Baking Challenge #6: Tomato Soup Cake

I don't know about you but I LOVE Tomato Soup especially with a grilled cheese sandwich to dunk in it. So when I saw this recipe, I immediately wanted to try it. It comes from the book called, Southern Cakes.

There was a bit of calamity that I need to state up front as this recipe made me want to scream and throw a small tantrum! I have no gripes with the cake. The cake is wonderful but the frosting SUCKS! I have decided to totally leave out the frosting from this recipe because it isn't worth mentioning and it will make you hate the cake. This cake is practically perfect in taste, texture, and moistness. It reminds me of a cross between carrot cake and gingerbread. The vanilla frosting was way too sugary and completely overpowered the cake. I could hardly taste the cake because it was too sweet and the flavor didn't pair well with the flavors of the cake. The frosting had a slight nuttiness in flavor because its made with some brown sugar. That being said, I don't want to deter you away from making the Tomato Soup Cake as there is a way to make it perfect. It states in the book that you can also use cream cheese frosting for this cake. Duh! This is what I should have used instead of using the vanilla frosting that was designated to the cake. Everyone loves cream cheese frosting with carrot cake and this cake has a lot of the same flavors so that would work great. You can also bake it in a 13x9-inch pan and cut the cake into squares dusting the tops with powder sugar. I will definitely bake this cake again because it was so yummy!



Tomato Soup Cake

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
One 10 3/4-ounce can condensed Campbell's cream of tomato soup
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup water

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease two 8-inch cake pans or a 13x9-inch pan

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, allspice, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves, and stir with a fork to mix everything together well. Add the tomato soup, butter, eggs, and water to the bowl. Using a whisk or mixer at low speed, beat all the ingredients into a smooth batter, stopping to scrape down the bowl occasionally.

Divide the batter into the prepared pans and bake for about 25 minutes, until the cakes are golden brown, spring back when touched lightly in the center, and begin to pull away from the sides of the pans.

Let cakes cool and then frost.























I would recommend not slicing your layers–just level the 2 cakes and fill. I tried to slice each cake in half to make four layers but the cake was too fragile and the frosting was too heavy causing my cake to be blob around the sides. So I tried to fix the cake by cutting it in a square to get rid of the edges and that didn't work so great either. Well, now you've learned from my mistakes and you can make this cake the best that it can be!

Nesting Themed Cupcakes

In between my weekly baking challenges, my latest cupcake job was for a baby shower that was doing a nesting themed shower. I can't take credit for the baby birds in a nest idea as it was found on the Internet but I did add my own speckled eggs as a new edition to the idea. I made all the decorations out of fondant so that they would remain somewhat soft to eat and toasted coconut to make a nice pleasant nest. The speckled eggs I splattered with diluted food coloring. Lots of fun!

Baking Challenge #5: Double-Crumble Hot Apple Pies

"If you are going to the trouble of making pie, why make only one when it's just as easy to make two?"

This is what is stated at the beginning of the recipe. I love it! Why not 2? This weeks recipe is from this really cutely designed book called "Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Goey" by Jill O'Connor. Although there is a bunch of steps to this recipe, it is really simple to follow and make.

Double-Crumble Hot Apple Pies

Pie Crust Recipe
makes enough dough for 2 single-crust 8 or 9 inch pies
This pie crust was great–flaky and buttery!

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter, each stick cut into small pieces frozen (I didn't freeze mine, but I kept it cut up in the fridge till ready to use and it worked fine)
6 tablespoons solid coconut oil, cut into small bits and chilled (I couldn't find solid coconut oil, you can most likely get it at a health food store. I used 6 tablespoons of shortening instead which was just as good)
6-8 tablespoons ice water
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 large egg yolk, beaten

Sift flour, sugar, and salt together in a large metal mixing bowl. Cut the frozen butter and shortening (or coconut oil) into the flour until it resembles coarse meal combined with little pea-sized bits of flour. You can use a food processor with a metal blade by pulsing these ingredients or you can use a pastry blender and do it by hand. I used the pastry blender.

