Her Modern Kitchen

Eating & Living in Austin, Texas

Desserts

Sourdough Chocolate Babka

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With nothing else to do during social distancing, I put my sourdough starter to use making Sourdough Chocolate Babka. It didn’t disappoint.

Sourdough Chocolate Babka featured

One of my favorite bakes from last year’s Baking Bucket List was Chocolate Babka.  With some extra time on my hands during quarantine and a surplus of sourdough starter, I decided to adapt my favorite 2019 recipe for sourdough.

The original recipe is by Melissa Clark from New York Time’s Cooking.  Her recipe starts with a traditional yeast base and yields two generous loaves of Chocolate Babka.  Since it’s just <3M and me in the house, I scaled the recipe down to a single loaf but you can just as easily double what I’ve outlined below for a two-loaf batch of Sourdough Chocolate Babka.

And my favorite part about this recipe, the chocolate crumbles on top just before baking that adds some crunch and a touch of saltiness.

Sourdough Chocolate Babka inside swirl

A Note About My Sourdough Starter

My sourdough starter is a tad liquidy, I follow a 100% hydration feeding schedule, so, if you also have a slightly liquidy starter,  then proceed per normal with my recipe below.

If your sourdough starter is more dough-like, then I’d recommend adding 2-3 ounces of milk in step one of the recipe below.  Don’t worry about adding too much milk, you can always fix the stickiness of the dough by adding in a tablespoon of flour at a time until the dough is soft and doesn’t stick to your bowl or hands.  My recommendation, always start with less milk.

Also, you need to start this Sourdough Chocolate Babka recipe with a room-temperature sourdough starter that has been fed at least once.

Sourdough Chocolate Babka sliced

Lastly, a Note about Timing

You can definitely make this recipe all in one day if you start in the morning. However, since you have the time (and I know you do!), why not make this a leisurely bake and spread it out over two days so your bread has time to develop deeper notes of flavor.  You’ll thank me later.

I ‘ve provided details on how to make this Sourdough Chocolate Babka in one day or over the course of two days, allowing the bread to have a long, refrigerated overnight rest.

Personally, I also prefer the two-day Sourdough Chocolate Babka method because it means I can enjoy warm, fresh Chocolate Babka for breakfast on day two.

Let’s get to it, shall we?

Also, if you need a few guide photos on how to roll, cut, or twist the bread, check out my original Chocolate Babka post here.

Sourdough Chocolate Babka Pin

Sourdough Chocolate Babka Bread
 
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This recipe was adapted from the New York Times Cooking Chocolate Babka recipe by Melissa Clark.
Author:
Serves: 1 loaf
Ingredients
  • For the Dough
  • 4 ounces 'fed' sourdough starter, liquid kind*
  • 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2⅓ cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons instant yeast
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • 2 eggs
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and divided

  • For the Filling
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • ⅓ cup heavy cream
  • 3 ounces extra dark chocolate, chopped (66%-74% cocoa)
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ¼ inch cubes
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • For the Chocolate Crumble
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1½ teaspoons granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
  1. Make the dough: Add your sourdough starter to an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add in the flour, sugar, instant yeast, salt, vanilla, lemon zest, and nutmeg. Mix it all together until gently combined.
  2. Add in the eggs and mix for an additional 2 minutes. If the dough sticks to the sides of your bowl, add a tablespoon more of flour at a time until it comes together, mixing between additions.
  3. Add in half of the butter (2½ tablespoons) and mix again until smooth, about 3-5 minutes then add the remaining butter and mix until just combined. Again, if the dough sticks to the sides of the bowl add a tablespoon more of flour at a time until it comes together, mixing between additions.
  4. Once the dough comes together, switch to a dough hook and allow the dough to mix on medium-high for 5-7 minutes until it becomes stretchy.
  5. Grease a large, clean bowl with extra butter and place the stretched dough into the bowl, turning it so it's fully covered (lightly) with butter on all sides. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise on the counter for 2-hours. It may not double in size but it should bulk up at least a tad.
  6. After 2-hours, check on the dough, pressing it down lightly with your hands. Re-cover and refrigerate the dough overnight (or if not overnight, at least 4-hours for the flavor to develop).
  7. While the dough rests, prepare the filling and crumble.
  8. For the filling, place the sugar, cream, and salt in a small saucepan and heat over medium-high heat until the sugar melts, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped chocolate, butter, and vanilla extract until smooth. Set aside to cool completely then refrigerate until ready to use.
  9. For the crumble, place the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a small bowl. Stir in the melted butter until large crumbs form. Cover and set aside until ready to use.
  10. The next day (or after at least 4-hours) remove your dough from the refrigerator and allow it to sit at room temperature, uncovered, for 30-minutes to warm up a bit, making it easier to work with.
  11. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll it into a 9-by-17-inch rectangle.
  12. Spread the filling evenly onto the rectangle (no need to leave a border).
  13. Now, be prepared to get a bit messy: starting with the long side, roll the dough into a tight coil. Transfer the coil to a large piece of plastic wrap then place it on a large baking tray. Place it in the freezer for 10-minutes to rest (no longer!).
  14. While the dough is resting, prepare your baking pan by greasing a 9-inch loaf pan and lining it with parchment paper.
  15. Remove the dough coil from the freezer and using a pastry cutter or sharp knife, cut the coil in half length-wise (the long way) to expose the filling.
  16. Again, prepare to get messy: twist the two halves around one another into one long twisted log (like a two-stranded braid). Then fold the log in half so the two ends meet. Place the twisted loaf into the prepared pan, tucking the ends under itself (honestly, the messier this looks the prettier it will be post-baking, so don't fuss too much with it here).
  17. Cover the pan with a clean kitchen towel and let the dough rest for 1 to 1½ hours. It might puff up some but it deifnitely won't double.
  18. When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. While the oven is heating, break the crumble into pieces and sprinkle it on top of the dough, pressing it down very gently.
  19. Bake the bread for 40-50 minutes until a thermometer reads 185-210 degrees Fahrenheit.
  20. Remove the bread from the oven and allow it to cool on a cooling rack for 30-minutes.
  21. Once cooled, remove from pan, slice, and serve.
Notes
* Add 2-3 ounces milk in Step 1 if you have a more dough-like starter. See my note above in the blog post for more details.

 

Tropical Hummingbird Cake for Wheatsville Co-ops 44th Birthday

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A Tropical Hummingbird Cake with fresh pineapple, macadamia nuts, coconut and banana to celebrate Wheatsville Co-ops 44th Birthday on March 16th

Tropical Hummingbird Cake Cut

This month, Wheatsville Co-op is celebrating its 44th birthday and in celebration for the big event, I partnered with them to create this Tropical Hummingbird Cake and give away a $50 gift card to Wheatsville Co-Op to one lucky reader.

Wheatsville Co-op has been an Austin staple for 44 years, officially celebrating their birthday on March 16th.  They have two locations in Austin, once centrally located on Guadalupe near campus (the original), and another in South Austin on South Lamar.  They’re a full-service natural grocery store and if you haven’t tried some of their ridiculously delicious donuts or $5 dinner plates, you’re greatly missing out!

Wheatsville Co-op is also huge in supporting the Austin community. Throughout the year, they partner with a different local non-profit organization each month and donate $1,000 at the end of the organization’s assigned month to the non-profit. For March, Wheatsville is partnering with Austin Parks Foundation. Shoppers also have the ability to ’round-up’ their purchase total to donate to the month’s local non-profit group.

Not Familiar with the Co-op Model?

Wheatsville’s co-op model means that community members invest in Wheatsville becoming members/owners.  Wheatsville’s overall purpose is to serve its owners rather than generate a profit.

