Carob Snack Cake with Tahini Maple Frosting

I made a snack cake and did so for a couple reasons. The first reason is cake and the mr loves him some snack cake so you know. Secondly is what else is there to do when you are basically suck inside because it is so cold that if you leave the house for more then15 minutes you are risking frost bite. (Ok so I have been going for my morning runs in the -20 degrees but that is different because I am running and getting relay hot. Once I come back I stay back.) It only makes sense to have the oven going for both reasons and who doesn’t want to get down with baked goods all winter.

Flavor wise, this snack cake is carob, not chocolate, although it looks like it. If you have never eaten carob it tastes somewhat chocolaty but way more fruity, less bitter, more sweet, more nutty. It is just really good. And it pairs really well with maple and tahini so that is the frosting situation. A cake of good flavors that is easy to throw together and you get to enjoy the residual heat from the oven…It is a no brainer. Basically what I am saying it that you should be making this cake. It only makes sense.

Now to the snack cake!

The stuff. Carob powder, flour, baking powder and soda, salt, oil, boiling water, vanilla extract, sugar, vinegar , tahini, and maple syrup.

Make the cake batter. Mix dry ingredients into a big bowl then in a separate bowl mix the oil, sugar, carob, vanilla. vinegar and boiling water together until completely incorporated. Dump the wet mixture into the dry and mix until incorporated.

Pour batter into a well greased and lined cake pan and pop into the oven to bake.

And baked it gets. Pop it out of the cake pan and place on wire rack to cool.

Now make maple tahini frosting. Just wish the two ingredients together with a fork and a splash or two of hot water until completely combined and creamy like frosting.

And frost cooled cake.

And for good measure add a sprinkle of sea solt and some sprinkles because why not.

And now you eat it because that is why you made the cake.

-c

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Carob Snack Cake with tahini Maple Frosting

makes one 10 inch round

• 1 1/2 all purple flour

• 1/2 cup carob powder

• 3/4 cup white sugar

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup oil

• 1 cup boiling water

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/4 cup tahini

• 3 teaspoons maple syrup

• sea salt and sprinkles (optional)

Preheat oven to 375.

Grab a big mixing bowl and add in the flour, baking soda and powder, and salt and mix together. In separate bowl mix the carob, sugar, vanilla, vinegar, oil, and boil water together until completely incorporated and the sugar and carob start to dissolve. Pour wet mixture into dry and whisk until just incorporated. Pour batter into a well greased and parchment lined 10 inch round baking pan. (or a pan of similar size)

Place cake into oven and bake for 25-28 minutes , checking at 25 with a cake tester to see if it comes out clean.

Once baked, remove from oven, let cool for a minute in the pan, then pop out and finish cooling it on a wire rack.

To make the maple tahini frosting simply take the two ingredients and whisk them together with a tablespoon of hot water in a bowl with a fork until creamy. If the mixture seems to thick, add in another splash of hot water. The consistency should be a bit thinner then actually frosting, more like a thick glaze.

Once cake has cool frost it. Sprinkle top with a pinch of sea salt and add some sprinkles, if you want.

Then eat.

Left overs can be stored in airtight container for 5-7 days at room temperature.

Coconut Lime Snack Cake

I have a bag of coconut flour that I need to use up so I have made coconut snack cake a few times the past couple weeks. Once with orange instead of lime. Once I added chocolate chips. This time I stepped it up made a little glaze action, toasted a little coconut for some extra coconutiness and took these here pictures and wrote down the recipe. Just. For. You.

Not that I don’t know already that my snack cake creation is good, but I guess it was just super A+++. I threw this one together right before the mr and I headed down to PA to hang with my dad. As soon as he (and sister and nephews) started in on it, well the responses were more then average. My dad even snuck a piece off and hid it for later. They really, really, really were into it. Wanted me to make another right then and there. Normally I would but my dad doesn’t keep coconut flour on hand and I don’t make it a habit to travel with any myself. (I might have to change that.) Next time he will know to stock the coconut flour.

I didn’t realize my people were such coconut people. Good thing for them that I like coconut people. As a matter of fact, I consider myself a coconut person. And coconut is not code for awesome, but I am that too. HA

Anyway enough about me. Coconut snack cake is what you want to know about. It is soft and dense. Moist, not overly sweet. Lots of lime and coconut flavor and is just perfect for snack time. Eat it with a fork on a plate with coffee or tea or grab an piece and eat it walking down the street while thinking about green leaves and warmer weather. Or wherever and whenever. If you make it then it’s up to you when and where you eat it. That only seems fair.

