Whole Wheat Orange Bundt Cake

     

After juicing the last oranges of the season from our tree this weekend, I got it in my head I wanted to use some of the juice to bake an orange bundt cake. Searching for such a recipe led me to a beautiful vegan blog, Leaves of Wheatgrass, and a wonderful sounding whole wheat orange bundt cake.

The only ingredient I didn't have on hand was orange extract, but I figured I'd use Grand Marnier. The discovery of an empty decanter led me to plan B and I went with orange zest instead. Later, once the cake was baked, I found that the original recipe that the one I followed was adapted from actually called for zest of two oranges. I'm not sure how much that yields, but I had substituted 1 tablespoon of zest for the 1 teaspoon extract and found it to have the perfect amount of orange flavor. 

I loved this cake and have had a hard time keeping myself out of it. It's very moist, lightly sweet and has that wonderful texture that whole wheat pastry flour lends. I glazed it with a very small amount of glaze that I made by mixing about 2 teaspoons of orange juice with a quarter cup confectioners sugar and an 1/8 teaspoon of vanilla extract, although truthfully, I'm not certain it even needed it. I think I'll try leaving it plain next time.

And there will definitely be a next time.

Whole Wheat Orange Bundt Cake
 barely adpated from Leaves of Wheatgrass, originally from VegKitchen

3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup canola oil (I used a canola/olive oil blend)
2 cups orange juice
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp orange zest

Preheat oven to 350. Oil and flour a 12 cup bundt pan very thoroughly. Set aside.

Stir together dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together wet ingredients. Pour wet mixture into dry. Whisk just to combine, taking care not to over mix. 

Pour mixture into prepared bundt pan and tap it on the counter a few times to get rid of air bubbles. Bake on the middle oven rack for 45 minutes, or until cake is light golden brown and tester comes out mostly clean. 

Cool completely in pan before flipping out on a wire rack. Glaze as desired.

Spring Carrot Teacakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

During the recent time I spent out of the kitchen, I found myself itching to bake. Which amuses me, because when I started this blog not quite two years ago, I didn't even enjoy baking. I think because it was too messy (I have tidiness issues), too exact of a science (I like to play with recipes), but mostly because I just was wasn't a fan of sweets. I can tolerate a counter covered in flour now, and I've actually come to like sweets, unfortunately, more than I used to. My biggest problem now with baking is that I often try to make substitutions to make them a little better for us and then sometimes wind up with a ruined baked good. Nothing worse than a severely under sweetened or overly dense treat.

Because of this, I was excited to receive a copy of Green Market Baking Book: 100 Delicious Recipes for Naturally Sweet and Savory Treats, a lovely cookbook that embraces the concept of eating locally, seasonally and healthfully, and is composed of baked good recipes without the use of refined sugar or artificial sweeteners, many that are dairy-free, vegan or gluten-free. Normally a cookbook without photos of finished products -there are none, just charming illustrations of produce scattered throughout- would greatly disappoint me, but even without, I found myself wanting to try just about every recipe in the book.

First, I made a Honey Whole Wheat Ginger Cake that we loved (warm, for breakfast with coffee or as an afternoon snack with tea), that I somehow never got to photographing. After that, I decided on these carrot tea cakes. Now I probably love carrot cake more than the average person, but anyone who tried these agreed they were wonderful. They are absolutely delicious, and the "frosting," which is a simple maple and vanilla spiked cream cheese spread, really makes them awesome.

And these are only the first two recipes from the book. I have so many more I'm planning on trying.

Spring Carrot Teacakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
from Green Market Baking Book by Laura C. Martin
makes 12 (I halved this recipe and still got 9)

for the cakes:
4 eggs
1 cup maple syrup, preferably Grade B
1 1/4 cups light olive oil
1/2 cup sour cream (I substituted non-fat greek yogurt)
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup spelt flour
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
3 cup grated carrots
1 cup chopped nuts, such as walnuts or pecans (I used walnuts)

for the frosting:
12 oz cream cheese (I used the 1/3 less fat kind)
 1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325.

Beat the eggs until frothy. In a separate bowl, mix the maple syrup, oil, sour cream or yogurt, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Add the syrup mixture to the eggs and beat for another minute.

Sift the flours, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. Add to the egg mixture and mix until just combined. Fold in the carrots and nuts.

