The Girl Who Played With Flour

Peach Pound Cake

I’ve never made pound cake before, but I’ve always heard they were pretty easy recipes to pull off. And with the weather not knowing whether it wants to be winter or spring I really wanted something to remind me of summer, and what better than peaches!

This cake was incredible. The peaches keep it moist, and because you sugar the pans when you prepare them it caramelizes the outside giving it this subtle sweet crunch. This recipe makes two loaves and they didn’t make it through the weekend.

I adapted this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. butter
• 2 c. sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 c. canned diced peaches, drained

Preheat your oven to 325(F) degrees. Grease and sugar 2 8x4 in. loaf pans.

In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between additions. Stir in vanilla.

In a separate bowl sift the flour, baking powder, and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Fold in the peaches.

Divide evenly into both pans and bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pans for 10 minutes before removing.

White Cupcakes with Orange Buttercream Frosting

These were a spur of the moment decision for me. I wanted something fun to take to work tomorrow because me coworkers are always wanting to taste the things I bake, and a cupcake is a generally accepted sweet treat that is really easy to get creative with. The batter turned out kinda funny on this one, it was pretty thin and it didn’t really rise well. I feel like that was more me fudging up somehow rather than the recipe being poorly written though, I’ll definitely have to try this one again.

For the Cupcakes:

• 2 c. butter
• 2 c. water
• 4 c. flour
• 3 c. sugar
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 c. sour cream (I substituted mayo, I feel this is why it fell flat)
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• 1 tbsp plus 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 (F) degrees.

Bring water and butter to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in sugar until dissolved. Set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside.

Add the sour cream (or mayo in my case), eggs (one at a time), and extracts to the sugar/butter mixture. Mixing in between each addition.

Gradually mix the flour mixture into the batter, beating well to incorporate each addition.

Distribute the batter into cupcake cups and bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before icing.

For the frosting:

• 4 tbsp. butter
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 3 c. powdered sugar
• 3-4 tbsp. orange juice
• zest of one orange

Blend the butter with the vanilla ‘til creamy.

Beat in the powdered sugar and orange juice, alternating between 1/2 c. additions of powdered sugar and tbsp additions of orange juice. Beat until desired consistency is reached.

(Note: I iced my cupcakes right after I made the icing, so it turned into somewhat of a glaze. But if you allow the frosting to sit in the fridge for an hour or two and whip it before piping it onto the cakes you get a more airy, richer consistency.)

Carrot Raisin Walnut Bread

I was really in the mood to bake tonight, but I wasn’t in the mood to wait for starters and dough rising and all that hoop-lah. So I flipped through some cookbooks to find a nice batter bread I could make, and I stumbled upon this recipe in The Bread Bible. I kept pretty true to the recipe, only adding walnuts and nutmeg, but the result is pretty much carrot cake in bread form and it’s delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c. plus 1 1/2 tbsp. unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 c. safflower oil
• 1 c. sugar (the recipe calls for turbinado, but I just used regular granulated sugar)
• 1 c. raisins

Preheat oven to 350 (F) degrees 20 minutes before baking.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon or a hand-held mixer, mix together the eggs, oil, and sugar until blended (about one minute). Add the flour mixture and continue stirring or beating on low speed until just incorporated. Add the carrots and continue stirring for another 12 seconds. Stir in the raisins and walnuts.

Scrape the batter into the bread pan. Bake for 1 hour or until the top is golden and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Set the pan on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Then, run a small spatula between the sides of the pan and the bread and unmold it onto an oiled wire rack to cool completely.

Wrap the loaf well in plastic wrap and allow it to sit overnight to distribute the moisture.