Pumpkin Walnut Cake with Caramel Mascarpone Whipped Cream

"Everything has to come to an end, sometime." ~ L. Frank Baum

Lately I have been feeling the pressure of so many endings approaching. Time feels so short.

This deployment is rapidly coming to a close. Which is awesome! However, that also means that my time here in Central Texas as also coming to a close.

My family doesn't really want to talk about it. I can definitely understand that. But it's what I think about, almost constantly. Soon I won't be just around the corner from them. There won't be any Walking Dead Sundays. No tee ball games and practices with my nephew. No tennis lessons with my sister. No coffee hangouts with my niece. No nail painting with my Baby Sis. No Friday lunches with my mom. No pedicures with the girls.

Not only will my time with my family be ending, but also my time with my friends. No more book group with Kristen and Linda. No more baking with Monica. No more coffee Wednesdays with Emily.

Also ending, is our time baking from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle. This is our last month baking out of this book. It's so hard to believe that a year has gone by already. How does the time fly by so quickly??

As always with The Cake Slice Bakers, we are able to choose our last cake out of whatever book we are baking from that year. I had hopes to make the Apple Cheesecake Brulee for my final cake. However, time, finances, and laziness won over and I went for a simpler option. After all, I already had everything for the Pumpkin Walnut Cake in my toolbox. And I do love pumpkin. ;-)

This cake was a spicy pumpkin cake studded with rich walnuts. I thought the cake was exceptional. It had great flavor. It was moist without being heavy. The cake flour gave it that added lift.

For a touch of decadence on this unassuming snack cake, Tish paired it with a Caramel Cream. Homemade caramel whipped into a soft mascarpone cream. Sounds great right? Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of the topping. I'm not sure if it was the mascarpone that gave it an odd flavor? Or maybe it's the fact that I don't like whipped cream, or caramel really. Or it could be that the caramel and pumpkin don't settle well on my taste buds. I prefer maple with my pumpkin.

The topping may not have suited my fancy, but the cake was worthy of concluding  my year with The Cake Book. Although, I pull it out more often than once a month. It's a wonderful book and would be an asset to any cookbook collection.

Make sure to jump over and peruse the final cakes for the other Cake Slice Bakers!

Let's bake!

Start with the caramel. Put some sugar, water, and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Cook and stir constantly until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Kick the heat up to high and let it cook, without stirring, until it turns a golden amber color. Though the recipes states about 4 minutes it took mine about 7.

Remove the mixture from the heat and carefully add some cream. This bubbles and splatters all over the place so seriously...be careful! Stir it up until it's nice and smooth.

Pour the caramel into a heatproof glass bowl. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 2 hours.

Now we can get the cake going. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and some warm spices. Set this aside.

Now in your mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and both sugars until pale, about 2 minutes.

Add in the milk, oil, pumpkin, and vanilla. Whisk until fully combined.

In three additions, add the flour mixture to the batter, mixing until just blended.

Remove the bowl from the mixer stand and stir in the walnuts.

Scrape the batter into your prepared pan and evenly smooth out the top. Bake it for 20 to 25 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Let it cool for about 15 minutes then invert it onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Once the cake is nice and cool and you are almost ready to serve it, go ahead and make your whipped cream. Pull out your mixer bowl, clean now right??, and pour in some heavy cream, vanilla, and mascarpone cheese. Whisk it until it's well combined.

Now pour in your chilled caramel and whisk the whole mixture until soft peaks form.

To serve this cake, you can spread the whipped cream over the top then slice into squares and serve. OR you can slice the cake into squares and dollop the whipped cream on each square and serve.

Either way you get that cream on there is good with me.

Enjoy!!


Pumpkin Walnut Cake
Adapted from The Cake Book

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup safflower oil (or other neutral vegetable oil)
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 1 recipe caramel mascarpone whipped cream**

Directions:

1. Position rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Spray the bottom and sides of a 9 inch square baking pan with baking spray. 
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, on medium speed, whisk together the eggs, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until pale, about 2 minutes.
4. Add the oil, pumpkin, milk, and vanilla. Beat until well blended.
5. At low speed, add the flour to the batter in 3 additions. Mix until just blended.
6. Remove the bowl from the mixer stand and stir in the walnuts.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula until even.
8. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
9. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 15 minutes then invert onto the wire rack to cool completely.
10. Either spread the whipped cream onto the top of the cake or cut the cake into squares and serve with a dollop of whipped cream atop the cake.
11. Serve and enjoy!!

