December 29, 2011: Black Forest Bundt Cake Recipe

I wanted to make a really special dessert for Christmas and I knew that everyone in the family loved chocolate. Me? Not so much. But a Black Forest cake is a way to please everyone, including myself. I found a recipe for Black Forest Bars in an old cookbook but since it called for an odd-sized pan, I decided to adapt it for a Bundt cake pan. And since I couldn’t find any kirsch liqueur at the grocery store, I decided to use almond flavoring, which goes really well with cherries and chocolate. The result is this recipe, which is quite delish; the bottom crust layer adds another texture to make it extra special.

Black Forest Bundt Cake

Shortbread Crust:

¾ cup almond meal

2 T. sugar

½ t. baking powder

6 T. butter, chilled

Cake:

3 eggs, separated

¼ cup warm water

1 t. almond extract

½ cup sugar

¾ cup sifted flour

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 ½ t. baking powder

1 can cherry pie filling

1 t. amaretto

Cream Filling:

1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream

2 t. amaretto

¼ cup powdered sugar

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare crust by blending together almond meal, sugar and baking powder. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles fine meal. Pat mixture into 9” round cake pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

To make cake, beat together egg yolks and water until foamy. Add almond extract and sugar; beat until thick and pale. Mix together flour, cocoa powder and baking powder; pour into sifter. Gradually sift into egg yolk mixture, folding in while sifting. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry; fold into batter. Pour batter into bundt cake that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray with flour. Bake at 375 degrees 15 to 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Remove to rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely; cut in half horizontally to make two layers.

To prepare cream filling, whip cream until peaks form. Add amaretto and powdered sugar and continue to beat until stiff.

Mix one teaspoon amaretto into cherry pie filling.

To assemble cake, carefully turn crust pan upside down over serving plate and tap bottom to release crust. Spread cherry pie filling over crust. Place bottom layer of cake on top of cherry pie filling. Spread 2/3 of whipped cream filling over cake, place top layer of cake on top of whipped cream. Place remaining whipped cream in a pastry bag with decorative tip and pipe rosettes on top of cake. Refrigerate until serving.

Serves 12 – 16

December 20, 2011: Homemade Irish Cream Recipe

Here’s another adult beverage very popular around the holidays that’s easy to make yourself (much less expensive, too) and enjoy while sitting around the fireplace on Christmas Eve. It’s not recommended that you give this one as a gift because of the raw eggs (in fact, it’s safer to use pasteurized eggs if you don’t have fresh from the coop eggs like I do; do be aware of health concerns related to raw eggs).

Irish Cream Liqueur

1 ¾ cup Irish whiskey (good quality)

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup whipping cream

4 eggs

2 T. chocolate flavored syrup

2 t. instant coffee

1 t. vanilla extract

½ t. almond extract

Blend all ingredients together in a blender until smooth. Serve chilled. Do not store leftovers; drink the same day.

Makes 5 cups

December 11, 2011: Spritz Cookies Recipe

One of my very fondest memories from growing up was making spritz cookies with my mother each year. I absolutely love almond flavor and these buttery cookies are scrumptious without any decoration. Mom and I would tint the batch of dough in shades of green and red and then use our old, aluminum cookie press to make them in shapes of Christmas trees, holly flowers and stars.

I’m not sure if this is the recipe we used or not, but it’s from my favorite old Wisconsin Electric Power Company cookbook and it’s a good one.

Spritz Cookies

1 cup butter

½ cup plus 1 T. sugar

1 egg

¾ t. salt

1 t. vanilla

½ t. almond extract

2 ½ cups flour

Food colors, colored sugar and candy cookie decor (optional)

Cream butter; add sugar. Blend in egg, salt, extracts and flour; knead dough in hands until soft and pliable. If desired, divide dough into separate bowls and add food coloring. Press dough through cookie press onto ungreased cookie sheets; decorate as desired. Bake at 400 degrees about 8 minutes. Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

July 12, 2011: Peach Cake Recipe

In honor of my son and his family coming to visit this past weekend I made a special dessert with their choice of fruit (I’d just been shopping at the farmer’s market and loaded up on oranges and limes and mangos and such). They picked white peaches so I made this cake. It looked so good we didn’t wait to serve it as dessert but had it, instead, as a mid-afternoon snack topped with ice cream and a dollop of whipped cream.

Peach Cake

3 eggs, well beaten
1 ¾ cups sugar
1 cup cooking oil
1 t. almond extract
2 cups flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
2 cups sliced peaches
½ cup chopped nuts, optional

Mix all ingredients thoroughly by hand. Pour into 13 x 9 inch pan sprayed with nonstick baking spray (flour added). Bake at 375 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Note: I used white peaches for this recipe and they were drier than regular peaches. Watch the cake carefully as it baking since it will take less time for the drier batter to cook than a wetter batter. You could also substitute canned peaches, well drained, for the fresh fruit.