YUM! You tell me we are making pancakes and my household gets super excited! I made so many of these delicious treats I have them wrapped individually and frozen for when my kids need a quick breakfast treat :D My boys - all 3 of them love pancakes and who could resist making breakfast - the most important meal of the day.
I ended up adding strawberries to my classical pancakes and then made a strawberry-wine (non alcoholic) reduction maple syrup. Talk about delicious. I could have used the syrup over a banana sundae!! I'm not going to lie though - I will probably make this syrup again with my wine I have in the fridge instead of the cooking wine. I bet it will taste great and to be honest a lot of the alcohol will cook off in the pan.
Either way though - great pick from Jesse. If you want the recipe for either the pancakes or the syrup or both - you can go to her
BLOG and find everything there!! Thanks Jesse for being a great host this week! This was a major hit in my house!!!
Here are a few pictures from my baking the pancakes and syrup. For some reason I ended up adding a little milk to make my batter a little thinner because my buttermilk was being obnoxious and made my batter thick. All-in-all though the pancakes were wonderful!
Classic Pancakes w/ Strawberries!
Sweet treat for my boys!!! They devoured them!
Strawberry-wine reduction syrup!
Frozen strawberries being cooked down.
A little sweet red non-alcoholic cooking wine added and reduced to make a reduction :D
Add the maple syrup and let simmer and it's delicious!!
Well it's my turn to host this week and I'm going to make this short and sweet because I am borrowing my Aunt Gayla's computer (thank you by the way). I do have pictures I will add when I get our internet up and running.
I chose Chocolate Blackout Cake for this week's recipe and you can find it on page 303 on America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book. I chose this recipe because it has been my husband's birthday this week and he really enjoyed it. :D
Chocolate Blackout Cake
Serves 8-10
Be sure to give the pudding and the cake enough time to cool or you'll end up with runny pudding and gummy cake.
PUDDING
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups half-and-half
1 cup whole milk
6 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
CAKE
3/4 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder, plus extra dusting
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons 91 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup strong brewed coffee, room temp
1 cup buttermilk, room temp
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. FOR THE PUDDING: Whisk the granulated sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in a medium saucepan and slowly whisk in the half-and-half and milk. Bring the mix to a simmer over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens, 2-3 minutes. Stir in the chocolate and cook, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth, about 1 minute. Off the heat, stir in the vanilla. Transfer the pudding to a large bowl and press plastic wrap directly on the surface. Refrigerate the pudding until cold, about 4 hours.
2. FOR THE CAKE: Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease two 8 inch cake pans, then dust with cocoa powder and line the bottoms with parchment paper (see page 2810. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.
3. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in 3/4 coup of the cocoa and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Off the heat whisk in the coffee, buttermilk, and sugars until dissolved. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla, then slowly whisk in the flour mixture until no streaks remain. (The batter will be very loose)
4. Give the batter a final stir with a rubber spatula to make sure it is thoroughly combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and gently tap the pans on the counter to settle the batter. Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 30-35 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking.
5. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Run a small knife around the edge of the pans then flip them out onto a wire rack. Peel off the parchment paper, flip the cakes right side up and let cool completely before filling and frosting, about 2 hours.
6. Line the edges of a cake platter with strips of parchment paper to keep the platter clean while you assemble the cake. Slice each cake into two even layers using a long serrated knife (see page 287). Following the photo, crumble one of the cake layers into medium-sized crumbs.
7. Place one of the cake layers on the platter. Spread 1 cup of the pudding over the cake right to the edges. top with a second cake layer and spread with another 1 cup pudding. Place the remaining cake layer on top and press lightly to adhere. Frost the cake with the remaining pudding. Sprinkle the cake crumbs evenly over the top and press them onto the sides of cake. Remove the parchment strips from the platter before serving.
I really enjoyed making this cake even though it gave me some fits. But I got through it and it made me excited to start baking again :D If you tried this and loved it I'm glad. If you didn't like it - I'm sorry :( I hope you enjoy it though if you decide to make it.
Happy Baking!
Where's the Babka?
I don't know?
Someone is slacking and is a no show!
I don't have a mixer
And I feel like a loser
But I can tell you that sooner or later
I will have that mixer.
hahah Nice poem huh! I would have loved to make the Babka this week but since I don't have a standing mixer I didn't even want to chance it by hand. I could have but with little ones I don't have the time to sit and knead for a half hour or so! haha They would go nuts!
So I am going to put this on my "to-bake" list for the future and hopefully Mother's Day will bring me a mixer after we get moved :D Cross your fingers.
If you would like to see the delicious Babka's that were made this week check out my friends on my Baking Group tab. Michelle was this week's host and she did a wonderful job! You can see her babka and the recipe and directions on her blog. Thanks for picking a good recipe Michelle. I promise I will make it at a later time and repost on here!
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