Closing Up Shop

Posted by - Rena 

Happy June! 

After much thought I have decided it's time for Have the Cake to close up shop. It's been so wonderful getting to spend these past few years reading through your baking adventures. This blog was started in 2009 with 4 of my close girlfriends in the hopes of getting us to bake more and share our experiences. The blog grew as we added more and more bakers every year. Thanks so much for sharing your recipes, successes and failures. It was always a fun read! 

The blog will stay up so you can always revisit the posts. 

Much love and happy baking! 


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Peanut Butter Chip Bundt Cake

Posted by - bakingaddict

I've been on a bit of an American baking spree lately. Probably due to the fact that I unpacked my box which contained all the goodies that I brought back from America last year. I decided to make a simple peanut butter chip bundt cake as I wanted to use my peanut butter topping as a drizzle. I have been patiently waiting for the right moment to open this bottle of peanut butter goodness. If you've not tasted it before, you really have to get yours hands on one as it's divine. Its basically like smooth, melted peanut butter. It worked really well as a topping to the cake. I had extra on my slice :) The cake itself was light and tasty and the peanut butter chips gave the cake a 'sweet and salty' taste which everyone enjoyed.

  amazing peanut butter sauce

 adding peanut butter chips

 ready to go in the oven

 fresh from the oven

 with peanut butter topping

 a slice of heaven

250g butter

230g caster sugar

250g self raising flour

4 eggs

2 tablespoons yoghurt

150g peanut butter chips

peanut butter topping

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
• Add in the eggs, one at time and mix well.
• Add in the flour.
• Finally stir in the peanut butter chips.
• Pour into a bundt tin and bake for 45 - 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool completely before adding drizzle. 

May Challenge: Bundt Cake

Posted by -  Dorrie

Happy Spring everyone!  I'm guest posting this month for Rena, who is extremely busy these days!

Hopefully, despite the weather warming up and the trees in bloom, you'll want to stay inside for a few moments to complete this month's challenge: bundt cake.

(photo is from Tumblr - nakakagutom)

Here in the U.S., bundt cakes are made in ring molds, but for which there is no specific cake recipe.  The shape is similar to the European Gugelhupf or the German Bundkuchen, which are brioche-like fruit cakes. 

Bundt cakes are beautiful and require only a little frosting or glazing, but are a little work up front as the pan needs a lot of butter and flour in order to have the cake come out clean.  Because of their height bundt cakes are often fun to fill with pudding or fruit fillings, but this can be tricky!  (Hence that's part of the challenge!)

Since bundt cakes can come in all flavors, varieties and fillings I look forward to seeing where your taste buds lead you with this challenge.  Happy Bundt Cake baking!

April Challenge: Upside Down Cake

Posted by - Rena

It's finally starting to feel like spring in the US! I for one am done with winter and am ready for a little bit of sun and watching everything start to bloom.
Now that fruits and vegetables will become plentiful in the markets, I thought it would be fun to make upside down cakes. I've only seen pineapple upside down cakes but upon further investigation there are upside down cakes made with a variety of fruits including apples, nectarines and cranberries.

I've never made one myself so this is going to be fun! Looking forward to seeing what you create!

photo and link to recipes from MarthaStewart.com

Shahi Tukray - Royal Bread Pudding

Posted by - Dixya @ Food, Pleasure, and Health

Shahi Tukray aka Royal bread pudding is very traditional, true Royal indulgence dating back to Mughal Empire's era. I am not a big fan of any desi dessert but I have a huge sweet tooth and big heart for this particular one.

Typically, a piece of toast is deep fried in ghee (clarified butter), soaked in heavy cream or full-fat milk infused with saffron thread, sugar, & topped with nuts/dried fruits. 

I re-created skinny version by using tea rusk (toasted bread can also be used) rather than frying bread. Also,I skipped heavy cream/whole milk and I opted almond-milk..but feel free to use whatever milk you regularly drink.

This is not your Royal decadent shahi turkay but it's really good-taste and texture wise. My parents, who are pretty serious about their dessert were also pleased with the final result. And me, I ate three pieces happily in one sitting with way less calories and fats. 

Skinny Shahi Tukray

Ingredients

8 tea rusks

1.5 cup milk

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoon condensed milk

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

handful chopped almond (or pistachios)

Directions

-Arrange tea rusks in a small tray and keep it aside.

-In a small sauce pan, over medium heat, warm milk, sugar, condensed milk. Add cinnamon and cardamom and stir them Allow it to thicken for about 10 minutes.

-Remove it from heat. Allow it to cool for 5-10 minutes.

-Gently pour it over tea rusks, making sure it covers the bread.

-Leave it in the refrigerator for an hour or so.

-Serve it with chopped almond.

Caramel Croissant Bread Pudding

Posted by -Rhonda's Saucy Adventures

I am so happy "Have The Cake," March challenge is BREAD PUDDING. 

  Sometimes I top my bread pudding with caramel ice cream topping, so I thought I would create a recipe with caramel topping in the recipe. I thought it tasted really good, my younger son couldn't even tell caramel was in the recipe.

 Click here to see all the recipes I have tried.

