Chocolate Chip Pound Cake with The Cake Slice Bakers

This month  our group  picked a simple, traditional and may I say delicious Pound Cake... I think, for me, this will be my "go to" recipe when it comes to Pound Cake. Not too dense/heavy, very delicious vanilla flavor with a beautiful crumb! We are currently baking from Great Cakes by Carole Walter and this book is loaded with recipes (although not that many pictures) and so far, the recipes from this book have worked for me. I do look forward to baking a bit more challenging cakes, I miss making puddings and frostings for our group... but I must say my "lazy side" has enjoyed the easy method of the cakes that have been picked.

You can make this pound cake in a snap! It is great to enjoy over coffee when having guests, it doesn't use any unusual ingredients and ... it's so easy to make that I actually made 2  of these within the same week. You can choose from three versions of this cake, a "nutty" one, a "spirited" one and a "chocolate chip"... which is the one I picked and ah! I am so happy I did... The chocolate chips are processed to make them smaller (in a food processor)... ehem... believe it or not... I don't own a food processor yet... so I used the blender... which gave me a bit of trouble because the recipe warns to not over-process the chips (or you'll end up with lots of powder instead of smaller chips) What I did to fix this was that I actually used a sifter to separate the bigger chips from the smaller ones. The chocolate chips, once they were processed added to this cake a delicious chocolaty creaminess in every bite and I loved that the chocolate chips didn't have the "perfect chip shape" but were rather rustic and made it look more "from scratch" I feel.

The cake batter reminded me of a Dairy Queen "Oreo Blizzard"

 So... fear not! The delicious "chocolate chips" that turned into dust were put into good use though... I used them to garnish each slice of cake! I made a classic vanilla whipped cream and dusted it with the semi-sweet "powdered" chocolate chips. It was the perfect complement for the cake.

Get this book and you'll get this and many more recipes that I am sure will give you lots of fun in the kitchen and a good time with family and friends.


© Paloma K.

Baking... a cheap therapy!

Hello everybody! It's time for us, The Cake Slice Bakers, to reveal our cake of the month... This month's selection was delicious ... unfortunately I didn't have much opportunity to enjoy the "eating part" of it...

So... on Thursday 5th my dad had a heart attack... he was rushed to the hospital and I, living far away from my parents, felt the anxiousness of not being able to do anything and long hours of waiting since the heart attack was really major and we wouldn't know if my dad would make it... I found about this on the 5th almost at midnight...

So, on the 6th, while not knowing what was going to happen I baked... I hadn't planned yet to bake the cake that day... but ... to avoid eating my already non-existent fingernails I started to bake... I know I should've prayed more... but even praying made me feel a knot in my stomach and throat... and would cause lots of intense sobbing and having two little ones at home with me... I still had to try to make things "normal" for them... So... I baked... I went ahead and grabbed the ingredients for this cake which is thankfully very easy to make and I even followed the advice of our fellow baker Anabel from Oven Delights and used some almond extract in the batter of this cake which I think was really "the" thing that made it extra special.

On Friday night we had friends over who enjoyed the cake with us and stayed until 1 in the morning just being supportive and talking with us (as I avoided to have time to think because I felt like I wouldn't take it) and on Saturday morning I took the rest of the cake to a friend's house for her and her family to enjoy as we left to see my dad in the hospital, which unfortunately didn't happen because he couldn't have any strong emotions due to his state...

Today... as I type this... he's been released from the hospital after two weeks being there... he is recovering and I am so thankful for it! He will continue to recover at home and I pray that the next cake I bake will be in a celebratory atmosphere!

So... Thank you for reading... I wish you all Merry Christmas and highly suggest you try this cake... Unfortunately, given the circumstances I didn't even take pics of the process of making it and just managed to get a picture of one of the squares... this cake is better while still slightly warm ... Remember: We are baking from "Great Cakes" book by Carole Walter. Hopefully you'll get the book and try this recipe!

So... here's my pic:

© Paloma K.

First Cake - New Book! Applesauce Spice Cake

Hello everybody! Today I am excited to make some revelations...

We are now baking from a New Book at "The Cake Slice" (like us on facebook here) ... it wasn't easy to let go of the amazing book Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson but it had to be done... We choose a different book every year and then we vote on a cake each month... so... I am about to reveal our new book that we'll be using from now until October 2014... ready? - Drumroll -

We all vote each year for a different book and this one was a winner based on the reviews, etc.... When I (and some of my fellow bakers) received it ... I must say we were a bit disappointed to see that it doesn't have many pictures, the whole "look" of the book, especially the way the recipes are put together seems very old fasioned... BUT... we are not giving up on it... I think there must be a reason why this book has pleased so many people for so long and Carole Walter is definitely known for her desserts and wonderful cakes... So.. our first Cake is the "Applesauce Spice Cake" and here's my experience with it:

 

1. Making this cake was a delight, the batter was rich and fluffy, the aroma of the spices and the apples flooded my kitchen! I couldn't wait to have a taste of it!
2. The book specifies that the baking time for this cake is from 55-60 minutes. Thankfully I was in a hurry so I kept checking on the cake, which was ready at about 34 minutes (and actually looking a bit too browned)
3. I got scared it could be overbaked (nothing better to ruin a cake than overbaking it!) so I didn't want to leave it in the pan for the recommended time to cool off because I knew it would continue "cooking" with the heat IN the pan so I forced it out of the bundt pan right away which resulted on big (BIG) pieces of cake getting stuck to the pan! I wanted to ... CRY!

   

   Doesn't look as bad as it could've looked -sigh-

4. I managed to get the pieces unstuck and kind of put them back on the cake, making it look as "good as possible" it still didn't look pretty but the delicious Brown Sugar Glaze on top of it definitely helped things. 
   
5. We loved the cake! Just loved it... Especially hubby! I decided to go for cubed granny Smith apples which I think was key to add some freshness/tartness to this cake, the grated lemon rind also helped brighten the rest of the flavors.

 Want a slice?

I also want to mention real quick that we have new members in our group (and even 2 returns)! We accepted people that would join and I am so excited to see how they enjoyed this first cake! If you'd like to join us stay tuned! We'll be opening another window of opportunity in the middle of our baking year around February/March and then another one at the end (around September).

© Paloma K.