I've made cakes that rely on dates for sugar and/or flavour before, but this is the first time I've used prunes for that purpose. It works really well though! Especially with all the spices.

My mom shared this recipe with me. And we both agreed that it didn't need anywhere near the full amount of sugar or oil called for. She also omitted the glaze. It seemed unnecessary given how sweet and rich the cake already was.

The original recipe called for 1 1/2 c. of sugar and 1 c. of oil. My mom cut the sugar back to 1 1/4 c. the first time she made it. And cut the oil all the way back to 1/4 c. (adding 1 c. of applesauce to make up for the missing oil).

I scaled back the sugar even further, to 1 c. I still found the cake plenty sweet enough. You could probably knock the sugar back even further if you were so inclined. And I would be tempted to swap out some or all of the granulated sugar with brown sugar next time. I think that the slight molasses flavour of the brown sugar would go really well with the fruit and spices.

Prune Cake

Slightly adapted from Allrecipes

Ingredients

• 1 c. pitted prunes, chopped
• 1/2 c. water
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. allspice berries, ground
• 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 c. oil
• 3/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 1 c. buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 c. pecans, chopped

Directions

1. Bring the prunes and water to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Combine the flour, sugar, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt.
4. Sift in the baking soda and stir to combine.
5. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a Bundt pan.
6. Combine the oil, applesauce, buttermilk, and eggs and mix well.
7. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined.
8. Mix in the prunes along with any residual liquid.
9. Stir in the pecans.
10. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
11. Bake at 180°C (350°F) until done (~45 minutes).
12. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.

I keep meaning to make another strata for breakfast but being too tired to put it together the night before and sleeping in too late to put it together the morning of. So, instead of strata, we had pancakes this morning. These are nice apple-pecan pancakes with a bit of oatmeal and cinnamon. (The original recipe called for walnuts, but the pecans were on top and I like them better anyway, so I just used them.)

I used a mix of white and whole wheat flour for my pancakes today. But I think I'd be quite happy to make them with 100% whole wheat flour next time. Or, if you adjusted the proportions a bit, you could easily do them up as sourdough pancakes instead.

We had some leftover chocolate from an earlier dessert, so I re-melted it by sitting the dish it was in inside the bowl of hot oatmeal and served it as a topping for these nutty, fruity pancakes. The Kidlet had hers with melted chocolate and maple syrup. And I opted for sliced bananas and a small drizzle of melted chocolate on mine. They were delicious!

Autumn Pancakes

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. quick oats
• 1 1/2 c. boiling water
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 180g whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 c. milk
• 1 large egg
• 1-2 apples, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 c. chopped pecans or walnuts

Directions

1. Pour the boiling water over the oats and let stand for 5 minutes.
2. Add the butter and set aside.
3. Sift the baking powder into the flour.
4. Add the cinnamon and sugar and mix well.
5. Beat the egg with the milk.
6. Pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients along with the oat mixture. Stir to combine.
7. Stir in the apples and nuts.
8. Preheat a tawa or skillet over medium heat.
9. Grease as needed.
10. Working with ~1/4 c. of batter at a time, pour it onto the hot tawa.
11. Cook until bubbles form in the surface and edges begin to look slightly dry.
12. Flip and cook until both sides are golden brown and pancake is cooked through. Transfer to plate.
13. Repeat cooking process with remaining batter.
14. Serve with fruit, syrup, melted chocolate, and/or whippped cream.

---

Variations

Sourdough Autumn Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. quick oats
• 1 c. boiling water
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 60g whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 c. milk
• 250g sourdough discard @ 100% hydration
• 1 large egg
• 1-2 apples, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 c. chopped pecans or walnuts

TF and I both wanted dessert last night. But we were also tired and didn't want to have to apply much effort. Luckily these grilled bananas only required ~10 minutes of cooking time. They are especially easy if you have a gas grill or are willing to use the oven instead.

The ice cream is theoretically optional, while the whipped cream is not. However, I was really vibing with the ice cream last night and having both seemed like overkill. So we got a little bit of chocolate fudge ice cream and then skipped the whip.

Grilled Bananas with Pecans and Chocolate

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 4-6 bananas
• 60g dark chocolate, melted
• 1/4 c. chopped pecans
• 1-2 c. chocolate ice cream (optional)
• 1/2 c. heavy cream, whipped (optional)

Directions

1. Set up grill for direct heat cooking and trim the ends off of the bananas. (Leave the peels on. Just trim the ends.) Alternatively, set the oven broiler to "high".
2. Grill the bananas, turning often, until softened and skins have turned dark (8-10 minutes).
3. Peel and slice the bananas.
4. Drizzle with the melted chocolate and sprinkle with the nuts.
5. Top with ice cream and whipped cream (if using) and serve.

