The ‘Too Many Flavors’ Cake

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Sometimes I get carried away with a flavor idea… and its a GREAT idea at first… and then I just start grabbing things off the shelf and I almost ruin it. Well… this is sort of one of those recipes. It started out as a orange ginger cake but ended up a ‘ginger/cardamom cake with orange and coconut frosting’. The end result was actually pretty delicious. Maybe next time i’ll do a better job of focusing in on the a 1-2 flavor punch. In the meantime enjoy this flavorful and exciting recipe for the ‘too many flavors’ cake.

Recipe:

Cake:

2 Cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1.5 Cups white sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
2 tsp diced ginger (or ginger paste)
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Filling:

1 Cup Whipping Cream
1/3 cup white sugar

Frosting:
1 Stick of softened butter
1 Brick softened cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
zest of one medium orange (1/4 cup)
2 tablespoons sour cream

Topping:
1 cup coconut shavings

Directions Cake:

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt in one bowl. In a seperate bowl combine the butter, sugar, vanilla, ginger, cardamom and eggs. Add in one third of the flour. Combine. Add in half of the buttermilk. Combine. Repeat until all flour and buttermilk is added to the butter mixture.

Bake in two separate 8″ cake rounds.

Once fully baked cool and remove from pans. Bring to room temperature and slice into 4 separate layers.

Directions Filling:

In a chilled bowl beat on high speed the whipping cream and sugar until stiff. Stack cake layers with a layer of the whipped cream equally divided in between each. Chill cake for approximately 30 minutes (keep cake covered in refrigerator).

Directions Frosting:

In bowl beat softened butter and cream cheese for 2 minutes. Mix orange zest into Add powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating for 1 minute on high between each addition. Beat in sour cream until fully combined.

This is a sticky frosting naturally, but when beaten it should hold its form. If it does not gradually beat in one half a cup of powdered sugar at a time until it does.

Frost the cake starting with the sides and finishing with the top. Once cake is fully frosted sprinkle shredded coconut on cake until fully covered. Serve!

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Bold Coffee Cheesecake Recipe

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I looooove coffee. So this is a coffee cheesecake recipe thats light on the sweet and heavy on the coffee. Warning… this is NOT a sweet cheesecake. If you never drink your coffee without sugar you might want to add a half cup more sugar. But if you want a bold and smooth cup of coffee with just a touch of cream you’ll love this.

Crust:
Recipe for Shortbread pie crust

Cheesecake:
2 bricks of cream cheese
1/2 cup granular white sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tsp freeze dried coffee (starbucks VIA italian roast is great for this)
1 tsp coffee extract

Ganache:
4 ounces of semi sweet bakers chocolate
1 tbsp cocoa
1/2 cup heavy cream

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350F. Have one rack in the center of your oven and one rack positioned just below it. On the lower shelf place a pan (round cake pan or pie tin works fine) with about an inch of water.

Prepare the shortbread pie crust according to instructions and press into an 8 inch springform pan. Press this as thin as possible.

Soften the cream cheese by either leaving at room temperature for 4-5 hours or microwaving the blocks individually for 20-30 seconds.

Blend the softened cream cheese, sugar, and coffee until fully combined. In a separate bowl beat the eggs, cinnamon and freeze dried coffee for 30 seconds. Add the egg mixture to your cream cheese mixture and beat for 1 minute on low. Add flour and beat for another minute. Pour mixture into springform pan. Place in oven.

Before closing up the oven double check your bath. Add some water to it if its more than half way empty.

Bake for about 40 minutes or until the center is firm.

Remove from oven and let cool in the pan.

Grate your chocolate into a bowl with high walls. In a double boiler slowly heat up your heavy cream. Once the cream starts to bubble (or is too hot to touch) remove from heat and pour into the center of the chocolate. Stir slowly until all chocolate is melted and the ganache is smooth. Pour ganache onto the top of the room temperature cheesecake.

Place in the fridge and chill for at least 2 hours. Once chilled bring the cheesecake back to room temperature before slowly removing the outer ring of the springform pan. Serve!

Dust with some starbucks via :-)

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The Homemade Sofa

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Sometimes you just need a sofa. Most of my life i’ve been opposed to owning sofas (at least the ones I can afford). Most sofas are rather large, unweildy, and take up more space than their intended purpose should warrant. But if anyone wants to buy me one of those mid century modern sofas from Mad Men i’m fine with shifting my opinions :-) .

Fortunately, im in a position to have many guests at the apartment for parties and dinners. So having a place to sit is an inescapable need. This project was a compromise between what I really wanted and what I actually could afford. The final bill for this sofa was about 200 dollars and 30 hours of work.

The sections are made from 3/4″  birch veneer plywood, the front panels are raw masonite, the cushions are high density upholstery foam, and the fabric is from G st. fabrics upholstery ends.

The masonite panels hide storage. Each of the sections are designed to be reposition-able. Sleeps one adult comfortably.

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How to get rid of a christmas tree in your appartment

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Im the worst when it comes to taking down my christmas decorations. This year I made it a goal to get everything squared away before Martin Luther King day. And somewhat luckily, I came down with a bad cold that has kept me at home. So this year, everything ‘worked out’.

I thought I would do a post about how an apartment dweller gets rid of a 8 ft tree. I basically ‘dexter’ it, trim off the branches, cut down the trunk, sweep up the needles and bag it up. Easily fits into 5-6 bags and can be thrown away in your buildings trash (Although bring the bags down to the trash room, its a very bad idea to put pine needles in a trash chute).

Doughnut Plant keeps me dreaming of Chelsea

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I was born in NY. Specifically in the chelsea neighborhood. Its a pretty lively place. These days its the center of gay life in the city (although, in all honesty, most NY neighborhoods give chelsea a run for its money) and home to numerous icons of the 60s and 70s, greatest of which is the Chelsea Hotel.

While the Chelsea Hotel is no longer what it once was, it does have the good fortune of renting out one of its retail spots to a branch of the ‘Doughnut Plant‘. To say these are good donuts is an incredible understatement. The flavors, textures, and quality are incredible. Its hard to eat a dunkin donut after having these. Its ALMOST hard to eat a Krispy Kreme (although time helps).

You can really taste the quality of the ingredients, the freshness of the product and the genius behind the craftsmanship in each variety. Today I had three small filled donuts:
chocolate hazelnut (the chocolate creme in the middle was so rich it almost tasted alcoholic), Creme Brule (the tops of these are slightly singed, crunchy, and sugary), and cashew orange blossom (the exterior is coated in glaze and cashews while the interior fresh creme is lightly flavored with orange blossom).

They have a rotating array of flavors daily. My absolute favorite is Oatmeal. Its a rich and hearty cake donut with chunks of semi hydrated fruit baked into the donut. The outside is glazed with a milky, lightly sweet, glaze and coated in small chunks of fresh granola. The perfect combination of flavor, heartiness, and crunchy, just-sweet-enough, texture.

Next time you’re in NYC take some time to swing by Doughnut Plant.