Tropical Carrot Cake Surprise

When it comes to family gatherings, I'm usually the baker. For Christmas I made cheesecake, a family favorite and chocolate chocolate chip cake. But for New Years' I wanted something different. I didn't want anything too sweet so I decided on a carrot cake with a twist. It came out great and there was hardly any left when I went to take a picture of it! This is a little time consuming, due to the ingredients and the surprise, but it's well worth it. Enjoy!

Tropical Carrot Cake Surprise

Filling

8 ounces of cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Beat all ingredients with an electric mixer until smooth. Set a side.


Cake

1 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 cups unbleached flour
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ginger
2 cups finely shredded carrots
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup raisins

Grease and flour a bundt pan. Preheat oven to 350F

Mix oil, eggs, brown sugar until blended, beat at medium high speed with electric mixer for 1 minute. Stir in flour, cinnamon, baking soda, vanilla, salt and ginger. Beat until well blended. Fold in carrots, pineapple, nuts and raisins.

Place all but about two cups of batter in cake pan. Spread filling evenly over batter. Cover with remaining cake batter. Bake 50 - 55 minutes, until cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for ten minutes. Remove from pan, cool completely.

Frost when cake is completely cooled.

Cream Cheese Drizzle Frosting

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 -3 tablespoons milk
1 - 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat cream cheese with electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add milk if necessary. Beat in vanilla and 1 cup of sugar. Beat until smooth and the consistency is right. Should be thick enough to run down side of cake but not run off cake completely. Add sugar as needed to arrive at the right thickness. Pour over cake.

Serves 10 - 12

Cheesecake Recipe

Gary's Birthday Cake

This past Sunday, was my company barbecue. One of the employees was having a birthday. I was to bring dessert, so I asked him his favorite kind of cake. Luckily, he chose cheesecake! My favorite to make. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo because it was cut up and eaten before I had a chance to take one.

Classic Cheesecake for a Crowd

4 packages (8 oz each) of cream cheese, at room temperature
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup of granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup sour cream
30 Oreo cookies
1/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 325F. Line one 9" x 13" baking pan with parchment paper. Crush the cookies to make fine crumbs. Add melted butter and mix well. Press into the bottom of prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Set aside.

With an electric mixer, beat softened cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, blending well between each addition. Add lemon juice. Blend in sour cream. Pour mixture over crust in prepared pan. Bake at 325F about 50 minutes until center of cake is set. After center is set, turn off oven, but do not remove cake. Leave the cake in the oven for about one hour to cool down. After about an hour, place pan on cooling rack to cool completely. Once cake is completely cooled, refrigerate. Top with your favorite fruit or pie filling before serving. I use a combination of pie filling and fresh fruit. Blueberries are my favorite.

Serves 16

For a fluffier cake, place a oven proof dish of water on the lower oven rack. This will add moisture to the oven's atmosphere and help make a moister cake.

Another Family Gathering

We had another family gathering over the week-end. This time my little niece was making her First Communion. We gathered at my brother's house for a party that was again a combination of Greek and Polish! I decided since the weather was so spring-like, I wanted to bake something that reflected that. My choice was a delicious Lemon Cake, that's light but flavourful. I served without the berries, since we had no nice ones available yet, but this cake is wonderful if you serve it with raspberries. Use fresh lemon juice, not from a bottle, it gives the cake a much sweeter flavour and you must include the peel- even though it's a hassle. Be sure to wash your lemons well with soap and water before you add the peel!

Lemon Cake

4 eggs, separated
1 3/4 cup of granulated sugar
1 cup butter, softened
3 cups of all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a bundt pan.
In a small bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks appear. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar and butter. Beat together until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, beat until creamy and well blended. Mix together flour and baking powder in another bowl. Add flour gradually to to butter mixture, alternating with milk. Mix well after each addition. Add lemon peel and lemon juice. Now by hand, fold egg whites into butter mixture until completely combined. Pour batter into pan. Bake for 50- 60 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

Once the cake comes out of the oven, make syrup.

Lemon Syrup

1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
grated peel from one lemon, about 1 tablespoon

In a small saucepan, stir together all syrup ingredients. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar has dissolved.
Poke holes in the cake with a cake tester or wooden pick. Spoon syrup over cake. Cool 15 minutes, remove from pan.

Lemon Glaze

1/3 cup icing sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons cornstarch
grated peel from one lemon, about 1 tablespoon

In the same small saucepan, mix all glaze ingredients together, bring to a boil. Boil 2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Allow to cool slightly. Spoon over cake to make a glazed finish. Serve with fresh raspberries if available.

