Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )

[Kim Shook]

@Tropicalsenior - I'm looking forward to trying that mandarin cake!  I made the pineapple cake that you posted:

It took less than 10 minutes to mise and put together – one bowl and one spoon.  And it tastes wonderful – so moist and rich:

Thank you so much for sharing the recipe!

[ElsieD]

3 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

I cut into it last night and it's perhaps not as moist as I would like but the flavor is delicious.

I would recommend this recipe to anyone. When I made it I cut the recipe in half and baked it in a glass pan for 40 minutes. The only change that I made was to add a teaspoon of orange extract. The next time that I make it I'm going to make it with orange juice instead of Mandarin. I will probably try baking it at 325° instead of 350°.

 

Are you going to replace the mandarin with orange for a stronger orange flavour or for some other reason?  BTW I have not yet made the pineapple cake yet but I have purchased the pineapple.

[Tropicalsenior]

7 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

replace the mandarin with orange for a stronger orange flavour

I suppose for several reasons. First, I've been looking for a good orange cake for a long time. Second, because Mandarin season is almost over here and they're getting a little spongy and third, because I can get a lot more zest out of the orange then I can a Mandarin and that seems to be a big part of the strong flavor. It only took 1 Mandarin for the juice but I had to use 4 mandarins to get enough zest. I think you would get good results with any Citrus flavor in this cake and I'm even thinking of trying passion fruit.

[ElsieD]

11 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

I suppose for several reasons. First, I've been looking for a good orange cake for a long time. Second, because Mandarin season is almost over here and they're getting a little spongy and third, because I can get a lot more zest out of the orange then I can a Mandarin and that seems to be a big part of the strong flavor. It only took 1 Mandarin for the juice but I had to use 4 mandarins to get enough zest. I think you would get good results with any Citrus flavor in this cake and I'm even thinking of trying passion fruit.

 

One thought that crossed my mind was using an orange juice concentrate and rather than adding water, adding orange juice to measure the required amount of liquid.  Half and half maybe?

[Tropicalsenior]

3 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

orange juice concentrate

For most normal people that would be a good compromise but Frozen concentrates here are just not available. The closest thing to it is the powdered package thing. These are available in about 34 different fruit combinations. Years ago I developed a cake and a quick bread recipe that used powdered Tang as the flavoring agent. They were both delicious but then Tang altered their formula and started using artificial sweetener instead of sugar and it threw my proportions completely off. In order to get the flavor concentration that I needed, even though I cut back on the sugar, they were so sweet that they almost took the enamel off your teeth.

If you live in a foreign country you have to live by my motto. If you can't make it, fake it. If you can't fake it, f*** it.

[Pete Fred]

Parkin is a type of gingerbread from the north of England whose texture can range from cakey to bready, depending on regional variations. I prefer the more dense, slightly chewy type...

 

 

Traditionally it's made with oatmeal (groats) but I'm not a fan so use regular rolled oats instead. It looks dry in the photo but is actually very moist due to all the sugar (muscovado, golden syrup, and black treacle). It keeps for weeks in a tin; in fact it gets better. Sadly it rarely lasts that long due to constantly dipping in for one more bite.

[TdeV]

Yum, @Pete Fred. A recipe, perhaps? (please, please)

[Katie Meadow]

Today I made the Jam Swirl Cake from Yossy Arefi's Snacking Cakes. The crumb was really nice. We had an abundance of apricot jam on hand, so we used that. We both thought the recipe would be better with a very tart jam, and possibly a little more of it than she specifies. She must have a very sweet tooth, as I'm finding that with all her cakes I cut back a bit on the sugar. My only other change was to use half

vanilla extract and half almond extract, since apricots love almonds.

 

I do have one dopey question. All her recipes specify adding the salt to the liquid ingredients. I've always added the salt to the dry ingredients, which seems, well, logical. Is there any good reason for doing it her way?

