Sugar High Friday: Almond Cake with Raspberry Filling and Brown Butter Frosting

The August edition of Sugar High Friday was hosted by Elissa at 17 and Baking.

The theme for this month is Brown Butter.  I was very excited.  I've made this brown butter frosting several times now, and it's one of my favorites.  It's not as time consuming or potentially tricky as a buttercream, but way tastier than a traditional powdered sugar based frosting.  And it's a great conistency for piping decorations.  And the brown butter, with its slightly nutty taste, pairs very well with the almond cake.

I'll be hosting the October edition of Sugar High Friday's, so check back on October 1 to see what the theme is, and please consider submitting an entry.

Birthday Cake 2010: Almond, Chocolate, Praline & Brown Butter

Wow, it's been over 3 weeks since my birthday, and I'm just getting you the recipe now. It's been a crazy two months - lots of orders, exams to grade, finals to write. But Friday was my last class until February, so I should be here a lot more often in the coming months. I have been baking this whole time, and I have all sorts of things just waiting to post!

For the past four years, I've made a peanut butter cake with chocolate ganache and cream cheese frosting for my birthday, but I decided to change it up this year.  This year, I made a raspberry ice cream cake (coming soon) and an almond cake with chocolate praline ganache filling and brown butter moscato d'asti frosting.  It went over really well. I couldn't taste the wine in the frosting as much as I would have liked, so I'll try to remedy that next time, but otherwise I think I'll leave it as is for next time.

Almond Cake (adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum):  makes 3 9" layers


4 eggs
1 1/3 cups sour cream, separated
2 teaspoons almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/3 cups cake flour, sifted
2/3 cups finely ground almonds, toasted and preferably unblanched
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 sticks butter (12 ounces), room temperature

Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray 3 9" round cake pans with baking spray, line with parchment paper, and spray again.

In a medium bowl, stir together the eggs, 1/3 cup of the sour cream, and the extracts.  Set aside. Don't worry, it won't be smooth or pretty.


In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine all the dry ingredients - mix for 30 seconds.  Add the butter and the remaining 1 cup of sour cream, and mix on low until combined.  Mix on medium for 2 minutes to aerate batter.  Add the egg and sour cream mixture in 3 additions, beating 20 seconds after each addition.

Split the batter between the cake pans, and smooth with a rubber spatula.  Bake for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick just comes out clean.  


Let the cakes cook in their pans for about 10 minutes, then turn on to cooling rack.  Cool completely, then wrap in plastic wrap and chill until ready to frost.

Chocolate Praline Ganache Filling

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup praline

Place the chocolate in a bowl; it doesn't have to be chopped finely, but you don't want any pieces that are much bigger than a blueberry.  Bring the cream to a boil, and pour over the chocolate. Stir in the praline if desired, and chill.

The ganache should be fairly thick before you spread it on the cake, you don't want it to squish out the sides when you place the cake layers over it. A couple of hours in the fridge should be sufficient.  If it's too thick to spread when you remove from the fridge, just microwave on half power for 10 seconds or so and stir.

Brown Butter & Moscato d'Asti Frosting (enough to frost and decorate (but not fill) a 9" 3-layer cake)


3 sticks butter, browned
1 1/2 pounds powdered sugar
6-8 tablespoons heavy cream
6-8 tablespoons Frangelico (or water or your choice of liqueur)
Pinch of Kosher salt (optional)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Brown the butter, pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, and set aside to cool.  Wait for it to cool completely.

Pour the cooled brown butter into mixer bowl (paddle attachment).  Add about 1/3 of the powdered sugar, and beat.  Add the caramel syrup, and continue beating. Add half the remaining powdered sugar, and beat. Add the 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) of heavy cream, and beat until smooth.  Add more cream if you'd like the frosting to be softer, and more powdered sugar if you'd like it to be stiffer. Add salt if desired.

Dye the frosting if desired.  Refrigerate until ready to use.  Re-whip the frosting right before use. If it's been in the refrigerator long (say over night), you might need to let it sit for an hour or two before it's ready to whip and frost).

Assembly


Place one cake layer on a cake board, and slide scraps of parchment paper between the cake and the board.  Top with half the chocolate ganache.  Top with another cake layer and the remaining ganache.  Chill before frosting if the ganache is not thick enough to set yet.

Frost the top and sides of the cake.  When you've covered the whole cake, run your offset spatula under hot water for 30 seconds, and quickly dry it.  Run the spatula around the top and sides of the cake to smooth out the frosting (hold the spatula still very lightly against the cake at an angle, and rotate the cake on a revolving cake stand if you have one).  Remove the parchment paper, and decorate the rest of the cake as desired (borders, flowers, etc).

