Sparkling Cranberry White Chocolate Cake

 

This might be one of my favorite cakes I have ever made. It cooked up like a dream, and the moistness of the cake along with the white chocolate icing just made it fantastic!                      

                                                                                               

I made this as a late November birthday cake, but it is perfect for any celebration this time of year.

The layers of this cake were spotted with fresh cranberries, which gave the cake a tartness that complemented the sweetness of the white chocolate icing perfectly. 

This cake recipe is a winner, and I did something I don't often do: I followed the recipe pretty much just like it was written. The only thing I did differently was glaze the cranberries and leave them in the fridge for just an hour, where the recipe suggested to leave them in overnight. My cranberries were just fine with the shortened time invested in sugar coating them.  The recipe can be found at: Life, Love, and Sugar.

In Victory,

Sherry

Orange Ginger Honey Cakes

Baking and autumn go together. I had in mind to use these little mini loaf pans for a seasonal treat, and this was the recipe that I thought sounded good. The fall light coming in this window just wows me every year! These photos are straight out of the camera. 

This recipe would make a single loaf pan (8.5 inches x 4.5 inches). I used these mini loaf pans and filled all of them three-quarters full but one. I skipped the turkey. I am taking this autumn slow; I am not rushing the seasons. 

Here are the finished cakes popped out of the pan. They come out perfectly when you grease the pan and dust it with a little flour. 

Here I am pouring on the orange glaze. That glaze is what makes the cakes so delicious! 

They were incredibly moist and perfect for a little treat after dinner or with a tea or coffee. 

Orange Ginger Honey Cakes with Orange Glaze    

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

1/2 cup honey

2 tablespoons fresh orange zest

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup milk

Glaze:

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. (175°C)

Grease pan and dust with flour. Mix dry ingredients in on large bowl. Whisk butter, honey, zest, juice, eggs, and milk in another bowl. Combine wet and dry mixture gently till incorporated but not overmixed. Fill cake molds 3/4 full and bake 18-22 minutes. Let the cakes cool 5 minutes and then turn out onto a cooling rack. I cut the raised cake off the bottom of the loaves so they would sit flat on a serving tray. Let completely cool. Whisk the fresh squeezed orange juice with the sifted powdered sugar in a small saucepan and  cook on medium until reduced by half and desired consistency. Place your cakes on serving tray and pour on the slightly cooled glaze. The cake will absorb the glaze and be so moist. The cake will keep on the counter five days in a sealed container. 

Yield: 5 small loaf pans.

Recipe adapted from: Admuda.com

Enjoy!

In Victory,

Sherry

Pear Tart

Today I am sharing a really easy pear tart to serve with your coffee. I tried the puff pastry a few weeks back when I made chicken pot pie, and I was eager to try it with a dessert.

It is such a pretty way to present a treat to go with your coffee for autumn. I put them on a plate on the counter and put a glass cake dome over them and say I am "coffee shopping my house."

Quick Pear Tart

Servings 6-8

Ingredients:

1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed

3 ripe pears, thinly sliced 

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 plus tablespoons honey for drizzling

powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400°F. (200°C) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or baking Silpat sheet. Roll puff pastry out to fit your baking sheet. (This would be a standard cooking baking sheet.) Prick the pastry with a fork to prevent over puffing.

Toss 1/4 of a pear in the lemon juice and then place in a plate and thinly slice for the tart. Arrange the quarter of the pear on each rectangle of the puff pastry overlapping the slices for presentation. Brush the melted butter over the pears. Shake a little cinnamon over each rectangle of pear slices. Bake 20 minutes, until the desired browning occurs. Drizzle honey on each rectangle over the pears and dust with sifted powdered sugar. 

May refrigerate up to 3 days covered.

Recipe adapted from: Fruity Desserts

The last of the zinnias and snapdragons all faded with their fall colors.

In Victory,
Sherry 

Honey Roasted Autumn Spiced Chicken

I got the idea to roast a whole chicken with autumn spices. I wasn't the first person to come up with it, but it was a delicious idea. This was the second chicken I made like this in two weeks' time.

This was the first chicken I roasted like this, and when I put the honey on it, it burnt, so this is the back of the chicken, which wasn't burnt. The solution to this was simple: just tent the chicken with foil in the last baking session, and the problem was solved.

Honey Roasted Autumn Spiced Whole Chicken

Ingredients:

6 lb. chicken

2 tablespoons of honey

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

pinch onion powder

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine the salt, and all spices in a small bowl. Rinse the chicken with cool water and pat it dry with a paper towel. Coat the chicken with the honey; both sides, and then rub the spice mixture over the whole chicken and also into the cavity of the chicken. 

Place the chicken into a greased dutch oven and lay the chicken breast-side down. Cover and roast for 45 minutes, then increase the temperature to 400°F, remove the lid , and roast 20 minutes more. Flip the chicken breast-side up and tent the top of the dutch oven with a loose foil layer. Roast 30 minutes longer and it is done when the thickest part of the chicken (thigh) reaches 165°F.

The sides in the meal were:

Cinnamon and honey roasted plums: 

I used what I had which were:

4-5 plums

Cut the plums in half and remove the stone. 

