peanut butter & cherry chocolate cake

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We celebrated my dad's birthday over Memorial Day weekend. We played poker with spare change, suffered through a power outage, and ate cake. When I asked him on Friday what kind of cake he wanted, he replied with "chocolate, peanut butter, and cherry." Might sound like an odd trio of flavors, but if you think about it, it's like a peanut butter sandwich with cherry jam, sandwiched between chocolate bread.

You know what's annoying about yellow counters? The color matches the color of most baked goods and provides no color contrast. This makes for a rather dull picture.

To start, I messed up the cake. The recipe was fine, though I accidentally measured out too much liquid. The other suspected cause was the lower baking temperature, 325 instead of the traditional 350. It seemed odd. I decided to follow the recipe and do what it said, but I wonder if the lower temperature contributed to the sunken centers. However, most of the fault is mine, and my inability to read the recipe and accurately measure ingredients.

Dilemma. Should I remake the cakes or figure out a way to use them, sunken centers and all? Since the middle was going to be filled with cherries, I figured that the craters could face each other. The flat sides would face outwards, providing a smooth icing surface. This worked out well, and prevented the waste of additional ingredients.

The cherries used for the filling were from a can. I decided on Queen Anne cherries in a sweetened syrup, drained, and coarsely chopped. Twelve cherries were reserved to decorate the top. The color matched the frosting, though that wasn't intentional.

For the frosting, I developed my own recipe using heavy whipping heavy cream, confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, and a little salt. The result is a nice and airy frosting with a strong peanut butter taste, and a lighter texture in comparison to other recipes. Even though this frosting is less dense, it holds up well and is easy to work with. I'm sharing the recipe with you guys.

Overall, I'm happy with how this cake turned out. Most importantly, my dad liked it! Happy Birthday!

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Light and Airy Peanut Butter Frosting
Recipe by Christina Provo

Makes enough frosting for one 2-layer 9-inch cake

ingredients -

1 cup heavy whipping cream, chilled
4 cups confectioners' sugar
16 ounces smooth peanut butter
3/4 teaspoons coarse salt

directions -

1. In a large bowl, beat whipping cream on high speed until stiff peaks form. Gradually add confectioners' sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing until smooth.


2. Add peanut butter and continue to mix, on medium speed, until thoroughly combined. Stir in salt with a spatula.

gluten free chocolate-raspberry cake

This is my second recipe for the Lentil Contest. I wanted to test myself by creating all kinds of recipe with lentils, not just traditional types. One idea I had was to add a lentil puree to baked goods. Yes, I realize this may sound off-putting, but the lentils blend right in and are rendered tasteless, especially against the strong flavor of the chocolate. You simply end up with a healthier cake than other recipes.

Start by making a lentil puree. I chose decorticated red lentils, which are lentils with their outer skins removed. They are quicker to cook and have a more neutral flavor. I chose the red lentils because they cook into a yellow hue, making it easier to blend into baked goods without changing the color much. However, this is a chocolate cake, so feel free to use any lentil variety available (as long as it's not pardina).

You're looking for the lentils to be translucent. If the centers still looked colored, they aren't cooked through.

Finally, the lentils are pureed until smooth. The finished consistency will be that of a pumpkin puree.

I made this cake in the manner of a mousse cake. There is no leavening; rather, the cake gets its lift from the air beaten into the egg yolks, and the beaten egg whites that are folded in at the end. I used sweet rice flour for the binding, which is made from sticky rice. It has a high starch content that's good for thickening sauces and desserts. Sweet rice flour can be found in the Asian section of your grocery store. It can also be subbed out with all-purpose flour if you don't have a gluten allergy.

This is the batter after the lentil puree has been added. It looks exactly like a lentil-less cake, and tastes just like it, too. Only with this version you get more fiber, protein, and iron. Aren't lentils great?

Once the egg whites are folded in and the batter poured into the prepared pan, smashed raspberries are swirled on top. After the cake is baked, the center will still be quite soft. This type of cake isn't baked thoroughly so that the center stays fudgy. This requires a rest time of at least 2 hours. It's a good cake to make ahead of time. You could probably even refrigerate the cake once cooled to room temperature, too.

