Stacey Makes It

Ombre Flowers So I wanted to try that new ombre cake frosting trend.  I used whip cream here on an eggless chocolate cake I made for a potluck at work (for those egg-free individuals on my team).  Everyone was sufficiently impressed.  I was a little disappointed at the messiness of the blue/purple end, and I kinda ran out of cream, but it tasted good. Anyway... Eggless Chocolate Cake 2 c sugar 1 3/4 c flour 3/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder 1.5 tsp baking powder 1.5 tsp baking soda 1/2 c sunflower oil, organic 1 c whole milk, organic 1 c boiling water 1 tsp salt 3 tbs flax seeds Roses 2 c heavy cream 1/4c sour cream 1 tsp vanilla ½ c powdered sugar food coloring (if desired) Pre-heat oven to 350F. Soak flax seeds in milk for an hour or overnight (or use flax meal). Blend (I used a stick blender).  Mix dry ingredients. Mix in wet ingredients, with boiling water being last. Pour into cake pan (9x13).  Bake for 30 min, rotatin...

Yes, another cake. Stacey's Honey Lemon Cake Ingredients: 1 1/2c unbleached white flour, organic 1/2c whole wheat flour, organic 1/4c brown rice flour, organic 3/4c sugar, organic 1 tsp sea salt 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1c whole milk, organic 1/3c heavy cream, organic 2 eggs, organic 1/4c blood orange infused olive oil 1/4c non-fat yogurt, organic 1/4c lemon juice (about 1 medium sized lemon) zest from 1 lemon 3-4 tbs honey (I used Blueberry Honey) 9x9" square cake pan with liner First, I preheated the oven to 350F. I combined all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Then I combined the oil, eggs, yogurt, lemon juice and zest in a measuring cup and beat it with a fork.  In another measuring cup, I put the cream and milk and microwaved it until it was hot, about 125F.  Then I poured both sets of liquids into the dry ingredients and mixed gently with a silicone scraper until it was smooth and combined.  I poured everything into th...

I'm what you would call a honey junkie.  If there is honey at a farmers' market, 9 times out of 10, I will buy it.  I'm pretty sure all the honey vendors have a picture of me with a caption on it that says, "(Honey) Sucker."  If they give me a sample, I'm pretty much honey in their hands.  The 1 out of 10 times I don't buy it is probably because I don't have enough cash on me and I feel like it's wrong in some way to go home with no produce yet still weighed down by giant glass jars of heaven in syrup form. Let's just say I'm only one dimension away from being a cartoon bear stuck in a tree. I'm already chunky and yellow and enjoy tight T-shirts.  Here is some of my massive honey collection: In case anyone is curious, from top to bottom, left to right: Orange Blossom honey from the Alemany Farmers' Market - yummy and floral in a good way (vs the bad way where it tastes like soap - I'm looking at YOU, disgusting rose candy) ...

It was my boyfriend's birthday today so I thought I'd make something a little bit different.  Figured I'd try out some sort of coconut cake.  Stacey's Coconut Cake Ingredients: 1 1/2c unbleached white flour, organic 1/2c brown rice flour, organic 2 tbs cornstarch 1 1/2c sugar, organic 1 tsp salt 2 tsp baking powder 3/4c coconut flakes 1 1/2c lite coconut milk 1/4c coconut oil 1/4c canola oil 2 eggs First I preheated the oven to 350F.  Then, I mixed the dry ingredients together. I melted the coconut oil, then added it to the canola, coconut milk, and eggs and whisked everything together with a fork.  I poured the wet ingredients into the dry and mixed everything up.  I didn't want too much cake for home, since it was just my boyfriend and I eating it, so I poured about 1.5-2" of batter into a 7x7" cake pan lined with parchment paper.  I poured the rest into another pan.  You can probably pour all of it into an 8x8" or a 9x9" cake ...

Yes, I know, it's been too long.  But, every year football season happens (although this year wasn't so certain), and every year for the past four years my life gets sucked away doing work for fantasy football apps.  And yes, I also know I'm stealing many a sports nut's dream job and whining pathetically about it. So, now, my return to blogging with my first successful upside down cake! Without further ado... Stacey's Peachy Plum Upside-Down Cake Ingredients: 1 1/4c sugar, organic 1c unbleached white flour, organic 1c whole wheat flour, organic 1/4c cornstarch 1/4c canola oil, organic 1/4c butter, salted, organic (1/2 a stick) 1c whole milk, organic 1/4c water 1 tbs vanilla bean paste 2 eggs, organic 1/4c lemon juice Bottoming (since it's not really "topping?"): 1/2c dark brown sugar, organic 6 tbs butter 1 yellow peach 4 small plums 1 8x8" glass baking dish 1 loaf pan (I always end up making enough batter so I can leave...

