Black Walnut Orange Sponge Cake

I had a family emergency come up and thought I wasn't going to get my recipe posted for October's Improv Cooking Challenge  Thankfully Lesa extended our deadline a bit. So....

Without further adieu may I present

This is my modified version of the recipe from Epicurious website. I also made an orange syrup to drench the finished cake in and bit of sweet whipped cream with orange zest for a simple garnish. Sometimes less is more.

Here's what you'll need to whip up this scrumptious cake.

4 eggs at room temperature 

1 cup of sugar

1/3 cup of olive oil

1/2 cup orange juice

1-1/2 cups finally chopped black walnuts

1 cup flour

1tsp. baking powder

Preheat the oven to 325* Line the bottom of an 8" spring form pan with parchment paper, and rease the sides with olive oil. Mix the flour, walnuts and baking powder together and set aside.

Whisk the eggs in the mixer for two minutes until they are frothy. Gradually add the sugar to the eggs and beat on high for 4 minutes more. In three additions fold in the flour/walnut mixtures. Last fold in the orange juice and olive oil and place the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack until cool. Garnish as desired. I think a drench made with Gran Marinier would also give the cake a superb flavor. 

Check out some of the other tasty Orange and Black creations in this month's Improv Cooking Challenge

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Spiced Pumpkin Coffee Cake

FALL is here and I love the colors, smells and flavors during this time of year. One of the things I love about fall is pumpkin.  Another thing I love is a good coffee cake. It brings back so many great memories of my childhood and the sights and smells of the many different baked goods and coffee cakes my mom would make. Coffee cake isn't just for breakfast y'all. Growing up we had it as desert for lunch and supper too. Anytime of day is the perfect time for coffee cake in my humble opinion. So when I saw this recipe for a spiced pumpkin coffee cake from Jamie over at Anderson And Grant I was in love and knew I had to try it. However, I wanted to lighten it up a bit, so I made a few modifications. 

Here is my lighter version.

~Spiced Pumpkin Coffee Cake~ 

1 box yellow cake mix 

1 small can of pumpkin puree 

4 eggs 

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice 

~Streasel~ 

1/2 cup brown sugar 

1/2 cup sugar 

1 cup chopped walnuts 

~Glaze~ 

1 cup of powdered sugar 

1/4 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice 

1-1/2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 375*

Grease and flour a 9x13 cake pan

Mix sugars and walnuts together and set aside. Place all ingredients for the coffee cake in a medium bowl and mix together until all are incorporated and smooth. evenly spread half of the batter in the prepared cake pan. Top with half of the streussel and then top with the remaining batter. Now lastly sprinkle the remaining streussel over the cake and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. While cake is cooling mix up the glaze. Place in a ziploc bag, remove air and seal it. Cut a small corner from one corner and drizzle over the cake when it has completely cooled. Enjoy!

Taking one for my co-workers. They are like family.

Pumpkin, Spice...

I was at a friends house the other day for a Pampered Chef party. While there the consultant gave the hostess a great idea for making an easy and healthier pumpkin cake using a yellow cake mix and a can of pumpkin. Hmm...my curiosity was peeked.

My mind started thinking about working this combo into some baked donuts. I've been having so much fun making these tasty and healthier delights ever since I bought those baked donut pans at Michael's last year. So far I've tried lemon, apple with an oatmeal crunch topping and some glazed buttermilk donuts, and those are just the ones I've blogged about. But haven't done any with pumpkin yet, and since it's fall and I LOVE anything pumpkin I just had to try making some.

So here's what I came up with; and because they met my family's seal of approval, they are a keeper recipe.

Here's all you need to bake these tasty donuts.

1 box yellow cake, the kind with pudding

1 can of pumpkin purée

1 egg
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
2 tablespoons milk
Melted butter

Mix all ingredients in a stand mixer for 3 minutes. Place the batter in a gallon size ziplock bag carefully squeezing out all the air before closing. Cut about a 1/2" off of one corner and evenly distribute the batter between 2 greased baking pans. Bake in a preheated oven at 350* for 10-12 minutes, or until they spring back when touched. Remove them from the baking pans to cool on a baking rack. When they are cool enough to handle give them a quick dip in some melted butter and lightly dust with cinnamon and sugar and enjoy!!!

Baked Lemon Donuts

I decided to get up just a wee bit earlier this morning and whip up a treat for my family. You know, the kind of treat you do every now and then. The just because kind.  The because I love kind. Yeah you know what I am talking about.

