We had the first heavy frost of the season last night and it was so beautiful that I was outside in my pyjamas taking photos before the beauty disappeared. It was 4 degrees Celsius at 7:30 am, but it was so worth it. I hope you enjoy my frosted nature.
This Apple Bundt cake recipe makes a cake that can go from breakfast to dinner and everywhere in between. There is a crumble topping made with oatmeal and brown sugar – that is breakfast right there. The crumble topping when baked gets nice and sticky so putting it on both the bottom and top of the cake will make you very happy. Then the actual cake is full of bites of apple so that makes it snack worthy. With a dusting of icing sugar or a drizzle of glaze it will look right at home on the dessert scene. For whatever time of day you decide to indulge in this apple cake I am sure you will enjoy every bite.
Well it is chocolate cake # 2 for the month of September and again a birthday cake. But this one is special, this one was for my husband’s birthday! He is a definite chocolate cake sort of guy. When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, he said the chocolate torte. We just had it 2 weeks ago for the rest of the September birthday folks! So after him being adamant, I caved and I made the same cake, but this time I changed it up a little bit.
This time no whip cream and no frosting with Belgian chocolate. This time I made it an old-fashioned chocolate birthday cake complete with home-made strawberry jam in the middle. The frosting is a cocoa based frosting, so chocolaty but no melting of actual chocolate required. Cocoa is a bit messy when it comes to putting it in frosting, but if you start off with whipping the butter and the cocoa together you can avoid the cocoa cloud. The cocoa cloud is what happens when you dry to add the cocoa after you have whipped in some of the icing sugar first – it will fly everywhere!
All this birthday goodness served up at my friend Lisa’s home on her beautiful old china that she received as a birthday gift from her husband earlier this month. What a thoughtful guy to search out this old pattern that her mother had. Chocolate cake tastes even better served on fine china!
It is officially Fall! So that means it’s all about the apples! The smell of apples and cinnamon baking is the ultimate aroma of fall. It will bring everyone running to the kitchen for a slice of that heavenly smell. There are so many baked goods that you can incorporate apples into, but today it is Apple Coffee cake. Coffee cake with those slices of apples peaking through that lovely maple glaze, like a cake apple sandwich!
It is perfect for breakfast or dressed up with a maple glaze for a homey dessert. You can use what ever type of apple you have on hand, but you want one that will keep it’s form when baked. I had 2 Ginger Gold apples left from my farmer’s market haul, so that is what I used. They are definitely a beautiful apple to bake with. Sliced nice and thin with all of that cinnamon mixed in, just delicious!
This coffee cake is nice and moist with the addition of yogurt in the batter. I used plain yogurt, but you could also use vanilla, which would enhance the vanilla flavour of the cake. There is no mixer required so you could mix this together on a weekend morning and surprise your family with a sweet apple breakfast!
So embrace the season and enjoy your apples!
The beginning of September is a very busy birthday season in our circle of friends. So 3 birthdays were just the reason to make this fabulous chocolate torte. It is the ultimate birthday cake for the chocolate lovers in your life.
The cocoa in the cake layers along with the milk chocolate in the frosting compliment each other. The fluffy raspberry filling is the perfect contrast to all of that chocolate. The combination is what makes it such a stellar cake.
The raspberry filling alone is star worthy! It is fantastic on just about anything, especially a spoon! When you spread it on the layers be sure not to spread it right to the edges otherwise it will bleed into the frosting. You will have a little left over so save it for decorating the slices when serving.
The simple frosting of melted chocolate and sour cream seems too good to be true, but trust me it really is that simple. If the frosting stiffens too much to spread, just microwave it for 10 seconds and stir. Be sure and use the best quality milk chocolate you can find..Belgian is my preference. It is important that the cake be refrigerated at least 1 hour in order for the flavours to meld together. If you can, it is best that the cake be made a day ahead.
Decorated with simple white chocolate shavings will bring this to the spectacular level.So for the next birthday of someone special in your life you really do need to make this amazing cake…you won’t be disappointed.
My raspberry bushes are keeping me in business this summer with a full bowl of ripe gorgeous berries every day! I have only 3 bushes but it must be their location in the back yard that makes them so happy. They are against the wooden fence and face east so they have sun until about 4 o’clock every day. I planted them 3 years ago and for the past 2 years they have done extraordinarily well- bearing fruit right through to the end of September. I looked at every garden centre this spring to find more bushes of the same type but no luck. I will just have to hope that they spread their roots and multiply.
So here is another recipe to use some of those beautiful red delicious raspberries that are begging to be eaten this time of year. This is a a light cake with a crumbly streusel topping and is amazing served warm with vanilla ice cream or perfect for breakfast with a cup of coffee. Either time of day you will enjoy the burst of raspberry and the crunch of the brown sugar topping.
Banana and peanut butter – 2 flavours that just go together. But have you ever had them together in cake form? This is two breakfast items all fancied up and pretending to be dessert, but if you want you can have it for breakfast!
The other great thing about this recipe is that it is all mixed in one bowl. Dry ingredients, followed by wet ingredients, followed by eggs and there you have it – your cake is ready to bake! The banana gives it great moistness and that amazing flavour. I prefer to bake this in a 9×13 pan, but feel free to do in 2 round pans and make it a really pretty cake.
The frosting has just a hint of peanut butter, not too overpowering. Just enough to enhance the fluffy frosting and give that great combination of banana and peanut butter. It makes quite a bit of frosting so that you can spread it on nice and thick so that every bite has it’s fair share.
My son Matthew’s idea of a birthday cake is not your traditional take on birthday cake – he prefers Trifle! Considering his birthday is in June it is the perfect time of year for a trifle. Berries are just coming into season – not so much local, but at least berries that taste almost like a berry instead of cardboard. So this year was no different and trifle was requested again!
There is nothing that says Spring more than Rhubarb Coffee Cake! When those little shoots pop through the earth, then the leaves appear, then a week or two later it’s harvest time. My rhubarb plant is in a spot where it gets the sun all day long and it just loves it. It grows so fast that I can usually pick enough for a cake at least twice a week. As long as you cut the flowering stems off you can continue to harvest it into summer or until you get tired of rhubarb, if that is even a possibility.
Once summer comes and the strawberries are ripe then it is time for strawberry rhubarb pie and strawberry rhubarb crisp and the list goes on. But back to the rhubarb coffee cake as I am getting way ahead of myself- it is at least 5 weeks until strawberries are even a possibility here in Northern Ontario!
This is a coffee cake recipe I came up with when Elizabeth was in Grade 5. Her elementary school was having a fundraiser and they made a recipe book to which all the parents and teachers contributed a recipe. That book is still one of my favourite recipe books because you know that each recipe is someone’s family favourite. It is also a nice memento of the those early school years.
Over the years I have changed the recipe up a little, trying to make it a little lighter and I think I have succeeded. The cake is fluffy, full of blueberry and lemon and topped with brown sugar – how much more love can you have in one pan!