Ode #5 to the Flavor Bible .  Flavor Bible... you complete me... Stacey's Cinnamon Ginger Rum Cake Ingredients: 1c unbleached white flour, organic 1c whole wheat flour, organic 2 tbs cornstarch 1.5c sugar, organic 2 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp baking powder 2 eggs, organic 1/3c canola oil, organic 1c whole milk, organic 1/3c water 1/3c dark rum 1.5-2tbs grated fresh ginger 9x9" cake pan with cake liner, 3 silicone cupcake cups First I preheated the oven to 350F and then I combined the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Then I combined the eggs and the oil and whisked it a bit.  I grated the ginger into the rum, and then added that to the eggs and oil.  I added the water to the milk in another measuring cup.  I poured the ginger mixture into the dry ingredients and then about 1/2 a cup of the water/milk mixture into the dry ingredients as well.  I microwaved the rest of the water/milk for 2 minutes to get it hot while ...

Okay, my first attempt at red velvet cake without using food coloring failed.  It ended up just looking like a light chocolate cake.  It tasted pretty good though.  More varied flavors than a regular chocolate cake since I tried to use some berries to bring out more red.  I forgot... berries tend to turn brown when you cook them. Stacey's Brown Velvet Cake Ingredients: The Light Chocolate Cake 2 1/3c unbleached white flour, organic 1/4c cornstarch 1.5c sugar, organic 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/4c Scharffen Berger cocoa powder 1/2c canola oil, organic 2 eggs, organic 1 1/2c buttermilk, heated with cooked beets 1c pureed strawberries and raspberries (frozen, thawed) 1 tsp white vinegar 2 - 9" round cake pans, lined with parchment paper The Maple Cream Cheese Frosting 2 packages cream cheese, organic 2 sticks butter, salted, organic 1 tbs vanilla bean paste 1/3c maple syrup 4c confectioners sugar First, the cake. ...

AKA my new favoritest cake ever.  I bulked up the recipe for  That Chocolate Cake (added a bit more of all the ingredients except for the eggs - probably 1/8 extra since I was using two 9" square pans instead of two 9" rounds). Cake came out pretty big though, so you probably don't have to bulk it up, and just have thinner layers. Stacey's Chocolate Mint "Favoritest Cake Ever" Ingredients: That Minty Chocolate Cake 2c + 2 tbs sugar, organic 1c unbleached white flour, organic 1c whole wheat flour, organic 2 tbs cornstarch 3/4c + 1 tbs Scharffen-Berger unsweetened cocoa powder 1 1/8 tsp salt 1 3/4 tsp baking powder 1 3/4 tsp baking soda 2 eggs, organic 1/2c + 1 tbs sunflower oil, organic 1c + 2 tbs whole milk 1c + 2tbs boiling water 2 tsp peppermint extract That Amazing Mint Ganache Frosting  10 oz El Rey white chocolate couverture 16 oz heavy cream, organic 1 oz Creme de Menthe liqueur, green Few drops of peppermint oil Chopped white...

I wanted to try out a recipe using powdered milk instead of real milk to see how it would come out. Stacey's Honey Citrus Cake (with powdered milk) Ingredients: 1/4c nonfat powdered milk 1.5c unbleached white flour, organic .5c whole wheat flour, organic 2 tbs cornstarch 3/4c sugar, organic 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 2 eggs 1/4c blood orange infused olive oil 1/4c nonfat yogurt, organic 1/4c key lime juice 1c hot water ~1/4c orange blossom honey 1 8x8" baking dish 1 loaf pan First I preheated the oven to 350F.  Then, I mixed all the dry ingredients together.  I put the lime juice in the water and microwaved it until it was fairly warm (about 135F according to my temperature gun ).  I mixed the other wet ingredients in another measuring cup and whisked it lightly with a fork.  I poured both containers of wet ingredients into the dry and stirred gently until combined with a silicone spatula.  It was too much batter for j...

