Red Velvet Cake

A strikingly looking cake with an unexpected hint of chocolate flavor. Its only caveat is that you are left with a lot of bowls to wash. It's all worth it, though :). Recipe from Joy of Baking, of course.

Ingredients:

For the cake:
2 1/2 cups (250 g) flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (15 g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder*
1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (300 g) sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk**
2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

* As a substitute use 2 tablespoons natural cocoa and throw in a pinch of baking soda.
** Or, to make your own, stir 1 tablespoon of vinegar into 1 cup of milk, and let it sit for 10 minutes before using.

For the frosting:
1 1/2 cups (360 ml) heavy whipping cream
16 oz (450 g) cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (115 g) confectioners' (icing or powdered) sugar

Directions:

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C) and place rack in center of oven.
Butter two 9 inch (23 cm) round cake pans and set them aside.
In a mixing bowl sift (this is one of those recipes where sifting *is* important!) together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.

In a separate bowl beat the butter until soft.
Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

In a separate cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring.
With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the red buttermilk in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda.
Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.

Working quickly, divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon.
Speed is of the essence here, as your only rising agent is the vinegar-soda mix, and it dissipates quickly.

Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.

Cool the cakes in their pans for 10 minutes, then invert them on a wire rack and cool completely. Once completely cooled, wrap cakes in plastic wrap and place them in the freezer for at least an hour. (This is done to make filling and frosting the cakes easier.)

For the frosting:
Beat the cream cheese until smooth.
Add the vanilla and confectioners' sugar and process until smooth.

In a separate bowl (I told you there are too many bowls!) whip the cream until stiff peaks form.
With a large spatula, gently but quickly fold a little of the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture to lighten it.
Then fold in the remaining whipped cream, in two stages.

Recipe advises to place the frosting in the refrigerator for an hour if it is not thick enough to spread, but I've never had that problem.

To assemble:
With a serrated knife, cut each cake layer horizontally in half to get four layers.
Place one of the cake layers, top facing down, onto a plate.
Spread the cake layer with a layer of frosting.
Place another layer of cake on top of the frosting and continue to frost and stack the cake layers.
Frost the top and sides of the cake.
Garnish with coconut if desired.

Ricotta Cheesecake

Adapted from this recipe.

Ingredients:

For the crust:
1 cup (100 g) graham cracker (digestive biscuit) crumbs
1/4 cup (57 g) unsalted butter, melted

Recipe also adds 2-3 tablespoons sugar but I figure graham crackers are sweet enough by themselves.

For the filling:

2 1/2 cups (570 g) ricotta
8 oz (230 g) cream cheese at room temperature*
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch (corn flour)
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup berries
The zest of one lemon or orange

* So says the recipe. I've tried several other proportions of ricotta and cream cheese, depending on what I have in the fridge and it's always fine. More ricotta makes the cake creamier, more cream cheese makes it, well, cheesier :).

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C) and butter a 9 inch (23 cm) springform pan.
Wrap the outside of the pan with two layers of heavy aluminum foil (otherwise water leaks in and cheesecake leaks out). How to line a springform pan.

For the crust:

In a medium sized bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter.
Press the mix evenly over the bottom of the springform pan.
Cover and refrigerate while you make the filling.

For the filling:

Recipe says to drain the ricotta first. I must be buying some fake ricotta, because I swear!, there is nothing to drain there.

Beat softened cream cheese until smooth.
Add the ricotta and sugar and beat until smooth.
Beat in the cornstarch.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating about 30 seconds after each addition.
Beat in the lemon zest and vanilla extract until incorporated.
Fold in the berries.
Take the crust out of the fridge and pour the filling in it.
Place the springform pan in a large roasting pan.
Pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come about halfway up the sides of your springform pan.
Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, or until the top of the cheesecake has browned and the center of the cake moves slightly when the pan is gently shaken.
Remove the pan from the water bath and cool on a wire rack.
Once cooled, cover and refrigerate the cheesecake for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.

Pumpkin Roll

Very flavorful and not too pumpkin-ey in texture. Source.

Ingredients:

For the roll:
3/4 cup (100 g) flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves*
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg*
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup (150 g) pumpkin puree

* Recipe has 1/4 teaspoon allspice, but I find clove and nutmeg more suitable for pumpkin.

