I’m thinking about trying an Irish Soda Bread to bring to our hiking club’s tailgate party on Sunday.
@Consolation - yes, thanks for bringing up Rose Levy Berenbaum. I knew the name but really didn’t realize just how much of an authority she is. I’ve enjoyed reading her recipes/about her.
The soda bread I had when I visited Ireland was delicious, and I’ve not had anything like it here. I’ve read that it’s difficult to get the right kind of flour in the US to make Irish soda bread. IIRC, it’s a very soft flour.
I never used to make carrot cake because I didn’t want to deal with grating cups of carrot, but my sister in law suggested I try this recipe from a family reunion cookbook and use my Cuisinart to grate the carrots. I did and have now made it several times. I’m also not a fan of overly sweet frostings and this works well. It’s made in a bundt pan, which makes it super easy and attractive:
Carrot Cake
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon (I use 3 teaspoon of apple pie seasoning instead)
4 eggs
1 cup oil
1 tsp. salt
3 cups shredded carrots
1 cup drained, crushed pineapple
1 cup chopped walnuts
Combine flour, salt, sugar and cinnamon and baking soda. Mix well and add eggs, oil and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Add carrots gradually, beating on medium to blend, add pineapple and nuts and mix on low. Bake in a greased and floured tube pan at 350 for 60 minutes.
Cream Cheese Frosting
3 oz cream cheese, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/3 cup softened butter, pineapple juice - just enough to moisten. I top with more chopped walnuts.
Cake flour, e.g. Softasilk, might do the trick.
The soda bread I liked in Ireland was whole grain. This imported wholemeal flour might do the job:
https://www.amazon.com/Odlums-Wholemeal-Extra-Coarse-Flour/dp/B01G5O1DS2
Or this King Arthur flour:
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/irish-style-flour-3-lb
I just made Irish Cream Cupcakes from King Arthur Flour for St. Patrick’s Day. First time making buttercream. Delicious! Very rich…could only eat 1/2 a cupcake (NEVER did that before either). Sprinkled it with green sugar
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/irish-cream-cupcakes-recipe
@cakeisgreat thank you for that recipe. And might I add, you have a great nic.
I solved the Irish Soda Bread recipe & flour dilemma by buying a loaf at the local small business bakery! YUM!
@“Cardinal Fang” I made the Ginger and Molasses cake this weekend. Because I needed to cut it into squares to be served alone or with vanilla ice cream, rather than serve it like a layer cake with whipped cream, I used 8" square straight-sided non-stick Calphalon pans instead of 9" round cake pans. I used Baker’s Joy, and didn’t bother with parchment paper on the bottom, and it released nicely. I cooked it the minimum amount of time specified, and even then some of the edges were over-browned, so I trimmed them before cutting into squares.
It is an extraordinary gingerbread! Incredibly spicy, so delicious. I feel fairly certain that there are those who would find it TOO spicy, but those to whom I initially introduced it loved it. (I wan’t able to stay at the event I brought it too long enough to get a full range of reactions.)
Glad it was a success, @Consolation. Mostly when I’ve made the Ginger and Molasses cake I’ve made it as cupcakes. I’ve found if I bake the cupcakes for 21 minutes they’re perfect. I just grease and flour the tins rather than bother with parchment.
The cake is so spicy, so delicious. I served the cupcakes at a recent dinner party, and one guest said she was glad for the whipped cream I served with it to tone down the spiciness. The cupcakes are indeed delicious with whipped cream, but also without it.
I think that the over-browning issue was probably caused by the dark color of the pans, and exacerbated by the presence of molasses. I have had the same problem with dark bundt pans. IMNSHO, no cake pan should ever be dark! 
There is no doubt in my mind that it would be fabulous with good whipped cream.
Next time I’m going to use round pans with magicake strips and some kind of light filling/icing. Whipped cream stabilized with white chocolate might be just the thing…
The recipe for Samin Nosrat’s Ginger and Molasses Cake, that Consolation and I have been raving about, is in post #34. The recipe calls for 1 cup of sliced fresh ginger. Not a typo. One cup. I advise weighing the ginger for accuracy, but it really is a cup of sliced ginger.
Go make that recipe now. It’s so good.
@Consolation, I like the idea of stabilizing the whipped cream with white chocolate so it doesn’t get absorbed as much into the cake, especially if you’re not serving the cake right away.
I think that carrot cake recipe in post #63 is missing the powdered sugar in the frosting.
Here is a muffin/cupcake recipe that I thought everyone would like. We make them all the time. You can find it on genius kitchen website, but mine is modified below to our likes. You definitely need all the spices, but they are not overpowering. You also can keep the muffins plain without the filling; just as yummy. They are about 250 calories per muffin as made. I’ve made with and without muffin wrappers. To keep with the thread…feel free to turn it into a cake
PUMPKIN CREAM CHEESE MUFFINS (LIKE STARBUCKS)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 Tbls pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin
1 ¼ cups vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
Filling (Really need to double this for the right amount of fillijng):
8 ounces cream cheese (1 block)
2/3 c powdered sugar
2 Tbls butter (soft but not melted)
1/4 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 350F. Mix filling ingredients together well. Set aside. Mix all other ingredients together. Fill approx. 24 muffin tins (greased or paper cups) 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean from the muffin part. After removing from oven, cool a few minutes, then pipe cream cheese filling into each muffin until top puffs up and cracks but does not break. Serve warm or cooled.
