Layer Cakes
Layer Cakes
TRIPLE-LAYER CARROT CAKE
This is the one that makes people weak in the knees. I think I get more requests for this cake than anything else I make. Both cake & frosting are scented with cinnamon. This frosting is less sweet than most which makes it dangerously easy to eat.
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 1/2 cups Vegetable oil
4 lg Eggs
2 cups All purpose Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3 cups finely grated carrots (about 1 pound)
Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly grease three 9-inch cake pans & line the bottoms with parchment .
Mix sugar and vegetable oil in a large bowl until combined. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg into sugar and oil mixture. Stir in carrots. Pour batter into prepared pans, dividing equally. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean and cakes begin to pull away from sides of pans, about 45 minutes. Cool in pans on racks 15 minutes. Turn out cakes onto racks and cool completely.
Fill & Frost Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. Decorate as desired.
Cream Cheese Frosting
16 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar (to taste)
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tbsp Vanilla
Beat Cream Cheese and Butter together until smooth. Gradually add 3 cups Powdered Sugar & Cinnamon. Add Vanilla. Start tasting. Add the balance of the Powdered Sugar only as needed. The addition of the Cinnamon gives the Frosting a flavor boost that allows you to use less sugar – the end result will be less sweet and that means you can eat more of it!
Devil’s Food Cake
Everybody needs a good Chocolate Cake Recipe. Do yourself a favor – give this one a try. If you measure out all your ingredients ahead of time, this recipe is super fast.
1 1/2 cups Hot Brewed Coffee
3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate
3 cups Sugar
2 1/2 cups All-purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
2 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Baking Powder
1 1/4 tsp Salt
3 large Eggs
3/4 cup Vegetable Oil
1 1/2 cups Buttermilk, well-shaken
3/4 tsp Vanilla
Preheat oven to 300°F. Lightly grease 2 10″ cake pans & line the bottoms with parchment.
Finely chop chocolate & put into a small bowl with the hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a smaller bowl, mix oil, buttermilk and vanilla together.
In another large bowl beat eggs with an electric mixer until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 to 5 minutes). Slowly add the buttermilk mixture followed by the melted chocolate mixture, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until well combined.
Divide batter between the pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Cool completely in pans on racks. Run a spatula around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove parchment and cool layers completely. Cake layers may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.
Spread frosting between cake layers and over top and sides. Cake keeps, covered and chilled, 3 days. Bring cake to room temperature before serving.
Ganache Frosting
1 pound quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup unsalted butter
In a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan bring cream, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted. Cut butter into pieces and add to frosting, whisking until smooth.
Transfer frosting to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until spreadable (depending on chocolate used, it may be necessary to chill frosting to spreadable consistency).
Fresh Banana Cake
This Banana Cake is easy…and quite good. I like to fill it with a Chantilly Cream & sliced Bananas drizzled with caramel and then frost it with a Salted Caramel Buttercream. Better than Bananas Foster.
1/2 cup Buttermilk
1 1/4 # Bananas, mashed (2-3)
1 cup Butter
1 1/2 cups Sugar
3 Eggs
2 1/2 cups Sifted Cake Flour
1 tsp. Baking Powder
3/4 tsp. Salt
3/4 tsp. Baking Soda
Preheat oven to 350. Grease 2x 9″ pans or 1 10″x3″ pan and line with parchment. Sift Cake Flour – then measure. Sift all Dry Ingredients together. Set Aside.
Mash Bananas & mix together with Buttermilk. Set aside. Beat Butter & Sugar together until light & fluffy. Add Eggs one at a time and continue to beat until very pale in color. Add Buttermilk mixture and mix well. Add Dry Ingredients to batter and mix on low then beat for 1 minute on medium. Bake for 25-35 minutes, until toothpick is clean.
Lemon Buttermilk Cake
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons grated lemon peel
3 extra-large eggs
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter and flour three 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Beat sugar, butter and lemon peel in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in lemon juice. Sift flour, baking soda and salt into medium bowl. Stir dry ingredients into butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.
Divide batter among prepared pans. Bake until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer pans to racks and cool 15 minutes. Turn out cakes onto racks and cool completely. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Wrap tightly in plastic and store at room temperature.)
Ina Garten’s Lemon Curd
3 lemons
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
4 extra-large eggs
1/2 cup lemon juice (3 to 4 lemons)
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
Using a carrot peeler, remove the zest of 3 lemons, being careful to avoid the white pith. Put the zest in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the sugar and pulse until the zest is very finely minced into the sugar.
Cream the butter and beat in the sugar and lemon mixture. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and then add the lemon juice and salt. Mix until combined. Pour the mixture into a 2 quart saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened (about 10 minutes), stirring constantly. The lemon curd will thicken at about 170 degrees F, or just below simmer. Remove from the heat and cool or refrigerate with a layer of plastic wrap directly on the surface.