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Posts Tagged ‘cake’

Maple Sour Cream Bundt Cake with Vanilla Bean Bourbon Glaze

Posted in Bundt Cake, Cake, Dairy, Dessert, tagged , , , , , , , on May 9, 2013 | 14 Comments »

maple sour cream bundt cake on overtime cook

This post is going to be very short, but it’s totally worth it because I have a fabulous new bundt cake recipe to share with you today!

My awesome friend BL came to my house for Shabbat recently, and in her honor, I knew I had to come up with a delicious cake to serve. One of her favorite dessert flavors is maple, so my mind naturally went there. Add in some sour cream (or tofutti sour cream, if you are so inclined) for richness, and you are left with one of the most delicious bundt cakes I’ve come up with in a while! If you are looking for a delicious, simple, and very pretty cake, try this. It’s dense and pound cake-like, but with a wonderfully different flavor. You’ll totally love it!

If you are looking for a dairy cake recipe for the upcoming holiday, try this with butter and sour cream. If you want a non dairy option, sub those out with margarine and tofutti sour cream – the cake will still be fabulous.

maple sour cream bundt cake 1

Maple Sour Cream Bundt Cake:

By Miriam Pascal, OvertimeCook.Com

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine

1 cup sugar

5 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup pure maple syrup (for best results do not use pancake syrup)

1/2 cup sour cream

2 cups flour

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325. Spray a bundt pan well with floured baking spray and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter/margarine and sugar and beat until smooth.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well to combine after each addition.

Add the vanilla extract and baking powder, and beat to combine.

In a small bowl, whisk together the maple syrup and sour cream until somewhat smooth. (It may still have some pieces, but that’s fine)

Turn the mixer to low speed, and add about a third of the flour. With the mixer still running, add half of the maple/sour cream mixture, then another third of the flour, the remaining maple mixture, and finish off with the rest of the flour. Beat until combined, but don’t over-mix.

Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake at 325 for about an hour, until a tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Set aside to cool fully before glazing.

Vanilla Bean Bourbon Glaze:

By Miriam Pascal, OvertimeCook.Com

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon maple syrup

1 Tablespoon bourbon

1 Tablespoon oil

1 Tablespoon boiling water

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (sub 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract if you don’t have it, but reduce the water by a teaspoon)

toasted pecans, optional, for decorating

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients except pecans in a bowl and stir until combined. Drizzle over cooled cake. If desired, sprinkle toasted pecans over the cake immediately after drizzling.

Enjoy!

maple sour cream bundt cake 3

Thanks for reading! Make sure to come back soon, because I have one more really awesome dairy treat – perfect as a last minute idea – to share with you before Shavuot!  -Miriam

PS – What’s everyone cooking up for the holiday? I’d love to hear your ideas! (And of course, if you’re making anything from this blog!)

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Mini Red Velvet Bundt Cakes with Cream Cheese Glaze

Posted in Bundt Cake, Cake, Dairy, Dessert, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 10, 2013 | 26 Comments »

Mini Red Velvet Bundt Cakes

Hey friends! Long time no speak, huh? I would totally apologize for my long absence, but I had such a good reason that I am not going to even bother. Plus I might just do it again. I am not going to go into details, but I will say that if you’re a reader of Ami Magazine, you are in for a huge treat. (Speaking of Ami, did y’all catch my gorgeous cookies on the cover last week?!)

Anywho. Let’s talk about the main reason you’re here: cake! Specifically, these gorgeous little bundt cakes.

I first made these cakes for the charity party I worked on recently. They were a hit, but sadly I didn’t get to photograph them.

Then I made these cakes on Hannukah when my whole family was around. Again, it was a hit, but sadly I didn’t have a chance to take pictures. I knew I had to make the cake again to photograph it, but I don’t like to bake the same thing too many times, so I didn’t think that was going to happen too soon.