**Caramel Mascarpone Whipped Cream

Adapted from The Cake Book

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 Tablespoons water
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream, divided
• 3/4 cup mascarpone cheese
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a small heavy saucepan, over medium heat, cook the sugar, water, and lemon juice, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves.
2. Increase the heat to high and cook without stirring until the mixture caramelizes and becomes a golden amber color, about 4 minutes.
3. Remove pan from heat and carefully add 1/2 cup of the heavy cream (be careful, mixture will bubble and possibly splatter). Stir until smooth.
4. Pour the hot caramel into a heatproof glass bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
5. Refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.
6. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, on medium speed, whisk together the remaining 3/4 cup cream with the mascarpone cheese and vanilla until well blended.
7. Add the chilled caramel and increase mixer to high speed and beat until soft peaks form.
8. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to 8 hours.
9. Serve and enjoy!!

Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake

Summers at my grandma's house in Lawton, Oklahoma are some of my very favorite memories of my childhood and growing up.

Her house was like that "coming home" feeling. And let me tell you...as an Army Brat, getting that feeling is hard to do.

We always arrived at about 2 or 3 in the morning. The sky was dark, yet the air was hot and sticky. Our parents would wake us up and we would reluctantly open our eyes. We would groggily stumble up the steps to the front porch. The only nighttime sounds were that of the bug zapper on grandma's porch. Illuminated by that faint purple/blue glow of the bug zapper we would reach the front screen door and peer inside (grandma always left the wooden door open at nights in the summer) and there was grandma, sleeping on the couch waiting for us. She would wake up and let us in and we instantly knew we were home.

Now grandma is gone and that feeling of restlessness has returned to my soul. Especially since I married an Army man myself.

Where is home? I'm not sure. Well...actually I am sure. I do know where home is. Home resides in the hearts of The Hubble and Little Butt. (cue loving sighs).

Anyway. You're probably wondering what all of this has to do with this cake.

Well...see...my grandma had a garden in her back yard. Now...don't underestimate. This was not your normal back yard garden. The woman had to have had at least an acre of the back yard sectioned off for her garden.

She grew everything. From tomatoes and cucumbers to peaches and, yes, apples.

One of our favorite snacks growing up was a cut up green apple with salt. Yes, I know, it sounds weird. But give it a try before you diss it.

The problem is that we ate those apples until our fingers were pruned and we were in desperate need of hydration.

Now, in my adult years, I really don't care for apples at all. (I recently found out my Older Sister has the same aversion to the fruit that I do)

From time to time I will crave a sweet red apple with some sharp white cheddar cheese, but it's rare.

I don't tend to choose apple pie. I cringe away from apple sauce. I don't tend to buy apples for our home (that was The Hubble's job if he wanted any).

So when this cake was suggested by a member of my Facebook baking group I was a little leery.

It took me over a month to work up the desire to make this cake, but make it I finally did.

I will admit that I took the big chunk of apple off of my piece and left it on the plate when I was finished with the cake itself. ;-)

The cake was actually quite good. It was moist and tender, but dense. It's definitely a hearty cake and I can see it being perfect for the Fall season.

I, personally, think the cake is rich and did not need to serve my piece with the extra caramel as suggested by the recipe. But maybe you are like my JerBear and believe that the more sugar in a dish, the better.

Who knows. But if you like apples, or even if you don't, I suggest you try this cake.

Let's bake!

We'll start by making the caramel. Heat up some corn syrup and sugar in a large skillet.

Good God when they say LARGE use a large skillet! Use a large stockpot if you have to because see what happens next:

When it's nice and amber, remove it from the heat and add in the butter and cream. Let it sit for a minute then pour some in a glass measuring dish....