Now to the snack cake of your coconut lime dreams.

The stuff. Gonna need all purpose flour, coconut flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, a couple flax eggs, some warmed coconut oil, plant milk, brown sugar, vanilla extra, apple sider vinegar, a couple lime, some powdered sugar, and some lightly toasted shredded coconut.

Grab a big bowl. Add in the brown sugar, flax eggs, warmed coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla. Mix it all up until evenly incorporated.

Dump in the flours, baking soda and powder, and salt. Zest in lime, squeeze in lime juice and start to mix. Add in the milk as you are mixing.

Cake batter mixed and done. Now to bake it.

Dump the cake batter into a well greased baking pan and level it off with a spoon or spatula.

Now it’s oven time to bake into a great and well cake.

A cake out of the oven, great and well. Golden brown and smells of all the goodness that a coconut cake could possible smell.

While cake is cooling, which it should be now, make the glaze. Powdered sugar, lime zest, and lime juice. Mix until it’s glazy.

Pour the glaze all over cooled cake.

Don’t forget the shredded coconut. Get it on before the glaze starts to set.

And then it’s just the matter of cutting cake…….

You know once you cut it, that means snack time right? Coconut lime snack cake for all of your coconut time, lime time, hungry snack time needs.

Keep it good.

-C

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Coconut Lime Snack Cake

Makes a 9x9 cake

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

• 1/2 cup coconut flour

• 3/4 packed cup brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 cup coconut oil (warmed to liquid)

• 1 1/4 cup plant milk (I used almond)

• 2 flax eggs (2 tablespoons ground flax seeds with 1/2 cup warm water)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

• A lime

• For the glaze

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar

• a lime

• 1/4 cup or so toasted shredded coconut to sprinkle on top (optional)

Preheat oven to 350

In a large bowl, mix together the bbrown sugar, flax eggs, warmed coconut oil, vanilla, and apple cider vinegar until completely incorporated. Next dump in the flour, coconut flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Zest the lime into bowl. Start mixing, adding in the juice of the lime and the plant milk. Mix it all together until completely incorporated.

Dump mixture into a well greases 9x9 baking pan and level off with a spoon or spatula. Place into oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and a tester stuck into the middle of cake comes out clean.

Once baked, remove from oven, let cool in pan for a few minutes then carefully remove cake from pan and let cool on a wire rack.

While cake is cooling, make the glaze. Just zest other lime into powered sugar then add the juice (or as much juice as you needed) of the lime until a pourable glaze forms. If your lime is not particularly juicy enough and the glaze is still really thin, just add a splash of water to thin out as needed.

And when cake is completely cooled, pour glaze all over cake and cover with toasted coconut flakes.

Now cut. And eat.

Store left over cake in a air tight container for 3-4 days. Individual pieces freeze well for all your future snacking needs.

Cherry Upside-Down Cake

Every year the same thing happens. Cherry season hits, I indulge and buy a few pounds of those cherries with great intentions of making something great, something to share, but then I always end up eating them all myself. What can I say, I love me some cherries.

But this year I realized my mistake. If I really did want to make something  with cherries other then eating them all,  I needed to buy a shit ton of cherries so I would have enough for my belly and some to share.  So I bought like 6 pounds at once so I would have to bake something before they went bad.  (Honestly I could have eaten them all but I was able to control myself.) 

I was going to make a straight up cherry pie, put then that would take me making pie dough, which I really like to do in most cases, but was just not feeling it this week. Plus that would have require a hell of a lot more cherry pitting which again, wouldn't have been that bad, but I was just hot really feeling it. But upside down cake, that I was feeling.  I always like the visual aspect of an upside- down cake so cake it was, cake it be.  Upside side down cake with a little lemony lemoness and  lots of gooey cherry goodness. Simple and stunning and better then cherry pie because it is baked upside-down and you can't bake a pie upside-down. 

I did good. (Here I pat myself on the back, give myself a high five, and finish off with a double thumbs up) 

The stuff. Flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in the bowl. A bowl of fresh cherries. White sugar, canola oil, soy milk, a lemon, a little apple cider vinegar, some vanilla extract, melted earth balance, and a bit of brown sugar. 

