JuBella.com – Get Your Creative Dose

I have been working on concocting recipes for chocolate cake for quite some time now. My last try was a three layer chocolate cake topped with chocolate ganache. The icing turned out wonderful, but I was so not pleased with the density and richness of the cocoa. So, I thought that I would give another try to my chocolate cake journeys. This time I made what I call a “Chocolate Sundae Fudge Cake”, and I am quite happy with the results.

This cake is beyond rich and decadent and is overflowing with warm fudgy goodness. I layered the batter with store bought hot fudge from the fridge (smuckers) and chopped pecans, but you can definitely make your own fudge sauce. Just be sure it is completely cooled before layering it into your batter. The key to this cake is to be patient and let it cool off for a good hour, but as you can see, patience is a virtue and I cut into it well before an hour was up. Waiting for it to cool will give you less of a gooey cut, but either way you are sure to enjoy this sweet treat! Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whip cream!

Chocolate Sundae Fudge Cake

Ingredients
1 C. Semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 C. Milk
2 1/2 C. All Purpose Flour
1 Heaping tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
6 T. Dutch Cocoa
1 tsp. Molasses
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
3 C. Sugar
2 Sticks Unsalted butter
3 Eggs
1/4 C. Vanilla Yogurt
1 C. Buttermilk
1/2 C. Water
2 T. Vegetable Oil
Hot Fudge sauce – cold
Chopped Pecans
Confectioners Sugar – optional for garnishing

Directions: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour your bundt pan. Set aside. In a saucepan slowly melt your chocolate chips and your milk. Set aside to cool. In a large bowl, sift together your flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt. Using your mixer, cream together your butter and sugar. Gradually mix in your eggs one at a time. Now add your molasses, vanilla, melted chocolate, and your yogurt.

Alternately add in your flour mixture and your butter milk and water. Next mix in your vegetable oil.

Now take some of your batter and spread it evenly. Now take small dallops of your fudge sauce and dallop it in the center all the way around and top with a hand-full of pecans. Layer on top of the more of your batter, dallop fudge sauce along the center and again top with pecans. Pour another layer of batter on top and repeat with fudge sauce, this time leaving off the pecans. Be sure to leave about an inch or two to allow for rising. Note: You will have batter left over.

Bake for 45 minutes. Let cool for about 15 minutes before turning onto cake stand. let cool for at least an hour or overnight. Dust with confectioners sugar. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whip cream!

The news and images that have been circulating around the web and on television has painted such a sad picture for the victims oh Haiti’s shattering 7.0 earthquake. It has left me with many emotions of “I wish I could show my love”…nevertheless..I came up with the idea to prepare a Sunday dinner in honor of Haiti and for dessert I was inspired to fix a Haitian Cake, which is enhanced with milk and cinnamon sticks.

The aroma of the warm milk and cinnamon alone made me think of homemade chai, so I decided to add a little bit more spices to the mix: cloves, cardamom, ginger, etc. A warm cup of chai is a match made in heaven for this cake, hence the name that I have given it: “Haitian Tea Cake”. I hope you all try this recipe and let me know what you think, Thanks to Haiti for such a wonderful sweet inspiration during such a sour time, and feel free to add more spice if you like, just be sure to balance out the brown sugar in the milk if you do! Enjoy!

Haitian Tea Cake
1 1/4 C. Milk
1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. Ground Cardamom
1/2 tsp. Ginger
1 Bay Leaf
Dash of Nutmeg
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 tsp. Rum Extract
3 Whole Cloves
2 Cinnamon Sticks
1 T. Light Brown Sugar
2 Sticks Unsalted Butter
3 C. Sugar
1/3 C. Sour Cream
5 Eggs
3 C. Flour
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt

Directions: Butter and flour your cake pan and set aside. In a small saucepan, slowly simmer on low your: milk, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. cardamom, ginger, bay leaf, nutmeg extracts, cloves, and brown sugar for about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat and discard your bay leaf, cloves, and cinnamon sticks. Pour your spiced milk into a cup, preferably something with a spout to make pouring easier/less messy(I used my glass measuring cup.)

Now sift together your: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp. cardamom in a large bowl and set aside. Now cream your sugar and butter until fluffy. Add your eggs one at a time. Now add your flour and milk, alternating between the two, ending with flour. Mix together and then mix in your sour cream.

Pour your batter into your greased cake pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 45 to 55 minutes OR until firm in the center and golden brown. Let cool. Serve warm with a cup of chai tea or vanilla ice cream!