I decided to try another feijoa bread recipe. The first one was good as a fairly basic, neutral loaf. Not too sweet. Not too rich. Pleasingly straight-forward and simple to put together.

This one is a bit richer and a bit fancier. I mean, still nothing ludicrous, but it definitely feels a little bit more special than the previous one. Something you wouldn't mind serving as dessert (and would possibly feel at least slightly guilty serving for breakfast -- despite the name). We all quite liked this one!

Photo goes here.

Feijoa and Cinnamon Breakfast Bread

Slightly adapted from NZ Woman's Weekly

Ingredients

• 115g butter, softened
• 100g brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 400g feijoa pulp, mashed
• 1 large banana, mashed
• 1/3 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 125g whole wheat flour
• 125g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 c. chopped pecans
• 4-5 small feijoas, halved and scooped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a large (23x13cm/9x5") loaf pan.
2. Cream the butter with the sugar until light.
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
4. Mix in feijoa, banana, yogurt, and vanilla.
5. Add the flours and cinnamon, then sift in the baking soda on top.
6. Once all the dry ingredients have been added, stir to combine.
7. Stir in the pecans until just mixed.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, decorate with feijoa halves (and a little extra cinnamon, if desired), and bake at 180°C (350°F) until toothpick comes out nearly clean (~1 hour).
9. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

I had some (very) burnt caramel in the fridge that needed to be used up and these waffles wanted to be topped with caramel sauce, so this seemed like the ideal thing to make for breakfast this morning.

The recipe only called for mixing one banana into the batter, so that's what I went with this time. However, I didn't find the results very banana-y, so I think I'd use at least two or three next time.

The bananas, caramel, and pecans made for a nice combination of toppings. I think a generous dollop of whipped cream would have been the perfect thing to complete the ensemble. Although, I will admit, at that point it very much becomes more of a dessert than a breakfast. I definitely think it would be a tasty one though!

Banana-Flax Waffles with Toasted Pecans and Caramel

Slightly adapted from The Breafast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Waffles

• 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/4 c. flax seeds
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 c. milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 5 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 2-3 bananas, mashed

Toppings

• 4-6 bananas, sliced
• 3/4 c. caramel sauce
• 1/2 c. chopped pecans, toasted
• 1 c. whipped cream (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat your waffle iron.
2. Combine the flour, flax, sugar, and salt in a bowl.
3. Sift in the baking powder and mix well.
4. Beat the eggs with the milk and vanilla.
5. Drizzle in the melted butter.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine.
7. Mix in the mashed banana.
8. Pour a portion of the batter into the preheated waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer's directions.
9. Repeat with remaining batter.
10. Top waffles with sliced banana, caramel, chopped nuts, and whipped cream (if using) and serve.

Sweet potatoes were on sale the other day, so I picked up a few on a whim. I then repeatedly failed to do anything with them. But, luckily, I managed to get it together enough to make this salad before they went off.

It was a pretty good salad too! The dressing is pretty much just maple syrup and lime juice, but I really like it! It complements the sweet potatoes well. Although, I think I would be tempted to add just a pinch of chili powder next time! I think that would go nicely with the other flavours and give it a nice little kick.

Sweet Potato Salad with Pecans and Green Onions

Slightly adapted from Vegetable of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• ~1.4kg sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/3 c. lime juice
• 3 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 1/4 tsp. chili powder (optional)
• 1/2 c. chopped pecans, toasted
• 1/2 c. chopped green onions
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.
2. Toss sweet potatoes with 1 Tbsp. of the oil and the salt and arrange in a single layer on prepared baking sheet.
3. Roast at 200°C (400°F) flipping and turning once during cooking.
4. Meanwhile, combine the lime juice, mapley syrup, and chili powder (if using) and drizzle in the remaining 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil while whisking vigorously.
5. Once sweet potatoes are done, transfer them to a bowl along with the pecans, green onions, and cilantro.
6. Pour the dressing over, toss to combine, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

I've been working my way through all the suggested mix-in and topping combinations for pancakes in The Breakfast Bible. In retrospect I think that maybe the peanut butter and bacon would have been a better match for the banana pancakes, but I think it still worked reasonably well with the nuts and seeds used here.

Nutty Sourdough Pancakes with Bacon

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Pancakes

• 1 batch sourdough pancake batter
• 1/2 c. chopped pecans
• 1/4 c. toasted sesame seeds
• 2 Tbsp. poppy seeds

Toppings

• peanut butter
• maple syrup
• bacon

Directions

1. Make your pancake batter as directed.
2. Add the pecans, sesame seeds, and poppy seeds and stir to combine.
3. Cook the pancakes as usual, using ~1/4 c. of batter for each.
4. Top pancakes with peanut butter, maple syrup, and bacon.
5. Optionally serve with fried eggs.