This is the most labor intensive part, pitting cherries. What I do is cut the cherries in half and then with my thumb, dislodge the pit. Pile the un-pitted halves to the side and once done pitting, double check you got all the pits out. No one will like you, including yourself, if they bit down and crack a tooth on a cherry pit. 

Cherries are pitted so now take the melted earth balance and brown sugar and mix together in the bottom of your greased cake pan. I lined my with parchment which I think was a good idea so you might want to do that too. Mix the mixture around to evenly coat the bottom then place the cherries in, singled layered and not overlapping, but get as many in as you can. (You can do them all facing hte same way like me or not, I don't know if it would really make much of a difference.) 

Time for cake batter. Mix the sugar and zest of the lemon into the bowl of flour, baking soda and powder, and salt. 

In goes oil. milk, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla. Give it all a good whisk 

Stop when it is all mixed and incorporated. Don't want to over mix or the cake with get tough. 

Batter gets poured right onto cherries in pan and the whole sha-bang gets popped into the oven for about 50 minutes to turn into golden brown, upside-down cherry greatness. 

Now for the best part, you must wait at least a few minutes, if not ten, to pop the cake right side up? Or os it now upside down? And be careful cause it's hot. Tip . Before inverting cake, run a knife around the edge of the pan to make sure cake is loose. Once cake is upside down on cooling rack (use a cooling rack, not a plate so the  bottom dset getting soggy), give the pan a good tap tap with a wooden spoon until the cake pops out.  If a cherry or two got stuck, its ok, just stick it back to the cake.. no one will know. 

And loooooook at that. Upside down cakes are always like magic. 

As you can see, it didn't stand a chance. A piece cut within minutes because how can you not.

I finally did it, I shared my cherry stash, and I feel good about it because all the people looooved the cake so it was worth it. And I still have cherries left for me!!

Now go upside-down a cake. 

-C

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Cherry Upside-Down Cake

makes a 10 inch upside-down cake. 

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1  teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup neutral flavored oil (I used canola) 
• 2 tablespoons earth balance or vegan butter substitute 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 lemon 
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups sliced in half and pitted cherries
• 3 tablespoon brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350. 

Start by rinsing and pitting cherries. Remove all stems, cut cherries in half, and remove pits. I use my thumb and just kind of pop them out, but do it anyway you feel like. If using a fancy de-pitter, you are going to want to cut the cherries in half.  After you have removed all pits, DOUBLE CHECK that there are no pits.. Pits will crack a tooth for reals.

Grease and line a 10 inch cake pan with parchment. Dump the melted earth balance and brown sugar in bottom and mix together. Spread mixture all around then grab sliced cherries and place them, single layered, into mixture. Get as many as you can in there without overlapping.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder and soda, the salt, the white sugar, and the zest of the lemon. Once fully combined add in the soy milk, apple cider vinegar, the oil, and the vanilla. Mix that all up until just combined. Pour batter all over the cherries in the pan. Level out batter and pop into the oven (middle rack) for 45-55 minutes, or until the cake is a nice deep golden brown and a tester stuck in the middle comes out clean.

Once the cake is bake, let it sit on counter for about 10 minutes.  Once slightly cooled, grab knife and run it along the edge of the cake. Take a cooling rack and place on top of cake then flip upside down. Tap around he pan with a spoon then gently lift pan away. 

Tada. You should have yourself something fantastic and great. And no worries if a cherry or two got stuck to pan, just pop it back on to the cake.

And now all you need to do is eat the cake. So do that. 

Tomato Bundt Cake

Do you have a gazillion tomatoes, like so many that they are practically coming out of your ears? Me too.... Me too. This year the tomatoes have been gang busters, a explosion of the sweetest and most delicious fruit and now I have tomatoes littered everywhere, tucked into all the corners and baskets all over the house. It's getting kinda tomato crazy over here.

 I can only eat so many tomatoes a day before all I have eaten are tomatoes and I start to feel slightly sick. Same with the mr, he has been a tomato eating champ as well but I think he was getting a little bored with all the tomato salads that I have been making. So I thought I would try something new and make a tomato cake. I figured why the heck not, tomatoes are technically a fruit and fruit and cake are great together and yeah. So tomato cake is going to be fantastic. I also wanted to make something that the mr would eat for breakfast. I have been doing this new thing in the mornings for the mr. I have coffee ready, some breakfast food (its been zucchini bread for a while), and a little vase of fresh flowers that I pick on my morning walk, all set out on the counter for when he wakes up. I know, I am so great right. Really I do it cause I want him to eat something before working all morning and plus if I am all sweet in the morning, he can't be an old man cranky pants (at least he tries not to be).  Now for the next few days the tomato cake is breakfast cake and all is good.

