Halloween Pumpkin Spice Cake with Coconut Pecan Frosting

October 7, 2015 By Moira Sanders Leave a Comment

It was happy days when I learned that Sarah Leah Chase had a new cookbook coming out, the New England Open-House Cookbook. She is the author of Cold-Weather Cooking, one of my absolute favourite older cookbooks. This recipe is a riff on one in her new book.

Every year I go on a hunt for more pumpkin recipes – pumpkin has always been one of my favourite things. This is a pumpkin/chocolate/coconut/pecan extravaganza, all in one cake. The crushed pineapple and oats are unusual additions but you won’t even notice they’re there. The icing is an irresistible caramel concoction and a little scoop of vanilla ice cream will have people asking for seconds. It’s the sort of cake that I remember my mom making when we would be expecting lots of company – a 9×13-inch pan makes enough to serve a small crowd.

This year Halloween falls on a Saturday so I’m guessing there will be even more parties than usual. Skip the Halloween candy and satisfy your sweet tooth with this over-the-top cake (the kids will be happy not to have to share their candy stash this year).

Halloween Pumpkin Spice Cake with Coconut Pecan Frosting
Serves 12 or more.

For the Cake:
2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour
2/3 cup (160 mL) cocoa powder
1 cup (250 mL) quick-cooking oats
2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda
¼ tsp (1 mL) fine sea salt
1 Tbsp (15 mL) ground cinnamon
½ tsp (2 mL) ground cloves
1 cup (250 mL) butter, at room temperature
2 cups (500 mL) granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 – 15 ounce (450 mL) can pure pumpkin puree or 2 cups fresh pumpkin puree
1 – 8 ounce (250 mL) crushed pineapple with the juice
½ cup (125 mL) dark chocolate chips
1 tsp (5 mL) pure vanilla extract

For the Coconut Pecan Frosting:
½ cup butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
½ cup cream
1 ½ cups sweetened flaked coconut
1 ½ cups pecan halves

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly butter and flour a 13×9-inch baking pan.

Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves together in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

Beat 1 cup butter and granulated sugar together in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the pumpkin, pineapple, chocolate chips and vanilla until thoroughly combined (the mixture will look curdled at this point but it’s fine). Add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed just until it is fully incorporated. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, melt the ½ cup butter in a medium-sized saucepan over low heat. Add the brown sugar and cream; stir until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the coconut and pecans and remove from the heat.

Once the cake is out of the oven, position an oven rack 4-5 inches under the heat source and preheat the broiler to high. Spread the icing evenly over the warm cake. Place the cake under the broiler and broil until the icing is golden and bubbling, 3 or 4 minutes. Move the cake around if the edges aren’t getting enough heat. Let the cake cool to room temperature before cutting. The cake will keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container.

Chocolate Silk Icing

May 24, 2014 By Moira Sanders Leave a Comment

*** This recipe was originally posted on the old Moira Sanders blog in April, 2012.

For my friend Allana’s (see note below) 40th birthday party on Saturday, I made cupcakes. As per usual, I obsessed over the flavours, the icings, the timing, and the transport of the little cakes, amongst other slightly less important details like – what to wear… By Friday I had my list narrowed down to two.

1. Chocolate cupcakes (made from the Double Double Chocolate Cake fromThe Harrow Fair Cookbook) with their tops cut off and a small scoop taken out, filled with white chocolate/peanut butter mousse, tops replaced and a swirl of mousse to finish it off. YUM.

2. Red velvet cupcakes with a fluffy white icing. These aren’t my favourite, but I wouldn’t turn them down if I was desperate for a sugar fix.

My kitchen bakery was in full swing by Saturday afternoon. My family and some friends were out on a garbage hike around town (which I had bowed out of). I knew when the gang got back to the house there would be a lot of disappointed faces when they were told that the finished cupcakes were off limits. So I whipped up a batch of yellow cupcakes and made this chocolate silk icing to go with them. They turned out to be my favourite ones.

This is the most beautiful chocolate icing I have ever made – and that is saying something! Do not refrigerate this icing unless you like your cupcakes with hard caps on. I would also suggest not making this when you are really hungry….

Chocolate Silk Icing
(adapted from The Sweeter Side of Amy’s Bread by Amy Scherber & Toy Kim Dupree)

3 cups bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate chocolate (chips are fine)
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 pound butter, at room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Set the chocolate aside to cool. Sift the sugar and cocoa powder together in a separate bowl.
Cream the butter at medium speed for about 2 minutes in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the sugar mixture and continue to mix of low-medium speed until the sugar and cocoa are well incorporated. Add the melted chocolate and vanilla and mix again on medium speed until it is smooth and a good spreading consistency. The icing can be used immediately or stored in an airtight container at room temperature, but it should be used within 3 days.

