Tag: layered cake

Categories
Dessert

Get ready for the ‘mousse’t complicated pumpkin dessert

This pumpkin chocolate mousse cake is a huge time commitment, but it also sports a ton of wow factor with its five layers—chocolate cake, pumpkin cinnamon mousse, pumpkin butterscotch mousse, salted caramel mousse and chocolate ganache.
This pumpkin chocolate mousse cake is a huge time commitment, but it also sports a ton of wow factor with its five layers—chocolate cake, pumpkin cinnamon mousse, pumpkin butterscotch mousse, salted caramel mousse and chocolate ganache.

I would normally tell a little story to kick off my column, but if you have read ahead, you know that I have a monster of a recipe to share with you this week.

I took this cake to a Friendsgiving meal with friends, and it was definitely a hit. Beware, though, you will spend literally hours in your kitchen to create this recipe, so be sure to clear your schedule before trying it.

This comes from the blog “Sugar Hero” by Elizabeth LaBau. You can find the original post at https://www.sugarhero.com/pumpkin-chocolate-mousse-cake/. I changed a few of the ingredient amounts just slightly, but honestly, I was a bit intimidated to change a lot.

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Pumpkin Chocolate Mousse Cake

Course Dessert
Keyword butterscotch chips, cake, chocolate ganache, cinnamon, cinnamon chips, ganache, heavy cream, layered cake, mousse, pie, pumpkin, salted caramel, salted caramel chips, vanilla, whipped cream

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk or regular milk with a touch of vinegar
  • 2/3 cup flour
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Pumpkin Cinnamon Mousse Ingredients

  • 10 ounces cinnamon chips
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream divided
  • 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

Pumpkin Butterscotch Mousse Ingredients

  • 10 ounces butterscotch chips
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream divided
  • 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin
  • 2 tablespoons water

Salted Caramel Mousse Ingredients

  • 10 ounces salted caramel chips
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream divided
  • 1/3 cup salted caramel dessert topping
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin
  • 2 tablespoons water

Chocolate Ganache Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a nine- or 10-inch springform pan with parchment and spray it with nonstick cooking spray.
  • For the cake layer, beat the butter, sugar and brown sugar in a mixing bowl until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
  • Alternate adding the dry ingredients and buttermilk into the batter, beating in between additions.
  • When everything is well incorporated, pour the batter into your prepared pan, spreading it out evenly.
  • Bake the cake for 22 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.
  • Let the cake cool completely and remove it from the pan before moving on to the next step.
  • When you’re ready to start the next layers, prepare your springform pan by lining the sides with a double layer of aluminum foil, making sure that the strip creates a stiff wall at least four inches tall, from the bottom of the pan, up. (This is going to hold your mousse layers together while they set up.)
  • For easy serving, cut a piece of heavy cardboard the same size as the bottom of your pan and cover it in aluminum foil or waxed paper. Place the cake on top of the cardboard in the pan.
  • For the cinnamon layer, add the cinnamon chips, pumpkin, 1/2 cup cream and salt in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high, 30 seconds at a time and stirring in between each heating until the mixture is smooth.
  • Pour the melted mixture into a large bowl and let it cool to close to room temperature, stirring it a few times while you wait.
  • In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine the gelatin powder and water and stir well. Set it aside.
  • When the cinnamon mixture is cooled, microwave the prepared gelatin for 15 seconds. Whisk it into the cinnamon mixture and whisk in the ground cinnamon.
  • Whip the remaining cream until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the cinnamon mixture, and then carefully pour the mousse over top of the cake layer in your springform pan. Spread it evenly and refrigerate for at least 25 minutes before moving on to the next layer.
  • For the butterscotch layer, add the butterscotch chips, pumpkin, 1/2 cup cream and salt in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high, 30 seconds at a time and stirring in between each heating until the mixture is smooth.
  • Pour the melted mixture into a large bowl and let it cool to close to room temperature, stirring it a few times while you wait.
  • In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine the gelatin powder and water and stir well. Set it aside.
  • When the butterscotch mixture is cooled, microwave the prepared gelatin for 15 seconds. Whisk it into the butterscotch mixture.
  • Whip the remaining cream until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the butterscotch mixture, and then carefully pour the mousse over top of the cinnamon layer in your springform pan. Spread it evenly and refrigerate for at least 25 minutes before moving on to the next layer.
  • For the salted caramel layer, add the salted caramel chips, 1/2 cup cream, salted caramel topping, vanilla and salt in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high, 30 seconds at a time and stirring in between each heating until the mixture is smooth.
  • Pour the melted mixture into a large bowl and let it cool to close to room temperature, stirring it a few times while you wait.
  • In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine the gelatin powder and water and stir well. Set it aside.
  • When the salted caramel mixture is cooled, microwave the prepared gelatin for 15 seconds. Whisk it into the salted caramel mixture.
  • Whip the remaining cream until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the salted caramel mixture, and then carefully pour the mousse over top of the butterscotch layer in your springform pan. Spread it evenly and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before completing the final layer.
  • For the ganache, heat the cream to a low simmer and pour it over the chocolate chips in a small bowl. Whisk the mixture until it is smooth and the chocolate is fully melted. Pour the ganache over top of the salted caramel layer, and gently spread it to the edges of the pan.
  • Refrigerate the finished cake overnight or for at least four hours before removing it from the pan.
  • Remove the cake from the pan, carefully unwrap it, and transfer to a plate for serving.
  • For an extra wow factor, beat some heavy cream until stiff peaks form, and fold in powdered sugar until it reaches your desired level of sweetness. Add it to the top of your cake. Slice the cake with a sharp knife and keep any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Cut this into small slices, because it’s a very rich cake with a lot going on. One friend suggested you could take the same components and layer it into parfait glasses, and I thought that was an excellent idea, too.