This recipe comes courtesy of the C&C Cakery blog, which, sadly, no longer exists. Luckily I copied the recipe into my notes file several years ago, before it disappeared. And I'm glad a did. These bars are way tastier than they have any right to be! The recipe might sound a little weird, but it's dead easy to put together and really delicious.

Barbarian Bars

Slightly adapted from C&C Cakery

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 c. graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted
• 1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1 c. chopped dark chocolate
• 1/2 c. chopped milk or white chocolate (or a mix of both)
• 1/2 c. butterscotch chips¹
• 1 c. unsweetened dried coconut²
• 300mL sweetened condensed milk³

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a 23x33cm (9x13") pan with parchment paper.
2. Combine the graham cracker crumbs and butter and mix well.
3. Dump the graham cracker mixture into the prepared pan and press firmly into an even layer to completely cover the bottom of the pan.
4. Sprinkle the nuts in an even layer on top, followed by the dark chocolate, then milk chocolate, butterscotch chips (or toffee bits), and finally the coconut.
5. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over everything, spreading it as evenly as possible. Try to coat the entire surface with milk.
6. Bake at 180°C (350°F) until browned on top (25-30 minutes).
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before cutting.
8. Cut into squares and serve.

---

¹ I didn't have any butterscotch chips, so I substituted Skor toffee bits and am very happy with the results. ^Back
2 The original recipe called for sweetened coconut, but, given how many other sugary ingredients were already present, I opted for unsweetened. I definitely think that was the right call! The bars are delicious, but, even with the unsweetened coconut, they are still very sweet! I think they would have been cloying and much too sweet if there'd been sugar added to the coconut as well. ^Back
3 The original recipe called for a "14-oz" can of sweetened condensed milk (which works out to just shy of 400mL in metric). However, the standard size can for sweetened condensed milk here is 300mL. And I only had one. It was a little tricky to get it to cover the whole surface. Having the extra 90-ish mL definitely would have made that task easier. That said, 300 was enough (just barely). And I think the lesser amount made for a better sweetness balance. I think more milk would have put these in danger of being too sweet. So it worked out for the best in the end. ^Back

I actually made these waffles a couple weeks ago, but I've been a bit distracted and haven't had a chance to sit down and write out the recipe 'til now.

They were really excellent. Sprinkling the chopped nuts over each portion individually as it went into the waffle iron was a bit fiddly. I might try just stirring the pecan chunks directly into the batter next time. But other than that, I have no complaints. The waffles came out great and everybody loved them!

Butter-Pecan Waffles

Slightly adapted from Waffles: Sweet, Savory, Simple by Dawn Yanagihara

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. unsalted butter
• 1 c. pecan halves, toasted
• 250g all-purpose flour
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 large eggs, separated
• 2 1/4 c. buttermilk
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Melt the butter over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and nutty (6-8 minutes). Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Preheat your waffle iron.
3. Finely chop the toasted pecans (preferably in a food processor). Set half of the nuts aside.
4. Add the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda to the remaining nuts and process/blend until finely ground and well-mixed. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.
5. Beat the egg yolks with the buttermilk and vanilla.
6. Gradually whisk the browned butter into the buttermilk mixture.
8. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk until just combined. (Some lumps are okay.)
9. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
10. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.
11. Pour a portion of batter into the preheated waffle iron and sprinkle with ~1 Tbsp. of the reserved chopped pecans. Close the waffle iron and cook according the manufacturer's instructions. Repeat until all batter has been used.
12. Serve with maple syrup, cream cheese, and/or whipped cream.

These were great! The Kidlet declared them her new favourite, very narrowly beating out the buttermilk waffles from a few weeks ago.

I forgot to toast the walnuts before adding them to the batter, but they still turned out well. I do think that toasting the nuts (and maybe browning the butter) would add some extra warmth and dimension to it. But, as noted, they were still great even without that.

Photo goes here.

Banana-Nut Waffles

Slightly adapted from Waffles: Sweet, Savory, Simple by Dawn Yanagihara

Ingredients

• 3 bananas
• 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 large eggs (or 3 small eggs)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2/3 c. buttermilk
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1/2 c. butter, melted
• 280g all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 2/3 c. walnuts, chopped

Directions

1. Mash the bananas with the brown sugar.
2. Beat in the eggs followed by the vanilla.
3. Beat in the buttermilk and milk, then slowly pour in the butter and mix well.
4. Preheat your waffle iron.
5. Ideally you would now mix all the dry ingredients (less the nuts) in a separate bowl and then pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined. If you're lazy like me, however, you will dump all the flour on top and then, without mixing, you will sift the baking powder and baking soda in on top of the flour and sprinkle over the salt. Then mix it all together.
6. Add the nuts and stir to combine.
7. Pour a portion of batter into the preheated waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer's directions (or a few seconds longer if you prefer extra crispy waffles). Repeat until all batter has been used.
8. Waffles should ideally be served immediately with nut butter, maple syrup, jam, yogurt, chocolate sauce/spread, and/or whipped cream. If not served immediately, make sure they are placed on a wire rack, not a plate, to cool.

