Desserts and Sweet Items

Sugar Cookie Dough

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 

1 cup softened unsalted butter (2 sticks or 16 tablespoons) 

3/4 cups sugar 

1 large egg at room temperature 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

In the bowl of a mixer or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high, about 2-3 minutes. Add in the egg and vanilla, beating on medium until combined. 

In a separate bowl, whisk dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) together and then slowly mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients. 

Flatten dough into a round disc, wrap dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. 

When you want to cut out your cookies, heat your oven to 350 and place a rack at the middle level. Place parchment or a silicone mat on your cookie sheets. If none, place cookies directly on an ungreased cookie sheet.  

Roll out chilled dough on a lightly-floured surface, to about 1/4 inch or a smidge little less thick.  

Lightly flour your cookie cutters or the top of the rolled out dough if you are having trouble getting the dough to release from the cookie cutters. 

Bake 12 to 18 minutes, rotating the pan once during the bake. 

Cool on cookie sheets, about 3 minutes, and then transfer to a rack to cool the rest of the way. 

Cool completely before frosting. 

Cookies keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks, or frozen for a month to six weeks. 

Will stay fresh, overnight, on a plate for Santa Claus. Remember carrots for Rudolph and the other reindeer.

Royal Icing

Makes about 1 1/2 cups of royal icing. 

In a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, mix 2 cups powdered sugar with either 2 egg whites, or, my preference, 2 tablespoons meringue powder and 4 tablespoons water. (I like to avoid the raw egg, if possible.) 

If you have, add a few drops of bakers glycerin to make the frosting glossier. 

Mix until just combined and then increase speed to high for about 5 minutes, or until stiff peaks form. 

If too thick to ice cookies, add a half teaspoon of water at a time until it's the consistency you want. Any sprinkles or adornment can be added while the frosting is still wet. 

In an airtight container, frosting will keep in the fridge for up to two weeks. Might whisk it by hand and add a small amount of water if it separates. 

I like to let iced cookies dry, overnight, in a cool room, before boxing up in airtight containers or bags. 

Refrigerated iced cookies can stay fresh for up to two weeks, or frozen for a month to six weeks. Will stay fresh, overnight, on a plate for Santa Claus.   

  Pumpkin Pie

Pie Crust: 

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour 

½ teaspoon salt 

5-12 tablespoons ice water 

1 ½ sticks (12 tbsps.) cold unsalted butter, cubed (see shortening note)

4 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening (If you don’t have, omit and increase the butter by 4 tablespoons. This will make your butter 2 sticks or 16 tablespoons, total.)

Mix ingredients, except ice water, in a medium-large bowl, cutting in butter/shortening with a pastry cutter or fork until the consistency is similar to coarse meal. Add 5 tablespoons of ice water, adding 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time of additional ice water, and shape into a ball of smooth dough, kneading slightly to bring it together. Separate into 2/3rds & 1/3rd, form back into smooth discs, lightly dust each with flour and chill, wrapped, in your refrigerator for a good hour.

After an hour, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the 2/3rd disc of the dough to 1/8-inch-thick and place it in your pie plate, crimping a decorative edge all around. Chill the shell for 30 minutes before baking or prebaking. 

For a custard or pumpkin pie, you'll get a better crust if you partially prebake the crust. Once it's in your pie pan, prick the bottom of the pie crust with fork tines, all over, chill it for 20 minutes, fill the bottom with pie weights (beans or rice work well) on top of parchment or foil, bake on middle rack at 425 for 20 minutes, carefully remove pie weights & liner, and return to bake for 3 to 4 more minutes. You can now reduce your oven temp to 375 while you fill the pie crust with your pumpkin pie mix. Bake pie as directed. Cover edges with foil if the crimped pie crust edges begin to look over-cook. Go slow & be careful.

