Happy Birthday to Me! (Autumn Delight Cake)

October 29th is my birthday (Yea!). As on any other year, the major decision of what to eat and what cake I will be having plays a central role to my special day. It's always the perfect excuse to celebrate food, as in "It's my party and I'll eat if I want to"! As most people know, calories are free on this magical day (this is actually true).

This year I agonized a little more than usual on which cake I would be enjoying. At first I wanted to have one of my best friend's favorite which is chocolate cake with an orange cream cheese frosting. Then I decided I wanted something that had more of the Autumn flavors and browsed some other sites, including one of my newer favorites, Rosie Alyea's site Sweetapolita. As Autumn is indeed my favorite time of the year, I decided on Rosie's 'Autumn Delight Cake'.

Rosie's aim when creating this cake concept was taking a Thanksgiving favorite most of us in the states are familiar with that has sweet potatoes baked with marshmallows, brown sugar, and pecans, and turning it into a cake. I have to say she did an awesome job! At first I thought, yep- all these things sound like they will taste awesome. It wasn't until the first bite of the cake that I was struck with an OMG moment and said "That does tastes like that Thanksgiving dish". I was very pleased. Only problem is I ate way too much. 

One of my best friends, Andy, who is also my roommate, played a central role in clean up and tasting and remarked quite sarcastically (as we scarfed down the first piece) " yea- this doesn't suck much". Indeed it did not disappoint!  Having so much cake with just the two of us, I shared with three of our closest neighbors who were not unhappy except for one who had an expression on his face that told me that I just gotten him in trouble with his wife (who is on a diet)! He promised he would taste just a little (yea sure, a little...).

The recipe, which you can get from Rosie's site here > 'Autumn Delight Cake' <   is itself a lot of work but well worth it. I started on the 28th by making the cakes, the filling, candied pecans, and then built the cake and stored in the fridge overnight. Yesterday, on the 29th, I made the frosting, frosted up the cake and garnished with the candied pecans and crystallized ginger.

I baked 3 large sweet potatoes on 400F for about an hour and a half and then pureed in a blender once cooled.

Only adaptation to the candied pecans was a generous douse of  Captain Morgan Black Rum

According to recipe: Marshmallow Filling

I only had a couple snags:  

1) I did not weight my Yams (ding dong) so I think my cake turned out a little different to hers based on a photo comparison and I am sure this was the problem. It still tastes awesome- no doubt- but I do like the more 'cakey' texture her photos display.

2) When preparing the eggs and brown sugar for the buttercream frosting, I found that my candy thermometer was way too large for the pot I had and as there was not a lot of mixture in the pot and hit bottom. So as not to break it, I had to put it to the side and just watch the eggs and sugar. While I didn't see it happen in the pan as I was gently whisking constantly, I think some of the egg may have cooked up a bit and the brown sugar not completely dissolve. So important to have a good thermometer and varying sizes, apparently! I could have also moved the mixture to a smaller double boiler creating more depth for the thermometer. Sometime I am lazy and create my own problems!
While moving to the next stage of the frosting that whips the eggs, I could see some granules of sugar and smallish clear but chunky bits which I assume were pieces of cooked egg. You really couldn't tell in the end when all was done and said but when you look at Rosie's frosting, you will see what I mean...hers is pristine, beautiful. I also think I should have whipped it longer in the last half of the process. Next time will hopefully yield a better result.

This cake was a fantastic addition to my Fall Birthday and I highly recommend it for any event or occasion during these holiday months that are already upon us.

A couple special acknowledgments...

I realize my birthday is not just about me...some 38 years ago, after waiting for nine months and excitedly planning for and anticipating the arrival of her daughter, I finally made my appearance to my Mother. It's a big day in the life of any parent who eagerly awaits a child of their own that they get the benefit of sharing a life with. What a special day October 29th was in her life.

To my Mom- Thank you for making my days so special! For the beautiful and generous gifts that you give me. It is so obvious that you want to make me happy and it's that desire that is the true gift that cannot take the place of any other (Love). Happy Birthday to you too, Mom!

To my Step-Dad, Matt, I love you very much and thank you too for all your generosity, support, and love.