Then my cousin and his family came to stay at my house for a couple of days. His adorable daughter Rose wanted to bake with me, and I had just the idea to make an eight year old girl’s dreams come true. I pulled out my humongous box of colorful sprinkles, sugar, icing, and other decorating supplies. You can all probably imagine how her eyes widened in glorious delight when she saw the selection in front of her. She had such a fun time choosing one thing to use in baking, but after about 20 minutes, she came back to the one I knew she would pick. It was the same one my nieces always pick, and the same one any little girl would choose in her spot. It’s a multi-pack of pink and red sugar, sprinkles and heart shaped confetti. When I saw her choice, I knew these red velvet cakes would be on the menu. Not only are they delicious, but they looked beautiful with her choice of decor.

And in the spirit of full disclosure, I wouldn’t let her decorate all of them. I told her I wanted a chance, but you all know what was going through my mind, right? Photo-shoot. Yep. Bad cousin, good cousin, it’s all very confusing.

But at least we had cake!

Mini Red Velvet Bundt Cakes 2

Red Velvet Bundt Cake

Adapted from Kiss My Bundt, via LA Times

Ingredients: 

1 1/4 cups canola oil

1 cup buttermilk or soured (soy) milk

2 eggs

2 Tablespoons red food coloring

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a large bundt pan or mini bundt pans with floured baking spray (or regular spray and flour) and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and cocoa powder.

Add the dry ingredients to the mixer, in about four batches (so the batter doesn’t form clumps).

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. If using mini bundts, fill each one about three fourths full.

Bake at 350 until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. About 45 minutes for a full size bundt, or 18-20 minutes for a mini bundt.

Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Cream Cheese Glaze:

Ingredients:

2 ounces cream cheese (tofutti works fine)

1 1/4 cups confectioner’s sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon milk

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, stirring until smooth.

Drizzle glaze over cooled bundt cakes.

Enjoy!


 Mini Red Velvet Bundt Cakes 3

Thank you all for stopping by! Hope everyone’s new year has been amazing so far! -Miriam

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Primary Colored Dessert Table for Charity Event

Posted in Dessert, Life on the side, Party, Tutorial/How-To, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on November 27, 2012 | 17 Comments »

On Saturday night, my amazing sister-in-law hosted a charity party for an amazing organization called Rofeh Cholim Cancer Society, or RCCS. They are an incredible organization that provides an array of services for families in my community that are dealing with cancer, including financial support, emotional support, insurance subsidies and advocacy, tuition grants, and a lot more. For those who don’t know, they are currently holding a huge fundraising Chinese Auction, with local showings hosted by women in the community. My sister-in-law is awesome that way, so she hosted a showing of the auction in her neighborhood. Naturally, I stepped in to bake.

I figured I would show y’all what I made, for two reasons. Firstly, I have gotten some excellent feedback on my previous party posts, so if it helps someone planning a party, I am thrilled to post and help you out. (That’s me, Ms. Helpful. Didn’t you know?) But I have another reason, and that is, that I really hope you will consider clicking over to the RCCS website and making a donation. You can donate directly, or purchase tickets for their Chinese Auction. Personally, I put in for the trip to Israel. And the cash. Note: I do not get anything for referring you to the site, but it’s a very worthy cause so I hope you will donate!

Anyway, here’s the dessert table:

 

Let’s start at the left.

First, there’s mini chocolate cupcakes. Really basic recipe. Here’s one you can use. It’s hard to see from the picture, but I baked half in bright red cupcake liners, and half in bright blue. Then I colored half of the frosting yellow and half green, and alternated based on the liner color. Oh, by the way, for the frosting I used my new favorite frosting, which is the marshmallow frosting from my Snickerdoodle Cupcakes.  Great texture and it pipes really nicely. As usual, I piped the frosting with a Wilton 1M tip.

Next, we have mini cheesecakes. I haven’t posted this recipe, but I need to, because they are super delicious, and everyone goes crazy for them. I put a homemade strawberry sauce on top of them, just  to make them more delicious.

Next to the cheesecakes I have cookies that I rolled in colorful sugar. I actually used a different dough, but if you want to make these, try the dough from this cookie recipe.

Behind those, in the cookie jars, I have some new, soon to be featured either here or on my magazine column cookies. They were awesome, that’s all I’m sayin’.

