cakes « The Sprout and The Bean Catering

April 29, 2010

Dessert Workshop (you know, like a writing workshop but with dessert)

Filed under: cake, cakes, dining out, friends, fruit — saehee @ 12:57 am

vanilla bean panna cotta with red wine poached figs and strawberries

indonesian vanilla bean infusion

orange chocolate cake with orange sauce

the workshop group, carefully considering

and then we rewarded our hard work with:

I love my friends. Tonight was so wonderful.

Let me back track a little.

I’m exhausted–like have never been so exhausted in all my life, so sleep deprived that I feel drunk, started shaking in the candy aisle of a CVS at 8 in the morning, working at 4:30 a.m. in the gross Butler Building computer lab, eyes burning exhausted. But here’s the amazing part. Are you ready for this?

MY THESIS IS DONE!

YES YES YES YES YES!!!!

I’m doing a little dance right now. It’s true.

Another wonderful thing: I had Nikki, Sam, Nancy, and Lan come over tonight for a dessert workshop. I wanted them to try a few desserts I’m experimenting with and they were so wonderful and considerate with their suggestions. They took note of everything, taking bites before and after cakes had absorbed their sauces, carefully analyzing the viscosity of my coconut caramel. And what’s more is that they did this even though Sam and Nikki have a thesis due, Nancy had to drive through LA traffic right after tutoring, and Lan has to be up early for work. Seeing these fantastic people felt like just the invigoration I was in desperate need of.

Afterwards we went to Ganda Thai. Why is Thai food especially good after 9 p.m.?

I want this all the time. Dessert first. Involved conversations about cake density and psychic predictions that have and haven’t come true. Friends that I adore.

okay, now I have to sleep because i might die if i don’t. goodnight,

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February 26, 2010

Mama Cho’s 51st Birthday-Banana Macadamia Mocha Chiffon Cake

Filed under: angel food cake, baked goods, birthday celebrations, cake, cakes, chiffon, family — saehee @ 3:12 pm

ohhh, chiffon is a labor of love.

Banana Macadamia Mocha Chiffon Cake

2 ripe bananas, smashed

1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

4 tablespoons Dutch process cocoa

7 eggs (2 whole, 5 separated and chilled eggs)

1/4 cup water

1/3 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/3 cups cake flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup finely chopped macadamia nuts

1/5 teaspoon cream of tartar

1. preheat oven to 325

2. sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt

3. combine mashed bananas, water, cocoa, and espresso power and set aside

4. beat together the 5 egg yolks and two whole eggs until the color is slightly lighter (about 3 minutes)

5. slowly stream in 1 cup of sugar into the egg yolk mixture and beat for 5 more minutes until the has increased significantly in volume. slowly stream in the oil and beat for another minute. stir in the vanilla extract

6. with the mixer at low speed alternately fold in the flour and the banana mocha mixture in three additions

7. set the mixture aside

8. with clean beaters, whip the egg whites at medium speed until foamy.

9 . add cream of tartar and continue to beat until the mixture turns very white

10. slowly stream in sugar and whip until the mixture holds very stiff peaks

11. fold in the egg whites into the other mixture very carefully. do not overmix or the chiffon with deflate

12. pour the batter into a 9 inch tube pan and bake for 55 minutes

13. invert the pan for 2 hours and then use a knife to loosen it from the pan

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January 24, 2010

Lanny Cake–Strawberry Cheesecake

Filed under: birthday celebrations, cakes, friends — saehee @ 11:55 pm

Dear dear Lan had a birthday party yesterday and by special request I made a strawberry cheesecake in her honor. Happy Birthday Lan!

Recipe adapted from here.

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January 13, 2010

Black Bottom Rose Cakettes

Filed under: cakes, cheese, chocolate — saehee @ 3:11 pm

Cream cheese and bittersweet chocolate. uh huh.

recipe found here.

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November 29, 2009

Pumpkin Cake With Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

Filed under: baked goods, cakes, holidays, pumpkin — saehee @ 2:23 pm

I don’t think I liked pumpkin as a child. Why? I don’t know. It’s pretty much a perfect flavor now. Not too sweet. This cake was all about the frosting. It’s a bit labor intensive. Making caramel can be tricky as it has a tendency to be temperamental. Also the frosting needs to be refrigerated over night so this is a cake you need to plan ahead for but when everything comes together it’s pretty great. I burnt my caramel just a tad but that’s okay. It tasted like Korean burnt sugar candy (ppoki) and that excited my mother.

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October 30, 2009

Black Forest Rum Cake

Filed under: alcohol, bake, cakes, chocolate, fruit — saehee @ 6:19 pm

I recently bought a large amount of dried sour cherries and immediately thought of black forest flavors: dark chocolate, cherries, and coffee. I adapted a recipe from Joy The Baker for a mocha rum cake and just added the cherries. I made a rum icing but I have to admit, the rum was a bit overly present. I think I might opt for a vanilla icing next time, or maybe a chocolate ganache. But the cake itself? Quite good.

