Made-with-Coffee Coffee Cake

If you knew me back in college, this cake may look familiar to you. It was one of my most requested baked goods, and it was on the short list of things I baked at the time. Until last month, I had always made this cake with instant coffee - it's what the original recipe called for, and it gave the cake its coffee flavor without hassle.


























Now, this coffee cake is different from all the ones I've made in the past. This one is made with Bolivia Fair Trade Organic coffee from the Coffee Foundry. When helping Norm and Wilson for the Bloggers' Coffee Cupping Event last month, I knew this was the perfect cake to offer at the event since it incorporate both loves of coffee and cake.


























The main thing I modified to make this cake with real coffee was replacing the regular yogurt with Greek yogurt. I mixed the brewed coffee into the Greek yogurt, creating a coffee yogurt to bake with. Pecans and chocolate chips are optional in this recipe, but they add nice texture to this moist coffee cake.

Thanks again to all the bloggers that came out to the event last month, and for those who asked for the recipe, here you go!

Made-with-Coffee Coffee Cake
adapted from previous recipe

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons instant coffee (optional - I added this for extra coffee flavor)
5 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup strongly brewed Bolivian coffee
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup chocolate chips (optional)
3 tablespoons chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease a 8"x8" pan, dust with 2 teaspoons flour.
3. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and optional instant coffee in a small bowl. Set aside.
4. Fold in strongly brewed coffee into Greek yogurt until well mixed.
5. In a stand mixer, cream together butter and granulated sugar.
6. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Then add in coffee yogurt and vanilla.
7. Add flour, baking soda, salt, mixing just until flour disappears. Fold in optional pecans and chocolate chips if desired.
8. Pour half of the batter into prepared pan, and sprinkle with half of the brown sugar mixture. Carefully spoon remaining batter over brown sugar mixture, and sprinkle with remaining brown sugar mixture.
8. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack.

Lazy Lavender Loaf

I'm celebrating Father's Day by writing this post for both my dad and my father-in-law. I've mentioned before how lucky I am to have two wonderful mothers, and in line with that thought, I'm just as proud to have two outstanding fathers. Baba, my father-in-law, has a huge green thumb that comes from his family's background in Taiwan. Dad, my own pop, gave me a love for all music and has quite the collection of stories from his youth in Bangkok, ranging from street fighting to khao soi seeking adventures with his own dad.

Both have a lot in common too: they came to the States for their doctorates, worked ever so hard for their families, and have guided their families through love and wisdom. I have so much respect for both fathers and want to thank them for everything.

Why honor them with my lavender loaf? Well, the lavender came from Baba's own garden in Indiana. Also, I have fond memories of cooking gourmet foods at home with Dad, things Mom didn't particularly like or care to cook. I've named this loaf lazy because I paid no attention to the recipe. Here's what the original plan looked like:

























*I was feeling experimental, and I also ran out of some ingredients, so below is the actual recipe I came up with. And Happy Father's Day, Dad and Baba. As John and Paul wrote, "In my life, I love you more."


Lazy Lavender Loaf

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup flour arbitrarily mixed with rice flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lavender
2 eggs
1 cup yogurt, vanilla flavored
1 teaspoon vanilla, omitted if using vanilla yogurt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Melt the butter since you're too impatient to wait for it to soften. Put in a large mixing bowl.
3. Using a rubber spatula, mix sugar into the melted butter, stir for a little while.
4. Add lavender, eggs, and yogurt at this point. Don't bother with alternating wet and dry ingredients.
5. Forget the sifting, just measure out the dry ingredients and dump it all in.
6. Mix until combined, but since mixture will remain lumpy, give up after a minute.
7. Pour mixture into greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour.
8. Let cool, slice, then serve. Be surprised the loaf turned out well without following the original plan!

* I also followed in Dad's footsteps by studying Computer Science, so my lists start from zero instead of one. Thanks for the inherited nerdiness, Dad!

Chocolate Babka

On Sunday morning, I tweeted that I was at Temple Beth Sholom with a chocolate babka in the oven. As Jewish as that may sound, I am not Jewish. I just happen to find myself at the temple each Sunday because the temple rents their space out to Living Faith Community Church, the church I attend.

With Mother's Day approaching, we celebrated our congregation's mothers with a tea social and jewelry making session led by the talented Juyon. Everyone contributed to a great assortment of treats and teas; I even spotted a matcha chocolate swirl cake made by Sumin. When brainstorming what to bring, I wanted something that would feel at home in the temple. One particular Seinfeld episode came into mind, and that's when I knew what I had to make: babka. Not the "lesser [cinnamon] babka", but a chocolate babka.
























