Marbled Blueberry Lemon Bundt Cake

One of the best things about living on the east coast is the plethora of pick-your-on farms.  After a super successful strawberry picking excursion when my little sister joined me for a week of baking, I couldn’t wait for blueberry season.

Picking them was not quite as fun as I imagined – recently cut grass and an afternoon rainstorm dampened the experience – but didn’t make this cake taste any less delicious.

Blueberries and lemons are made to go together; they are the perfect marriage of sweet and tart. This cake is proof of this.

Thanks to Cooks Illustrated, my favorite cooking magazine, the blueberries are marbled throughout, as opposed to the typical exploded blueberry clumps you typically find in cakes or muffins.  The use of fruit pectin, helps hold together the filling and allows it to be spread around the cake. This means you get a bite of blueberry and lemon in each bite. I’ve only slightly amended their recipe by subbing in apple sauce for 1/3 of the butter (I swear it still tastes amazing) and doubling the lemon zest (I’m serious about this blueberry lemon pairing).

For an extra lemony bite, you can whip up an easy glaze to drizzle over the cake – not necessary, but definitely delicious.  After I ate 1 slice of cake, I was bullied into adding this glaze (by someone with a serious sweet tooth).

Decadent Flourless Chocolate Cake (Made Four Ways)

What can I say? Who doesn’t love a good flourless chocolate cake. Well, me I guess. But I understand that most people really do love chocolate.

It is Hubby’s favorite food this time of year (really anytime of year).  This cake is rich, chocolatey, and dense. And since it’s flourless, it’s perfect for passover and the gluten intolerant. Best of all, it’s super easy to make and only has a few ingredients.

I’ve topped it several ways over the years, but this year I decided to test out several of them at once for a real taste test.  I made a simple dairy free ganache, a (dairy free) salted caramel, and a strawberry coulis.    I also dusted one cake with cocoa (for unadulterated chocolate flavor).  The winner?  It was hard to tell because they all received high praise; though not surprisingly, Hubby voted for the extra chocolate of the ganache.

Strawberry Lemon(ade) Cake

Although there is not actually any lemonade in this cake, I loved the way the title sounded. Thus my strawberry lemon cake became a strawberry lemon(ade) [sic] cake.

Despite its overwhelmingly commercial elements, I love Valentine’s day: making crafty cards, baking cute treats, having an excuse to use pink excessively. However no matter what I do, I can’t get hubby into it.  This year’s the year though -I’m sure 11th time’s  the charm!

If you want something special for your Valentine’s day, this cake is for you. It is a true labor of love, but it’s worth every minute.

French Apple Cake

Fall is by far the best season.  In New England, it is unreal how beautiful it can be: crisp October days with a blue sky that reminds me of home, trees turning electric orange and red, and a fresh pre-winter smell.  Apples abound, pumpkin beers are everywhere, and I can once again rock tights and boots.  Yes, fall is awesome.

It therefore makes sense to make use of this bounty. And since apple and pumpkin treats are my favorite, it is time to bake.

I saw this recipe in September’s Cooks Illustrated and KNEW I had to have it.  I brought it out at Shabbat dinner midway through high holidays.  There were only 3 of us eating, but, hey, Shabbat dinner is for celebrating so getting elaborate with food is a must.

There are few words to describe how delicious this cake is.  Hubby ranked it in his “top 5 desserts ever” (and he assures me he keeps a very diligent list in his head) and I have to agree.  The bottom apple layer is a rich custard, the middle layer is the perfect white cake, and the top has a perfect sugary crunch.  Every bite made me sigh.

2 stabs at Miette’s Tomboy Cake – and a giveaway!

I told you a couple weeks ago about Miette’s wonderful cookbook and my utter excitement at trying out some of the beautiful cakes.  Well all my cake decorating supplies arrived and I jumped at two opportunities to try out my skills – a first birthday party, of the notorious Dr. J, and a baby shower!

I needed to make the darling cake on the front – the Tomboy Cake – but the pink just wouldn’t do for a boy’s birthday.  Luckily, each cake recipe makes two perfectly sized 6″ cakes and I obviously needed to practice.  I decided to make a pink version (with pomegranate buttercream) for a staff meeting in preparation for the birthday party.

Version number 2 is the lovely double chocolate cake with straight up vanilla buttercream – not much better to look at, but the taste got lots of thumbs up.

Let’s just say, I still need practice, but I am confident my cakes will be stunning some day!  (Stay tuned for the Lemon Debutante cake – I made one for the b-day party – and a slightly more beautiful version for the baby shower tomorrow!)

In the meantime, I want to announce my first ever giveaway:  I am giving away a copy of Miette’s cookbook and a 6″x3″ pan.  I love it so much (even just for the pretty pics) that I want to share it with you.

HOW TO ENTER:

Required Entry: For a chance to win leave a comment here, tell me what you are cooking next.

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Extra Entries:

1.  Follow @QueenEpicure

2.  Tweet the following : Enter to #win a @miettecakes cookbook from @QueenEpicure http://wp.me/p1gLhB-cz #giveaway #cookbook

3.  “Like” Vegetarian Epicurean on Facebook.*

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PLEASE REMEMBER: Leave a separate comment for EACH of your entries or only one entry will be counted.

*If you already follow me on Twitter and Facebook and/or already subscribe to Vegetarian Epicurean let me know as well, since this counts as an entry.
Giveaway starts on 2/3/2012 and will run until 2/17/2012 at 11:59 pm EST.

This giveaway is now closed!

Official Rules:

To enter leave a comment.

One winner with a valid entry will be selected at random. I will email the winner and they will have up to 3 days to claim their prize or another winner will be selected. 

One winner will be selected at random to receive a copy of Miette: Recipes from San Francisco’s Most Charming Pastry Shop and a Fat Daddio 6″x3″ cake pan.

The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning.

Sponsors are as follows: me!

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY, VOID WHERE PROHIBITED

Congratulations, Lex! You are the proud new owner of a beautiful Miette cookbook and Fat Daddio cake pan!