Pour into cupcake liners in a muffin pan and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (mine took at least 5 minutes longer). 

To make the frosting:
Beat ingredients together until fluffy and spreadable. Use a generous dollop on top of each teacake.

Beckett's Birthday Cupcakes (and some birthday pics of my favorite two year old)

Last week, my little man turned two. I think I was almost more excited about his second birthday than I was his first. Something about the fact he was able to understand and look forward to the big day made it all the more fun. For the days leading up to it, he would say "Birthday- coming up!" He even walked around practicing singing Happy Birthday to himself. And when asked what he was going to get for his birthday, he'd answer "Cake!" We're not big cake eaters, but I knew I couldn't deny him some kind of birthday cake.

For his actual birthday, I made his very favorite dinner, homemade pizza topped with his favorite vegetable, mushrooms. I was all set to make pumpkin cupcakes for dessert, but last minute I began to worry that the others joining us for dinner wouldn't care for them. With limited time, I had to find a recipe that I could make with what I had on hand. That ended up being peanut butter cupcakes specked with coarsely chopped bittersweet chips and topped with peanut butter buttercream. I'm pretty glad I changed my mind, because these were so awesome!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
slightly adapted from TLC Cooking , makes 18 cupcakes

1/3 cup softened butter
1/3 cup creamy or chunky natural peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup milk (I used 2%)
1/4 cup bittersweet chips, coarsely chopped (or mini chips would work well too)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tin with cupcake liners.

In a stand mixer, beat together butter and peanut butter at medium speed until smooth. Beat in sugars until well mixed. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a seperate bowl. Add flour mixture to peanut butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour. Stir in chocolate pieces until mixed well.

Spoon batter into cupcake liners, filling 2/3 full. Bake 23-25 minutes, or until cupcakes spring back when touched and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for ten minutes. Remove cupcakes to rack and cool completely.

Peanut Butter Buttercream, from Martha Stewart

2/3 cup natural creamy peanut butter (I used crunchy and it was fine)
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
Fine salt (optional- I actually forgot all about it)
Cream peanut butter and butter together with a stand mixture fitted with the paddle attachment at high speed. On low speed, mix in the sugar until combined, then beat mixture on high until fluffy and smooth. Add salt to taste, if desired. Use immediately.

*This recipe is supposed to yield 1 cup. I would say it was closer to twice that.
I garnished mine with milk chocolate shavings. I think a small peanut butter cup would be great too!


And now, just because I like to show off my super cute kid, here's some pictures from his birthday trip to the The Lowry Park Zoo. We had a group of 17, which included 6 little ones, for a chilly but really fun day.
Prior to leaving, opening a gift from his cousin.

Checking out the Orangutans

Taking a carousel ride with Nana

Watching the Mama Rhino doing laps

Cherry Beer Cake

I usually bake like twice a year, so I have no idea what's up with all the baking I've been doing lately. I saw a recipe for a Beer Cake with cherries it it and was intrigued, but it was chocolate. I'm not a cake person, but I do love beer, so I wanted to find a non-chocolate version.

I found a recipe on LiveJournal that the poster had modified. I cut the recipe in half, made a few changes myself, and made 6 cupcakes and a mini loaf. All I had was a Belguim lager, Stella Artois, which is one of my favorite beers, and I think a great one to have used. I wouldn't think something like BudLight would be good choice. I went with a Vanilla Glaze from allrecipes.com, although they'd be just as good without icing. They were amazingly moist and sweet but not overwelming. Definitely a great option for people who don't care for traditional cake.

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 egg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1 1/2 cup sifted flour*

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup beer

3/4 cup fresh cherries, pitted and quarted (about a dozen)

1/3 cup walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and beat well. (If making full recipe, beat well after each egg.)

3. In seperate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda and salt.

4. To butter mixture, alternately add beer and flour mix, stirring well in between.

5. Stir in cherries and nuts.

6. Pour into greased muffin tins, loaf pan, or cake pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (It took about 25 minutes for the cupcakes, and about 30-35 for the mini loaf.)

* I don't have a sifter, so I just used 1 1/2 tbsp less of the 1 1/2 cups of flour.

Vanilla Glaze (from allrecipes)
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1/2 tbsp milk
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp butter

1. Melt butter, and add to rest of ingredients. Stir until creamy.