets-sweet desserts. This one was for me. It just might be for you, too.

I will say that I altered the recipe a bit to suit my taste. I nixed the butterscotch chips (they’re not my favorite) and added some more pretzels and chips in their place. I also simplified the method a bit. Give my version a go, but also grab All About Cake for the full experience (and lots of great cake recipes!).

OK, let’s start! To make this cake you’ll need:

  • 2 cups cake flour
  • 3/4 cup + 3 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/4 cup old fashioned oats
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ground coffee
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 7 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/3 cup buttermilk
  • 3 tablespoons grapeseed oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
  • 1/3 cup crumbled graham crackers
  • 1/4 cup pretzels, lightly crushed
  • 1/4 cup potato chips, lightly crushed
  • 1 tablespoon flour

For the topping, you’ll need:

  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons grapeseed oil
  • Handful pretzels
  • Handful potato chips

Mixing Up the Batter

I love this cake because it doesn’t require any heavy-duty equipment. Instead of breaking out the stand mixer, you can just use a spatula or a whisk. Major win for lazy me who doesn’t want to lift the ol‘ KitchenAid out of the closet.

OK, start by whisking together the cake flour, oats, brown sugar, sugar, coffee, baking powder and salt together. Then, in another dish, whisk together the melted butter, grapeseed oil, buttermilk, vanilla and eggs.

Take the wet ingredients, add them to the dry and give them a good stir until combined. Easy peasy!

Then toss the chocolate chips, graham cracker crumbles, pretzel bits and potato chips together with a tablespoon or so of flour. You want to give these ingredients a quick coat in flour to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake.

Once they’re coated, just stir them into that batter. It should be pretty darn thick. Don’t worry – it just means it’s full of the good stuff.

Baking the Compost Cake

Grease and line an 8×4″ loaf pan with parchment paper. Then add your batter. Bake this for an hour at 350ºF. It’s a long time, but it’s kind of nice not to have to babysit something for a while.

When it’s done baking, cool it on a rack for about a half hour before removing it from the pan. You’ll want it to be completely cool (or at least nearly cool) before moving onto the last bit.

Topping It All Off

What really made this cake stand out to me was the topping. Pretzels! Chips! Chocolate! And making that topping is really easy.

All you need to do is melt together a half cup of chocolate chips with a teaspoon and a half of grapeseed oil. You can do this in the microwave if you have one – we actually ditched ours more than a year ago (and you can read about it here). Otherwise, melt it with a double boiler on the stove.

All that’s left to do is dip pretzels and chips into the chocolate and stick them to the top of the bread. Use whole pretzels and chips, crunched up ones, whatever you please. When I felt like the top was pretty packed with salty snacks, I drizzled a little bit more of the chocolate on top.

You want this to set up a bit before diving right into it. If you want this cake quick, pop it into the freezer for five minutes to set it. If you’re not in a rush, you can refrigerate for a half hour or so. Just be sure to bring it back to room temp before serving.

The Eating

In the end, this compost cake is exactly the kind of dessert I love: unfussy, slightly messy and almost overstuffed.

I sliced this up and served it during our podcasting practice (March goal!), and it definitely kept us going as we rehearsed. I really like how each bit is a bit different. Plus, as an easily adaptable recipe, I like that I can crunch up whatever snacks I have on hand (or whatever bits of candy) to mix into a future batch.

Give it a go (and get that cookbook, too!).

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Apple Cider Jell-O Shots // Wisconsin-Style

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One of the greatest parts of working for Taste of Home is getting to try new recipes all the time. Almost every day there’s something new – a casserole, a dessert bar, a cheesecake – ready for the sampling. Once in a while, though, there’s something special.

A few months ago that was an apple cider Jell-O shot. Very unlike Taste of Home but so so good. The second I tried it, I knew I’d be making them come fall. I just needed to break them out for the right occasion. And when my sister-in-law texted me about her annual Halloween party, I knew I found it.

So I pulled up the recipe on the website and I read it through. Seemed simple enough (I mean, it is Jell-O). But as I rummaged through my liquor cabinet, I realized I didn’t have enough vodka to make the batch. But the ingredients had me thinking that another liquor would do just fine, a very Wisconsin choice of liquor: brandy.