---

Variations

Extra-Rich Banana-Nut Waffles

Ingredients

• 3 bananas
• 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 large eggs (or 3 small eggs)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2/3 c. buttermilk
• 1/4 c. milk
• 2 Tbsp. dark rum
• 1/2 c. butter, browned and cooled
• 280g all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 tsp. mixed spice
• 2/3 c. pecans, toasted and chopped

I opened a can of pumpkin to make some waffles the other day. Which made for a tasty breakfast, but left me with a bunch of extra pumpkin purée in the fridge. Luckily this recipe used up almost all of it. Not to mention giving us tasty muffins!

Pumpkin Muffins with Streusel Topping

Slightly adapted from Muffins and Biscuits by Heidi Gibson

Ingredients

Streusel Topping¹

• 2 Tbsp. salted butter²
• 35g all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp. raw pumpkin seeds

Batter

• 6 Tbsp. salted butter, melted
• 2 large eggs (or 3 small eggs)
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 350g pumpkin pur&eacte;e
• 180g all-purpose flour
• 130g sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt³
• 2 tsp. mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 110g chopped pecans⁴

Directions

1. Cut the butter, flour, and sugar together for the streusel.
2. Mix in the pumpkin seeds and set aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease a standard (5cm) 12-well muffin tin.
4. Beat the eggs with the butter, milk, vanilla, and pumpkin.
5. In a separate bowl, ombine the flour and sugar.
6. Sift in the baking powder.
7. Mix in the salt, mixed spice, and ground ginger.
8. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix with a spatula until almost combined.
9. Add the pecans and stir to combine.
10. Divide the batter amongst the muffin wells. (You may have a bit extra.)
11. Top each muffin with ~1 Tbsp. of streusel topping.
12. Baked at 180°C (350°F) for 20-24 minutes.
13. Let cool in pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.
14. Serve as is or with maple cream cheese.

---

¹ I've scaled the streusel quantities down slightly here since I had a lot left over after topping my muffins with what I felt was a fairly generous quantity. That said, if you would like to try it with the original quantities, you can just bump the butter up to 2 1/2 Tbsp., flour to 45g, sugar to 3 1/2 Tbsp., and pumpkin seeds to 1/4 c. ^Back
2 I missed that I was supposed to be using salted butter for this and ended up just using unsalted. This was fine, but next time I might add a pinch of salt (maybe 1/8 tsp.) to the streusel topping to make it pop a little more. ^Back
3 I included the full measure of salt here because I was using unsalted butter. If using salted butter, I would probably either omit or significantly reduce the salt. ^Back
4 The recipe calls for toasted pecans. I was feeling lazy, so I didn't toast them. I was also a bit short on pecans, so I made up the difference with walnuts. ^Back

I ordered some sweet potatoes in my produce basket a little while back and then didn't end up getting around to making whatever it was that I'd wanted them for. So, now I have a bunch of root vegetables sadly staring at me every time I go into the kitchen.

I managed to use up some in the chicken curry the other day. (Which also conveniently used up the chicken breasts I had stashed in the freezer.) But that still left.. four? I think. So, when I needed a vegetable side to go with tonight's dinner, I figured I should aim for something that would use up a few more sweet potatoes -- or... at least one more anyway.

I really liked this salad. The combination of greens, cheese, and nuts was excellent! The honey-glazed sweet potatoes were also nice, but the nuts and cheese were really the main attractions for me. And that was even with my decision to swap out the goat cheese for pressed cottage cheese!¹

Honey-Glazed Sweet Potato & Curried Pecan Salad

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Dressing

• 2-3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2-3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 2 tsp. honey
• 1/4 tsp. ground Kashmiri chilies
• 1/4 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt

Pecans

• 1 tsp. curry powder²
• 1/2 tsp. brown sugar
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 c. pecan halves

Sweet Potato

• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into large dice
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 Tbsp. honey

Salad

• 80-90g baby spinach
• 80-90g arugula
• 185g pressed cottage cheese (or fresh goat cheese)

Directions

1. Combine all dressing ingredients in a blender and blend until mixture looks homogeneous. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a baking sheet with parchement paper.
3. Combine curry powder, brown sugar, and salt in a small bowl.
4. Pour melted butter over pecans and toss to coat.
5. Sprinkle curry powder mixture over pecans and toss to coat.
6. Place in a single layer on the prepared pan and bake at 180°C (350°F) for 10-15 minutes, flipping halfway through.
7. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
8. Toss the sweet potato with the olive oil, salt, and pepper.
9. Place the sweet potato in an ovenproof skillet/pan and bake at 180°C (350°F) for 15-20 minutes.
10. Once the potatoes are fork-tender, carefully remove the pan from the oven and transfer it to the stovetop.
11. Drizzle honey over sweet potatoes and cook over medium heat for 5-6 minutes.
12. Toss spinach and arugula with dressing and top with pecans, sweet potato, and cheese.