Well today I decided some fresh baked donuts, (yes I said baked) were going to be great morning treat. Folks it doesn't get any easier than this. I simply took a boxed cake mix, one egg and a little oil and and in a jiffy I baked up a dozen tasty baked donuts. When my family wakes they'll have a sweet surprise for breakfast. Oh, and how about some hot cocoa to enjoy them with. Chocolate and lemon make a good pairing y'all.

Baked Lemon Donuts

1 box lemon cake mix

1 cup water

1 large egg

1/4 cup oil or melted butter~ I prefer butter

Preheat oven to 350* Grease donut pans.  Mix everything together until everything is moist and incorporated. Place the batter into a quart sized ziplock bag, carefully squeezing out all of the air. Snip off one of the bottom corners and pipe the batter into the baking pans. Filling a little less than halfway. Bake for 7-10 minutes. While donuts are baking make your glaze. Mix 1-1/2 cup powdered sugar with one drop of lemon oil and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Mix well. Once donuts are completely cooled dip each donut into the glaze and enjoy.

**For a great variation add some blueberries to the batter. a little lemon zest would be a great addition too.**

Pudding Cup Anyone?

So last week I made this fantastic Parisian hot chocolate.  I gotta tell you that it is the best thing ever.  If I lived in Paris I know that I would be at a cafe drinking some every day.  You can find the recipe for it here.  So I got to thinking and thought if it makes a superb hot chocolate, I betcha it would make a great pudding too.  I mean dark chocolate pudding sprinkled with a little sea salt and topped with some fresh whipped cream; what's not to love? So without waisting any time I set out to make some chocolate pudding using the hot cocoa recipe

So here's how easy it was to make this pudding.  Simply follow the recipe for making the Parisian hot chocolate that I posted here.  When all of the chocolate has melted return the mixture back to a medium heat.  Take 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and dissolve it into 2 tablespoons of cold milk and whisk it into the hot chocolate mixture.  Stir continuously over the medium heat until it has thickened.  Portion it out into individual serving bowls.  Sprinkle each with a little sea salt and then cover  with plastic wrap.  Place them in the refrigerator to chill. When they are ready to serve top each with a dollop of whip cream and enjoy. 

This pudding is so good y'all I don't think you'll want to back to the boxed kind.  You know the one, it starts with a J and ends with an O; or any store bought kind for that matter.  Try this recipe out for yourself and let me know what you think.

There are only 5 pudding cups pictured here (the other 5 were gobbled up before I could get a photo snapped, but this recipe will make 10 individual 4 oz. servings.

Parisian Hot Chocolate

The perfect way to end a lovely Fall evening is with a cup of Parisian Hot Chocolate. Go ahead a try it. You will not be disappointed. Seriously it is some of the best tasting hot chocolate you will ever indulge in. I promise it is so very decadent and rich, but so very easy to make. 

Here is all you need to enjoy a delicious cup of hot chocolate Parisian style~~~

Heat the milk and cream in a heavy bottomed saucepan over a medium heat until it almost boils. Remove from the heat and add the brown sugar and chocolate and whisk until all of the chocolate is melted and the sugar has dissolved. Use a frothier or an imulsion blender to get the hot chocolate frothy. Sprinkle each serving with a few grains of sea salt. Enjoy with an oat biscuit or croissant.

*For a richer taste let the chocolate sit for a few hours, reheat and enjoy.

Inprov Cooking Challenge~Apples & Oats

It's  #ImprovCookingChallenge time again. This month Lesa of Edesia's Notebook has given us Apples & Oats as our challenge ingredients. What better ingredients for the start of fall. 

I tried a few apple & oat recipes with my family. The fan favorite (fans being my family) was the baked apple donuts with a crunchy oat and walnut topping. So I am sharing this tasty recipe for this month's challenge. 

Baked Apple Donuts With A Crunchy Oat & Walnut Topping

1 cup flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

3 tbls sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp lemon juice

6 oz of Greek yogurt

1 egg

1 small Granny Smith Apple, peeled and finely chopped

Crunchy Oat Topping

1/3 cup old fashioned oats

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tbls melted butter

Cinnamon Apple Drizzle 

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tbls apple juice

A pinch of cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350* Lightly spray your donut pan and set aside.  Mix all ingredients for the crunchy oat topping and set aside. Mix all of your moist ingredients together.  Add all of the dry ingredients and mix until all is moistened.  Fill each donut section in the pan to slightly overfull. generously top with the crunchy oat topping. Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks. While the donuts are cooling mix together the ingredients for the drizzle.  Once the donuts have completely cooled drizzle them with the cinnamon apple drizzle. Now it's time to enjoy them with an icy cold glass of milk or your morning cup of coffee. 

Some other tasty Apple & Oat creations you might like.

An InLinkz Link-up