[Pete Fred]

I use Andrew Pern's recipe. (But I omit the milk and double the quantity of egg as it has a tendency to sink.)

 

You'll find discussion of other varieties in this article.

 

(Edit: Oops. Meant as a reply to @TdeV)

Edited June 2, 2023 by Pete Fred (log)

[ElsieD]

7 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

Today I made the Jam Swirl Cake from Yossy Arefi's Snacking Cakes. The crumb was really nice. We had an abundance of apricot jam on hand, so we used that. We both thought the recipe would be better with a very tart jam, and possibly a little more of it than she specifies. She must have a very sweet tooth, as I'm finding that with all her cakes I cut back a bit on the sugar. My only other change was to use half

vanilla extract and half almond extract, since apricots love almonds.

 

I do have one dopey question. All her recipes specify adding the salt to the liquid ingredients. I've always added the salt to the dry ingredients, which seems, well, logical. Is there any good reason for doing it her way?

 

I have made that cake a few times now, using blueberry jam and more of it than she specifies.  I always add the salt to the dry ingredients as that makes sense to me.

[heidih]

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

 

I have made that cake a few times now, using blueberry jam and more of it than she specifies.  I always add the salt to the dry ingredients as that makes sense to me.

I was taught the opposite - to dissolve in wet

[Darienne]

On 5/29/2023 at 10:18 AM, Darienne said:

Just before I actually do it, I'd like some feedback on an idea.  I thought I'd melt 2 - 3 oz of chocolate couverture and add it to the Tahini cookie recipe.  Surely I'd be able to get away with doing that without changing the amounts and directions for making the Tahini and Almond cookies from David Lebovitz...

 

Well, I did it.  3 oz of about 60% chocolate and they were delicious.  Absolutely delicious.  

 

[heidih]

The use of "were" noted -  

[Tropicalsenior]

I made some Katherine Hepburn Brownies this morning.

I should never make these. They are addicting and may not even last the day.

[rotuts]

@Tropicalsenior 

 

those look delicious 

 

Im betting the edge is the best.

[Pete Fred]

I liked the look of the Mara des Bois strawberries at the market today...

 

 

They turned out to be pretty much the Platonic ideal of a strawberry, so perfectly ripe that I didn't need to sweeten either them or the accompanying whipped cream. I microplaned a hint of tonka and snipped over some wild mint growing at the side of the track for a memorably simple lunch...

 

 

On the recommendation of@Darienne and@Kim Shook (notorious shills for Big Tahini, I believe) I finally got round to making the Tahini and Almond Cookies by Natalie Levin...

 

 

They had a nice sandy texture and good tahini flavour...

 

 

Perfect for le goûter (afternoon snack). Next time I might sprinkle over a few (toasted) sesame seeds since I liked them so much on the tahini and poppy seed cake from a couple of weeks back.

 

Finally, there was still the matter of half a barquette of strawberries to polish off. So purely to jazz up a quiet afternoon, I macerated them in a little sugar and lime juice, whipped up a vanilla mascarpone chantilly, and plundered the cupboard for the last of my amarena cherries...

 

 

I'll be honest, I only threw in the cherries for the sake of a nice photo. But I was pleasantly surprised; they worked as a nice contrast to the strawberries. Might have to do that again.

[RWood]

Happy Birthday to my mom’s cousin Peggy! 
White almond cake and vanilla buttercream (that’s all they ever want 😑)

[Darienne]

6 minutes ago, RWood said:

Happy Birthday to my mom’s cousin Peggy! 
White almond cake and vanilla buttercream (that’s all they ever want 😑)

Taste-wise... not exciting...but stunning presentation.  As ever with @RWood

[oli]

30 minutes ago, RWood said:

Happy Birthday to my mom’s cousin Peggy! 
White almond cake and vanilla buttercream (that’s all they ever want 😑)

Stunning

[ElsieD]

Gorgeous!