Whisk together 6 tablespoons of ice water, the lemon juice and the beaten egg yolk. Dribble the liquid into the flour mixture and stir together with a fork, using a light touch so as not to blend the larger bits of fat into the flour. Stir with the fork until the dough comes together into a moist but not sticky, ball. Use your hands to gentle gather the dough into a ball. You should still see some tiny butter pieces.

Divide the dough into two balls and flatten each ball into a round disk. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to overnight. You can also store this wrapped dough in a zip lock bag and freeze for up to 1 month.


For the Crumble:
2 cups bleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (you can use ground nutmeg too if you don't have fresh ones)
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

For the Apple Filling:
6 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4 -inch thick
6 medium Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4 -inch thick
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (you can use ground nutmeg too if you don't have fresh ones)
1/4 teaspoon of salt
I also added a teaspoon of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Roll out each round of pie dough into a 12-inch circle. Gently fit each round in a 9 or 8 inch pie pan. Gently fit each round in the pie pans, allowing the excess dough to hang over the edge of the pie pan. Set aside.
It is suggested that if you have a glass pan, use that so that you can gauge how well the crust is browning. I realized that out of all my baking supplies, I didn't have a pie pan! How is that possible! So I had to use a metal one and it seemed to work just as good.

To make the Crumble: Combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a bowl. Add the melted butter and stir together until the dry mixture is moistened with the melted butter and is crumbly. Refrigerate until needed.

To make the filling: In a large bowl, toss together the sliced apples with the lemon juice, flour, sugar, nutmeg, and salt. Divide the apples between the dough-lined pie pans. Trim the edges of the dough and fold them under and crimp with your fingers to make a decorative border.
See Ex. 1.















Divide the crumble between the two pies and spread evenly over the apples. You should have a generous amount of crumble for each pie. See Ex. 2.















Bake until the crust and crumble are golden brown and the apples are tender and bubbling, 60-75 minutes. My pies were down at 60 minutes but every oven is different so just check up on your pie towards the end.





















This is one of the first recipes that I have made where there is more than enough of the "good stuff" (crumble). I find that I always have to add or make more chocolate, more drizzle, more frosting, etc. than what the recipe calls for. This pie recipe had plenty of crumble and that made me extremely happy! As for the taste, it was absolutely scrumptious! Every bite was a little bit of wonderful and the crumb topping was amazing! So if you love apple pies or pies in general–this recipe is for you!

Baking Challenge #4: Lemon Poppy Seed Quick Bread

This weeks recipe comes from "The Buttercup Bake Shop Cookbook". I basically choose this recipe because I had all the ingredients on hand already and I wanted to make something to eat for breakfast. This recipe was easy peasy, however, it wasn't the greatest lemon poppy seed loaf that I've ever tasted. I was hoping that it would taste really lemony but there was only a hint of the lemon in the end. I even added extra lemon juice to boot!

Lemon Poppy Seed Quick Bread

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar plus 1 tablespoon for sprinkling (I used sparkling sugar to sprinkle on the top, the sugar crystal is larger and adds a nice crunch)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest (I would add more!!)
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 cup poppy seeds
(I also added fresh squeezed lemon juice, a couple tablespoons)

Oven 350 degrees
Grease & flour a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together the milk, eggs, zest and butter. Stir in the vanilla, lemon extracts and lemon juice if you decide to add some fresh squeezed juice. Add in the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the poppy seeds.
Pour the batter into the pan. Sprinkle the top with sugar. Bake for 1 hour or until cake tester inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes.




















Like I said, I wish the loaf had more lemon flavor but overall it was good and the best part was the crunchy top.

Baking Challenge #3: Chocolate 'N' Oat Bars

I am a little behind this week as I am posting last weeks baking challenge. I did actually bake it last week, however I left for a family camping trip and was unable to post it before I left. That being said, I needed something easy and quick to make that I could bring on the camping trip. This recipe comes from the book, "Favorite Brand Name Cookie Collection". It uses brand name goods from your local grocery store. Isn't that neat! Of course you can always substitute for the cheaper or generic brand.