This yeasty chocolaty cake is divine. With all the butter, sugar, and chocolate that goes into it, how could it not be? I made one large babka and a three mini babkas the night before, and I let them rise in the fridge overnight. The babkas baked so wonderfully in the temple's kitchen, I think they knew exactly where they were.

Now, it doesn't matter what faith you belong to or where you worship, you really have to make this babka. My mind's already brainstorming what other flavors I can marry the delicious babka with. I hope that will be the content of another delicious future post.


Chocolate Babka
Gourmet, December 2006

Dough Ingredients:
3/4 cup warm milk (105–115°F)
1/2 cup plus 2 teaspoons sugar
3 teaspoons active dry yeast (from two 1/4-oz packages)
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting
2 whole large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened

Egg Wash Ingredients:
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream or whole milk

Chocolate Filling Ingredients:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, well softened
8 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used 1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips)
1/4 cup sugar


Directions:
1. Stir together warm milk and 2 teaspoons sugar in bowl of mixer. Sprinkle yeast over mixture and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If yeast doesn't foam, discard and start over with new yeast.)
2. Add 1/2 cup flour to yeast mixture and beat at medium speed until combined. Add whole eggs, yolk, vanilla, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low, then mix in remaining 2 3/4 cups flour, about 1/2 cup at a time. Increase speed to medium, then beat in butter, a few pieces at a time, and continue to beat until dough is shiny and forms strands from paddle to bowl, about 4 minutes. (Dough will be very soft and sticky.)
3. Scrape dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
4. Line each loaf pan with 2 pieces of parchment paper (1 lengthwise and 1 crosswise).
5. Punch down dough with a lightly oiled rubber spatula, then halve dough for large loaves. Separate dough into 6 pieces for mini babkas. Roll out 1 piece of dough on a well-floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into an 18- by 10-inch rectangle and arrange with a long side nearest you.
6. Beat together yolk and cream. Spread 2 1/2 tablespoons softened butter on dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border all around. Brush some of egg wash on long border nearest you.
7. Sprinkle half of chocolate evenly over buttered dough, then sprinkle with half of sugar (2 tablespoons). Starting with long side farthest from you, roll dough into a snug log, pinching firmly along egg-washed seam to seal. Bring ends of log together to form a ring, pinching to seal. Twist entire ring twice to form a double figure 8 and fit into one of lined loaf pans.
8. Make another babka with remaining dough, some of egg wash, and remaining butter and chocolate in same manner. Chill remaining egg wash,covered, to use later. Loosely cover pans with buttered plastic wrap (buttered side down) and let babkas rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until dough reaches top of pans, 1 to 2 hours. (Alternatively, let dough rise in pans in refrigerator 8 to 12 hours; bring to room temperature, 3 to 4 hours, before baking.)
9. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
10. Brush tops of dough with remaining egg wash. Bake until tops are deep golden brown and bottoms sound hollow when tapped (when loaves are removed from pans), about 40 minutes, 25 minutes for mini babkas. Transfer loaves to a rack and cool to room temperature.

Chocolate Honey Cake

I've been driving in the Fast Lane the past couple of weeks. Literally, I mean just that. After helping with Tina's bridal shower, I've been sent to Marlborough, MA twice for work and have driving back and forth on the MassPike in the Fast Lane. Amidst the work trips, throw in helping coordinate Tina and David's wedding, gathering over wine and cheese, and hosting friends, and you've got busy me. I love doing all of it, so I wouldn't have it any other way.

In my previous post, I said I would go into more detail about the different desserts I made for Tina's bridal shower, so I will stay true to my word. The bridal shower had a prominent theme and even the dessert fell in line. If you were tasked with finding yellow, white, and circle desserts, what would you come up with? Well, here's what we had at the bridal shower:
























Lemon and vanilla macarons from Ladurée. If you bring these back from Paris or elsewhere, just keep them in an airtight container in the freezer, and they'll last for weeks.

























"Yellow and White" cookies, a version of the Black and White cookie, a recipe I tried a while back.

























Mini profiteroles with fresh whipped cream. I used the same choux recipe as my matcha profiteroles.

























Mini dan ta, or Chinese egg tarts. I'll save this recipe for my next post.

























