TWD: Mixed Berry Cobbler

It's Tuesdays with Dorie time again! After a sad, 2 week hiatus I am back with avengance! Life just was too busy for me to make the attempt for the last two recipes - between showers, graduation parties, and upcoming weddings that I am in this summer (3 to be exact), I've just been flat out but I found time for this week's Mixed Berry Cobbler chosen by Beth of Our Sweet Life.

A lot of the P&Q's for this recipe said the biscuit topping was a bit bland. So, since I reduced the recipe a bit, I kept the same amount of sugar, added some cinnamon (about 1 tsp), and a little nutmet (about 1/4 tsp). I also baked this in an 8 inch casserole dish instead of a pie dish.

I was a bit surprised when I cut into the cobbler the next morning to bring some into work for my friend Denice who I was pretty sure would love it, and pretty sure her twins-to-be would too. (side note: My husband and I are not huge berry fans except for strawberries, of course Dorie warned not to use too many so this recipe wasn't 100% up our alley so I decided to share!) and I still found it to be watery despite not using many strawberries (I just used 2 frozen bags of mixed berries - including blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries). It seemed tasty to me though (the one bite I had) and I got rave reviews from my boss and my friend Denice. Actually Denice gave it "5 stars."

So, I think I would make this again if I were expecting company who would like such a dessert - and just nix the strawberries altogether. I am curious to see what other TWDers did about the biscuit crust!

To see the entire recipe, check it out here.

TWD: French Chocolate Brownies

It''s Tuesday, and you know what that means - it's Tuesday With Dorie time! This week's recipe is for French Chocolate brownies. I almost thought I would not have time for this week's recipe. I had a very busy weekend with my best friend's bridal shower being yesterday, but luckily I found the time to do this last night.


This recipe was my first experience with flambéing anything. I will come clean...I made my husband do this part. Something about lighting alcohol on fire frightens me. I didn't make many changes to this recipe at all except for using a 9x9 pan (my 8x8 Pyrex dish is currently occupied in the freezer) so I cut the baking time down to about 40 minutes.


Overall, these were pretty tasty, and as I said, fairly easy to make. Raisins and chocolate are one of my perfect food combinations - so the only complaint I really have is that I wish I had used more raisins. Speaking of raisins, since my husband doesn't like raisins these brownies are heading to work so I don't eat the whole batch by myself because I probably could, they are so rich and chewy and delicious!


On a side note, TWD was mentioned in the Wall Street Journal. Check it out!



French Chocolate Brownies
(Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours)


1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden
1 1/2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 12 pieces
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil, place the pan on a baking sheet, and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon, if you're using it.

Put the raisins in a small saucepan with the water, bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the water almost evaporates. Add the rum, let it warm for about 30 seconds, turn off the heat, stand back and ignite the rum. Allow the flames to die down, and set the raisins aside until needed.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Slowly and gently melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring so that it melts. It's important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you've got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them—it's better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole. Set the chocolate aside for the moment.

Working with a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Lower the mixer speed and pour in the chocolate-butter, mixing only until it is incorporated—you'll have a thick, creamy batter. Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 30 seconds—the dry ingredients won't be completely incorporated and that's fine. Finish folding in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula, then fold in the raisins along with any liquid remaining in the pan.

Scrape the batter into the pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is dry and crackled and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow the brownies to cool to warm or room temperature.

Carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. With a long-bladed knife, cut the brownies into 16 squares, each roughly 2 inches on a side, taking care not to cut through the foil.

Serving: The brownies are good just warm or at room temperature; they're even fine cold. I like these with a little something on top or alongside—good go-alongs are whipped crème fraiche or whipped cream, ice cream or chocolate sauce or even all three!

Storing: Wrapped well, these can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

TWD: Pecan Honey Sticky Buns

When this week's TWD recipe for Pecan Honey Sticky Buns was announced part of me was excited, but part of me was tempered with a little fear. Working with yeast has always been something to intimidate me until my friend Danielle and I had a "cook date" a couple of months ago. She was determined to help me overcome my fear of yeast and we made a lovely french bread together.