Roll out the 1/3rd disc of your dough to 1/8 of an inch on a lightly floured surface. Use leaf, acorn, or other seasonal cutters to make cut-outs in the dough. Bake these cutouts on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper on the middle rack of a 375° oven. Bake until golden, 10 to 15 minutes (mine in the photo are overbaked), and then transfer to a rack to let them cool completely. These are your finished pie garnish decorations. 

Filling:

2-cups canned sold-packed or fresh baked/pureed pumpkin 

2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar 

2 teaspoons cinnamon 

1 teaspoon ground (powdered) ginger 

½ teaspoon salt 

1 cup heavy cream 

2/3 cup milk 

2 large eggs 

¼ (scant) cup Cognac or brandy * 

Whisk the pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, salt, heavy cream, milk, eggs, and Cognac until the filling is smooth and pour it into the pie shell. 

Bake the pie, ideally placed on a cookie sheet, in the middle of a preheated 375°oven for 1 hour, until the filling is set but the center still slightly shakes. The filling will continue to set as the pie cools. Place the pie on a rack to cool completely. Decorate the pie with the prebaked leaves and other garnishments before serving with a dollop of whipped cream. 

Whipped Cream: 

1 ½ cups well-chilled heavy cream 

3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar 

Put the cream in a chilled bowl and whip with an electric mixer until stiff peaks appear and then add the sugar. Continue to beat until stiff peaks hold. 

Optionally, I like to add in a ½ teaspoon of ground powdered ginger with the sugar, and to fold in ¼ a cup of finely chopped candied ginger at the end.  

* Not using cognac or brandy? Simply increase the cream and the pumpkin puree by 2 tbsps. each. (A standard 15oz pumpkin puree can is usually equal to 2 cups + 2 tbsps.)

Pumpkin Bundt Cake

2 ½ cups granulated sugar

1 cup canola oil 

3 large eggs at room temperature 

3 cups all-purpose flour 

2 teaspoons baking soda 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 

½ teaspoon salt 

1 can (15 ounces) solid pack pumpkin (about 2 cups pumpkin puree, less 1 or 2 tablespoons puree, if being exact, but 2 cups, works, just fine)

Place oven rack in middle position and pre-heat oven to 350°. Good idea to remove any rack placed above middle. 

Lightly butter or coat a 10-inch Bundt or tube pan with Pam baking spray. My favorite Bundt pans are by Nordic Ware. If you don’t have one and it’s not in your budget to buy one, maybe you have a friend or family member who would lend you their Bundt pan. Return clean and timely, possibly with a slice of cake, and you could probably borrow the pan, and others, again and again. I only use my Bundt pan about ten days a year. That leaves 355 days for you to borrow mine if you live near! 

In a large bowl, use a spatula or spoon to combine sugar and oil until blended, and then add eggs, mixing until smooth. This is the wet mixture. 

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt) together.

Using a spatula, mix dry ingredients in several batches into the wet, alternately, with the pumpkin puree. Mix until just smooth. 

The batter will be a bit thick. 

Transfer batter to your prepared Bundt pan, gently tapping bottom of the pan on counter to remove any air bubbles. 

Bake on the center rack for 60 to 75 minutes, rotating your pan, front to back, halfway through the bake.  

The cake is done when a toothpick inserted midway between the center and outside walls comes out clean. 

Cool in pan for 10 minutes, and then invert on a rack and cool completely. 

You can dust with powdered sugar or make an icing drizzle, but it is a perfectly fine cake, without the extra sugar or fuss. You can also add a tablespoon or two of brandy to an icing or drizzle (again, good without). 

Once cooled, place the cake on a plate and wrap it in foil or invert a large bowl over the top of the cake and refrigerate overnight. 

Moist and delicious, on day two, straight from the fridge. 

Tapioca Pudding  

1/2 Cup Small Pearl Tapioca  

2 1/2 Cups Milk 

1/2 Cup Cream 

2 Eggs 

1/2 Cup Sugar 

1/8 Teaspoon Salt 

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract 

First, mix 1 cup of cool water and 1/2 a cup of tapioca beads together in a bowl. Let it sit for 35 to 45 minutes, giving it a few gentle stirs over that time period. After 35 to 45 minutes, gently pour the excess water off – you could use a fine mesh strainer. 

