Also known as the Sebastian Cake, this four-layer heavyweight was brought into existence for the birthday of a good friend and coworker of mine. All the guys from work were going to be over at the apartment that weekend for a retreat, so clearly cake needed to be involved (fall 2010… I’m still catching up!) I wanted this to be a special surprise and thus cunningly- if I do say so myself- asked Seb his cake preferences, and got to work.

As seems to be traditionally the case with my making layer cakes, the first two layers weren’t thick enough, so I baked an additional one- which rose to the occasion (far more than expected)- resulting in a taller cake than initially intended, but hey, who’s going to complain about having more cake?

This cake follows a roadmap of fudge brownie bottom, followed by moist white-chocolate vanilla cake encased between white chocolate ganache, vanilla buttercream, chocolate ganache, and double-chocolate cake. The whole thing is then encased in a thick layer of hardened dark chocolate ganache, liberally hosed with runny white chocolate ganache, and topped with Callebeaut bittersweet shavings. Yes, it’s a doozy. So, naturally, you’d like a piece, right? :)

Tuxedo Layer Cake

Note: For the ingredients and process for baking each cake layer, as these closely resemble cakes already posted on Fruippe, please use the ingredients listed here and the process described on that recipe’s page, altering as needed to take into account the slightly-modified ingredients list.

Ingredients (Brownie Layer):

• 2 cups semi-sweet or milk chocolate (chips, baker’s chocolate, you pick!)
• 1/2 cup soy butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons organic canola oil
• 3 teaspoons 2x vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs (cage-free!)
• 1 & 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1.5 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup (slightly heaping) AP flour (preferably organic)
• 2-3 tablespoons cold water (based on your texture preference)

Ingredients (Chocolate Cake Layer):

• 2 whole eggs (brown, organic, cage-free)
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup canola oil (make sure it’s fresh!)
• 1 tblspn vanilla extract (feel free to be liberal with this one)
• 1 cup light sour cream
• scant 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips, melted
• 1/4 cup skim milk
• 1.5 cups self-rising flour

Ingredients (White Chocolate Cake Layer):

• 1 & 1/3 cups King Arthur organic cake flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup white chocolate chips, melted
• 3/4 tsp sea salt
• 3 large cage-free eggs
• 1 cup plain low-fat Stonyfield organic yogurt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup organic canola oil

Ingredients (Chocolate & White Chocolate Ganaches): For the ganache portion, the below ingredients correspond to the chocolate ganache; repeat and switch out the chocolate chips for white chocolate chips and voila, you have the white chocolate ganache :)

• 1/2 cup (one stick) salted butter (I’m so sorry, I know it’s a lot…)
• 1 bag (usually 12 oz) bittersweet chocolate chips (suggestion: ghirardelli or guittard)
• 4 tblspn skim milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients (Vanilla Buttercream):

• 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened to room temp (I know, I know, so much butter, I’m sorry!)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• approx. 2 lb confectioner’s sugar

Process:

1. Assemble in the following order:
2. Take out a heavyweight plate or cakestand and begin assembling. First, place the fudge brownie layer on the bottom- then coat with a light layer of ganache followed by a thicker layer of the vanilla buttercream.
3. Now add on the first vanilla cake layer, and top that with a good layer of the vanilla buttercream followed by some of the chocolate ganache.
4. Add on the chocolate cake layer, and top that one with a thick layer of the white chocolate ganache.
5. Now add on the final vanilla cake layer and top that one with some of the buttercream and white chocolate ganache. Use all of the buttercream that’s left- or store the leftovers in the fridge for when you’ll feel guilty at midnight because you should have been working but really just want frosting.
6. Spread on a thick layer of the chcolate ganache so that it coats the entire cake. Let it harden a bit, then drizzle the remaining white chocolate ganache on top and shave the callebeaut (or whatever block chocolate you desire) on before it hardens so it can settle into the ganache a bit.

…you probably were better off not knowing what went into it, but it’s too late now. If you’re looking for a showy cake that can feed an army of young men, then this is the cake for you! It’s a sugary overload and very intense, but… well… it was fun :)

This past week (Tuesday, to be precise) marked my one-year anniversary of working at, well, the company at which I work :). It’s been a really wonderful year- I’m blessed to have some amazing coworkers (incredibly sweet, humours, caring people, and I’m surrounded by nerds, which is wonderful), many of whom have a sweet tooth. I had promised baked goods for my anniversary (my new hobby is finding excuses to bring baked goods in to work, so birthdays, anniversaries, etc) and decided to make it a cupcake extravaganza. I decided upon three (well, actually four, but unfortunately due to a rather untimely migraine I was unable to make the fourth) batches, the first of which was this one. The sister and I had sampled some new nut varieties (they’re always coming up with new coatings and flavourings for them, it seems!) and we really enjoyed these white-chocolate-covered pecans. Mmh. Clearly, it was a sign- they were meant to be mashed into brownies, right? Right. So, herein lies the secret to making your own. NOTE: my brownies do not usually rise, but for some odd reason (I blame the pecans) these did… therefore, underfill your cups (mine were a little over 3/4 of the way up and that was too much) just in case! At the worst, you can just add extra frosting. No one will mind this. Just be wary, because spilled cupcake is usually no big deal, but spilled brownie hardens. I had many coworkers resigning themselves to eating ‘extra fiber’, aka the paper wrapping. Oops. Learned my lesson!