Armed with that knowledge and experience, I went into the newest Tuesdays With Dorie assignment with excitement with an ever-so-little nagging fear I might mess something up. Conversely, I knew that this was a chance to boost my confidence if this turned out right.


While the process of making these sticky buns was a bit labor intensive - it's basically a back-to-back days process of letting the dough rise - it was well worth it. I am happy to report I did not mess anything up! Admittedly I was initially concerned with how dense the dough seemed when I took it out of the fridge on Sunday morning. Those fears, however, were alleviated when everything came together beautifully.

The morning I made the actual buns I had opened pretty much every window on the first floor of the house. It was so nice and breezy outside. Then I realized in order to get my buns to rise one last time before baking they were supposed to go into a warm place. My answer to this was to heat my oven to 170 degrees (the lowest it would go) until the preheat phase was over. I then turned it off and propped the door open while I finished up the rolling and cutting processes. So the oven was warm but by no means hot (i.e. I could touch a rack without issue). I then put them in my baking dish, covered with wax paper as Dorie suggests and put them in the oven, with the door still propped open. This gave them a slightly warm environment for rising that my house would not have given with that beautiful breeze flowing in through the windows. About halfway through the rising process I turned the oven on again for about 1-2 minutes, not even letting it heat up to the 170 degrees and turned it off (all while leaving the oven door propped open a couple of inches). This, of course, may not be the right method to go about this, but it worked for me as my rolls rose nicely and were pretty much touching each other which Dorie indicated (see picture above) was the green light for baking.

As far as baking times goes, I am beginning to realize I need to cut the baking time for all of Dorie's recipes down a couple of minutes. I checked my buns after they had been in the oven for about 22 minutes and they were already golden brown. I took them out and realized they were still slightly soft inside so I popped them back in for about 2 minutes and they were perfect. So, it took about 24 minutes to finish mine, not the full 30, which, on the flip side could be due to me cutting them a little small since I got 17 buns out of the recipe, not 15. (But for what it's worth, I needed to cut down the time for the brioche loaf too....)

These sticky buns are absolutely decadent, I think I may have gained a few pounds just by eating one. Anything with that much butter ought to be good. I baked the other half of the dough recipe right into a brioche loaf as suggested in the directions rather than freeze the dough, I've frozen the bread which I look forward to having someday soon as well. All in all, this recipe was definitely time well spent!



Pecan Honey Sticky Buns
(from Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)






Makes 15 buns (I got about 17 out of my recipe, I think I cut the first few a little small)


For the Glaze:
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup honey
1-1/2 cups pecans (whole or pieces)
For the Filling:
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons (packed) light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the Buns:
1/2 recipe dough for Golden Brioche loaves (see below), chilled and ready to shape (make the full recipe and cut the dough in half after refrigerating it overnight)
Generously butter a 9-x-13-inch baking pan (a Pyrex pan is perfect for this).

To make the glaze: In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the brown sugar, butter, and honey to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar. Pour the glaze into the buttered pan, evening it out as best you can by tilting the pan or spreading the glaze with a heatproof spatula. Sprinkle over the pecans.

To make the filling: Mix the sugars and cinnamon together in a bowl. If necessary, in another bowl, work the butter with a spatula until it is soft, smooth and spreadable.


To shape the buns: On a flour-dusted work surface, roll the chilled dough into a 16-inch square. Using your fingers or a pastry brush, spread the softened butter over the dough. Sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon sugar, leaving a 1-inch strip bare on the side farthest from you. Starting with the side nearest you, roll the dough into a cylinder, keeping the roll as tight as you can. (At this point, you can wrap the dough airtight and freeze it for up to 2 months . . . . Or, if you want to make just part of the recipe now, you can use as much of the dough as you'd like and freeze the remainder. Reduce the glaze recipe accordingly).

With a chef's knife, using a gentle sawing motion, trim just a tiny bit from the ends of the roll if they're very ragged or not well filled, then cut the log into 1-inch thick buns. (Because you trim the ragged ends of the dough, and you may have lost a little length in the rolling, you will get 15 buns, not 16.) Fit the buns into the pan cut side down, leaving some space between them.