I don’t normally take on huge recipes like this one, but it was fun for a change of pace. The leftovers weren’t a bad bonus, either.

This piece first appeared in print on Dec. 1, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Dessert

Make their tummies ‘rum’ble with tropical cake

Cuban rum cake is a light, flavorful dessert with fresh whipped cream, toasted coconut, pineapple, and of course, a homemade rum sauce that is brushed over the entire cake.
Cuban rum cake is a light, flavorful dessert with fresh whipped cream, toasted coconut, pineapple, and of course, a homemade rum sauce that is brushed over the entire cake.

We were able to spend a fantastic evening with some great folks this past week for a celebration of Christmas in July.

We hosted the meal last year, so it was our friends’, Adam and Samantha’s, turn to do it this year. They decided to celebrate the theme of the night by creating an entire menu of Cuban food.

As will be no surprise, I volunteered to make dessert, and after lots of online research, I decided to try a light, fruity cake—with a bit of rum included for good measure.

This recipe comes from the company site for Imperial Sugar and was written by Chef Eddy Van Damme, who has the nickname of the “Prince of Pastry.” You can find the original post at https://www.imperialsugar.com/recipes/cuban-rum-cake. I adjusted some of the ingredients a bit in my version.

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Cuban Rum Cake

Cuban rum cake is a light, flavorful dessert with fresh whipped cream, toasted coconut, pineapple, and of course, a homemade rum sauce that is brushed over the entire cake.
Course Dessert
Keyword cake, coconut, Cuban dessert, Cuban food, dark rum, orange juice, pineapple, vanilla, whipped cream

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter softened
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 8 egg yolks
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk or milk with a touch of vinegar
  • 2 cups cake flour
  • 1 cup sweetened coconut

Rum Sauce

  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/8 cup orange juice
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup light or dark rum I used dark
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Filling

  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 8 ounces pineapple sliced or in chunks in juice

