Butter Cake with Chocolate Mocha Buttercream Icing

Cake. Butter cake. Rich, light, amazing texture buttery goodness. Smothered in buttercream icing, but not just regular buttercream icing. Chocolate buttercream icing... chocolate mocha buttercream icing. Is your mouth watering yet? Mine is remembering this awesome cake. It is absolutely amazing. Like I said, the texture of the cake is amazing, and the icing is sweet and full of chocolate goodness with just a hint of mocha. Get a bottle of chocolate and white chocolate shavings to decorate, and whoever you make this cake for will feel wonderfully special. You'll want to make this. I promise. And it's really not very hard to make. Simple actually. You make the cake with simple straightforward ingredients, and the recipe is very straightforward to follow. You can make this, and you should make this. Seriously. Of course I found the recipe for this cake on Pinterest as Old Fashioned Butter Cake.

2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8 inch x 2 inch baking pans and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Add butter and mix until mixture looks like fine crumbs.

Add milk and vanilla and beat for two minutes, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl. 

Add eggs and beat for 2 minutes more.

Pour batter into prepared pans, dividing equally between the pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

 

Remove from oven. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes and then turn cakes out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Mocha Frosting

1 cup butter

4 cups powdered sugar (a 1 lb box)

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/4 tsp ground espresso powder

enough milk or heavy cream to reach spreading consistency

Using whisk attachment, cream butter. Add vanilla and almond extracts and mix. Add about half the powdered sugar, cocoa and espresso, on low speed mix until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Add remaining powdered sugar and mix until incorporated. Scrape down sides of the bowl, then whisk icing on med-high speed until it begins to lighten in color. Add milk or cream sparingly until a spreadable consistency is reached.

Angel Food Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream Icing

I have apparently lived a very sheltered life. Most of the icings I've ever had were buttercream, chocolate, or cream cheese icing. Several months back I tried a recipe for lemon buttercream and was just amazed at how delicious it was. Then I saw this recipe on Pinterest for Angel Food Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream Icing... there are just no words acceptable to fully describe the decadence of this icing. I was so inspired by this icing, that I followed the general recipe when making a white cake with strawberry icing for my best friend in August. I've never been a huge angel food cake fan, but these cupcakes are so light, and the hint of lemon mixed with this raspberry icing is just a delicious combination. You really should give this a try. And if you have a stand mixer, it is a really easy recipe. It's doable and still fairly easy with a hand mixer, but really easy with a stand mixer.

5 egg whites (from medium eggs; at room temperature)

pinch salt (large pinch)
¾ tsps cream of tartar
⅓ cup granulated sugar (67g)
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup cake flour (56g, *fluffed, spooned & leveled*)
½ cup granulated sugar (100g)
1 Tbsp lemon zest (loosely packed)

In a small bowl, combine flour, ½ cup sugar and lemon zest. Set aside. 

In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk, beat egg whites on medium high for about 2 minutes, until they are frothy and have loose peaks (will stand for a second and then sink back into the eggs).

Add a pinch of salt and cream of tartar, continue to beat on medium-high for 3-5 more minutes until stiff peaks form (won't sink back into eggs). At this point, continue beating on medium speed and gradually add the ⅓ cup portion of granulated sugar *by the tablespoon* over a period of 3-5 more minutes. Stop and scrape the sugar/eggs down from the bowl every few minutes. 

Once sugar has dissolved completely (check by running meringue between your fingers, if no grains remain, you are done), fold in the vanilla extract followed by the flour/sugar/lemon zest mixture (best to do this in several batches, and *be gentle*). Spoon mixture into muffin pan lined with muffin papers. The batter will stick out of the top of the muffin papers but it won't overflow while baking.

 

Bake at 350 F for 15-18 minutes, until tops become golden brown. Set aside to cool.

Then you start on the very best part of this decadent treat...

1 cup unsalted butter (226g; at room temperature)
3 cups powdered sugar (360g)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup raspberries (at room temperature)

While the cupcakes are cooking and cooling, soften the butter for the icing and start on the raspberry juice. Push the raspberries through a mesh strainer back and forth until all the juice is pushed out.

Cream butter with a whisk until creamy and lightened in color.

Add powdered sugar slowly and mix until combined and creamy.

Whisk in vanilla extract and raspberry juice on high speed until juice is incorporated and you achieve a spreadable consistency.

Frost these amazing treats once the cupcakes are cooled, and just to let you know, you may even want to lick the bowl on this one. This icing is really that amazing!

Lemon Velvet Cake

I am so very far behind. Painfully. So far behind that I probably will not get caught up this weekend, but I will give it the ol' Girl Scout try. Starting with the Lemon Velvet Cake recipe that I found on Pinterest and tried back in the fall. Beginning last year, I fell in love with lemons, and I've been trying a number of lemon recipes. This cake is just my latest try. And it was good... If you like the sweet-tart taste of fresh lemon products then you must give this soft delicious cake a try as well. You won't be disappointed.

1 1/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil or olive oil
1/3 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tsp good quality vanilla extract (I prefer vanilla bean paste)
2 tsp pure lemon extract or fresh lemon juice
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
zest of two small or one large lemons, grated and finely chopped

Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans or one 9x13 cake pan, and line the bottom with parchment paper. 

Sift together both flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the vegetable oil, shortening, vanilla and lemon extract. Beat well at high speed with whisk attachment until light and fluffy.

Beat the eggs in one at a time. Fold in the lemon zest. Fold in the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending the additions with the dry ingredients.

Do not over mix the batter. As soon as it has no lumps in the batter, pour into the prepared pan(s).

Bake at 325 degrees Farenheit for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.

While cake cools, prepare the frosting.

Frosting

8 cups powdered sugar

2 cups unsalted butter
5 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp minced lemon zest (optional)
(I no longer use the milk from the original recipe)

Mix together the powdered sugar, lemon zest and butter until it becomes sort of crumbly.

Add the lemon extract and a little of the milk. Beat until smooth and fluffy, adding only enough milk to bring the frosting to a creamy spreadable consistency. Fill and frost the cake. Garnish with candied lemon zest if desired.

Sugar Cookies

Every baker has a favorite sugar cookie recipe, I think. This is mine. I use it year round to make seasonal shaped cookies. But I decorate mine with a rich buttercream icing rather than a thin glaze or something lighter. I like sweets. I like my cookies sweet. Just my thing. I've been making these sugar cookies for almost 30 years. Found the recipe in a Better Homes and Garden cookbook of my mom's. I have not yet found anything worth replacing this recipe either.

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (195 grams)

1 cup margarine or butter, softened (8 ounces)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 egg

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (375 grams)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

Buttercream icing (you can find the recipe I use on this blog)

In large bowl, combine powdered sugar, margarine, vanilla and almond extracts, and egg. Mix until smooth.

Add flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Once you have a ball of dough, cover with plastic and refrigerate at least three hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Divide dough into halves. Roll each half to 3/16 inch thick on lightly floured cloth covered board (I've never actually used the cloth). Cut into desired shapes, and place on lightly greased cookie sheet. These don't really spread, so you can place the cookies pretty close together. Bake until edges are light brown, about 7 to 8 minutes. Decorate as desired.