Cake Recipes

Basic Pound Cake Recipe
 
Ingredients
• 4 cups cake flour (sift before measuring)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups butter
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 10 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation
Preheat oven to 325F and grease and flour tube cake pan. Sift flour and salt together. In separate bowl, add cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs one a time, betting well between each addition. Add half the sifted flour and salt, beating about 1 minute, then the remaining dry mixture plus remaining ingredients. Beat for another minute. Pour into tube cake pan and bake 1 hour, 20 minutes. Immediately upon removal from oven, turn cake onto wire rack for cooling.

All American Chocolate Cake Recipe
 
Ingredients
• 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
• 1 cup shortening
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups cake flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 4 eggs

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans. Using a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt chocolate and shortening. Stir constantly over low heat until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients, then add chocolate mixture, milk and eggs, and beat until smooth. Spread batter in prepared cake pans. Bake 30-35 minutes; a toothpick inserted in center should come out clean. Cool 5 minutes in pans, then turn out onto wire rack to complete cooling.

Carrot Cake Recipe
 
Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cups salad oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 3 cups peeled, grated carrots
• 1 8-oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Icing
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons vanilla
• 2 tablespoons grated orange rind
• 1 16-oz. box powdered sugar

Preparation
Preheat oven to 325F. Combine oil and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add dry ingredients to oil mixture, stirring thoroughly. Add carrots and pineapple, then fold in pecans. Pour into well-greased tube pan. Bake 1 hour, 15 minutes. Allow to cool.

When cool, make frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter until creamy and fluffy. Add remaining ingredients. Spread evenly onto cake.

Coffee Cake Recipe
 
Ingredients
• 4 1/2 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups milk

Topping
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350F. Sift flour, then add baking powder, salt, sugar, and sift all together three times. Cut butter into dry ingredients. Separately, beat egg whites until still, add to mixture, then add yolks and milk, beating after each addition. Pour batter into two square pans that have been greased. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove and crumble topping mixture over cakes; replace in oven for another 10 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cinnamon Cake Recipe
 
Ingredients
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preparation
Preheat oven to 375F. Grease layer cake pans. Cream butter and sugar, then add beaten egg yolks and beat well. Add milk and mix. Sift dry ingredients together, then add to mixture. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely before icing.

Apple Spice Cake Recipe
 
Ingredients
• 2 large tart green apples, chopped (3 cups)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup margarine
• Whipped cream (optional)

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and lightly flour 8x8x2 baking pan.

Combine first four ingredients in one bowl. In another bowl, combine next five ingredients. Mix well. In large bowl of electric mixer, at high speed, beat next three ingredients until thick (about 5 minutes). Gradually add in margarine. At low speed, beat in flour mixture until smooth. Fold in fruit mixture until well-blended.

Spoon into prepared baking pan. Bake 45 minutes. Cool completely on wire rack. Cut into squares and served with whipped cream, if desired.

Wedding Fruit Cake

This is the traditional dark rich fruit cake.

1 pound shortening
1 pound brown sugar
1 cup molasses
12 egg yolks, well beaten
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons cinnamon
4 teaspoons allspice
1 1/2 teaspoons mace
1/3 cup flour
3 pounds seeded raisins, cut in pieces
2 pounds sultana raisins
1 1/2 pounds candied citron, sliced thin and cut into strips
1 pound dried currants
1/4 cup chopped preserved lemon rind
1/2 cup chopped preserved orange rind
1 cup brandy
4 ounces chocolate melted (optional)
12 egg whites, beaten stiff
1/4 teaspoon baking soda, dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water

Line 4 large loaf pans with aluminum foil. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

Cream shortening until light and fluffy. Beat in the brown sugar little by little. Stir in molasses and egg yolks.