YUM
Baked goods are one of life’s greatest pleasures!
I bake a lot and my S2 and DIL love my baked goods, But they live at 5000 ft and when I try to bake when we are visiting there it is not so successful . Of course everyone says they like it but I can tell the difference in texture, density and crust. i have read so many hints but not so great. Dos anynonehave tried and true altitutde adjustments for cakes or muffins? As to cakes, a traditional Hummingbird Cake was a family favorite.
Hummingbird CakeIngredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large eggs, beaten
11/2 cups vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
2 cups chopped bananas
1 cup chopped pecans
Shortening
Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Step 1
Preheat oven to 350°. Whisk together flour and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl; add eggs and oil, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in vanilla, pineapple, bananas, and 1 cup chopped toasted pecans. Spoon batter into 3 well-greased (with shortening) and floured 9-inch round cake pans.
Step 2
Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes our clean. Cool cake layers in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks, and cool completely (about 1 hour).
Step 3
Place 1 cake layer on a serving platter. Spread 1 cup Cream Cheese Frosting over cake layer. Top with second layer, and spread 1 cup frosting over cake layer. Top with third cake layer, and spread top and sides of cake with remaining frosting. Decorate with chopped pecans.
Thanks to the person on this thread who introduced me to Rose Beranbaum’s recipes, I made the White Velvet Cake today. WOW so delicious. Paired it with chocolate french buttercream (which didnt come out as fluffy as it is supposed to…too much chocolate added. I’ll adjust next time).
http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/blog/2007/02/13/the_missing_pbs_recipes
Thank you!!!
Has anyone ever tried the Chantilly Lace Cake at Whole Foods? That cake is the end all, be all. Not too sweet, incredibly moist, the lightest frosting (if you can really call it that) and always impresses a crowd. I will be baking it for Easter. Do yourself a favor and if you don’t feel like baking, swing by Whole Foods for a cake and although a bit pricey, so satisfying.
Here is the recipe that the baker created for WF:
https://www.nola.com/food/2018/03/berry_chantilly_cake_recipe_wh.html
This appeared in Summit Daily.com ( Colorado) newspaper Facebook feed this am -
https://www.summitdaily.com/opinion/high-country-baking-hop-into-easter-with-carrot-cake/
My mother in law was excellent baker but gave up when they moved to 9,000 ft----
Baking 8,000 ft
@singersmom07
Make in a 6-cup, non-stick Bundt pan
Adjusted for elevations of 8,000 feet and above
CAKE
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons bleached all-purpose flour, spoon and level
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch baking soda
½ teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup superfine granulated sugar, preferably Baker’s
½ cup canola oil
2 jumbo eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste, optional
1 packed cup finely grated carrots
¼ cup crushed pineapple, well drained
FROSTING
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
About ½ cup lump-free powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons whole milk or cream
¼ -½ cup chopped toasted pecans, optional
Make the cake: Heat the oven to 365 degrees with a rack in the center position. Generously grease your Bundt pan with a baking spray that contains flour and set it aside.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl and whisk vigorously to combine well. In a mixing bowl, whisk the sugar, canola oil, eggs and vanilla until fully blended and smooth and then whisk in the flour mixture until completely incorporated. Lastly, add the carrots and well-drained crushed pineapple and stir so both are evenly distributed in the batter. Check your Bundt pan and regrease any spots that seem thinly covered, then scrape in the batter; it should fill the pan a little more than halfway to its top. Tap the pan on a counter to release any air bubbles.
Bake, putting the Bundt pan directly on the center oven rack (hot air must circulate in the pan’s center tube) until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean and the cake starts pulling away from the sides of the pan, about 30-35 minutes. Cool the cake on a rack for about 15-20 minutes, and then invert it onto a cardboard cake round or a plate to cool completely. At this point it can be wrapped airtight and refrigerated for a day before frosting.
Make the frosting: Cut the cream cheese into small pieces and add them to a bowl or 2-cup measure with ¼ cup of the powdered sugar and the vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth; add more sugar, a tablespoon at a time, blending it in after each addition. Beat in 2 tablespoons milk/cream. Don’t overbeat or the mixture may thin and get watery. Taste, add more sugar or flavorings to your liking. If very thick, add a little more milk/cream. If it’s still too thick to drizzle, warm in a microwave oven at a low temperature (No. 4 out of 10, for example) for about 30 seconds or until pourable. Drizzle over the top of the cake and let it run down the sides. Sprinkle chopped pecans over the top, if using. Refrigerate the cake until the frosting sets (it won’t get hard like a glaze, but it’ll firm up a bit). Store it in the fridge but serve it at room temperature within two days of baking.
This cake recipe is a variation of one published by Food Network. Vera Dawson is a high-elevation baking instructor and author of three high-elevation cookbooks (available at The Bookworm in Edwards, Next Page Bookstore in Frisco, and Breck Books in Breckenridge). Her recipes have been tested in her Summit County kitchen and, whenever necessary, altered until they work at our elevation. Contact her at veradawson1@gmail.com.