A Cake Recipe Worth Sharing {Recipes: Emma's Chocolatey Chocolate Cake and Peppermint Frosting}

 

Every summer for several years the kids and I would visit my sister and her family in Missouri. At the time, my sister owned a bakery and would allow the kids to bake a few items to sell with her baked goods at the farmers' market. One year, my daughter wanted to create her own recipe, this is the recipe she came up with. In addition, she wanted to name it "Emma's Chocolatey Chocolate Cake". It was a very fun project for my daughter, in addition, we now have a very good recipe for a chocolate snack cake. 

When school started after that summer trip, my daughter wanted to make this recipe for her class for her birthday (which usually falls on the second week of school). So, she made enough mini loaves for the entire class and along with the recipe and note. 

This Christmas my daughter and I decided to try this cake with peppermint frosting. If using the peppermint frosting, omit the cinnamon. 

Emma's Chocolatey Chocolate Cake 

I wanted to make up my own cake recipe, so I sat down with my mom and went over what ingredients usually go into a cake. We also discussed basic measurements and ingredients for baking. With this informations, I decided what I wanted to put in my cake and wrote it down. My mom checked with a similar recipe to see if the ingredients and measurements I came up with would work. We thought what I came up with would work except I originally had 2 eggs in the recipe, which probably would have been too much. While mixing together the dry ingredients, I decided that cinnamon might be a yummy addition-I think I was right! -Emma A. Age 8

1 1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup milk

1/2-1 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 8'x8"square, 8"round, or line an 8 cavity mini loaf pan with large cupcake liners to make mini cakes. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon (if using) in a medium size mixing bowl; set aside. In another medium size mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter, cocoa powder, and sugar until will blended. Add egg and vanilla to the butter/cocoa powder mixture and blend well with whisk. Add 1/2 the flour mixture to the butter/cocoa mixture; whisk well. Then add 1/2 cup milk, whisking until well blended. Repeat these steps for the remaining flour mixture and milk. Pour batter into prepared cake pan or evenly distribute into prepared mini loaf pan cavities, filling each cavity about 2/3 full. Sprinkle cake(s) with mini chocolate chips. Tap pan to allow for some of the chocolate chips to settle into the batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes for 8"cake, 20-25 minutes for mini loaves, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake (or one mini cake) comes out clean. Let cakes cool in pan(s) for about 5-10 minutes, then remove from pan(s) and place on cooling rack to cool completely. This cake is yummy on its own or with vanilla, chocolate, or peppermint frosting and sprinkled with chocolate a few more chocolate chips for decoration.

This cake is very good on its own
or dusted with a little powdered sugar.

Note: This recipe was created to be put together in Emma's aunt's bakery. The industrial size mixers are too big to use with this recipe, so a whisk is used. That said, the bakery whisks are heavy duty as well. While a regular whisk does work, a hand held mixer on a lower setting might be easier.

Peppermint Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

2-4 tablespoons milk

Combine powdered sugar, butter, peppermint extract, and 2 tablespoons milk into a medium size mixing bowl and whisk or mix with mixer set on low at first and increasing speed and ingredients come together (powdered sugar will go everywhere if you start on a higher speed). Add more milk, a teaspoon at a time, until a light spreadable consistency is achieved. Makes enough frosting for one 8"single layer cake or 8 mini loaves. 

Merry Christmas and Enjoy!

If as First You Don't Succeed... {Recipe: Vanilla Biscotti}

The only time I have thrown out a baking project is with biscotti. I got through the first bake, then while trying to slice it for the second bake, I wound up with a big crumbled mess. I was so frustrated, I dumped the whole batch in the trash. It probably didn't help that I was still in college and just got through winter quarter finals, the last thing I wanted to deal with is being stressed while baking. 

Enough time has passed (20+years) since my biscotti baking disaster, I figured it was time to give biscotti a go again. This time I looked up a trusted source, King Arthur Baking, and followed their trouble shooting suggestions. Below is an adapted version of the recipe from King Arthur Flour, it is a good basic recipe. This recipe should lend itself well to variation. As I try different variations, I will add them to this post. 

Vanilla Biscotti

This recipe is adapted from one found @https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/american-style-vanilla-biscotti-recipe

Basic Recipe:

6 tablespoon butter*

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 large eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a 18"x 13" baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

2 In a medium-size mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, and baking powder until smooth and creamy.

3. Beat eggs into the butter mixture, the batter may look a but curdled. Add flour and, with mixer set on low, mix until smooth. The dough will be sticky. 

4. Place the dough onto a kitchen scale and divide the dough in half or place the prepared baking sheet and divide the dough in half just by eyeing it. Shape dough into two 9 1/2"x2" logs about 3/4" high. Smooth the top and side of the logs with a wet spatula or bowl scraper. 

5. Bake the dough in preheated oven for 25 minutes; remove from oven.

6. Using a spray bottle filled with room temperature water, lightly spray the tops and sides of the logs. This will make slicing the biscotti easier and less crumbling. Reduce the temperature of the oven to 325ºF

7. Let the baked logs sit for 5 minutes, then using a serrated knife, cut the logs crosswise into 3/4" slices. Alternatively, the logs can be cut diagonally for longer, but fewer, biscotti. Be careful to cut straight down, or else you will have uneven slices that may topple while baking. 

8. Return the biscotti flat edge down onto the prepared baking sheet. Return the biscotti to the oven and bake 20-25 minutes, or until they feel very dry and start turning light golden brown. They may feel slightly soft and moist in the very center if breaking one open for testing, but they will continue to dry out while cooling.

9. Transfer biscotti from baking sheet to cooling rack; cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Optional variations:

• Sprinkle prepared logs with coarse sugar (like turbinado) and press lightly into dough before first bake time. 
• Drizzle with white, dark, or milk chocolate 

*Note: Some recipes I looked at state the butter should be cold, but most didn't specify what temperature the butter should be. I took the butter and eggs out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before starting the dough.

Pour a cup of hot cocoa or coffee and enjoy!