Sift together 3 cups flour, cinnamon, allspice, mace and nutmeg. Add to the first mixture. Mix 1/3 cup flour, seeded raisins, sultana raisins, citron, currants, preserved lemon rinds and orange rinds. Add to the batter. Add brandy and chocolate. Fold in egg whites. Just before putting the batter in the pans, add the baking soda dissolved in the water. Fill the pans and cover tops closely with aluminum foil. On the oven bottom place several shallow pans filled with hot water to a depth of 1 inch. Set the pans of fruit cake on the shelf above. Bake 3 hours, remove the pans of water, and remove the aluminum foil from the tops of the cakes.

Bake 1 1/2 hours more to dry out the cakes.

 

Icing Recipies

ROYAL ICING WITH EGG WHITES (Use immediately; should not be stored.)

• 3 Egg whites; room temperature

• 1 teas Vanilla

FOR ADDED STRENGTH ADD: 1/2 teas Cream of tartar 1 lb Confectioners' sugar (more or less)

Beat egg whites until light and fluffy. Add vanilla slowly and beat in. Add cream of tartar; beat. Add confectioners' sugar gradually while beating on low speed (for less air holes in icing) for 7-10 minutes. Keep frosting covered at all times with a damp cloth to keep crust from forming.

NOTES: This icing holds its shape and decorations can be made days in advance of use.

TEST CONSISTENCY: Squeeze some out in a bag with tip #2. If too thin the line will spread; add more sugar and beat. If too thick the icing won't come out of the tip or will be hard to squeeze out; add drops of water. For the use of small decorating tips such as number 1, 0, or 00; you should make the icing as Royal Icing #3. DO NOT ever fill bags over 1/4 full when using tiny tip openings. Larger eggs require more sugar.

CHOCOLATE ICING

• 1/3 cup Cocoa
• 1 lb Confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 cup Margarine
• 1/2 cup Evaporated milk
• 1/2 teas Vanilla

Mix cocoa with the powder sugar. Warm remaining ingredients until margarine melts.. Slowly add cocoa mixture and beat until creamy. NOTE: (The last time I made it I only had a small amount of evaporated milk left, so added skim milk to make the 1/2 cup, and it still turned out good.)

COFFEE CREAM FROSTING

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 7 to 8 Tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 Tablespoons powdered instant coffee

Place the butter in a mixing bowl and cream it until it is light, using a rotary mixer. Add the salt and gradually add the powdered sugar as you continue mixing. Add the milk as the mixture thickens so as to keep the icing spreadable. Add the vanilla and coffee and continue to beat until all the sugar is well absorbed. Spread over the cake. Some of the icing may be placed in a pastry bag and piped over the cake in decorative patterns.

VANILLA ICING

• 1/4 cup Margarine
• 1/4 cup Half and half
• 1 teas Vanilla
• 1 cup Brown sugar
• 2 cup Confectioners' sugar

Mix margarine, half and half and brown sugar and bring to a boil. Cook 5 minutes. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Drizzle over cake.

BUTTERCREAM

• 3 Egg yolks 2 tb Sugar
• 1/2 cup Whipping cream
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1 teas Vanilla extract
• 1 cup Unsalted butter; room temperature
• 1/4 cup Confectioners' sugar

WHISK YOLKS AND SUGAR TOGETHER in a mixing bowl until smooth. Combine cream, milk and vanilla in a pan, place over high heat. As soon as mixture boils, remove from heat and slowly pour over the yolks in bowl, stirring. Replace mixture into pan, place over low heat and cook, stirring constantly, with a wooden spoon. When the mixture has a consistency that coats the spoon, remove from the heat and pour into a bowl. Be very careful not to overcook or the yolks will curdle. Continue to stir as the mixture cools. Cool to room temperature. Place the butter and confectioners' sugar in mixer bowl and cream together. Slowly add the cooled cream mixture until you have achieved a light, creamy frosting consistency. Makes 2 Cups.

