Chocolate Prune Cake

This cake has lots of dried plums – better known as prunes – and it’s moist, tender and delicious.  Prunes are so tasty and, well, underrated. When you mention prunes, invariably someone laughs and/or makes a face and/or says, “Ewwwww.”  This was true last Friday when I gave my son and his good friend, Jamie, a loaf of the cake for their sleep over and Jamie made a face and couldn’t stop laughing about the prunes. *sigh …Gotta love boys!

I’m a fan of incorporating dried fruit wherever I can – cookies, cakes, granola. There are 5 Sweet & Simple oatmeal cookie flavors with dried fruit: Raisin, Cherry, Date, Cranberry White Chocolate and Apricot. Oatmeal Date is my favorite and the toughest to sell. Prunes are a tough sell as well, but I promise you will not regret making this cake.

And what to call this cake? Prune Spice Cake? Chocolate Prune Spice Cake? I decided on Chocolate Prune Cake figuring I would get a few more takers if I mentioned chocolate from the get go. Also, it’s not a super duper spice cake – just a teaspoon of cinnamon and a touch of ginger.

As far as the chocolate in this recipe, treat yourself to a great bar of semi-sweet chocolate and chop up the 4 ounces. If you choose to use chocolate morsels, make sure you chop ‘em, too! Basically, you don’t want big chocolate chunks/morsels, you want well chopped chocolate distributed evenly in the cakes.  The only chunks should be the chopped prunes.

This recipe is another from my grandma’s recipe box (with some minor adjustments) and really my kind of “thing”: simple ingredients and simple methods that result in a great cake. My kids like it, too! Jamie? Not so much. But he loves my cookies and that’s good enough for me!

Chocolate Prune Cake

Makes 2 cakes/loaves (about 1.9 lbs each)

Preheat oven to 350°

Butter and line with parchment, two 9” x 4” loaf pans.

(If you want to use a veg oil cooking spray, I won’t tell)

Have all ingredients at room temperature.

2 1/2 cups/313 grams/11 ounces cake flour (preferably King Arthur unbleached cake flour)

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

1 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup/225 grams/8 ounces (2 sticks) butter

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/4 cup/219 grams/8 ounces prunes coarsely chopped

1/2 cup/113 grams/4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate finely chopped

1 cup/227 grams/8 ounces low fat plain yogurt

2 tsp vanilla

Sugar for sprinkling on top of loaves (optional)

Combine with a whisk then sift together all dry ingredients and set aside.

In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and beat until light and fluffy again.

Scrape down sides of bowl.

Add prunes and chopped chocolate and beat well.

Scrape down sides of bowl.

Combine yogurt and vanilla and whisk to combine.

Add flour alternately with yogurt mixture, beginning and ending with flour.

Divide the batter evenly between the two loaf pans, sprinkle the top of each loaf lightly with sugar (optional), and bake at 350° for one hour or until a cake tester comes out with a few crumbs attached. 

Let cakes rest in pans for 10 minutes then remove them to finish cooling on a rack.

Remember to remove the parchment before slicing and serving!

Sweet & Simple Gives CTbites A Taste

I let the crew at Fairfield County’s CTbites sample my homemade cookies. The results? Delicious.  Read more

Date Icebox Cookies

This is one of my favorite cookie recipes from my Grandma's recipe box: Date Icebox Cookies. Sometimes, I call them pinwheels because I love pinwheels (in cookie and decorative form), but she called them icebox cookies so I will, too. I've wanted to add these to the formal Sweet & Simple menu from day one... It's gonna happen one of these days! I'm thinking about 3-5 icebox cookie flavors at the moment. Decisions. Decisions. And all of them delicious!

What exactly is an icebox cookie? Pretty simple. A soft cookie dough that has been rolled and shaped into a log, jelly-roll-style, to firm it up and make it easier to work with... Then, instead of rolling out the dough and using cookie cutters, you just slice-and-bake your dough. Intrigued? Here's a mega collection of 27 icebox cookie recipes from Martha Stewart to keep you busy in the kitchen. 

