Mandarin-Cranberry Sour Cream Bundt Cakes

With Spring *almost* here (praise GOD!!!), I couldn't help but crave something with a bit of zest-ee-ness.  Recently, those huge bags of mandarin oranges have been ripe and on sale, so why not bake something with them???  For Christmas, I got a really cute mini bundt cake pan that I also desperately wanted to use...and thus this recipe was born!  The cake batter is fairly sweet, so adding the fresh cranberries give little tart pops here and there.  Hope you like it!

Cake Batter

1 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
Zest from two mandarin oranges
4 eggs
2 2/3 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt 
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup buttermilk (or 1/3 cup milk with a tsp of white vinegar)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Juice from the two mandarin oranges 1 cup fresh cranberries (mine were frozen)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray and flour your bundt pan.  All together, my mini bundt pan uses 9 cups of batter for the 4 mini cakes (the amount in this recipe).  Instead of doing mini cakes, you can do the same recipe and use it for one large bundt pan, the only thing that will change is baking time (probably a bit over an hour, but you'll have to watch it!)


 

Beat together the butter, sugar, and mandarin zest.  Beat it until it lightens in color, scraping as needed.  Add in the eggs one a time, mixing and scraping down the bowl well after each addition.  

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt and put it aside. In another bowl, stir together the sour cream, buttermilk, and vanilla. 



 

With your mixer on low speed, add to the creamed butter mixture in a third of the flour mixture, mix, then half of the sour cream mixture, and mix.  Then add another third of the flour, followed by the rest of the sour cream, and finally finish with the remaining flour mixture. Add the juice from both mandarins and beat the batter for about 30 seconds, until it lightens in color. Fold in the cranberries last.

Fill the bundt pan(s) with the batter, smoothing the tops.  Makes sure you leave a bit of room for the cake to expand while baking...if you have any excess batter you can fill a mini loaf pan, bake it off, and have a snack later :)

 

Bake the mini bundt cakes for about 25-30 minutes, turning the pan half way through.  The sides will begin to golden, and a toothpick inserted will only have a few crumbs on it.  If you use one large bundt pan, I would presume it will take about an hour or a tad more to bake, but check and turn the cake at 45 minutes, and check in 10-15 minute increments afterwards until it is done.


Allow the cakes to cool for 15 minutes, and thenturn out onto a drying rack until they are room temperature.  While they are cooling, you can make the frosting.





Frosting
1 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
Zest and juice from one mandarin
1/2 tsp vanilla 
Dash of salt


Pretty much just mix all the frosting ingredients together until smooth, and if it's still a bit to thick, add some drops of water until you get the right consistancy.  Drizzle over the cooled cakes and allow the frosting to set.  

 Then eat and enjoy!  Yay Spring!

Decadent Chocolate Cheesecake

Some people say that you should never mess with a classic.  In the baking world, this translates to: don't mess with really good plain cheesecake - ie.  stop making funky flavors and messing with the original!  The graham cracker crust, the smooth cream cheese filling, the sour cream topping.  There was a time in my baking life that I believed this wholeheartedly, but no more!  Especially when daring to make a chocolate cheesecake, there's a huge potential of over-doing it - when the chocolate masks the fact that it's actually cheesecake you are eating!  While this recipe has LOADS of chocolate in it, you will find there to still be a light filling and a strangely familiar crust, considering it is also made with graham crackers...just chocolate ones!  So, dare I say, break out of your shell, and dare to be blown away by a *tasteful* rendition of the classic!

Crust

- 2 packets of chocolate graham crackers, crumbled in the food processor
- pinch of salt
- 2 tbs cocoa powder
- 4 tbs granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (3/4 cup), melted

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.  Mix all the dry crust ingredients together in a bowl, then add the melted butter, stirring until combined.  Dump the mixture into a 9 - inch springform pan, pressing the crumble down with your fingers, and allowing the crust to travel up the sides of the pan, about half way.  Place in the oven, baking the crust for about 10 minutes - be careful to not over bake!  Because it's chocolate, you can't see any browning, so keep alert with your nose :)  Remove from the oven and allow to cool while you whip up the filling - reduce the oven temp to 300 degrees while you're at it.

Filling

- 8 oz bittersweet chocolate
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp instant coffee granules
- 3 bricks of cream cheese (24 oz), room temp is best
- 4 tbs cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 eggs, room temp
- To decorate, a chocolate bar

Melt the chocolate first, giving it time to cool off on the counter (I put the chopped chocolate in a glass bowl and heat it in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until most is melted and then just keep stirring it until it's smooth).  In a separate bowl, mix the sour cream, vanilla, and instant coffee until the coffee has dissolved - set aside.  In a stand mixer (or with a handheld mixer), beat the cream cheese until smooth, then add the cocoa and salt.