Chocolate 'N' Oat Bars

Ingredients:
1 cup unsifted flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (14-ounce) can EAGLE brand sweetened condensed milk
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)
1 (6-ounce) package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Oven 350 degrees or 325 degrees for a glass dish

In large bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar and butter; mix well. Reserving 1/2 cup oat mixture, press remainder on bottom of 13x9 inch baking pan. Bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven and pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crust. Sprinkle with nuts and chocolate chips. Top with remaining oat mixture; press down firmly. Bake 25 - 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Cut into bars. Store covered at room temperature.























These bars are mighty yummy and incredibly easy for a quick sweet fix.

Baking Challenge #2: Macaroons

I have always loved macaroons but have never made them before. There is something to be said about a cookie that is almost entirely made of coconut. This weeks recipe comes from Sweet Serendipity. Serendipity 3 is this magical little restaurant filled with hanging Tiffany lamps on the upper east side on 60th Street in NYC. I can not leave New York without stopping at this restaurant for a bite to eat or devouring one of their many enticing desserts. The sundaes are amazing!

Aunt Buba's Macaroons
I'm going to start this recipe off with the beginning excerpt from the book because it's a cute little story. Every recipe should have a story right?

"Patch's Aunt Buba was a typical Southern lady who lived a very atypical life. Not only did she divorce her first husband, which was a major sin in the Arkansas delta in those days, but she and her second husband lived right next door to her first husband, and she looked after both of them like one big happy family. Each husband had his favorite version of her recipes, including her famous macaroons–one liked chocolate and the other liked plain. Here, Aunt Buba's first husband's favorite macaroons."

Ingredients:
2 large egg whites, room temperature
5 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup tightly packed shredded sweetened coconut
unsalted butter for the pan

makes about 12 cookies

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325.
Use clean bowls and beaters so that the egg whites will whip up properly. With the electric mixer, beat the egg whites on medium speed, adding the sugar in a slow stream. Continue beating until the whites hold stiff, glossy peaks. Beat in the almond extract. Gently fold in coconut with a large spoon or spatula.

Cover a baking sheet in parchment paper and spread the parchment with plenty of butter. Drop the batter by teaspoon-sized dollops, 1 inch apart. (I made mine a little bit bigger, see Ex. 1)















Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until very lightly browned. Do not over bake: the macaroons should be no darker than light tan.

Transfer to rack to cool. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

These macaroons aren't your typical grocery store types. They definitely weren't as dense, instead they were light and airy and tasted a little like angel food cake with coconut. This cookie was extremely easy to make and low in fat! Hooray for that! I dipped a couple of mine in melted chocolate as well.

Baking Challenge #1: Le Marquis Au Chocolat

So, like I said, to kick off the start of my baking challenge of doing a new recipe once a week for a year, I started with the recipe from Julia Child's "The French Chef Cookbook", published in 1968.

This cookbook is fun because the recipes are broken down by which show she cooked/baked on her television show. I chose Le Marquis Au Chocolate which is a chocolate sponge cake from her sixty-eighth show. I'm sure if I had stayed in culinary school for more than just a week I would have learned how to do this cake but since I didn't, this is my first attempt at making a french cake. Très Chic!

Le Marquis au Chocolate
Chocolate Butter sponge cake, butter cream frosting and chocolate glaze

"Here is a splendid cake for chocolate lovers with sylphid figures. Filled and frosted with rum-flavored buttercream, covered with a light cloak of melted chocolate, it can be served as a dessert or at high tea."

I know what you are thinking though...what the heck is a sylphid figure? I had to look it up. It means - 1. a slender and graceful woman or girl - 2. an imaginary being inhabiting the four elements once believed to make up the physical world. Sylphs dwelt in the air and were light, dainty, and airy beings. Doesn't this sound delightful?

Anyways on to the recipe.
There are many steps throughout this recipe, its not one of those quick as pie ones, so you'll need some time and patience.
You can either use an 8" cake pan or I used 2 6" cake pans for a smaller cake. This cake doesn't rise very high so if you use an 8" cake you will only be able to split it in half once. If you want more than one layer of frosting I would suggest doubling the recipe for 2 8" pans.