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour

12 oz bittersweet chocolate (use good chocolate, at least 60% cacao–my favorite is Valhrona)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup rum

3 sticks of butter

1 1/3 cup freshly brewed coffee

2 large eggs, room temp

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1. preheat oven to 300

2. grease and dust the a bundt pan with cocoa powder

3. melt the chocolate and butter in a double broiler under very low heat, stirring often

4. add in rum, coffee, vanilla, and sugar

5. sift together flour, baking soda and salt and stir gradually into chocolate mixture

6. beat eggs slightly and add to batter

7. pour into bundt pan and bake until toothpick comes out cleanly, about 1 hour

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October 11, 2009

Walnut Persimmon Coffee Cakettes

Filed under: baby cakes, baked goods, cakes, farmers market, fruit — saehee @ 6:34 pm

Are persimmons a commonly eaten fruit? I know that Koreans eat them religiously during the Fall and Winter but outside of that context, I’m not so sure. In any case, those who haven’t tried persimmons are greatly missing out. Persimmons are barely coming into season and I was on it! I picked up a couple pounds of persimmons at the farmers market this weekend and have been plotting how to best utilize them. I decided to make an upside down persimmon coffee cake, and because things are just more adorable in small form I made them into what I am calling cakettes. I can make things up. I give myself permission for this.

Calartians, in a shameless attempt at promoting Sprout & Bean I plan on making these on Thursday and leaving them in Marjorie’s office again.

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September 20, 2009

Grace Cake

Filed under: Uncategorized, birthday celebrations, cake, cakes, friends — saehee @ 5:06 pm

This cake will from this day forth be known as Grace Cake, created for the occasion of Grace’s 25th birthday. It is a chocolate chai cake with cinnamon sugar/condensed milk icing.

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September 13, 2009

Coconut Lemon Cake

Filed under: Uncategorized, baked goods, birthday celebrations, cake, cakes, catering, fruit — saehee @ 11:34 am

naked cake! how embarrassing

Coconut and lemon are a good combination. I made a cream cheese icing for this cake. I like my cream cheese icing with almost 3/4 the amount of sugar that most recipes call for. I don’t really like being overwhelmed with sweetness. I want to say that it gives me a headache because I feel like it should. but it doesn’t. It just makes my tastebuds unhappy. Also, the secret to really great cream cheese icing is almond extract. ta da!

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September 8, 2009

Prune & Lemon Baby Cakes

Filed under: baby cakes, baked goods, bbq, cakes, fruit, lemon — saehee @ 2:16 pm

Part 2 of the desserts I brought for Janice’s Labor Day bbq–this part, not so much vegan. I wanted to make something lemony because that seems appropriate for an outdoor event and I had bought some French prunes from the farmers market the other day. Prunes are fascinating. I’ve never seen them in their non-dried form. I just assumed that “prune” was the term given to a dried plum, but apparently I was wrong. According to wikipedia, they are a small plums with easily removable pits. Okay.

These mini prune and lemons cakes were very simple to make. I used cupcake tins to make a small grabbable sizes and just inverted the cakes so that they wouldn’t be mistaken for muffins. Ah, the versatility of bakeware. Also I made a lemon glaze to go on top just to give it an stronger lemon kick but you go without out the icing if you’d like. Without the icing I’d imagine that they’d make a very nice breakfast tea cake. I love tea cakes.

Ingredients:

16 prune, split and pitted

The zest of two large lemons (about 3-4 teaspoons)

1 cup granulated sugar + 1/8 cup sugar for muddling with the zest+1/4 cup sugar for cupcake tins

1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) at room temperature + 8 tablespoons of butter for the cupcake tins

1 large egg at room temperature

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1. preheat oven to 375

2. muddle the lemon zest with 1/8 cup of granulated sugar and set aside

3. sift together flour, baking powder and salt

4. with an electric mixer beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy (approx. 3-4 minutes)

5. add the egg and beat for another minute

6. add the buttermilk and beat for another two minutes (at this point the batter will seem oddly curdled but do not fear, this is normal)

7. add the vanilla and lemon zest/sugar mixture

8. slowly add the flour/salt/baking soda mixture in three separate additions, folding very gently

9. grease 16-17 cupcake tins with vegetable oil or shortening

10. at the bottom of each mold put about 1/2 tablespoon of butter

11. over the 1/2 tablespoon of butter but about 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar

12. place the sliced prune on top of the sugar

13. divide the batter among the cupcake tins, about 3/4 full

14. bake for 20 minutes

15. let the cakes cool for about 20 minutes

16. while the cakes are still in the pans, take a serated knife and cut of the domes of each cake so that they will sit flatly when inverted (save the cake tops by wrapping and plastic wrap and freezing)

17. invert the cakes by taking a butter knife and gently running it along the edges of each cake and then place a large cookie sheet on top of the cupcake tins and then flip. The cakes should unmold easily.

Optional Icing:

3/4 cup confectioners sugar

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1. whisk together

2. put the icing in a sandwich bag and push contents into one corner of the bag

3. snip and small corner off the bag and then ice the cakes.

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