Gingerbread Sheet Cake

Recipe Adapted from Serious Eats
INGREDIENTS
1 cup light brown sugar
3 ounces unsulfured molasses
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon dried orange peel
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, fresh grated
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon mace
1/8 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
3 large eggs, straight from the fridge
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled to about 100°F
5 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour
2 1/2 ounces whole wheat flour
8 ounces buttermilk

DIRECTIONS
Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 350°F. Line an anodized aluminum half sheet cake pan with parchment, then grease lightly with pan spray.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine brown sugar, molasses, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cloves, five-spice powder, black pepper, and eggs. Mix on low until moistened, then increase to high and whip until foamy and thick, about 8 minutes.

Reduce speed to low and drizzle in melted butter, then add all-purpose and whole wheat flours, followed by buttermilk. Once combined, shut off mixer and fold batter once or twice from the bottom up with a flexible spatula, then scrape into prepared pan.

Bake until cake is puffed and firm (though crust will retain a light impression when pressed with a fingertip), about 20 minutes. Cool in pan until firm, top with cream cheese frosting.

I love all things gingerbread. Gingerbread cookies- soft, snappy, I'll take them all, the gingerbread churro at Disneyland, Gingerbread Spice Life Cereal… so I knew I wanted to find a gingerbread cake that will make my heart the happiest. BUT in all the recipes I tried, it just wasn't quite spicy enough. Yeah, gingerbread needs to be spicy! To balance the of the sweetness of the holidays. So, I used the cake recipe that I enjoyed the texture of the most (the addition of whole wheat flour gives it such great texture) and used my favorite gingerbread spices.

Buttermilk Pancakes

Recipe adapted from PopSugar
  
INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk

1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup salted butter, melted and cooled slightly

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the flour and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk eggs. Whisk in buttermilk, vanilla and melted butter.

Pour buttermilk mixture into the well of the flour mixture, and stir until just combined. Let sit while you pre-heat your skillet.

Heat a large, nonstick skillet to about 350 ºF. Spray skillet with your cooking spray of choice.
Dollop 1/2 cup batter onto skillet per pancake. Cook pancakes until bubbles rise to the surface and pop, about 2 minutes. Carefully flip pancakes and cook another 2 minutes.

Okay guys, pancakes are my life. I've never been great at them, which was fine because my Grandma Alice was amazing at them, and I always assumed I would find a man to love me and he would make them. You know, cause all men are great at making breakfast food. Well, I'm 27, Grandma Alice has retired from cooking, and I haven't been on a date in years. So, I had to suck it up and learn. I've made a lot of mistakes, learned that mixes are the devil, and that ain't nobody got time or the money to use cake flour, but I've found the recipe that embodies all of my favorite things about pancakes. I can now sleep a little better knowing that pancakes will be in my life for always. I may be lonely, but loneliness can be fixed with a stack of hot buttermilk pancakes.

Martha's Chocolate-Raspberry Cake

Recipe Adapted from Martha Stewart

INGREDIENTS

CAKE
Vegetable-oil cooking spray
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon almond extract
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (61 percent cacao), melted and cooled
FILLING
24 ounces fresh raspberries (a scant 6 cups)
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of coarse salt
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

DIRECTIONS

Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat three 8-by-2-inch round cake pans with cooking spray, then dump some flour in, and shake until coated with a light layer of flour. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In another large bowl, beat butter with sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in almond extract. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with buttermilk in two batches. Beat to combine, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in melted chocolate.

Divide batter evenly among prepared pans, smoothing tops with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating pans halfway through front to back and top to bottom, until a tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Let cakes cool in pans on a wire rack 10 minutes. Run a small sharp knife around edges, then invert onto rack. Remove parchment and let cool completely, about 25 minutes. With a serrated knife, trim tops of cakes so they're level.

Filling: While cakes are baking, stir together 3 cups raspberries, sugar, salt, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Cook over high, stirring frequently and mashing with the back of a spoon, until mixture comes to a boil, 2 minutes. Continue to cook, stirring, until mixture thickens and clings to spoon, 7 to 8 minutes more. (You should have 1 1/3 cups.) Let cool 30 minutes. Stir in 2 cups raspberries, reserving remainder.

Spread half of filling over one cake. Top with second layer; spread remaining filling over top. Top with final layer, cut-side down. Refrigerate, covered, at least 1 hour and up to overnight. Spread frosting over top and sides of cake. Garnish with remaining raspberries.

Fact: I am terrible at reading recipes lately, and once I get the ingredients together, I put them together using whatever method would work best based on the ingredients. Which is probably how I didn't catch that this should have been made using THREE cake pans. While my cake turned out okay, using three pans would've made it so much easier with the filling and frosting. #whoopsie This cake is RICH, and slightly tangy from the raspberries. I am definitely going to keep baking this chocolate cake recipe, and the frosting is to die for! I used almond extract instead of the raspberry liquor, mostly because I didn't want to buy (let's be honest find in my home) Chambord. I do like almond with raspberry together, so I was pleased with the result.