...And to Andy, who made me a very tasty breakfast, cleaned up the kitchen mess, took me shooting, shopping, and then made me Risotto for dinner! Seriously, I am blessed and thankful for the love and attention.

Recipe from La Bella Vita

If you like the looks of these dishes, check out the links to the sites Sweetapolita and La Bella Vita, I think you will be pleased.

Hope you all have a wonderful and happy day!

Crystal

Bananas Foster Fritters

 

 

 

You will never hear me complain about a spike of alcohol in my sweets. I adore hints of rum, small batch whiskey, or brandy laced into my dessert recipe or freshly whipped cream. The winner for me in today's recipe was the rum dipping sauce. The Banana Foster Fritters are amazing on their own and so full of flavor but I cannot imagine this recipe without the silky sauce to finish them off with.

Taking from my learning experience with the Buttermilk Farmstand Doughnuts, I knew I had to be a bit more patient in testing the oil temp and cooking time with my fritters. A flashback to my previous doughnut frying experience had me on recall that the temp the book suggested was too high and my doughnuts fried on the outside and were still doughy on the inside. Being 'new' I had fired off too many of the donuts out of the gate and didn't have much dough left to work with in 'getting it right'.

On this occasion after getting the oil up to suggested temp of 375, I tested one lonely fritter and although it tasted good, it was a bit overcooked on the outside and not quite finished on the inside. Similar to last time. Ultimately I kept the temp between 300 and 325 and baby sat my little fritters so they cooked about 8 minutes overall and finished with a nice color; not too dark on the outside and cooked (without being overly dry-a tad moist) on the inside.

Now- the rum dipping sauce (yum)...easy to make, and the 'fritter dunk' = Pure Deliciousness
Overall this was an easy to follow recipe with basic ingredients and the assembly process, simple. I give the Bananas Foster Fritters an A+ in the flavor category.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RECIPE

Dipping Sauce

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes

1/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon banana liqueur (or pure vanilla extract)

2 tablespoons dark rum

Pinch cinnamon (optional)

 

Fritter Dough

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more if needed

3 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground all spice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 medium ripe bananas

1 tablespoon dark rum

1 teaspoon banana liqueur or pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Vegetable oil for frying

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

Rum Dipping Sauce

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir the butter and sugar together until smooth. Add the cream and bring to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the liqueur, rum, and cinnamon, if using. Set aside until serving time. (The sauce can be made ahead. Allow it to cool, then cover it tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate. Rewarm it over low heat in a saucepan or microwave it on short 15 second blasts before serving.)

Fritter Dough

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, all-spice, and 1/2 teaspoon of the cinnamon. Use your hands to run the chunks of sugar into the flour mixture and whisk again (it is okay to have a few chunky sugar pieces remaining).

In another large bowl, mash the bananas with your hands or a heavy spoon and stir in the rum, liqueur, and butter.

Use a rubber spatula to fold the dry ingredients into the banana mixture. The mix should look wet, but but should still hold its shape when scooped into a small ball. If the dough is too thin, keep folding in the flour 1 tablespoon at a time until it stiffens up. Refrigerate the dough while the frying oil heats and you prepare the sugar topping.

Pour enough oil into a deep skillet to fill 3/4 inch to 1 inch deep. Slowly heat the oil over medium-high heat until it registers 375 degrees F on a deep-frying thermometer.

While the oil heats, in a small bowl, whisk together the confectioner's sugar and remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Set aside.

Fry the Fritters

Line a plate with a double layer of paper towels and set it near your work area.

Using a small spatula and a small spoon, two spoons, or an ice cream scoop with a release mechanism, drop heaping spoonfuls of dough into the oil. Do not crowd the skillet. Cook until the fritters have browned on one side, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, turn them over and continue to cook for another 2 minutes, or until browned. Do not overcook or burn the fritters. Use the slotted spoon to transfer the fritters to the prepared plate and continue frying dough until finished. 

Place the fritters on a serving plate and sift the cinnamon sugar over them. Serve immediately with rum dipping sauce.

Enjoy!

Source: Baked Explorations