I admit that I had a little trouble with this cake. The first time I made it, it was delicious taste-wise, but I didn't adjust cooking temperature to account for the density the lentils would add, and it didn't quite set enough. So, to get it right, I made it again, this time lowering the oven temperature and cooking it a little longer. I also let the cake set for a few hours, which helped the cake hold up, making it easier to slice. Practice makes perfect, and it also means more cake!

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Gluten Free Chocolate-Raspberry Cake
Recipe by Christina Provo

Ingredients -

1 cup USA dry decorticated lentils
1 stick butter, melted
12 ounces chocolate chips, melted
6 large eggs, separated
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sweet rice powder
1 cup frozen raspberries, thawed
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Directions -

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8-inch spring form pan and dust with cocoa powder. In a medium size pot, add lentils and 2 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover, and simmer until lentils are tender, about 12-20 minutes. Remove from heat and puree until smooth. Measure out 2/3 cup lentil puree, reserving remaining puree for another use.


2. To prepare the raspberries, sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon sugar and 1 teaspoon water; smash with a fork until smooth. Set aside. If still frozen, microwave raspberries in a bowl with 1 teaspoon of water for 15 seconds. Add the sugar and mash.


3. In a medium bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; set aside. In a large bowl, beat egg yolks until thick on medium high speed, about 3-5 minutes. Gradually pour in sugar, espresso powder, and salt and beat for another minute. To the egg yolks, add melted butter, melted chocolate, lentil puree, and vanilla extract. Mix until combined. Fold in rice flour, mixing just until combined. Stir in 1/3 of the beaten egg whites to lighten the batter. Gently fold in remaining egg whites, just until blended. Some streaks may remain.


4. Pour into prepared pan. Dollop top of cake with mashed raspberries; swirl with a butter knife. Place in oven and bake for 35-40 minutes. Sides will be set but center will jiggle a little. A skewer inserted in the center will have moist crumbs. Let cool before slicing. Serve with whipped cream and additional raspberries.

chocolate biscuit cake

In light of recent events, you may have thought news of the Royal Wedding was over. Not true, guys! Although I'm not here to discuss the wedding, I am here to talk about my favorite part of all events -- the food. The groom's cake for this wedding was called a "chocolate biscuit cake". It really wasn't a cake at all, but a ganache mixed with McVitie's digestive biscuits. At the end of the day, it's a candy bar.

It was my mom's idea to make it because I was a bit put off by the cake when I first heard of it. I'm glad we made it because it truly is a delicious dessert.

First ingredient is good chocolate. You can use your favorite. Chocolate chips take a little longer to melt, but are good to use, too. Since you need about 11 ounces of chocolate, it's more economical to purchase one bag instead of 3 bars of chocolate.

Almonds get chopped and toasted, giving the cake some crunch. The animal crackers get soft after a day so you can add more almonds if you want.

Melted chocolate and butter get whisked into eggs beaten with sugar. The eggs give the chocolate a different texture, more fudgy and soft, than just cream will. If you're worried about salmonella, add a teaspoon of lemon juice. The heat from the chocolate might not be enough to cook the eggs.

Once the chocolate is blended in, the mixture begins to get stiff. We added heavy cream and a few tablespoons of the orange juice used to soak the raisins and to lighten the chocolate.

Here are the raisins. In the background, you can see the animal crackers being mixed into the chocolate. McVities weren't available, though I know I saw them once. I like the animal crackers in place of graham crackers, which get soggy really quickly.

After everything is mixed together, it gets smoothed into a springform pan, greased and lined with parchment paper. This was refrigerated a few hours, though you could also make it a day ahead of time so it chills overnight.

I highly suggest this cake. Although it's not a cake in the true sense of the word, as someone might point out to you, everyone will like it anyway. The cake isn't as heavy as you might think, and the orange gives the chocolate fruity undertones. Now that I've made this, the idea of a layered chocolate biscuit cake covered with ganache icing seems incredible!