This was another creation stemming from the wonderful Flavor Bible . I can't even tell you how much I love this book.  I had some key limes, so I looked up limes to see what tastes good with them.  This is the recipe I came up with afterwards.  I also had a lovely orange blossom honey that I'd gotten from the Alemany Farmers' Market, so I wanted to use that too. Stacey's Honey Ginger Citrus Cake Ingredients: 1.5c unbleached white flour, organic 1/2c whole wheat flour, organic 3/4c sugar, organic 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1c almond milk 2 eggs, organic 1/4c blood orange infused olive oil (from Sigona's ) 1/4c nonfat plain yogurt, organic 1/4c key lime juice 1 tbs grated fresh ginger 2 tbs orange blossom honey (finishing touch) First, I preheated the oven to 350F and got out 2 glass loaf pans. I put all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mixed.  I heated the almond milk in the microwave for 1-2 minutes until it was about 115F...

Thought I'd do a variation of That Chocolate Cake... Stacey's That Almond Cake Ingredients: 2c sugar, organic 1c unbleached white flour, organic 3/4c whole wheat flour, organic 2 tbs cornstarch 3/4c almond flour 1 tsp salt 1 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 2 eggs, organic 1/2c sesame oil 2 tsp vanilla bean paste 1.5c whole milk (cream top organic) 1/2c boiling water 10x10" cake pan Parchment paper First, I preheated the oven to 350F and lined the cake pan with the parchment paper.  Then, I mixed all the dry ingredients together.  I slightly beat the eggs with the oil, and heated the milk with the vanilla in the microwave for about a minute - temp gun said it was about 90F.  I added the wet ingredients (minus the boiling water) into the dry ingredients and mixed.  Once it was mixed, I added the boiling water and stirred until it was combined.  It was really soupy, but I figured I'd just give it a try.  I poured it into the p...

I had a little get-together to go to on Saturday, so this was my contribution. This was sort of an experiment to see how many almond-type things I could get into a single cake.  I thought about making a whip cream with some amaretto in it too, but I got lazy. Stacey's Almond Mochi Cake Ingredients : 1c brown rice flour 1c almond meal 3 oz marzipan, chopped 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp baking powder 1/3c agave nectar 1/3c honey 2 tsp vanilla bean paste 1 egg, organic 1/2c heavy cream, organic 1/3c water 1 tsp almond extract 8x8" glass baking dish First I preheated the oven to 350F.  Then I mixed all the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.  I chopped up the marzipan into little cubes and then added that to the dry ingredients. I added all the wet ingredients on top and mixed everything up.    I poured everything into the baking dish, and then baked it for 15 minutes on the second from the top rack.  Then I rotated th...

I love black bottom cupcakes and I had some artisan cream cheese from Costco laying around.  But, I thought I'd try something different, since I'd been making so many chocolate things. Stacey's Lemon Vanilla White Bottom Cupcakes Ingredients : Batter 1c white unbleached flour, organic 1/2c whole wheat flour, organic 1c sugar, organic 2 tbs cornstarch 1.5 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2c canola oil, organic 1/2c sour cream, organic 2 eggs, organic 1 egg yolk, organic 1.5 tsp vanilla bean paste 1/4c coconut milk beverage (original) Zest and juice from 1 med size lemon (approx 2 tbs juice + 2 tsp zest) Filling 8 oz cream cheese 1 tbs sour cream, organic 1/4c sugar, organic 1.5 tsp vanilla bean paste Pinch of salt 1 egg white  Zest and juice from 1 med size lemon (approx 2 tbs juice + 2 tsp zest) Preheat oven to 400F.  Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. I mixed the dry ingredients for the batter, and then stirred in all the wet ingredie...

I have a sickness and I'd make the most horrible scientist ever.  It appears to be impossible for me to only change one variable at a time. That said, here is my chocolate cake test where I change more than just the flour. Stacey's Chocolate Spelt Cake Ingredients : 2c spelt flour, organic 1/2 tsp salt 1.5c sugar 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 c Scharffen Berger unsweetened cocoa powder 2 eggs, organic, slightly beaten 1/2c canola oil, organic 1c whole milk, organic 1c boiling water 10"x10" cake pan lined with parchment paper Preheat oven to 350F. Mixed all the dry ingredients together.  Mixed in the eggs, oil, and milk. Folded / stirred the boiling water in.  Poured into prepared pan. Seemed a little runny... Baked for 30 minutes, rotating at the half-way point.  It came out decently.  Less sweet, which was what I was going for by adding less sugar than the original "That Chocolate Cake" recipe.  I also added a little le...