Your Daily Sweets: What are you making and baking? (2014)

[emmalish]

Squash season again, so I made another pumpkin pie, for people wo still don't like pumpkin pie.  

 

There are people who don't like pumpkin pie?

 

Also, that is gorgeous!

[rotuts]

properly made

 

no one can tell the diff. from a Pupkin' pie from a Squash' pie

 

its in the crust and the seasonings.

[jmacnaughtan]

properly made

 

no one can tell the diff. from a Pupkin' pie from a Squash' pie

 

its in the crust and the seasonings.

 

It's not the squash/pumpkin choice that irritated me about every pumplin pie I've ever tried, it's the heavy, stodgy filling and soggy crust.  It just doesn't do it for me.

 

Edited for spelling mistakes.

Edited October 27, 2014 by jmacnaughtan (log)

[RWood]

Some cookies for Halloween and the World Series

Edited October 28, 2014 by RWood (log)

[Shelby]

Some cookies for Halloween and the World Series

Lovely cookies except they should be "R" shaped and Royal Blue

[Anna N]

Today is my granddaughter's birthday so I pulled out all the stops and made her a batch of Thomas Keller's brownies. Her mother will take care of her actual birthday cake which will come from the bakery. She can enjoy the brownies later. (I also baked her a loaf of sandwich bread.)

[rotuts]

Ms. or Miss GD is so lucky !

[RWood]

A going away cake for a friend's last day at work. She wears pink almost everyday, so I knew what it had to be.

Flowers are wafer paper, cake is a chocolate stout with ganache and white chocolate buttercream

[ChefPip]

I had a special request for a Birthday Cake recently.   This confection was once a famous cake from the bakery counters of the A&P grocery store and was known as "The Spanish Bar Cake".  It was a two layer loaf type of spice cake with raisins and other things which gave it a heavier dense quality and it was frosted with cream cheese frosting.

 

I was able to find several citations & recipes for it online where some recipes were a dressed up Duncan Hines Spice Cake..

 

 

Link to Image: http://justapinchassets.com/images/photo/2/0/7/4/2/1/i.3.xxIgJ1oXDBMC7uM3m240SY-0KeoMS0MjUbciJ3l5ndA..jpg

 

 

http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/cake/a-ps-spanish-bar-cake.html

 

 

Needless to say, this was a Birthday Hit as I doubled the recipe.  That way there would be some left for the birthday girl.

 

I must say that once you've tried a taste,  it'd difficult not to want more.

[jmacnaughtan]

As I'm still working my way through the autumn squash, I thought I should really do a Hallowe'en Cake.  Also, squash and orange go so well together...

 

Orange Squash Hallowe'en Cake

 

 

Carrot cake

Orange confit

Roasted banana squash mousse

Orange curd

Orange glaze

Chocolate glaze

[Kim Shook]

CatPoet – I think that your neighbor’s birthday cake looks and sounds delicious and good for you for making her day special!  I had to ‘Google’ radio cake – sounds good!

 

Nickolai – your cream filled pancakes look so good.  That is just my idea of a perfect cake/cream/fruit combination.

 

Elise – gorgeous plum tart!  I wish I’d made one while we still had good plums!  All I did was eat mine!

 

Anna – what were those brownies like.  I am a fan of chewy brownies – neither cakey nor gooey/moist.  But brownies are my very favorite dessert, so I’m always looking for a good recipe.

 

RWood – I am also a fan of pink and I think that if someone made that cake for me, I’d faint dead away!  Lovely.

 

I was in charge of our church bake sale for our Holiday Market yesterday.  Other people cooked, but I wasn’t sure how many would, so I cooked a LOT!

 

One of those cake mix fix-ups from The Cake Doctor.  The recipe is called “Darn Good Chocolate Cake” and is intended to be baked in a Bundt pan.  I decided to do cupcakes with mini chips on top instead of frosting.  Very good and tender. 

 

These are Peanut Butter Krispy Bars from “Baked”.  Simply incredible.  Like a sophisticated, grown up Rice Krispy Treat.  No marshmallow and dark chocolate.  Heaven.

 

Pink Meringue “Cupcakes” – a good gluten-free option.  You can’t see it in the picture, but they were brushed with pink luster dust and were very popular with the little girls.

 

Gingerbread Cake w/ Cranberry Filling and Orange Cream Cheese Icing.  This was sold as a whole cake and went much more quickly than I thought it would.

 

My oatmeal cookies with Raisinets.

 

Double chocolate cherry cookies.

 

Bleu cheese shortbread w/ fig preserves.  No one touched these until my mother had the great idea to put out a plate of samples and then they disappeared!  They are perfect with wine or cocktails and since this is an Episcopal church, they were perfect!

 

Mr. Kim made his wonderful Apple cake.  I sliced and wrapped it and you could still smell the incredible aroma.  These went fast.