I mean apples, cinnamon, ginger, bitters? Those autumnal flavors are a natural match for brandy. So I went ahead and did it. And it turned out scary good.

You’ll need:

  • 4 packets unflavored gelatin
  • 1½ cups apple cider
  • 1½ cups brandy
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ½ teaspoon powdered ginger
  • 2 teaspoons bitters + more for garnishing
  • 2 tablespoons cinnamon-sugar

Making these is a cinch. Start by pouring your apple cider into a small saucepan or pot. Then sprinkle all four packets of gelatin on top. Let this hang out for five minutes.

Then stir in the sugar and turn on the heat – just to low. You’ll heat this until all the sugar has dissolved – about ten minutes. Then you can add in your brandy, bitters and ginger. I used ginger here because the original recipe called for ginger-infused vodka and I didn’t want to lose that little kick.

Then pour this into a 11×7 baking pan that’s spritzed with cooking spray. You can also use a 9×9 pan. Heck, an 8×8 pan would be fine too – just cut the squares a little smaller to compensate for the depth.

Let this sit uncovered in the fridge for at least two hours. Once it’s all set, you can scoop it out of your pan and place on a cutting board. I found it easiest to slice the Jello into four smaller sections and scoop them that way. From there you can cut into individual portions. I went for squares that were about 1½”x1½”. Right before serving, brush with more Angostura bitters and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (though, the bitters are optional here).

The results are really very fall tasting and a bit adult. I think the bitterness and spice cuts down on that super-sweetness that you normally get from a Jell-O shot, so that’s all good by me! I think these are great for a grown-up Halloween, but I could totally see them working for a Friendsgiving (or really casual family Thanksgiving), too.

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Cranberry Orange Pecan Cookies

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Folks, I’ll let you in on a little something: I’m not a huge Thanksgiving fan. While most people are salivating over the biggest food event of the year, I shrug and go meh.

The turkey is fine, the stuffing is OK and I like apple pie well enough, but in conjunction with mashed potatoes, yams, vegetable casseroles and pumpkin everything? Not into it. It’s all just too much rich, brown food, you know? And to deviate from those classics would be almost blasphemy.

So I try to make Thanksgiving enjoyable for myself in other ways. For the past few years, I’ve mixed up pie crusts in advance for all the pies my family makes (which is a lot: apple, lemon meringue, pecan and two pumpkin–one with coconut, one without). This year, I decided to up my Thanksgiving baking game with more pie crusts and a new cookie recipe.

Admittedly, I’m not a pecan person (or really a cranberry person), but these cookies really seem to fit the Thanksgiving bill (and they’d work well into the Christmas season, too). Bonus: they’re so easy to make and great for a last-minute treat.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 2¼ cups flour
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
  • ½ cup pecans, chopped
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • Zest of one orange

Making the cookies is super simple. Just cream together your butter, sugar and egg yolk, then mix in your vanilla, salt and flour until combined. Once that’s all mixed, stir in your nuts, cranberries and zest.

Then divide your dough into two. Roll each bit of dough into a log, roughly six inches long. Wrap this up in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least three hours (though you can keep it in the fridge for a day or two if you’re the plan ahead type).

Once chilled, slice your logs into ¼” slices and pop on a lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350ºF for 12 to 15 minutes.

If you don’t have pecans on hand, I think pistachios would work well, too (but feel free to sub in macadamia nuts, walnuts or whatever you prefer). If you’re into white chocolate (I’m not) a drizzle over the top could be super pretty. It’s up to you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Apricot Poppy Seed Bars

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I have a soft spot for poppy seeds. My wedding cake was a delicious almond poppy seed layer cake filled with buttercream, and not too long ago I tried to replicate it (and did OK!). But I also love the flavor in the potica and kolaczky I make at Christmas. I love the hint of nuttiness and the crunch they add to all these treats. But let’s face it, cakes, potica and fancy cookies aren’t really everyday treats.

But you know what is an everyday kind of treat? A bar. Just a hardworking sweet that doesn’t require any garnish or flair. They’re perfect for weeknight desserts of for bringing to a party.