Next to those are the muffins baked by someone else. Because I wouldn’t bake plain ole chocolate chip muffins now, would I? Behind them though, are the amazing Pecan Pie Topped Fudge Pies. Remember those? Yeah, they are awesome.

Next to that we had fruit. For poor dieting souls like me. Yep, I couldn’t (and didn’t!) eat any of this stuff!

And then behind it we had one of my favorite things: Mini Red Velvet Bundt Cakes! With Cream Cheese Glaze! I know, awesome, right? Here’s a close up, to help you drool:

These definitely deserve their own post, so stay tuned for that!

Lastly on this table, there were adorable looking mint truffles. I totally forgot to put them out, then just as the guests were coming I pulled them out and stuck ‘em on the table. Whew.

Now, let’s move on to the next table. I thought this was super cool, and so did the guests:

 

Yep, a DIY Hot Cocoa Bar! I think the picture is pretty self explanatory. It looked super cool, don’tcha think?

 

And lastly, I made a “door prize” for the guests to take home. Again, these need their own post, but here is a sneak preview:

 

The theme for the event is Twister (think Life’s Twists and Turns), so I figured this decor worked well! I did these with fondant, and will post a step by step tutorial soon.

Anyway, hope you get inspired for your next party, and hope you all consider a contribution!

Thanks for stopping by! Come back soon, I have a fabulous (and healthy!) recipe to share. Oh, and don’t forget to enter my cookbook giveaway! -Miriam

 

 

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Homemade Cinnamon Buns with Cream Cheese Frosting

Posted in Bread, Breakfast, Cake, Dessert, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on October 15, 2012 | 29 Comments »

Who wants to talk about my favorite thing in the world?

Wait, let’s back up.

Y’know how I’m always talking about how I bake all these insanely delicious treats without tasting them, because my life is basically one crazy long diet? Well. I always says that I can totally resist eating my treats when dieting. I also say that there’s one treat that I just can’t resist. Which brings us right back to my favorite thing in the entire world.

So when I took a little dieting break for the holidays, it suddenly occurred to me. Duh. I can make my favorite treat in the world without torturing myself by not eating any.

So I made them. Cinnamon Buns. With cream cheese frosting frosting slathered thickly over it. Are you drooling yet? No? Try closing your eyes and smelling the gloriously heart-stopping scent of these cinnamon buns baking in your oven. Now imagine the frosting dripping down the sides of the warm bun. It’s a taste of heaven, nothing more or less.

Ok, and now a disclaimer, aka my attempt at showing you that I’m totally honest with you folks when I tell you that a recipe is insanely easy. This recipe isn’t easy. It involves three separate waits of an hour each. It involves rolling a lot of dough, very thinly. It involves making enough cinnamon buns to feed a (very grateful) army. But it is so, so worth it. One more word of advice: don’t start these at 11 PM like I did. Unless you enjoy staying up past 4 am. 

 

What can I say other than make these. They are worth every. freaking. calorie.

Cinnamon Buns
Recipe slightly adapted from The Pioneer Woman (Note: I used a different glaze than her’s)

Ingredients:
I actually made these dairy-free. The diary free options are listed below.

4 (32 oz) cups milk or soy milk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 packages dry yeast(.25 ounces each), or 4 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
9 cups flour, divided
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1 scant (slightly less than full) teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups melted butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
Cinnamon

Instructions:

In a large pot on medium heat, heat the milk, oil and sugar until almost boiling. Remove from heat and set aside for about an hour. Important note: the mixture has to cool enough, or it will be too hot for the yeast to work properly.
When the mixture is cooled to warm, sprinkle the yeast over the mixture and let it sit for about a minute.

Add 8 cups of flour and stir until just combined. (Reserve one cup for later.)

Cover the mixture with a towel and set aside in a warm place. Leave it to rise for an hour. At this point, the dough should have risen a bunch.

Add the remaining cup of flour, the baking powder and baking soda and stir to combine. The dough can be used at this point, but it’s best after being refrigerated for about an hour, or up to three days.