** For more information about Allana Harkin, read her blog on babble.com called “Eating Over The Sink”. It is laugh out loud funny!

Bartlett Pear Cake

May 22, 2014 By Moira Sanders Leave a Comment

*** This recipe was originally posted on The Good Egg blog in October, 2008.

On Tuesday afternoon, we had snow at our house. It wasn’t just a few flurries. It snowed all afternoon and the flakes were big and wet, with an impressive amount sticking to the ground. There was still a small snowman in my neighbour’s front yard yesterday (a piece of which Ellen decided to eat when she thought no one was looking…).

The snow was coming down, I turned on the Christmas music, and with a little help from the kids, I made two of these pear cakes. The house smelled amazing, as you can imagine. I made the cakes in 8-inch and 10-inch sized spring form pans because I couldn’t find a 9-inch one. The 10-inch cake took about 40 minutes to bake and the 8-inch cake took at least 10 minutes more than the large cake. The cakes were very moist. I meant to give some of the cake away, but they were just so – eatable!

Alan arrived home that night to a house full of wonderful smells and sounds. At least that was what I thought. He had a strange, pained expression when he realized that we were listening to Perry Como’s Christmas CD – in October.

Bartlett Pear Cake

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
3/4 t. nutmeg
3/4 t. cinnamon
6 T. butter, softened
3/4 c. sugar
1 t. pure vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/2 c. + 2 T. sour cream (I used whole milk yogurt)
1 c. grated Bartlett pear

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and line a 9-inch spring form pan with parchment paper. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
2. In bowl of mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar together until light. Add eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add flour, alternating with the sour cream in three additions. Stir in grated pears.
Scrape batter into the prepared pan, sprinkle with coarse sugar, and bake for about 40 minutes or so, until done. Serve warm or at room temperature with your favourite ice cream.

Rose Petal Pound Cake

May 22, 2014 By Moira Sanders Leave a Comment

*** This recipe was originally posted on The Good Egg blog in June 2009.

Last summer, I was at my sister’s house and she offered me a slice of rose petal angel food cake. A gift from a friend, the cake was everything an angel food cake should be, just more interesting. The cake had a very subtle rose smell and there were bits of rose petals throughout. I was enamoured of this cake, and it was the reason I bought 5 rose bushes at the end of the summer.

This summer, only one of those rose bushes has made it through the winter, but what a glorious specimen it is. Known as “Salet”, this rose originally came from France and is very fragrant, but in a nice way. The rose bush is already on its second round of blossoms, but let me assure you that the first round didn’t go to waste.

My neighbour Nancy is a first-rate gardener and has encouraged my green thumb, inviting me to horticultural society meetings and giving me bits of advice. Last week, when my special little rose bush was just starting to flower, Nancy and I stood out on the sidewalk admiring the beautiful pink buds and petals. She was looking at the rose bush with a gardener’s eye, while I was looking at the same plant with something totally different in mind. “Do you think the petals will be OK to….” The look of shock on her face made me double over with laughter. She guessed what was on my mind.

I made two rose petal cakes this week. The first was an angel food cake that really didn’t turn out all that well. Angel food cakes seem to be tricky and, unless you are making them all the time and you have mastered the knack, there is plenty of room for errors. The second cake was my new favourite. I have made one plain pound cake and one rose petal pound cake. To achieve excellent results with a pound cake, there are a number of rules you should be adhering to. I hope I have included most of them in the directions for the recipe. I also added a little rose water to give the cake a little more fragrance – not too much, please.

I used a 2-piece tube pan and during the first 20 minutes of baking time, the batter leaked out onto the tray beneath (I at least learned something from the first time I made the cake and placed a pan underneath). I want to get a 1-piece tube pan, light in colour, that will suit this cake perfectly. Something to keep in mind is the greasing and flouring of the pan. Do not rush and miss any spots. You will see them when the cake comes out of the pan (or doesn’t come out of the pan in parts).

Enjoying your roses, either in the garden or in a cake, is one of summer’s special pleasures. I hope to enjoy my roses, in and out of the kitchen, for many weeks to come!