Lightly cover the pan with a piece of wax paper and set the pan in a warm place until the buns have doubled in volume, about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The buns are properly risen when they are puffy, soft, doubled and, in all likelihood, touching one another.
Getting ready to bake: When the buns have almost fully risen, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Remove the sheet of wax paper and put the pan on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Bake the sticky buns for about 30 minutes, or until they are puffed and gorgeously golden; the glaze will be bubbling away merrily. Pull the pan from the oven.
The sticky buns must be unmolded minutes after they come out of the oven. If you do not have a rimmed platter large enough to hold them, use a baking sheet lined with a silicone mate or buttered foil. Be careful - the glaze is super-hot and super-sticky.

What you’ll need for the Golden Brioche Dough (this recipe makes enough for two brioche loaves. If you divide the dough in half, you would use half for the sticky buns, and you can freeze the other half for a later date, or make a brioche loaf out of it!):

2 packets active dry yeast (each packet of yeast contains approx. 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch water
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch whole milk
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature but still slightly firm

What you’ll Need for the Glaze (you would brush this on brioche loaves, but not on the sticky buns):
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water

To Make The Brioche: Put the yeast, water and milk in the bowl of a stand mixer and, using a wooden spoon, stir until the yeast is dissolved. Add the flour and salt, and fit into the mixer with the dough hook, if you have one. Toss a kitchen towel over the mixer, covering the bowl as completely as you can-- this will help keep you, the counter and your kitchen floor from being showered in flour. Turn the mixer on and off a few short pulses, just to dampen the flour (yes, you can peek to see how you're doing), then remove the towel, increase the mixer speed to medium-low and mix for a minute or two, just until the flour is moistened. At this point, you'll have a fairly dry, shaggy mess.

Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula, set the mixer to low and add the eggs, followed by the sugar. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for about 3 minutes, until the dough forms a ball. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter in 2-tablespoon-size chunks, beating until each piece is almost incorporated before adding the next. You'll have a dough that is very soft, almost like batter. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue to beat until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 10 minutes. (Robin's note: watch your stand mixer during this process since it will take a walk on you....mine crashed into my nearby toaster oven unattended!)

Transfer the dough to a clean bowl (or wash out the mixer bowl and use it), cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until nearly doubled in size, 40 to 60 minutes, depending upon the warmth of your room.

Deflate the dough by lifting it up around the edges and letting it fall with a slap to the bowl. Cover the bowl with the plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator. Slap the dough down in the bowl every 30 minutes until it stops rising, about 2 hours, then leave the uncovered dough in the refrigerator to chill overnight. (After this, you can proceed with the recipe to make the brioche loaves, or make the sticky buns instead, or freeze all or part of the dough for later use.)

The next day, butter and flour two 8 1/2-x-4 1/2-inch pans.

Pull the dough from the fridge and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cut each piece of the dough into 4 equal pieces and roll each piece into a log about 3 1/2 inches long. Arrange 4 logs crosswise in the bottom of each pan. Put the pans on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat, cover the pans lightly with wax paper and leave the loaves at room temperature until the dough almost fills the pans, 1 to 2 hours. (Again, rising time with depend on how warm the room is.)

Getting Ready To Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

To Make the Glaze: Beat the egg with the water. Using a pastry brush, gently brush the tops of the loaves with the glaze.
Bake the loaves until they are well risen and deeply golden, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer the pans to racks to cool for 15 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the pans and turn the loaves out onto the racks. Invert again and cool for at least 1 hour.

TWD: Russian Grandmother's Apple Pie-Cake

This week the chosen recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie was for Madeleines, which call for a special baking pan so we were given the option of making one of the past recipes from the rotation instead. I almost bought a Madeleine pan then decided to save my money and go for the Russian Grandmother's Apple Pie-Cake. I had trouble deciding on this one as there have been so many great recipes that TWD has made in the past. I decided on this recipe, however, since we were having my parents and my in-laws over for dinner on Sunday night and I knew that this recipe would be a hit. Anything with apples is a hit in our family!


