Celebrating My Birthday with Boston Cream Pie #Recipe @DonnaFaz

I celebrated a milestone birthday last week. My birthday cake was a delicious Boston Cream Pie. I found this recipe at Life, Love, and Sugar, and after a tiny bit of tweaking, I made my cake. There are three components to this dessert: the cake, the cream filling, and the chocolate frosting. The recipe looks a little complicated, but it’s not at all difficult and the result is scrumptious! I hope you’ll give this recipe a try.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter, softened

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 1/4 cups milk

1.      Preheat oven 350° F. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with baking spray, line bottoms with parchment paper.

2.    Stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

3.    In the bowl of electric mixer, cream together the butter, oil, and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes.

4.    Add the vanilla and mix to combine. Add eggs one at a time and beat on medium speed until well incorporated. Scrape down the bowl and beater to ensure all ingredients are combined.

5.     With the mixer on low speed, add half of the flour mixture, then add the milk. Add the remaining flour mixture and beat on medium speed only until flour is incorporated, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed. Over beating at this stage results in a cake that is dense and tough rather than light and fluffy.

6.    Divide the batter evenly in the pans and bake 23-26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (While cakes are baking, make the cream filling.)

7.     Remove cakes from the oven. Allow to cool in pans for 5 to 8 minutes. Then turn out cakes onto racks to cool completely.

For the cream filling:

3/4 cup sugar

4 tablespoons cornstarch

2 cups milk

4 egg yolks

2 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1.      In a medium size saucepan, mix together the sugar and cornstarch. Add the milk and stir to combine. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens. Turn down the heat and simmer for a couple of minutes. Remove from heat.

2.    Place egg yolks in a medium size bowl and whisk until smooth. Temper the yolks by adding a small ladleful of hot, thickened milk mixture to the yolks and whisk briskly. Add another ladleful of the milk mixture to the yolks and whisk again. Then add the tempered yolk mixture to the pot of cream filling and whisk together. Place pot back on the heat and simmer, whisking constantly, for 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

3.    Add butter and vanilla, stirring to combine. Pour cream filling into a bowl, cover with cling film, placing the plastic directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Place in the refrigerator to cool.

For the chocolate topping:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons white corn syrup

1/2 cup heavy cream

1.      Place chocolate chips and corn syrup in a small bowl.

2.    Heat the cream in a small saucepan until just at the simmering point.

3.    Pour hot cream over the chips and allow to sit for 3 minutes, then stir the chocolate until smooth and silky.

Assemble the Boston Cream Pie by placing one layer of the cooled cake on a cake plate. Spread the cream filling on the cake layer. Top the cream filling with the second cake layer. Pour the chocolate sauce over the top of the cake, allowing the sauce to drizzle over the sides. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Cake is best eaten the day it is baked but can be kept, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Lemon-Lovers Cake #Recipe - What's for dessert?

My husband and son celebrate their birthdays during mid-October. Both of them love lemon cake, so I made this luscious cake and it was a great hit!

Lemon-Lovers Cake

For the Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted

3 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk*

2 tablespoon lemon rind, finely minced**

3 tablespoon lemon juice

1.     Pre-heat oven 350°. Prepare 2 eight-inch round banking pans by spraying with cooking spray. Line bottoms with circles of waxed paper (optional).

2.     In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Stir to combine well.

3.     Add remaining ingredients and stir until all ingredients are incorporated.

4.     Divide the batter between the 2 pans and bake 30-35 minutes, or until wooden toothpick comes out clean.

5.     Let cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn out cakes onto wire rack to cool completely.

For the Filling:

1 10-ounce jar lemon curd***

1.     Spread entire jar of curd on top of one cake.

2.     Top with second cake.

For the Icing:

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tablespoon lemon rind, finely minced**

2 – 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1.     In a medium-sized bowl, add lemon juice and rind to the melted butter. Stir to combine.

2.     Add 2 cups powdered sugar and stir to combine. Add more sugar until desired consistency is reached.

Notes:

I like a thinner icing so I can smear it over the top and let the icing drip down the sides of the cake (see picture). If you like a thicker icing, simply add a little more powdered sugar.

* If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can create sour milk by adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (or vinegar) to a 1 a measuring cup and top off with milk to reach the 1 cup needed. Let sit for several minutes to curdle.

**I use a microplane/zester to remove the yellow part only of the lemon.

***Most grocery stores sell lemon curd in the jelly/jam section. Look on the top shelf, near the specialty jellies. Or you can make you own lemon curd. Either option works well in this recipe.

What's YOUR favorite cake to bake for that special person's birthday?