Place in a shallow baking dish with 

2 tablespoons water. 

Drizzle with: 

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon lemon and sprinkle with cinnamon. 

Place in 350°F preheated oven. 

Cover the dish with foil and bake 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, until fork tender but not falling apart. 

The baking dish will naturally make an amazing glaze that can be drizzled on the plums or the chicken.

This recipe will work with peaches, apricots, nectarines or any stone fruit. 

I also served it with my standard mashed potatoes, green beans, and orange wedges.

This is my favorite way to make biscuits, in a cast iron skillet. There is no wasted dough and no extra manipulation of the dough to re-roll out, which takes more time and does not make as nice a biscuit. 

I found a wonderful 2-ingredient recipe that is so simple, and it may now be my favorite.

Two-Ingredient Skillet Biscuits

Ingredients:

2 cups self-rising flour

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Method:

Preheat oven to 500°F. 

Prepare a well seasoned cast-iron skillet (I think mine is a nine or ten inch.)

place the flour in a large bowl. Gradually stir in cream and stir until just incorporated. (this will be a sticky dough). Scrape out the biscuit dough onto a lightly floured surface. 

Gently knead the dough and roll out until a 1/2-inch thick and I make it the shape of my cast iron skillet. I place the disc of dough into the skillet and cut into it the square biscuits with a dough cutter/scraper. Place the skillet into the oven and bake 10-12 minutes, until golden brown and serve hot. 

Enjoy!

In Victory,

Sherry

September Baker's Rack

Today I am sharing styling the baker's rack for September.

I have often been very challenged by styling a baker's rack. They are tricky to arrange. This shelf is dedicated to baking supplies. 

I made an upcycled cottage-style skirt for the bottom of the baker's rack to hide the big things like appliances. This was upcycled from a linen shirtdress. It is the skirt of the dress I cut off and saved for years. The buttons down the front were already there, and it made a great cover for this because you can unbutton the skirt and access the things on this shelf.

One shelf has a tea set, of course, to go with what you bake.

And this September I made the Pumpkin Streusel Quick Bread. 

The top shelf is an assortment of things that are useful: a milk pitcher, water pitcher, sourdough crock, recipe box, and lantern for the days that are getting shorter.

And when the pumpkin bread is gone, I will replace the space with a basket of apples for September, of course.

In Victory,
Sherry

Pumpkin Streusel Quick Bread

I have made this quick bread for over twenty years. It has always been a fall favorite in our family.

Here is a picture of the bread from when I first posted it on September 21, 2011.

The pumpkin bread has a moist, tender crumb with the perfect cinnamon sugar streusel on top.

Pumpkin Streusel Quick Bread            

Yield: 1 loaf

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 1/2 cup sifted all purpose flour (I used 1/2 of this amount whole wheat)

1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

Streusel Topping: optional (I added this to make it appeal to teenagers)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup butter

Preheat oven to 325° degrees F.  Grease and flour 8x 5-inch loaf pan.  Beat sugar with oil till blended.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well. Continue beating until light and fluffy.  Then mix in pumpkin on low speed.  Add in dry ingredients on low speed and mix well. Pour into prepared pan.  For streusel topping mix till crumb texture with a pastry cutter.  Then spread topping over entire loaf.  Bake 60 minutes or until 

toothpick comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan and finish cooling.

Enjoy! 

In Victory,

Sherry

January Baker's Rack

 

Have you ever looked into how to style a baker's rack? I have been working on this for at least 6 months, and nothing I put on here looked right. I finally decided it made a huge difference when I added the trays and the cutting boards. 

The homemade French bread was what I baked today. I've never made it before, but it wasn't bad for my first try. 

My son gifted me some fresh farm eggs from his in-laws when he visited. I love the colors, pale green and brown. 

A tea tray always at the ready seems to be a perfect addition to my baker's rack. Do you have a baker's rack? If you do, how do you use it?

In Victory,

Sherry

My Favorite White Sandwich Bread

I have been in search of a stable white sandwich bread that wasn't sourdough. The family tired of sourdough, and I fell away from making it. Although I still like that recipe, there were complaints of it being drier than what they were used to, etc. Sourdough does tend to be chewy, and the typical loaf is tougher than standard white sandwich bread. This search led me to this recipe.

This bread is Joshua Weissman's Grocery Store White Bread. Now I want it easy, so I adapted it for a bread machine, and it turns out perfect every time!

This is as close as I can get to the grocery store white bread my family is used to, and it is really easy to make. You got to love that! 

My Favorite White Sandwich Bread

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of water

1/2 cup of whole milk

2 1/4 teaspoons bread machine yeast

3 1/4 cup of bread flour

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

3 tablespoons butter, softened

Place all ingredients into the bread maker as directed by manufacturer's instructions. I have a Hamilton Beach bread maker, and it recommends the wet, the dry, and the yeast last. Pick your settings. For this loaf you will pick the basic white bread setting,  the desired crust color (I always pick light) and the size of the loaf. This loaf is 1 1/2 pounds. Turn it on. That is it. I check the machine maybe twice to make sure the flour is fully incorporated and that it is rising as it should and just wait for it to bake. When baked, I remove the loaf pan and wait 5 minutes, and then shake the loaf out onto a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way. I will wait for the loaf to be completely cool before cutting. I often put it in a zip-loc bag and cut it the next day. If it isn't going to be eaten right away, I put it in the freezer. If it stays on the counter, it will last about 5 days. 