Ingredients

14 croissants (medium size)

6 large eggs

1 cup sugar

4 cups half&half
1/3 cup caramel ice cream topping
1 tablespoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Topping (optional)
1/3 Cup sour cream
2 teaspoons sugar
caramel ice cream topping

Directions:

1. Slice croissants in half lengthwise; tear bottom halves of croissants into bite size pieces.
2. Layer croissant pieces in a large baking bowl. I have also used cast iron pans and 9x13 baking pans. Place croissant tops, crust sides up, over mixture.
3. Beat together with an electric beater eggs, caramel ice cream topping, half&half, cinnamon vanilla and sugar. Slowly pour mixture over croissant tops; press bread to absorb liquid. Cover; chill for1 to 2 hours.
4. Place baking bowl into a large jelly pan. Pour hot water into jelly pan, filling half full. I skip this step when I use the cast iron pan. Because~I don't have anything that fit my cast iron pan.

1. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until set. Cover with aluminum foil, and bake 15 more minutes. Remove from oven, and remove dish from water pan.
2. I wanted to topped the pudding with Cool Whip but I didn't have any so I decided to use sour cream instead. I love sour cream in breakfast crepes and on top of cheesecake so I thought I should give it a try. I put 2 teaspoons sugar and 1/3 cup sour cream in a bowl and mixed together. I topped the bread pudding with the sour cream mixture and drizzled with caramel ice cream topping. I really liked this and can't wait to let my family try it.

March Challenge: Bread Pudding

Posted by - Rena

Happy March! Wow, February flew by. Thanks to our marshmallow challenge participants. They looked lovely and I'm sure tasted even better!

The challenge for March is bread pudding. It has taken me quite a long time to warm up to bread pudding and now I love it. There are so many possibilities for variations on the classic recipe. I'm excited to see what you come up with.

Happy baking!

photo from MarthaStewart.com

Marshmallows - 1 Fail and 1 Success

Posted by - Dorrie

I've wanted to make homemade marshmallows ever since I went to New York City in October and had the most wonderful hot chocolate at City Bakery.  It's not your usual hot chocolate, but instead melted chocolate with milk and has been rated the best hot chocolate in the country.  For a little extra money you can have a homemade marshmallow on top of it too:

(Please note New Yorkers - City Bakery is having a hot chocolate festival in February and is doing a different flavor every day!)

The marshmallow in the hot chocolate was exceptional; my favorite thing to do was spoon the hot chocolate over the marshmallow and then work a little chunk of chocolatey marshmallow off for myself.

So when this month's Have the Cake challenge turned out to be marshmallows I was quite excited to participate.  Last Thursday I went to the kitchen intending to make a marshmallows from a recipe I found on Smitten Kitchen only to find that I did not have any gelatin in the house.  Disappointed, I hopped on the web to see if I could find any marshmallow recipes that did not have gelatin in them.  Since vegans object to the content of gelatin I was able to find several recipes, one on a gluten-free cooking blog which substituted xanthan gum and cream of tartar for the gelatin.

I happily started in, despite having to convert the recipe from grams to cups, and it all looked good.  The marshmallow formed into a nice fluffy ball in the mixer:

I poured the marshmallows into the pan, dusted them with powdered sugar, and popped them into the fridge, hopeful that they would turn out great.  Instead, the next day I cut into a thin globby (definitely not fluffy!) mass unlike any commercial marshmallow; and not tasty at all.

Seeing them on the pretty pink plate Anna desperately wanted to try one, but this is the face that she made when she got a little bit of it in her mouth:

Anna says yuck!

I tossed the whole pan out in disgust and trounced off to the store to buy gelatin...
Today while we were stuck inside under a blizzard warning I had a chance to try again with the original Smitten Kitchen recipe for marshmallows. While the world outside was quickly covered in fluffy white stuff, I made my own fluffy white stuff in the kitchen:

Again, the marshmallows fluffed up nicely in the mixer and poured into the pan beautifully:

I dusted them with powdered sugar, put them in the fridge and waited 3 hours for the results.  I cut into the marshmallows and was overjoyed to find a fluffy square quite comparable to the marshmallows we all know and love.

And fortunately the recipe makes plenty so I have lots to share with friends and family:

I think tonight we'll be making s'mores using the broiler with our homemade marshmallows while watching the snow fall!

February Challenge Marshmallows

Posted by - Rhonda's Saucy Adventures

I am so glad that February's challenge is marshmallows...they will make great Valentine's day gifts.   I have always wanted to make marshmallows but never had the courage to give them a try.   I followed one of Martha Stewart's recipe and they are DELICIOUS, especially dipped in chocolate. click here for recipe.

February Challenge: Marshmallows

Posted by - Rena

Happy February!

Our challenge this month is to make marshmallows or make a dessert incorporating marshmallows. I've always wanted to try making my own marshmallows but most recipes require a standing mixer, which I don't have sadly. There is a local bakery that offers a "high hat" cupcake which is a chocolate cupcake with marshmallow frosting dipped in chocolate. It's ridiculously delicious.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with! Happy Baking!

Marshmallow Towers from Martha Stewart