White Chocolate Pecan Fudge Brownie Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting

Ingredients:

• 2 cups semi-sweet or milk chocolate (chips, baker’s chocolate, you pick!)
• 1/2 cup soy butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons organic canola oil
• 3 teaspoons 2x vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs (cage-free!)
• 1 & 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1.5 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup (slightly heaping) AP flour (preferably organic)
• 1 cup white-chocolate covered pecans, chopped chunkily
• 2-3 tablespoons cold water (based on your texture preference)

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Melt chocolate using a double-boiler with salt and soy butter (or, if you’re trying to cheat, go ahead and use the microwave).
3. Once smooth, take off the heat, and slowly beat in the eggs one at a time. Then add in the vanilla and sugar and stir quickly- don’t worry about not mixing it perfectly. 
4. Add in the oil and water and stir again, then pour the flour in and mix until just combined. Lastly, add in the pecans, slowly mixing and do be careful not to overmix, this will ruin the texture of the brownies.
5. Gently pour the battle (slightly over 1/2 cup full) into brownie cups lined with papers (I did minis, you can do any size) and place in oven for approximately 15 minutes (or until firm and giving only slightly to the touch).
6. For the icing, I did the following: take half a package of betty crocker vanilla rich and creamy frosting (migraine = not enough time to make all my icings = sad), and place in the food processor. Add 1/8 tsp 2x vanilla extract, 1/8 tsp peach fondant gel colour (or none at all, or any colour), and a heaping cup of confectioner’s sugar. Mix until just combined.
7. Ice the cupcakes by piping on the frosting (once chilled), then add on fruit and coconut shavings for decoration.

These were the least popular of the three, but then again, it’s all up to choice. They were by far the sister’s favourite- which just goes to show that when it comes to cupcakes, we all have wildly different tastes! This one’s a tried-and-true happy one, easy to make, and oh so delicious.

I’ve learned one rather important lesson with this cake: brownies are heavy, heavy things, and don’t have the aerodynamic properties of light, spongey cakes.

For my birthday, I opted to do a great deal of baking to lure in celebratory folk. I work in a company where the men greatly outnumber the women and the cake-lovers comprise a minimum 90% of the employees- so clearly, making a cake would bring the masses to my office and we would have a happy birthday time together. That said, as soon as I sent out my bait, far more fish than expected took hold- one cake would certainly not do the trick, so I decided on two, and opted to have them be very different, so as to please everyone.

This was the first, then, of the two (office) birthday cakes (not counting the one for the home celebration. as can be seen, I take birthdays qutie seriously when it comes to entertaining others by way of cake). My friend B had recently been qutie generous and had gifted me a large amount of kitchen gadgetry, amoung them a large and lovely bundt pan. And thus I decided to yet again ignore the norm and make a brownie bundt, never, of course, stopping to wonder why it’s not usually done.

I found that the reason is simple: to make a proper fudge brownie, one can not expect to do so in a cake mold. It WILL fall- and it did, but luckily, not on the outsides! Ironically, the bundt pan was part of a fillable cake mold of which I decided to only use the bundt base and not insert a cavity for filling. The baking process was very long, as I had to be certain the outside shape of the cake would hold (even if the inside did not). The result (unfortunately I was unable to get a good picture of a slice prior to my coworkers demolishing it) was a well-shaped exterior, a bit difficult to cut through, with a very fudgy inside that had stuck to the edges, thus creating a hole.

Despite this, the cake had a wonderfully rich flavour, as I had added pralinutta to the brownie dough to make it more rich and flavoured with hazelnut. Melted pralinutta was glazed over the top of the cake, with honey-toasted pecans (the best part of the dish, honestly) were encrusted in the spread.

Hazelnut Fudge Brownie Bundt with Honey-Toasted Pecans

I’m not sharing the recipe as this one may have a commercial future… but I can share that it was eaten quickly and happily. I took an exit poll of those leaving my office to ask which cake they had liked best, and it was exactly half and half, so I’ve deemed both worth making again. All I can say is mmh! :)

However, I’ve decided to disclose a simplified version of the cake!

Ingredients:

• 2 boxes low-fat fudge brownie mix (look for one with no trans fats!) or to take the longer route, or double your usual recipe of fudge brownie
• 2 cups pralinutta spread
• 3/4 cup lukewarm water
• 2 eggs
• 3.5 tablespoons organic canola oil
• 1 cup honey-toasted pecans

Process:

1. Prepare brownies in your usual fashion. If using a box, be sure to ONLY add 3/4 cup water- no more. Mix 1 & 1/4 pranlinutta spread into brownie batter. Mix thoroughly until well-integrated. For extra flair, add in chopped hazelnuts (I sadly had none at the time)
2. Generously butter a large bundt pan, then pour in brownie batter (you may need to coax it out; it will be very thick)
3. Baking time will vary on your recipe, your bundt pan, and your oven. The important part is to ensure that the sides are hard enough to retain/hold the shape once removed from the oven. For me, this took approximately an hour, starting on 350 degrees and moving down to 300, reducing heat by 25 degrees every 30 minutes.
4. Remove from oven, flip over (it should come right out), and cool on a cooling rack
5. Once fairly cooled, spoon remaining pralinutta (3/4 cup) onto top of cake in circular fashion; it should melt a bit, creating a gooey, sticky surface
6. Encrust pecans into pralinutta onto the top

Et voila! You are finished! It’s rather simple when you look at what goes into it… but the taste is intricate, flavourful, and downright yummy.