So it figures that I wanted to combine the tasty flavor of poppy with the no nonsense feeling of a good ol’ tray bake. I developed this struesel bar recipe based on a recipe from Amy Thielen’s The New Midwestern Table, one of my favorite cookbooks. I wasn’t super keen on the raisins she calls for (and I didn’t agree entirely with some of the proportions), so I developed my own take. Plus, this totally counted as my September bake for my Great America Baking Resolution. Let’s dig in.

For the filling:

  • ¾ cup poppy seeds
  • ¾ cup whole milk
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup chopped dried apricots
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

For the bars:

  • 2 cups sugar
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1½ cup room temperature butter, cut into chunks + more for greasing pan
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

I warned you that the filling for this one takes a little extra time and work, but you can relax a little knowing it can be prepped a few days in advance – just stash it in the refrigerator. You can relax a little more knowing that making this filling from scratch isn’t mandatory either. Feel free to substitute a can of poppy seed filling from the grocery store (it’s typically in the baking aisle near the canned cherries).

Now let’s get to it. I’m going to kick this off with an optional step: crushing the poppy seeds. This isn’t 100% necessary, but it does help release a little extra poppy flavor by cracking the exterior of the seeds. To crush the seeds, pulverize them in a clean coffee grinder. Working in batches, pulse the seeds in the grinder until they resemble coffee grounds. Set these aside for a moment.

Using your food processor, pulse your chopped, dried apricots so they break down a bit before you add your remaining ingredients. I’d say pulse until they’re about the size of chocolate chips. Then you’re ready to add the rest of your filling ingredients: milk, cream, sugar, vinegar and your poppy seeds. Process until the apricots are reduced to the size of mini chocolate chips or smaller. A blender would work well here too if you don’t have a food processor.

Once blended, pour your mix into a sauce pan. I’ll warn you that it doesn’t look the most appetizing, but don’t worry – it will turn out. Cook this mixture over medium heat, stirring frequently. When the mix begins to bubble, reduce to medium low heat and continue cooking (and stirring) until the filling has thickened – about 15 minutes. Set aside or pop in the fridge.

Now, onto the bars themselves. In a large bowl, quickly mix together your dry ingredients. Then add your cubed butter and mix with your hands until the mix feels damp and holds its shape when squeezed.

Grease a 13″x9″ pan with butter. Scoop five heaping cups of unpacked dough into the pan and press down to form a crust. Bake this at 375ºF for 15 minutes. When done, remove from the oven and let cool for another 15.

Once the base has cooled off a bit, spread the poppy filling across in an even coat, leaving a bit of room around the edge. Then take the remaining struesel mix and crumble on top. Don’t cover the poppy seeds 100%. You’ll want a bit of the filling to show through.

Pop this back into a 375ºF oven for another 45 minutes or so. Wait for this to cool and slice away!

The result is a rich, buttery struesel with a delicious nutty filling with a hint of fruit. These are a bit time consuming, but I think for poppy lovers like myself, they’re definitely worth it.

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Easy Wins: Chocolate Ganache Tart

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The Great American Baking Resolution continues! And thank goodness because without it, I’d never post here. I have some stitching projects underway – more on those later! – and they’ve been eating up a lot of my laying around time.

This month, invigorated by new seasons (!!!) of The Great British Baking Show on Netflix, I decided to make a chocolate ganache tart. For some reason, I was under the impression that a) ganache was difficult to make and b) I had never made it before. I was wrong on both counts, but that’s OK! An easy win is still a win.

To make this tart, you’ll need the following for the crust:

  • 1½ cups shortbread cookie crumbs (you could also use graham crackers, gingersnaps, Nilla wafers, etc.)
  • 6 tbsp. butter, melted
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • Dash of salt

And the ganache:

  • 8  oz. heavy whipping cream
  • 12 oz. dark or semi-sweet chocolate
  • 4 tbsp. butter, softened
  • ¼ tsp. vanilla extract

Begin by making the crust. This is your standard crumb crust that you’d use for ice box pies, cheesecakes and the like. You’ll start by grinding up your cookies until they’re relatively fine – by fine I mean more like sand and less like powder. If you have a food processor, now’s the time to bust it out! If not, some elbow grease works too. Once you have finely crushed cookies, mix in the melted butter, sugar and salt. Press this into a 9″ tart pan. I used the bottom of a measuring cup to press the crumbs in firmly and evenly. Bake at 350°F for 8-10 minutes. Let it cool.

