"Drunk Date" Cake

What happens when you tweak a recipe? Usually you get a much better recipe. What happens when you give that tweaked recipe a little pinch in the ass? You get Apple-Date Whisky Cake! Also known as "Drunk Date" Cake.

I took my apple cake recipe from the other day and passed it a shot of Johnny Walker Black Label. OMG! This one is definitely keeper! I did a couple of tiny adjustments with the spices and since I ran out of dried cranberries, I used dried dates instead. In the original recipe, I plumped up the dried cranberries with a little lemon juice. But lemon juice didn't seem to strike the right chord with the dried dates. Looking around my kitchen, I found a bottle of Johnny Walker hiding in my cabinet. I don't typically drink whisky but I received this bottle as a gift one Christmas. It has, in the past found its way into several BBQ sauces and marinades, but never before into a dessert. I thought it would be a nice compliment to the dates ( I mean, who doesn't like a drunk date?!)

(I topped the cake with a cinnamon buttercream icing and chopped walnuts. My recipe for the icing was not as good as others that I have used in the past, so I won't include that recipe here. Why ruin an otherwise fantastic cake?)

"Drunk Date Cake" (Apple-Date Whisky Cake)

(To prevent over-browning due to the agave nectar, try baking at a lower temperature for a bit longer time.)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
1 1/2 cup light agave nectar
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 cup finely chopped apple
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dried dates-soaked in 1 shot(1/4 cup) of scotch whisky

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare pan (I used a bundt pan) with non-stick cooking spray and lightly dust with flour. In a medium bowl, sift in and mix first 7 ingredients. In a separate large bowl, mix agave nectar, applesauce, and vanilla, beat until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating until smooth after each egg. Add flour mixture little by little and beat until smooth. Drain extra whisky from dates. Gently mix in the apples, dates, and walnuts until well incorporated. Bake at 325 degrees for about 45-50 minutes or until a skewer stuck into the cake comes out clean.

My First Apple Cake!

It's beautiful at this time of year. This is the the time during the fall season that I like. It's still warm (in the 80s here for the past few days), the sun is shining, I've come to terms with the end of summer, the trees that haven't been ravaged by the Asian Longhorn beetle are bright yellow and orange, leaves are blowing on the ground... I just wish it could last.

The other thing I love about this time of year is the abundance of fruits and vegis that are ready to be harvested. My co-workers have been brining in bushels of big juicy apples. So the other day, I grabbed a few with the idea of baking an apple cake. But I didn't really have a recipe for apple cake just yet. I had plenty of apples so it was time to experiment. (You're shaking your head and rolling your eyes already.)

In my last post, I mentioned that I the first apple cake experiment was in the oven, filling the house with the most incredible aroma. Well here's the result.

My first apple cake.

This one is an Apple-Cranberry Nut Cake. It really wasn't a bad first attempt. Not great, but not bad. The recipe needed a little tweeking, which I have done already(see recipe below).

I had tried to make it a bit on the healthy side. I also have been experimenting with different flours so, in this one, I used a bit of quinoa flour. You'll notice that I left the quinoa flour out of the recipe below. Frankly, I didn't care for the taste that the quinoa flour left. The cake was moist, but there was hint of a dry, bland, sawdust quality to the taste. Part of the problem was that I had originally put a little too much nutmeg in the batter, so that had to be adjusted. But overall, it was the quinoa flour that had to go, I don't think it added anything to the recipe at all. I used agave nectar again, which I really like using in my baking in place of sugar. And I used applesauce in place of any oil. The adjusted recipe is really good.

And I never did figure out what type of icing to use (other than my favorite cream cheese icing) so I just dusted the cake slice with powdered sugar and cinnamon. I also tried it with a bit of mulberry preserves, which was yummy! But actually, the best way so far is with a bit of butter spread on the cake slice and I popped it in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Mmmmmmmmm! Perfect for breakfast with a hot cup of coffee!

Apple-Cranberry Nut Cake

(To prevent over-browning due to the agave nectar, try baking at a lower temperature for a bit longer time.)

