Neapolitan Layer Cake

The primary dessert for my sisters wedding was cupcakes, but when she found this cute cake topper she asked if I could make a small cake too.  I love making cakes, but decorating them isn’t really my strong suit.  Around the time I was trying to decide what type of cake to make her I discovered the blog Sweetopolita which is filled with gorgeous cakes.  When I saw this Neapolitan cake I thought it would be perfect since the pretty layers inside would offset some of the plainness outside.

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Triple Layer Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Several weeks before Pat’s birthday I started asking him what sort of cake he wanted.  The first thing he said was, “Something simple.”  I was disappointed – for my favorite person’s birthday I didn’t want to make a simple cake.  Luckily a few days later Pat had a new idea: a layered chocolate chip cookie cake.

I was excited that I was going to bring this cake from Pat’s imagination to life, but I have to admit I was skeptical about how good it would taste.  It seemed a bit much.  Giant cookies, layered with frosting, and covered with even more frosting? Yikes!  That’s going to be rich.

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Coke Zero Birthday Cake

Last week was my good friend Andrew’s birthday.  I knew I had to make him a cake, but had some trouble deciding on a recipe.  He likes everything so no recipes were jumping out as the obvious choice.  I started browsing my cake cook books and came across a recipe for Coca Cola cake.  Of course!  Andrew is a Coke Zero fiend and I knew he’d get a kick out of it being in a cake.  This cake is delicious.  It’s really moist, fudgy, and chocolaty without being overly rich.  The cake doesn’t actually have the flavor of Coke, but I think it’s the carbonation from the soda that gives it such a great texture. Read the rest of this entry »

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Pat loves chocolate chip cookies.  In his mind no other desserts really compares.  It’s not an exaggeration to say that one of his highlights from our trip to Seattle was visiting a bakery called Cow Chip Cookies.  It’s sort of like Mrs. Fields except they use local ingredients, get fresh dough every two days, and never freeze the dough.  On our last day in Seattle I suggested Pat get a cookie for the train, but when we got to the store they weren’t open on Sundays.  He looked so sad that I promised I’d make him cookies when we got home.  Since I always prefer to try something new I decided to make a cookie cake instead of individual cookies.

This is what’s left after 2 days.  It takes surprisingly little time for two people to eat a 14 inch cookie. Read the rest of this entry »

Chocolate Blackout Cake

Happy Birthday Arlene

We recently celebrated my aunt’s birthday.. (I won’t say which one) and when I found out what her favorite cake was, I had to do a little research. Chocolate Blackout Cake was made famous by a bakery in Brooklyn called Ebingers, that closed in 1972. Traditionally it is a chocolate cake, layered with chocolate pudding, frosted in pudding and covered in additional chocolate cake crumbs. It was named “Blackout” because of the wartime blackout drills, where windows and city lights were turned off or blacked out to prevent aerial spottings during the war.

I found a variety of recipes online claiming to be the original Ebinger’s recipe, so I chose the most widely cited one and it turned out great. I think the cake tasted better the next day, after the pudding had more time to set. You will need to set aside some time, because the pudding needs about 4 hours minimum to solidify. Because you cover it in cake crumbs it looks like a sloppy joe of a cake, but like sloppy joes, looks don’t mean anything. This dessert is really delicious and chocolatey.

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Chocolate Sponge Cake with Mixed Berry Mousse

I realize this cake is a hot mess.  The mousse filling wasn’t as stiff as I’d hoped so it ran out of the sides of the cake.  After going up and down four flights of stairs, riding on two trains, and spending an hour out of the refrigerator the cake was an even hotter mess.

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Ice Cream Cake

This is a really simple cake that delivers big results if you know someone who likes sweet, rich desserts.  You can customize it with your favorite cake, ice cream, mix-ins, and frosting – and while it’s in the freezer you’ll have plenty of time to go outside and make a snow man.

To start you’ll need to bake a cake in a half sheet pan (13 x 18 inches).  If you don’t have a pan this size you can make two 13 x 9 inch cakes.  I used a yellow cake mix.  You certainly could bake a cake from scratch, but this cake is not about the cake so it didn’t seem worth the additional effort.

When your cake is cool press your 9 inch spring form pan onto the sheet of cake to mark the two circles you’ll be cutting out.  If you don’t have a spring form pan you could use a regular 9 inch cake pan.  If you use a regular cake pan you should definitely line the pan with saran wrap to help you remove the cake later.  Cut out one circle.  Use a spatula to help you lift the circle and place it in the bottom of you sprig form pan.  If the cake circle breaks it’s not a big deal.  Just fill in any gaps with the extra cake.

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