Rose Petal Pound Cake

12 oz. unsalted butter, at room temperature + more for greasing the pan
3 cups all purpose flour + more for dusting the pan
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup milk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon rose water
3 cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup or more of untreated rose petals, gently washed and patted dry, roughly chopped

1. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Generously grease a light-coloured 10″ tube pan with butter. Add couple tablespoons of flour to the pan and shake the flour until it coats the pan evenly. Tap out any excess flour and set aside. The inside of the pan should be smoothly and evenly coated with butter and flour. Any gaps or clumps that you have will affect the end result of your cake.

2. Sift the 3 cups of flour, with the baking soda and salt, 3 times. Combine the milk, vanilla, and rose water.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter at medium-low speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add the sugar, about a 1/4 cup at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, and beat until satiny smooth, about 3 minutes.

4. Add one egg at a time to the butter mixture, beating for 15 seconds after each one. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour alternately with the milk, in three batches, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat just until the batter is smooth and silky. Gently fold the chopped rose petals into the batter.

5. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and firmly tap on a counter to allow the batter to settle evenly. Bake until light golden and a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 30 minutes. Invert cake onto a rack and let cool completely before slicing.

Rhubarb Cheese Torte

May 21, 2014 By Moira Sanders Leave a Comment

*** This was originally posted on The Good Egg blog in May, 2009.

This is not your average cheesecake. In a nutshell, a walnutty crust, topped with rhubarb that has been stewed in Grand Marnier, topped with a ricotta-cream cheese mixture, topped by more crumbled crust.

I have been wanting to make this dessert for years, but for some reason or another have never gotten around to it. Our super-brunch on Sunday was a perfect reason to make it, and it was adored by everyone – including the kids. So much so, that I forgot to take a picture of it, before it was, literally, almost gone.

This recipe is from Sarah Leah Chase’s Cold Weather Cooking cookbook. This is a book that I bought when I was just out of high school and I have made so many great recipes from it. She takes you through the fall, Thanksgiving, Christmas, the long winter, and into spring. There are several rhubarb recipes in the spring section, and I have tried most of them. If you come across this book in a second hand store or in a bargain bin somewhere, snap it up. You can never have too many great cookbooks.

Rhubarb Cheese Torte

4 c. fresh rhubarb, diced
1 2/3 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. Grand Marnier, Triple Sec or other orange liqueur
1 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. walnut pieces
2 t. ground cinnamon
1 T. orange zest
1/2 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into small pieces
15 oz. ricotta cheese
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
2 t. vanilla extract
3 eggs

1. Place the rhubarb, 2/3 c. of the sugar, and the liqueur in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, then reduce the heat and simmer until the rhubarb is cooked and thick, about 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan. Cut a circle of parchment paper and fit it into the bottom of the pan. Butter the parchment paper.
3. For the crust, process the flour, 1/2 cup of the remaining sugar, the walnuts, cinnamon, and orange zest together in a food processor until the nuts are finely chopped. Add the butter and process just until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press half the crumb mixture over the bottom of the prepared pan. Reserve the remaining crumbs for the top.
4. In an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the ricotta, cream cheese, and the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar until very smooth. Beat in the vanilla and then the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Pour the rhubarb over the crumb layer in the pan. Top with the cheese layer, using a spatula to smooth and distribute it evenly.
5. Bake the cheesecake 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the top with the remaining crumb mixture and bake until the top is golden brown, about 20 minutes more.
6. Let the cheesecake cool completely on a rack, then refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving. Remove the side of the pan and cut into generous wedges.
Makes 8-10 servings.

Mousseline Buttercream

May 20, 2014 By Moira Sanders Leave a Comment

*** This post was originally written on The Good Egg blog in August, 2008.

I remember the exact time I made my first true buttercream. It was the night before my sister’s wedding shower and I wanted to make the cake to end all cakes. I decided to do half the recipe of Anna Olson’s wedding cake from the “Inn On the Twenty” cookbook. As I was making the buttercream, I was completely amazed at the process and the taste. It was a real revelation that I could create this silky, other-worldly icing, and you can bet that I tasted my fair share of it along the way! Giddy would be a great way to describe me that night as I danced around the kitchen, drunk on my success.

Since that cake, I have made many buttercreams, sometimes trying different recipes (the Silk Meringue Buttercream was fabulous), different flavours (pear, chocolate, banana), and gracing different cakes (cupcakes, big cakes, white, chocolate, etc.). I mostly use “The Cake Bible” by Rose Levy Beranbaum. Her recipes are very detailed and I have always had excellent results.

