Kinda Messy but REALLY Good!

I bought a bunch of apples on sale last weekend so I've been searching for recipes to use them in. (Trust me I'm not complaining cuz I LOVE apples and can never run out of things to make with them!) I really like the combination of apples and butterscotch so when I saw this recipe for Apple Butterscotch Cake, I decided to make it for Cookie (well, Cake) Friday! It was a bit messy with the sticky Butterscotch Chips on top but SO good! The bread was moist with just the right amount of apple bits. The cinnamon made it taste almost like an Apple Pie, which is just PERFECT this time of the year. Everyone at the office LOVED it!

Do You Know Why They Call it POUND CAKE?

I've definitely had my share of Pound Cakes but just learned today where the name came from. I had some cranberries to use up and decided to try Oprah's Cranberry Pound Cake. I did a double-take when I saw that the recipe called for 8 eggs and 2 sticks of butter in a single loaf! I mean, I love my eggs and butter but really? So I had to turn to my trusty Wikipedia to find out why. The name Pound Cake comes from the traditional recipe which calls for a pound of the 4 main ingredients: flour, sugar, butter and eggs. Since those amounts usually result in a cake much larger than a small family can consume, they are scaled down but the ratio remains 1:1:1:1. I did some calculations and my pound cake has about 1/2 pound of each so I guess the recipe was on point! I guess you can never have too much butter and eggs right? They kept the pound cake so moist and the tartness of the cranberries tasted very refreshing. I also added some pecans to the mix for that extra crunch! YUMMY Pound Cake!

Crunch Time! Finished that Last Card!

We're leaving for Thanksgiving on Wednesday so it was Crunch Time for me to finish my last card. This one is for my bro and sis-in-law and I'm sure they'll love it!

Gourmet-Inspired Apple Upside-Down Cornmeal Cakes

I love picking up Cooking magazines that I don't subscribe to while I'm traveling. (I guess you can call it 1 of my guilty pleasures!) Recently I picked up a copy of Gourmet and was inspired by these Apple Upside-Down Cornmeal Cakes. I say "inspired" cuz I didn't follow the recipe all the way. Instead of pulsing together the cold butter and dry ingredients, I decided to melt the butter and just mix everything together (the lazy way!). They came out great though! The smell of the apples cooking with the brown sugar made me crave Apple Pie and I can't WAIT for the holidays!

Ingredients: (6 cakes)


3/4 stick (6 Tbsp) unsalted butter
1 medium apple, choppped
1/3 c packed brown sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 c chopped pecans
3/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c yellow cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
3/4 c whole milk


Prep:


1. Preheat oven to 425F. Spray 6 Mini Bundt Cake cups with cooking spray. (You can also just use regular muffin cups.)


2. Heat butter in a skillet over medium heat until melted. Pour 1/4 c of the butter into a measuring cup and set aside. Add apples, brown sugar and lemon juice to the remaining butter in the skillet. Cook until apples are tender, 5-6 minutes. Divide among cake cups. Add pecans.


3. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, milk and reserved butter. Stir dry ingredients in just until incorporated.


4. Divide batter among cake cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes until browned on top and a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cake comes out clean.

Dimply Plum Cake

Summer is definitely Plum Season and I've bookmarked this Dimply Plum Cake for a while now. It was perfectly easy to make and was done in no time! I guess my plums must have been bigger cuz I could only fit 3x3 rows in my pan. It came out moist and tasted just like summer!

Finally Baking with Grapes!

They added some great new shows on The Food Network and 1 of the ones I started watching is Alex's Day Off. Alex Guarnaschelli is also a judge on Chopped and she's just so passionate about her food! The way she talks about the flavors of her cooking makes you wanna go and make her dishes right away! Some of her recipes are a bit complicated (since she's a Michelin-starred chef and all!) but a lot of them are very comforting and simple. This Warm Grape Cake caught my attention since I've always wanted to bake something with grapes in it. I mean, we put berries in everything, so why not grapes right? I skipped the topping since I needed the cake to last a few days in the fridge and it tasted wonderful without it. I did obey her 1 rule about baking this cake, which is to have all the ingredients come to room temperature first. I'm glad I did cuz it came out perfectly moist and great with a nice glass of wine!

Loving the new Spice & Easy Show!

I saw a commercial for a new show on The Food Network called Spice & Easy and was excited to watch it. I have so many spices in my cabinet and would love some new recipes to use them. I watched the premier yesterday morning and already knew I wanted to make these Five Spice Pineapple Carrot Cupcakes. I skipped the frosting and added some walnuts and raisins to mine. I even made an extra mini carrot cake for Greg and he loved it! The Five Spice gave these muffins that extra kick without being overly spicy at all. I can't wait till the next episode to see what else Janet comes up with! I mean, she's got over 150 spices at her shop so I'm sure she has TONS of recipes up her sleeve!

Not Your Average Upside-Down Cake

This is yummy and healthy Peach Yogurt Upside-Down Cake! I based this recipe off of a Peach Yogurt Cake I saw when I was at Greg's parents' house but put my own spin on it. I made it healthier by using mostly whole wheat flour and made it "upside down" by placing the peach slices on the bottom. Oh and of course, I added walnuts! This cake was super moist and reminded me of summer (even with the canned peaches).

Ingredients:

1 c all-purpose flour
2 c whole wheat flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 c sugar
1 c yogurt (I used peach flavor)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 c unsalted butter, melted, cooled to room temp
1 can (15-1/4 oz) sliced peaches
1 c chopped walnuts

Prep:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9-in round cake pan.

2. Sift the flours, baking powder and salt together. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until well combined. Whisk in the yogurt and vanilla, then the melted butter. Whisk in the dry ingredients.

3. Arrange peach slices and nuts on the bottom of the prepared pan. Pour the batter on top and smooth the top. Bake until the cake is puffed and browned, and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, 30-40 min. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Run a table knife around the edge of the pan and invert cake onto a serving plate.