Take 2 large eggs and use a fork to whisk them together in a bowl about the size of a standard cereal bowl or maybe a little larger. Set the bowl of eggs and fork, aside. 

Next, combine 2 1/2 cups of milk, 1/2 cup of cream, the tapioca pearls, and 1/8 of a teaspoon of salt in a medium-sized sauce pan, over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it comes to a simmer. 

Then, reduce the heat to your lowest setting and slowly stir in 1/2 a cup of sugar, stirring constantly. Keep stirring for about 5 to 8 minutes, until the tapioca pearls are plump and the mixture has thickened up a bit. 

Take the saucepan off the heat. 

Slowly add a big spoonful, say 2 to 3 tablespoons full, of the hot tapioca mixture, into the eggs. As you slowly add the tapioca mixture into the eggs, keep whisking the eggs and tapioca mixture together, fairly vigorously, with your fork. 

Do this a second time, adding another big spoonful of the tapioca mixture into the eggs. Pour slowly and keep the eggs moving – mixing fairly vigorously so that you warm the eggs up. Add a third spoonful of the hot tapioca mixture into the egg mixture, again, slowly and mixing with your fork as you go so as to warm the eggs up but not cook them at this point.  

Go ahead, put your saucepan back on the burner on medium-low heat. Slowly, add the egg mixture into the saucepan, stirring constantly, letting the mixture cook but not boil, until the consistency is that of a nice pudding. This is going to take maybe 3 minutes or maybe up to 5 minutes. 

Also note, when you pour the egg mixture from the bowl into the saucepan, depending on the bowl, the egg mixture can dribble back along the edge and down the side of the bowl, so make sure and pour from the bowl into the middle of the saucepan, so any egg mixture dribble lands in the saucepan and not on your range top. 

Once the egg mixture has cooked into the tapioca mixture and thickened up like a pudding, for about 3 to 5 minutes on medium-low, remove the saucepan from the heat and let it sit for 2 minutes, giving it a stir or two every 15 seconds or so. 

Then, stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. 

Let the mixture stay in the pan for 5 minutes, giving it a stir every 30 seconds. It will continue to thicken up. 

You can serve it now, or you can put it into a serving dish, or into individual serving bowls or containers to be refrigerated and enjoyed later. 

It keeps about 4 days, refrigerated.  

Have any fancy coupe or smaller, footed serving dishes? Every day is a special day. Pull out those small beauties and use them to serve your delicious tapioca pudding. Enjoy!

Makes 8 moderate servings. 

Favorite Banana Bread 

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter 

3/4 cup brown sugar 

2 eggs 

2 1/3 to 2 1/2 cups mashed, over-ripe bananas 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

 1/2 cup chocolate chips 

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds or nuts 

Lightly butter a  bread or loaf pan, and set aside. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and set your rack to the middle position in your oven. 

Whisk dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg) together in a large bowl.

Carefully melt the butter and let it cool but not harden. 

In a medium bowl, lightly whisk the eggs, add the vanilla, sugar, and mix in the melted butter. 

Mix in the very ripe, mashed bananas (about 4). 

Mix the wet into the dry, and then add the chocolate chips and pumpkin seeds or nuts. 

Smooth into your prepared pan and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, turning the pan halfway through your bake. 

Cover with foil for last 10 to 15 minutes if it looks like it is over-baking on top. 

Bread is done when a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from pan and let it cool on a rack. 

When I don't have enough mashed banana, I'll add pumpkin puree, or mashed up sweet potato to make up to 2 1/2 cups of mashed fruit or alternate. Pumpkin is especially nice.  

Lemon Cathedral Cake

First, you’ll want to set out 1 cup of unsalted butter to soften – that’s usually 2 sticks, and put 4 large eggs in a bowl on the counter, so they’ll come closer to room temperature. 