Preheat the oven to 375.

To assemble the rolls: divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a long rectangle, about 30×10 inches. The thinner you roll out the dough, the better the buns will be. Once the dough is rolled out, spread half of the melted butter or margarine over it. Next, sprinkle 1 cup of sugar evenly over the entire surface. Finally, sprinkle a generous amount of cinnamon over the entire thing.

Roll up the dough lengthwise, so that the roll ends up as long as the longer part of your dough rectangle. It’s important to roll it as tight as possible, because that makes the buns so much more delicious!

Cut the buns into slices, about 3/4 of an inch thick. Place them roll side down on a greased 9 inch round pan. The buns will expand so use 7-10 per pan.

Repeat with the other half of the dough.Set the prepared pans aside to rise for 20-30 minutes.

Bake the buns at 375 for 15-18 minutes, be careful not to let them get too browned. Remove from oven and set aside for 5 to 10 minutes before adding the icing.

Cream Cheese Icing for Cinnamon Buns

Ingredients
1 8-oz package of cream cheese (tofutti works well)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons milk, soy milk or rich’s whip

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until combined. Spread icing over slightly cooled cinnamon buns.

Enjoy!

Oops, did I promise diet friendly recipes coming up? Well, I’ll post those soon, but y’all have to admit that these are so worth it. Hope everyone is doing well! Come back soon. -Miriam

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Mini Chocolate Pomegranate Bundt Cakes with Pomegranate Glaze

Posted in Bundt Cake, Cake, Chocolate, Dessert, Fruit, Holiday, Seasonal, Super-Easy, tagged , , , , , , , , , on September 16, 2012 | 19 Comments »

Before we talk about the recipe I’m posting tonight, can we discuss the most amazing thing that happened? Two weeks ago, I published a recipe in the Ami magazine for a butterscotch bundt cake. I’ve been writing the column for more than half a year now, and have gotten some nice feedback before, but I was completely unprepared for this. Emails poured in from all over the world. People had made my cake and loved it, people who wanted to make my cake and had questions, and people who just plain love my column. My ego is still a little swollen, so bear with me because I’m still bragging.

Turns out, the cake was popular enough to cause butterscotch chip shortages in Kosher grocery stores all over. People were asking me on twitter, Facebook, blog comments and emails where they could possibly get their hands on a container of butterscotch chips. It’s totally weird to me that I have the power to do that…!

Anyway. Back to desserts. You didn’t think that I’d get a case of pomegranate juice from my friends over at Pom Wonderful and not come up with a dessert recipe, did you?

Of course I knew I’d have I come up with a good dessert idea. My mind went to cookies at first, but I wasn’t sure how I’d make the pomegranate flavor come through enough in a cookie. I figured cake would work better for these purposes. I had just made my (now famous) butterscotch bundt cake from my column in Ami Magazine, so I decided to make these as mini bundt cakes. Cuteness factor aside, mini bundts are a fun change from the usual.

There’s an entire cup of pomegranate juice in the cake, but the chocolate flavor is strong enough that the fruity flavor is more of an undertone. The glaze however, is exactly what the cake needs to really have a perfectly balanced flavor combination.

Note: I haven’t tried this in a full sized bundt pan, but it should work nicely. Just watch the baking time. I’d guess it would need about 40-50 minutes.

I know some of you might think that the Pomegranate time is over, now that Rosh Hashanah is behind us, but pomegranates are still plentiful, and the juice is always delicious. Trust me, this is a great cake for any time of year! Oh, and don’t forget to enter to win a case of pomegranate juice! Imagine how much cake that would make… 

Mini Chocolate Pomegranate Bundt Cakes:

Ingredients:
4 eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup oil
1 cup pomegranate juice
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 mini bundt pans well with floured baking spray. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the eggs, sugar and brown sugar until well combined. Add the vanilla extract, oil and pomegranate juice and beat to combine.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder. Slowly stir the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pans, filling the cavities about 3/4′s full.
Bake at 350 for about 17-19 minutes. Remove cakes from the oven and set aside to cool.