Several people have asked me for the Date Icebox Cookie recipe because they are featured in my blog banner.  And I'm happy to share! You can see I love them so much they've been in both of my "big" photo shoots for the site. This one (below) by Melani Lust and styled by Sandra Downie. 

Date Icebox Cookies

Makes: approx 4 1/2 dozen cookies (depending on thickness of cookies)

2 cups/270 grams/9.5 ounces unbleached, all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup/112 grams/4 ounces butter

1/2 cup/110 grams/3.9 ounces light brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar/100 grams/3.5 ounces

1 large egg, beaten

228 grams/8 ounces chopped dates (about 2 cups whole dates)

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

Sift twice together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.

In a small sauce pan, combine dates and sugars and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes (the mixture will look like a thick jam when done). If your dates are very dry and the mixture looks more like a paste, add water 1 teaspoon at a time to loosen the mixture slightly.

Remove the date mixture from heat and cool completely.

When date mixture is completely cool, use a spatula and fold in 1/2 cup toasted and finely chopped walnuts and set aside.

In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until lightened in texture and color. Add the beaten egg and beat the mixture again until the egg is thoroughly incorporated.

Add flour mixture and beat until just combined.

Turn out the dough on a floured silpat or suitable work surface (sometimes I use wax paper), gently shape it into a rectangle with your hands and then with a rolling pin roll it about 1/4” thick in the shape of a rectangle.

Spread the cooled, cooked date/walnut mixture on it evenly (I use a small offset spatula but a butter knife will work just as well) and then using both your hands, gently roll it lengthwise into a log.

(If you want some pro tips on working with this kind of cookie dough, check out this King Arthur Flour post.)

Wrap the log in plastic wrap and chill overnight or at least 8 hours.

To bake off the cookies, line 3 sheet pans with parchment, preheat oven to 375°, unwrap log and using a serrated knife cut the log in 1/4” (you can go a bit thicker if you like, but if you go thinner they are likely to fall apart as you transfer them to the sheet pans) cookies and place them on a parchment lined sheet pan.

Bake at 375° for 12 minutes or until light brown in color and slightly puffed.

Date Icebox Cookies.
(Photo by Hadley Spagna Photography)

The cookies in the picture above came from the recipe box in the picture below. The first recipe I ever made from Grandma's recipe box was for Tamale Pie (the same recipe that was part of the family dinner rotation growing up), this was the second and I've made no significant modifications to it. I even passed on adding a splash of vanilla. Shocking. I know.

Grandma's recipe box with Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies.
(Photo by Hadley Spagna Photography)

Connecticut, Memorial Day 2012

Happy Memorial Day!

So far, this has been a weekend of BBQs, American muscle cars and my mother-in-law’s beautiful garden. Let me summarize the Memorial Day weekend menu so far: hamburgers, baked beans, bbq chicken, cole slaw, hot dogs, hamburgers, hot dogs. Got all that?

Yesterday, we went to the 18th Annual Memorial Day Weekend Car Show at Quinnipiac University. We've been going since we were dating and it's still a treat! Then we spent the afternoon with family, including my husband's 90 year old cousin who served our country in the Pacific during WWII. 

American muscle cars. What's not to love?

By the way, that's not someone's sweet granny under that car, though I did do a double take!

Oh and on the way home we saw a wedding carriage with two sweet horses, Shadow and Flash, waiting outside at our neighborhood church to carry off newlyweds after their vows. 

*sniff sniff 

And what a beautiful day to get hitched (note the sign from the back of the carriage, so sweet). 

My mother-in-law's garden inspired me to do a little (emphasis on little) weeding in the yard and I had another flash of guilt over how little time I’ve spent in my garden the last couple of years. The nice thing about gardens is that they are forgiving. Overgrown, yes, but forgiving. So, I called it a day and had a nice glass of wine. I love holiday weekends!

Strawberries and some snaps from my mother-in-law's garden...
peony, strawberry plants and a honeysuckle about to pop!