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Prepare two eight- or nine-inch round cake pans by buttering and flouring them. Set them aside.
  • In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, for about 30 seconds each.
  • Beat in the salt, baking powder and vanilla. Beat in the buttermilk and cake flour, alternating between them.
  • Split the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  • Let the cakes cool for at least 10 minutes before removing them from the pans by inverting them onto plates and setting them aside to cool completely.
  • Turn the oven off, but spread the coconut on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper and place it in the oven for about five minutes or until the coconut is lightly browned. Set it aside.
  • For the rum sauce, combine the butter, orange juice, sugar, rum and vanilla in a sauce pan, and bring the mixture to a boil, whisking constantly. Let it boil for two minutes, then remove from heat. Set the mixture aside to cool.
  • When the cakes are cooled, prepare the filling. Beat the cream, vanilla and sugar on high speed until stiff peaks form. If necessary, prepare the pineapple by cutting it into bite-sized chunks.
  • To assemble the cake, place the first cake on your serving plate and prick the entire surface with a toothpick.
  • Brush half of the rum sauce onto the cake, letting it soak in. (This might take a moment.) Spread about one-fourth of the whipped cream onto the cake and top with the pineapple. Place the second cake on top and repeat the process with the rum sauce before coating the entire cake with the rest of the whipped cream. Finish the cake off by sprinkling it with the toasted coconut.
  • Keep the cake refrigerated until you’re ready to serve.

This was absolutely delicious and received rave reviews from the group. There wasn’t much left of the cake, despite all of us overindulging beforehand on an amazing meal. It had great tropical flavor, and even if the rum part scares you a bit, I’d say go for it. It definitely did not feature a “boozy” taste. Instead, the rum amplified the orange and pineapple flavors.

There are few things better than sharing a good meal with a good group, and this weekend was no exception. As summer is starting to wind down, it was a wonderful way to wrap up a busy July.

This piece first appeared in print on Aug. 4, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Dessert

Reese’s cake nearly got the ‘butter’ of me this time

With a boxed cake mix and only a few frosting ingredients, this cake boasts the flavors of a Reese's candy bar.
With a boxed cake mix and only a few frosting ingredients, this cake boasts the flavors of a Reese’s candy bar.

There are so many neat videos online that give an insider’s view of all kinds of professions.

For some reason, I can get absolutely lost watching someone power wash a driveway, paint fingernails or frost cakes and cookies.

And then I have it in my head that I could also easily accomplish any of these seemingly mundane tasks—especially if it deals with the kitchen.

I think that’s why I got especially frustrated this past weekend when I could not, for the life of me, properly frost the chocolate cake I was planning on taking for a family lunch. The thick peanut butter frosting only wanted to stick to my knife, my hands or itself, but it was completely immune to sticking to my soft cake.

It was one of those moments where Joey came in the kitchen, asked how things were going, and then slowly backed away and out of the room after seeing the frustration on my face.

So, the bad news is that I didn’t make a beautiful, video-worthy cake this week. It was definitely not winning any beauty contests. The good news, though, is it tasted pretty darn good, and despite being tough to frost, it actually came together really quickly.

The recipe I used came from the blog “Oh, Bite It!” You can find the original post at https://www.ohbiteit.com/2014/03/inside-out-reeses-peanut-butter-cake.html. I didn’t adjust any of the ingredients, because this was incredibly easy, but I will give you some ideas on how to better frost this cake in my version below.

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Reese’s Cake

With a boxed cake mix and only a few frosting ingredients, this cake boasts the flavors of a Reese's candy bar.
Course Dessert
Keyword cake mix, chocolate cake, creamy peanut butter, easy dessert, layered cake, peanut butter, powdered sugar, Reese’s

Ingredients

  • 1 chocolate cake mix and ingredients from package
  • 2 cups creamy peanut butter
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions

  • Prepare your cake mix in two eight-inch, round cake pans, according to the package directions. Set them aside to cool.
  • In a glass mixing bowl, beat the peanut butter, powdered sugar and salt until it is fluffy and well combined.
  • Pop the bowl into the microwave for a few seconds (start with 20) to thin the frosting out a bit before frosting your cake.
  • Place one of your cakes onto a plate and slather a thin layer of frosting on top. Top with the other cake and cover the whole layer cake to your liking with the rest of the frosting. If it’s still difficult to work with, microwave it just a bit more. Just be careful not to make it so runny that you have the opposite problem to thick frosting.
  • Serve your cake immediately or store in an airtight container.