Pomegranate Glaze:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoons pomegranate juice

Up to 1 Tablespoon water

Instructions:

In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar and pomegranate juice. If needed, add a bit of water until you reach a drizzling consistency. Drizzle over cooled cakes.

Enjoy!

Hope you all had a fabulous week! Shana Tova to all my Jewish readers, and enjoy the cake! PS- Interested in sneak previews of my baking escapades? You should follow me on Instagram. You guessed it- my user name there is OvertimeCook! Can’t wait to connect with you! -Miriam

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S’mores Cheesecake

Posted in Cake, Cheesecake/Dairy Desserts, Chocolate, Dairy, Dessert, tagged , , , , on August 12, 2012 | 31 Comments »

Today was liberating for me. I think I always felt that something exciting such as a cheesecake needed to be made for some kind of occasion. A family get-together, a holiday, some friends coming over, or just a regular Shabbos (Sabbath) meal. Don’t worry, that hasn’t stopped me from making some delicious cheesecakes in the past.

I know what you’re thinking. This gal makes so many different kinds of desserts, they can’t all be for a special occasion. Well, they aren’t. But somehow, some desserts seem fancier than others, and I always felt they needed an occasion.

 

And that’s why today was liberating. I didn’t make this cheesecake because of any special occasion. I didn’t make this because guest were coming or because it was a holiday of sorts. No, I made this because I dreamed it up, and just had to try it out. Yeah, it was one of those light-bulb moments when I knew I had come up with a fabulous dessert idea.

Just take a look at this and you’ll understand why you shouldn’t put off making this dessert. It’s rich. It’s creamy. It’s pure decadence. Oh, and it’s a kind of s’mores. Really, could you ask for more?

S’mores Cheesecake:

Ingredients:

1 pre-made graham cracker crust

for cheesecake:

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and slightly cooled

12 ounces (1 1/2 packages) cream cheese (I used tofutti)

2 Tablespoons cocoa powder

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

to assemble:

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate

mini marshmallows

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325.

Melt chocolate over a double boiler and set aside to cool slightly. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, cocoa powder, sugar and eggs until creamy. Fold in the melted chocolate and stir to combine fully. Do not over-mix.

Pour the cheese mixture into the prepared graham cracker crust. Bake at 325 for 35-40 minutes, until just set (the middle may still be a drop jiggly). Remove from oven and set aside while you prepare the topping.

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Immediately when it is melted, spoon it over the cheesecake and spread gently with a rubber spatula. Place the marshmallows over the top (for a fancier presentation, like it is in the picture, arrange them in circles over the top.)

If you have a kitchen torch, go ahead and brown the tops of your marshmallows. If you don’t, turn your oven broiler on, and broil the marshmallows for about two minutes, turning frequently to ensure they don’t burn. (Don’t walk away from it! As my sister said, “a watched marshmallow never burns.”)

Remove cheesecake from the broiler, and refrigerate until cool. Serve cold.

Enjoy!

Thanks folks for stopping by! I’m sad that the weekend is over, but this is totally a consolation prize, isn’t it? Did you all remember to enter my giveaway? I am giving away a copy of one of my favorite cookbooks, you really want to win this one! Come back soon. -Miriam

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Zebra Bundt Cake

Posted in Bundt Cake, Cake, Chocolate, Dessert, tagged , , , on July 25, 2012 | 38 Comments »

Ever since I made that zebra cake months ago, I have been completely fascinated by the possibilities that this method allows. Zebra cheesecake, zebra cupcakes, zebra layer cake…I totally want to try all of those. Enter pinterest and the ideas seriously don’t end!

Then I saw this Zebra Bunt Cake on Bakers Royale, and I was totally infatuated. Combine zebra style with my favorite kind of cake (bundt cake, duh) and you have a gorgeous and winning dessert.

Best thing about this cake? It looks gorgeous, but it totally tastes amazing too! The zebra style does take an extra couple of minutes, but I think it’s well worth it. If you’re confused about how to get the pattern, scroll down for my step by step pictures, taken from my iphone as I formed the cake. Does anyone know the best way to get cake batter off of an iphone? Asking for a friend.