I'm looking forward to seeing friends today, more BBQ and another day off... but today is truly about appreciation for those who sacrificed everything for our freedoms. God bless those who gave their lives, those who serve and God Bless America. 

Enjoy your Memorial Day, friends! 

XOXO

Cheddar 'n' Bacon Corn Muffins

A simple breakfast.

It's the May #baketogether from Abby Dodge! To show my appreciation for this monthly #baketogether that I enjoy so much, I'm giving away two of Abby's books. To make this giveaway a little sweeter - or savory,  depending on your taste! - Abby has graciously agreed to sign a copy of each book for the lucky winner!


The books are The Weekend Baker and Desserts 4 Today. Yes, BOTH books for one lucky winner signed by the lovely and talented Abby Dodge! To enter, you can leave a comment below telling me why you joined #baketogether or, ahem, what's stopping you from joining the party.  OR, just tell me your fav muffin in a comment below. The winner will be announced on the blog on Sunday, May 27th and he/she will have until Wednesday, May 30th to contact me at info@sweetandsimple.com. Easy peasy! Fine print: One entry per person, U.S. residents only.


It's been a long couple of weeks at my house. I've been looking for a small retail space for Sweet & Simple. I'm ready to take the next step and hang out my daisy shaped shingle. There was an adorable, small space just down the street from my house. 600 square feet of space. It would have been a super squeeze, but I was ready.  And then someone else put their offer in hours before me. I like to think it wasn't meant to be and the other gal (a florist) surely deserves her lucky break, but still... it wasn't my happiest day. The other spaces I've looked at have been too expensive, too big or too far away. I feel like Goldilocks, a forty-something Goldilocks, but you get the idea.


So, while I wait for a just-right-space at a just-right-price to turn up,  I keep workin',  I take care of my family and, of course,  once a month I do #baketogether.  What did I do this month? I doubled Abby's recipe,  6 muffins don't go far at my house, and went the savory route. Bacon always makes me feel better. These muffins, scrambled eggs and fruit salad? Perfect breakfast! 


Happy baking, friends! XOXO

Hi, Miss Lovely Muffin! 

Cheddar ‘n’ Bacon Corn Muffins 


Makes 12 muffins

Have all ingredients at room temperature
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line 12 regular-sized muffin cups with paper or foil liners

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups/202 grams/7 ounces unbleached, all-purpose flour

2/3 cup/110 grams/4 ounces yellow cornmeal

2/3 cup/133 grams/4.75 ounces sugar

1 TBSP baking powder

Pinch sea salt


1 cup buttermilk 

2 large eggs

6 tablespoons canola oil


3 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (approx a cup)
3 ounces of your fav bacon, cooked crisp, cooled and chopped (approx  a cup)

Make the muffins:

Position an oven rack in the center of the oven.

In a medium bowl, whisk to combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Add the cheese and bacon and toss lightly with your hands or 2 forks.

Using a 2 cup glass measure or a small bowl, measure the buttermilk and add the egg, oil and whisk to blend. Pour the liquid over the dry ingredients. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, fold until just blended.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups (2 ounces or 1/4 cup of batter per cup will be about three-quarters of the way full). I use a 2 ounce ice cream scoop/disher for muffins, but you can eyeball the measurement as well.

Bake until the tops are pale golden brown and a pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.

Move to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes. Carefully remove the muffins from the pan and set them on a wire rack.

Serve immediately or cool completely and store in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Best warm! If you are storing them, for best taste, plan to reheat before serving.

I tried one with a little cream cheese. Over the top. Delicious. Muffin gone wild!

Maple Walnut Crumble Bread

I'm on a quick bread kick (say that 10 times fast).  Thank you to King Arthur Flour ("KAF") for sending me their Boyajian Natural Maple Flavor to try – I'm in love! - and for kindly sponsoring a giveaway on my blog.*  (Refer to my Banana Rum Bread post for an explanation of my informal baking relationship with KA.)


As I've said before, like many home bakers, I'm a big fan of KAF and believe they've done so much to keep American home baking traditions alive, relevant and fun. If you are a novice or the most advanced baker, they have something for you - including a wealth of free recipes on their site. 