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp allspice

1 1/2 cup light agave nectar

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs

1 cup finely chopped apple

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup dried cranberries (soaked in juice of 1 lemon)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare pan (I used a bundt pan) with non-stick cooking spray and lighlty dust with flour. In a medium bowl, sift in and mix first 6 ingredients. In a separate large bowl, mix agave nectar, applesauce, and vanilla, beat until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating until smooth after each egg. Add flour mixture little by little and beat until smooth. Gently mix in the apples, cranberries, and walnuts until well incorporated. Bake at 325 degrees for about 45-50 minutes or until a skewer stuck into the cake comes out clean.

What would you bake for your own birthday?

Ok, so my birthday was at the beginning of the month. But in my family, July birthdays are a plenty. So instead of having a separate party for each person, they get grouped together all on the same day, somewhere in the middle of the month. This year, we decided that everyone would bring something to the party. Since I was arriving later than everyone else, I decided to bring dessert. Dessert being, of course, the cake. So, I thought, what kind of cake would I want for my birthday?

My Mega Cupcake, of course!

(approximately 10"diameter x 12" high)

I went back and forth trying to decide what flavor to make the giant cupcake. After much inner debate, I settled on Lemon Poppy Seed. A happy cake flavor for a happy giant cupcake. What better way to say happy birthday?!

Lemon Almond Poppy Seed Mega Cupcake w/ Lemon Almond Cream Cheese Icing

Truth be known, this is actually my second attempt at baking this cake. The first is a whole separate story. The original Mimosa Mega Cupcake (an adult version of the easy soda pop cake) that I had baked the night before had turned out ok but not (at least I thought so) the way I would have liked. (The Mimosa Mega Cupcake was actually devoured at work the next day and got rave reviews!) So, at 5am the next morning, knowing this was my last chance, I scrambled to find a recipe that I knew couldn't fail. Elinor Klivans to the rescue! I frantically paged through her book, "Cupcakes!" to find a recipe that I knew everyone would like and that called for ingredients that I already had (well, mostly) in my cupboards and fridge. I re-baked the giant cupcake with the Lemon Poppy Seed recipe. I had to make some last minute changes for ingredients that I had run out of but the Lemon Poppy Seed was definitely a hit. A little last minute decorating with fresh raspberries and green mini marshmallows on the cream cheese icing, and my birthday Mega Cupcake was complete. Light and fluffy on the inside with tons of lemony goodness.

As I said, I did have to make some substitutions during baking because I had run out of a few things and I was doing this second cake at 5am the day of the party (not a chance I was running out to the store again). Either way, the cake came out tasting and looking beautiful!

Lemon Almond Poppy Seed Cake

(Adapted from Elinor Klivans' Lemon Poppy Seed cupcake recipe in "Cupcakes!" The original recipe makes 1 regular cake or 12 regular cupcakes. I had to double this recipe to fill the giant cupcake pan. Below is the recipe for 1 regular sized cake, with the substitutions I made.)

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon almond extract (original recipe calls for 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1/2 cup plain non-fat yogurt{or 1 tablespoon lemon juice+enough milk to make 1 cup}(original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of buttermilk. I substituted a combo of yogurt, lemon juice, and milk in my double-sized recipe. Don't laugh, it worked just fine!)

Position the rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350F. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until smoothly blended, about 1 minute. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is blended and the batter is creamy, about 1 minute. Mix in the almond, lemon zest, and poppy seeds. On low speed, add half of the flour mixture, mixing to incorporate. Mix in the yogurt to blend it. Mix in the remaining flour mixture until it is incorporated and the batter is smooth.

Fill the prepared cake pan about 3/4 full with the batter. (If using the giant cupcake pan, set the pan on a cookie sheet to make it more stable on the oven rack.) Bake until the top feels firm and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (You will need to use a long wooden skewer to do this with the giant cupcake.) Cool the cake for about 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. To release the cake from the pan, place the wire rack on top of the pan and, while holding both the rack and pan securely, invert the rack and pan, let the cake rest on the wire rack. Let cool completely before icing.

Lemon Almond Cream Cheese Icing

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

8 ounces fat free cream cheese

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon lemon juice

3 cups powdered (confectioner's) sugar

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, cream cheese, almond, and lemon juice until blended smooth. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, beat until blended and smooth after each cup.