NEVER FAIL CARAMEL ICING

• 1 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1/2 cup Butter or margarine
• 3/4 cup Evaporated milk
• 1/2 teas Vanilla
• 1 lb Firm Nestles caramel loaf * $2.99 per lb at Sugarcraft June 97

Cook together sugar, butter and milk until it will for a soft ball (236 ). Remove mixture from heat and immediately add caramel (in pieces). Continue to stir hot mixture until all the caramel is dissolved; add vanilla. Cool and spread on cake. Is delicious on jam cakes. Note: I tried this and it must be spread very thinly, as it tends to "pile" at base of cake.

LEMON BUTTER FROSTING

• 1 teas Lemon rind; grated
• 6 tb Butter
• 3 cup Confectioners' sugar; sifted
• 1/4 cup Lemon juice; approx.
• 1 teas Salt

Add lemon rind to butter; cream well Add part of the sugar gradually, blending after each addition. Add remaining sugar, alternately with lemon juice, until spreadable consistency. Beat thoroughly after each addition. Add salt. Makes enough frosting to cover tops and sides of two 9-inch layers or tops and sides two 8 x 8 x 2-inch layers.

DIET-CREAMY FROSTING

• 1/2 cup Non-fat cottage cheese; sieve 1/8 teas Salt 1/2 tb Diet margarine, melted 1/2 cup Equal-Sugar twin
• 1 teas Vanilla

Sieve cottage cheese through strainer to smooth. Mix all ingredients. Beat until smooth. Frosts one cake.

CHOCOLATE RUM GLAZE

• 4 oz Semisweet Chocolate coating * 6 tb Butter 1 tb Light corn syrup
• 1 tb Dark rum (optional)
In heavy saucepan on low heat, melt broken chocolate with butter, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in corn syrup and rum. Place torte upside down on a rack over tray to catch excess glaze. Spread a very thin layer of glaze over top and sides of torte to set surface. Chill 15 minutes to firm glaze. Re-heat remaining glaze to thin and pour over top and sides of torte. When glaze is firm, remove cake from rack to large plate. Using chocolate shaver, * shave chocolate to decorate top and sides, if desired. For shiny glaze, store cake at room temperature until serving time.

 

 

Baking Tips

Cake Pans

by Nina Romanov

Cake pans....the secret behind every successful cake. My husband tells me that if I am the most luscious cake of his life. Well, who am I to disagree with him as long as he is happy being my cake pan?

When we were shopping for our wedding decorations, wedding dresses and wedding cakes, we gave a decent thought to the wedding cake pans. I would suggest that whenever you go for it chose one which has money back guarantee and warrantees. A one stop cake shop online or a retail cake shop will have the best deals in cake pans, with interesting varieties put to effect.

We had to choose from a lot of cake pans. Look at the variety we had with respect to the wedding cake pans. We finally chose an aluminum cake pan for long lasting baking performance. If you want to know the size it was 11 3/4 x 11 3/4 x 2 in. deep. It could be used for a lot of things like casseroles, desserts etc. We baked the wedding cake traditionally courtesy our family chef, from the same wedding cake pan.

Of course on our wedding Mr. Gillian, (my nephews friend; he loves cakes a lot and believes that cake pans are more important than cakes) gifted us with a wedding cake pan. It plays a stellar role in the kitchen. It has a smart design and it is non sticky as well. It has a double coating and does not make the food messy. You should check out the long handles for lifting the can without causing any discomfort.

I have been intrigued by the subject of wedding cake pans. I recommend most of my friends and people I know to check out the best deals on the web for them. It contains exhaustive information and comparative features of every cake can, that in the end you will feel baked enough. But seriously speaking, I have used some of them, and so has my chef. Our experiences say that we should go for one which is durable, versatile and is easy on your cooking.

Check out the words from my chefs mouth: If your wedding cake is what it is, it is because of your wedding cake pan.
Would you like to learn more about cakes? See hundreds of wedding cake pictures, read some more cake tips, find cake toppers and other supply at CakeChannel.com See you there!