Crumble topping. It's pretty darn good!

Can hardly tell you how much I love working with this maple flavor. Number one, it's super strong and I started with less than I thought I might need. I teaspoon was plenty and I then added 1/2 teaspoon to the crumble.  Number two, I rarely skip vanilla in any sweet recipe, but I wanted to taste pure maple goodness. Number three, as much as I'm head-over-heels for this new recipe (a take-off on my Banana Rum Bread), I'm already thinking about a maple walnut shortbread and a maple walnut icebox cookie. A baker can dream, right?


I bake so much with vanilla and lemon extract, and occasionally almond extract, that homey, sweet maple felt like it was giving my baking a real pop this week. And it's always cool to try a new product.
For picture taking today, I got carried away and used a great big 1.5 lb loaf pan - which resulted in an obnoxious sized loaf.  At the very least, it's HUGE and I'm freezing half of it. I have a variety of loaf pans, you're not surprised, and I prefer 2 medium pans for this recipe. Making a note for next time!  And definitely go with the bake-and-serve for gift giving. 


*King Arthur Giveaway:

King Arthur is generously sending one lucky baker a set of bake-and-serve quick bread loaf pans, a bottle of Boyajian Natural Maple Flavor and a coupon for a bag of King Arthur flour (redeemable at your local grocer).

To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment below telling me if you use maple syrup or flavor in your baking, or if your don't!  And if you have a maple walnut cookie recipe, I would be very curious to know more. 

A winner will be chosen by random using random.org on Sunday, May 13th and announced here on the blog. I will name the winner in the comments section below and he/she will have until Wednesday, May 16th at 5pm EST to contact me at info@sweetandsimple.com with a *U.S.* mailing address. As in the past, if you don’t contact me, I will pick a second winner using random.org.

A piece of Maple Walnut Crumble Bread. Yes, please!

Maple Walnut Crumble Bread

Four  3/4lb/12 oz Loaves, 2 medium loaves or 1 great big loaf

(if not using bake-and-serve-pans, be sure to grease/flour your pans)
Have all ingredients at room temperature
Preheat oven to 350° 

Recipe note: A crumble filling/topping is an extra indulgence but makes this loaf special. If you wish, omit the crumble but add the 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts to the bread batter.

Set aside on a sheet pan, 4 bake-and-serve quick bread loaf pans or greased/floured loaf pans

For the bread:

2-3/4 cups/370 grams/13 ounces unbleached all-purpose white flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

11 tablespoons/5-1/2 ounces/155 grams unsalted butter

1-1/3 cups/266 grams/9 oz sugar

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

2-1/2 cups/500 grams/1 lb 2 ounces unsweetened applesauce

1 teaspoon Boyajian Natural Maple Flavor 

1 TBSP Grade B Maple Syrup

Whisk together flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder, then sift mixture and set aside.

Combine applesauce, maple flavor and maple syrup with a whisk and set aside.

In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, starting on low speed, beat the butter and sugar until combined. Switch the mixer to medium-high speed until light and fluffy.

Scrape down sides of work bowl. With mixture set to low, add eggs in a slow, steady stream and beat until just combined. Scrape down sides of bowl, then turn mixer to medium-high and beat until well combined, light and fluffy again.

Add the flour mixture all at once and beat until just combined. Mixture will look dry for a batter.

Add applesauce mixture all at once and beat for a few seconds. Remove work bowl from and finish folding in the bananas with a spatula. If skipping crumble and adding just walnuts to batter, do so now.

For the crumble:

8 tablespoons/112 grams/4 ounces unsalted butter, melted

1/2 tsp Boyajian Natural Maple Flavor

1/2 cup/100 grams/3.5 ounces sugar

pinch sea salt

1 1/4 cups/170 grams/6 ounces unbleached, all purpose flour

1/2 cup/65 grams/2 1/4 ounces walnuts, toasted

Whisk together flour, sugar and salt and set aside.