---

¹ Just trying to be a little more diet/WW-friendly. ^Back
2 The original recipe just called for "curry powder", so I did what I normally do when a recipe calls for commercial curry powder and just tossed in some Madras-style curry powder. This worked fine, but I think that a different spice blend would have been even better. I think balti masala would be my top pick, but sambhar masala and botle masala are also strong contenders. I think a basic bin bhuna hua garam masala would also be really nice. ^Back

This is the cake that TF wanted for her birthday last year. It's an unusual cake that gets cooked in a large rimmed baking sheet rather than a cake pan and iced while it's still hot out of the oven. Unfortunately, our baking sheets were both a bit too small and I didn't want to go out and get a new one just for this, so I chickend out and asked her to pick something else instead. I was feeling a little braver this year though, so I decided to give it a go!

I actually managed to fit all of the batter into one of our 11x17" baking sheets and it cooked beautifully with no overflow or spilling at all. I couldn't quite fit all of the icing on top afterward, but it was fine otherwise.

Also, it's important to note that not only can you ice this cake hot, you must ice it hot! I was a bit off in my timings and too slow to get the icing on the cake after it came out of the oven, so it ended up just settling on top of the cake rather than soaking in like the recipe said it should. It was still delicious, just not quite as dense and brownie-like as promised.

Photo goes here.

Texas Sheet Cake

Slightly adapted from The Perfect Cake by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

Cake

• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 c. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 3 large eggs¹
• 1/4 c. sour cream²
• 1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 225g dark chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 c. oil³
• 3/4 c. water
• 1/2 c. Dutched (alkalized) cocoa powder
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter

Icing

• 1/2 c. unsalted butter
• 1/2 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 1/2 c. Dutched (alkalized) cocoa powder
• 1 Tbsp. light corn syrup
• 340g icing (confectioners'/powdered) sugar
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. pecans, toasted and chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease an 18x13" (46x33cm) rimmed baking sheet.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, applesauce, and vanilla.
4. Heat the chocolate, oil, water, cocoa, and butter over medium heat, stirring ocasionally, until melted and smooth (3-5 minutes).
5. Pour the chocolate mixture into the flour mixture and whisk to combine.
6. Add the egg mixture and whisk to combine.
7. Pour into the prepared baking sheet and bake until cake tests done (~18 minutes).
8. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
9. While the cake is baking: Heat the butter, cream, cocoa, and corn syrup for the icing over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth.
10. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar⁴ and vanilla.
11. Make sure you have the icing ready to go as soon as the cake comes out of the oven (but don't get it ready so early that it has time to cool before the cake is done). Check the cake for doneness and as soon as it's ready pour the icing over it and spread in an even layer.
12. Sprinkle with the chopped toasted pecans and allow to cool on a wire rack for ~1 hour.
13. Transfer cooled cake to fridge for an hour or so before slicing to ensure that the icing is fully set.

---

¹ The original recipe called for 2 large eggs + 2 yolks, but we're actually running a bit low on eggs now that the chickens are slowing down for the fall/winter and I also didn't really want to faff around with separating eggs and storing the leftover whites and whatnot, so I just used 3 whole eggs instead. ^Back
2 I forgot to get sour cream, so I just swapped in 1/4 c. of Greek yogurt instead. The flavour is a bit different than sour cream, but it's still an acidic cultured dairy product, so it gets the job done. And the flavour difference isn't really noticeable in a cake like this anyway. It worked out fine. And, if you're watching your weight, swapping in FF Greek yogurt can be a good way to cut a few calories! ^Back
3 The original recipe calls for 3/4 c. vegetable oil. That sounded like A LOT of oil to me, so cut it back to just 1/2 c. of oil and made up the difference with 1/4 c. of applesauce stirred into the egg mixture. Next time I might even try swapping the proportions (1/4 c. of oil + 1/2 c. of applesauce). Obviously that won't exactly turn this cake into health food, but it should at least make it marginally less unhealthy. ^Back
4 I sifted the icing sugar into the hot mixture because I didn't want to it be lumpy, but I think this allowed it to cool too much. Next time I'd either dispense with the sifting or sift it in advance and have it all ready to go once the rest of the icing ingredients are hot. ^Back

I had a surplus zucchini that needed to be used up and I'm always looking for good ways to use up sourdough starter and/or discard. I mostly followed the recipe, but I did try swapping out some of the sugar for chopped dates and I used monk fruit sweetener for the rest. I figured it might help cut the calories a bit. Plus, I thought the flavour of the dates would be nice with the bananas and the spices.