The boyfriend’s band was in need of a heartfelt home-made thank-you gift, and he and I decided brownies were the obvious solution. As he’s an expert of ramen- and ONLY ramen- when it comes to the culinary arts, naturally, I was tasked with the baking :).

These fudge brownie cups are rich, gooey, sinuous, and portable. The key to knowing they’re properly fudgy is that the middles should cave in. Some notes on these:

• No need to butter the muffin liners- just put them straight into the muffin tin and you’re set!
• Mix the batter as little as possible, and add as little moisture as possible. To really keep the fudgy consistency, go a bit lighter on the water and a bit heavier on the oil.
• I use EVOO rather than other oils, but canola would work well, too
• Keep them in the fridge and take them out 10-15 minutes before eating for optimal texture- this will keep them moist and yet crunchy on the outside!
• If you’re not in the mood to make these the “hard way”, get a box of low-fat fudge brownie mix and just add very, very little water… and you’re set! :)
• To make the tops shiny, I lightly brushed the tops right after they came out of the oven with a little melted soy butter.

I really wanted to make brownies for this week because SXSW is in full swing, which means that portable chocolate snacks are a must (my most trusted form of headache medicine). I was going to make a sheet brownie and then cut it into pieces, but the boyfriend still has our square pyrex (my sister had made him a brownie cake for his birthday and we have yet to recover its pyrex)… thus I decided to try out brownie cupcakes (Chrissie makes some very yummy ones), and naturally decided to experiment a bit. My dinner guest is allergic to nuts, so I went with half tranditional, half not.

Vanilla extract went into the entirety of the batter, but in the latter half I added a cup of chopped cashews and three tablespoons of pralinutta. I made this batter be particularly fudgy by adding veeeery little water- the recipe I use calls for 1/2 cup, and I added closer to 3/4 tablespoon… I lined a muffin pan with cupcake papers and simply put the batter in- no need to butter first! I also made these with olive oil in stead of any butter. They’re yummy, and the nut ones are intensely nutty, but the flavour isn’t overbearing in the least. They’re my favourite iteration of brownies yet, very moist! To ensure that moistness and fudgy quality, be sure to undercook the brownies to JUST the point where they no longer are liquid/jiggly inside. Then after a short cooling period on a rack or stovetop, move to the fridge to cool for several hours.

They’re portable, simple… great as snacks or gifts. Try it out and make some friends happy- they’re delicious and, with the nuts and olive oil, more nutritious than the average brownie!

Backpost: Cupcake molds, pyrex, and chocolate, oh my!

Brownies are my go-to baked item for potlucks and birthdays. They’re so mobile, convenient, quick, and can come in so many forms: be it a large continuous brownie to be iced as a cake; squares that can be sprinkled with nuts; or these little cupcakes. I always add too much vanilla- on purpose- for it gives it a very nice flavour. And I substitute all butter for olive oil- yet another winning substitute, for it gives it much nicer texture, in my opinion. Some other findings:

• Undercook to where if you tilt the pan to the side, there’s only a slight mudslide that begins. For me that means a bake time of 17-20 minutes for very fudgy, and 15-17 minutes for a bit mushier fudge.
• After removing the brownies from the oven, let them cool for 5-10 minutes, then immediately place in the fridge (with a potholder or some divider so as to not melt your fridge bottom) for at least 8-10 hours.
• Take the brownies out of the fridge, let them sit for about 15 minutes, then cut. If you don’t wait long enough before cutting, the brownies may be too cold for your knife; if you wait too long, they’ll stick too much to the knife when you cut and you’ll end up with a far fudgier knife than you’d like!

Mind you, if fudge brownies aren’t your preference, ignore these steps :) and you can overbake for a cakier consistency, or fold in more air to get more bubbles. Recently I made the fudgiest ones I’ve had yet (no water- usually I put in about a fourt or third of a cup) and a little extra oil; flavoured with vanilla and macademia nuts, they were a hit. I’ve never seen them be eaten so quickly! It’s a combination I’ll certainly have to do in the future again.

Backpost: This one’s a doozy. Some friends of mine and I were going to potluck in the park, and I was in charge of

dessert (no surprise there). Options for ingredients were limited and I was looking for something portable. The result? Two gargantuan brownie cakes slathered in vanilla sprinkle icing. I think topped them with fresh strawberries and raspberries. To complete the top, I melted some strawberry fudge I had gotten earlier in the week and drizzled it on top. Mmmh!