To prepare the ganache, start by chopping the chocolate and butter into small pieces – I’d say about the size of a chocolate chip. Put aside while you heat the cream. Heat the cream in a saucepan on medium-low heat until hot (almost simmering). Then pour over the chocolate and butter. Let this sit for a couple minutes, then whisk together. The chocolate and butter should melt pretty easily and you’ll end up with a rich, chocolate mix. Pour this into the cool tart shell. You can let this firm up by letting it set overnight at room temperature or pop it it in the fridge for 2-3 hours. I like the latter. And when I say 2-3 hours, I mean it. You’ll see in these photos that the ganache is a touch soft – that’s what an hour and 45 minutes gets you.

To finish it all off, I sprinkled with some sea salt and drizzled with a little caramel sauce. But some fresh whipped cream and berries would be nice too. You do you!

Overall, this is a simple dessert – a good recipe for home bakers like myself – but it sounds impressive as hell. It’s the sort of dessert that sounds like it can win friends and influence people. So I recommend whipping one up for your next dinner party, visit to your in-laws or charity bake sale. 🙂

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Darn Good Almond Poppy Seed Cake

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Best dessert of your life – go! For a sweet-lover like myself, you might think it’d be hard to choose between the tiramisus, the French silk pies and the eclairs of the world. But you’re wrong here. My heart belongs to one dessert and one alone: Delicately Delicious’s almond poppy seed cake. I don’t know how this bakery does it, but they make the lightest, fluffiest whisper of a cake, and I can’t get enough.

I also literally cannot get it enough. I never get to the bakery on time for a slice. What’s a girl to do? Turns out a girl just makes it her damn self.

And that turned out to be quite the task, but one totally suited for my Great American Baking Resolution. It seems the world doesn’t really make this kind of cake. The internet let out an exasperated did you mean lemon poppy seed cake? every time I searched. Or Pinterest would cough up some halfhearted pound cake recipe. Not what I was looking for.

So I decided that not only would I have to make the cake myself, I’d have to create a recipe too. So I returned to Pinterest, pinned the recipe that looked most like what I wanted and went from there. What did I start with? A very pretty looking lemon poppy seed cake recipe that inconveniently used the metric system – horror of horrors to an American that’s not in the mood to use math.

What I ended up with was risky: inexact conversions, subtracting ingredients, substituting others, a higher baking temperature. Would it ever turn out?!

YES!

This wonderful, sweet cake turned out beautifully. Not quite as good as its professionally produced sister, but so, so, so close, especially for just winging it. And close enough that I consider this a real success 9/10 for sure. The cake is light and moist, just they way I wanted it. And it’s all topped off with Swiss meringue buttercream and some toasted almonds.

Now let’s get baking. Here’s what you’ll need for the cake:

  • 3 cups flour
  • 1½ cups sugar
  • 15 tbsp. butter, softened
  • 1 cup + 2 tbsp. buttermilk
  • 5 egg whites
  • 4½ tsp. baking powder
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 1 tbsp. almond extract
  • 3 tbsp. poppy seeds

Start by mixing the flour, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl mix your buttermilk and egg whites together. Set these aside for the moment.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy and pale. Add your almond extract. Now alternate adding your dry ingredients and your wet until you have a nice, creamy batter. Don’t forget to scrape down the sides of your bowl as you alternate to make sure every bit gets blended in.

Divide the batter between 3 8″-cake pans. Be sure that your pans are greased and lined with parchment or waxed paper on the bottom. Pop into a 325°F oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool briefly in the pans and then remove and cool on a wire rack.

And for the frosting:

  • 8 egg whites
  • 2½ cups sugar
  • 3 cups butter
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract

To make the frosting, place a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water on the stove making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Whisk the egg whites and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is about 160°F.

When that mixture has hit temperature, pour it into the bowl of your mixer and beat until room temperature using the whisk attachment.  The mix should form soft peaks (this will take about 6-10 minutes). Then switch to your paddle attachment and gradually add in tablespoons of butter until the mix is creamy and frosting-y. Finally add your vanilla extract and you’re done!