Zest the outside of 2 large lemons and set aside. This zest will go into your batter, later. 

Squeeze the juice from both lemons into a smallish bowl – you are going to want at least 1/4 to a 1/3 of a cup of lemon juice. I like more lemon juice as vs. less lemon juice.

To this lemon juice, add in 1 tablespoon of water, 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract, and 3/4 cup of granulated sugar. This is going to be your glaze to drizzle over the warm cake. Set the lemon glaze aside. Put a little plate over your bowl until needed. 

Next, lightly butter and flour a Bundt pan, or use a baking spray with flour, gluten-free or not, and set your Bundt pan aside for later use. 

Set your oven rack to the middle position. If you have a rack above the middle rack, remove that upper rack so there is room for your Bundt pan, which is taller than a regular cake pan. 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl or in the bowl of your mixer, cream together 1 cup of softened, unsalted butter – that’s usually 2 sticks – and 2 cups of granulated sugar. Mix them together until they are light and fluffy. 

 
One at a time, mix the 4 eggs into the butter and sugar. 

 
Add in 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract and 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract. 

 
Grab a separate, medium to large bowl and whisk together your 3 dry ingredients, which are 3 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon  salt. 

Measure out 1 cup of whole milk. Add your dry mixture and milk, alternately, into the wet mixture made up of butter, sugar, eggs, and extracts.  

Once the batter is smooth, stir in 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of lemon zest. This is the zest from the 2 lemons you squeezed to get juice for your glaze.  

Carefully put the batter into your prepared pan, tapping the pan on your counter a couple of times to help get out any air bubbles.

The cake will take a good hour to an hour and 10 minutes, to bake. Turn the pan halfway through your bake. I have a somewhat slow oven and it often takes 90 minutes – an hour and a half, for my Bundt cakes to bake. 

At 1 hour, if your cake isn’t done, don’t burn yourself, but loosely tent some foil – sort of a bubble-tent, over the top of the cake and pan, so that it won’t overcook on the top. Remember Jiffy-pop? Think more Jiffy-pop than flat & tight with your foil. 

The cake is done when a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool the cake, in the pan, for 10 minutes on a rack. Then, carefully invert the cake onto a rack, to cool for 10 more minutes.

Next, put a large plate under the cake on the rack, give the lemon glaze you made a good stir to blend in the sugar, and drizzle the glaze over the warm cake. Take your time. Sometimes people will take a toothpick or thin skewer to poke some not too noticeable holes in the warm cake, to help it soak up the glaze. If too much glaze drips down onto the plate, you can re-drizzle this back over the top of your cake.

Let the cake cool, completely, before serving. My family likes it after it has chilled overnight in the fridge.

This cake has a very wonderful, old-fashioned crumb.

Sliced and individually wrapped, it freezes, well.

As always, happy baking! 

WWII-Era Chocolate Wacky Cake 

A.K.A. “Depression-Era Cake” 

A.K.A. “Bad Times Cake” *

Set rack to middle position in your oven and preheat the oven to 325°. Lightly butter and flour a 9 x 13 inch pan and set aside. (You can also bake the batter in two 9" round cake pans, or halve the recipe and bake it in one 9" round or one 9" square pan.) 

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 

1 ½ teaspoons baking SODA 

1 teaspoon kosher salt 

(If you don’t have kosher salt, you can use regular salt and reduce it by about 1/16th of a teaspoon, making it a smaller amount, a “scant” teaspoon.) 

2 cups granulated sugar 

2 cups water 

2/3 cup canola oil 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 tsp white or apple cider vinegar

Optional: ½ cup chocolate chips 

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. This is the dry. 

Add the wet ingredients, the water, oil, extract, and vinegar, into the dry. Mix with a spatula, spoon, or fork until you have a smooth and uniform batter. 

Smooth the batter into your prepared pan in an even layer. Sprinkle the top of the cake batter with ½ cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips. You can also use vegan chips. I like Hershey's Special Dark chocolate chips. 