Anyway, the cake come out great. Bright reddish orange, dense but fluffy and most, and smells so good. The mr tells me it's amazingand I shared a chunk with some of my family and everyone (minus a little) where fans. I am for sure going to be making this again soon, although I have been toying with the idea of eggplant sweet bread (too far??) but I'll get to that later.

Now for the tomato cake!

The stuff. Flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt (all in the bowl). Brown sugar, oil, vanilla, apple cider vinegar and a few nice and juicy tomatoes.

First off, remove the core from tomatoes and cut into some chunks. Stick the chunks into a blender and blend.

Fresh and smooth tomato puree.

Now just dump the rest of the liquid stuff into the blender now and give it a whirl to mix it all up.

And pour the blended wet into the dry and mix until incorporated.

Pretty pink batter goes in a well greases bundt pan. I had got brown sugar everywhere while I was measuring it out and decided to just toss it on the cake as not to waste it...doesn't hurt.

And now the batter goes into a preheated oven to bake .

A bit of time later you have yourself a cake.

The scary part. Flip the pan and hope all that grease does it's job and the cake pops out. Lucky me this one popped out like a champ.

One de-panned, let the cake cool for a bit before cutting into it.

And now all you have left to do it eat it, so eat it.

Have a great weekend. Eat lots of tomatoes and make lots of cake.

-C

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Tomato Bundt Cake

Makes one bundt cake

• 2 -1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 -1/2 teaspoon powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2-3 large tomatoes (2 -1/2 cups after blended)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (for a tad sweeter, add another 1/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup of any neutral flavored oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350

Start by whisking together all the dry ingredients into a big bowl. Take tomatoes, remove core, chop into chunks, and place into a blender. Blend tomatoes until a smooth and frothy puree. Now add in the sugar, oil, vanilla, and apple cider vinegar and blend until incorporated. Pour wet mixture into dry and stir until combined.

Pour the cake batter into a greased (and floured if you want. I find it helps to make sure all the nooks are greases) and stick into preheated oven. Bake for 45-50 minutes until it's a dark reddish golden brown and a tester (I use a fork) comes out clean when stabbed.

Remove from oven and let cool for a minute or two then invert cake, give the pan a few tap taps and hope that it comes out all nice and clean. (don't worry if a piece gets stuck, you can just dust the top with some powdered sugar)

Let cake cool and when ready, cut a slice and eat it up. I was told no glaze, but I was going to make a simple lemon glaze (lemon juice and powdered sugar) for the top. The mr said it was perfect, but glaze would have been pretty.  So glaze it up if you want.

Delicata Upside down Cake

I have so so so many winter squash. It's getting kind of out of hand. The mr is even making me a couple of wall shelves specifically for the squash so we can get our table back (it is currently covered in squash and tomatoes). I hoard them and I can't exactly tell you why. I think there is a part of me that is afraid that sometime durning the winter I am going to ran out of squash and am going to be forced to eat, I don't know, other food. And there also the part of me that knows that I will eat it all and why the hell not hoard them.. they are so pretty and lovely and…..well because I can! When I sit here and think about it,  there is no real logical reason for me to have so many, especially sense I will be doing a winter farm share and we get squash at each pick up all winter long. 

Hum….Things to think about..Oh well. I'll just call it a little werido quork of mine… squash hoarder, which is much better then a trash hoarder or a "stupid shit I found on the side of the road"  hoarder (that would be the mr.. but I don't judge).

So yeah,  I might need a squash intervention, or I can just make everyone around me happy by baking them sweet ass squash treats. I have shared and I always like to share my squash loot (see, another resin to have so many) but I found that most of the people in my life do not have the same kind of hunger for savory cooked squash.(weirdos) But you know what they do like? Cake Everyone will eat cake.

And for this cake I used delicata. It is really sweet,(I think all on its own it taste like a sweet dessert) so tasty, and easy to cook, The perfect squash for a cake. Add in the warm fall spices and you got yourself a winner. And bonus.. if you have heard that there is a canned pumpkin shortage this year and are are worried about you pumpkin fix. Stop. You don't need canned pumpkin. Just make your own puree and make it with all the squashes, especially delicata. 

