(Matcha) Green Tea Cake

I had wanted to make this for Hubby for his birthday, but never ended up doing it cuz I was too tired from being pregnant at the time. I did end up eventually doing it about a month and half later though. This turned out pretty nicely. K even helped to make it. The kid is turning out to be a pretty good sous chef. ;)


(Matcha) Green Tea Cake
(serves 12-14)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cake flour (or 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour + 1/4 cup cornstarch, sifted)
• 6 tsps (matcha) green tea powder, divided
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup canola/vegetable oil
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup plain yogurt (or 2 Tbsps white vinegar + enough milk to make 1 cup of sour milk [let sit for 5 minutes before mixing into batter])
• 3 tsps vanilla extract, divided
• 1 250g (8oz) package of cream cheese, softened
• 2 Tbsps butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups icing sugar
• 1 Tbsp milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and line the bottom of two 9" round pans with parchment paper. Grease the sides, if not using teflon pans. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, 4 teaspoons of green tea powder, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
3. In a stand mixer, beat sugar, oil, eggs and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract until smooth. Add in half of the sifted flour mixture. Beat on low until just incorporated.
4. Add in yogurt and beat on low until just incorporated.
5. Add in remaining flour mixture and beat on low until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and beat for another second or two until just incorporated.
6. Divide batter into the pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a cake tester (aka dry spaghetti pasta) comes out clean when poked into the center of the cake.
7. Cool for 1 hour or so until the cake is at room temperature.
8. Meanwhile, make the frosting by beating cream cheese with butter, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, icing sugar, milk and the remaining 2 teaspoons of green tea  powder until smooth.
9. Once the cake layers have cooled to room temperature, use a serrated knife to level/slice off the top rounded layer of the cakes. Spread 1/3 of the frosting on top of one of the layers. Top with the other layer of cake. Frost a thin (crumb) layer of frosting on the surface of the cake with an offset spatula. Wipe clean and spread remaining frosting all over the cake. To make a swirly pattern like in the picture, use the rounded side of a large spoon to press down, twist, then lift up.
10. Serve with coffee or milk.

Angel Food Cake

Teehee. Don't mind the plate. We had both sides of the family over for Father's Day dinner, so we just had dessert on paper plates.

I'm surprised the cake turned out so well. I can't bake for the life of me. I definitely will be using liquid egg whites next time I make this. Way easier than trying to figure out what to do with all those egg yolks. :O

The cake is pretty sweet, so I definitely recommend having some whipped cream and fruit to tone it down. Either that or coffee, but the whipped cream and fresh fruit is so much better. :D


Angel Food Cake
(serves 12-16)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup egg whites
• 1 1/4 cup cake flour (or 1 cup, minus 1 Tbsp all purpose flour)
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. In a stand mixer, whip egg whites until stiff. Stir in vinegar and vanilla extract and whip until well incorporated. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, sugar and salt. Gently fold flour mixture into the egg whites until just combined.
3. Pour into an ungreased tube pan and place into a cold oven.
4. Turn the oven on and bake at 325F for an hour or so until the top cracks and is golden brown. When a cake tester is inserted, it should come out clean.
5. Take the cake out of the oven and invert the pan to cool. Once cooled completely, use a butter knife or metal spatula to scrape along the sides and the tube to loosen cake. Gently pop it out of the pan and place onto a cake stand or plate.
6. Use a serrated knife to cut into the cake. Serve with fresh whipped cream and fresh fruit.

Carrot Cake Thumbprint Cookies

There was a cookie bake-off at work and you get points for creativity. At first I thought "what can be more original than carrot cake cookies!?" Oh how wrong I was. After some research to try to find the right "formula" to turn a cake recipe into a cookie one, I found out from a friend that there already are people making these. Doh.

At first I was a little disappointed that someone already had "my" idea, but then I got over that pretty quickly when I realized that I could just do what I normally do with recipes - research a bunch of them and then do my own thing! :D

These cookies are like little cakes. They're super soft and cake-like, especially during the second day. Good if you like the cake-like cookies. Not so good if you're looking for something crunchier.