[Tri2Cook]

I'd definitely go for a blue cheese shortbread with fig preserves... that sounds awesome.

[Anna N]

Kim,

I am with Tri2Cook. Blue cheese shortbread with fig preserves is my kind of sweet. Though Mr. Kim's apple cake sure does look good.

[CatPoet]

Kim:

Do you want the recipe?

[rajoress]

Everything looks amazing on here! A friend asked for fall cookies for her friend's birthday - I didn't have a lot of fall cookie cutters so just made whatever I had.. thanks for looking!

[ChefPip]

I'll offer an heirloom from my area.  Some of you may have heard of this pioneer confection already.  Most of my customers are

quite interested in trying vintage recipes..

 

The Kentucky Blackberry Jam Cake. 

 

 

Image source:   

http://www.saltandchocolate.com/2008/06/blackberry-jam-cake.html

 

I usually use Caramel frosting.  Shown is a blackberry flavored frosting drizzled atop this Bundt style presentation.

This can be made in any manner of forms.  Bundt, Angel Food, Layers, spring form, or even in a tube.

 

It is a heavier dense cake owing much to it's heritage given the available ingredients of those days.   In the cool months of late fall and winter it is something you can get your teeth in and with a robust cup of hot coffee it goes rather well.  My own recipe is close to this one but I tend not to use the Pecans in mine unless I have finely ground Pecans. 

 

http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/cake/kentucky-blackberry-jam-cake.html

Edited November 16, 2014 by Mjx
Link to image adjusted to credit actual owner of image. (log)

[Shelby]

CatPoet – I think that your neighbor’s birthday cake looks and sounds delicious and good for you for making her day special!  I had to ‘Google’ radio cake – sounds good!

 

Nickolai – your cream filled pancakes look so good.  That is just my idea of a perfect cake/cream/fruit combination.

 

Elise – gorgeous plum tart!  I wish I’d made one while we still had good plums!  All I did was eat mine!

 

Anna – what were those brownies like.  I am a fan of chewy brownies – neither cakey nor gooey/moist.  But brownies are my very favorite dessert, so I’m always looking for a good recipe.

 

RWood – I am also a fan of pink and I think that if someone made that cake for me, I’d faint dead away!  Lovely.

 

I was in charge of our church bake sale for our Holiday Market yesterday.  Other people cooked, but I wasn’t sure how many would, so I cooked a LOT!

 

One of those cake mix fix-ups from The Cake Doctor.  The recipe is called “Darn Good Chocolate Cake” and is intended to be baked in a Bundt pan.  I decided to do cupcakes with mini chips on top instead of frosting.  Very good and tender. 

 

These are Peanut Butter Krispy Bars from “Baked”.  Simply incredible.  Like a sophisticated, grown up Rice Krispy Treat.  No marshmallow and dark chocolate.  Heaven.

 

Pink Meringue “Cupcakes” – a good gluten-free option.  You can’t see it in the picture, but they were brushed with pink luster dust and were very popular with the little girls.

 

Gingerbread Cake w/ Cranberry Filling and Orange Cream Cheese Icing.  This was sold as a whole cake and went much more quickly than I thought it would.

 

My oatmeal cookies with Raisinets.

 

Double chocolate cherry cookies.

 

Bleu cheese shortbread w/ fig preserves.  No one touched these until my mother had the great idea to put out a plate of samples and then they disappeared!  They are perfect with wine or cocktails and since this is an Episcopal church, they were perfect!

 

Mr. Kim made his wonderful Apple cake.  I sliced and wrapped it and you could still smell the incredible aroma.  These went fast.

 

Kim, I looked through your cookbook and I can't find the apple cake recipe.  Could you point me to it......or, bribe Mr. Kim to post it

[ChefPip]

I make an old time Southern dish that almost has cult following at my diner.  It is something that can pass as a

sweet and yet you may think of it as a side.  If you've ever had the pleasure of trying this then you know.

 

Spoon Bread

 

 

Image Source:

 

http://www.marthastewart.com/sites/files/marthastewart.com/imagecache/wmax-300-highdpi/ecl/images/content/pub/ms_living/2009Q4/md105195_1109_swtpot_176_vert.jpg

 

 

This can be made sweeter with the addition of brown sugar or molasses.  It can be fortified with grated cheese.

But it's "Custard"  like appeal may have you wondering if it is a dessert pudding or cornmeal cake.  Some call it

Custard Cornbread.

 

How to make it.   This is a recipe that lends itself to Cast Iron Skillets.

 

2 eggs

1/2 C sugar

1 C sweet milk

1 1/2 yellow corn meal

1/2 C flour

1 C sour milk

1 tsp soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 TB butter

1/2 sweet milk

 

Preheat oven to 375 f

 

Beat together the eggs, Cup of sweet milk, sugar, corn meal, and flour.

In another bowl mix the cup of sour milk, soda, and salt together and then add it

to the first mixture.

