Northern California Nesties
Passanie
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Really good cake recipe?
I'm making dessert (probably a cake) for a friend's birthday party. Anyone got any really good recipes? I'm willing to try something challenging.
My favorite place on earth: The Amargosa Valley.
Re: Really good cake recipe?
Donate to My Pancreatic Cancer Research Page
I've made this cake before:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Lemon-Layer-Cake-with-Lemon-Curd-and-Mascarpone-107898
I loved the filling and frosting, but the actually cake I would not do. I ended up using a boxed cake because it tasted horrible. My friend made this but used the Americas Test Kitchen white cake recipe and said it was really really good.
My blog post on it:
http://cookingwithtanya.blogspot.com/2010/01/lemon-layer-cake-with-lemon-curd-and.html
Cooking Blog
I really don't make a lot of cake... The only one I can think of making in the past year is this spiced applesauce cake. It was good (though my oven runs really hot so I think I overbaked it a bit), and the cinnamon cream cheese frosting is really really good.
That said, I feel like it's more of a fall/winter cake. I would try to take advantage of all the awesome fresh fruit that's out right now. I know you said you wanted to try something new but... isn't your upside down plum cake always a hit?? That sounds really good to me...
ETA: A friend made and brought over this cake and it was pretty good - though very very sweet. If I were to make it, I'd try cutting down on the sugar a bit in the cake, and definitely in the frosting. Or just serve very very small pieces with plenty of milk/water...
http://orangette.blogspot.com/2004/08/and-then-cake-came-forth.html
or
http://orangette.blogspot.com/2004/08/slow-roasting.html
i made them both at easter and they are SUPER yummy
This is my favorite summer-time cake so far. Ever.
http://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/detail.php?docid=4947
The birthday girl said she likes anything with chocolate or something light and summery with fruit.
Man, these are great recipes, I want to make them all! Afton, if you have the creamsicle cupcake recipe handy, I'd love to make those later on as cupcakes.
Maybe I should do the plum cake recipe. I don't think this crowd has had it. I'd love to try something chocolately and layered and complicated, but the plum cake I know would go over well (and it's so pretty).
Lets see if this copy and past works.
Fresh Orange Cupcakes
? 1 package of yellow cake mix
? 1/4 cup of sugar
? 1 tablespoon of orange zest
? 1 cup of orange juice
? 1/2 cup of canola oil
? 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
? 4 large eggs
1. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, sugar, and orange zest. Whisk to combine. Add orange juice, canola oil, vanilla extract and eggs. Blend with the mixer on low speed for one minute, then speed it up to medium and beat for 2 more minutes. 2. Fill cupcake papers about 1/2 to 2/3 full. Bake at 350F until golden in color and a toothpick test comes out clean, about 22-25 minutes. 3. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Frost with the Best Frosting Recipe?EVER:
? 5 Tablespoons Flour
? 1 cup Milk
? 1 teaspoon Vanilla
? 1 cup Butter
? 1 cup Granulated Sugar (not Powdered Sugar!)
In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix is. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. (If I?m in a hurry, I place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools.) It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.
While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don?t want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven?t beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.
They are so yummy! The only problem I had was it was too hot in our house when I made the frosting and I had to stick it in the fridge for it to set up enough to spread on the cupcakes.
I think the plum cake would be a winner in this case. But for future reference, that chocolate cake EmmieB posted above looks amazing (I bookmarked it to try sometime.) I bet you could make two (or even three) of those and layer them with some kind of yummy frosting, ganache or mousse filling.
it's too rich to layer. it's like fudge cake. you could, but i wouldn't recommend it. I say go with simple and stress-free :-) always a sure-thing.