For the filling:

8 oz (226 g) cream cheese at room temperature
2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup (115 g) confectioners' (powdered, icing) sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C) and place oven rack in the center of the oven.
Oil a 15 inch x 10 inch (38 x 25 cm) baking pan, line it with parchment paper, and then butter and flour the parchment paper.
Sift (do sift!) flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt together.
In a separate bowl beat eggs with sugar on high speed until thick, pale yellow, and fluffy (about 5 minutes).
Beat in the vanilla extract and pumpkin puree.
*Gently* (by hand, no mixer!) fold in the sifted flour mixture.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and spread it evenly with the help of an offset spatula.
Bake for about 10 - 13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the center of the cake springs back when lightly pressed.
Remove from the oven and immediately flip onto a clean dish towel that has been sprinkled with confectioners' sugar.
Carefully peel away the parchment paper, sprinkle lightly with confectioners' sugar, and roll up with the towel while the cake is still hot and pliable.
Place on a wire rack to cool.

Beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract until light and fluffy.
Add the sugar and beat until smooth.

Once the roll has cooled, unroll it, spread the filling, and reroll.
Cover and chill in the fridge.
Recipe says, and my experience confirms that chilling it for a few hours sets the filling and makes the roll easier to slice (and eat!)

Checkered Cake

It's big (you might want to halve the ingredients), easy and pretty much mistake-proof :). Source.

Ingredients:

For the cake:
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
400 g (a little less than 3 cups) sour cream or yogurt
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder

For the cream:
1 kg (7 cups) sour cream
1 cup sugar

For the icing:
100 g (7 tablespoons) butter
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C.
Beat eggs, sugar, flour, sour cream and baking powder together.
Split in two, add cocoa powder to one half.
Pour each half into a separate baking dish and bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.


In a large bowl stir sour cream and sugar together.
Break cake layers into bitesize pieces.
Dip each piece into sour cream mix, and arrange them on a serving plate in the form of a cake.
*or*
Drop all of them into bowl and stir well.


And flip on a plate:


For the icing:

Melt butter on low heat.
Mix in milk, sugar and cocoa and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Cool and pour on cake.

Refrigerate cake for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

Plum Cake

Very delicious, especially if you like tart fruit in cakes. Recipe from here. Cup = a standard American cup that holds 250 ml liquid.

Ingredients (for a 9-inch cake):

~ 1 lb plums (10 big ones or 20 small ones), we like it best with tarter varieties but any sort will do.
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
150 g (5 oz, 3/4 cup) butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C)
Set aside 1/4 cup sugar and 50 g (1/4 cup) butter.
Beat rest of the sugar with rest of the butter, baking powder and vanilla.
Add the eggs, milk and flour and mix well.
Cut plums in half and discard pits.
Put your baking dish on the stove (yes, the stove), and melt the 50 g butter in it.
Stir the 1/4 cup sugar in to caramelize it: how to caramelize sugar.
Watch it carefully, as caramel burns fairly quickly. It also burns fingers badly, but I assume you know better than I do and won't try to touch it :).
Arrange the plum halves, cut side down, on the caramel.
Pour batter on top.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Once baked, cover cake with a clean towel and let it cool for 15 minutes.
Flip on a serving plate (the plums should be on top) and let it cool completely before cutting.

Tatiana Cake

That's how the recipe is called - I am not sure why Tatiana exactly. But it's light and fluffy and incredibly easy. And delicious too :).

Ingredients:

For the cake:
5 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)

For the icing:
1 lb (450 g) sour cream
1 cup confectioners' sugar (or according to taste)

Directions:
Whisk all ingredients for the cake together. Whisk *by hand*, no mixer!
Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.
* There is science that explains how the eggs, honey and the baking soda act together to create fluffiness, but I'll spare you that.

Pour 1/3 of the batter in a 9-inch buttered baking dish (or 1/2 of the batter for a 12-inch baking dish).
Bake at 350 F (180 C) for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out dry.

And repeat with rest of the batter. You should get 3 9-inch or 2 12-inch layers of cake.

Stir sour cream and confectioners' sugar together (I use about 1 cup sugar, but adjust sugar suit your taste).
Ice cooled cake layers with icing.
Decorate with chocolate shavings (or however else you wish :P)

Choc Berry Butter Cake

My twelve-year-old sister and I made this yesterday. It's based on a simple butter cake recipe with various innovations along the way.

Ingredients:

All tablespoons are 20mL metric tablespoons

8 ounces butter / margarine
8 ounces caster sugar (super fine sugar)
4 eggs
8 ounces self raising flour
2 heaped tablespoons cocoa
2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
1 or 2 ~400g / 1 pound tins of mixed berries in syrup (my tin had strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries) - strained and the syrup reserved
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C and grease and flour an approx 20cm x 20cm (8" x 8") square cake tin.