What a difference flowers make!

 

Math & Cake: Chocolate Cake with Chocolate-Nutella Filling and Brown Butter Frangelico Frosting

Last week, I gave a talk about Math and Cake.  Ok, I had a fancier title, but my "side hobby" in mathematics is an area called fair division.  At some point in your life, you probably needed to fairly divide a candy bar or some other yummy treat between you and a friend:  one of you cut the treat in two, and the other got to choose first.  Fair!  But what do you do if there are three people? Or more?  My college adviser asked me this question on my very first day of college.  He does research in the area, and got me interested in the subject.  Extremely interesting mathematically, but also when else do I get to show pictures of all sorts of cake during a math lecture?!    See my book if you'd like to learn more about fair division and cake-cutting.

This is the cake I made for my talk.  It was sort of a prop, but I figured it'd give the audience something to look at if they zoned out for the math content!  No pictures of the inside of the cake unfortunately, but it went over very well.  Not a crumb left.

Chocolate Cake  (from Epicurious)
3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee (I used hazelnut coffee)
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons Kosher salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 300°F and spray 2 10" pans with baking spray (I used 2 9" pans and made an additional 3 inch cake; I've also used just the 2 9" pans before). Line bottoms with rounds of parchment paper and spray paper as well. 
 

Finely chop the chocolate and place in a medium bowl; pour hot coffee over the chocolate. Let stand for one minute, then stir until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

Whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

In another large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer).  Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well.  Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well.

Divide batter between pans and bake in the middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Cool the cake layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove parchment paper and cool layers completely.

This is a tall cake!



Chocolate & Nutella Frosting   (adapted from Chocolate Chocolate)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid
1/3 cup Nutella, depending on taste (the Nutella taste is somewhat mild)
Large pinch of Kosher salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 1/2 - 4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk, heated to tepid

Beat butter on medium speed for 1-2 minutes.

Blend in the melted chocolate, Nutella, salt, vanilla, 1/3 cup milk, and 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar.

Add in the rest of the milk; beat for 1 minute.

Add the rest of the powdered sugar; beat for 1 minute. Use more powdered sugar for a stiffer consistency, less for a softer consistency.

Refrigerate the frosting for 1-2 hours until spreadable.



Brown Butter Frosting (enough to frost/decorate a tall 9" 2-layer cake or a 3-layer 8" cake)


3 sticks butter, browned
1 1/2 pounds powdered sugar
6-8 tablespoons heavy cream
6-8 tablespoons Frangelico
Pinch of Kosher salt (optional)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Brown the butter, pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, and set aside to cool.  Wait for it to cool completely.

Pour the cooled brown butter into mixer bowl (paddle attachment).  Add about 1/3 of the powdered sugar, and beat.  Add the caramel syrup, and continue beating. Add half the remaining powdered sugar, and beat. Add the 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) of heavy cream, and beat until smooth.  Add more cream if you'd like the frosting to be softer, and more powdered sugar if you'd like it to be stiffer. Add salt if desired.

Refrigerate until ready to use.  Re-whip the frosting right before use. If it's been in the fridge awhile, you might need to let it sit at room temperature for an hour or so until it's soft enough to whip.


Assembly

Lay one of the chocolate cake layers on a cake board or plate.  Spread the chocolate frosting over the surface, leaving a half-inch border all around the outside.  You can also spread just half the frosting on this layer, and spread the rest on top.  You'll still cover the whole thing with the brown butter frosting.
Place the second cake layer on top of the first, and cover the whole cake with a crumb coat (very thin layer of frosting).  Be careful not to let your offset spatula touch the cake, or you'll get tons of chocolate crumbs in your frosting.  Place the cake in the fridge so that the crumb coat sets. You should be able to touch the cake gently without leaving any impression in the frosting.  Frost the cake again; it'll be easier this time with the crumb coat in place.  Use any leftover frosting to pipe shells, and/or tint some of the frosting and make roses. It's a good consistency as is, but if necessary (if it's very hot or humid out), add some more powdered sugar to make the frosting stiff enough for roses.

For instructions on how to do a crumb coat and how to decorate your cake, see King Arthur's online cake decorating tutorials.

For information on how to pipe roses, see Wilton's tutorial.  Or, take a class at your local Michael's.

 

Caramel Cake - The Sequel - with Brown Butter Frosting

A few weeks ago I posted another caramel cake recipe.  I think I might like that cake recipe better, but this frosting is one of my new favorites.