I had a pretty easy time of this recipe for the most part. I did not need the extra 1/4 cup of flour, my dough was definitely dough without it. I did have some trouble rolling it so patchworked it as Dorie suggests. I used Splenda for the apples since my father-in-law is diabetic and did sub half of the sugar in the dough for Splenda which could be one of the reasons my dough came out a little dry from the oven, however, it was certainly still very much edible and delicious! Another reason the cake part could have come out dry - I only baked this for 65 minutes and it did come out a bit browner on top than expected, next time I would definitely cut the baking time down to 60 minutes.

The only thing I wish I hadn't done was not use 10 apples, I used 2 large apples and 6 medium ones and it seemed like a lot of apples. While my filling was not lacking, after getting a taste of this I wanted more of them! Perhaps this was another reason it cooked up quicker than I expected. Next time though. Overall this was a great recipe and it may become a new fall favorite (since my husband and I have a habit of picking way too many apples each fall!)

Russian Grandmother's Apple Pie-Cake
(From Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking: From My Home to Yours”)

For The Dough
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Juice of 1 lemon
3 1/4 - 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour


For The Apples
10 medium apples, all one kind or a mix (I like to use Fuji, Golden Delicious and Ida Reds; my grandmother probably used dry baking apples like Cordland and Rome)
Squirt of fresh lemon juice
1 cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Sugar, preferably decorating (coarse) sugar, for dusting

To Make The Dough: Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes more. Reduce the mixer speed to low, add the baking powder and salt and mix just to combine. Add the lemon juice - the dough will probably curdle, but don’t worry about it. Still working on low speed, slowly but steadily add 3 1/4 cups of the flour, mixing to incorporate it and scraping down the bowl as needed. The dough is meant to be soft, but if you think it looks more like a batter than a dough at this point, add the extra 1/4 cup flour. (The dough usually needs the extra flour.) When properly combined, the dough should almost clean the sides of the bowl.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each half into a rectangle. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or for up to 3 days. (The dough can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months; defrost overnight in the refrigerator.)

To Make The Apples: Peel and core the apples and cut into slices about 1/4 inch thick; cut the slices in half crosswise if you want. Toss the slices in a bowl with a little lemon juice - even with the juice, the apples may turn brown, but that’s fine - and add the raisins. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together, sprinkle over the apples and stir to coat evenly. Taste an apple and add more sugar, cinnamon, and/or lemon juice if you like.

Getting Ready to Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Generously butter a 9×12-inch baking pan (Pyrex is good) and place it on a baking shee tlined with parchment or a silicone mat.

Remove the dough from the fridge. If it is too hard to roll and it cracks, either let it sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes or give it a few bashes with your rolling pin to get it moving. Once it’s a little more malleable, you’ve got a few choices. You can roll it on a well-floured work surface or roll it between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper. You can even press or roll out pieces of the dough and patch them together in the pan - because of the baking powder in the dough, it will puff and self-heal under the oven’s heat. Roll the dough out until it is just a little larger all around than your pan and about 1/4 inch thick - you don’t want the dough to be too thin, because you really want to taste it. Transfer the dough to the pan. If the dough comes up the sides of the pan, that’s fine; if it doesn’t that’s fine too.

Give the apples another toss in the bowl, then turn them into the pan and, using your hands, spread them evenely across the bottom.

Roll out the second piece of dough and position it over the apples. Cut the dough so you’ve got a 1/4 to 1/2 inch overhang and tuck the excess into the sides of the pan, as though you were making a bed. (If you don’t have that much overhang, just press what you’ve got against the sides of the pan.)

Brush the top of the dough lightly with water and sprinkle sugar over the dough. Using a small sharp knife, cut 6 to 8 evenly spaced slits in the dough.

Bake for 65 to 80 minutes, or until the dough is a nice golden brown and the juices from the apples are bubbling up through the slits. Transfer the baking pan to a cooling rack and cool to just warm or to room temperature. You’ll be tempted to taste it sooner, but I think the dough needs a little time to rest.

TWD: Florida Pie

It's Tuesdays with Dorie time again! Dianne from Dianne's Dishes chose this week's recipe for Florida Pie - i.e. Key Lime pie jazzed up with some coconut!