During December, I will sometimes smash up some candy canes and sprinkle those on top before baking. 

Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, turning the pan halfway through the bake. 

It’s done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. This means that one or two chocolate cake crumbs is Okay, but if your toothpick looks like it was dipped in chocolate frosting, let it bake longer. 

Let it cool for 10 minutes and then carefully invert it onto a rack to cool the rest of the way. I’ve let it mostly cool in the pan, on a rack, and then cut and served it slightly warm from the pan, with a big spoonful of vanilla ice cream on the side – is delish. 

You can sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top for a pretty presentation, but it is fine, without. If you have a paper doily, put it on top of the cake and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Remove the doily for a lovely pattern. 

If you frost this cake, it pairs well with cream cheese frosting. So the taste of the cake isn't lost in the frosting, I will often only frost the middle and top of the cake, leaving the sides bare. 

After frosting, chill cake, thoroughly. A very good cake, cold, from the fridge. 

* Bad times are made better, or maybe not all that bad, if you are having cake. 

Scones

2 Cups Flour 

2 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder 

1/2 Teaspoon Salt 

1/2 Cup Sugar 

1 Stick Unsalted Butter 

1 Large Egg 

1/2 Cup Heavy Cream 

2 to 3 Tablespoons Heavy Cream 

1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract 

1 to 1 1/2 Cups of "Extras" 

(Extras: Chocolate Chips, Dried Cherries, Chopped Nuts, Candied Ginger, Raisins, Blueberries, etc.) 

 Preheat oven to 400 with oven rack set in the middle position. Place a piece of parchment paper or a silicone mat on a cookie sheet. If not using parchment paper or a baking mat, you can very lightly butter and flour a cookie sheet. Substitute cornmeal for flour, if this works better for you. 

In a medium to large bowl, whisk together: 

 
2 cups All-purpose Flour 

2 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder 

1/2 teaspoon Salt 

1/2 cup Sugar 

 
Into this dry mixture, "cut" 1 stick of unsalted butter (very cold and cut into cubes) until the dry mixture appears to be a course meal with very small pebbly pieces of butter in the dry.
Use a pastry cutter or a fork to cut the butter into the dry. You can use your hands, but you don't want to warm up the butter too much.  

Please note: 1 stick of butter equals 1/2 cup or 8 tablespoons. Unsalted butter is sometimes more scarce, November through December. I buy extra, earlier, and wrap and freeze it, just in case. Butter freezes, well. 

In a small to medium bowl, whisk together: 

 
1 large Egg 

1/2 cup Heavy Cream 

1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Add the wet to the dry, mixing with a spatula, a lightly buttered wooden spoon, and/or your hands until the dough just comes together. Try to avoid overmixing your dough. 

 
Mix in 1 to 1 1/2 cups of fun. You might want to add chocolate chips, candied orange or other citrus, candied ginger, white chocolate chunks, almond slivers, dried cherries, raisins, berries, etc. I like 1/2 cup of one and 3/4 a cup of a complimentary add-in. See what works for you. 

On a lightly floured surface, turn dough out and shape it into a round disc, about 9 or 10 inches across and an inch high. 

 
Using a bench scraper or knife, cut the dough circle into 8 equal wedges. 

Place the wedges on your prepared sheet pan and refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes. 

Before popping the scones into the oven, use a pastry brush and lightly brush the tops of the scones with heavy cream and sprinkle a little sparkling or course sugar on top. 

Bake 18 to 28 minutes, depending on your oven. I look for a nice golden brown color and sometimes rotate the pan halfway through the bake. 

Remove from oven when done and let scones sit on the cookie sheet for 3 or 4 minutes before carefully transferring each scone to a rack to cool. 

Enjoy! 

Scones keep a week in the fridge and also freeze, well. 