I fixed this cake over the holidays and it was so rich, moist, and comforting, especially with the brown sugar icing and a warm cup of spiced tea to go along with it! It’s super easy. I am still working on it’s perfection, but this recipe was a hit! I especially love it with homemade vanilla ice cream, and I am sure you could turn these into scrumptious cupcakes as well! Yum!

Sweet Potato Pound Cake with Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
1 ½ C. All Purpose Flour
1 ½ C. Bread Flour
½ tsp. Baking Powder
½ tsp. Baking Soda
½ tsp. Salt
2 Sticks of Unsalted Butter – room temperature
3 C. Sugar
1 ½ C. Cooked Sweet Potatoes – cooled & diced large
1/3 C. Brown Sugar
½ C. Buttermilk
3 Eggs – beaten
¼ tsp. Orange extract
¼ tsp. Almond Extract
¼ tsp. Vanilla Extract

Directions: Gently mix in your brown sugar into your potatoes. Set aside. In a large bowl, sift together your flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Using an electric mixer or a hand held mixer, cream together your 3 cups of granulated sugar, butter, sweet potatoes, buttermilk, and eggs. Gradually add in your dry mixture. Lightly mix in your extracts. Butter and flour your cake pan generously. Pour your batter in and bake on 350 degrees for 50 – 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn out onto your cooling rack, bottom side up and let cool.

For The Frosting
8oz. Cream Cheese – room temperature
1 Stick of Unsalted Butter
2 T. Sour Cream
¼ tsp. Vanilla
¼ C. brown Sugar
½ tsp. Cinnamon
3 T. Milk
3 C. Confectioners Sugar
Chopped pecans for garnish – optional
Allspice for garnish – optional

Directions: Simply cream all ingredients together EXCEPT your pecans and allspice. Place your icing into a pastry bag or a sandwich bag and clip the ends to make a small hole…big enough for your icing to come through. You may want to start off small and test it on a paper towel to get the size you want. Do not make your hole to big. Drizzle some icing on top of your cake. Sprinkle pecans on top. Drizzle more icing on top of your pecans and dust with a sprinkle of allspice. Serve with hot coffee, spiced tea, or vanilla or butter pecan ice cream!

Mmmm…this looks delightful! I ran across this recipe in the latest Tea Time Magazine, which is filled with sweet loveliness and inspiration. I imagine that if you do not want to make 6 separate cakes, that you could do this in a circular cake pan.

Peach Upside Down Cakes
Makes 6 Individual Cakes
via Tea Time Magazine,July/August 2009, pg.19
3/4 C. Softened Unsalted Butter, divided in half
1 C. + 2Tbsp. Sugar
3 ggs
1/2 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 C. Cake Flour
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 C. Buttermilk
3/4 C. Brown Sugar
25 to 30 1/8-inch-thick peach slices

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 6 4″ ramekins with nonstick baking spray with flour.

2. In a large bowl and using an electric mixer at medium-high speed, beat 1/2 C. butter until creamy. Gradually add the sugar, and beat until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla extract.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Sift twice. Alternately add the sifted flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter and sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

4. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the remaining 1/4 cup of butter. Divide the melted butter evenly among the prepared ramekins, then sprinkle each evenly with brown sugar. Arrange 4 to 5 peach slices in a single layer over the brown sugar. Pour batter over peach slices.

5. bake for 30 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in ramekins for 10 minutes. Invert a plate on top of each ramekin, and carefully flip cakes onto plate while warm.

Good morning everybody! Oh my, I got a lot done over these past few days and I want to thank you all for checking in on me and for visiting JuBella while I was on my little hiatus! My mission for organization was quite successful and eye opening. I managed to clean every single inch of our little apt…from top to bottom, I now know where everything is and exactly what we have in our home and it feels great! I also finalized my daily schedule for home tasks, homeschooling the little one, blogging, creating, me time, etc. After I got everything cleared out I did manage to get in a bit of mini decorating(because that’s the real reward of cleaning up)! YAY…I still have a lot of loose ends to pull together(don’t you hate when you are cleaning and re-decorating and it seems once you get one thing done you notice something else that just does not quite fit in with your decor? This happened to me a lot) but I will be sure to share a few corners of our playful little home in a few weeks or so!

