Category Archives: Desserts

October 31, 2014 · 10:55 am

Lime Glazed Raspberry Sweet Rolls

Starting with a traditional cinnamon roll dough, these rolls use raspberry jam as a filling and are iced with a lime glaze.

I used this Homemade Raspberry Jam for the filling.

This recipe makes a lot: 36-40 large rolls. You can scale the recipe back if you don’t want as many OR Rolls can be frozen either after or before cooking.

To freeze before cooking: Prepare dough. Fill and roll dough into log. Slice into rounds and place each round on a foil lined baking sheet, not touching. Freeze until solid and then place in Ziploc bags and return to freezer. Place frozen rolls in prepared pan and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled (about 2-3 hours). Bake and frost as directed.

RECIPE:

Lime Glazed Raspberry Sweet Rolls

Servings: 36-40
Print

2 ½ cups buttermilk*
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
zest from 1 lime
2 tsp salt
9 – 9 ½ cups flour, divided
1 ½ Tbs instant yeast
1 cup raspberry jam

Place buttermilk, butter and sugar in a medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until butter is melted. Pour into a large mixing bowl (stand mixer) and let mixture cool for 15-20 minutes. Mix in eggs, lime zest and salt. Add 4 cups of flour and the yeast and mix until smooth. Add additional 5 cups of flour and knead until smooth. Add additional flour, if necessary, to make a soft dough that barely pulls away from the edge of the bowl. Dough will be slightly sticky. Cover dough with plastic wrap touching the dough and refrigerate for 60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter rimmed baking sheets or 9”x13” pans.

Divide dough into two halves. On a lightly buttered surface, pat each dough half into a rectangle about 12”x18”. Spread with raspberry jam. Starting from long edge, form a roll. Pinch edge to seal. Use a knife to lightly score dough into 18-20 sections about 1” apart. Place a strand of dental floss under the dough log and cross over the top of the dough at the scored marking. Pull dental floss to cut through dough. Place in prepared pan. Cover with a thin towel and allow rolls to rise in a warm place for 45-60 minutes.

Bake at 350ºF for 18-20 minutes. Cool for 5-10 minutes. Spread warm rolls with lime glaze.

Makes 36-40 rolls

*Buttermilk substitute: Scald 2 cups of milk (bring to boiling point) and then stir in ½ cup plain yogurt

Lime Glaze

4 Tbs melted butter
3 Tbs heavy cream
2 Tbs lime juice
2 tsp lime zest (zest from 1 lime)
4 cups (1 lb) powdered sugar

Use a whisk to mix all glaze ingredients.

NoEmptyChairs.me

Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cake

I have made three of these cakes in the last month. One for a Boy Scout fundraising auction and two more for a dinner for a visiting Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland) who was here with Elder Hallstrom of the Seventy giving training to local missionaries and ward and stake leaders. Elder Holland was president of BYU when I was there, and is one of my favorite speakers, so it was really nice to meet him.

I dragged four of my kids along to help me serve, and they were really great about it, even Big J, (who returned home from serving a mission just the night before and only complained slightly about having to put his suit back on the day after coming home) and Middle K (who was celebrating her 17th birthday that day and chose to come help serve instead of having her own birthday celebration). They even washed and dried TONS of dishes! I was certainly proud of all of them that day.

We did have cake left over, so we were able to wish Middle K a very happy 17th birthday with leftover cake. She didn’t mind one bit.

This cake is made with 2 layered chocolate cakes, cut in half to make four layers. Two of the layers are drizzled with a very thin layer of chocolate ganache and then it is filled with a Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream Icing. The entire cake is then frosted with the raspberry frosting and the top is drizzled with more ganache. It is finished with stars piped from cooled ganache topped with fresh raspberries. I am not usually a big chocolate cake eater, but chocolate and raspberry are such a great flavor combination that I make an exception in this case!

I first saw this cake on Annie’s Eats, but used my own chocolate cake and frosting recipes to assemble it.

RECIPE:

Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cake

Servings: 12
Print

Ingredients (recipes below):
Chocolate Layer Cake
Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Chocolate Ganache
Fresh Raspberries, for garnish

Chocolate Layer Cake
2 cups flour
½ cup regular cocoa powder
½ cup Dutch process cocoa (or Hershey’s Special Dark)
1 ½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¾ cups (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 2 9” cake pans; line bottom of pans with parchment paper. Grease paper and then dust entire pan with cocoa powder.

Combine flour, cocoa powders, baking soda and salt. Mix with a whisk. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugars for 5 minutes. The mixture should be very pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat just until smooth.

Divide batter into prepared pans and bake for 28-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Invert onto wire racks, remove parchment paper and cool.