The mixture starts to bubble...then it rises, pretty much like crazy! If you don't have a large enough skillet, I can tell you from experience that the mess this makes is spectacular! Here's a visual: my Niece, running from the stove shouting "What do I do? What do I do?!?!" Me responding "There's nothing you can do, just keep stirring! We'll clean it later!"

And pour the rest in the pan.

Arrange the apples, top side down in the pan.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the orange juice, sour cream and vanilla.

In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar.

Mix in the eggs, one at a time.

In an alternating fashion, add half the sour cream mixture...

Then half the flour mixture, repeat.

Stir in the chopped apples.

Evenly spread the batter over the apples in the pan. Bake it up until nice and golden. Immediately invert the pan onto a platter (watch out! The caramel spreads quickly).

Slice it up and serve it with the extra caramel on top. Or not...it's perfect without the extra. Enjoy!!


Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake
Retrieved from Food Network


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Ingredients


For the Caramel and Apples:

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
• 3 cups sugar
• 5 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 4 large Golden Delicious apples (1 3/4 to 2 pounds)

For the Batter:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup fresh orange juice
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs

Directions

1. Butter a 9-by-3-inch round cake pan. 
2. Make the caramel: Cook the sugar and corn syrup in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is dark amber, 7 to 10 minutes.
3. Reduce the heat to medium. Carefully add the cream and 4 tablespoons butter (it will splatter) and cook, stirring, until combined, about 3 minutes.
4. Remove the skillet from the heat and let sit 1 minute. Pour 1 1/2 cups caramel into a glass measuring cup and set aside. 
5. Pour the remaining caramel into the prepared pan and set aside until set, about 30 minutes.
6. Cut 3 apples into quarters and cut out the cores with a paring knife. (I also peeled the apples)
7. Arrange the pieces skin-side down in the pan (overlapping them slightly) to form a ring about 1/2 inch from the edge. Save any pieces that do not fit for later.
8. Halve the remaining whole apple crosswise. Scoop out the seeds with a melon baller or measuring spoon, leaving the stem on the top half. Chop the bottom and any of the leftover quartered apples into pieces; set aside.
9. Arrange the apple top, stem-side down, in the center of the pan. If the quartered apples shift, just push them back into place.
10. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
11. Make the batter: Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. 
12. In a small bowl, whisk the sour cream, orange juice and vanilla.
13. Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
14. Crack the eggs into a small bowl. Slip them into the mixer bowl, one at a time, and beat until the mixture is pale and creamy, about 5 more minutes. Scrape down the bowl and beater with a rubber spatula.
15. With the mixer on low speed, add half of the sour cream mixture, then half of the flour mixture. Repeat. 
16. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula; finish combining the batter by hand.
17. Spread the batter over the apples in the pan. Top with the chopped apple. (I added the chopped apples to the batter)
18. Bake on the middle oven rack until the cake is brown on top and springs back when pressed, 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes (don't worry if the top is dark). 
19. Cool in the pan on a rack.
20. Bring 1 inch of water to a simmer in a skillet wide enough to hold the cake pan. Carefully run a sharp knife around the inside of the pan several times, then rest the pan in the water to soften the caramel, about 8 minutes. Remove the pan from the water and dry. (I skipped this step and inverted the cake immediately while it was still hot from the oven)
21. Invert a plate on top of the cake, then flip over the cake and plate. Using pot holders or a towel, wriggle the pan off. 
22. Soften the reserved 1 1/2 cups caramel in the microwave, about 2 minutes. Drizzle the cake with some of the caramel. Slice and serve with the rest.
23. Enjoy!

Daring Bakers May 2011: Chocolate Marquise on Meringue

I don't know if you have noticed this...but I don't have a lot of chocolate recipes here in my little corner of the interwebs.

See...I don't really mention this issue much because I figure y'all will look at me funny when I say it.

I don't really care for chocolate.

I  know!! Crazy right?!?!

I have to really be in the mood for chocolate to have any at all. And that's not too often.

So when I have a chocolate recipe to make, I tend to make it at a time that I can give it away and not have to eat it myself.

The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.

