Happy Easter everyone!!
I hope that amongst many egg hunts and a very sweet breakfast this morning, you’re also thinking about dessert, like me! After all, Spring desserts are full swing now, and there’s some really fantastic things you could be baking today. Or any day this week.
If you’re looking for inspiration but angel food cake isn’t really your thing, I’ve got a pretty Spring Baking board all up and ready for you here!
Anyways, over at my house today we are finally putting in new flooring upstairs to help us get ready for baby. Our house hasn’t been in this kind of disarray since we moved in, but now that the first few boards have been installed, I’m starting to get really really excited about the whole thing. (BTW, aren’t fresh eggs like, the coolest thing ever? I got these from a friend’s family farm, and I’m obsessed with all the pretty colors).
We’ve randomly decided to take on this huge project of replacing the flooring, painting, changing baseboards, and putting up an accent wall in our house before this little bundle comes into the world, and her bedroom is gonna be a lot nicer than mine! Also I’m pretty sure I’m going to feel like the rest of my house is complete garbage after this haha.
Anyways, back to cake, where we belong. Angel food cake is a tough one, especially at high altitude. You want it to rise and stay risen, and to have that signature chew and fluffy texture. Couple of things to note here- first is that you really want to watch those egg whites while you’re whipping. Because we’re at altitude, beating them past a soft peak will cause the batter to rise too quickly in the oven, and then fall back down. We’re looking for soft peaks, like this:
Another thing to note is that if you’ve made my other angel food cake recipe, this strawberry version isn’t going to rise quite as high, and that’s because we’re adding some weight with the freeze dried strawberries. Not to worry though, it’s still super delicious and it has that lovely texture, I promise.
Speaking of the strawberries, I’ve decided to add them right into the cake this time around. I don’t know about you guys, but normally I serve fresh strawberries with angel food cake, and don’t get me wrong, that’s a winner. But I’ve really been wanting to play around with freeze dried strawberries, and infusing the strawberry flavor right into the cake is something sweet you guys. I love it.
We’re crushing up the freeze dried strawberries into a powder here, and sifting them right alongside the flour and powdered sugar. Freeze dried strawberries weren’t the easiest thing for me to find in grocery stores by the way, but when they are in stock, they should be near the snacks in your store, like popcorn and beef jerky. Grab em up when you see them!
Onto the cream- I’ve also really been wanting to try a method of making stabilized whipped cream by beating in whipped cream cheese. The results you guys, are too damn good. It’s like this fluffy, whipped cheesecake dip that I could (and have) just eat with a spoon. The cream cheese stabilizes it, but it also adds the perfect tang to it, and it’s seriously fantastic!
Anyways, I hope you guys love this one as much as I do, Happy Easter!
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, and have a fluted pan ready to go, ungreased.
Over a piece of parchment paper, sift together your cake flour, powdered sugar, salt, and freeze dried strawberries.
Move your sifter over a large bowl, and pour the dry ingredients over it. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together your egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Increase your speed, and slowly add in the sugar as you continue to beat the eggs, until they have reached soft peaks.
Sift about half of your dry ingredients right into your egg whites, and gently fold everything together until combined.
Sift the remaining dry ingredients, and continue to fold until mostly combined. Then add the water, and continue folding until completely combined. It's a labor of love, GO SLOW.
Spread the batter into your fluted pan evenly. Bake in your preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the cake has risen. Cool completely in the pan before removing by running a knife along the edges.
In a large bowl, beat together your heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla until soft peaks form.
In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy.
Add your cream cheese to your heavy cream mixture, and beat for several minutes until completely combined, and stiff peaks have formed. Serve with your cooled cake!
Hello and welcome! My name is Nicole, and Dough-eyed is a food blog for people who want to bake for their family and friends in high-altitude areas. Think of me as a friendly voice there with you in the kitchen, here to give you confidence when you’re baking, and to help you with the struggles of baking at high-altitude. Come back every week for new recipes, tips, and advice on high-altitude baking!
Hi guys!
It’s pretty much spring now, and we can all shift our baking towards lighter, brighter things. Wait, is that not how you identify seasons? Just me? Cool.
We’re just over here trying to finish up a nursery space for this baby that seems to keep getting bigger, and I’m gonna keep on baking along as long as I can!