Until Sunday, I had never had Key Lime pie - ever. There is always room in my stomach to try something new, though! I decided to make it to bring to my parents' house for Mother's Day. All in all, it went well, except that I overbeat the meringue. I had never made meringue before Sunday and I honestly was a little frightened by it. It was goin gwell though. I checked my stand mixer and it looked good to me at some point. But the instructions said to beat it until it was room temperature and I still felt the whites were pretty hot, so I kept the beater going. I checked not a minute later and the meringue had flattened, a lot. Despite my meringue being a bit flat, the pie overall was pretty tasty, just wished I had gone with my gut and stopped beating the meringue when it looked right.

I'm a big fan of coconut and I thought it was a great combo with the lime. It was a nice slice of tropical heaven!

Florida Pie
(from Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)



1 9-inch graham cracker crust (page 235), fully baked and cooled, or a store-bought crust
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups shredded sweetened coconut
4 large eggs, seperated
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh Key (or regular) lime juice (from about 5 regular limes)
1/4 cup of sugar

Getting Ready:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the pie plate on a baking sheet lined with parchment of a silicone mat.

Put the cream and 1 cup of the coconut in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring almost constantly. Continue to cook and stir until the cream is reduced by half and the mixture is slightly thickened. Scrape the coconut cream into a bowl and set it aside while you prepare the lime filling.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl beat the egg yolks at high speed until thick and pale. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the condensed milk. Still on low, add half of the lime juice. When it is incorporated, add the reaming juice, again mixing until it is blended. Spread the coconut cream in the bottom of the graham cracker crust, and pour over the lime filling.

Bake the pie for 12 minutes. Transfer the pie to a cooling rack and cool for 15 minutes, then freeze the pie for at least 1 hour.

To Finish the Pie with Meringue:

Put the 4 egg whites and the sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, whisking all the while, until the whites are hot to the touch. Transfer the whites to a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, or use a hand mixer in a large bowl, and beat the whites at high speed until they reach room temperature and hold firm peaks. Using a rubber spatula, fold the remaining 1/2 cup coconut into the meringue.

Spread the meringue over the top of the pie, and run the pie under the broiler until the top of the meringue is golden brown. (Or, if you've got a blowtorch, you can use it to brown the meringue.) Return the pie to the freezer for another 30 minutes or for up to 3 hours before serving.

TWD: Bill's Big Carrot Cake

It's Tuesdays with Dorie time again, and time to make up for my absense the past 2 weeks!


When I saw that this week's recipe was for Billy's Big Carrot Cake, chosen by Amanda of Slow Like Honey, I was instantly excited! I used to hate, I mean hate carrot cake when I was younger. I honestly don't know why. I think it's probably because I hated vegetables and the thought of carrots in my cake did not sound appealing. On top of that, I didn't like cream cheese for awhile when I was younger either.

For some reason, in the past few years, I've found a new appreciation for carrot cake. While it wouldn't be my first choice off of a dessert menu at a restaurant, it might be my second choice and when it's available as a dessert if we are say, at a party, etc. I certainly don't pass on it. I love how moist carrot cake typically is without being so rich you feel your arteries clogging after your third bite. After all, those carrots count towards your daily veggie intake, right?

Long story short, our friend Matt asked us over for dinner on Sunday night and requested that we bring dessert. I didn't have to think twice of what dessert would be - the latest TWD recipe of course!

I made this in 2 pans instead of 3 as the recipe called for because I only had 2 round cake pans! It worked out fine, I obviously had to increase the cooking time, it took about 52 minutes total in my oven. I took Dorie's option of adding coconut to the middle frosting layers of the cake because one can never have too much coconut! My only complaint is that I realy didn't feel there was enough of frosting for the recipe. I know Dorie suggests just frosting the top and middle layers of the cake, but I just thought it looked too bare, plus, it gave me flashbacks to a birthday cake my Dad and I made my Mom when I was about 6 (that's a story for another day!). Next time, I would probably make at least 1.5 times the frosting recipe to get a little more coverage. In fact I would have done so, if I'd had another block of cream cheese at home, but I did. For the top I added toasted walnuts and coconut to "prettify" it.