So I trust everyone had a wonderful weekend? I recently fixed this Banana Nut Bread which makes a sweet little treat for welcoming in the morning sunshine every now and then and goes great with some warm chai tea. The little bundt cake in the photo above is the banana nut muffin mix only it has chocolate chips in it(per my little ones request…and I must say that it was VERY good!) OK, Here’s the recipe:

Banana Nut Bread

Ingredients
1 3/4 C. Unbleached Flour
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
1/3 C. Butter or Margarine
2/3 C. Natural Turbinado(cane) Sugar
2 Eggs
2. C Ripe Bananas, mashed (about 4-5)
1/2 C. Chopped Walnuts
Chocolate Chips(optional)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the first 4 ingredients(flour, baking powder, salt, & baking soda). Cream margarine. Then add sugar and continue to cream. Add eggs one at a time making sure to beat well after each egg. Now gradually mix in your sifted dry ingredients alternating between the flour mixture and your mashed bananas. Stir in your walnuts and chocolate chips if you are using them. Pour batter into a greased(non-stick spray) loaf pan or mini bundt cake pans. Bake until golden brown and center comes out clean. Enjoy! I am back to posting regularly now, so keep an eye out for your daily creative dosage!

Summertime is pretty much here and that means that the sweet smell of honeysuckles are in full bloom, cool glasses of fresh lemonade, ice-cream, and candlelit porches filled with laughter and friends, and but of course something sweet to top it all off! What should it be you say? Rhubarb! Rhubarb is a vegetable plant in which you can only eat the stems, as the leaves are quite toxic. The beautiful red stems are packed with nutrition and is a bit tart, so when added with a bit of sugar, you get the perfect filling for a scrumptious rhubarb dessert. Here is a great video recipe of cook Annabel Langbein of New Zealand. She is one of my favorites among many others and I thought this Rhubarb & Yoghurt Crumble Cake sounded absolutely divine and perfect for a summer get together with friends and family! For more recipes using rhubarb, check out this cookbook: Life’s Little Rhubarb Cookbook: 101 Rhubarb Recipes

Rhubarb & Yoghurt Crumble Cake

Prep 15 minutes
Cook 50-60 minutes
Ingredients:

140g butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp natural vanilla essence
3/4 cup plain yoghurt
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 stalks rhubarb, thinly sliced, or 190g berry fruits or other chopped fruits
Topping:

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup slivered almonds or chopped walnuts
4 tbsp flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
60g butter, melted

Preheat oven to 180-C. Grease a 25cm spring-form or loose-bottomed cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Beat butter and sugar together until creamy.

Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Beat in yoghurt then add sifted dry ingredients and stir gently to just combine (mixture will be a thick consistency).

Spread into prepared tin and sprinkle over rhubarb.

Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over cake. Bake until golden and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes. Stand 15 minutes before turning out. Allow to cool before cutting. Store in an airtight container.

Serves 8-10
Variations:

In summer I like to make this cake with stone fruit. Use 6-8 stoned plums or apricots cut in wedges in place of rhubarb. In autumn use feijoas or apples cut in chunks in place of rhubarb and flavour crumble topping with 1 tsp ginger in place of cinnamon.
Copyright Annabel Langbein Books 2000 – 2007

Cookbooks by Anna Langbein:

Cooking to Impress Without Stress,

Assemble: Sensational Food Made Easy,

Desserts.

These muffins are truly delicious! I prefer to use fresh blueberries over the canned ones, as they give a much fresher taste and really pops with flavor and juice. You could also try different variations by adding cranberries, chopped peaches, or some sweet red strawberries! My husband prefers the streussel topping to be left off, but this is the most wonderful part to me. Enjoy!

Ingredients
Non-stick vegetable oil spray
12 count muffin pan
3 ¼ C. All Purpose Flour
1 ¼ C. Sugar
¾ C. (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter or margarine, room temperature
1 Tbsp. Baking powder
1 tsp. Salt
½ tsp. Baking Soda
¼ tsp. Cinnamon
1 ½ C. Buttermilk
2 large eggs
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 C. Fresh or Frozen Blueberries(drained)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin pans with non-stick spray. Hand stir or use your electric mixer to blend flour, sugar, butter, and salt in a large bowl until mixture resembles fine meal. Reserve ½ cup of mixture in small bowl and mix in 1 tsp.of vanilla and set to the side.

Add baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon to the flour mixture in the large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, and the rest of your vanilla(1 tsp.). Gradually add egg mixture into flour mixture in your large bowl and blend together until smooth. Carefully fold in blueberries. Evenly pour batter into your muffin pans. Top muffins with streussel mixture. Bake until golden brown. Use a knife to test. Center should come out clean. Cool for 5 – 10 minutes. Let cool on a wire or slotted rack.