Friday

Third Thursday Thoughts (A Day Late!): "What is One of My Favorite Homemade Dishes?"


I mentioned last month that I'm teaming up each month with The Hearts at Home Bloggers and this month's topic is "What is One of Your Favorite Homemade Dishes?" It is tough for me to pick just one because I love so many different recipes...several of which I've already shared on here! :)

This is one technically isn't a dish, it's a dessert, but I'll share it anyways! It is a recipe for a vegan cake that my husband always makes. I've actually never made it! (But I have eaten it several times so I can vouch for its yumminess!) =)

I will note that the frosting is not vegan (in case you are truly vegan).

Giant Hostess Cupcake

he made this cake last weekend for his brother's birthday
(who also requested a twinkie cake so Adam did a variation on that in front of the hostess cake.)
Both cakes are made from scratch!

2 batches of chocolate cake layers (4 layers, total)
1 batch vanilla cream filling (recipe below)1 batch rich chocolate frosting (recipe below)



Chocolate Layer Cake
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsp vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups cold coffee

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans.

In a large mixing bowl, mix flour, sugar, cocoa, soda and salt. Make three wells in the flour mixture. In one put vanilla; in another the vinegar, and in the third the oil. Pour the coffee over the mixture. Stir until smooth. Divide evenly into prepared pans.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool in pans on wire racks for 15 minutes. Turn cakes out of pans onto a plate (or another rack) and reinvert onto racks to cool completely before frosting.

Take all four (cooled) chocolate cake layers and level the domed tops using a large, serrated knife. Using a large biscuit cutter, or a paring knife, cut an approx. 5-inch circle from the center of each of two of the cake layers.


Stack one uncut layer on a cake plate or serving tray and place the two center-less layers on top of it. 

Vanilla Cream Filling (my husband doubles this)
3 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 cup milk (low fat is fine)
1/2 cup butter (or trans fat-free shortening)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together the flour and milk and cook in a small saucepan over medium heat until thick. This will only take a few minutes. Sir continuously to prevent the mixture from clumping and do not bring all the way to a boil. When thickened (consistency will be that of a thin pudding or custard), strain with a mesh strainer into a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let cool completely to room temperature.

When the milk mixture is cool, cream the butter (or shortening) and sugar together in a medium bowl until lightl. Add in the milk/flour mixture and the scraped vanilla bean seeds (or vanilla extract) and beat at high speed with an electrick mixer for 7 minutes, until light and fluffy.

Fill the center of the cake with the vanilla cream filling. Reserve about 1-2 tbsp of filling to make the squiggle on top of the cake.
 
Place final uncut layer on top of the filling to seal it in.


Frost entire cake with a thin layer of rich chocolate frosting. Using a large offset spatula will give you the smoothest finish.


Place reserved vanilla filling into a plastic bag and cut off the corner. Pipe filling onto top of the cake in a squiggly line to finish. Cake can be refrigerated or kept at room temperature.  Serves 16-20.

Rich Chocolate Frosting (my husband doubles this)
1/4 cup butter
1 cup chopped semisweet chocolate (or chocolate chips)
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup milk (lowfat is fine)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt together butter and chocolate in a medium-sized, microwave safe bowl. (or in a toaster oven...we actually don't have a microwave). Work in 30 second intervals, stopping to stir frequently, and continuing until the mixture is smooth. Let cool slightly (about 3-5 minutes).

Add in confectioners’ sugar, milk and vanilla and beat on medium-high speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Frost sides and top of Giant Hostess Cupcake.



My husband has done a few variations on this recipe. If we're presenting it at someone's birthday party he usually goes all out and adds the cream filling and piping on top. For my birthday last night I requested no filling but to use the extra chocolate frosting in between each layer.

He first made this cake for my birthday last year because I was on a strict dairy free diet due to my son's dairy sensitivities. It ended up being a huge hit with everyone so now it's becoming a popular request. I guess he's taking over my cake making....=)

We got the original recipe from here. What are some of your favorite recipes? Please share! :)

3 comments:

Beth R said...

That absolutely turned out so good. I definitely need to try this out. My husband would love it

Unknown said...

That looks wonderful! I'll have to find an occasion to make one myself :)

becky@purposefulhomemaking.com said...

It is YUMMY! :)

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