That includes these pretty cupcakes that are fresh and flavorful and just the right texture. I know I say this a lot, but these are definitely one of my favorite cupcakes- they taste AMAZING you guys. And as usual, I’ve kept the recipe simple and easy.
The cupcake base has lemon three ways, and the result is a tart, truly lemon-tasting cake. Using cake flour and all purpose flour gives us a soft, tender crumb, plus a cupcake that is sturdy enough to hold a mountain of frosting.
The frosting uses mainly raspberry preserves to flavor it- the texture holds up better this way, and your grocery store will always have jam, even when fresh raspberries aren’t in season. I tossed in a handful of fresh raspberries to give it a richer, brighter color also.
Can I just say, recipes that make just 12 cupcakes are the best. When you make them from a box, you get 24, and sometimes that is just too much for a random Wednesday night. And on the other hand, sometimes you’re feeding a crowd, and recipes of 12 are easy to multiply.
Well anyways, happy Spring, and happy cupcake baking to all of you!
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners of your choice.
In a large bowl, beat together the softened butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, lemon extract, lemon zest, and sour cream until combined.
Add in the cake flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat together until a thick batter just starts to come together, and then add the lemon juice. Beat until smooth.
Scoop your batter evenly into your 12 muffin tins, or into 11 cups if you want a fuller cupcake.
Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick tester comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting!
In a large bowl, beat together the butter and powdered sugar until smooth.
Add in the salt, raspberry preserves, cream, lemon zest, and fresh raspberries, and beat until smooth. Add more powdered sugar or cream to achieve your desired consistency.
Frost cupcakes as desired. Enjoy!
Hello and welcome! My name is Nicole, and Dough-eyed is a food blog for people who want to bake for their family and friends in high-altitude areas. Think of me as a friendly voice there with you in the kitchen, here to give you confidence when you’re baking, and to help you with the struggles of baking at high-altitude. Come back every week for new recipes, tips, and advice on high-altitude baking!
You guys just chuggin’ along through February like me? Awesome- here’s the good news- small berries are on crazy sale like every dang week right now. For me it’s mostly been blueberries and blackberries, but man, it’s been cool.
And anyways so I ran to the store the other day in need of something completely un-fun like paper towels or something, but then there was a huge display for blueberries SUPER cheap. So, here we are now with a really good excuse to bake, and eat fruit, AND procrastinate on other life things.
So, onto the cake. This is a simple pound cake filled with blueberries. There’s some lemon zest inside the cake itself, but most of the lemon flavor is actually coming from a tart lemon glaze. The whole thing is super simple and easy to whip up, and who doesn’t like cake a hurry?
This pretty bundt pan is a favorite of mine, but you can use any bundt you’ve got, or even just a straight sided tube pan. When you need cake, you make the cake in whatever you have. Just make sure you know how to properly grease whatever you use- we all know the horror of a bundt cake that won’t come out.
The lemon glaze is just two ingredients- lemon juice and powdered sugar. If you prefer a lighter lemon flavor, use half lemon juice and half water. Since it’s just the glaze, I love a really bright lemon flavor that pops.
Anyways, I hope blueberries are on sale where you are, I hope you’ve had a super easy week, and I hope you love this cake!
Ingredients
Instructions
Hello and welcome! My name is Nicole, and Dough-eyed is a food blog for people who want to bake for their family and friends in high-altitude areas. Think of me as a friendly voice there with you in the kitchen, here to give you confidence when you’re baking, and to help you with the struggles of baking at high-altitude. Come back every week for new recipes, tips, and advice on high-altitude baking!
Man, these are my favorite kinds of recipes. I made this buckle on a snowy day when I didn’t feel like leaving the house and with leftover blackberries that I had lying around. It’s easy, it doesn’t make a huge mess, and the results are warm and cozy.
Let’s start with the name- there seems to be some debate on what desserts are considered a “buckle.” Some folks think it refers to cobbler type dishes, and some thing it only refers to crumb cakes like this one. My opinion is as follows- buckle is a really adorable name for a dish, and I like it, and you can call yours whatever you like best.
Our base here is a soft, simple cake mixture. We’re folding in chopped blackberries, which adds a pretty purple swirl to the color of the cake batter before baking. Sour cream makes the cake just the right texture, and we splash in some vanilla for that flavor we all love (even though vanilla is bananas expensive right now).