Heart-shaped Version

Almond Orange Olive Oil Cake with Brown Butter Glaze

Happy Pi Day!!  To celebrate, I'm bringing you this, um, cake.  Oops.  No time to make pie this weekend, sorry!  I'll have to catch European Pi Day on July 22 (22/7 is one of the best approximates of pi).

When I got tenure (over a year ago now), my mom and I wanted to go someplace nice in New York.  The problem with lots of nice restaurants in NY?  Not very vegetarian friendly.  I think we've narrowed it down to Daniel's and Babbo, but our celebration dinner has yet to happen (this summer hopefully!)... in the meantime, this cake is by Gina DePalma, pastry chef at Babbo.

This cake is perfect for a Sunday brunch or afternoon meeting or any other time when you'd like something (relatively) light and sweet without totally taking you over into a sugar coma.  It's a somewhat unusual combination of flavors with the citrus, the almonds, and the olive oil - but it works!  And it's Italian.  And did you see how there's brown butter in the glaze? You're going to want to start using this glaze on everything. It's yummy.  And no mixer required - just some whisking and stirring - easy. 

 

Orange Almond Olive Oil Cake with Brown Butter Glaze

(adapted only slightly from Gina DePalma)

For the Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup blanched or natural almond flour (you can finely grind the almonds yourself)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
Grated zest of 1 medium lemon or 1/2 a medium orange (I used orange)
1/2 cup orange juice (fresh squeezed if possible)

Notes:

The first time I made this, I used 1/2 cup lime juice and 1/2 cup lemon juice instead of the orange juice, and used lemon zest instead of orange zest.  I liked it, but it definitely tasted different.  I prefer the cake made as above, but if you're a huge fan of lime, you may want to experiment with adding some lime juice.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Spray an 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pan (the 8-inch will give you a slightly taller cake, but it won't overflow if the sides are 2" tall or higher).

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

In a largebowl, whisk together the eggs to break up the yolks.  Add the sugar to the bowl and whisk it in thoroughly  for about 30 seconds. Add the olive oil and whisk until the mixture is a bit lighter in color and has thickened slightly, about 45 seconds. Whisk in the extracts and zest, followed by the orange juice.

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and whisk until they are thoroughly combined; continue whisking until you have a smooth, emulsified batter, about 30 more seconds.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake the cake for 30 to 45 minutes, rotating the cake pan halfway through the cooking time to ensure even browning. The cake is done when it has begun to pull away from the sides of the pan, springs back lightly when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool for ten minutes in the pan, then gently remove it from the pan and allow it to cool completely (right-side up) on a rack.

For the Brown Butter Glaze and Assembly

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons whole milk or heavy cream
1/2 cup slivered almonds


While the cake is cooling, make the glaze.  Brown the butter, and let sit (it will continue to get a little darker after you turn off the heat).  

Toast the almonds:  scatter them evenly over a baking sheet, and bake at 350F for 5-10 minutes, until lightly browned.

In a medium bowl, add the milk or heavy cream to the powdered sugar and stir.  Slowly add the browned butter, and stir until smooth.  Add more milk/cream if you'd like the glaze to be a little thinner; add more sugar if you'd like it thicker.  Spread onto the cake with an offset spatula when cool, and allow to drip down the sides of the cake.  Scatter the toasted almonds evenly over the surface of the cake. Enjoy!

Hazelnut Brown Butter Financiers

Is it clear by now how much I love hazelnuts and brown butter?  It will be soon enough if it's not already.  See, I thought that I didn't like nuts, especially nuts in any sort of baked good. But I recently discovered that I love the flavor, I just hate the texture.  So no nuts in brownies or cookies or cakes or anything like that unless they're ground up (or just scattered on top for decoration maybe); if they're ground up, I can't get enough apparently!  So I'm really just making up for those 30 nut-free years.

Financiers should be made in a financier pan - they look like tiny little loaf-shaped cakes.  But I don't have a financier pan, so I used my mini-muffin pan instead.  They're sort of like a Madeleine in that they're a cross between cookies and cake. I liked these, and the rest of my department seemed to really enjoy them too, so I'll definitely make them again.  But I think I may play around a little more - maybe add one whole raspberry to the middle of each one or some sort of chocolate...  and the brown-butter glaze with fleur de sel is delicious! 

For the Financiers  (Adapted from Rose's Heavenly Cakes)


Makes 28 mini-muffin-shaped financiers, or 16 actual financiers (3" x 1" x 1 1/4").

3/4 cup toasted and ground hazelnuts
10 tablespoons butter
1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
4 egg whites, room temperature
3 tablespoons hazelnut praline  (you can use store-bought or make your own)