 

Heat the iron skillet in the oven and melt the 2 TB of butter in it as it sits on a pot holder

or trivet, but have it hot when you turn the batter into it.

 

Next pour the batter into the hot skillet using the mixing spoon to even the mixture till it's fairly even.

 

Last pour the 1/2 cup of sweet milk into the center of the mixture so it will be absorbed as it cooks.

The hot buttered skillet will form a browned crust  to the bottom of the spoon bread so it will be easy to

scoop out and serve.

 

Bake in the oven for about 1/2 hour. 

 

This recipe has many variations.  Some put a drained can of whole kernel corn and one of creamed style corn into it.

But when finished baking it should be like a Custard.  Allow it to rest for a few minutes before serving.

Edited November 5, 2014 by ChefPip (log)

[Darienne]

DH bought double cranberries at our Canadian Thanksgiving and I thought:  Oh great.  What am I going to do with a package of cranberries?

 

Well found this recipe for Cranberry-Apple-Walnut Crisp which called for an amazing 2 cups of cranberries.  Hooray!  And it was a great success.  I thought it was a tad too sweet: DH loved it.  Will use it again.

 

From: Clifford A. Wright. Bake Until Bubbly.   From my search for a good casserole cookbook.  (Sorry, forgot about taking a photo and it was all gone in a trice.)

[cakewalk]

DH bought double cranberries at our Canadian Thanksgiving and I thought:  Oh great.  What am I going to do with a package of cranberries?

 

Well found this recipe for Cranberry-Apple-Walnut Crisp which called for an amazing 2 cups of cranberries.  Hooray!  And it was a great success.  I thought it was a tad too sweet: DH loved it.  Will use it again.

 

From: Clifford A. Wright. Bake Until Bubbly.   From my search for a good casserole cookbook.  (Sorry, forgot about taking a photo and it was all gone in a trice.)

Cranberries can be frozen. Around now I start buying bags of cranberries to last me through the year, they're one of my favorite things. Dried cranberries are like another animal altogether, I don't particularly like them. But fresh cranberries, now you're talking. I find that most recipes overdo the sugar in an attempt to counteract the natural tartness of the cranberries. I like the tartness, and tend to reduce the sugar in cranberry recipes. You can try pears instead of apples in the crisp. I used to have a recipe for cranberries with chicken, it was a one-pot thing, I'll have to search for it.

[Darienne]

I actually had one bag of cranberries in the freezer already waiting for Thanksgiving.  We live outside the nearest city and rely on being able to freeze stuff, both raw and cooked, for our meals.  However, with the exception of RLB's Cranberry Galette, I had never cooked anything with cranberries except for sauce. 

Now that this pudding turned out to be such a popular success, I shall certainly keep some cranberries on tap.  I'm always looking for dessert recipes that I can't ruin in some way...like burning them, having them fall on me, needing ingredients which cannot be kept on hand easily, or just too complicated and time consuming for those times when I am tired and just don't feel up to the work.  (I am one of the oldest eGullet members as far as I know.)

[emmalish]

DH bought double cranberries at our Canadian Thanksgiving and I thought:  Oh great.  What am I going to do with a package of cranberries?

 

Well found this recipe for Cranberry-Apple-Walnut Crisp which called for an amazing 2 cups of cranberries.  Hooray!  And it was a great success.  I thought it was a tad too sweet: DH loved it.  Will use it again.

 

From: Clifford A. Wright. Bake Until Bubbly.   From my search for a good casserole cookbook.  (Sorry, forgot about taking a photo and it was all gone in a trice.)

 

Darienne, you can totally send any excess my way! I use cranberries all the time. In muffins, loaves, cookies, smoothies, and on the weekends in my steel cut oats (with an apple). I go through them like crazy!

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I also freeze fresh cranberries for use throughout the rest of the year.

 

I make a simple muffin with cranberries and orange zest that is more than the some of its parts.

 

They're also good in quick nut breads, cookies and coffee cakes.

[Shelby]

Upside down caramel banana bread.  

 

I had the bananas so prettily aligned on there....but some of them sank into the bread.....still was very good

 

 

Before caramel sauce

 

 

After

 

[JohnT]

I have been baking quite a few egg yolk based desserts of late and have built up quite a lot of egg whites in the freezer - so, the humble meringue was whipped up the other evening and spent an hour and a half at 90°C (convection oven) then the oven switched off and the piped casings left overnight. My sample: meringue casing, a dollop of cream and a red glacé cherry that has been marinating in brandy for about six months.

Then I had an order from a local restaurant for Malva Puddings, an old fashioned South African pudding from the old Dutch trek farmers of the 1800's. Really a simple apricot jam flavoured sponge cake soaked in a rich sweet creamy sauce. Baked in dariole moulds for portion size and one in its foil container whilst being packed. These are served warm, normally with a portion of ice cream - very sweet and rich, but delicious!