On top, this crumb is simple, sweet, warm. I don’t always think of cinnamon with berries, but it’s actually totally perfect in the winter. It’s a great combo of vibrant, slightly sour, and warmth. Have I said “warm” enough times for you to want this yet? If not, I’m thinking there’s not snow near you.
Like many of the recipes I post here, you can use whatever type of berries you like best, whatever kind you have in your fridge, or whatever kind is cheap at the store that day. In my part of town, blackberries and blueberries are cheap this time of year.
Speaking of blueberries, they are actually the classic berry for a buckle, or so I hear. So go for it if you love blueberry muffins, or whatever.
This is the right excuse for cake for breakfast you guys. I mean, all cake is a breakfast cake when it really comes down to it, but this one FEELS like breakfast food too. And like, get your fruit in for the day, honestly.
Anyways, I hope you guys make this, it’s truly one of my favorites in so long. Enjoy!
Ingredients
Instructions
Hello and welcome! My name is Nicole, and Dough-eyed is a food blog for people who want to bake for their family and friends in high-altitude areas. Think of me as a friendly voice there with you in the kitchen, here to give you confidence when you’re baking, and to help you with the struggles of baking at high-altitude. Come back every week for new recipes, tips, and advice on high-altitude baking!
I guess you could say I’m on a bit of a cake kick lately. I’ve almost completely finished the cake section of my cookbook, and I think my office may or may not be getting sick of it haha. Today, it’s a cake just for you guys though!
So, here’s the deal with this cake. There’s a certain cake that a certain fancier grocery retailer sells in the springtime- it has chantilly cream and lots of berries, and it’s SUPER popular. Secret time- I have never had this cake. But, I wanted to create something similar, or at least what I think is probably similar based on what I know of said cake.
Anyways, my version has a sweetened vanilla custard cream, strawberries, raspberries, and fluffy white cake. It feels springy to me, and the cake is soft and lightly sweet. The cream is fluffy and smooth, and it’s overall a simple and tasty combo.
I’m writing this on a Sunday evening, and I’ve been baking all day long- much more than just this cake. I’m exhausted, and pretty unsure if I’ll ever get up from my current spot on the couch, snuggling with my pupper. Well, back to pretending tomorrow isn’t Monday- enjoy guys!
Ingredients
Instructions
Hello and welcome! My name is Nicole, and Dough-eyed is a food blog for people who want to bake for their family and friends in high-altitude areas. Think of me as a friendly voice there with you in the kitchen, here to give you confidence when you’re baking, and to help you with the struggles of baking at high-altitude. Come back every week for new recipes, tips, and advice on high-altitude baking!
Let’s talk about blueberries, and pie fillings, and cake, and putting it all together!
I’m not a huge fan of blueberries on their own, but when baked into something, they are truly amazing. We all know and love the classic blueberry muffin, and this is a variation on that! Loaf cakes are just so easy- you can just slice them as your family eats it, and this is a simple single loaf recipe. I don’t know about you, but when I look at a recipe that yields like 3 loaves or 75 cupcakes, I just can’t deal. God knows we don’t need that much in one household.
Honestly, if you can make a loaf instead of muffins, it’s just easier. It takes longer to bake, but you don’t have to do all the scooping and batch baking. Sometimes you just don’t feel like it- I get that. This is a low-maintenance recipe overall, very few dishes involved.
I used a homemade blueberry pie filling, but you can use canned just the same. I made a birthday cake earlier in the week that was topped with blueberry sauce, so I thought I’d use up some of the leftovers. Use the extras to top off some pancakes this weekend!
Homemade pie filling is super simple- just cook your blueberries with some sugar until boiling, and stir in a cornstarch slurry to thicken it up! It’s perfect in a pie, and on pancakes or waffles. Store it in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks and enjoy.
This recipe uses fresh blueberries along with the pie filling, which gives you a really beautiful texture and flavor throughout the cake. I sprinkled some coarse sugar on top for a little extra crunch, but the cake is totally fantastic even without that.
So. No liners, no scooping, one single bake. Just slice and enjoy!
Ingredients
Instructions
Hello and welcome! My name is Nicole, and Dough-eyed is a food blog for people who want to bake for their family and friends in high-altitude areas. Think of me as a friendly voice there with you in the kitchen, here to give you confidence when you’re baking, and to help you with the struggles of baking at high-altitude. Come back every week for new recipes, tips, and advice on high-altitude baking!
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