Tip & Suggestions 

for 

Baking or Cooking

1. Baking soda and baking powder are two different ingredients. Be careful as to which one your recipe requires. Both are leavening agents, which help to make your baked good rise. You'll notice that baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) will usually have lemon juice or buttermilk in the recipe, an acidic, to activate the baking soda. Baking powder is a completed leavening agent - no acid needed to make it make your baked goods rise. 

2. Don’t have a whisk? Use a fork. 

3. If you don’t have a pan, and don’t want to get one or it is not in your budget to purchase one, possibly you would have a friend or family member from whom you could borrow a pan. Garage sales, consignment stores, and The Goodwill are all places you can purchase kitchenware for a modest price. Just be careful to not purchase anything with a finish or material that is unhealthy. If appropriate, let older relatives know that you would be a happy recipient of no longer used kitchen gadgets and goods. Accept recipes, as well. 

4. Try not to measure ingredients over your bowl. Measuring over a different bowl or plate sets you up for success. 

5. If melting butter in a microwave, less is more. Cube the butter and place it in a microwaveable bowl. Microwave for 20 seconds, do one thing (i.e. measure out your flour), microwave for another 15 or 20 seconds, and check the bowl. You might need to repeat a few times, anywhere from 10 to 25 seconds at a time, with doing at least one thing in between bursts. When the butter is almost completely melted, you might find that the rest of the solids will melt from the residual heat of the liquid butter. Patience and a light touch. 

6. If you are using powdered milk or powdered buttermilk instead of liquid milk or buttermilk, ¼ cup powder + 1 cup water = 1 cup of milk or buttermilk. Keep your powdered goods in a dry place and in as an airtight of a container (double bag and push all of the air out) as possible. When using powdered milk or buttermilk, let the finished batter set for 10 minutes before cooking with or baking.  

Flourless Chocolate Cake

  Flourless chocolate cake only has 5 simple ingredients:

1 cup butter – that’s 2 sticks, cut into pieces. I use unsalted, but if you don’t have unsalted, you could use your regular salted butter. 

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips – use your favorite brand. 

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar 

1 cup of sifted, unsweetened cocoa powder – I like the Hershey’s special dark cocoa powder, but regular cocoa powder is perfectly fine

And your last ingredient, 6 large eggs. 

I encourage you to make this cake, the day before, and to serve it still cold from the refrigerator, on a plate with a drizzle of caramel sauce across the bottom of the plate, a wedge of the chocolate cake placed on top. If you have a handful of fresh raspberries or sliced strawberries, scatter these over the top, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side of your plate is a nice addition. When you serve it this way, it’s a bit of a show-stopper, and sure to be a hit with the chocolate lovers among your friends and family. 

If you are planning this as a gluten-free dessert, make sure that if you are using a baking spray to prepare your pan, don’t use the spray for baking that comes with flour. Make sure that spray is certified as gluten-free, or, skip the spray and just butter your pan and line the bottom of the pan with waxed or parchment paper. 

First, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees, and set the oven rack to the middle position. Butter a 10-inch-diameter springform pan and line the bottom with waxed or parchment paper. A side note: if you don’t have a springform pan, you can use a regular round cake pan. It will probably be a standard 9-inch pan, so just be careful when filling your pan and the bake might take a few extra minutes to get to that thicker center.

In a large-ish heavy bottomed sauce pan, over a very low heat, melt 1 cup of butter and 1 1/2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips. Stay with it – stir it. 
Once it’s melted, take it off the heat.

In a large bowl, whisk 1 1/4 cups sugar and 1 cup of sifted unsweetened cocoa powder together. 

One at a time, add 6 eggs into the sugar and cocoa powder, whisking until just combined. 

Then slowly whisk in the butter and chocolate mixture into the egg, sugar, and cocoa powder mixture. Whisk in a quick and lively manner as you don’t want to cook the eggs at this point.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake it for 45 minutes to 1-hour. 

You can rotate the pan, half-way through the bake. Not a problem, but be mindful that rotating a pan will usually add a couple of minutes to your bake because you’ve opened the oven door. 