Wheatsville Co-op

And when it does generate a profit, it ‘is cycled back into Wheatsville to increase services for the owners, or if sufficient profit is made, it is given back to the owners in the form of a Patronage Rebate.‘

Anyone is welcome to become an owner of Wheatsville and all shoppers are welcome, not just owners but being an owner does come with some perks:

  • Co-op Owner Deals: extra savings for co-op owners
  • Owner Coupons
  • Owner Perks
  • Patronage Rebates: a share of the co-ops profits during sufficiently profitable years
  • University Federal Credit Union Eligibility to join the credit union
  • Vote in the Wheatsville Election for
    • the Board of Directors,
    • Community Action Recipients, and
    • bylaws revisions and owner petitions

Learn more about Wheatsville Co-op model here.

Celebrating Wheatsville Co-op

When I thought about Wheatsville Co-op and their Spring birthday celebration, I was inspired to make something that was fresh, bright, and colorful.  Hummingbird Cake has always been a favorite cake of mine but to give it a little spin, and make something special for Wheatsville, I chose to give this classic recipe a tropical makeover. 

Tropical Hummingbird Cake Served

Traditional Hummingbird Cake has pecans, banana, and pineapple frosted with a cream cheese frosting (see my traditional Hummingbird cupcake recipe here). To bring in tropical flavors, my cake 

  • used macadamia nuts in place of pecans
  • fresh pineapple rather than the traditional canned pineapple
  • coconut oil for an extra tropical treat
  • toasted unsweetened coconut
Tropical Hummingbird Cake Close Up

Texture you can see from the macadamia nuts and pieces of fresh fruit

The result was a sweet, thick cake full of fruity flavors and texture from the macadamia nut pieces and pieces of fruit.  The cake appeared in texture to be a close cousin to banana bread, which IMO is just plain delicious.

Keeping with the fresh and light theme of a Spring birthday, rather than frost the cake in traditional cream cheese frosting, I whipped up a silky, light Swiss meringue buttercream.  The buttercream, paired with the thicker Tropical Hummingbird Cake was a perfect match by not adding too much sweetness to the already fruit-forward cake.

Tropical Hummingbird Cake Displayed

To decorate the cake, I wanted a slightly feminine look for Wheatsville’s Spring birthday and chose to tint the Swiss meringue buttercream a light violet color for its base and decorate the cake with wrapped buttercream piped stars in different hues of purple, complimenting Wheatsville Co-ops own purple branding.

Recreate Wheatsville Co-ops Tropical Hummingbird Cake yourself with the recipe below.

Giveaway

In honor of Wheatsville Co-ops 44th birthday on March 16th, you have an opportunity to win a $50 gift card to shop the store!  Head on over to my Instagram page and

Tropical Hummingbird Cake

Tropical Hummingbird Cake
 
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Author:
Serves: 16
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups chopped macadamia nuts, toasted*
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon all-spice
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup mashed banana, about 2 medium ripe bananas
  • 1 cup fresh pineapple, crushed**
  • 3 large eggs at room temperature
  • ⅔ cup coconut oil, melted
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • ¾ cup coconut sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup unsweetened coconut, toasted*
  • 12 cups Swiss meringue buttercream, colored to your liking
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F
  2. Grease three 8-inch cake pans and dust with flour. Line bottoms with parchment then set aside.
  3. Place all dry ingredients (nuts through salt) into a medium bowl and whisk together to combine.
  4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the bananas, pineapple, eggs, melted coconut oil, both sugars, and vanilla extract.
  5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Fold in the toasted coconut.
  6. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans. (I used a kitchen scale to ensure the batter is evenly distributed.)
  7. Bake for 35-40 minutes, rotating the pans in the oven halfway through. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean.
  8. Cool 10 minutes in the pans then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before stacking and frosting.
  9. Assemble the cake by placing 1 cake layer on your cake stand, topping it with ~3/4 cup Swiss meringue buttercream. Repeat with the remaining two layers. Frost the outside of the cake and decorate as desired with additional tinted buttercream using piping tips. Serve immediately and refrigerate any extra servings for up to 3-days.
Notes
*To toast your macadamia nuts and/or coconut, place them in a large skillet over medium-high heat and warm until they begin to lightly brown, stirring frequently to ensure they don't burn (5-7 minutes). Remove from heat and cool completely before using. Do not toast the coconut and nuts together. They will brown at different rates. Ensure you toast them separately.
**To 'crush' your pineapple, place about 1½ cups of fresh pineapple chunks into your food processor, and pulse 6-8 times. Ensure there aren't any big chunks of pineapple and do not process too long or you'll make pineapple puree.

 

Girl Scout Cookie Lover’s Samoa Cookie Cake (Caramel deLite Cake)

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This Girl Scout Samoa Cookie Cake stars three chocolate cakes layered with a brown sugar coconut filling, caramel frosting, and a chocolate ganache drip.

Decorated Girl Scout Samoa Cookie Cake

The Girl Scout Samoa cookie (or Caramel deLite for some of you) is my favorite Girl Scout cookie so I selfishly created this chocolate, coconut, and caramel flavored cake to satisfy my own cookie craving.

Girl Scout for Life

I actually grew up as a Girl Scout, starting as a Brownie and working my way up through the ranks as a Junior, a Cadet, and graduating as a Senior.

I even received my Gold Award in high school after collaborating on a project with three other Girl Scout friends to create a community garden.  As I transitioned out of Girl Scouts, my local council presented me with a lifetime Girl Scout membership and overall, my time as a Girl Scout is an accomplishment I’m really proud of.

Top of Girl Scout Samoa Cookie Cake

A Cake for Samoa Lovers

In honor of my time in Girl Scouts, I created a Girl Scout Samoa Cookie Cake (Caramel deLite in some parts of the country, but we’re not going to get into that here) encompassing the chocolate, coconut, and caramel deliciousness of this classic cookie.

The cake starts with my go-to chocolate cake recipe which is layered with a brown sugar coconut filling and finished with a caramel frosting and chocolate ganache drip to represent the classic chocolate drizzle on top of every Samoa cookie.

Sliced Girl Scout Samoa cookie Cake

Girl Scout Samoa Cookie Cake

Cookie Season All-Year Long

For those that love Girl Scout cookies, I’m hoping this cake helps your cookie cravings between the Girl Scout cookie seasons.  Or, if you’re like me, maybe you have a few Girl Scout cookies stashed away in your freezer for emergencies.  In which case, use them to make this Girl Scout Cookie Samoa Cake.

Girl Scout Samoa Cookie Cake

Girl Scout Cookie Samoa Cake (Assembly)
 
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Recipes for each follows assembly instructions.
Author:
Serves: 16
Ingredients
  • Three 6-inch chocolate cakes
  • 1½ cups brown sugar coconut filling
  • 4 cups caramel buttercream frosting
  • 1 cup chocolate ganache drip
  • 6-8 Samoa cookies, optional
  • ½ cup toasted coconut flakes, optional
Instructions
  1. Place a single chocolate cake layer on the cake stand. Rim the chocolate cake with the caramel frosting and fill the inside with the brown sugar coconut filling (~ ⅓-1/2 cup of filling).
  2. Repeat this process with the second layer.
  3. Top the second layer with the final chocolate cake layer.

  6. Frost the cake with the caramel frosting, creating either a 'naked' look or covering the cake completely with the frosting in a more traditional style.
  7. Chill the cake for 30-minutes prior to adding the ganache drip.
  8. To add the drip, pour a small portion of the ganache onto the top of the cake and using an offset spatula gently smooth it over the top and over the edge.
  9. Put the remaining ganache into a piping bag and cut a small piece off the tip. Use the piping bag to add more drips along the edge of the cake or to elongate drips that have already started.
  10. Place the cake in the fridge to set completely before adding topper decorations, about 30-minutes.
  11. On top of the center of the cake, add more of the brown sugar coconut filling (~1/4 cup), leaving about a ½ inch bare around the edges of the cake for decor.l
  12. Place the remaining caramel frosting into a piping bag with a 1M piping tip and add dollops of frosting to the top layer. Place a Samoa cookie into each dollop, and decorate with toasted coconut flakes, as desired.

Chocolate Cake Recipe
 
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Author:
Serves: 3
Ingredients
  • 1½ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1½ cups granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup Dutch-processed cocoa sifted
  • 1½ tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ¾ cup hot water
  • 2 tsp instant coffee
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • ¾ cup buttermilk room temperature
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F
  2. Grease three 6-inch cake pans and dust with cocoa powder. Line bottoms with parchment then set aside.
  3. Place all dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Stir on low to combine.
  4. Dissolve the coffee in the hot water then set aside.
  5. In a medium bowl whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla.
  6. Temper the egg-milk mixture by slowly whisking in the hot coffee (you don't want to cook the eggs!)
  7. Add the coffee-egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix on medium for 2-3 mins. The batter will be very thin, that's okay!
  8. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans. (I used a kitchen scale to ensure the batter is evenly distributed.)
  9. Bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating the pans in the oven halfway through. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean.
  10. Cool 10 minutes in the pans then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Brown Sugar Coconut Filling
 
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Author:
Serves: 2 cups
Ingredients
  • ½ cup butter
  • 1 cup evaporated milk
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt
  • 3 cups sweetened coconut
Instructions
  1. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
  2. Whisk in the evaporated milk, brown sugar, egg yolks, vanilla extract, and salt.
  3. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly.
  4. Reduce heat, and continue to cook over low heat, whisking constantly until thickened, 5-7 minutes.
  5. Remove from heat and fold in the coconut.
  6. Allow mixture to cool completely and thicken before use.

Chocolate Ganache Drip
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • ⅓ cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
  1. Place the chocolate into a medium-sized bowl and set aside.
  2. In a small saucepan, heat the heavy cream until it just begins to boil with tiny bubbles around the edges.
  3. Pour the heavy cream over the chocolate and let it sit for 1 minute.
  4. Using a whisk, mix together the chocolate and cream until it's fully blended.
  5. Let the ganache cool to room temperature for about 15 minutes before creating the drip onto the cake.

Caramel Frosting
 
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Author:
Serves: 3 cups
Ingredients
  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 cup vegetable shortening
  • 2 tablespoon meringue powder
  • 8 cups confectioners' sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt
  • ⅔ cup caramel sauce
  • 4 tablespoons heavy cream
Instructions
  1. In the bowl of a mixer, beat the softened butter and shortening until creamy.
  2. Add in the meringue powder, confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and salt. Mix on low to combine.
  3. With the mixer on low, stream caramel sauce and half of the heavy cream into the bowl and mix on medium-high. Add more cream (1 tablespoon at a time) until a medium-thick frosting consistency is reached.

 

 

Best Ever Bakery-Style Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

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Big, delicious, bakery-style Oatmeal Raisin Cookies that are soft yet chewy, loaded with plump raisins, warm spices & a touch of molasses. I promise you, someday these will be world-famous.

This post was originally published on November 14, 2016 and updated with new photos in January 3, 2020.

I understand oatmeal cookies may not sound that exciting but I’m gonna to need you to trust me on this one because these truly are the Best Ever Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.

Best Eer Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Think big, delicious, bakery-style Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.

They’re soft yet chewy, loaded with plump raisins, warm spices and a touch of molasses. They’re like a warm hug from your Mom after a bad day at school. They’re like being wrapped in a warm blanket fresh out of the dryer. They’re like sitting in front of a fireplace on a cold winter night.

They are comfort food.

They are Oatmeal Raisin Cookie perfection.

Before diving in to create the Best Ever Oatmeal Raisin Cookie, I did a lot of research. The thing with oatmeal raisin cookies is that they can often lean closer to the muffin-top side of the spectrum rather than the cookie side.

I’ve eaten way too many oatmeal raisin cookies that are too fluffy and too moist.  I knew my oatmeal raisin cookies had to be tender yet chewy. To achieve this, I made sure to load it will rolled oats rather than quick oats. Using rolled oats ensured that even when the oats soaked up some of the wet ingredients, they still maintained a small bite, giving the cookies added texture and chew once baked.

Best Ever Oatmeal Raisin COokies

Hydrate Your Raisins

Oatmeal raisin cookies also tend to have hard little raisins spotted throughout them that have dried out during the baking process. And sometimes, you might only get ONE raisin in an oatmeal raisin cookie which is simply unforgivable.

Scooping cookies

To avoid this, I used one and a half cups of raisins and made sure to plump up my raisins before adding them to the cookie dough. To plump up the raisins, I rehydrated them by letting them soak in a hot water bath while the rest of the ingredients were prepped. This ensured the raisins were plump and chewy and didn’t shrink up into hard little dots while baking.

Molasses & Warm Spices

I also wanted an oatmeal raisin cookie that was rich in flavor while being warm and toasty. I achieved this by adding a greater portion of brown sugar than white, granulated sugar and upping the toasty notes with a tad of molasses.

This also increased the chewiness of the cookie when combined with the rolled oats. Lastly, to bring it on home, rather than simply adding cinnamon to the dough, I used cinnamon along with a hint of nutmeg and clove to round out the warming spices and add depth to the overall flavor.

Best Ever Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Bakery Style Means Extra Large

For maximum cookie enjoyment, I also made sure to weigh out the cookie dough into 2-ounce portions prior to baking. These resulted in cookies that were about palm-size once finished, just like you’d find at a local bakery.

Once baked, these oatmeal raisin cookies turn golden brown from the molasses, the oats become slightly chewy and the raisins stay soft and plump. They’re perfect for dunking!

In my opinion, these are the Best Ever Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. And, although you may think 1 is enough, I won’t judge you for sneaking a 2nd or 3rd, I know I did!

Looking for more bakery-style cookies? Check out my favorite Monster Cookie recipe.

Best Ever Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

5.0 from 4 reviews
Best Ever Bakery-Style Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
 
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Big, delicious, bakery-style Oatmeal Raisin Cookies that are soft yet chewy, loaded with plump raisins, warm spices & a touch of molasses.
Author:
Serves: 24
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon molasses*
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 cups rolled oats**
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1½ cups raisins
  • 2 cups boiling water
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350* and line cookie sheets with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper, set aside
  2. Place the raisins in a small bowl and pour boiling water on top. Immediately cover with plastic wrap to keep in the heat and set aside while you assemble the dough
  3. In a mediums size bowl, mix together flour, oats, spices, baking soda, and salt, set aside
  4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy
  5. Add in the vanilla extract and 1 egg at a time until fully combined with the mixer on medium-low
  6. With the mixer on medium-low, drizzle in the molasses until fully combined.
  7. Scrape down the sides and prepare to add the dry ingredients
  8. Add in the dry ingredients (the oat-flour mixture) in three separate additions, ensuring each is fully combined before adding the next
  9. Strain the raisins to remove the water and using the back of a wooden spoon, lightly press down on the raisins to squeeze out as much of the water as you can***
  10. Add the raisins to the cookie dough and gently combine with the mixer on low or by hand using a wooden spoon.
  11. Using a 2-ounce scoop, place mounds of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets, allowing about 2 inches between each dough placement
  12. Using the palm of your hand or the flat bottom of a glass, press down on the cookie dough mounds until they are about half their original size
  13. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 15-17 minutes until golden brown
  14. Once baked, let the cookies cool for an additional 1-2 minutes on the tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely
  15. Cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 week or frozen for up to 3 months
Notes
* Be sure to use dark molasses but not blackstrap molasses. I prefer Grandma's molasses to cook with.

** Ensure the oats are Rolled Oats. These are not the same as Quick Oats and they are not Steel Cut Oats.

*** You don't want to add water to your cookies so removing as much excess water from the raisins prior to adding them to the cookie dough is extremely important

 

New Year’s Eve Sprinkles Fault Line Cake

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Ring in the next decade with a decadent New Year’s Eve blackout cake filled with glittery sprinkles and a shimmering gold fault line.

If you didn’t know, I really love sprinkles and my favorite place to purchase them is through Fancy Sprinkles.  Their New Year collection caught my eye and I immediately purchased the 2020 & Metallic Rainbow Dragee sets which inspired this cake.

New Years Eve Cake with Rope Braid

Originally, I intended to make a drip cake, similar to others I’ve made this year because they’re just SO fun to make but decided at the last moment (similar to how I make all my baking decisions…) to do something different and learn a new technique.

Check out the pinata cake I made last year to celebrate 2019!

I’ve been admiring fault line cakes on Instagram for a while now and I loved their 3D look with sprinkles, cookies, or an intricate design embedded as a ‘layer’ of the cake so after researching the process, I found it wasn’t as complicated as I originally thought and decided to give it a go for my New Year’s Eve cake.

New Years Eve Fault Line Cake

The Chocolate Cake

I used this tutorial for the fault line process and my own chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream recipes (below) to make and frost the actual New Year cake.  I love love love this chocolate cake recipe.  It’s a no-fail recipe that bakes beautifully every time.  It’s moist and perfectly chocolatey.  I’ve been making it for years. And I think there’s no better way to celebrate a new decade than with chocolate!

Black Chocolate Buttercream

My chocolate buttercream recipe is a go-to as well, one that I keep in my baking arsenal.  It’s a combination of both buttercream and vegetable shortening which I find holds up better than straight butter-only frosting.  To color the frosting black, I just added a couple of teaspoons of black food coloring at the very ended and gave it a good whip in the mixer.  The key to making black frosting is to always use chocolate as your base.  Attempting to color vanilla or light-colored frosting black will simply result in a metallic, gray color.

New Years Eve Cake with Fancy Sprinkles

Adding the Sprinkles

When it came time to add the sprinkles onto my New Year cake, I first started by slowly placing each individual sprinkle on with my hands and tweezers.  After about 10 minutes, I found the process to be way too tedious and resorted to my standard method (which is a bit messier but much quicker, even with cleanup time!) and put a bunch of sprinkles in my palm, and carefully pressed them into the frosting while rolling my hand upwards on the cake.

Painting the fault line on my New Year Eve cake

Gold Fault Line

To create the gold fault line for my New Year’s Eve cake, I made an edible paint using a 1/2 teaspoon of gold luster dust and about 2 teaspoons of vodka and mixed them together until smooth.  I then used a fine pastry brush to paint on the lines.  Initially, I painted a rough fault line but later came back and smoothed it out, liking the appearance of a neater gold trim better.

New Years Eve Cake with Rope Braid

If you make my New Year’s Eve cake, please let me know how it turns out! It’s such a fun cake and I love the Fancy Sprinkles on it.  I’m almost tempted to make a second just to stare at in my kitchen on New Year’s Eve!

Happy New Year, Friends!

New Year's Eve Fault Line Cake
 
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Serves: 12 pieces
Ingredients
  • Three 6-inch chocolate cakes, recipe below
  • 6 cups black chocolate buttercream, recipe below
  • 1½ cups sprinkles of choice
  • gold edible paint*
  • Piping bag + tips of choice
  • Bench scraper
  • Offset spatula
  • Thin pastry brush
Instructions
  1. Place one chocolate cake on the serving tray and coat the top of it with a thick layer of chocolate frosting.
  2. Take the second chocolate cake and place this cake on top of the first and frost with chocolate buttercream
  3. Place the third cake on top of the second and frost the sides and top of the cake with chocolate buttercream, this is your base coat. Place it in the fridge to set for 20 minutes.
  4. Place 1½ cups of chocolate buttercream in a piping bag and snip off the tip to make a ½ inch hole.
  5. Remove the cake from the refrigerator and pipe a 4-5 inch section of frosting around the center of the cake (this is where the sprinkles will go). Use a bench scraper to smooth out this middle section (do not worry about the top and bottom portions of the cake looking rough, we'll deal with this later)
  6. Add your sprinkles to the middle section of the cake, covering as much of the area as possible.
  7. Add more frosting to your piping bag and draw thick frosting lines around the top and bottom of your sprinkle area (as if adding a border to hold in the sprinkles). Now fill in the rest of the top and bottom of the cake with the frosting and smooth it with an offset spatula.
  8. Use a bench scraper, smooth out the top and bottom of the frosting you just added, careful not to press too hard or you'll knock off the sprinkles. Set into the fridge to set up for 20-minutes.
  9. Using your gold paint, paint edges of the fault line you created and allow it to dry.
  10. Pipe on your desired cake topping (I chose a rope feature) and add more sprinkles, if desired.
Notes
*Make your own edible paint by mixing a ½ teaspoon of gold luster dust with 2 teaspoons of vodka.
** If you need a little help, check out this YouTube tutorial

 
Chocolate Cake Recipe
 
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Ingredients
  • 1½ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1½ cups granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup Dutch-processed cocoa sifted
  • 1½ tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ¾ cup hot water
  • 2 tsp instant coffee
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • ¾ cup buttermilk room temperature
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F
  2. Grease three 6-inch cake pans and dust with cocoa powder. Line bottoms with parchment then set aside.
  3. Place all dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Stir on low to combine.
  4. Dissolve the coffee in the hot water then set aside.
  5. In a medium bowl whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla.
  6. Temper the egg-milk mixture by slowly whisking in the hot coffee (you don't want to cook the eggs!)
  7. Add the coffee-egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix on medium for 2-3 mins. The batter will be very thin, that's okay!
  8. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans. (I used a kitchen scale to ensure the batter is evenly distributed.)
  9. Bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating the pans in oven halfway through. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean.
  10. Cool 10 minutes in the pans then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Black Chocolate Buttercream
 
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Serves: 6 cups
Ingredients
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1 cup vegetable shortening
  • 2 tablespoons meringue powder
  • 8 cups confectioners' sugar
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ¼ cup half & half (heavy cream or milk will work)
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons black food coloring
Instructions
  1. In the bowl of a mixer, beat the softened butter, shortening, and meringue powder until creamy.
  2. Add in the confectioners' sugar, cocoa powder, salt and vanilla extract. Mix on low to combine.
  3. With the mixer on low, stream in the half & half until you have a thick, chocolate buttercream. Adjust the frosting consistency by adding 1 additional tablespoon of frosting at a time.
  4. Add in the black food coloring and mix to fully combine.

 

Cranberry Pear & Ginger Pie with a Braided Lattice Crust

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Cranberry Pear & Ginger Pie with an elegant braided crust is bound to be a delicious, impressive dessert at any holiday celebration.

Cranberry Pear Ginger Pie

With this Cranberry Pear & Ginger Pie, I’m circling back to my July baking bucket list where I failed to create a braided pie crust.  In July, my pie dough was just too soft, the temperature in my kitchen much too hot for such delicate pastry, and after multiple attempts and a loss of patience, I surrendered to the pie crust and made just a traditional (yet very tasty!) blueberry pie without a braided crust.

Cranberry Pear Ginger Pie Sliced

This time, however, I reigned supreme over the braided pie crust! With a sturdier pie crust recipe, a sense of calm, and a whole lot of time, I not only braided my pie crust but I made a lattice topped braided pie crust and it turned out beautifully.  It was sheer perfection (if I do say so myself!) and one of my prouder baking bucket list moments.

Cranberry Pear Ginger Pie Ready to eat

Pie Crust Recipe

My initial pie crust recipe used straight butter, an ingredient that can cause the dough to quickly become soft and lead to breakage and, as I had mentioned in my original post, something I assumed to be a culprit in my original failure.  This time around, I used a combination of both chilled butter and vegetable shortening to make my pie crust.

Making the pie crust

The addition of vegetable shortening gave my pie dough more stability and it was able to withstand longer times are room temperature while I was braiding it than if it was just a butter-based pie dough.  I still used the same food processor method to combine the dough ingredients then finished the dough on the counter, working quickly to combine the last remaining bits of flour that didn’t come together in the food processor.  Lastly, a step I didn’t do last time around, was that I allowed the pie dough to rest overnight in the refrigerator.  Please do this, so plan to make the dough 1 day prior to braiding and making your pie.

Bottom crust

I also liked the end baked pie crust better than the all-butter dough.  This pie crust was flakey, tender and delicious.  I couldn’t stop picking it off of the pie!  I also used the same trick from my original blueberry pie bake to keep the bottom crust from becoming sogging by adding a thin layer of panko breadcrumbs between the crust and pie filling. This is 100% something I’ll be doing forever with any pie I make, it makes a huge difference in the bottom crust.

Time to Chill

When it came time to braid my pie crust, I chose to braid the strips on a metal cookie sheet.  This allowed me to easily transition the braids (mid-braiding) into the fridge to chill up when I felt them becoming soft. The added benefit of the metal trays was that it acted as a ‘cold conductor’ and allowed me to move faster in-between chillings since the dough chilled more quickly.

Braided pie crust

Cranberry Pear Ginger Pie Filling

So I could work continually, I actually had two trays of dough I worked off of and while one was chilling, I braided the other. The other thing I picked up on while braiding the pie dough was that the strips should be loosely braided together.  Then, once the braid was finished and sealed together on both ends, I’d ‘squish’ the braid together to make it appear tighter.

Texture & Depth

The key to creating a braided lattice pie crust is to add texture and depth to the design.  I did this by using the braided pie strips and by incorporating different widths of plain pie crust into my design.  These different widths with the braided texture helped break up the design, making the braids stand out more on their own.  The unintentionally added benefit here is that this also meant I didn’t have to braid as many pieces.

Cranberry Pear Ginger Pie Before Baking

To help the lattice top bake up beautifully and denote the braided pieces, I added an egg wash with a sprinkle of sugar to the top right before baking. This helps create the beautiful golden color on the crust and the egg wash sinks into the nooks and crannies where it will turn even more brown, helping give the pie crust even more depth and crunch once baked.

Need a quick tutorial on how to lattice pie crust? Check out this YouTube video for an easy demo.

Cranberry Pear & Ginger Pie

My original intent with the braided lattice pie crust was to make an apple pie.  But truthfully, I only enjoy crumb topped apple pie.  So at the last minute while grocery shopping, I decided to make something a bit more festive and went with Cranberry Perry & Ginger since it seemed seasonally appropriate for both Thanksgiving and Christmas baking.

Cranberry Pear Ginger Pie Baked

Cranberry Pear Ginger Pie Slicing

Cranberry Pear Ginger Pie Filling

When making this pie filling, make sure you choose ripe pears.  Hard pears will never bake up in the oven will result in a tough pie.  I really enjoyed the Cranberry, Pear & Ginger Pie filling because it wasn’t overly sweet and it had a bit of tart & spice to it from the cranberries, ginger, and cinnamon.  I found it to be a perfect flavor for holiday celebrations and it was easy to make.

Cranberry Pear Ginger Pie Sliced

Interested in more baking bucket list recipes? Check out the full list here.

Cranberry Pear Ginger Pie

Pie Crust Recipe
 
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This recipe makes enough for a bottom and top crust or enough for a bottom crust and a braided lattice top. So in short, plenty of pie dough to go around.
Author:
Serves: 2 pie crusts
Ingredients
  • 2½ cup all-purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup vegetable shortening
  • 12 tablespoons butter, very cold and cut into cubes
  • ¼-1/3 cup ice water*
Instructions
  1. Place flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine.
  2. Add in the shortening and butter and process until the mixture is crumbly.
  3. With the machine running, drizzle in the ice water, starting with a ¼ cup until the mixture forms a dough. Add more, 1 tablespoon at a time as needed until the dough comes (mostly) together.
  4. Turn the dough out onto the counter and press it together to form 1 ball, don't work the dough too much.
  5. Split the dough in half, form into a thick disc and wrap each half tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
  6. Allow the dough to sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes prior to rolling.
Notes
* I measure my ice water by placing water and ice in a glass, letting it sit for 5 minutes then I pour out ⅓ cup of ice water (without the ice)

Cranberry Pear & Ginger Pie
 
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The directions below are for the pie filling and baking of the pie only.
Author:
Serves: 10 slices
Ingredients
  • 2 unbaked pie crusts for the top and bottom, about ¼ inch in thickness
  • 3 large, ripe pears, peeled, cored and cut int ¼ inch pieces, about 6 cups
  • 1 cup fresh cranberries, washed and dried
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 egg + 2 teaspoons of heavy whipping cream*, for the egg wash
  • additional granulated sugar for the top, optional
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 2 tablespoon confectioner's sugar
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350F
  2. Place one pie crust in the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan and set aside.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, ginger, and cinnamon.
  4. In a large bowl, toss together the pear pieces, cranberries, and lemon juice.
  5. Sprinkle the sugar-flour mixture on top of the pear mixture and stir to combine.
  6. Place the pie filling inside of the prepared bottom pie crust.
  7. Top the pie with the remaining pie crust** and crimp the edges
  8. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and 2 teaspoons of cream. Brush the top of the pie crust with the egg wash and lightly with granulated sugar.
  9. Bake the pie for 30-minutes. After 30-minutes, you may want to cover the edges or top with a pie crust shield or foil to keep it from burning and continue baking until the filling is soft, an additional 25-30 minutes (total bake time is 55-60 minutes).
  10. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
  11. While the pie is cooling, make the whipped cream by placing the heavy whipping cream, vanilla extract, and confectioner's sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on high using the whisk attachment for ~5 minutes until stiff peaks form.
  12. When ready to serve, slice the pie and garnish with a dollop of the homemade whipped cream.
  13. Whipped cream can be kept in the fridge for 3 days and the pie can be stored covered at room temperature for 2-3 days.
Notes
*If you don't have heavy whipping cream available, you can use 2 teaspoons of milk
**When placing the top pie crust, you can choose to make a simple flat-topped pie, a lattice crust, or whatever of your choosing.

 

White Chocolate Peppermint Tuile Cookies

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Impress your holiday guests with these white chocolate peppermint tuile cookies, crispy chocolate wafers filled with a sweet minty mousse.

White Chocolate Peppermint Tuile Cookies

I’m not sure why I added tuile cookies to my baking bucket list but when I revisited my list a few weeks ago, I was excited to try my hand at them at making them.  I knew I wanted to make a tuile cookie stuffed with something because, seriously, who wouldn’t want to eat a cookie stuffed with a delicious filling?   And, since we’re heading into the holiday season, I chose to make chocolate tuiles and filled them with a white chocolate peppermint mousse.

The chocolate tuiles are rather mild in flavor but they’re very crisp and they’re the perfect vehicle for holding the fluffy, white chocolate mousse. Tip: Serve these cookies within an hour of assembling to ensure they stay crisp.

The white chocolate peppermint mousse is lick-the-bowl delicious! It reminded me of a sweet peppermint candy, nothing too overpowering just subtle hints of vanilla and holiday mint.  The mousse starts with a base of white chocolate ganache which you fold into a bowl of freshly made whipped cream.  To finish it off, you folded in candy cane pieces for a little crunch and the result is a sweet, silky white chocolate peppermint mousse. I actually enjoyed eating this straight from the bowl, no tuile cookie involved!

Making the Tuile Batter

Making tuile batter is quite easy, just 5 main ingredients — butter, sugar, cocoa powder, flour & egg whites.  All the ingredients whip together easily in a stand mixer resulting in a stiff, thick batter.  Looking at the batter, it appears as if it won’t make much but since tuiles are spread so thin, the batter actually results in about 50-60 cookies, which means this recipe is rather time-consuming because you bake the tuiles in small batches of 4-6 cookies at a time.

Tuiles Require a Stencil

When I first looked into making tuile cookies, a stencil was suggested.  After searching a few blogs, I also saw an option for creating your own template by tracing a shape onto parchment paper and spreading the batter by hand to fill the pattern.

Original tuile stencil template

My first attempt where I tried to spread the batter into the circles by hand.

Not wanting to invest in a tuile template for just one baking session, I chose to go the ‘make your own route’.  When it was time to make the cookies, I took a 3-inch round cookie cutter and traced it on to my parchment paper to create a template and began spreading the batter as thin as I could into the circles using an offset spatula.  The cookies coming out of the oven were fine using this method, maybe slightly thick, but I felt okay about the result.

White Chocolate Peppermint Tuile Cookies

However, I hated how time-consuming it was to spread the batter evenly into the circles by hand.  It was taking me longer to spread the batter into the hand-drawn circles than it was to actually bake the cookies. And that’s when I decided to make my own stencil.

Innovating in Real-Time

I traced the same 3-inch cookie cutter circles onto an old silicon baking mat and cut out the circles to form a stencil.  I then placed the silicone mat on top of parchment paper and using my offset spatula, I spread the batter into the cutout circles, scraped away the excess then carefully peel off the stencil to reveal six perfectly round tuile cookies ready for baking.

Final tuile stencil template

Spreading the tuile batter into the stencil

My handmade tuile template using an old silicon baking mat.

I found this method to be much easier, way more efficient, and the baked tuile’s thickness was perfectly even when compared to my original hand-spread tuiles. #lessonlearned  If you choose to make these cookies, you can DIY your own tuile template as I did or you can purchase one on Amazon, which is probably cheaper than ruining a silicone baking mat.

Time to Bake & Roll

My tuile template made six tuiles at a time but I found I could only roll about 3 tuiles at a time once they were removed from the oven. When I got to tuile number four, the cookie had started to cool and it cracked before I could properly roll it into the cone shape.

Rolled tuiles after baking

To account for this, I adjusted my baking time to 3-minutes per cookie sheet.  I’d then pull the cookies out, quickly roll three of the cookies into their tuile cone shape then pop the remaining three cookies, still on the baking sheet, bake into the oven to ‘warm up’ for 1 more minute then repeat the rolling process with the remaining three cookies.

Just like I didn’t have the proper tuile template, I also didn’t have a tool to roll my tuile cookies around once they came out of the oven so I improvised using the pestle from my mortar and pestle to form a cone shape. Creating the cone shape took a little bit of practice but luckily this batter makes a ton of cookies which allows for the learning curve.

Fill & Enjoy!

Filling the cookies is the easiest part of the entire process.  Just place the white chocolate mousse into a piping bag, cut a 1/2 inch hole into the bag and fill the chocolate tuile cones. You can choose to decorate the tuile cookies with more crushed peppermint, sprinkles, or just leave them as-is.

White Chocolate Peppermint Tuile Cookies

Plan and Serve Immediately 

The chocolate tuiles should be made the day you plan to serve them.  However, the mousse can be made up to a day in advance (just don’t mix the candy cane pieces in until serving/filling) and stored in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble. I’d recommend filling the tuiles right before serving to ensure the cookies stay crisp.  I found that the longer the cookies sit with the mousse, the softer they become. And unfortunately, these cookies don’t keep well either. So eat up!

Check out my full 2019 baking bucket list here!

White Chocolate Peppermint Tuile Cookies

White Chocolate Peppermint Tuile Cookies
 
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Serves: 60 cookies
Ingredients
  • For the tuile cookies
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
  • ⅔ cup confectioner's sugar
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 4 egg whites
  • pinch of salt
  • white chocolate peppermint mousse, recipe below
  • sprinkles & crushed peppermint for decorating, optional
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400F and line a cookie tray with parchment paper. Place your tuile template on top of the parchment paper and set aside.
  2. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt into a medium-sized bowl and set aside.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the softened butter for 2-3 minutes then add in the confectioner's sugar. Cream together for 4-5 minutes until smooth.
  4. Add in the egg whites, one at a time. The mixture may look 'curdled' but just keep mixing and scraping the sides of the bowl.
  5. Lastly, add in the flour-cocoa mixture all at once and mix until just combined. The batter will be thick.
  6. Using an offset spatula, thinly spread the batter into tuile template, scraping away excess. Once all molds are filled, gently peel the template off of the parchment paper (my template made 6 cookies at a time).
  7. Bake the cookies for 3-4 minutes (depending on thickness). Remove from oven and quickly roll the tuiles, while hot, into a cone shape. Set the cookies on a wire rack to cool completely. If you're unable to roll all the tuiles without them breaking, pop the remaining tuiles back into the oven for an additional 30-60 seconds to 'warm-up' then continue rolling.
  8. When ready to serve, place the white chocolate peppermint mousse into a piping bag. Cut a hole in the bag that's about a ½ inch wide (to ensure the peppermint candy fits through) and fill each of the chocolate tuile cones. Decorate with sprinkles or additional crushed peppermint as desired.
  9. Serve immediately as these cookies do not keep well once assembled.
Notes
I highly advise you make the tuile cookies the day you plan to serve them or else they become soft. Serve immediately upon filling with the mousse. The longer the cookies sit with the mousse, the softer the cookies become.

White Chocolate Peppermint Mousse
 
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Serves: 3 cups
Ingredients
  • 3 cups heavy whipping cream, separated
  • 12 ounces white chocolate chips
  • ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
  • ¼-1/3 cup crushed peppermint pieces
Instructions
  1. Place the white chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl and set aside.
  2. In a saucepan over medium heat, warm ¾ cup heavy cream until hot, just simmering but not boiling.
  3. Pour the hot cream over the white chocolate chips, let sit for 2-minutes then stir the mixture together until smooth. Stir in the peppermint extract. Place the bowl in the fridge to chill for at least 30-minutes.
  4. Once the white chocolate is chilled, begin making the whipped cream by placing the remaining 2¼ cups of whipping cream into the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on high until stiff peaks form.
  5. Remove the bowl from the mixer and gently fold in the chilled white chocolate into the whipped cream. Do this gently as to not deflate the whipped cream.
  6. Chill the mixture for at least 60-minutes before serving. Right before serving, fold in the crushed candy cane pieces.
Notes
You can make the mousse 1 day prior to serving if kept in the fridge, just don't mix in the candy cane pieces until serving. Leftover mousse can be served as-is in a small bowl for dessert.

 

 

Pumpkin Spice Roll Cake with Brown Butter Bourbon Frosting & Salted Caramel Pecans

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Pumpkin Spice Cake Roll Cake with Brown Butter Bourbon Frosting and Salted Caramel Pecans is the perfect dessert pairing for any Fall holiday celebration.

Decorated pumpkin spice roll cake

Well, I may not have had a successful inlay roll cake but I do have a successful, delicious, beautiful roll cake. If you’ve been following along with my baking bucket list and roll cake issues, you know that I had a small misstep earlier this week and debating on whether or not I’d pursue another roll cake.

I chose to make another roll cake, without the inlay, simply because I had leftover frosting for the filling.  Making a roll cake itself (without the inlay) is actually quite easy and the hands-on time is minimal, making it quick to whip up.

Served pumpkin spice roll cake

Plus, the flavor combination for this Pumpkin Spice Roll Cake with Brown Butter Bourbon Frosting was just too good not to remake, photograph and post about.

I love love love this flavor combination.

Although there’s pumpkin involved, it’s minimal and really just adds moisture to the cake. The spice flavor is heavy on the cinnamon and light on the pie spice. All together with the frosting and salted caramel pecans, the cake is a wonderful combination of fall flavors that leaves me doing a happy dance after every bite!

Filling the cake prior to rolling

Sprinkling on the salted caramel nuts

Rolling the cake

While the pumpkin is subtle, the brown butter bourbon frosting, however, has a real kick to it! Often times when it comes to bourbon frosting, the taste is so subtle that I’m found wondering if there was even bourbon in the recipe.  But not with mine! It has a heavy splash of bourbon which is balanced with the brown butter and cream cheese I’ve added to the frosting.

Rolled cake prior to decorating

Finally, for some crunch, I whipped up some quick salted caramel pecans, cheating a tad by using salted caramel syrup.  You only require 3 tablespoons, so making the caramel from scratch is a huge lift for such a small amount.  However, if you have a favorite salted caramel recipe you make and the time to do it, go for it!

Decorated pumpkin spice roll cake

Let’s just bake!

Rather than spare you the fluff of additional cake details and how-to guides, today, I’m just going to dive straight into the recipe for my Pumpkin Spice Cake with Brown Butter Bourbon Frosting and Salted Caramel Pecans. My only advice, read the recipe all the way through before starting and time cake steps 7 and 8 appropriately.

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Spice Roll Pin

Pumpkin Spice Roll Cake
 
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Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 3 eggs, whisked
  • ⅔ cup pure pumpkin puree
  • ½ cup brown sugar, packed
  • ½ cup granular sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup confectioner's sugar for rolling plus more for serving
  • 1½ -2 cups Brown Butter Bourbon Frosting, recipe follows
  • Salted Caramel Pecans, recipe follows
Instructions
  1. Preheat the over to 350F.
  2. Prepare an 11x15 inch jellyroll pan by greasing it lightly, lining it with parchment paper, and then greasing the parchment paper itself (we really don't want the cake to stick!). Set aside.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spice).
  4. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin puree, sugars, and vanilla extract.
  5. Pour the wet into the dry and mix until well combined.
  6. Evenly pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 15-17 minutes.
  7. While the cake is baking, prepare your space to dry-roll the cake by laying a clean kitchen towel on your counter. Sprinkle it thoroughly with confectioner's sugar, rubbing it into the towel. Flip the towel over and repeat this process on the opposite side.
  8. When the cake is done, remove it from the oven, run a knife around the edges of the pan and immediately (while it's still piping hot!) flip it onto your prepared kitchen towel.
  9. Starting at the short end, roll the cake tightly around itself (and the kitchen towel) into a log.
  10. Place the kitchen towel & cake onto the jellyroll pan and place it in the fridge for 2-hours to chill.
  11. Once chilled, gently unroll the cake, spread the Brown Butter Bourbon frosting onto the cake, leaving about a 1-inch bare around the edges. Sprinkle salted caramel pecans on top of the filling, gently pressing them into the frosting.
  12. Now complete your final roll by again, starting at the short end and rolling the cake around itself (this time without the kitchen towel).
  13. Gently move the cake onto your serving dish and chill the cake for another 30-minute prior to serving.
  14. To serve, dust the cake with confectioner's sugar, slice and serve.

Brown Butter Bourbon Frosting
 
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Author:
Serves: 4 cups
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature, separated
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
  • 3 ounces bourbon of choice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 5 cup confectioner's sugar
  • 2 tablespoon meringue powder, optional
  • 2 tablespoon heavy cream
Instructions
  1. Place ¼ cup of butter in a small saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until the butter begins to brown (about 10-15 minutes). Allow the butter to cool completely then using a fine sieve, strain the brown bits out of the brown butter. Discard the brown bits and save the strained butter for the frosting.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and remaining ½ cup butter for 5-6 minutes until fully creamed and no bits of butter or cream cheese are left.
  3. Pour in the cooled brown butter and vanilla extract and beat again.
  4. Add in 3 cups of confectioner's sugar and 1 tablespoon of heavy cream.
  5. Beat until fully combined.
  6. Add in the remaining 2 cups of confectioner's sugar until a medium-thick frosting is created. If you need to loosen the frosting some, add in the additional 1 tablespoon of heavy cream. The frosting should be creamy enough to evenly spread onto the cake without pulling up the cake but stiff enough to not 'ooze' out of the cake

Salted Caramel Pecans
 
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Serves: ¾ cup
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup chopped pecans
  • 3-4 tablespoons salted caramel sauce of choice
  • ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
  2. Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
  3. In a small bowl, stir together the salted caramel sauce and pecans.
  4. Spread the nut mixture onto the prepared baking sheet, sprinkle with the coarse sea salt and bake for 10 minutes, stirring once halfway through.
  5. Remove from oven and allow the nuts to cool completely before using.

 

Millionaire’s Shortbread

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Millionaire’s Shortbread with a thick buttery cookie, spiced caramel filling and a thin layer of chocolate round out my latest baking bucket list adventure.

I’ve been slacking on my 2019 Baking Bucket List but with 6-weeks left in the year, I’ve committed to knocking out one challenge each week.  To get me back in the groove, I started with Millionaire’s Shortbread.

Millionaire's Shortbread bite

The first time I had Millionaire’s Shortbread was on a food tour in London.  It was the final bite of our tour at Pizza East and I fell in love with the simplicity of the cookie.  Millionaire’s Shortbread has a crumbly butter cookie crust that’s topped with a light caramel filling.  The caramel is a smooth, silky consistency, not at all the kind that’s tacky and sticks to your teeth.  It has a light nutty sweet flavor and it melts in your mouth.  On top is a thin layer of dark chocolate and a touch of flakey sea salt. Just a divine, refined flavor combination and perfect as a small sweet bite after a hefty meal.

Millionaire's Shortbread cut

Since I chose to bake my Millionaire’s Shortbread in the fall (and because I’m basic AF) I put a little twist on my caramel filling by adding a dash of pumpkin spice to the caramel. 

Now, I know what you’re thinking ‘Why did I have to go and mess up a good thing?’  But really, this little hint of spice is so subtle that you hardly even notice it.  The spice is more like an afterthought, a ghost of cinnamon and spice that this basic blonde enjoyed.  So, if you choose to use make these bars, go right ahead and leave it out if you’re not a PS fan. 

While baking Millionaire’s Shortbread wasn’t really challenging, it did teach me a few lessons.

  • The best shortbread cookie should have a crumbly, sandy dough.  When I first looked at my shortbread dough, I was a bit hesitant it would stay together but after picking it up and clumping it together in my hand it stayed in form.  While it was awfully deceptive in my mixing bowl, the sandy dough resulted in a buttery, crumbly shortbread.

Millionaire's Shortbread crumbly dough

Millionaire's Shortbread dough

  • Making caramel is a real arm workout!  I had to whisk the sweetened condensed milk mixture vigorously for 20-minutes.  I really thought the recipe was kidding when it said to stand at the stove and stir for 20-minutes.  Typically, I can multi-task during this step but NOT with caramel.  Walking away for even 30-seconds could result in a burned caramel.

Millionaire's Shortbread caramel

  • Cleanly cutting chocolate so it doesn’t crack can be frustrating. The key here is to ensure the chocolate is set but not too set.  If the chocolate is chilled too much when you cut into it, the chocolate will crack and you’re pretty much doomed.  I found letting the bars chill for 2.5 hours in the fridge after frosting with the chocolate was the right amount of time prior to cutting.
  • Cutting bars into a precise, symmetrical shape with clean lines requires some serious math and patience. To ensure clean, straight lines I used a ruler to mark each of my cuts on all sides of the pan prior to cutting then used the ruler to guide my lines.  The ‘hot knife trick‘ was also required to flawlessly slide through the chocolate and caramel.

Millionaire's Shortbread bite

While my Millionaire’s Shortbread cookies weren’t a huge dive back into my baking bucket list, they were enough of a warm-up that I feel motivated to knock out the remaining items on my list.  Up next, is a jellyroll (or some kind of rolled cake!).

Millionaire Shortbread

Looking for a recipe? I followed the New York Times Millionaire’s Shortbread recipe exactly, only adding 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to the caramel at the same time as when I added the vanilla extract and chose to top my shortbread with a pinch of flakey sea salt prior to serving.

 

Summertime Blueberry Pie

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July’s baking bucket list challenge was a lattice-topped blueberry pie and it was a challenge that was both frustrating and humbling.

Lattice Topped Blueberry Pie

Spoiler Alert: this pie does not have a lattice crust.

This month I challenged myself to make a lattice-topped blueberry pie.  I love blueberry pies and I thought it was seasonally appropriate for July.  Pies are something I don’t typically bake, other than a random pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving every couple of years.  I thought choosing this pie would allow me to learn a bit more about pie making while getting creative with the crust.  Right before baking, I decided I wasn’t just making a lattice-topped blueberry pie but was going to make a braided lattice-topped blueberry pie — totally upping the ante.

Lattice Topped Blueberry Pie Whole PieFor my blueberry pie crust, I used Sally’s Baking Addiction’s pie crust recipe but rather than cutting the butter into the dough by hand as her recipe instructed, I used a food processor (something I’ve done it the past with my Mom’s pie crust recipe). And while the crust came together, it felt a little soft.

And that’s when I knew this crust was going to be trouble. But rather than scraping the crust (a triple recipe crust recipe!) and starting over, I forged ahead.

Making pie crust

My shitty pie crust hunch was confirmed while attempting to get the bottom crust into my pie plate.

It broke upon flip and I had to piece the crust back together, mashing the dough in place to form the full bottom. By the time I was ready to start cutting the remaining crust into strips for braiding, the dough was too warm and it broke anytime I tried to release it from the counter. 

Rolled out pie crust

In a measly attempt to remedy the situation, I chilled the pie crust in the freezer, waiting 30-minutes or so before having another go at cutting the crust into strips. Unfortunately, each time I ended up with the same disastrous results — ripped lattice strips that couldn’t be lifted off of the counter let alone braided together.

Pie crust

Feeling frustrated, I dumped my blueberry pie filling to into my prepared bottom pie crust and stuck the whole thing, uncooked, into the fridge. I then wrapped up my remaining pie crust and put that in the fridge to chill overnight.  I thought maybe if I gave it a day and came back to it feeling fresh with more patience and properly chilled dough, I might have success.

Blueberry pie filling

The next day, I took the pie crust out again, added a bit more flour to stiffen it up and attempted to cut it into strips to work on the braided lattice crust. This time around it didn’t help that my anal, type-A personality was shining through because I meticulously cut even, straight lines using a ruler which took ages. Whenever the crust wasn’t perfectly straight, I bunched up the dough and started all over again. Prolonging the effort and causing the dough to get warmer and warmer by the minute.

Throughout the entire process, I moved cautiously, attempting to lift the strips from the counter and again, they broke. After several attempts on day 2, I finally use gave in.  Not wanting to waste the crust or the $15 I spent on fresh blueberries to make the filling, I gave in, rolled the dough out and made a traditional double-crust blueberry pie.  I slathered it with an egg wash and some sugar and baked it in the oven.

Lattice Topped Blueberry Pie 2

The result was a superbly delicious blueberry pie. 

Just a hint of cinnamon & nutmeg spice that was juicy but not overly running. I also learned a new trick from Dorie Greenspan about adding breadcrumbs on top of the bottom crust, before you layer in a pie filling that helps keep the bottom from becoming soggy. While I was a tad skeptical about adding breadcrumbs, the results were amazing and the curst was definitely flakier than past pies.  This is 100% something I’ll be doing for any future pie bakes. Overall, it was a delicious pie that any baker would be proud of. However, it simply didn’t meet my July baking bucket list challenge.

Lattice Topped Blueberry Pie Pin

In retrospect, I’m unsure whether the failed braided pie crust was the result of the recipe, the warm Texas July heat which turned the pie crust warm quickly (even with AC on!), or my overall lack of patience. However, I do plan to attempt a braided lattice pie again this year to check off this bucket list item — likely with a fall fruit and this time using my Mom’s tried-and-true pie dough recipe.

You can find my recipe for a blueberry pie recipe below (sans crust). I highly recommend making it with your own amazing pie crust recipe or grabbing a couple of Pillsbury pre-made crusts. Because let’s face it, those store-bought crusts are pretty dang tasty.

Read about my other baking bucket list challenges here.

Blueberry Pie Filling
 
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Author:
Serves: 8 slices
Ingredients
  • 2 pie crusts for a 9-inch pie pan, prepared and chilled
  • 5 cups fresh blueberries, stemmed & cleaned
  • 2 teaspoons lemon zest
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ½-3/4 cup granulated sugar (depending on your sweetness preference)
  • 2 tablespoons tapioca flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 tablespoons of bread crumbs
  • egg wash, 1 egg whisked with 1 teaspoon water
  • 2 tablespoons sugar, optional for dusting
Instructions
  1. Roll out one prepared pie crust into a circle, large enough to fit a 9-inch pie pan (about 12-inches in diameter)
  2. Place your pie crust into the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan, allowing any excess to hang over the edge.
  3. Place the breadcrumbs into the bottom of the prepared pie crust and set aside.
  4. Make the filling: Place 3 cups of blueberries in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Lightly mash the berries to release juices. Continue to cook, stirring frequently until about half of the berries have broken down.
  5. Remove from heat and add in the reserved berries. Stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, and salt. Once combined, gently stir in the tapioca flour.
  6. Pour the blueberry filling into the prepared pie crust with breadcrumbs on the bottom.
  7. Roll out your second pie crust into a circle (12 inches in diameter) and place it on top of the pie. Trim both pie crusts so they are flush with the pie plate, leaving about 1-inch of excess Use this remaining crust to crimp the edges.
  8. Brush the top of the pie crust with the egg wash, cut 4-5 slits in the top with a sharp knife to allow moisture to escape while baking then sprinkle the top with sugar.
  9. Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes then reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees and continue to bake for another 30-minutes (1-hour total). Continue to check on the pie crust every 10-minutes after reducing the oven temperature to ensure it doesn't burn. If the top crust or edges become too brown, cover them with aluminum foil to prevent burning.
  10. Remove from oven and let the pie cool completely before cutting.