Scrape down the bowl and paddle, and continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy.  Keep doing this until the mixture has no clumps and is smooth - at this point, you can't over mix!  Add the sugar and beat until smooth.  Now, scrape the mostly cooled chocolate into the batter, and blend until combined well.  Beat in the sour cream mixture.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing completely after each addition, but don't over beat the eggs!

Pour the filling over the baked crust, smoothing out the top with a spatula.  Bake at 300 degrees for approximately 45 minutes (rotating if needed).  Then, turn the oven off and leave the door closed with the cake still in there for 30 more minutes!  Don't open the oven during this time (doing this helps the cheesecake not crack).  After the 30 minutes, take the cheesecake out of the oven an place on the counter to come down to room temp by itself - this takes a few hours!  After it's cooled down, you should store it in the fridge with aluminum foil over it until you serve it, at least about 3 hours (warm cheesecake is not good!).

To decorate, use your peeler to shave curls of chocolate onto the top of the cheesecake.  I do this by placing your chocolate bar on the counter near your oven while whipping up the cake - the warm oven softens it up just a bit so the curls form easily and don't break apart.

Hope this is everything you wished for in a chocolate cheesecake!  Enjoy, and happy indulging!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

In my family, the holidays mean big family dinners, tons of food.....and an upset stomach the next day from indulging so much. But I have to say, Thanksgiving and Christmas wouldn't be the same without the homemade pumpkin cheesecake - and my goodness I love pumpkin cheesecake! So, I hope my family's tradition can live on in your family too through this recipe.

Crust
- 1 box of vanilla wafers, crumbled to bread crumb consistency
- 1/4 tsp powdered ginger
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup), melted
- 1/8 cup of sugar

 

For the crust, preheat your oven to 350. Combine crust ingredients and press into 10” springform pan. Put in oven and watch for around 10 minutes, just until the edges start getting a little bit of color and you smell the spices. Take out and reduce temperature to 325 while you prepare the filling.

Filling
- 4 8oz bricks of cream cheese
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 3 tbs maple syrup
- 3 tbs brandy (I use Christian Brothers Brandy - pretty cheap)
- 1/2 tsp powdered ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 4 eggs, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup cooked canned pumpkin (just pumpkin, no pumpkin mix or pie filling)



Beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add sugar, beating until fluffy and light - this may take a few minutes. Add maple syrup, brandy, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Blend well, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Lastly, add heavy cream and pumpkin. Mix well - there shouldn't be any clumps and don't worry, because you cant over mix the filling.

Pour filling into prepared crust and bake for 45 minutes (at 325). Turn oven off and DON’T OPEN DOOR FOR 1 HR!!! Take out - center may be slightly jiggl-ee, but it will set fine with refrigeration. Edges should only be a little darkened, and don't sweat it if your cake cracked - it happens to the best of us and will be covered with the topping. Turn oven up to 375 for the topping.

Topping
- 2 cups sour cream
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tbs maple syrup
- 1 tbs brandy
- 1/2 cup whole raw almonds, sauted in butter

For the topping, blend the sour cream and all other topping ingredients except almonds. Spread over cake evenly. Put in oven and cook for only 10 minutes. Top shouldn’t look baked or solidified (it hardens up a bit when it cools). Set the cheesecake on the counter and let it come to room temperature itself. Decorate the top with the sauted almonds and then chill for at least 3 hours in the refrigerator before serving.

Hope you enjoy this family recipe and experience the joy of spending the holidays with loved ones.

Hummingbird Cake

So this is a great recipe I got from one of my favorite cook books.  After a few tweaks, I found this cake to be very similar to carrot cake - just without the carrot!  The combination of nuts, banana, and pineapple blends beautifully with the thick cream cheese frosting.  Hope you enjoy!

Cake

- 2 ¼ cup flour

- 1 ¼ cup sugar

- 1 tsp cinnamon

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 1 cup vegetable oil, plus some to grease pans with

- 3 eggs

- 1 cup chopped pecans, plus some to decorate

- 3 large ripe bananas, mashed with a fork

- 4 oz canned crushed pineapple, plus 4 tbsp juice from the can

Frosting

- 1 package/brick cream cheese

- 4 tbsp butter

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 3 ½ cups confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use some oil to lightly grease two 9-inch layer cake pans, and line the bottoms with parchment paper. 

 

Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, and baking soda into a large bowl.  Add eggs, oil, pecans, mashed bananas, pineapple, and pineapple juice.  Mix just till combined. 

Divide batter into both pans.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until firm to touch and golden brown.  Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temp (you can put them in the fridge or freezer on a rack if you are in a rush).

To make the frosting, beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth.  Add confectioner’s sugar and beat until creamy and spreadable.  If the frosting is too firm, add milk by tbsp until desired consistency is obtained.

Frost the cooled cakes with the cream cheese frosting, spreading more chopped pecans over top to decorate.

Enjoy!