2. Cream margarine and caster sugar.

3. Add eggs one at a time and mix together thoroughly

4. Sieve (sift) in flour and cocoa and stir in until completely incorporated.

5. Add sweetened, condensed milk, 2 tablespoons of the berry syrup, and the vanilla essence one at a time and stir until completely incorporated.

6. Gently fold in the mixed berries. I used one tin of berries but the mixture could easily have taken another tin's worth so use your own judgement depending on how berry-filled you like your cakes!

7. Spoon the mixture into the greased and floured cake tin and place in pre-heated oven. bake for about 50 minutes (I cooked mine for an hour and it was just slightly burned on one corner, so check regularly!).

8. Once baked, turn onto a wire cooling rack and leave to cool.


Icing (Frosting):

I made this with the aim of trying to replicate a crystally, slightly crunchy icing I'd tasted on a cake at a school morning tea, but it didn't work very well. This is a modified recipe replacing the white sugar I originally used with more coconut.

Ingredients:

All tablespoons are 20mL metric tablespoons
All cups are 250mL metric cups

2/3 cup icing sugar (confectioner's sugar) - preferably the pure stuff not icing mixture
1/2 cup dessicated (shredded) coconut
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons of the syrup from the tinned berries
Red food colouring (can be ommitted if you don't mind the icing being a funny brownish colour)

Method:

1. In a bowl, combine sieved (sifted) icing sugar and coconut.

2. Add the melted margarine and stir thoroughly.

3. Add the sweetened condensed milk and the berry syrup and mix thoroughly until all ingredients are combined.

4. Add four drops of red food colouring to make a nice pastel pink - or more or less to your own tastes!

5. Using a flat implement, smooth onto the top and sides of the cake. You may need to refrigerate the mixture slightly to make it firm enough but don't leave it too long - this icing sets rock solid! Once the cake is iced, refrigerate overnight to set the icing.

Carrot Cake

The recipe is from here. The original recipe yields a two-layer cake, which would be too much for my two person household, one of whom is on a diet :), so my rendition is pretty much the original halved. It's still moist and flavorful and yummy!

Ingredients:

For the cake:
4 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup (110 g) brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup (150 g) white sugar
1/2 cup (125 ml) vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (essence)
1 1/2 cup (190 g) all-purpose (plain) flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

* Original recipe also uses 1/2 cup raisins and 1/2 cup crushed pineapple, which I skipped because I didn't have the former and I dislike the latter.

For the cream cheese frosting (icing):
8 oz (220 g) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (55 g) butter, softened
1 cup (130 g) confectioners' (powdered) sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Combine grated carrots and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Set aside for 60 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350º F/175º C.
Grease and flour a 9-inch (23 cm) cake pan.
In a large bowl, beat eggs until light. Gradually beat in the white sugar, oil and vanilla.
Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, and stir into the wet mixture until absorbed.
Lastly, stir in the carrot mixture and the walnuts.
Pour batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.
Remove and let cool on a cooling rack.
When completely cooled, frost with cream cheese frosting.

For the frosting:
Cream together the cream cheese and butter.
Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar.
Frost cooled cake.

* I only had 4 oz of cream cheese, so, as you can see, I was a little short on frosting:

Chocolate Cake for Tiziri

This recipe was originally my Great Aunt's, but then I changed it a little (which is what ends up happening to just about every recipe I've ever made). I hope you like it!

1/2 c Butter
2 t Baking Soda
2 c Sugar
1 t Salt
2 Eggs
3/4 c Cocoa Powder
1 t Vanilla Extract
2 c Boiling Water
2 c All-purpose Flour
Strawberry or raspberry pie filling/syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add eggs and vanilla. Sift together flour, soda, and salt in a separate bowl. In yet another bowl (that can hold 3+ cups), pour the boiling water over the cocoa and stir. Mix a little of the flour mixture with the butter, then a little cocoa/water, then a little flour... Repeat until all is combined. Bake for 30 minutes in a 9x13 pan. When cooled, pour a little too much of the pie filling or syrup over the top and spread it around. Let it soak in and serve.

Sweet Chocolate Fruit Cake

I just invented this cake for the fun of it today, based on various other cakes, and it’s scrumptious – moist, sweet, chocolatey, fruity . . . oh, try it. It’s good.

This quantity makes a small cake in a loaf tin, but it’s easy to make it bigger.