When I read this month's Daring Bakers challenge, I started thinking of how I was going to make and give away a chocolate, frozen dessert.

Well...the opportunity presented itself the other day when my family was over playing a game of Phase 10.

I know what you are thinking...family game nights are usually events when you make dips, small bites and other finger foods. NOT when you should be making a decadent, gourmet dessert.

But...this is how I roll. So...chocolate marquise on toasted meringue with a caramel drizzle was served at the last game night. Perfect right?? Ha!

Luckily, I had made the chocolate marquise earlier in the week and it was sitting in the freezer, waiting for the perfect opportunity to make its debut.

Everyone really enjoyed the dessert though the consensus was that the cayenne pepper in the chocolate marquise was a bit overwhelming. So keep that in mind when you are making this dish.

Also, the original recipe called for tequila in the marquise and the caramel but me being in my pregnant state (and the fact that we don't actually bake anything with this challenge, therefore the alcohol wouldn't be cooked off) I omitted that ingredient. There were also other optional components to this dish that I completely forgot about didn't have time to make. So, if you would like to view/make the original recipe jump over here to check it out.

Ready?? Let's get daring!

We start by making the chocolate base. Heat up some heavy cream.

And pour it over some chocolate. Let it stand for a minute or two and whisk it up until it's nice and smooth.

Toss in the rest of the ingredients and whisk those until they are well incorporated. Set it aside.

Now we start the marquise. Put the yolks and eggs in a large mixing bowl. And whip them into submission! Well...whip them until they are light and fluffy anyway.

While the eggs are whipping. Make a simple sugar syrup. Bring some water and sugar to boil until it hits the "soft ball stage."

Then slowly but quickly (what?) drizzle it into the eggs as they continue to whip.

Is anyone else having a problem with this song right now (other than me): When an egg comes along...you must whip it! No? Just me? Oh...

While the eggs and sugar syrup whip along...go ahead and make whipped cream out of your heavy whipping cream. That means whip the cream until soft peaks form. Don't be like me and whip too long though. That's annoying. Set that aside.

Back to the egg mixture! The eggs should be cool by now (remember, you poured boiling sugar syrup on them) so now it's time to mix in the chocolate base that we made earlier. Pour the chocolate in and mix for about a minute until it's all well incorporated.

Fold in the whipped cream.

Then pour that mixture into a parchment lined baking pan. Put some plastic wrap over the top, making sure to let the plastic wrap touch the chocolate mixture. Put in the freezer for a couple hours, overnight, or if you are me...a couple days. Oops!

When you are almost ready to serve up this dessert, we are going to make the meringue. put some sugar and egg whites into a mixing bowl. Mix it up with a clean hand.

Then make a sort of double broiler from that bowl, continue to mix with your hand until all the sugar dissolves. Now set that mixture to whip up on the mixer. In the last minute or so, add the vanilla until mixed in. Then set it aside until ready to use.

Now to make the caramel! Put some sugar and water in a small saucepan and cook until a deep amber/mahogany color. Then add the cream and salt and whisk it up. Set the caramel aside until ready to use.

When we are ready to serve up the dessert, unwrap the frozen brick of chocolate and cut it into squares. Quickly (because it's all melting) roll the squares in the cocoa powder then place them in the fridge to thaw for about 15 minutes or so while you work on plating the rest.

Start by drizzling the caramel on the plate. Spoon some meringue on the plate then torch it. Place a thawed chocolate square on the toasted meringue.

Serve it to family or friends and enjoy!!!f

Chocolate Marquise on Meringue
Retrieved from The Daring Kitchen


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Ingredients:

• 6 large egg yolks at room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons water
• Chocolate Base, barely warm (recipe follows)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup Dutch process cocoa powder (for rolling) 
• Torched meringue(recipe follows)
• Caramel (recipe follows)

