Happy Fall! Have you enjoyed any of the fun activities this season has to offer? My favorite is always leaf peeping. Now, I am not one of those individuals who will take a trip or a long drive to see the changing colors, thankfully my drive to work offers plenty of opportunities to admire the leaves. I will make it a point though to go to one or two parks in my area to bask in the colors and snap a few pics. It’s not that easy to take pics while I am driving, although I have tried (only when I am stuck in traffic). Oh, and of course I have had my fair share of PSLs, and this year have also enjoyed quite a few PSLs with the added flavor of hazelnut. If you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend it.
It’s been a few months since I’ve shared a recipe here. I took a break from baking during the summer because it was just too hot to turn my oven on. As for yarn crafts, I was working on items to list on my Etsy shop for the winter and as for jewelry, it’s been a while since I’ve finished a piece. I finally fixed a bracelet that needed fixing after the thread broke on it and some of the beads came loose. But I am back today with a cake recipe that I wrote up earlier this year. I was going to make it during the Spring months but decided to save it for the Fall since the flavors seemed more suited for this time of the year… A chocolate cake layered with homemade orange ginger curd and topped with brown butter frosting.
I started off by making the orange ginger curd since I needed it to chill overnight so it could thicken up. I’ve made different types of fruit curds – passion fruit, raspberry, lime – and I pretty much follow the same recipe each time subbing the fruit flavor and each time they have come out good. If you’re not a fan of ginger you can totally leave it out and you will end up with a delicious orange curd.
Next, I baked the chocolate cake. I opted to use a box cake mix and made a few tweaks to the ingredients. All were tweaks were ones I’ve done before, but I didn’t like how the cake came out. I think it may have had something to do with the brand of cake mix I used. I normally go with Duncan Hines but let’s just say that’s not what I used this time. My tried-and-true swap that works every time is subbing coffee for the water, no matter what the brand is. It enriches the chocolate flavor.
And finally, once my orange ginger chilled overnight and my cake layers had cooled, I made the brown butter frosting. Melting and browning the butter gives it a nice nutty flavor. When melting it you want to keep a close eye on it and make sure it doesn’t burn, keep the heat low. Burnt is not the flavor you want for your frosting. What you are looking for is the melted butter to have a nice amber color. When you transfer the butter to your glass measuring cup to cool, make sure to include all the brown bits at the bottom of your pan. That’s where the flavor is. You need the butter to cool and partially solidify. I attempted to let my brown butter cool and solidify at room temperature, but, after almost 2 hours it was still liquid. You need the butter to solidify because using it melted will make your frosting too soft or require you to use more confectioner’s sugar that will a) make your frosting overly sweet and b) mask the flavor of the brown butter. So, after 2 hours I popped it in the refrigerator for about 45 minutes so it could re-solidify and then proceeded to make the frosting.
Once I had everything made and prepped, I assembled and frosted the cake. And it was delish!
Orange Ginger Curd
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
Zest from 1 orange
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup fresh orange juice (2 navel oranges)
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 stick unsalted butter, cubed
Directions:
In a medium saucepan whisk the eggs yolks. Add the sugar, zest, and grated ginger and continue whisking until well combined. Gradually whisk in the orange juice.
Heat over low heat and continue whisking until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
Remove from the heat and add in the cubed butter, whisk until the butter has melted.
Strain the curd through a fine mesh sieve into a resealable container. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd and cool to room temperature before covering and refrigerating for at least 8 hours or overnight.
Recipe first appeared on Bead Yarn Spatula
Brown Butter Frosting
Ingredients:
4 sticks (2 cups) unsalted butter (2 sticks at room temperature)
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons whole milk or heavy cream, if necessary
Directions:
Begin by making the brown butter. Melt 2 sticks of the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the melted butter is a rich amber color. Transfer to a glass measuring cup – be sure to include all the brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for about 30 – 60 minutes so the butter can re-solidify.
Once the brown butter is ready, cream the remaining 2 sticks of butter in a stand mixer on medium-high speed until creamy and light in color, about 5 minutes.
Add the re-solidified brown butter and continue beating at medium speed until well incorporated.
Reduce the speed to low and gradually add in the confectioners’ sugar.
Add the vanilla extract and salt. If you find your frosting too thick add in a tablespoon at a time of the whole milk (or heavy cream) and beat at medium speed until well incorporated.
*For the chocolate cake I used a box cake mix, you can do the same or use your favorite chocolate cake mix for a 2-layer 8-inch cake.
Recipe first appeared on Bead Yarn Spatula