Ingredients:

4 ounces (110g) margarine
4 ounces (110g) caster sugar
2 eggs
4 ounces (110g) self-raising flour
2 heaped tablespoons cocoa
2 tablespoons milk
½ cup (125mL) mixed dried fruit
Heaped ¼ cup (60mL+) desiccated coconut (shredded coconut)
Golden syrup

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 C (350 F) and grease a loaf tin (pan).

2. Cream margarine and sugar.

3. Add eggs to margarine and sugar, and mix until incorporated.

4. Sieve (sift) flour and cocoa and mix until incorporated.

5. Add milk, dried fruit and coconut and combine until mixture is even.

6. Place about half of the mixture in the loaf tin (pan) and spread it out evenly. Drizzle golden syrup (generously, but not completely covering the mixture) over the top of the mixture, then add the rest of the mixture, smooth out and repeat drizzling of golden syrup.

7. Bake in 180 C oven for half an hour.

8. After cooking, turn cake out onto cooling rack and immediately flip over so that the top of the cake is facing upwards. The top of the cake will be extremely soft and may stick and tear if allowed to cool onto the cooling rack.

9. The cake should be left to cool for a while as the hot fruit may burn the mouth, but it can be enjoyed warm once it has cooled a little – that’s what I did!

I have no plans to ice the cake but I’m sure it would be superb with a vanilla cream cheese icing or even just a drizzle of basic glacé icing.

Self-Layering Light Fruit Cake

I call this invented cake recipe ‘self layering’ because the gentle cooking temperature means that the fruit is able to settle a little. When the cake is cooked and turned out you end up with a bottom layer of soft, moist butter cake with almost no fruit, and an upper layer full of juicy fruit embedded in a little cake. Sounds like an accident (well, it was an accident), but it’s very tasty that way!

This is a two-day process as the fruit has to soak overnight.

Ingredients:

Approx 1.5 metric (250mL) cups mixed dried fruit (mine included sultanas, mixed peel, currants, raisins and glacé cherries).
Enough sherry to cover the fruit

4 oz (110g) plus two tablespoons white sugar
4 oz (110g) margarine plus extra for greasing
2 large eggs, or 3 small eggs
4 oz (110g) self-raising flour
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

1. Place the dried fruit in a small bowl and cover with sherry, then sprinkle over two tablespoons of white sugar. Leave to soak overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 160 C / 320 F. Prepare a cake tin (cake pan) – I used a round tin with a 20cm / 8inch diameter and a capacity of about 1 litre / 16 oz – by greasing the tin with margarine then covering the base and sides with greaseproof paper (baking paper) and coating the joins with more margarine.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

3. Add eggs to mixing bowl and mix until fully combined.

4. Using a slotted spoon of some sort, lift the fruit out of the sherry mixture and add it to the butter mixture along with the vanilla essence. Reserve sherry mixture as it is used in the icing. Mix fruit in until fully coated in butter mixture.

5. Add sieved (sifted) flour to fruit mixture and stir until it forms a smooth batter around the fruit.

6. Spoon mixture into cake tin and smooth top. Place in oven and bake for about 40 minutes, or until top is golden. The top may still be a little moist and should appear bubbly when the cake is cooked.

7. Allow cake to cool completely in the tin (pan) before turning out. Ensure cake is completely cold before icing.

 

The Icing:

I expected this icing to harden when the cake was refrigerated, but it didn’t, so apparently I’ve invented an icing that stays very soft! It’s hard enough to stay where it’s put but still very sticky when touched, and it tastes delicious if I do say so myself!

Ingredients:

1 cup sieved (sifted) icing sugar (confectioner’s sugar)
2 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons Philadelphia cream cheese
1 tablespoon milk
1 dessertspoon sherry mixture from fruit
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mash margarine and cream cheese into the icing sugar, then beat all ingredients until they form a smooth mixture.

2. Smooth onto cake using a flat utensil. The cake should be fruit-side-up when iced.

3. Keep cake refrigerated until serving so that icing doesn’t run.

4. Enjoy!


The last piece, right before I ate it!

Raffaello Cake

Recipe by natalyna. This is a light sponge cake with a deliciously rich icing that makes a nice alternative to chocolate or whipping cream icings.

