Super Easy Recipe: Cinnamon Chip Cake.

I just felt like baking the other day, as I do again right now, but I had no reason and no real ideas of what to bake. So I entered into the kitchen with an open mind and with open cabinets. I started rooting around, seeing what sort of fun ingredients I had. I found chocolate chips, walnuts, mini chocolate chips, almonds…and some cinnamon chips (my favorite!). So I started there and decided to base a recipe around the chips. A small cake maybe? Sounded like a good idea, and I could bring it into work as a little something extra. I pulled out my trusty recipe binder, and began seeing what I could do. I started with a very simple cake recipe, and worked from that, tweaking and adding ingredients as I went along, and eventually wound up with a nice little loaf-sized cinnamon chip cake.

quick and easy and delicious.

I let it cool, and whipped up a cinnamon sugar glaze, and doused the thing with it, until it was completely covered.

glazed over.

I then cut a piece off, and called my boyfriend into the kitchen for an official taste-tasting.

passed the test.

Success! I boxed the rest up and brought it to work the next day. And I believe that quite possibly the world became a better place because of this cake. It’s a winner, small and simply.

Give it a try! 🙂

Cinnamon Chip Cake. 

What you’ll need:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup cinnamon chips

What you’ll do:

Preheat the over to 350 degrees, Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix well. Add the flour, and mix until smooth. Fold in the cinnamon chips. Grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan, and pour the batter in (it should be somewhat thick). Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cinnamon Sugar Glaze.

What you’ll need:

Cinnamon

Confectioner’s Sugar

Milk

What you’ll do:

So…for the glaze…I just kinda winged it. I didn’t measure any amounts of the ingredients other than the milk, of which I used 1/4 cup. I sprinkled in some cinnamon, and then just added confectioners sugar until I liked the texture – not too thick that it couldn’t be poured, but not so thin that it dripped all over the place.

 

Celebrate with Eggless Coffee Cake.

So, around my office, I’m kinda known as the dessert queen – and I’m ok with that. I’m always testing out new creations on my very-willing-to-be-taste-testing coworkers, and they always give me honest feedback, so it’s a win-win. I’m also always making the goodies when someone’s birthday rolls around. Well last week, someone in my office conveniently “forgot” to tell anyone that it was his birthday, until we found out accidentally later that afternoon (when the HR rep delivered his birthday card in front of all of us – ha ha). But no one gets off that easy. I decided that I would whip up a quick better-late-than-never birthday cake that night, and surprise him the next morning.

I flipped through my recipe binder, and decided a small coffee cake would be perfect. I had all the ingredients (so I thought) and I even had some leftover cinnamon chips that would be an excellent addition to the batter. I started going to work. Three ingredients in and I suddenly realized – I was all out of eggs. Yikes. I really didn’t feel like running out and getting them – I already started the whole cake making process!

running on empty.

But then, I had an idea. I’ve made vegan cakes in the past, and they sometimes use white vinegar in place of eggs. I did have white vinegar, so I figured, what the heck, I’ll give it a tray. I guesstimated that two tablespoons of vinegar per egg would be sufficient. I definitely didn’t want to go too heavy on the vinegar and wind up with an overpoweringly gross vinegar cake.

my hero.

Well, once again, those two years of pastry school paid off – the cake was delicious – I dare say even better with the vinegar!

eggless and proud of it.

I guess it’s true what they say – never settle for the same old cake.  (Ok so no one really ever said that. But it does seem to be true.) Change really can be a good thing, my friends. Even good ol’ eggs can be replaced by something better, if you look around a bit. 🙂

Recipe Monday Night: Pumpkin Mousse Cake.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a recipe…mostly because I haven’t been creating any new ones lately. Sure, I’ve been baking my nights away as usual; however I’d been mostly doing things I’ve baked previously, with maybe a slight variation, but nothing I felt was worthy of its own dedicated recipe post on the blog. Until tonight. Over the weekend, I decided to create a pumpkin mousse cake. The blueprint in my mind was a one layer brown sugar-based vanilla cake with cinnamon chips, sliced into three thin layers, with two layers of pumpkin mousse in between, and topped with a very light pumpkin butter cream. And lo and behold, the finished product was exactly that. I had recipes that I created already for the cake and the buttercream to work off of, but I needed a good recipe for the mousse. I found one here that I liked very much, and made some modifications, as you’ll see below. Anyway, the cake was a hit, and would certainly be the perfect topper to any warm meal on a cool fall night.

top that.

Pumpkin Mousse Cake.

What you’ll need for the Mousse:

15 oz  pumpkin puree

1 cup half and half

3/4 cups granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups chilled heavy cream

What you’ll do for the mousse:

In a medium saucepan, stir together the pumpkin, half and half, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg, over medium heat. The mixture will soon start to “pop” – as soon as it does, start stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes. If you walk away and let it keep “popping,” you will wind up with spots of pumpkin everywhere. Trust me on this. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Let the mix cool for about 20 minutes, then chill for about an hour. Whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks. Fold 1/3 of the chilled pumpkin mix into the cream, mixing until streaky. Fold in the remaining 2/3, until well blended. Refrigerate until ready to use.

chillin’.

What you’ll need for the cake:

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoon oil

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 cup AP flour

1/2 cup half and half

1/3 cup pumpkin puree

2 cups cinnamon chips

What you’ll do for the cake:

Preheat oven to 350° F.  Mix sugar, egg, oil and pumpkin in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Add to egg mixture, alternately with the half and half. Fold in the cinnamon chips. Grease an 8″ round, and bake for about 18-22 minutes, or until cake pulls away from sides of pan, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

totally baked.

What you’ll need for the pumpkin buttercream:

8 oz butter (room temperature)

2 tablespoons pumpkin puree

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups confectioners sugar

1 tablespoon half and half

What you’ll do for the buttercream:

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the butter, pumpkin, cinnamon and vanilla until light and fluffy. Blend in 1 cup of confectioner’s sugar at a time. Add the milk, mix well.

what lies beneath.

To assemble the cake, slice the cake itself into three thin horizontal layers. Place one on a cake board, top with about 1/2″ layer of pumpkin mousse. Place the second layer of cake on top, and add another 1/2″ layer of pumpkin mousse. Place the third layer on top (make sure this layer has the smoothest top, as it will be the one that gets iced). Fill in any gaps around the side with mousse, smoothing as you go. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes before icing the cake. Ice it with the pumpkin buttercream, and add a border of cinnamon chips. Keep cake refrigerated until ready to serve.