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chocolate biscuit cake
Inspired from this recipe and this recipe

ingredients -

11.5 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
8 ounces digestive biscuits or animal crackers, broken into almond size pieces
zest of 1 orange
1/2 chopped almonds, toasted
1/4 cup raisins, soaked in 1/4 cup fresh orange juice (reserve soaking liquid)

directions -

1. Melt chocolate in a mixing bowl placed over a saucepan of gently simmering water. In another saucepan (or microwave-safe bowl) melt butter.


2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the eggs, sugar, and heavy cream until mixed well. Add melted butter and chocolate. Add orange zest, raisins, 3 tablespoons reserved soaking liquid, and nuts to the chocolate mixture. Gradually fold in the crushed biscuits (or graham crackers), until biscuits are evenly distributed throughout the chocolate.


3. In a greased 8-inch springform pan lined with parchment paper, spread the chocolate mixture and smooth out evenly. Cover entire pan with plastic wrap.


4. Refrigerate for 5-8 hours, or overnight. Cut into thin slices.

Double-Coconut Cake

Easter dessert this year was a coconut cake. My mom made this recipe a while ago and likes it because it packs a very flavorful coconut taste. Many coconut cake recipes use just flavoring and flaked coconut, but this recipe uses coconut milk as the liquid in the cake. We hadn't made it in a while and decided it would be perfect for this spring holiday.

This cake once graced the cover of a Cooking Light magazine, where my mom had first seen it. It's a very pretty, two layer cake filled with an Italian meringue frosting that's flavored with coconut extract. An Italian meringue is simple to make and doesn't dissolve as quickly as a traditional meringue. A sugar syrup is boiled to the proper temperature, then beaten into the whipped egg whites. The heat of the syrup cooks the eggs and makes them safe to consume. It reminds me of a 7-minute icing, where the egg whites are cooked with sugar over a double boiler and whipped for 7 minutes. It tastes like marshmallows.

As I mentioned above, the batter has coconut milk instead of cow milk. The original recipe calls for light coconut milk, but it also works just as well with whole fat coconut milk.

The cake layers were baked the night before, minimizes work on Easter. There was somewhat of a catastrophe that occurred just before we went to make the icing, which was me spilling part of dinner on the floor, but once it was cleaned up the meringue was prepared without a glitch. We brought the cake layers out, icing the first one, topping with icing and flaked coconut, then repeating the process with the second layer. My mom grated fresh lemon zest over the top for color. It also gave the cake a nice subtle lemon essence.

Everyone was looking forward to this cake. Yes, we had a secondary Italian pasta dessert (it's like tapioca, but with acini de pepe), but sweet pasta can't compare to cake. I am usually the one to slice cakes in our family. It's tradition, like how the dad carves the turkey on Thanksgiving. I made the first impression with the knife and pressed down, only to meet with resistance when I reach the bottom layer. The cake started to slide and the frosting in the middle began to press out. I had no idea what was going on. I managed to slice into the bottom layer, though, as you can observe from the pictures, the slices were less than pretty. After making the second slice I looked down to see what seemed like a flap of skin, which I had thought peeled off from the bottom of the layers. And I was right, though instead of skin-like cake layers it was a layer of wax paper that hadn't been peeled from off the bottom of the cake. In the confusion of the pre-frosting disaster we sort of failed to remember it was even there, and since the wax paper was translucent we couldn't tell by looking that it was still there.

And that's the story. If you want to make this cake, and I highly suggest you do, please remember to peel the parchment or wax paper layer from the cake layers.

You can find the recipe by clicking on this link, which is from Cooking Light.

easy chocolate cake

Chocolate cake.

I could just stop talking now because, really, by now does a chocolate cake need an explanation? But I did use a different recipe, so I'll talk about that. I've been hearing about the Hershey's chocolate cake, which isn't so dissimilar to the wacky chocolate cake I sometimes make. You mix the dry ingredients with the wet, pour into prepared pans, bake, and you get a very moist, chocolaty cake. Can it get any simpler?