Serves 12

An Easter Recipe

I grew up in Montreal. It was at a time when the English speaking residents were becoming increasingly aware of the importance of speaking French. One of my friend's parents felt it was so important they hired a Nanny for the summer who was from France. They called her the "Au paire". I'm not sure how that translates into English, but I can tell you she made the world's greatest chocolate cake. Here it is 25 years later and I still have and make the recipe. With Easter just around the corner, I thought this would be an appropriate recipe to post.

The cake is not very big, but it is very rich. Don't put any frosting or icing on it, it will really be too sweet. I usually dust it lightly with icing sugar, just to make it look pretty. It is really good with a nice vanilla ice cream, just a little, or a dollop of whipped cream - what doesn't improve with a dollop of whipped cream ! ?

The Au Paire's Chocolate Cake

10 ounces of really good quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup of unsalted butter, cut up into pieces
5 eggs
1/4 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons all purpose flour
1- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350F
Butter and flour a 10" springform pan
Stir chocolate and butter together in a saucepan placed into gently simmering water. Stir constantly, careful not to burn the chocolate. Heat until all chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat, set aside. In a large bowl, beat together eggs and sugar until mixture begins to thicken. Sift flour and baking powder over eggs and gently fold into egg mixture. Gradually fold chocolate into egg mixture. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Cover pan with foil. Bake 20 minutes. Remove foil after 20 minutes and continue baking 30 minutes longer or until a tester inserted into cake comes out with moist crumbs attached. Cool cake in pan on rack. ( Cake will fall as it cools) Cut around pan sides to loosen cake. Release pan sides. Dust with icing sugar just before serving.

Serves 8 - 10 people

Fast, Easy and you don't have to Bake Cake!

With Easter on the way, I thought this would be a great recipe to share. You can make this cake a day ahead, which is the best way to do it. It's domed shape can be sort of Easter Eggy, too. I use store bought pound cake. At the local grocer's, they sell a brand called "Farmer's Market" and they have a chocolate loaf cake that works great for this cake. If you're buying the cake, buy two, you need more than one, but you'll have a bit of leftovers. In my house that's great because as soon as I make the cake they all want to eat it. I feed them the leftover loaf cake and the actual cake is safe until the next day. This is based on an Italian style cake. In the Italian version, they cake is usually vanilla and they have fruit, like strawberries or raspberries in the middle. I have never made it that way, but it sounds great. Next time I make one, I'll add a picture to this post, but at the moment, I don't have one. Not sure why, I usually take pictures of all the cakes I make!

Zuccotto

Butter - to grease the bowl
2 loaf cakes, chocolate
3 tablespoons of almond flavored liqueur
3 oz of dark chocolate, chopped
3 oz of semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups of whipping cream
1/4 cup icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup of sliced almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped
Icing sugar to dust the cake

Use butter to grease a 1 1/2 quart size bowl. Line bowl with plastic wrap. Slice loaf cake into slices that are 1/3 inch thick.Cut each slice diagonally in half to form two triangles. Line the bottom and sides of the prepared bowl with cake slices. Brush liqueur over the cake slices lining the bowl. Reserve extra triangles.

Melt chocolate in double boiler, stir until smooth. Set it aside and allow it to cool to room temperature. Using electric mixer, whip 1 cup of cream in a large bowl until thick and fluffy. Fold in one fourth of whip cream into the chocolate mixture, until well blended. In two separate additions, add remaining whipped cream, blending well to make a fluffy, thick chocolate mousse type filling. Spread chocolate cream mixture over the cake lining the bowl. Be sure to cover the cake completely. Create a well in the center of the cream, cover and refrigerate while you make the second filling.

Using an electric mixer, with a clean bowl and beaters, beat remaining cup of whipping cream until thick and fluffy. Gradually whip in 1/4 cup of icing sugar and vanilla extract. Whip until stiff peaks form. Fold in almonds. Spoon the mixture into the well of the other filling.

Brush the remaining slices of cake with liqueur and arrange them, liqueur side down, over cake, covering the filling completely. Trim slices to fit if necessary. Cover cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 6 hours, but over night gives the best results.

To serve, invert cake onto a serving platter, dust with icing sugar and serve. It's great with fresh berries, like strawberries or raspberries on the side, even an extra dollop of whipped cream!

Serves 8 to 10