This really was tasty. I used a devil’s food mix, but I also could have easily just used my from-scratch chocolate dump cake recipe that I love, if I wanted to.

At our family dinner, my four-year-old niece informed me that she only wanted to eat the frosting. Considering the amount of candy I watched her eat that afternoon, I don’t think leaving the cake on her plate was a bad decision.

But I must admit I was a little grumpy as I watched her scrape all of my hard-fought icing off of the cake. “If only she knew what I went through to get that on there,” I thought.

But then I remembered she’s four. You don’t get much sympathy from a four year old.

This piece first appeared in print on April 28, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Dessert

Pre’pear’ something different for dessert this week

A pear walnut cake with honey and cinnamon buttercream frosting is a tasty dessert that looks beautiful on any table.
A pear walnut cake with honey and cinnamon buttercream frosting is a tasty dessert that looks beautiful on any table.

The problem with writing this column every week is that sometimes I get a little too overzealous.

I assume I can conquer any recipe the first time, and there are definitely moments where I crash and burn.

That was the case recently when I tried to make poached pears to go along with the cake I’m sharing with you this week. The original recipe called for poaching fresh pears and using them to decorate the top of the cake. Although I gave it the ol’ college try, that step didn’t make it into my final recipe. I just couldn’t get my poaching liquid to behave the way it was supposed to.

The good news is that the cake I made still ended up being delicious, and there was never a need for poached pears in addition to the honey cinnamon buttercream I slathered on it. I’ll have to save pear poaching for another day, I guess.

This cake recipe came from the blog “Liv for Cake.” You can find the original at https://livforcake.com/pear-walnut-cake-honey-buttercream/. I added extra cinnamon and vanilla in my version. And then I opted to use Amy Johnson’s honey buttercream recipe from her site, “She Wears Many Hats.” You can find her post at https://shewearsmanyhats.com/cinnamon-honey-buttercream-frosting-recipe/. I added extra cinnamon in mine.

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Pear Walnut Honey Cake

A pear walnut cake with honey and cinnamon buttercream frosting is a tasty dessert that looks beautiful on any table.
Course Dessert
Keyword buttercream, cake, cinnamon, honey, layered cake, pears, vanilla, walnuts

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup butter softened
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 1/4 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 cup buttermilk or milk with a touch of vinegar
  • 1 cup walnuts chopped
  • 2 cups fresh pears cored and shredded

Frosting Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups butter softened
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup honey

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and prepare two eight-inch round cake pans by greasing and flouring them and lining the bottoms with parchment paper.
  • In a stand mixer or mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar for several minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
  • Add in the flour, baking powder, salt cinnamon and buttermilk, beating until the mixture is well combined.
  • Fold in the walnuts and pears and distribute the batter evenly between your prepared pans.
  • Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of your cakes comes out clean.
  • Let the cakes cool until you can handle the pans, and then turn them out onto a cooling rack and let them cool completely before frosting them.
  • For the frosting, beat the butter in a stand mixer or mixing bowl until it is light and fluffy. Beat in the salt and cinnamon.
  • Beat in the powdered sugar a bit at a time, until the mixture is smooth. Finish out by beating in the honey, and then beat on high for another couple of minutes until the mixture is fluffy.
  • To assemble the cake, spread a healthy amount of frosting on the top of one of the cooled cakes, and stack the next one on top. Use the rest of the frosting to coat the entire outside. Decorate with more walnuts, if desired.

This cake was really tasty, with all the flavors melding nicely. I especially liked the honey addition.

The buttercream was also delicious, and if you’re looking for a good substitute for the cinnamon butter a lot of steakhouses serve, this actually reminded me of that quite a bit.

And no one even questioned whether my cake needed more decorations—especially after we quickly demolished every last slice. After all, the best compliment a baker can get isn’t oohs and ahs at the presentation—it’s the empty plates afterwards.

This piece first appeared in print on Feb. 3, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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