Sourdough Banana-Zucchini Muffins

Adapted from Cultures for Health

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. chopped dates
• 1/4 c. boiling water
• 1/3 c. butter, softened
• 1/2 c. monk fruit sweetener with erythritol
• 2 c. eggs
• 2 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 250g sourdough starter (fed or discard) @ 100% hydration
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. orange zest (optional)
• 1 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 c. chopped pecans
• 1 zucchini, grated

Directions

1. Pour the water over the dates and set aside to soak for a few minutes.
2. Cream the butter with the sweetener until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
4. Mix in bananas and dates.
5. Mix in starter, vanilla, and orange zest (if using).
6. Add the flour on top of the batter.
7. Sift the baking powder and baking soda on top of the flour.
8. Add the salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg on top.
9. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until almost combined.
10. Add the pecans and the zucchini and stir them in.
11. Add cupcake liners to a muffin tin and fill with batter.
12. Set filled tin aside while the oven preheats to 180°C (350°F).
13. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 18-20 minutes.

I'm not sure whether I like this or the PB&J cottage cheese bowl better. They're both very good. I think it probably largely depends on what sort of mood I'm in. If I'm really craving peanut butter, then some chopped pecans aren't going to cut it. On the other hand, if I'm craving something with a bit of crunch, then between the nuts and the crisp apples, this bowl has got me covered!

The original recipe only called for half and apple, but I like it with a whole apple in. I also replaced the walnuts with pecans. I think either would be fine, but I tend to like pecans better in general so that's what I went with here. They're not quite as budget-friendly as walnuts, but you're also not using very many of them, so it's not a huge difference overall.

Apple Pie Cottage Cheese Bowl

Slightly adapted from Budget Bytes

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. cottage cheese (fat-free for calorie-counters)
• 1 apple, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. chopped pecans
• 1 Tbsp. maple syrup (or "no sugar added" syrup)
• pinch (~1/16 tsp.) ground cinnamon

Directions

• Combine all ingredients.
• Stir, mix, enjoy!

This is the cake that TF picked for her birthday this year. I came out pretty well except for the part where I got impatient and poured the caramel while it was still much too warm. Next time I should definitely wait for it to cool down more. But I was worried that if I waited too long it would get excessively stiff and difficult to pour. Other than that though, it was great!

Chocolate Turtle Cake

From The Perfect Cake by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

Icing

• 1/2 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 170g dark chocolate
• 2 Tbsp. corn syrup

Caramel

• 2 c. pecans, toasted, divided
• 450g soft caramels
• 1/2 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground

Cake

• 3 (8") chocolate cake layers

Directions

1. While the cake layers are cooling, make the icing by combining the cream, chocolate and corn syrup and cooking over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until smooth.
2. Transfer the icing to the fridge and chill until thickened (~2 hours).
3. Set aside 1/2 c. of the pecans to use as decoration and chop the rest.
4. Combine the caramels, cream, and salt in a pot and cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until smooth.
5. Separate out 3/4 c. of the caramel and set aside.
6. Mix the chopped pecans into the remaining caramel.
7. Place one of the cake layers on a serving platter or cake stand and spread half of the caramel-pecan mixture on top. Don't spread it all the way to the edge; leave a little border.
8. Stack a second cake layer on top and spread the remaining caramel-pecan mixture on top of it.
9. Add the final cake layer and press lightly to adhere.
10. Spread the icing evently over the top and sides of the cake.
11. If possible chill for 30-60 minutes to help everything set up.
12. Pour the reserved caramel over top of the cake, allowing it to drop down the sides.
13. Decorate with the reserved pecans.

This cake was a rousing success! It's very rich and chocolate-y, not too sweet, the pecans come through nicely, and the ganache is just right; not too firm, not too sweet, just a perfect complement to the cake.

Chocolate-Pecan Torte

Slightly adapted from The Perfect Cake by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

Cake

• 227g dark chocolate
• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 c. pecans
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• scant 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 1 c. packed brown sugar, divided
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/3 c. spiced rum

Ganache

• 1 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 227g dark chocolate
• 2 Tbsp. corn syrup
• ~35 pecan halves