Ingredients:

For the cake:
6 eggs
7/8 cup (180 g) sugar
1 1/4 cup (160 g) all-purpose/plain flour

For the icing:
14 oz (400 g) sweetened condensed milk
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (9 oz, 250 g) butter, softened
1 1/2 cup (100 g) shredded/flaked coconut

Edited to add: there is no chemical leavener (baking soda or baking powder) in sponge cake. My book says that all the raising is done by the denaturation of egg protein (thus the huge amount of eggs required) and the expansion of the air trapped in during the mixing. That is why it's very important to follow the mixing and baking instructions exactly, including sifting of the flour.

It does rise, but don't expect it to double in size.

Directions:

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 325 F (165 C).
Separate egg whites from yolks.
In a small bowl beat egg whites until peaks form.
In a large bowl beat yolks with sugar until they form a pale yellow foam.

* From this point on, mix with a wooden spoon only.

Little by little incorporate beaten whites into egg yolk mixture.
Sift flour (do sift it!) and add it little by little to egg mixture.
Butter and flour a 9-inch pie form/24 cm pie dish.
Pour batter in pie dish.
Place pie dish at the lowest part of the oven that you can.
Bake at 325 F (165 C) for 30 to 40 min or until it's golden in color and springs back to touch.
Avoid opening the oven door for the first 20 minutes of baking.
Cool on a wire rack.
Cut cooled cake into three layers.
I used a 12-inch pie dish instead of a 9-inch one, and the cake was wider and shorter, so I only cut it into two layers.

For the icing:
Beat softened butter and condensed milk until smooth.
Add coconut flakes and stir. You may add a bit more coconut if you feel that the icing is too runny.
Leave in fridge for about an hour to stiffen.

I find that cake, and sponge cakes in general, a bit dry but husband likes it as is. If it's too dry for your taste, you can drizzle the layers with milk or juice before icing them.

Glue layers with icing, ice top and sides.

A slice:

Chocolate Rum Balls

This is another of Mum's recipes, but I've made them a few times myself. They're a pretty-much-failsafe recipe for an afternoon tea or after-dinner treat.

They need to be made in two stages (usually, over two days) as you have to make the cake first.

Ingredients:

Cake:

4 oz (110g) margarine
4 oz (110g) caster sugar (super fine sugar)
2 eggs
4 oz (110g) self-raising flour
3 metric (20mL) tablespoons cocoa or to taste
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
dash milk (optional)


Rum Balls:

Cake as above
3 metric (20mL) tablespoons apricot jam (US jelly or preserves)
½ metric cup (125mL) dried apricots, finely chopped
½ metric cup (125mL) dessicated coconut (shredded coconut)
2 metric (20mL) tablespoons rum
2 metric (20mL) tablespoons water
chocolate sprinkles to coat (these: choc sprinkles -  Cora tells me that they're called the same thing in the US :-D)


Method:

Cake:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 C (350 F) and grease and flour a large cake tin (pan).

2. Cream margarine and sugar until fluffy.

3. Add eggs one at a time, creaming until mixed.

4. Add sieved (sifted) flour and cocoa and mix until absorbed. Taste-test to see whether more cocoa is required.

5. Add vanilla essence and mix in thoroughly.

6. The mixture should be at dropping consistency (if you lift a dollop up on a spoon and turn it sideways, the dollop should fall off). If it’s too stiff, add a little milk.

7. Add cake mixture to greased and floured tin, smooth over and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

8. Leave cooked cake until completely cold before proceeding to next step.


Rum Balls:

1. Place cold cake, broken into pieces, into food processor, and blend until it forms fine, even crumbs.

2. In a large bowl, combine cake crumbs and all other ingredients (except chocolate sprinkles) thoroughly

3. Roll into balls a little smaller than 4cm (1.5 inches) in diameter

4. Roll each ball in chocolate sprinkles to coat and refrigerate until required. These can also be frozen for several months – just take out of the freezer to defrost a couple of hours before they are required.

Cora's Orange Corncake

I was going to call this a cornbread when I made the recipe, but since it's a little more on the sweet side, I call it a corncake. It has a moist, dense texture like a pound cake. It's really quick and easy to make.

It's also great with milk poured over it for breakfast. :-)

Ingredients:

1 cup Corn meal
2 cups White flour
1 tablespoon Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
3/4 cup Sugar
Zest of an Orange
3/4 cup Melted butter
4 Eggs
1 cup Milk
2 teaspoon Vanilla

Combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Combine eggs, milk, vanilla, and orange zest in a 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup or a medium sized bowl. Stirring constantly and quickly, pour the butter into the liquid ingredients. Stir liquid ingredients into dry ingredients just until mixed. Pour into a well-greased 9x13x2 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until tests done with a toothpick. If desired, two 8” pans may be used.