Baked goods that ship well

[Ling]

The cakes are in the oven and the batter tastes really good.

But what really won me over is the goat milk caramel. It is richer than cajeta because I used a lot of whipping cream, and not as sticky. Also, the flavour is not as "goaty" as cajeta, so it's definitely there but probably not strong enough to put off people who don't like goat's milk/cheese.

I never measure when making caramel, but I caramelized approximately a cup of sugar, then added a cup of whipping cream, 2/3 cup of goat's milk, and maybe a 1/4 cup of butter and a splash of brandy. It took about half an hour (total time, including caramelization) to cook down and get really thick.

ETA: OK now the cakes are out of the oven, and I ate a big piece of the loaf I made with the extra batter covered with the caramel. Very good, and it seems moist enough to sustain a few days of shipping.

I used this Pumpkin spice cake recipe, with a few modifications. I reduced the amount of leavening (which seemed a bit excessive), used 75% butter and 25% oil (for moisture-retaining qualities), increased the amount of cinnamon, and added cloves, nutmeg, black pepper, and ground ginger. And I also increased the amount of pumpkin to 1 1/2 cup, reduced the amount of sugar slightly, and added a tablespoon of molasses.

I gotta say, though, that the cakes are rather homely...round, brown, covered in caramel in aluminum tins.

Edited September 19, 2006 by Ling (log)