Chocolate Ganache

Tags

cake topping, chocolate, dipped strawberries

My. All. Time. Favorite. Thing. Ever. 
I use this to top chocolate cakes and cheesecakes, drizzle down the sides of cakes, dip strawberries, and lick the pan!  This is what heaven is like, I’m sure.  Feel free to double the recipe.  You won’t be sorry!

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup (6 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use only Ghirardelli)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place whipping cream in sturdy sauce pan and heat until you see the first hint of a boil bubble.  DO NOT actually let it boil.  Remove from heat and add chocolate chips all at once.  Stir to melt the chips and get them smooth.  Sometimes, I had to briefly place the pan back on the burner for a second or two just to get a little more heat into the chocolate.  When they are smooth, stir in the vanilla.

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Seven Minute Icing

Tags

BHG cookbooks, icing

I remember my grandmother talking about Seven Minute Icing when I was knee-high to a grasshopper.  Imagine my delight when one of my customers specifically requested it!  (Note:  7 minutes is a really long time when you’re standing over a stovetop holding a mixer in your hand!)  This one, too, is from the Better Homes and Gardens New Baking Cookbook.

1 ½ cups sugar
2 egg whites
¼ tsp cream of tartar OR 2 tsp light-colored corn syrup (Karo)
1 tsp. vanilla

In the top of a double boiler combine the sugar, 1/3 cup cold water, egg whites and cream of tartar (or syrup).  Beat with a portable electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds.  Place over boiling water (upper pan should not touch water).  Cook, beating constantly with mixer on high speed, about 7 minutes or until stiff peaks form.  Remove from heat; add vanilla; beat 2-3 minutes more until easy to spread.

Italian Creme Cake

Tags

BHG cookbooks, cake, coconut, frosting, icing

When I first tasted Italian Creme Cake in a restaurant, I was sorely disappointed! Everything I had heard about it being sooo deliciously wonderful was proven wrong with that first piece, and subsequent pieces at other locations. Honestly, I just didn’t see what all the fuss was about. Then a co-worker asked if I could make one for her, and I promised to find a recipe and charge her half-price if she was willing to be my guinea pig. I took the recipe from a trusted old friend, the Better Homes and Gardens baking cookbook. I made enough batter to reserve some for a smaller cake so I could taste it too. One bite, and I was hooked! Italian Creme reigned supreme after that.  And Bella Dolci had at last found its pièce de résistance.

You should see how messy this page is in my cookbook…that’s the sign of a great recipe!

1 ¾  c. all-purpose flour
1 ½  tsp Baking powder
¼  tsp Baking soda
½  c. Butter
1/3     c. Shortening
1 ¾  c sugar
4 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
¾  c buttermilk or sour milk
1 (3½ oz.) can flakes coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
4 egg whites

Grease and flour three 8’ round pans, set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda; set aside.

Beat butter and shortening on medium-high speed for 30 seconds.  Add sugar and beat until fluffy.  Add egg yolks and vanilla; beat on medium speed until combined.  Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to egg yolk mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined.  Fold in coconut and chopped pecans.

In small mixing bowl with VERY CLEAN BEATERS, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight).  Fold one-third of egg whites into cake batter to lighten; fold in remaining whites.  Pour batter evenly into prepared pans. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.  Cool cakes in pans 10 minutes; remove from pans onto cake racks and cool completely.

Frost with Pecan Cream Cheese icing:

12 oz cream cheese
6 T butter
1 ½ tsp vanilla
6 cups sifted powdered sugar
½ cup chopped pecans

Beat together until smooth.  Gradually add 6 cups sifted powdered sugar, beating on low until smooth; stir in pecans.

*Pecans are optional.  If you plan to decorate the cake, as in with a decorator bag and piping utensils, do not add the pecans.  Make sure your icing is piping consistency.  If it’s too thick, you will have to work too hard.  😉

Pineapple Cake Filling

I love to layer this filling in between vanilla cake, then frost with seven-minute icing.  Yum!!

1 can (20 ounces) unsweetened crushed pineapple with juice
3/4 cup sugar
5 tablespoons flour
1/3 cup unsalted butter

To make the filling, in a medium saucepan, combine the pineapple, sugar, flour, and butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Remove from the heat and cool completely.

Banana Nut Cake

A co-worker, Ann Goelden, shared this recipe with me.  It’s a very heavy cake, but soooooo good.  Imagine banana bread turned into a cake!  Mmmmmmm…Okay, I’ll stop drooling if you will! 

2 c. sugar                      
3 eggs
1½ c. oil                        
4-6 bananas, broken
3 c. flour                       
½ t. salt
1 t. cinnamon                
1 t. nutmeg
2 t. baking soda            
1 t. vanilla
1 c. chopped pecans

Mix ingredients together.  Pour into a greased and sugared bundt pan. Bake at 350° for one hour or until done.  Cool 10-15 minutes; remove pan and cool cake on rack.

ICING:

Glaze made from approx. 1 cup powdered sugar and ½-1 t. vanilla, and enough milk to form a glaze that will drizzle onto cake.

Cream Cheese Poundcake

Now, THIS is what I’m talkin’ about!!!  I found this recipe in a small pamphlet-style churchy magazine my grandmother shared with me. The lady who provided the recipe used to make these cakes and give them to her church youth group.  The youth sold the cakes for $10 each and used the proceeds for their mission trips.  If that doesn’t make you feel better about humanity, I don’t know what will! 

I used this same recipe in my Bella Dolci days, baking them in my favorite “Cascade” pan from Wilton, and dusting them with powdered sugar before adorning them with fresh berries.  They were an awesome hit!

Without further adieu, I present the best pound cake ever:

1 8-oz. pkg Cream Cheese
3 sticks butter
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. Vanilla extract

Mix softened cream cheese and butter together until creamy.
Add sugar and mix until fluffy
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add flour and beat for three minutes
Add vanilla and beat for two more minutes

Bake in tube/bundt pan at 300-325* for 1½ hours.

(*I suppose the baking instructions would be appropriate in a normal pan in a normal oven. My temperamental oven combined with my dark coated pan dictates that I bake this cake for exactly 1 hr. 10 minutes at 300 degrees even.)