This bread toasts perfectly! It is a treat to eat! 

Recipe adapted from: Joshua Weissman

In Victory,

Sherry

Warm Autumn Spice Mixes

 
I cook from scratch and usually don't need a baking spice mix, but when I do, I hate having to stop and look them up. So I am posting them all here in a handy reference and also posting them at the Victory Cottage Cookbook for a baking reference. I love baking in the fall, and this spice recipe list is one of the reasons it is so cozy, warm, and wonderful! 

Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix

3 tablespoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice

Place all ingredients in a glass jar with a tight seal. Shake to combine. Store in a cabinet for up to two years. (Makes almost 1/4 cup.)

Apple Pie Spice Mix

4 tablespoons ground cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Place all ingredients in a glass jar with a tight seal. Shake to combine. Store in a cabinet for up to two years. (Makes a little more than a 1/3 cup.)

Gingerbread Spice Mix

3 tablespoons ginger
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice

Place all ingredients in a glass jar with a tight seal. Shake to combine. Store in a cabinet for up to two years. (Makes a little more than 1/3 cup.)

Allspice Mix 

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cloves

Place all ingredients in a glass jar with a tight seal. Shake to combine. Store in a cabinet for up to two years. (Makes about 1 1/3 tablespoon.)

Cinnamon Sugar Spice Mix

1/2 cup white granulated sugar 
2 tablespoons cinnamon

 Place all ingredients in a glass jar with a tight seal. Shake to combine. Store in a cabinet for up to two years. (Makes 10 tablespoons or a little over half a cup.)

If you are missing cloves in the ingredients, it is in the allspice. They are all made of very similar spices, just varying amounts of each. I tried to make this easy for a pantry restock and without the need to go out and buy an odd spice you hardly ever use. 

I have set up my mother's baker's rack in my cottage corner for autumn baking. I have been choosing the essentials deemed worthy of going here. What are your fall baking essentials? 

In Victory,

Sherry

Cranberry Orange Cookies

 

I made these cookies this weekend and they were a real popular treat for my family! They were gone in 24 hours. This is a soft cookie with a cream cheese icing that highlights the flavors of cranberry, orange, cream cheese, and butter. The recipe made 24 cookies.

Cranberry Orange Cookies

Yield: 24 cookies

 Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon plus or the zest of 1 orange

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup of dried cranberries, rehydrated

Orange glaze:

2 tablespoons of cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon plus orange juice (juice of 1 orange)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Measure out your dried cranberries in a small bowl and boil some water. Pour enough boiled water over them to cover them and let them set at least 30 minutes. This will rehydrate your cranberries and make them more palatable.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

In a large bowl add sugar, orange zest and rub the orange zest into the sugar with a spatula until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Beat the orange zest and sugar until light and fluffy, a couple of minutes. Add the egg and vanilla, mixing until smooth. Add the flour mixture, mix until incorporated. Fold in the cranberries by hand. 

I used a medium cookie scoop and scooped out the cookies as balls and placed them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake them for 13-15 minutes. Let the cookies cool some before moving them to a cooling rack. They are a soft cookie, sort of cake like.

To make the glaze, mix the sifted powdered sugar, (I sift because I always get lumps in my powdered sugar) orange juice, softened cream cheese, and vanilla together with a hand held mixer till smooth. You want to get a really soft consistency although it doesn't really drizzle. I put it in an icing bag or a zip loc bag with the end cut off to pipe on the cookies. The icing stays soft and you can't stack the cookies on each other. You have to store them flat. If you want an icing that will harden you will want royal icing. The original recipe (see link below) had that type of icing. Just make it with orange juice instead of lemon.

Store in an airtight container. I did not refrigerate these cookies and they were fine for 24 hours on the counter. If you want them to last longer or you think they won't be eaten right away I would refrigerate them. They will last in refrigerator for up to a week.

Recipe adapted from: What Megan's Making

And of course, have them with tea! I love baking in the autumn! 

In Victory,

Sherry

Fall Baking

It's September! I love fall and always welcome this time of the year. The garden is winding down, and there is more time to come indoors and bake. I was pressed for time today, and my baking was fast. I took the pictures quickly. The pictures look a little more realistic than a highly styled photo shoot. 

I made a lattice top apple pie. It is not my favorite way to make a pie. It is time-consuming, and it never turns out just like I want it to. Maybe if I made more of them, I would get better at it. 

The house smells amazing with the cinnamon and nutmeg wafting out of the pie! 

There are still flowers in the garden to pick, and I am leaving several of them for the wildlife. 

Autumn is all about the cozy! I just love this time of year! 

My messy apple pie. I can now see a spot where I didn't get the lattice woven. Can you see it?

Happy Fall! 

In Victory,

Sherry