Cooled cake layers can be wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen until you are ready to assemble them. (For this cake, if you are freezing the layers: cut each layer in half before freezing to make 4 layers).

Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream Icing
1 ½ cups egg whites (about 12 large egg whites, or use pasteurized egg whites that come in a carton)
2 ½ cups sugar
pinch of salt
3 cups unsalted butter (6 sticks), at room temperature**
1 Tbs vanilla extract
about 1 ½ cups Raspberry filling (see recipe below) or 1 cup raspberry jam

In the top of a double boiler, stir together egg whites, sugar and salt. Bring water in bottom of double boiler to a low simmer; cook until the temperature of the egg whites reaches 160°F and sugar is completely dissolved (rub mixture between fingertips-it should not feel gritty). Mixture will be foamy and not a uniform consistency.

Transfer the egg white mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer. With the whisk attachment, whip until meringue is completely cooled and glossy peaks form, about 10 minutes. DO NOT ADD BUTTER UNTIL BOTH THE BOWL AND FROSTING ARE COMPLETELY COOL. Switch mixer attachment from the whisk to paddles. Add butter 1-2 Tablespoons at a time until incorporated. Mixture may appear curdled at times. Continue beating until butter is fully incorporated and frosting is fluffy and smooth. This will take about 10 minutes. Add vanilla and beat smooth. Add cooled raspberry filling and beat until frosting is a uniform color (start with about 1 cup filling, beat, and then add more if you want a more pronounced raspberry flavor).

**BUTTER NOTE: butter should be room temperature soft, but not at the point of melting. If the butter is too cold, it will not incorporate well into the meringue, and you will have butter chunks. If the butter is over-soft, it will cause the icing to curdle while beating-this is okay, it isn’t ruined: it will just take longer (more beating) for the frosting to become smooth. If icing still won’t set, place in the fridge for 20 minutes, and then beat again.

Raspberry Filling
12 oz raspberries, fresh or frozen (about 2 ½ cups of not crushed fresh berries)
½ cup sugar
½ Tbs lemon juice
½ cup water
2-3 Tbs cornstarch or ClearJel
¼ cup cold water

In a heavy saucepan, combine raspberries, sugar and lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, crushing berries slightly with the back of a spoon. Strain the berries through a fine sieve, pushing the pulp through the sieve with the back of a spoon. Gradually stir ½ cup water into the seeds in the sieve (over the bowl) and press again to remove as much pulp as possible. Return seedless puree to the saucepan (rinse saucepan first if there are seeds clinging to the sides). Mix the cornstarch and ¼ cup water in a small bowl; stir into puree in the saucepan. Return mixture to a boil; lower heat and simmer for 1-2 minutes, or until slightly thickened and no longer cloudy. Cool completely (or chill) before using.

Chocolate ganache:
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (about 1 heaping cup)
1 cup heavy cream
¼ cup corn syrup

Place the chopped chocolate into a small bowl and set aside. In a Pyrex measuring cup or microwavable bowl, combine the heavy cream and corn syrup. Heat for 1 minute; stir. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate. Let sit for one minutes, then stir until smooth with a whisk.

Cake Assembly:

Completely cool cake layers. Cut each layer in half to make 4 layers. Prepare frosting and ganache.

Place waxed paper strips along edges of serving plate. Place one cake layer, cut side up, on the serving plate. Waxed paper strips should cover the exposed part of the plate, but not be too far under the cake layer. Spread a very thin layer of warm ganache (about 2-3 Tbs) over cake (it will begin to soak into the cake). Spread cake with a layer of raspberry icing. Repeat with remaining 3 cake layers (I only put ganache between the 2 cut layers of cake). Ice entire cake with a thin crumb coat of icing. Refrigerate cake for 2o minutes to set slightly (optional). Create a smooth finish with remaining icing over entire cake (top of cake should be completely flat).

Set aside about ¾ cup of the ganache. Drizzle top of cake with the remaining ganache, letting it drip down the sides. Refrigerate cake.

When ganache on cake has set and the remaining ganache has set to a piping consistency (place in the refrigerator to thicken faster), spoon remaining ganache in a pastry bag fit with a large star tip (I used Wilton 1M). Pipe stars around the edge of cake. Top each star with a fresh raspberry. Serve cake at room temperature.

Storage: Cake can be stored in the refrigerator or at room temperature. The fresh raspberries will not keep at room temperature very long, but the cake tastes best when served at room temperature (when chilled, the icing will become VERY firm). When I am making this cake ahead of time, I store it in the refrigerator, and remove it to room temperature about 3 hours before serving.