For the Cake:
1 cup semisweet chocolate bits
1 heaping tbs of instant coffee dissolved in 2 tbs of boiling water (refer to Ex. 1)
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup cake flour sifted
31/2 tbs softened unsalted butter
For the egg whites: 1/8 tsp cream of tarter, a pinch of salt, and 1 tbs sugar

















Ex. 1 - You can buy instant espresso at the grocery store in the coffee section. However not all grocery stores have it so you might have to hunt around. I usually buy it in bulk at Amazon.com

First step is to lightly butter the inside of your cake pans and then roll flour on the inside covering the bottom and sides of pan. Set oven at 350.

Second step is to melt the 1 cup of chocolate with the coffee in a small sauce pan over low heat, cool till tepid.

Third step is to separate the eggs. Place the yolks in one mixing bowl and the egg whites in another. If you have 1 mixer & 1 hand held, or 2 hand held this will be easier for you other wise you will have to keep rinsing your beaters. Or you can hand mix with a whip. Measure out cake flour and sift into another bowl. Either with a mixer or a large whip, gradually beat the sugar into the egg yolks and continue beating for several minutes till mixture is thick and lemon-colored. Then beat in the melted chocolate and the soft butter.

With clean beaters or whip, beat the egg whites until foamy, then beat in the salt and cream of tarter. Continue to beat till soft peaks form. Sprinkle in the sugar and beat till stiff peaks form.

Using a rubber spatula, stir 1/4 of the egg whites into the chocolate/egg yolk mixture. When partially blended, mix 1/4 of the cake flour into the mixture and fold in rapidly and delicately. Repeat this process with the remaining egg whites and flour till its all been blended.

Pour your batter into your prepared cake pans and bake for about 30 minutes. If you are using smaller cake pans, set your timer for 20-25 minutes. Cake is done when tooth pick or cake tester comes out clean from center of cake. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes or so before removing the cake from the pan.

















Ex. 2 - Cake kind of looks like a sponge when done, hence "Chocolate Sponge Cake".

For the Filling:
Crème au Beurre à l'Anglaise
Custard Butter Cream

4 egg yolks
2/3 sugar
1/2 cup hot milk
1/2 lb. softened unsalted butter
Flavoring choices: 3 tbs of rum, kirsh, orange liqueur, or strong coffee; or 1 tbs vanilla; or 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate melted (I used some Grand Marnier, you can basically use any flavoring you want)

Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl. Gradually beat in the sugar and beat till mixture is thick and lemon-colored. Heat the milk and then gradually add it to the egg mixture. Transfer the mixture into a sauce pan and stir with a wooden spoon over moderately low heat until mixture thickens. This part takes awhile. Make sure to stir often and be careful not to overheat or your eggs will curdle. Its done when the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon with a light cream. Set the pan in cold water and stir till tepid. Rinse out your mixing bowl from before and strain the custard into the bowl. With a mixer gradually beat in the softened butter by spoonfuls. Beat in the flavoring of choice. Beat till smooth.

For the Glaze:
Chocolate Glaze

1 cup semisweet chocolate
1/4 cup coffee (coffee helps bring out the chocolate flavor)

Melt chocolate with the coffee and let cool till tepid.

Assembling the Cake:
Cut your cakes in half and level. Place your cake on a plate or cake board, whatever you want to display or serve it on. Fill your cake layer by layer with the custard filling. Crumb coat your cake which is basically frosting the cake with a thin layer of the custard filling so that when you are ready to glaze your cake, you won't get crumbs falling off or mixing with your glaze. See Ex. 3.

















Then put your crumb coated cake into the fridge to set. When you are ready to glaze, pour the chocolate over the top, letting it fall down the sides. I used an offset spatula to smooth the glaze around the sides and top. You can decorate however you would like. I grated some chocolate on top and placed a leftover sugar flower that I had to seal the deal.

et Voila!























My husband and I were meeting friends out for dinner so we brought along the cake. This cake was really yummy, quite rich but the custard buttercream kept the cake wonderfully balanced. It tasted quite French! We stuffed ourselves with great food and a delicious cake!

La Fin.

Stay tuned for next weeks recipe!