Honey Cake

A wonderful cake for afternoon tea, or for a decadent breakfast slice.

1 cup sugar
1 cup honey
3/4 cup butter, melted 
3 organic eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tsp baking soda 
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups strong coffee or tea*


Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. 

In an electric mixer, mix sugar, honey, butter, eggs and vanilla on high speed until thick and smooth.  Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl until well combined. 

Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients and then add hot coffee or tea, mixing very slowly, on lowest speed. 

Pour into two greased, round 9-inch pans, or one 13 x 9 inch pan, and bake for 40 -45 minutes.  Let stand for 10 minutes.  

*Substitute orange juice if you prefer a more citrus-flavored honey cake. 

Fallen Chocolate Souffle Cake

Ingredients:

12 oz of good quality dark chocolate, chopped
1-1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
5 large eggs, separated and at room temperature
1/4 cup all-purpose flour


1. Put rack in middle position and pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Butter parchment paper.

2. Melt chocolate and butter in a metal bowl set over simmering water (or microwave in a glass bowl at 50 percent power for 4-5 minutes), stirring frequently. Then cool completely.

3. Whisk in vanilla, salt, 6 tablespoon sugar.  Then whisk in egg yolks one at a time. Whisk in flour.

4.  Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt with electric mixer on medium-high speed until soft peaks form and then add 6 tablespoons of sugar, one at a time, and continue beating until stiff, glossy peaks form.

5.  Whisk about 1/4 of whites into chocolate mixture to lighten it.  Then fold in remaining whites gently.  Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly.

6.  Bake 35-40 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out with moist crumbs.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Remove side of pan and cool completely.  Invert cake onto rack and discard paper.  Invert onto plate and serve.

Plain Pound Cake

A perfect summer dessert to slice into and serve with the fresh raspberries and blueberries now in season on the East End.

 Ingredients
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 extra-large Organic eggs at room temperature
3 cups of flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cups buttermilk at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour 2 loaf pans.

Cream the butter and sugar until light & fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Beat in eggs, one at a time.

In a large bowl sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together.  In another bowl, combine buttermilk and vanilla.  Add flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with flour.

Divide batter evenly into pans and smooth tops.  Bake for 45 minutes and let cool for 10 minutes.  Take out of pans and cool on rack completely.  Store in the fridge. 

Recipe Courtesy of Ina Garten

Classic Coconut Cake

Note: Room temperature ingredients make all the difference in this cake.

Ingredients

Cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
1-1/3 cups sweetened, flake coconut
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 duck egg yolks
5 duck egg whites, at room temperature

Frosting:
3 cups powdered sugar
1 package of cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides with nonstick spray; line bottom of pans with parchment paper rounds.

Mix flour and coconut in medium bowl. Whisk buttermilk and baking soda in small bowl. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg yolks and beat to blend. Add flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk mixture in 2 additions, beating just to blend after each addition. Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites and 1/4 teaspoon salt in another large bowl until peaks form. Add 1/3 of egg white mixture to batter; fold into batter just to blend. Fold in remaining egg white mixture in 2 additions. Divide batter between pans.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks 10 minutes. Run small sharp knife around sides of cake pans. Invert cakes onto racks. Carefully peel off parchment. Cool cakes completely.

Using electric mixer, beat sugar, cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in large bowl until blended. Place 1 cake layer, flat side up, on plate. Spread with 1 cup frosting. Place second layer, flat side up, atop frosting. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Sprinkle some of coconut over top of cake; pat more coconut on sides of cake.

DO AHEAD: can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.

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Angel Food Cake

It's going to be 3 or 4 hours from the time you start before you can eat the cake so plan accordingly.

100 g cake flour (approx. 3/4 cup) 150 g + 150 g sugar  (approx. 2/3 c + 2/3 c) 480 g egg whites 1 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 tsp salt 1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1-1/2 tsp lemon juice 1/2 tsp almond extract

Equipment: Tube pan with removable bottom, large rubber spatula, whisk or electric mixer, sifter.

Note from #TheScratchiest: 480 grams of egg whites equates to the whites from a dozen large eggs. When I have recipes that use just yolks, I put the leftover egg whites in a container in the freezer. Since I never remember how many whites I've collected, I prefer to weigh them when needed. Weighing also makes it easier to have a mixture of whites from different sized eggs. Feel free to mix whites from chicken and duck eggs.

Preheat oven to 325F.

Sift all of the cake flour with 150 grams of the sugar and set aside. If you like, sift it more than once to get out any lumps and to thoroughly mix.

Combine lemon juice, vanilla and almond extract.

Using the tool of your choice (hand mixer, stand mixer or whisk), beat the egg whites until they start to froth. Add the cream of tartar and salt. Continue beating until the whites are billowing mounds and not yet soft peaks.

Continue beating the egg whites while gradually adding the 150 grams of sugar. When all of the sugar has been added and you have soft peaks, beat in the lemon juice, vanilla and almond extracts.

Using your spatula, fold in the cake four/sugar mixture. You want to keep the mix as light as you can so add the flour and sugar in two or three batches.

Scrape the batter into the tube pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. The cake is done when the top springs back when pressed. Remove from oven and turn upside down to cool. Wait 2 to 3 hours before removing from pan.

Chicken Scratch Cake

This lemon-y cake is called “Chicken Scratch” because the frosting and topping resemble the chicken yard after a busy day of hen scratching. And also because it has a lot of eggs, making it dense and moist.

Prep time: 1 Hour
Cook time: 40 Min
Total time: 1 Hour 40 Min 
Ingredients:
For cake:

• 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
• 3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 ½ cups sugar
• 6 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 ½ teaspoons almond extract (can substitute vanilla)
• ¾ cup milk
• zest of one lemon
• ¼ cup lemon juice

For frosting:

• 16 ounces cream cheese
• ½ cup (one stick) butter
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon almond extract (can substitute vanilla)
• 3 cups sweetened flaked coconut
• ½ cup salted, roasted almonds

Directions:

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350F. Butter & flour two 9 inch round cake pans. (Use buttered parchment rounds if desired.)

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, salt & baking powder. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. (Approximately 4-5 minutes.) Add eggs & almond extract, and beat on medium speed an additional 5 minutes.

Reduce to low speed. Add flour, milk & lemon juice alternately, to butter/egg mixture. Begin and end with flour. Beat until combined. Add lemon and beat briefly to incorporate.
Divide batter evenly between two pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes on middle rack of oven, rotating pan halfway through to brown evenly. Cake is done when cake tester inserted into center comes out clean. Remove from oven, cool for 10 minutes, and turn out onto cooling rack. Let cool completely before frosting.

For Frosting:
Begin by toasting coconut: preheat oven to 375F. Spread coconut on baking sheet. Bake for 7-12 minutes, stirring every five minutes to keep from burning. Once flakes are golden brown, remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Pulse salted roasted almonds in food processor until coarsely ground.

In electric mixer with paddle attachment, beat together cream cheese, butter, confectioners’ sugar & almond extract on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Add one third of the toasted coconut.
Beat on low speed until just combined.

To assemble cake, spread ¼ of frosting mixture evenly on top of one layer of cake. Place second layer on top. Spread remaining frosting evenly on top and sides. Sprinkle remaining toasted coconut on top of cake (and sides if desired). Sprinkle salted roasted almonds over top of coconut.

*Recipe courtesy of Beekman1802.com