Zebra Bundt Cake

Adapted slightly from Bakers Royale

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour (or 3 cups cake flour)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided

1/2 cup cocoa powder (not dutch process)

6 Tablespoons water

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter or margarine, melted and cooled

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

5 eggs

1/2 cup milk or non-dairy milk substitute (I used rich’s whip)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a bundt pan well with baking spray (oil and flour). Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In another small bowl, mix together 1/2 cup sugar, the cocoa powder and the water. Stir until a smooth paste forms. Set aside.

In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the cooled melted butter and the remaining 2 cups sugar. Add vanilla and beat until combined.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

With the mixer on low, add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then half of the milk, then repeat until all the milk and flour have been incorporated.

Measure out two heaping cups of the mixture and mix into the bowl with the chocolate mixture. Stir to combine.

To make the zebra look: 

(It’s best to use a medium cookie scoop for both of the batters. I only had one, so I did two mini scoops of chocolate to each medium scoop of white. If you don’t have a cookie scoop just use a spoon.)

Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the white batter into the bundt pan. Spoon an equal amount of the chocolate mixture directly in the middle of the white. Next, spoon some white into the center of the chocolate. Repeat until all of the batter has been used.

Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Chocolate Glaze:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

2 Tablespoons oil

1-3 Tablespoons water

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients for the glaze together to form a drizzling consistency.

Drizzle glaze over cooled cake.

Enjoy!

Thanks everyone for stopping by! Come back soon, I have a cookbook review coming up! Also…I know, I know, I haven’t shown you folks the pictures of the party. What a bad blogger! I promise they’re coming soon! -Miriam

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Zebra Cake

Posted in Cake, Chocolate, Dessert, tagged , , on February 12, 2012 | 21 Comments »

I’ve seen this cake many times, all over the Internet. Each time, I doubted my ability to make it look as good as it did in the picture. And so this gorgeous cake sat in the back of my mental “to bake” list for months.

I’m not sure what finally pushed me to go ahead and try baking a zebra cake, but I suspect it had something to do with needing something gorgeous to photograph with my amazing new camera.

Turns out, I’m thrilled that I finally made this. Yeah, it was delicious. Yeah, it totally wowed everyone who saw it, but there’s something else. This cake was totally easy to make. You’ll have to just believe me, until you actually try it. It does take an extra couple of minutes, but they’re minutes well spent.

If you ever want to impress someone by baking a super impressive cake, go ahead and make a zebra cake.

Zebra Cake:

Slightly adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk*

1 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Optional Chocolate Glaze:

1/2 cup cream*

3/4 cup chocolate chips

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350. Cut a 9 inch circle of parchment paper and line the bottom of a 9 inch round baking pan, then spray the bottom and sides well with baking spray (with flour). Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the eggs and sugar until creamy. Add the milk, oil and extracts and stir to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly stir the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, stir until just combined. Pour two cups of the batter into a bowl and set aside.

Add the cocoa powder to the remaining batter in the mixer and stir until fully incorporated.

How to get the zebra effect:

Place three tablespoons of the white batter in the center of the prepared cake pan. Place three tablespoons of chocolate batter in the center of the white batter. The chocolate batter will push the white batter out. Repeat with the white, then the chocolate until you have finished all of the batter. You should see rings of white and chocolate batter in the pan.

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Leave cake in the pan to cool for a few minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool completely.

Important notes: Try to keep the batter as centered as possible as you work with it, because you can’t smooth the top of the cake out afterward. Also, try not to drip as you pour the batter in, as the drips will show up in the finished product.

For the optional glaze: Heat the cream in a small saucepan, bring it to a boil. When the cream is boiling, turn the flame down and add the chocolate chips and vanilla extract. Stir until mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool slightly before glazing the cake.

*Note: I substituted Rich’s Whip (Cool Whip) for both the milk in the cake and the cream in the glaze, and it worked wonderfully.

Enjoy!

Thanks for coming, hope you enjoy!

Miriam

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