This was fantastic, very moist and chock full of raisins, coconut and nuts! Our friends enjoyed it too! I will definitely make this again. Thanks, Dorie!


Bill's Big Carrot Cake
(Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)















Yields 10 servings

For the cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon salt
3 cups grated carrots (about 9 carrots, you can grate them in food processor fitted w/ a shredding a blade or use a box grater)
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
½ cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden) or dried cranberries
2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
4 large eggs

For the frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick ( 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 pound or 3 and ¾ cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or ½ teaspoon pure lemon extract
½ cup shredded coconut (optional)
Finely chopped toasted nuts and/or toasted shredded coconut (optional)

Getting ready:
Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter three 9-x-2-inch round cake pans, flour the insides, and tap out the excess. Put the two pans on one baking sheet and one on another.

To make the cake:
Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the carrots, chopped nuts, coconut, and raisins.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the sugar and oil together on a medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs one by one and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing only until the dry ingredients disappear. Gently mix the chunky ingredients. Divide the batter among the baking pans.
Bake for 40-50 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until a thin knife inserted into the centers comes out clean. The cakes will have just started to come away from the sides of the pans. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes and unmold them. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.
The cakes can be wrapped airtight and kept at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.

To make the frosting:
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until the frosting is velvety smooth. Beat in the lemon juice or extract.
If you'd like coconut in the filling, scoop about half of the frosting and stir the coconut into this position.

To assemble the cake:
Put one layer top side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. If you added the coconut to the frosting, use half of the coconut frosting to generously cover the first layer (or generously cover with plain frosting). Use an offset spatula or a spoon to smooth the frosting all the way to the edges of the layer. Top with the second layer, this time placing the cake stop side down, and frost with the remainder of the coconut frosting or plain frosting. Top with the last layer, right side up, and frost the top- and the sides- of the cake. Finish the top with swirls of frosting. If you want to top the cake with toasted nuts or coconut, sprinkle them on now while the frosting is soft.
Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes, just to set the frosting before serving.

Serving:
This cake can be served as soon as the frosting is set. It can also wait, at room temperature and covered with a cake keeper overnight. The cake is best served in thick slices at room temperature and while it's good plain, it's even better with vanilla ice cream or some lemon curd.

Storing:
The cake will keep at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. It can also be frozen. Freeze it uncovered, then when it's firm, wrap airtight and freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost, still wrapped, overnight in the refrigerator.

TWD: Gooey Chocolate Cakes

When this week's Tuesdays With Dorie recipe was announced for Gooey Chocolate Cakes I was very excited. I made something quite similar a few months ago when we had my sister-in-law and her boyfriend over for dinner. I remembered my husband loving it and wanting more, but the recipe had only made 4.

He was in luck this time since Dorie's recipe makes 6 and company wasn't coming! These came out delicious. I added 2 tablespoons of cooled brewed coffee in the last mixing step to put a little different spin on the flavor. This may have been why my Gooey Chocolate Cakes puffed up and over the top of the muffin tin a bit - sort of to resemble a muffin, either that or I simply overfilled the muffin cups. Dorie suggests buying an aluminum disposable 6 cup muffin tin but I have a 6 cup muffin tin already so decided to just use that, but maybe it wasn't deep enough. Either way, it really doesn't matter a whole lot since once you flipped these over to serve it wasn't all that noticeable and they tasted great! I'm happy that this TWD go-around came out more successfully than the last i.e. my Caramel Topped Flan that...well...doesn't look like it's topped with caramel at all.

You win some, you lose some. Luckily I won this one!


Gooey Chocolate Cakes

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate:
4 ounces coarsely chopped,
1 ounce very finely chopped
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
6 tablespoons of sugar

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. butter (or spray – it’s easier) 6 cups of a regular-size muffin pan, preferably a disposable aluminum foil pan, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Put the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Sift the flour, cocoa and salt together.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter in the bowl and stir occasionally over the simmering water just until they are melted – you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until homogenous. Add the sugar and whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the dry ingredients and, still using the whisk, stir (don’t beat) them into the eggs. Little by little, and using a light hand, stir in the melted chocolate and butter. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle the finely chopped chocolate over the batter.

