Pumpkin Cake Squares

I'm back!

And it feels amazing.  I've missed this so much.

The second of this semester's three shows ran this past weekend, and what an experience that was.  After what seemed like the world's longest rehearsal process, we finally opened a world-premiere musical revue of David Shire's music to a packed house and enthusiastic praise.  Furthermore, David Shire and his wife Didi Conn, also known as Frenchie in the film version of Grease, came all the way from New York City to see the premiere!  Performing for and meeting them was unforgettable, especially seeing how touched David was to see what our directors did with his music.  The looks on their faces made the insanity of the last two and a half months worth it :)

And Didi is officially the cutest person alive.  Seriously.

If you feel so inclined, you can read more about the whole experience in Playbill.  And look at my picture.  Sorry, I'll stop now.

The hardest day of tech week is always Sunday: the "10-out-of-12".  As actors, we spend 10 hours of a 12-hour block working onstage.  I'd worked them as a technician before, and they're always rough.  So, since we had the previous day off from rehearsal (or at least from the musical - I was rehearsing for another show that morning), I decided to bake something for the cast to make the long day a little easier.

Let's just say they were grateful.

The cake squares are personal servings of fall flavor.  The cool, creamy, vanilla mascarpone frosting adds the perfect sweet contrast to the moist and spicy pumpkin cake.  If you don't keep mascarpone on hand like I do (yes, I'm crazy) then go ahead and substitute cream cheese, but I think the mascarpone is beyond worth it.  It's a fantastic fall snack, or it could be a great last-minute addition to your Thanksgiving dessert table - it only takes 15 minutes to get it into the oven!  I guarantee any friend or relative would be grateful to help you eat it.

Pumpkin Cake Squares with Mascarpone Frosting
Source: adapted from Brown Eyed Baker, originally from How To: Simplify
Yield: 1 9x13" pan

For the pumpkin cake squares:
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 15oz can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1-2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)
2 eggs
1/2 cup egg whites (about 4 large, but I used the stuff from a carton!)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350˚F with a rack on the middle position.  Grease a 9x13" pan and set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.  Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, sugar, oil, eggs, and egg whites until smooth and uniform.  Pour the dry ingredients on top of the pumpkin mixture and gently stir or whisk to combine until smooth.
Transfer the batter to the greased pan and smooth the top, making sure the batter is distributed evenly.  Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.  Transfer to a rack to cool completely before frosting.

For the Vanilla Mascarpone frosting:
Ingredients:
8 oz mascarpone cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I recommend Nielsen Massey Tahitian Pure Vanilla)
approximately 1 tbsp half-and-half (I used fat free)

Directions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the butter and mascarpone on medium speed until smooth and fluffy.  Decrease the mixer speed to low and add the powdered sugar one cup at a time until fully incorporated and smooth.  Add the vanilla extract and the half-and-half.  Increase the speed of the mixer to medium and whip until desired consistency is reached, adding more half-and-half one teaspoon at a time if necessary.  Spread evenly onto the cooled cake.  Slice into squares and enjoy!

Father's Day Brownie Torte

As a starving student - not quite an accurate term, but I'm definitely on a budget - and a lover of all things kitchen-y, baked things are my typical gift to family members and close friends for special occasions.  Since Sunday was Fathers' Day, I had an excuse to bake!  Love those.

My dad's pretty flexible with the sort of thing he'll eat - as in anything - but he did mention a brownie cake as something he'd really enjoy.  As soon as I heard that, my brain popped straight over to the most insane brownie confection I'd ever seen.  The recipe was by The Pastry Queen and had started to make the rounds in the blogosphere, where everyone who'd ever made it raved about it.  Thus, natural choice.

Then I looked at the ingredient list.
Oh my.
My healthy eating habits took one look at the recipe and knew they didn't stand a chance.
But they'd die happy.
You'll see when you get to the recipe portion.

The original recipe called for instant espresso powder in the filling and frosting, but alas, my mother is so anti-coffee that espresso ceased to be an option, and thus the original toffee bits called for didn't seem to fit either.  However, we did have some gorgeous Madagascar Bourbon vanilla beans and extract in the pantry, so the torte got a huge kick in the butt of vanilla.  And I'm certainly not complaining about that - the sweet mildness of the vanilla kept the insanely fudgey brownie layers from feeling too rich.  It turned out absolutely delicious!  Dad and I are still enjoying it.

My waistline, however, is not - thank God for Exercise TV!  Does anyone want to help me eat this??

Annie of Annie's Eats - the blog that can do no wrong from my point of view - has the original recipe posted on her page.  I've posted my vanilla version below, including a garnish that I ran out of time for but think would be gorgeous and tasty.  Enjoy!

Vanilla Fudge Brownie Torte


Yield: about 20 servings
Ingredients:

For the brownies:
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter
16 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 cups sugar
8 large eggs
2 tbsp. vanilla extract
2½ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp. salt

For the frosting:
3 cups chilled heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract (I used Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla from Nielsen Massey)
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped


For the filling:
16 oz. mascarpone cheese
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
1½ tbsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 cup reserved frosting (above)

For garnish:
1½-2 cups white chocolate shavings
Sliced fresh strawberries


Directions:
To make the brownie layers, preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Grease and flour the edges of three 9-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.  Combine the butter and chocolate in a large heatproof bowl set over a few inches of simmering water.  Continue heating until the butter and chocolate are melted and smooth, stirring occasionally with a spatula.  Remove the bowl from the heat and set aside.  Transfer the chocolate mixture to a large mixing bowl.  (If your heatproof bowl is very large, transfer to a new bowl is not necessary.)  Whisk in the sugar, eggs and vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth and glossy, about 1 minute.  Stir in the flour and salt, and mix just until the dry ingredients are incorporated.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared baking pans.  Gently smooth the batter in the pans.  Bake 20-25 minutes, until the brownies are just firm to the touch.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool in the pans 30 minutes.  Then run a knife around the edge of each pan and invert the brownies onto the rack to cool completely.
To make the frosting, add the chilled heavy cream to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Whip on medium-high speed until medium-soft peaks form.  Blend in the sugar, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean seeds, whipping just until combine.  Continue to whip until stiff peaks form.  Reserve and refrigerate 1 cup of the frosting for use in the filling.  Set aside the rest of the frosting.
To make the filling, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the mascarpone, sugar, vanilla and salt.  Beat on medium speed until well blended and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Gently fold in the reserved 1 cup of frosting with a spatula.
To assemble the torte, lay 1 of the brownie rounds to a large serving platter.  Spread half of the filling mixture evenly over the top.  Layer with another brownie round, and the remainder of the filling.  Top with the final brownie layer.  Cover the top and sides of the cake with the frosting.  Garnish with the white chocolate shavings to cover the top and sides of the cake.  Use any remaining frosting to pipe decorative swirls around the top edge of the cake and decorate with fresh strawberry slices, if desired.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.


Source: adapted from Annie's Eats, originally from The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather