Happy Obligatory Cake Day! Yes, here we are again at that one day out of the year that I really feel that I should bake a cake. This year, we have a Salted Caramel Chocolate Torte. Though I haven’t tried it all put together (clearly it hasn’t been cut yet), all the components separately were delicious, though not surprisingly, a little on the sweet side. And if I were to spend my days critiquing myself, I would say that I am still not great at frosting / decorating, but meh, it’s ok.
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Desserts
Every year for Christmas, I try to make a torte — aka a fancy cake. It’s really the only time of the year that I make a true cake as I am more of a pie or cupcake kind of person. So this year, I went with a little fancy and a little rustic with this Gingerbread Cake with Maple-Mascarpone Whipped Cream and Rosemary, decorated with gingerbread snowmen. The flavor was terrific though the cake ended up a bit dense. The Maple-Mascarpone Whipped Cream was fantastic … I’m going to have to find some excuse to make it for something else!
So what do you get when you cross pumpkin pie, pecan pie and crumble bars? Well…these things! And I threw in some maple syrup just for good measure! I had found pumpkin butter at Trader Joes, and without any idea what to do with it, I bought a jar. While it has the unfortunate consistency of baby food, it tastes amazing (and *nothing* like baby food!) so I decided to make these Maple Pumpkin Butter and Pecan Crumble Bars. They are simply fab! Perfect thing to add to your Thanksgiving dessert and can be made in advance.
Sometimes you just need something easy but still homemade to bring to an event. Enter this recipe for a Quick and Easy Apple Streusel Pie. While there are really impressive decorations for pies these days, this is just a basic “coffee cake-like” streusel on the top. Think of it a little like a cross between a pie and a crumble. It does take about 2 hours, start to finish (if you count the hour-ish of baking time), but it really is fool proof.
I know, I know, I *just* mentioned the other day that Halloween isn’t really my thing, and here I am posting the second skull-themed baked good in as many days. Mainly, this is because I wanted to use my skull pan that was given to me, and sure, why not, let’s make something red-velvet-y … I don’t do that nearly enough. The cakes turned out almost too fluffy and very airy, but they did taste good. And there is something satisfying about biting into a skull. Yeah, ok, that last part is a little weird to write. I promise I’m not a vampire.