Directions

Cake

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F) and grease and flour¹ a 23cm (9") springform pan.
2. Melt chocolate and butter together. (Microwaving at 50% power for 1-2 minutes works well.)
3. Process or blend pecans, flour, cinnamon, and salt together until ground and mostly uniform. (A few chunks are okay.)
4. Beat until light and fluffy but not quite at the soft peak stage.
5. Gradually add 1/4 c. of the sugar and continue beating to soft, glossy peaks.
6. Beat egg yolks with remaining 3/4 c. sugar and vanilla until pale and thick.
7. Gradually beat chocolate mixture into egg yolk mixture.
8. Slowly beat the rum into the chocolate-egg yolk mixture as well. (If you pour it in too quickly it'll splatter everywhere; go slow!)
9. Mix about 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter to loosen it. (No need to worry too much about deflating the eggs at this point.)
10. Using a spatula, fold in ~1/2 the pecan mixture.
11. Now gently fold in ~1/2 of the remaining egg whites. (Now being careful not to deflate them.)
12. Fold in the remaining pecan mixture followed by the remaining egg whites.
13. Carefully pour the batter into the prepared pan.
14. Bake at 150°C (300°F) for 45-55 minutes.
15. Transfer cake (still in the pan) to a wire rack to cool for at least two hours.
16. Once cooled, run a knife around the edge and remove the sides of the pan. Invert the cake onto either a serving platter or a wire rack over a baking sheet depending on how fancy you want to be. Remove the bottom of the pan from what is now the top of your cake.

Ganache

1. Bring cream to a simmer over medium heat.
2. Immediately pour over chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes.
3. Whisk until smooth and mix in corn syrup.
4. Pour ganache over cake, letting it run down the sides and coat the entire surface.
5. Transfer cake to fridge and chill for 30 minutes.
6. If you went the fancy route and cake is on a wire rack, transfer it to the serving platter at this point, leaving all the pooled ganache behind.
7. Decorate the bottom edge of the cake with the pecan halves and serve.

---

¹ If you want to be very sure of not having any flecks of white flour left clinging to the surface of the cake once baked, you can use cocoa instead of flour. Making a paste of cocoa powder and melted butter and painting it on the pan works well. I usually don't bother with that and just use flour. ^Back

I wanted to make some Christmas cookies for our old neighbours and the starter was looking a little hungry, so I figured it was time to give this recipe a go. Initially I was a bit disappointed at how cakey they came out. But after I'd tried a few I decided I quite liked the texture! And the flavour was quite nice. The orange just comes through, the spices are nice, and the cranberries are wonderful little nuggets with a bit of sweetness and chew. I left the walnuts out of this batch because I was giving them as gifts and wasn't sure about nut alergies. I think walnuts or pecans would definitely be a nice addition though!

Cranberry-Orange Sourdough Cookies

Slightly adapted from Cultures for Health

Ingredients

• 250g fresh (fed/active) sourdough starter (100% hydration)
• 1 c. unsalted butter, melted
• 300g (~2 c.) whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 c. rolled oats
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• zest of 1 orange
• 1/4 c. honey
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. dried cranberries
• 1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Directions

1. Mix starter with butter. (Make sure the butter isn't too hot!)
2. Add flour and oats ~1 c. at a time, cover and set aside for 2-8 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
4. In a separate bowl, mix together brown sugar, salt, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, baking soda, orange zest, honey, eggs, and vanilla.
5. Add egg mixture to sourdough mixture and stir until thoroughly combined.
6. Stir in cranberries and nuts.
7. Spoon mixture onto parchemnt lined baking sheet.
8. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 10-12 minutes.

Tunnel of Fudge Cake

TF was craving something sweet on the weekend, so I baked a cake!

Tunnel of Fudge

Slightly adapted from The Perfect Cake by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

Pan Coating

• 1 Tbsp. cocoa powder (any kind is fine)
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Cake

• 1/2 c. boiling water
• 60g semi-sweet or dark chocolate, chopped
• 20 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• 1 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. packed brown sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla
• 2 c. (280g) all-purpose flour¹
• 2 c. walnut or pecan pieces
• 2 c. icing/confectioners'/powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3/4 c. Dutched cocoa

Glaze

• 3/4 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 1/4 c. corn syrup
• 230g semi-sweet or dark chocolate, chopped²
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

Pan Coating

1. Combine the melted butter and cocoa to make a paste and mix well.
2. Grease a Bundt pan by painting the butter-cocoa mixture onto the pan with a pastry brush.
3. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).

Cake

1. Pour the boiling water over the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Set aside and allow to cool to room temp.
2. Cream the butter with the sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.³
4. Beat in the vanilla.
5. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, icing sugar, salt, and cocoa powder and then add the nuts and mix well. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined. Or, if you're lazy like me and trying to avoid dirtying extra bowls, you can do what I did and just sift all the dry ingredients directly into the bowl with the wet and toss the nuts in on top. Then just take the electric mixer to it and mix for 30-60 seconds until everything is combined. (Make sure to get all the way down to the bottom of the bowl. There's a lot of batter here!)
6. Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan.
7. Place a baking sheet under the Bundt pan and place it in the preheated oven.
8. Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 45-55 minutes⁴.
9. Allow to cool in tin for 90 minutes.
10. Invert onto wire rack, remove from tin, and allow to cool for another 1-2 hours before adding glaze.