[Pete Fred]

I found another jar of cherries lurking at the back of the cupboard so took a run at the Cherry Coconut Almond Cake from Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi....

 

 

It was ok. The coconut didn't really come through. I've just tasted a spoonful and it could just be second-rate coconut, so maybe that's it. More annoying was that the cherries sank. I knew immediately they would as the batter clearly wasn't thick enough. Buttermilk isn't available in France so I used lait fermenté (fermented milk) instead. (I would ordinarily use kefir as a substitute but that's also rare as hens-teeth.) From what I understand, cartons of buttermilk in the US are just fermented milk, but perhaps it's different enough to account for the sinkage. I've also made the doughnut cake from this book and I like the texture of the cake itself, but until I manage to solve this I won't be adding anything that weighs more than a feather.

 

So, I'll be sticking with the Cherry, Pistachio and Coconut Cake by Honey & Co....

 

 

This is an excellent cake. Similar ingredients to the Arefi one but with butter and much more ground almonds, resulting in a moist, dense texture. I made it on New Year's Day and I'll be surprised if I make a better cake this year.

[blue_dolphin]

32 minutes ago, Pete Fred said:

I found another jar of cherries lurking at the back of the cupboard so took a run at the Cherry Coconut Almond Cake from Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi....

 

 

I made the Snacking Cakes version a couple of months ago and liked it.  I used frozen cherries, defrosted before adding.  Maybe they are more float-y.  I'm looking forward to making it again now that fresh cherries are coming into the farmers markets and I'll be keeping your recommended cake in mind as well so thanks for that!

[OlyveOyl]

Strawberry cakelets with freshly churned strawberry/raspberry gelato, lightly sweetened strawberries and a dollop of sour cream. I made six of these  in a Mary Ann mold. and used the recipe from Nordic Ware’s  3  cup Vanilla Poundcake . The recessed molds required only half the recipe and bake in about 10 minutes. They are light and tender and make a good match for the ice cream and strawberries.

[heidih]

5 hours ago, Pete Fred said:

I found another jar of cherries lurking at the back of the cupboard so took a run at the Cherry Coconut Almond Cake from Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi....

 

 

It was ok. The coconut didn't really come through. I've just tasted a spoonful and it could just be second-rate coconut, so maybe that's it. More annoying was that the cherries sank. I knew immediately they would as the batter clearly wasn't thick enough. Buttermilk isn't available in France so I used lait fermenté (fermented milk) instead. (I would ordinarily use kefir as a substitute but that's also rare as hens-teeth.) From what I understand, cartons of buttermilk in the US are just fermented milk, but perhaps it's different enough to account for the sinkage. I've also made the doughnut cake from this book and I like the texture of the cake itself, but until I manage to solve this I won't be adding anything that weighs more than a feather.

 

So, I'll be sticking with the Cherry, Pistachio and Coconut Cake by Honey & Co....

 

 

This is an excellent cake. Similar ingredients to the Arefi one but with butter and much more ground almonds, resulting in a moist, dense texture. I made it on New Year's Day and I'll be surprised if I make a better cake this year.

Your use of cherries flashed me back to one of the best snacking cakes I ever made in my teens. Chocolate with cherries. It was so so good. I can remember sneaking some into a Lakers basketball game - combination of Jerry West and the brownie - nirvana. But I have no idea of the recipoe - too long ago. Do you do  cherry + chocolate sweet? 

[Tropicalsenior]

1 hour ago, heidih said:

Do you do  cherry + chocolate sweet? 

That sounded so good I went looking for a recipe and found this one for Chocolate Cherry Snack Cake.

It also reminded me of an aunt of mine that wasn't a terribly good Baker and she only had one good cake recipe. Her idea of changing it up was to put pieces of her favorite candies in it. The one she made with chocolate covered cherries was delicious. She slipped up badly one Christmas when she chunked in whole, hard Christmas candies. Broke my grandmother's false teeth right in half. After that we approached her cakes with much trepidation.