When my friend Annie asked me to consult on cupcakes for her wedding, I quickly volunteered to make the cupcakes myself. An outside wedding in the middle of the summer would be tricky, so I did some research, looking for the sturdiest buttercream that would hold up on a warm day. The mousseline buttercream fit the bill. Annie’s Mom, Janette, had some doubts about just having plain old cupcakes at her only daughter’s wedding, until I took some over for a tasting. Janette & I had a wonderful afternoon, tasting cupcakes, and experimenting with the sugared violets that she made for the wedding. They looked gorgeous and tasted even better!

My procrastination really got the best of me that weekend. Mousseline buttercream can be made ahead of time and stored 10 days in the fridge or up to 8 months frozen. Do you think I made one batch of that stuff ahead of time? Not one! Another quirk of buttercream is this: “If the butter is too soft or the room too hot, what could have been a satin-smooth cream breaks down into a grainy puddle.” The week before Annie’s wedding was very hot and humid and my parents didn’t have air conditioning in their house. This created a huge problem, especially since I was using the oven to bake cupcakes non-stop. I ended up dragging my KitchenAid around to three neighbour’s kitchens, air conditioning mandatory. In the end, the cupcakes looked lovely, and thanks to my sister and brother-in-law, they were iced and ready on time. I will never under-estimate how long it takes to ice that many cupcakes again! Oh, who am I kidding….

Mousseline Buttercream

1 lb. unsalted butter, softened but not too soft
3/4 c. + 1/4 c. white sugar
1/4 c. water
5 or 6 egg whites (use a glass measuring cup to measure 5 oz.)
1/2 +1/8 t. cream of tartar
2-3 oz. liqueur (Grand Marnier, Banana Liqueur, Poire Williams, etc.), optional

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter until smooth and creamy and set aside in a cool place. Have ready a heatproof glass measuring cup near the stove.

In a small heavy saucepan, heat 3/4 c. sugar and the 1/4 c. water, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is bubbling. Stop stirring and reduce the heat to low. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the saucepan and keep an eye on the temperature.

In the bowl of your KitchenAid, beat the egg whites until foamy, add the cream of tartar, and beat until soft peaks form when the beater is raised. Gradually beat in the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar until stiff peaks form when the beater is raised slowly. Increase the heat and boil the syrup until the thermometer registers between 248 and 250 degrees (the firm-ball stage). Immediately transfer the syrup to the glass measuring cup to stop the cooking.

Working quickly, pour a small amount of syrup over the egg whites with the mixer off. Immediately beat at high speed for 5 seconds. Continue doing this with the remaining syrup. For the last addition, use a rubber scraper to remove the syrup clinging to the glass measuring cup. Lower speed to medium and continue beating up to 2 minutes or until cool. If not completely cool, continue beating on lowest speed.

Beat in the butter at medium speed 1 tablespoon at a time. At first the mixture will seem thinner but will thicken beautifully by the time all the butter is added. If at any time the mixture looks slightly curdled, increase the speed slightly and beat until smooth before continuing to add more butter.

Lower the speed slightly and drizzle in the liqueur. Add food colouring now, if desired. Place in an airtight bowl. Re-beat lightly from time to time to maintain it’s silky texture. Buttercream becomes spongy if left standing too long. Don’t ever beat a buttercream that has been chilled and hasn’t come back up to room temperature.

Makes 4 1/2 c. of buttercream, enough to fill and frost a 9-inch layer cake or lots of cupcakes!

Marmalade Polenta Cake

April 13, 2014 By Moira Sanders 2 Comments

When I was living in France, I used to make a lemon polenta cake from one of the River Cafe Cookbooks. My memory of that cake seems close to this one, based on a recipe out of my favourite magazine, British Country Living. I used a homemade Clementine marmalade in this cake but any citrusy marmalade will do.

Marmalade Polenta Cake

Serves 8.

1 cup butter
1 ¼ cup packed brown sugar
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 eggs
1 cup flour
½ cup fine cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
½ cup marmalade

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper and butter the bottom and sides of the pan. Set aside.

Cream the butter and brown sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed for 3 minutes. Add the zest from the lemon and the olive oil. Mix until incorporated.Add the eggs, one at a time, to the butter mixture and blend just until each one is incorporated.

Whisk together the flour, cornmeal and baking powder in a small bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix on low speed until the flour is incorporated. Add the marmalade and the juice of the zested lemon and fold in by hand with a rubber spatula.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan evenly. Bake for about 40 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Cover leftovers and store on the counter. Keeps for up to 3 days.