A polka dot chocolate honey cake. "This isn't yellow!" you may say, but just hush. I could have made a yellow fruit tart, but I felt the need to vary the flavors. I knew Tina loves honey and chocolate, so it still fit in terms of her favorite things. Drizzling honey over the cake while warm would increase the amount of moisture in this cake, but to better fit the theme, I wanted circles of powdered sugar to top the cake. I had Cheryl make a template out of parchment paper with a circle paper cutter. It was tricky keeping the parchment paper steady, but it worked. The cake itself was easy to bake and was really moist; join me in welcoming a great addition to my list of cake recipes.


Honey Chocolate Cake
adapted from Super Food Ideas, April 2005

Ingredients:
2/3 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup honey
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoons baking power
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and sift cocoa powder covering a 9-inch round cake pan.
2. In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together. Slowly add in eggs, one at a time. Add in honey, and beat well.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
4. Whisk together milk and vanilla in a small bowl.
5. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, then add in milk mixture. Alternatively add in until well mixed.
6. Pour into greased pan and bake at for 20-25 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.
7. Let cake cool in pan for 5-10 minutes. Invert cake and sift powdered sugar on top of the cake, using any desired template.

Tina's Bridal Shower

Last month, I had the privilege of helping out with a former roommate's bridal shower. When the maid of honor (Tina's sister) asked me if I'd like to make some dessert for the shower, I was honored to be asked and immediately said yes!

I've had many roommates in the past, and Tina is one of my favorites. Is she even better than my current one? Hmmm.. that's a tough call. She cooked for me, sometimes cleaned up after me, was a great workout buddy, gave me tennis lessons, got me into baseball, and taught me a great deal about home style Taiwanese food. To bake for her bridal shower was my way of showing appreciation for her friendship and presence in my life.





































































Can you tell the bridal shower had a theme? Well it did, and the theme was Tina's favorite things: the color yellow, the color white, and polka-dots. Cheryl did all the decorations and crafted together paper pom-poms, yarn pom-poms, paper banners, balloon banners, and strew paper circle cut-outs all around the apartment. She really transformed David's apartment into a ray of sunlight. Update: Not that it wasn't already wonderfully decorated by the groom..





















































How awesome is it that guests brought presents wrapped in the same style as the decorations? We made no kind of announcement or demands for this; Tina's friends simply know what she likes.

























Kelly, the maid of honor, took care of the food, and she prepared as many yellow foods as she could think of. We had tamago sushi, assorted cheese and crackers, corn salsa on tortilla chips, deviled eggs, a yellow vegetable platter, chicken salad sandwiches, and sweet potato fries. We had quite the assortment of food, and it looked great altogether.




































In addition to this honey chocolate polka-dot cake, I made a few other desserts in the same theme, and I even brought back lemon and vanilla macarons from Ladurée in Paris. I'll be sure to write more about the desserts in future posts, so check back next week!




































Even more polka-dots! This is the only present picture I'm going to post. But let me say we certainly saw more white, yellow, and polka-dots among the presents.
























The bridesmaids sent us home with these adorable pots of honey as shower favors. They skillfully tied various Burt's Bees items to each honey pot with cute yellow yarn. I heard it was a great feat, so job well done, ladies.




































And here the bride is with her lovely bouquet for the wedding rehearsal. Cheryl came prepared with her glue gun and craft supplies and made this fabulous gift wrap bouquet that could be fit for the actual wedding.

I can't believe Tina will be marrying her fiancé David in just one week! The bridal shower was so bright and cheery, and I hope their wedding will be filled with even more sunshine. Congratulations, you two!

Molten Chocolate Cake

My dear husband's birthday fell on the Sunday after Thanksgiving this year, which meant we got to celebrate with his side of the family while they were in town for the holiday. We ate some noodles together, not the specific longevity noodles dish, but it still symbolized our wish for longevity in Tim's life. In addition to the noodles, I cooked him a breakfast of Thanksgiving leftovers including fried cornbread stuffing cakes, fried chorizo, and fried eggs. Hmm, after typing that out, I suppose my breakfast canceled out the longevity wishes.

Lastly, we celebrated his birthday with these molten chocolate cakes. This guy loves his dark chocolate, so I gave it to him in this oozy cake form. Molten chocolate cakes are really just undercooked brownies, so I used Tim's birthday recipe from two years ago and put it to the test. I halved the recipe (made some slight modifications), put the batter into ramekins, cut down the baking time, and out came these great cakes. Inverting the cakes was harder than I thought, so after the first one fell apart during the process, I decided to keep the rest in their ramekins. If anyone has a trick to keep them intact, I'd love to hear it!


