A Spring Feast

I made a Spring feast. It was months ago (back in March, erp!), but I didn't get around to posting about it until now... and I wouldn't have thought to take pictures or post this at all without a request from my best friend. It took up my entire weekend (12 hours on Saturday and most of Sunday), but it was definitely worth it. I served all of this food at a potluck get-together at my house on that Sunday evening.

Click "Read More" to see pictures and links to recipes...

Yellow (Lemon Blueberry Cake)

Spring is here, summer is well on its way. This is what my town looks like right now (this was on one of the very rare rainy days here):

Everything is in sunny yellow bloom. So it was only fitting that I made a sunny yellow cake for my grandma's birthday.

My grandma's dietary restrictions (no chocolate or nuts) have inspired me to branch out into new territories, since I have always believed that desserts with chocolate and/or nuts are always the best. I have begun to make exceptions to this rule, and while I will always be a die-hard chocolate lover and choose chocolate cake (especially with my mom's signature mocha glaze and blackberry filling) for my own birthday, I have a newfound appreciation for fruit-based cakes.

I adapted this recipe from Sweetapolita and replaced the lemon curd with an all-fruit blackberry jam. Don't look at her photos, they are far too beautiful in comparison to my amateur shots!

Just kidding. Please do look at her photos. They will convince you to make this cake just as they convinced me.

Banana Split Cake

When I asked my mom what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday, she said, half joking, "How about a banana split cake?"I accepted the challenge, and began drawing up my plans. It would be a magnificent bundt cake, with ice cream and banana slices in the middle, whipped cream frosting, and beautiful pieces of strawberry and pineapple overflowing from the center. A strawberry syrup drizzle, a split banana, and a maraschino cherry topped it off perfectly.

Little did I know that this cake would live up to its name and become a true Banana Split Cake...

All was going well. I had baked and cooled the cake, cut it in half, and cut out a bit of the center to make room for bananas and ice cream. I carefully placed my banana slices and spread the ice cream onto each half of the cake. I tried to move the bottom half of the cake (the hollowed out half) onto a glass pie plate. I picked it up and placed it on the pie dish... which was too small for the cake. It broke into three pieces, and ice cream leaked everywhere (by now it was starting to melt, which was why I had tried to move it as quickly as possible so I could get it back in the freezer). After a brief meltdown on my part (get it, meltdown? okay, bad joke), during which my mom saved the day by putting the cake on a plate that was actually big enough for it, I pushed the three pieces together, fixed the ice cream, and quickly put it in the freezer. By the time it came out of the freezer the next morning, the ice cream had melted into the cracks and acted as a glue, and it was like a whole cake again. By the time I frosted and decorated it, it was almost unnoticeable (until trying to cut it) that it had broken.

This would be just as good (maybe even better) made with banana cake, but my mother requested a plain ol' vanilla cake instead. I went with a pound cake from Allrecipes that seemed light, but not too spongy to hold the ice cream, and said it freezes well. It was a great cake for this purpose, although I should have decreased the temperature and baked it longer to avoid the dark, crispy crust that formed on the outside.

Gingerbread Popcorn Cupcakes - for Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge #7

When I looked at this month's Mystery Box challenge and saw the familiar red and white striped box, I was stunned at the fortuitous timing. I am not usually a popcorn fan, but I had just (the day before) experienced popcorn nirvana for the first time: Gingerbread Popcorn. That's right. Sweet, spicy, crunchy, tooth-rotting goodness. A dentist's worst nightmare, but the hit of the New Year's party I brought it to. Now this is some popcorn I can truly love.

Obviously, this had to inspire a cupcake. Although I thought my holiday cooking spree had finally ended, I decided to welcome a new year of baking with these Gingerbread Popcorn Cupcakes. They are gingerbread cupcakes with a butterscotch swirl (for just a hint of buttery popcorn-like flavor) and topped with cream cheese frosting and, of course, gingerbread popcorn. The butterscotch may sound like an odd thing to add to a gingerbread cupcake, but it makes them richer and adds a complexity that really highlights the gingerbread flavor quite well.

Brotherly Love: Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge #6

This month's Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge, in true holiday spirit, challenged us to create a cupcake "for someone special." Well, my brother just came home from college for the holidays, and I knew just what to make for him. His favorite thing in the world is meringue, and he also loves chocolate and nutella, so when I came across this cake I knew he would love it. It also fits his personality - he may have a rather scruffy exterior, but inside he's a softie and very sweet.

Now the challenge was to make it into cupcake form! After some trial and error (I could only bake 12 at a time, and the second batch turned out much better after I learned from the first one) I made some darn good cupcakes, if I do say so myself. (Sorry for the not-so-great pictures. It was rather late by the time I finished them so the lighting was bad and I didn't have time to make a good setup before everyone demanded cupcakes!)

For the first batch, I didn't bake them long enough because I was too afraid to overcook the cupcakes, so to brown the meringue I broiled them for 1-2 minutes, which led to sunken brown meringue (on the right). For the 2nd batch, I baked them a few minutes longer. The meringue sank less and was a better texture, and the cupcakes were still moist and delicious.

I should also mention that my aunt flew in from Switzerland yesterday, and she loves hazelnuts, so these are really for two special people. Or three, because I showed my dad the cake and he was thrilled that I would be making such a rich chocolatey dessert. I added whipped cream because my brother loves whipped cream almost as much as meringue, and what's a cupcake without some sort of frosting? I must say, the vanilla whipped cream complements these rich cupcakes extremely well.

The final product was a rich, moist, flourless chocolate cupcake topped with a light, crispy meringue full of hazelnut and chocolate pieces, topped with a dollop of lightly sweetened vanilla whipped cream.

My brother was pretty happy.