I let my cakes cool overnight before frosting. I definitely recommend letting these cakes cool for a few hours. A touch of heat on that Swiss meringue frosting and it’s as good as butter. As for the actual frosting of the cake – I’m no professional. Just swipe it on there and smooth it out, though you could definitely use this frosting with a piping bag for some nice swirls and what-have-you.

She’s a beaut of a cake, and it’s a real shame that I didn’t take a picture of it sliced like a good blogger, but you live and you learn. Now I’ve gotta run and think about what my March baking challenge will be. I was thinking ganache in some way, shape or form. What do you think?

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My Strange Tradition: Groundhog Day Cupcakes

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Happy Groundhog Day, all! We might be getting six more weeks of winter, but that’s OK because I brought treats: my signature groundhog cupcakes.

I know what you’re thinking.  No one celebrates Groundhog Day, idiot. Yeah, well that’s sort of the point. It’s an underrated and goofy holiday, why not give it a little love? That’s what I thought when I started making these silly things ten years ago. TEN. That is an absurdly long time for something so wonderfully stupid.

Thing is, I almost didn’t make these cupcakes this year. Well, I wasn’t planning on it until I got a super sweet text from one of my oldest friends reminiscing about their cute little faces. I can’t resist nostalgia, so I decided I had to whip up a batch (sorry you can’t enjoy them, Molly!).

Here’s the lowdown on the recipe. It’s from Cupcakes! from the Cake Doctor, a book I picked up at a church book fair back in high school. This book spurned my then-not-yet-passé interest in cupcakes. And the cute themes sparked a short-lived interest in cake decorating. Although I’ve only made probably four recipes out of this whole book, it somehow developed into some sort of totem for me. It’s my Midwest mom cupcake book, my silly high school baking cookbook, a book I used in college for my demonstrative speech in COMM 101 and a book that started my favorite absurd tradition. And it makes cupcakes super simple because every recipe starts with a cake mix (that’s what the Cake Doctor does – it’s her thing).

Here’s what you’ll need for the cake:

  • 1 package German chocolate cake mix
  • 1¼ cups buttermilk
  • 1/3 cup oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract

And the frosting:

  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • ½ cup butter, softened
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp. cocoa powder
  • 3-4 tbsp. milk

And the decorations:

  • Chocolate jimmies
  • Shaved almonds
  • Chocolate chips – mini brown M&M’s work too
  • Mini chocolate chips

Making the cake is easy breezy. Just mix together all the ingredients with an electric mixer or stand mixer for about three minutes – stopping halfway to scrap down the bowl. Then fill your cupcake liners ¾-full. I like to use a disher or ice cream scoop to make portioning easy, but a spoon does just fine too. Bake at 350°F for 22-24 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the pans and let cool.

The frosting is just as easy. Simply beat your softened butter with an electric mixer until it gets nice and soft. Then add in your powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla and about three tablespoons of milk. Beat this together until combined. If the frosting looks too stiff and powdery, add in more milk a little at a time until it gets that nice frosting consistency. If you find the frosting is too runny, just add in a little powder sugar at a time until it firms up.

Then comes the best part: the decorating. To start, just frost the cupcakes as usual with an offset spatula. This does not need to be too finicky – I wouldn’t even bust out a pastry bag for this. Roll the frosted cupcake in the chocolate jimmies. Word to the wise: don’t frost all your cupcakes first. This frosting has a tendency to dry a bit as it sits, so if you wait too long you’ll lose all that sticking power.

Once you’ve got that done, I’d recommend grabbing a pastry bag with a wide, round tip. A zip-top bag with the corner snipped off works just as good – no need to get too futzy if you don’t have to. Fill this with the rest of your frosting and pipe a round dollop of frosting on each cupcake for the groundhog head. I’d say the head should be somewhere between the size of a quarter and a poker chip. Once the heads are finished, insert two almond ears into each along with a chocolate chip or M&M nose and little chocolate eyes. With that – you’re all done and you have a little repetition of groundhogs (which is what the internet tells me is the name for a group of them – that or coterie).

I realize writing this on Groundhog Day doesn’t give you much time to whip these up for your Groundhog Day movie night, but I’ll say that this recipe is good any day of the year.

Happy Groundhog Day and big thanks to my friend Molly!