Whiz up toasted walnuts in a food processor until finely ground

Combine dry ingredients with butter and walnuts using the back of a wooden spoon or your impeccably clean hands.

Evenly divide 1/2 the batter between the bake-and-serve loaf pans* (keep them on the sheet pan for baking). Evenly divide 1/2 the crumble among the loaves (middle layer).

Evenly divide the remaining batter between the loaves, smoothing it with a table knife or small offset spatula, then evenly divide the remaining crumble between the loaves (topping).

Bake until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, approximately 30 minutes using bake-and-serve loaf pans, approximately 45-55 minutes for a large loaf.  Remove breads to a wire rack and let breads cool completely before wrapping, freezing or refrigerating.

*Whatever pans you are using, 1 or 4, spoon half the batter in the pan, smooth, add crumble, add rest of batter, smooth and top with remaining crumble.

Cocoa Angel Food Cake

Just in the knick of time, here I am slipping in my April #baketogether entry. I resisted, but just barely, the temptation to lemon up Abby’s gorgeous Tangerine Angel Food Cake. You may have figured by now out that lemon is my not-so-secret-weapon in the kitchen - lemon and Worcestershire sauce, but that’s a story for another day.

Love the touch of cocoa in my version and the bit of extra vanilla. It’s a pretty, pale color and looks lovely with the strawberries, doesn't it? 

But what’s not to love about angel food cake in any flavor? Or color? I'm thinking of a pale pink  angel food cake <swoon>. Just yesterday I learned that India Tree has a line of natural food dyes (they use only vegetable colorants) and I would like to try them out on angel food cakes, for sure.

Do you like angel food cake? Do you have a fav recipe? Please tell me in the comments section. 

And, if you are even thinking about joining #baketogether in May, please do! 

Traditional, simple and delicious. I'm a fan!

Cocoa Angel Food Cake 

Makes 1 10-inch cake or about 12 servings.

Preheat oven to 350º
One 10 x 4 angel food cake pan
(if your pan doesn’t have cute little feet to support it while cooling the cake, have ready a bottle or funnel to hold the pan in a level, upside-down position. Make sure to test this before your cake comes out of the oven.)

For the cake:


1 cup (4 ounces) cake flour

1 1/4 cup (5 ounces) confectioners’ sugar

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Pinch baking soda
Pinch table salt

11 large (1 1/3 cups) egg whites, at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 cup (7 ounces) superfine sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

To make the cake:

Sift (I use a sieve) together the flour, confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt three times onto a sheet of parchment, waxed paper or foil and set aside.

In the work bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium-low speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar, increasing speed to medium, and beat until whites are opaque and climbing about half way up the bowl (the tracks from the whisk will be beginning to hold their shape) forming very soft peaks. Continue beating while slowly and continuously adding the superfine sugar in a slow steady stream. Beat on medium high until the whites are thick, shiny and form medium-firm, fluffy peaks. (The peaks should droop over gently.) Do not over beat. You want to leave some room for those whites to expand in the oven. Add the vanilla. Beat just until blended, about 10 seconds.

Sift 1/4 of the flour mixture over the beaten whites. Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold the dry ingredients into the whites. Repeat with remaining flour mixture, one quarter at a time.

Using the spatula to gently coax the batter, pour evenly into the prepared pan.  Smooth the top. Bake until the cake is light golden brown and the cake is springy when touched, about 40 minutes. Immediately invert the pan onto the counter if the pan has feet or if it doesn’t, invert the pan sliding the center tube onto the neck of the bottle. Let cool completely.

To remove the cake, rotate the pan, gently tapping the bottom edge of the cake pan on the counter as you turn it until the cake loosens from the pan. If necessary, run a long, thin knife between the cake and the pan and around the inside of the tube to loosen the cake. Slip the cake from the pan and gently lift it up from the center of the pan and arrange on a flat serving plate.

Cut the cooled cake using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. (Or, if your mother-in-law gave you an angel food cake knife when you got engaged – Ahem! That would be me – by all means break it out.)

Serve slices of cake with fresh fruit, fruit sauce (or compote) and whipped cream.