 
Test the cake with a toothpick in the center at the 45-minute mark. When the tester comes out clean, your cake is done. 

 
Cool the cake, completely, in its pan, on a rack. After an hour, you can run a knife around the sides of the pan to loosen the cake. You can then release the pan sides. 

Once it’s cool, cover it up and put it away in the refrigerator to chill.

Drizzle caramel sauce across each serving plate, placing a wedge of chocolate cake on top. You can make your own caramel sauce. 

 
If you don’t have or want to use caramel sauce and if you have a little raspberry jam, you can gently heat up a 1/4 of a cup of jam with 2 tablespoons of water in a small pan or in your microwave. Drizzle across your plate, instead of the caramel sauce, placing a wedge of cake on top. 

I like to pair this cake with fresh berries and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It’s a lovely treat and makes a special dessert for you, your friends, and family.  

Enjoy and happy baking!   

Caramel Sauce

 Caramel sauce is a great pairing with flourless chocolate cake or maybe over a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Sometimes, I’ll pour some into a zip-lock back, snip the corner tip off the bag – making just a little tiny opening, and then I can write on the serving plates with the caramel sauce, draw a heart, make squiggles, etc. You don’t have to – you can also dip a spoon into your caramel sauce and then use that to drizzle a design across your plate, then place a wedge of cake on top, a scoop of ice cream to the side, and maybe sprinkle raspberries or sliced strawberries on the plate or over your cake. 

This is your show-stopper dessert and a sure hit with the chocolate lovers among your friends and family. 

All you need are 5 simple ingredients: 

2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, that’s ¼ a stick of butter 

1 cup of whipping cream 

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 

1/4 a cup of water 

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 

In a medium-sized, heavy bottomed sauce pan – if you don’t have an especially heavy bottomed sauce pan, use the sauce pan you have, just keep an eagle eye on it. Over a very low heat, stir together 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, 1/4 cup water, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice. 

Stir these 3 things over low heat, just until the sugar dissolves. 

Then, and this is where it gets exciting - turn up the heat until the mixture boils. 

You’ll want to, but don’t stir it. 

Don’t take your eyes off of it. 

The syrup is going to turn a deep amber color. This might take 4, 5, or up to 7 minutes. 

Watch it – as soon as it turns a deep amber color, quickly take it off the heat. 

If you are going to go in one direction or the other, it’s better to undercook it by a whisker than to overcook it by a whisker. I have overcooked it into a mess, a tasty mess, but a mess, nonetheless, many times. 

I’ve learned to watch it and then to quickly pull it off the heat just as it turns that deep amber color. 

Making homemade caramel sauce is not for the faint of heart. You might have a mistake or two on the road to becoming an expert at making homemade caramel sauce. That’s just the way it works. If it doesn’t work out at first, give yourself a break, and try, try again.  

Once the sauce has turned that deep amber color, and you’ve taken it off the heat, go ahead and turn the burner off or down to low. 

Now, into the amber mixture in the pan, stir in 1 cup of whipping cream. 

You might find that the mixture is still bubbling a bit, but don’t worry, just get the cream stirred in. 

 
Next, return your pan to the burner, set to low, and stir the mixture around so that the caramel mixture, any stray bits and pieces, are completely dissolved into the cream. 

Next, add 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter into the mixture. Cut them into cubes, beforehand, so that the butter melts quicker. 

You can give all of this a stir or whisk until everything is combined and the sauce is smooth. 

 
Transfer it to a little bowl or jar. You can serve it now, or cover it and chill. 

You can make it a day ahead if this works well for you. If you do chill the sauce, I like to warm the sauce up before serving. You can take it out of the fridge, maybe 30 minutes to an hour before serving, or you can microwave it in one to maybe two 5-second bursts. (Do less than you think you need to with the microwave.)
You can also set it in a pan of hot water and let it warm up. Whatever works best for you, do that. 

  
Enjoy this recipe with flourless chocolate cake, ice cream, or simple brownies. As always, happy baking!