Purple Princess Cake with Almond flavored Ermine Frosting

It was the little girl's 5th birthday on Wednesday. I have typically made her a white cake with strawberries and blueberries because her birthday is so close to July 4th (red, white & blue). This year as I was browsing recipes for "berry cakes from scratch", I found a version of a Pink Lady cake that used pureed strawberries. Since she wanted strawberries and blueberries, I decided to call mine a Purple Princess Cake. As far as the frosting, my favorite is an Ermine frosting. SO light and not too sweet despite being pretty much butter and sugar.

This cake will make (3) 8" rounds although I baked mine in a large Longaberger lasagna pan.

Purple Princess Cake

4 1/4 c. flour
2 1/2 c. sugar
1 Tbsp plus 2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter (3/4 c.)
1/2 c. coconut oil
2 c. sliced strawberries (fresh or frozen unsweetened)
1 c. blueberries (fresh or frozen unsweetened)
1 overripe banana
4 eggs
2/3 c. plain yogurt

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour pan(s).

Puree the berries and banana in food processor.

Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large mixer bowl. Add in butter, coconut oil and berry puree. Mix well. Add in eggs one at a time and then plain yogurt. Mix until well combined but do not overbeat.

Pour into prepared pan(s) and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (about an hour for one large pan - probably about half that time for 8" pans).

Cool completely before frosting.

Almond flavored Ermine Frosting

3 Tbsp. flour
1 c. milk
1 c. unsalted butter, softened
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 c. sugar
1 c. confectioner's sugar (can leave this out)

Cook milk and flour in saucepan over medium heat until thickened. Add small pinch of salt, mix well and set aside to cool just a bit. Beat butter and sugar together. Add in slightly cooled flour mixture and beat until well incorporated. Add in extract and confectioners sugar to taste.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes w/Cream cheese frosting

These are some of the BEST carrot cake cupcakes I have ever eaten. They are relatively low fat/good fat and you can cut down on the sugar if you want to make them even healthier. Of course, the frosting is what makes them over the top yummy and unfortunately, less healthy. Even though I have eaten a couple of them sans frosting, perhaps a light confectioners glaze over the top would work for those who are trying to watch what they eat. The recipe I loosely followed was on the Joy of Baking site. Here is my version:

Cake:

2 1/4 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg (freshly grated is best)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. oil (I used canola)
1/2 c. granny smith applesauce (I use two 4oz. prepackaged cups - regular applesauce will be fine, but won't impart the same bold flavor as the granny smith)
1 scant c. sugar (betcha brown sugar would be really good in this recipe...may have to try it or even cutting down on the white sugar and adding some molasses.)
4 eggs (egg substitute would be just fine in this recipe)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. grated carrots
1 c. grated apples

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix together the flour, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together oil, applesauce & sugar. Add in eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Add in vanilla, apples & carrots.

Add in flour mixture beating slowly and mix until just blended. Drop into lined muffin tins (about 2/3 full) and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean (or cake pops back up lightly pressed).

Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.

Frosting:

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese (I use light)
3 c. confectioners sugar

Beat together the butter and cream cheese until well blended and fluffy. Add in the sugar one cup at a time until it is all well blended and frosting is smooth. Frost in swirls with a large rose tip or use a small knife to spread the frosting on.

Cupcakes will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge. (or if your house is a busy as mine, they will be gone before 24 hours is over.)

April 28, 2010

Welcome to my first food blog entry.
On tonight's menu:

President Ford's Round Beef Steaks in the slow cooker
Whole wheat oatmeal bread
Mixed frozen veggies (OK - so we ended up with some broccoli)
Triple Lemon Cake

I found the recipe for the round steak at www.allrecipes.com and then tinkered with it to my liking. It wasn't a slow cooker recipe, but I turned it into one because I needed it to be. Tonight is a busy taxi night for me and I won't have time to cook the recipe traditionally on the stove top.

Whole wheat oatmeal bread is a recipe of my own that I've morphed from two different oatmeal bread recipes. It is made with mixture of whole wheat flour, molasses, maple syrup, honey, oatmeal, butter, salt, cinnamon, yeast & water. It is truly one of our all time favorite breads. When we have company, we have served it with honey or maple butter.

The frozen veggies are standard fare around here. It has been proven that frozen veggies have retained more vitamins & minerals then their fresh counterparts. We do eat fresh as well especially when our garden is in full swing, but I'm very happy with frozen.

The cake is also from www.allrecipes.com. It was actually some one's spin off of a popular lemon cake. It has four layers of light lemon cake with a filling of homemade lemon curd and topped with a homemade lemon butter icing. I bought a big bag of lemons at BJ's. I can't let them go bad, right?

The steaks came out fork tender. The onions, peppers & tomatoes broke down considerably, but they all tasted really good. Bread was as yummy as ever and the broccoli was perfect.
I'm bringing the cake over to my in-laws and having tea with my MIL, SIL, & GMIL. I'll let you know how that is later.