Now go bake a cake.. I will probably make another one this weekend while I start on eating/baking with the sweet dumplings and buttercups that are piled on the fridge (seriously.. I have squash EVERYWHERE!)

The stuff. In the big white bowl there is white whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda and powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Then we have some brown sugar, oil, water with some vinegar and a already baked delicata squash. Also going to need another uncooked squash, earth balance and a little more brown sugar for the upside down part.

First off, grab yourself 10-12 inch skillet, preferably one that you have not just cooked garlic in. 

Slice up the uncooked delicata into 1/2 inch slices and remove the seeds (to roast later)

Stick the earth balance and the lesser amount of brown sugar into the skillet and place it on low heat, just to melt the butter and sugar down to form a sauce.

Now layer the squash rounds in the sauce. Fill in the skillet as much as you can. ( any left over can be for  cooked for lunch)

The already baked delicata squash (minus the seed and skin.. save the seeds to roast, skin you eat right away) goes into a bowl with the brown sugar and oil. Mix it all together until combined. 

Note.. My squash was still warm when I mixed it with the sugar and oil. which really helped the sugar resolve and for the mixture to be smooth. If you squash is cold, warm it up a bit..

Whisk together all the dry and dump in the squash mixture and mix.

And slowly pour in the water/ vinegar mixture and mix until just incorporated.

Now slowly pour batter over the delicata in the skillet.

And into the oven it goes!

After 45-50 minutes, the cake should be browned and beautiful and a tester should come out clean when stuck in the middle. Remove the cake and place on cooling rack for about 8-10 minutes to cool. Don't get to excited and do it to soon or else the caramelization on the bottom will still be too liquid and completely soak into cake. Giving it a few minutes will let it cool enough to set up and stick to the top….so just wait!

And for the best and scary part…flip the skillet onto a plate or cutting board and be amazed. oh, but right before you do, run a spatula or knife around the edge to make sure the cake is loose.

It really should have no problem coming out of the skillet, but if any of the squash sticks (one piece of mine did) just scrap it out and place it back on the cake… no one will notice)

Now time for a slice… or maybe two!

And for reals, go get yourself lots of squash, even if it's just to make cakes with!

Have a fantastic weekend!

-C

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Delicata Upside-down Cake 

Makes a 12 inch skillet cake (can be made in a can pan)

For the cake

• 1 3/4 cup white whole wheat pastry flour (can use white pastry, wheat pastry, or all purpose)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup warm delicata squash puree*
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup mild flavored oil (canola or veggie)
• 1 cup water 
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vineagr
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 

For the upside down part

• 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons earth balance]
• 1 small uncooked delicata squash 

*Note.. To make delicata puree, simply stick the whole squash into the oven and roast until fork tender. Remove and let cool enough to handle. Cut in half, scoop to the seeds and scoop the flesh into a bowl….thats it. Oh, save seeds to roast and eat the skin as a snack (skin is my favorite part and the seeds are almost better then pumpkin!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Grab yourself a 10-12 inch clean cast iron skillet (maybe don't cook garlic in it before you make this cake). Stick the earth balance and the brown sugar in it and place on low heat until the butter and sugar melt together and form a sauce. Remove pan from heat. Take the raw delicata squash and slice it into 1/2 inch rounds. Remove the seeds(save for roasting) and place the rounds into the bottom of the skillet, fitting in as many as you can, without overlapping. Set aside and make cake batter.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and powder and the cinnamon and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, combine the cooked warm squashwith the oil and the brown sugar. (if you squash puree is cold, warm it up. It mixes better warm) Mix until completely combined. Dump wet into dry and whack together then slowly pour in water/ vinegar mixture and whack until everything is full incorporated. 

Pour cake batter over the stuff in the skillet and place into the oven. Bake for 45-50 minutes , until a nice golden brown and tester in middle comes out clean. Remove and place on a cooling rack or ontop of the oven to cool for 8-10 minutes. Once  cooled, take a plate, cooling rack, or cutting board that is a least a little bigger therm the skillet, place it ontop pif the killet, and flip. The cake should drop right out…. if anything sticks in the skillet, trust scrap it off and stick it back on the cake.

Now the cake is ready to eat.. so grab a knife, cut a slice and do it.