Carrot Cake Thumbprint Cookies
(makes approximately 4 dozen)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups coarsely grated carrots (approximately 2 medium)
• 1 cup raisins
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1/4 cup honey

Directions:

1. Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375F.
2. Whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
3. Beat together butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in carrots and raisins at low speed. Scrape down the sides and mix on high for a couple of seconds to make sure everything is well incorporated.
4. Add flour mixture and beat until just combined.
5. Drop 1 tablespoon batter per cookie 2 inches apart on baking sheets and bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are lightly browned and springy to the touch, 12 to 16 minutes total.
6. While cookies are baking, whip cream cheese with honey until smooth. Spoon into a Ziploc bag. Set aside.
7. Take cookies out of the oven and use your thumb or a wooden spoon to press “thumbprints” into the center of the cookies while they’re still warm. Cool cookies on sheets for a minute.
8. Snip off a small corner of the Ziploc bag and pipe cream cheese filling into the thumbprints.
9. Transfer cookies to racks to cool completely before storing away or eat immediately while still warm with coffee or milk.

Lemon Chiffon Cake

I've been watching so much The American Baking Competition that I've actually wanted to bake. But when I watched them make the chiffon cake, I remembered how I've never been successful in making a coconut chiffon cake. Mind you, my last attempt was when I was 18 and had no clue about cooking nor baking other than "following" instructions. HAH! Anywho, I just wanted to give it another go. I found this recipe here. I WAS going to follow it to a T.............................but then I decided to change it ever so slightly. I can't help it! It's in my nature. Maybe that's why all those attempts at that infamous coconut chiffon cake flopped. Lol. :P

Lemon Chiffon Cake

(serves 12-16)

Ingredients:

• 7 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 tsps lemon zest
• 2 Tbsps lemon juice
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp white vinegar
• 3 cups icing sugar

• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• Dash of salt
• 1 Tbsp lemon zest (optional - if you have any left over from juicing all the lemons)

Directions:

1. If eggs aren't already at room temperature, put them in a hot water bath for a few minutes while you gather all the ingredients.
2. Preheat oven to 325F.
3. Separate eggs - whites in a large bowl and yolks in a small bowl. Add the white vinegar to the egg whites and beat on medium until you get stiff peaks. Set aside.
4. In the small bowl with the egg yolks, add the water, canola oil, 2 teaspoons of lemon zest, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and vanilla extract. Mix until everything's well incorporated. Set aside.
5. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and 1 teaspoon of salt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Beat on slow until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for another two seconds, if needed.
6. Fold in the egg whites until the batter is no longer streaky.
7. Gently spoon/pour into an ungreased tube pan. Run a butter knife through the batter to remove any excess bubbles. Bake for 50-55 minutes, until the cake is golden and the top springs back when lightly tapped.
8. Invert the pan and cool for about an hour.
9. In the meantime, combine icing sugar, softened butter, 1/3 cup lemon juice, dash of salt and any additional lemon zest in a small bowl and beat until smooth.
10. Once cake is cooled, run a butter knife or metal spatula along the sides and inner tube of the pan to loosen cake. Gently pop the cake out of the tube pan and place is inverted on a cake stand/serving plate. Pour icing over cake and smooth over with a spatula, letting some icing spill over the sides.
11. Serve with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream or just as is.

I like mine without any icing, actually. It's already pretty darn sweet in my opinion. :)

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Carrot cake is healthy right? I mean, it's got carrot in it, so it has to be healthy right? Lol.

Trying to eat healthy is hard. But I figure making carrot cupcakes wouldn't be so bad. That way it's more portion controlled. Especially if I make the cream cheese frosting more liquidy, so then I'm less likely to pile it on. Good plan, yes? I'd like to think so. Plus I just found this awesome recipe that I wanted to try. I lessened the sugar a bit and it was perfect.


Carrot Cupcakes
(makes 24 cupcakes)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 1/4 cups canola oil
• 4 large eggs
• 3 cups peeled carrots, grated

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Line 24 cupcake molds with papers, or butter and flour them.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger to blend. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk sugar and oil in large bowl until well blended. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time.
5. Add flour mixture and stir until blended. Stir in carrots.
6. Divide batter among cupcake molds, filling 3/4 of each.
7. Bake cupcakes 14 to 18 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean.
8. Let cool in pans for 5 minutes or so, then transfer cakes to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before frosting them.

Cream Cheese Frosting

(makes 3 cups of frosting)

Ingredients:

• 2 8oz packages of cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 2 Tbsp milk (optional)

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. 
2. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Add milk and blend well to thin out if you want a thinner frosting.
3. Store in the refrigerator after use.