Molten Chocolate Cake
adapted from previous recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter + 1-2 tablespoons unsalted butter for the ramekins
4 ounces dark chocolate (Valrhona 70%)
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons flour + flour for dusting

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Butter 4 ramekins (4-ounce) and lightly flour.
2. In a double boiler, melt together the butter with the chocolate.
3. Beat together the eggs, egg yolks, and sugar while chocolate and butter mixture is still melting. Pour egg mixture into the melted chocolate along with the flour and quickly beat until just combined.
4. Divide batter into ramekins. (To bake at a later time, store cakes in the fridge, and bring back to room temperature before baking) Bake for 10 minutes until the sides are set while the center is still soft.
5. To serve without ramekin, invert ramekin onto a plate and let sit for a few minutes. Lift mold carefully so the cake should fall out on plate. Serve immediately.

Happy Texas Independence Day - Texas Sheet Cake

Happy Texas Independence Day, y'all! If you haven't heard already, I'm a born and raised Texan. Houstonian to be exact. And to celebrate the day, I made a Texas sheet cake in the shape of Texas. Now you may not recognize the state as I had a slight mishap getting my cake out of the pan. I tried my very best to reconstruct the cake in its proper shape, but the unique shape of Texas made it a tad difficult.

























See, I have proof that it was meant to be the Lone Star State.
























And here we have a slice of West Texas. Who knew El Paso was so sweet and moist? I tried to find the origins of the cake's name, but nobody has a clear answer as far as I can tell. My best guess is that this chocolate cake is so good, it had to be named after the best state in America.

I have said that Texas is a state of mind, but I think it is more than that. It is a mystique closely approximating a religion. And this is true to the extent that people either passionately love Texas or passionately hate it ... For all its enormous range of space, climate, and physical appearance, and for all the internal squabbles, contentions, and strivings, Texas has a tight cohesiveness perhaps stronger than any other section of America. Rich, poor, Panhandle, Gulf, city, country, Texas is the obsession, the proper study and the passionate possession of all Texans.
- John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America


Texas Sheet Cake

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup water
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:
1. Sift flour and sugar together in a medium bowl.
2. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add in cocoa and water and bring to a boil.
3. Pour cocoa mixture over flour and sugar and mix thoroughly.
4. Add remaining ingredients to the mixture, mix until smooth.
5. Pour into a greased and floured Texas-shaped pan. Bake at 350 F degrees for 20 minutes.
6. Let cake slightly cool, invert cake, and pour Texas Sheet Cake Frosting on top.


Texas Sheet Cake Frosting

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup butter
6 tablespoons black coffee
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:
1. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add in cocoa and coffee and bring to a boil. Remove from heat.
2. Add in powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
3. Stir in pecans until well incorporated.

Orange Hazelnut Cake

Many months ago, the lovely Suzana of Home Gourmets sent me a cookbook featuring recipes from the Alps for a little giveaway she did coinciding with her trip to Slovenia. (Thanks again so much, Suzana! I love it!) Still, many months ago, I read it through and marked a few recipes I wanted to try. It wasn't until this week that I actually tried one of them.

I took the original recipe for a walnut cake and transformed it into an orange hazelnut cake. I thought the flavors were fitting for the winter, but ironically we've been having very spring-like weather here in New York! I'm not complaining at all though, and if you know me at all, you know I'd pick hot and humid weather over the cold any day. I guess that's just the Houston gal in me.

And right now this Houston gal is at the airport waiting to board my delayed plane. Tim and I are spending the long weekend visiting my parents. However ya'll are spending the weekend, I hope ya'll enjoy!

Orange Hazelnut Cake
adapted from Cuisine of the Alps by Kay Shaw Nelson

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup sour milk
1/2 cup hazelnut paste
grated peel of orange
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
splash of Cointreau

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.Grease a bundt baking pan.
2. In a large bowl cream the butter. Add 1 cup of the sugar and the eggs; blend well.
3. In a medium bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. 4. Add flour mixture to the sugar mixture, alternating with the sour milk. Mix well.
5. Stir in hazelnut paste and orange rind. Mix to combine thoroughly. Pour into prepared pan.
6. Bake about 45 minutes, or until a tester inserted into cake comes out clean.
7. Meanwhile, make a thick syrup by boiling together 1 1/2 cups sugar with 3/4 cup water and 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice for 15 minutes. Add in a splash of Cointreau.
8. Pour over the cake while it is still warm. Turn off oven and return cake to the oven for 5 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.