Glaze

1. Heat cream, corn syrup, and cocolate over medium-low, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth.
2. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
3. Allow to cool for 30-40 minutes so that glaze thickens slightly.
4. Drizzle glaze over cooled cake and allow to set for at least 10 minutes before slicing.

---

¹ If you don't have AP flour, then swapping it out for soft/cake/standard/plain flour should probably be fine. I'm just not sure how the softer flour with affect the fudge-y centre. If you're worried about how the different flour will affect the crumb and fudge, then you could always mix hard and soft flours together to make an approximation of AP flour. I think 160g hard/bread/high grade/strong flour + 120g soft/cake/standard/plain four should be roughly equivalent to the 280g of AP flour called for in this recipe. ^Back
2 I actually used up the last of my dark and semi-sweet chocolate making the cake, so I had none left for the glaze. I ended up using a mix of unsweetened and milk chocolate to make the glaze and it seems to have worked out quite well. I used 120g unsweetend chocolate and 110g milk chocolate. ^Back
3 The original recipe has you whisk the eggs and vanilla together in a large measuring cup and then pour the egg mixture into the creamed butter-sugar mixture. Use whichever method you find most comfortable. I mostly just wanted to save dirtying the large measuring cup! ^Back
4 ATK say 45 minutes, but I ended up letting mine go for an extra 10. It's possible that it would've been ready to come out after only 45, but it still seemed quite underdone when I checked it. I know this cake is meant to be slightly under-baked by design. But I was worried that the centre would be runny rather than fudge-y without the extra 10 minutes. Use your judgement. I'm sure either way would produce tasty results. ^Back

Vanilla Chai Baked Oatmeal (Steel Cut)

I've been in a real breakfast rut lately. Most days I've been leaving TF and the Kidlet to their own devices for breakfast and just skipping my morning meal altogether. And most days that's been fine. But I'm starting to crave breakfast again. Just not feeling super enthused about getting up early to make it nor am I very enamored of a lot of the go-to quick breakfasts: cereal, toast, bagels, etc.

I made up a batch of cog last week and that was good. I don't really want cog for breakfast every day though. Fry-ups are tasty, but they tend to be neither healthy nor quick when I make them. Overnight oats are easy, but I'm not really feeling them lately. And I tried smoothies for breakfast for a while and found that they just didn't seem to agree with me. (Turns out I prefer my smoothies and shakes in the evening.)

So, after flailing around a bit and being generally indecisive, I figured that maybe it was time to give baked oatmeal another shot. I do have a couple good baked oatmeal recipes already, but I wanted something new. Originally I was going to try this cinnamon bun baked oatmeal, but I wasn't sure about substituting steel cut oats for the rolled. And, in looking for answers to my substitution question, I stumbled across a recipe for vanilla chai baked oatmeal. Now that sounds up my alley! And it already uses steel cut oats, so no worries about substitutions.

It came out pretty nice all-in-all. I did make a few tweaks, and I think I'd probably make a few more minor adjustments the next time I make it, but it's perfectly edible as is. I think I'd just use slightly less cardamom next time and maybe add a little coriander and star anise. And maybe scale the nuts back to 1/3 c. Other than that, it was pretty much perfect though.

Now that I think about it, maybe I'd try changing the cooking procedure around a little bit too. Adding melted butter to cold milk results in frozen chunks of butter. Heating the milk would keep the butter fluid and would allow for the opportunity to steep the spices and raisins a bit before they get added to everything else. And adding the cinnamon sugar topping before it goes into the oven does result in a nice dark top, but it sinks in and gets soft rather than crispy. I think baking it for a little while and then adding the cinnamon sugar would result in a crisp, rather than soft top.

So, I guess, when all's said and done, I'd probably change the recipe quite a bit. The flavours are lovely, I'd just like to tweak them a tiny bit. And the procedure as written in the original does produce a nice breakfast, I'd just like to see if I could work out a few kinks.

Vanilla Chai Baked Oatmeal

Adapted from Tastes of Lizzy T

Ingredients

• 2 c. milk
• 1/4 c. raisins
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. cardamom seeds (from green pods), ground
• 1/4 tsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 star anise
• 1 c. steel cut oats
• 1/3 c. chopped pecans
• pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp. (unsalted) butter, melted
• 2 Tbsp. cinnamon sugar

Directions

1. Combine milk, raisins, and spices in a pot and heat gently until milk is just steaming. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Stir pecans, salt eggs, maple syrup, vanilla, and melted butter into oats and mix well.
3. Pour milk mixture over oat mixture and stir to combine.
4. Pour mixture into a greased 9" deep dish pie plate (or similar baking dish).
5. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the surface.
7. Return to oven and continue baking for another 30 minutes.
8. Serve warm and drizzled with cream.