The recipe I used, though, from a search on Photograzing (I forgot to bookmark the post) was Ina Garten's chocolate cake recipe. It was a bit different from the Hershey's cake with buttermilk and hot coffee instead of just boiling water, but otherwise mostly the same. What I don't understand about Ina Garten is her tendency to bake with extra large eggs. I'm not sure if this emits a feeling of cooking on the farm or if she has stock in the egg industry, it makes no sense. I used large eggs.

My thoughts on the cake was that it was indeed quick. However, I feel like these cakes lack a sturdiness when removing from the pan, transferring to the platter to ice, slicing to make more layers, etc. I might decrease the amount of hot coffee I use next time, and I don't think it'll affect the cake much.

For the frosting I chose a slightly different flour frosting. This time, the pudding was thickened with cornstarch instead of flour. I melted chocolate chips with the milk to make chocolate buttercream, along with a teaspoon of instant coffee. Unfortunately, the buttercream remained at a heightened state of curdle even after beating the butter in. Even after beating on high for a few minutes. The stuff just didn't want to combine, and I'm not sure if this was because of the chocolate or the instant coffee. I should have cross-referenced between a different chocolate buttercream recipe. Anyway, it finally became workable after beating in a bit more than a cup of confectioners' sugar and some cocoa powder. Oh well. Everyone liked the texture of the buttercream, as it was very smooth and airy. It paired extremely well with the moistness of the cake and a glass of milk.

mini football cakes

Keeping in theme with football, football cakes were the obvious choice. I chose the labor-intensive path of making miniature football cakes so people could eat them at their own pace without waiting for the slicing of the cake, which is always a big deal around here.

Since these would take almost as much time as the cookies, I kept the components simple by chooses a wacky vanilla cake (no eggs, butter, or milk, and comes together in a matter of minutes), a lardified buttercream frosting for the filling and the crumb coat, and a simple chocolate glaze made with cocoa.

Somewhere during the course of epic pre-bowl baking fest, I lost steam after baking the cake, slicing the shapes out, and frosting, so I put them in a cool location to glaze the next day. I figured this would help the frosting set more so it wouldn't melt when the glaze was poured on top, too.

The glaze was interesting. It wasn't completely runny, yet it didn't flow easily and needed a bit of coaxing. You can faintly see through some spots where the coating wasn't thick, but overall I really liked it and it was simple enough to do. After about 2-3 cakes, I had to scoop up the icing that ran underneath the rack and put it back in the pot to reheat to pouring consistency. These really aren't super quick to put together which is why I completed them in stages, and that's what I'd recommend to anyone making any similar cake.

Voila! I can't call these cute because it's football and that seems wrong, so I'll say that these kicked ass. That sounds hardcore-footbally, doesn't it!

The glaze will need to set for a bit, then you can carefully pipe the designs on top. I used leftover royal icing from the Colts cookies, but if you make a little extra buttercream and reserve it, that will be just fine.

I wasn't quite expecting these to taste as much like a Hostess or Little Debbie or whatever cake as they did, so it was strange. And not in a bad way, but the way the moist, soft cake tasted with the fluffy vanilla filling and cocoa glaze really was winning.

I'll definitely want to make something similar in the future, because it was worth the effort and made a nice little addition to the party.

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Recipes used ~

Chocolate frosting (glaze) from JoyofBaking.com

For the buttercream I beat 3/4 cup shortening, then added a pinch of kosher salt and around 3 cups confectioners' sugar. I thinned this out with enough milk to reach desired consistency, around a thick mayonnaise texture.

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Wacky Vanilla Cake
Recipe from my mom's recipe stash

Yields one 13x9-inch cake, or two 9-inch layers
ingredients ~

3 cups plus 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup water
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

directions ~

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 13x9-inch baking pan. Line the bottom with wax paper or parchment, then great the paper and flour the pan.


2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix liquid ingredients together in a separate bowl, then add to the flour mixture. Using a whisk, mix until well-blended and lumps are gone.


3. Pour into baking pan, tap lightly on counter to remove air bubbles, then bake for 35-45 minutes, or until golden brown, a toothpick comes out clean, and the cake leaves sides of pan.


4. Let cool in pan for 15-20 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack. Peel of wax paper and let cool completely.