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the egg yolks and whole eggs. Whip on high speed until very thick and pale, about 10 - 15 minutes. When the eggs are getting close to finishing, make a sugar syrup by combining the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring the syrup to a boil and then cook to softball stage (235F).
2. With the mixer running on low speed, drizzle the sugar syrup into the fluffy eggs, trying to hit that magic spot between the mixing bowl and the whisk.
3. When all of the syrup has been added (do it fairly quickly), turn the mixer back on high and whip until the bowl is cool to the touch. This will take at least 10 minutes.
4. In a separate mixing bowl, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. Set aside.
5. When the egg mixture has cooled, add the chocolate base to the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Try to get it as consistent as possible without losing all of the air you've whipped into the eggs. We used the stand mixer for this, and it took about 1 minute.
6. Fold 1/3 of the reserved whipped cream into the chocolate mixture to loosen it, and then fold in the remaining whipped cream.
7. Pour into the prepared pans and cover with plastic wrap (directly touching the mixture so it doesn't allow in any air).
8. Freeze until very firm, at least 2 - 4 hours (preferably 6 – 8 hours).
9. When you're ready to plate, remove the marquise from the freezer at least 15 minutes before serving. While it's still hard, remove it from the pan by pulling on the parchment 'handles' or by flipping it over onto another piece of parchment.
10. Cut it into cubes and roll the cubes in cocoa powder. These will start to melt almost immediately, so don't do this step until all of your other plating components (meringue, caramel, spiced nuts, cocoa nibs) are ready. The cubes need to sit in the fridge to slowly thaw so plating components can be done during that time. They don’t need to be ready before the cubes are rolled in the cocoa powder.
11. Plate with the torched meringue and drizzled caramel sauce, and toss spiced almonds and cocoa nibs around for garnish. You want to handle the cubes as little as possible because they get messy quickly and are difficult to move. However, you want to wait to serve them until they've softened completely. The soft pillows of chocolate are what make this dessert so unusual and when combined with the other elements, you'll get creamy and crunchy textures with cool, spicy, salty, bitter, and sweet sensations on your palate.

Chocolate Base

Ingredients:

• 6 oz (3/4 cup) bittersweet chocolate (about 70% cocoa)
• 3/4 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/8 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/8 cup cocoa powder 
• 1/16 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 oz unsalted butter (1 tablespoon/15 grams), softened

Directions:

1. Place the chocolate in a small mixing bowl.
2. In a double-boiler, warm the cream until it is hot to the touch (but is not boiling). Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate.
3. Allow it to sit for a minute or two before stirring. Stir until the chocolate is melted completely and is smooth throughout.
4. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
5. Set aside until cooled to room temperature. Do not refrigerate, as the base needs to be soft when added to the marquise mixture. If you make it the day before, you may need to warm it slightly. Whisk it until it is smooth again before using it in the marquise recipe.

Torched Meringue

Ingredients:

• 6 large egg whites
• 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
• Splash of apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Combine the egg whites, sugar and vinegar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using your (clean, washed) hand, reach in the bowl and stir the three together, making sure the sugar is moistened evenly by the egg whites and they make a homogeneous liquid.
2. Over a saucepan of simmering water, warm the egg white mixture. Use one hand to stir the mixture continuously, feeling for grains of sugar in the egg whites. As the liquid heats up, the sugar will slowly dissolve and the egg whites will thicken. This step is complete when you don't feel any more sugar crystals in the liquid and it is uniformly warm, nearly hot.
3. Remove the mixing bowl from the saucepan and return it to the stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk until you reach soft peaks. In the last 10 seconds of mixing, add the vanilla to the meringue and mix thoroughly.
4. When you're ready to plate the dessert, spoon the meringue onto a plate (or use a piping bag) and use a blowtorch to broil.

Caramel
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar and water on medium-high heat. Boil until the water completely evaporates and the sugar caramelizes to a dark mahogany color.
2. Working quickly, add the cream to the darkened caramel. It will bubble and pop vigorously, so add only as much cream as you can without overflowing the pot.
3. Return the pot to the stove on low heat and whisk gently to break up any hardened sugar. Add any remaining cream and continue stirring. Gradually, the hard sugar will dissolve and the caramel sauce will continue to darken. When the caramel has darkened to the point you want it, remove it from the heat. 
4. Add the salt and stir to combine. Set aside until ready to serve.