Bake the cakes for 13 minutes. Transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a rack to cool for 3 minutes. (There is no way to test that these cakes are properly baked, because the inside remains liquid.)

Line a cutting board with a silicone baking mat or parchment or wax paper, and, after the 3-minute rest, unmold the cakes onto the board. Use a wide metal spatula to lift the cakes onto dessert plates.

Tuesdays with Dorie & my 100th post

***Updated for picture below***

***Unfortunately you can see that my flan does not appear caramel-topped at all. I'm not sure if I messed up the caramel part of the process, if it had anything to do with using a nonstick pan, or I just needed more caramel. Overall it's a tasty recipe though, certainly not bad, just was looking forward to that little something extra in the caramel topping***

Last week I joined with Tuesday with Dorie after a little gentle prodding from my friend Danielle. Tuesdays with Dorie is a weekly event of sorts where one member of the blogroll picks a recipe out of the Baking From My Home to Yours cookbook by Dorie Greenspan.

This week's featured recipe was for Caramel Topped Flan chosen by Steph from A Whisk and a Spoon. I was going to make it for Easter dessert but I decided not to last minute and save this one for...well...for last minute!

I made this only just tonight and as of right now, since I don't want to be shamefully late for my first TWD post, I can only provide a picture of it fresh out of the oven perched upon a cooling rack. I did, however, get a smidge of a taste of this when I stuck a knife in the first time to check for doneness. I have to say that when I licked the knife clean of the remnants (yes, I admit to being a knife licker) it was quite tasty. I hope to update this with a fresh picture tomorrow once this has had ample time to cool and then chill for the 4 recommended hours.

I'd also like to mention that this is my 100th post! I have really come to enjoy food blogging even though, at the beginning, I was off to a slow start. Once I got myself going, now I find that I just can't stop - kind of like a bag of Lays chips...or was that Pringles?! Either way, I'm looking forward to the next 100!

Caramel Topped Flan


For the Caramel
1/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp water
squirt of fresh lemon juice

For the Flan
1-1/2 cups heavy cream
1-1/4 cups whole milk
3 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a roasting pan or a 9-x-13-inch baking pan with a double thickness of paper towels. Fill a teakettle with water and put it on to boil; when the water boils, turn off the heat.

Put a metal 8-x-2-inch round cake pan-not a nonstick one-in the oven to heat while you prepare the caramel.

To Make the Caramel: Stir the sugar, water and lemon juice together in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Put the pan over medium-high heat and cook until the sugar becomes an amber-colored caramel, about 5 minutes-remove the pan from the heat at the first whiff of smoke.

Remove the cake pan from the oven and, working with oven mitts, pour the caramel into the pan and immediately tilt the pan to spread the caramel evenly over the bottom; set the pan aside.

To Make the Flan: Bring the cream and milk just to a boil.

Meanwhile, in a 2-quart glass measuring cup or in a bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks and sugar. Whisk vigorously for a minute or two, and then stir in the vanilla. Still whisking, drizzle in about one quarter of the hot liquid-this will temper, or warm, the eggs so they won't curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the hot cream and milk. Using a large spoon, skim off the bubbles and foam that you worked up.

Put the caramel-lined cake pan in the roasting pan. Pour the custard into the cake pan and slide the setup into the oven. Very carefully pour enough hot water from the kettle into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan. (Don't worry if this sets the cake pan afloat.) Bake the flan for about 35 minutes, or until the top puffs a bit and is golden here and there. A knife inserted into the center of the flan should come out clean.

Remove the roasting pan from the oven, transfer the cake pan to a cooking rack and run a knife between the flan and the sides of the pan to loosen it. Let the flan cool to room temperature on the rack, then loosely cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

When ready to serve, once more, run a knife between the flan and the pan. Choose a rimmed serving platter, place the platter over the cake pan, quickly flip the platter and pan over and remove the cake pan-the flan will shimmy out and the caramel sauce will coat the custard.

Yield: 6 to 8 Servings