(Inspired by Annie’s Eats)

NoEmptyChairs.me

9 Comments

Filed under Desserts

Tagged as cake, chocolate, dessert, ganache, layered cake, raspberry, recipe, swiss meringue buttercream

April 15, 2014 · 9:46 am

Peeps Cupcakes (with a Surprise)

It has been a busy weekend for us around here, with a sleepover birthday party, a trip to the mall for an ear-piercing, church youth temple trip, oldest daughter returning from college, middle daughter returning from a school orchestra trip, a playdate for a little boy feeling left out of all the fun, regular Sunday church activities (plus an evening Easter devotional), followed by a child’s gall bladder removal on Monday.

If anything can help you through the wonderful chaos that is raising kids, it is these Peeps cupcakes. We served them at Little J’s 10th birthday party, but they would also make a fun Easter dessert.

The kids were excited to find a surprise inside of the cupcakes when they bit into them!

I scooped out the center of the cupcakes and Little J filled them with candy Easter eggs and m&ms. I piped a swirl of the rainbow frosting onto each cupcake and then we topped each one with a Peep. We used the Vanilla, Strawberry, and Orange Crème flavors. These Peeps are separated in their package so that you don’t have white patches (with no sugar covering) where you have to break the Peeps apart from a normal package.

Peeps Cupcakes 3

To make the rainbow swirled frosting: Attach a large tip (I used a Wilton 1M) to a pastry bag. Using a clean paintbrush, paint stripes of gel food coloring along the inside of the pastry bag (the stripes do not have to touch). Carefully spoon white frosting into the bag. Squeeze out and discard a little of the frosting, until you begin to see color on the edge of the frosting. Pipe frosting onto the cupcakes: start on the outside of the cupcake, holding the bag straight up and down and proceed in a swirl, slightly overlapping layers, to the center of the cupcake.

—

Happy Birthday Little J! Here she is sporting her newly pierced ears:

This week will be a much needed recovery week for all of us. A perfect time to reflect on the gift of the Atonement that we celebrate this week. Here is an Easter video on the Savior’s gift to each of us and who we can become Because of Him:

RECIPE:

Cooked Vanilla Frosting

1 cup whole milk
5 Tbs flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar (do not use powdered sugar)
Gel food coloring

In a small saucepan, mix the flour and milk with a whisk until combined. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly with a whisk, until mixture thickens (and is just about to boil). Remove from heat and let it cool completely to room temperature. Stir in vanilla.

In a large mixing bowl (a stand mixer works best for this) cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the cooled milk mixture and beat for 5-7 minutes, until frosting is light, fluffy and completely uniform throughout.

FOR SWIRLED FROSTING: Attach a large tip (I used a Wilton 1M) to a pastry bag. Using a clean paintbrush, paint stripes of gel food coloring along the inside of the pastry bag (the stripes do not have to touch). Carefully spoon white frosting into the bag. Squeeze out and discard a little of the frosting, until you begin to see color on the edge of the frosting. Pipe frosting onto the cupcakes.

For a peaked swirl pattern: start on the outside of the cupcake, holding the bag straight up and proceed in a swirl, slightly overlapping layers, to the center of the cupcake. For a rose pattern: start in the center of the cupcake, holding the piping bag straight up and proceed in a swirl to the outside of the cupcakes (do not overlap layers).

Yield: frosting for about 24 cupcakes

NoEmptyChairs.me

Orange Rolls

These sweet rolls are light (not in calories, unfortunately) and soft with a slight tang from the addition of sour cream and fresh orange juice. A nice change from a traditional cinnamon roll.

To keep your rolls light and airy, do not add too much flour to your dough, and knead only until the dough begins to pull away from the side of the bowl. I roll my dough out on a buttered silicon mat (instead of a floured mat). Greased hands will also help in handling the slightly sticky dough.

An easy way to cut your dough logs into rolls without crushing the dough and having the knife stick to the dough is to use dental floss (not mint!) or a strong sewing thread. The (really out of focus) picture below shows the floss in action.

I like to first make shallow knife cuts in the dough so that I have a cutting guide. Then place the floss UNDER the dough. Cross the ends of the floss over the top of the dough (lining up with the knife cuts) and pull crossed floss ends until the dough is cut through.

RECIPE:

Orange Rolls

Servings: 24
Print

½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tsp orange zest
3 Tbs butter
1 cup sour cream
½ cup sugar
3 eggs
about 4 – 4 ½ cups flour
1 Tbs instant yeast**
2 tsp salt

Filling:
6 Tbs butter, softened
½ cup sugar
2 tsp orange zest

Glaze:
3 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbs butter, softened
3 Tbs freshly squeezed orange juice
1 Tbs heavy cream
1 tsp orange zest
dash salt

Combine orange juice, 1 tsp orange zest, 3 Tbs butter and sour cream in a small saucepan or microwave safe bowl. Heat slowly until butter melts and mixture is warm to touch, but not hot (do not allow mixture to boil).

Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl or stand mixer with a dough hook attached. Mix in ½ cup sugar. Add eggs all at once and mix well. Mix in flour (start with 4 cups), yeast and salt. Knead dough, adding additional flour if necessary, until dough pulls away from the edge of the bowl, but is still soft and slightly sticky. Cover and let dough rest 10 minutes.

Combine filling ingredients in a small bowl; stir well.

Divide dough in half. On a buttered surface, roll each dough half into a large rectangle about ½” thick. Spread each with half of the filling. Roll dough beginning with the long edge; press edge to seal seam. Slice each dough roll into about 12 rolls (use dental floss or sewing thread for easy cutting). Place rolls in a buttered pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Bake at 375°F for about 15-20 minutes, or until barely golden brown. Cool at least 15 minutes before spreading with glaze.

Combine glaze ingredients and mix well. Add additional cream or orange juice if glaze is too thick to spread. Spread on warm, but not oven-hot rolls.

**NOTE: If you are using regular, and not instant yeast, proof yeast for 5 minutes in ¼ cup of the orange juice (or water), warmed, before mixing into the dough. Allow dough to rise in a covered bowl until doubled before rolling and shaping into rolls.

Yield: about 24 rolls

NoEmptyChairs.me

1 Comment

Filed under Breads, Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts

Tagged as bread, breakfast, dessert, food, glaze, orange rolls, oranges, recipe, sweet rolls, yeast bread

February 12, 2014 · 9:56 am

Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake with Chocolate Ganache Glaze

This is definitely a cheater recipe, starting with both a chocolate cake mix and chocolate pudding mix. But it is easy, delicious and super-moist. Perfect. And baked in a bundt pan it makes a beautiful dessert suitable for serving company.

This is especially delicious served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of each slice.

RECIPE:

Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake

Servings: 12
Print

1 box chocolate cake mix (I used a dark chocolate fudge flavor)
1 small box (3.9 oz) instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
½ cup warm water
1 cup finely chopped bittersweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 350°F . Grease and flour a bundt pan (or spray with baking non-stick cooking spray: the kind with flour in it).

In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, eggs and water. Stir in the chopped chocolate and pour batter into prepared bundt pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cake completely in the bundt pan for about 90 minutes.

Invert onto a serving plate and drizzle with glaze. If desired, serve each slice topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate ganache glaze:

4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (a little more than ½ cup)
½ cup heavy cream
2 Tbs corn syrup
1 Tbs granulated sugar

Place the chopped chocolate into a small bowl and set aside. In a Pyrex measuring cup or microwavable bowl, combine the heavy cream, corn syrup and sugar. Heat for 1 minute; stir. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate. Let sit for one minutes, then stir until smooth with a whisk.

Use a spoon to generously drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake, allowing it to drip down the sides.

(Adapted from SixSistersStuff)

NoEmptyChairs.me

13 Comments

Filed under Desserts

Tagged as bundt, cake, cake mix, chocolate, chocolate cake, chocolate chips, dessert, frosting, ganache, glaze, moist, recipe

December 13, 2013 · 5:44 am

Fifth Annual Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies Round-up

Twelve more cookie and treats to help you celebrate this Christmas season.

As you whisk and sift and bake this year, be sure to look up from your bowls of flour and melted chocolate to appreciate the joy and wonder of the Christmas season. As we share and give our love to those around us (whether that is through cookies, gifts or service), may we also remember the gift of love given to each of us on that very first Christmas.

DAY 1: Scottish Shortbread

DAY 2: Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

DAY 3: Raspberry Swirl Blondies

DAY 4: Oreo Truffles

DAY 5: Ninja-bread Men Cookies

DAY 6: Hot Cocoa Mix

DAY 7: Peppermint Swirl Marshmallows

DAY 8: Nutella Marbled Cheesecake Bars

DAY 9: Glazed Cranberry Orange Cookies

DAY 10: Rocky Road Cookies

DAY 11: Christmas Fortune Cookies

DAY 12: Peppermint Bark Snowflakes

For forty-eight more cookie and candy ideas, there are links below for the four previous years’ Christmas Cookies:

First Annual Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies (2009)

Second Annual Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies (2010)

Third Annual Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies (2011)

Fourth Annual Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies (2012)

—-

My best wishes to each of you for a faith filled Christmas season. May God be with you and your family.

Click the photo above or HERE for videos, music, cards and messages reminding us of the true meaning of Christmas, the gift of the Savior of the world, and how we can incorporate that meaning into our lives every day.