Orange Ricotta Pound Cake

Wow!  School has already started and is in full swing... and time is flying!  I hope I can actually find time to cook, post, and get back into this, now that I actually have my own kitchen again.  :)

While unpacking mounds of boxes, organizing everything, and finding all the missing furniture we needed to set-up our new place, my craving for pound cake grew larger and larger.  I had it ALL planned out in my head!  The first night in our new place I was going to make this recipe as soon as we were done eating dinner.  Let's just say that didn't happen...  Good 'ol Irene got in the way, which knocked out our power.  All that matters is that in the end, I got to make my pound cake.  And by golly, here it is!!!

This recipe is just EVER so slightly adjusted from the Giada recipe I have in one of her cookbooks.  I have to say that the small adjustment I made didn't have any negative effect on the recipe.  Try this citrus spin on the traditional pound cake.  :)

Orange Ricotta Pound Cake

1 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter (room temp)
1 1/2 cups ricotta
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
zest of one large orange

Preheat the oven to 350.

Grease a 9x5x3 loaf pan and set aside until needed.

In a bowl or stand mixer, cream butter, ricotta, and sugar together until light and fluffy (this will take a few minutes).  One by one, add the eggs while still mixing.  Next add the vanilla, almond extract, and zest to the batter.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt and stir together.

Slowly pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients just until combined, careful not to over beat the batter.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until light golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Let stand for about 10 minutes and remove from pan and allow to cool completely.

Serve with whipped cream, orange slices, or whatever you like.  It can stand alone just fine as well if you'd prefer.  :)  I really don't think you can go wrong with a homemade pound cake!

Classic White Cake

Classic white cake with white frosting has always been my daddy's favorite.  And seeing as he was visiting me in Texas, and it just happened to be that he was flying in on his birthday, I couldn't pass by the special opportunity.

Growing up, I have fond memories of my mom making the classic Hershey's Chocolate Cake recipe from the back of the cocoa powder container.  It's certainly a recipe that I have gone to many times when making a chocolate cake (even though I love to make my own recipe up quite often!).  Knowing that my daddy loves his white cake, and that chocolate is not quite the same thing, and after looking at numerous white cake recipes and not really finding anything I liked all that well, I decided to go with my creative side again.  What if I substituted the cocoa powder used in the Hershey's recipe with cake flour?  Hmmm!!!  So, once again, scrounging the cupboards, it came to my sad realization that, well... there wasn't really enough oil.  I didn't want to add a lot of density to this recipe, so olive oil was out of the question.  I measured out what measly amount was left.  1/8 of a cup...  Well, that wasn't going to suffice for the 1/2 I needed.  Why not try something new?  So, the recipe that follows below is exactly what I did, and you know what?  I was quite pleased with the cake portion of it!  (I was pleased with the frosting as well, but I have to say that personally, with a white cake, I want a chocolate or other flavored frosting, and with a chocolate cake, I tend to like a white frosting.  I think they provide a nice balance with one another, but as it wasn't my birthday, I decided to go with the options that I knew would make my dad's taste-buds the happiest!).

Classic White Cake
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1/8 cup oil
3/8 (or 6 tbs) melted butter
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350.

In a bowl, combine flour, cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.  In a stand mixer, combine oil, butter, and sugar and mix for about two minutes (or until light and fluffy!).  Add in eggs, milk, vanilla, and almond extracts and mix.  On low, incorporate flour mixture into wet ingredients.  Do not over mix, but allow to be blended.  Add boiling water and slowly mix again just until mixture looks fully incorporated.

Butter and flour two 8" or two 9" cake pans.  Divide batter evenly between the two.  Once oven has preheated, baking for 18-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean, but cake is not overdone (mine was done when I checked it at 18 minutes, but your oven may be quite different!).

Allow to cool for about 10 minutes on cooling racks before removing the cakes from the pans.  (If you're not sure how to best remove cakes from cake pans, check out the first cake recipe Anna and I did back in February in "Party Time.")  The cakes should rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes before frosting.

Almond Buttercream Frosting
1/2 cup butter (room temp)
1/4 - 1/3 cup milk
1 - 2 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 - 4 cups powdered sugar

In a stand mixer, beat butter and almond extract (until fluffy).  Slowly alternate milk and powdered sugar until forms nice peaks and holds it's texture well or until desired texture is reached. 

If you're a big frosting person, I would suggest using 3/4 cup butter and making an extra half of the recipe as this was just enough to frost the cake with a nice layer but not an abundant amount of frosting!

If you're a chocolate person, then think about adding some cocoa powder in place of the powdered sugar.

Assemble the cake by placing a layer of frosting in the middle of the cake or be creative.  Do whatever sounds best to you for the middle between the two cake layers.  This cake had a thin layer of the white frosting as well as a layer of raspberry!  Just a few ideas of what can be done with a white cake!

And yes, the egg really is balanced (it isn't balanced against anything and hasn't been photoshopped!)

Funfetti!

That's right!  You read it correctly!  Let's be honest here.  Who doesn't have fond childhood memories that include funfetti cake or cupcakes in one form or another?!  And what better a time to celebrate funfetti than with a birthday?!

Nicholas (Alexandra's husband) has a birthday this week and as a pre-celebration for all the folks at school, Nicholas gets to take these homemade cupcakes to school with him.  :)



Funfetti Cupcakes
2 1/4 cup flour (all purpose)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 - 1/4 cup sprinkles
1/2 cup oil (or melted butter)
1 cup milk (or yogurt or buttermilk)
4 egg whites
2 tsp vanilla

Just like the box mix (shhh!!!), mix all of the dry ingredients together (flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, and sprinkles).  We suggest using the long sprinkles (apparently called " rainbow jimmies" in New England, which was unknown to me until reading another blog...) as they "bleed" better into the batter.  Add in the oil or butter, milk, egg whites, and vanilla and mix until well blended, but do not over mix.

Line muffin tins with paper liners or grease with cooking spray or butter.  Evenly destribute batter.  Fill the approximately 1/2 - 2/3 of the way full (or about 3/4's of the way for the mini muffin tins).  This recipe yielded 12 "regular" sized cupcakes and 24 mini cupcakes!  You may decide to make 48+ mini cupcakes or 24 regular ones.

Bake at 350 for 16-18 minutes or until lightly golden (or for mini cupcakes, bake approximately 11-12 minutes).  They should be able to "bounce back" upon a light touch (make sure your finger doesn't sink in, or they need another minute or two).  Times may vary according to your oven.

Let cool for about 10 minutes before removing from baking pans and let cool completely before frosting (unless you'd like melting frosting...).

Buttercream Frosting
1 stick butter (1/2 cup at room temperature)
2 tbs heavy cream (half-n-half, milk, etc)
powdered sugar
1/4 - 1/2 tsp almond extract (if desired!)
food dye (if desired)

Make sure butter is room temperature!  (The texture will not come out the same if you melt it or use a hard stick of butter!)  Put butter into mixer and add dye (if desired) and blend until smooth (and desired color is achieved).  Slowly add powdered sugar, alternating with heavy cream, until a light, fluffy, yet stable, texture is created.  You may decide to alter the color at this point, so have fun!

This recipe was decent for frosting the 12 regular-sized cupcakes and the 24 mini cupcakes the batter yielded.  If you're a big frosting fan, then by all means, double it and INDULGE your sweet tooth!

Frost each cupcake and add some sprinkles for a final touch.  :)

Happy Birthday, Nicholas! (part 1)