Bread and Jam

More Cake Please

 It The pic above is my mom's chocolate cake that I always want for my birthday. (Or any other time for that matter.) I like it best layered like this because you can have your choice of frosting or jam sandwiched throughout. You can even sprinkle some shredded coconut between the layers. Sooo good!

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake
2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup softened butter or shortening

1 cup water

3/4 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 oz. melted unsweetened chocolate

 

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix on low for 1 minute. Mix for 3 minutes on high speed and pour batter into 2 greased and floured 9 inch round pans. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes. You can also use a 9 x 13 pan, and bake it for 40 minutes.
Cool on wire rack for 5 minutes before running a knife around the edges of the pans and removing the cakes to cool. Note: When I grease and flour cake pans, I like to cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of the pan and then I pour the batter right over top. This allows the cakes to be removed perfectly after baking.

Pineapple Upside Down Cheesecake

This is my attempt at recreating the Cheesecake Factory's amazing Pineapple Upside Down Cheesecake. This month's Daring Bakers challenge happens to be cheesecake so it was the perfect opportunity to give it a try. The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. The recipe is for a vanilla cheesecake with graham cracker crust, but we were given the freedom to alter the recipe any way we like so I decided to go the pineapple route. I've posted photo segments below but to view the complete recipe you can click here.

I used a basic pineapple upside down cake recipe in place of the graham cracker crust but I did not assemble it upside down. This way, the pineapple layer was perfectly even with the cheesecake layer. I used a springform pan and baked the cake layer for about 25 minutes before I poured the cheesecake layer over top to bake.

 
The cake layer made the perfect crust. All gooey and brown sugary with the pineapple layer and cherries.

I whipped together a half pint of heavy whipping cream, 1/4 cup powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla for the top. It only takes minutes if you put the bowl and beaters in the freezer for about 5 minutes before you whip the cream.

Crusty French Bread

 
This is one of the best homemade French bread recipes I've tasted. The photo above is the loaf my brother made to go along with some fabulous pasta (another post to come)and it's his recipe that I'm sharing with you today. Placing the bread atop scattered cornmeal to bake and adding ice cubes to the oven floor during baking time gives you the texture you're looking for in good French bread. The ice cubes create the steam that would be found in a genuine French baker's oven.

What you'll need:

3 1/2 tsp. dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1/4 tsp. sugar

1 cup cold water

2 Tbsp. butter

3 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

1 tsp. salt

2 tablespoons cornmeal

Place your yeast in the warm water and stir until dissolved. Stir in your sugar and set aside for 5-10 minutes. After this time, the mixture should become foamy and smell like bread. This step is called proofing the yeast. It's a precautionary step that will save your whole recipe if the yeast turns out to be old or inactive. As long as it foams and has the bread smell, you're in good shape.

In a small saucepan, slowly heat your butter and cold water until melted.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your flour, salt, proofed yeast and melted butter. Mix well until it feels like a good dough. Knead it together with your hands, forming into a ball and place it in a large mixing bowl that has been lightly greased with butter or olive oil. Cover and set it aside to rise. Once it has risen, punch down the dough, remove it to knead again and place it back in the covered bowl to rise once more. This time after the dough has risen, punch down the dough and remove it to form into a loaf about 15 inches long. Sprinkle your cornmeal on a baking sheet and place the loaf upon it. Set it aside in a warm place to rise.

Preheat your oven to 450 F. Once the loaf has pretty much doubled in size, use the tip of a sharp knife to cut three long diagonal marks in the top. Place the loaf on the cornmeal baking sheet into the oven and throw 4 ice cubes onto the oven floor.  After 5 minutes, throw in 4 more ice cubes. Ten minutes later, turn the oven heat down to 400 F and bake for 20 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and cool on rack. You will love the crackle of the crust and the soft center!