These past two weeks have been a whirlwind of mango. Yet, all good things must come to an end. As the bombardment of mangoes from my coworker’s overly fertile tree winds down, I am taking a look back at all of the mango goodness that I was able to produce with my seemingly endless stream of mangoes. Due to several requests from satisfied taste-testers, I have decided to try to compile a list of all of the mango dessert recipes that I attempted. Unfortunately, going into “Mango Mad Scientist Mode” left very little opportunity for photo ops or step-by-step walkthroughs. Still, I hope that my experiences can inspire others to get a little bit adventurous with mango, and perhaps do something those overripe mangoes besides throwing them in a smoothie. Let the Mango Madness begin! (more…)
Category: Cakes
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Carrot Cake Cheesecake
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A lot of times, I get asked how I decide which recipes to post on the blog. There is really no specific thought-process that I follow for this sort of thing. However, I’ve noticed that the majority of my most recent recipe posts have followed a pattern. That is, I make something to take to work or to a party. They love it so much that they ask “When is this recipe going on The Broke Baker?” Well, shoot! Once they’ve pretty much expressed guaranteed blog traffic, how can I refuse?And, that is how this Carrot Cake Cheesecake recipe came to be this month’s recipe post. Originally, I made this cake using red velvet cake as the base, but my manager asked that I recreate it with carrot cake for her birthday in May. When I decided to part ways with the company, I promised to post the recipe for said carrot cake cheesecake on the blog, so that someone else may be able to make it for her. And, since I keep my promises, here it is!
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Strawberry Cream Cake (Part 2)
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Here it is! The continuation of the strawberry cream cake! So, you should already have your pastry cream made from the previous post. Now, we are going to bake and assemble the cake.The base of the cake is essentially a sponge cake. The recipe comes from an old Cuban cookbook that I inherited from my mother. This particular cake is also the base that I use for tres leches cake, on the rare occasions that I actually make it.
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Strawberry Cream Cake (Part 1)
When most people think of strawberry shortcake, they think of a white sponge cake layered with strawberries and whipped cream. And, if we lived in Japan, they would be correct. However, a true “strawberry shortcake” actually uses a crumbly, biscuit-like cake as the base. Still, most grocery stores will mass-produce sponge cakes with strawberries and whipped cream and still call them strawberry shortcakes.
I’m better than that, though. So, this recipe is not for a strawberry shortcake. It is a recipe for a strawberry CREAM cake. That is, a sponge cake that is layered with cream and strawberries. And, since it’s not a shortcake, I can also take the liberty of filling the center with pastry cream, rather than the traditional whipped cream. If you prefer the whipped cream, then have at it. I suggest you try it at least once with the pastry cream, though. I’ve broken the recipe up into two posts, since it’s a bit long.
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Rum Cake
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I love cake, but I hate soggy cakes. Let’s just get that out in the open right now. Living in South Florida, I’ve had my share of unappetizingly soggy birthday/wedding/baby shower/quince cakes. This is the main reason why, for a very long time, I paid no mind to anyone that told me that I should learn to make rum cake. A pound cake soaked in rum syrup? I don’t even DRINK rum. So, yeah. No thanks.To be honest, I don’t even remember what possessed me to finally give it a shot. All I know is that, one day, I began scouring the web for recipes. Much to my dismay, most recipes started off with a box of cake mix. Shame on them! I will not defile my kitchen with such blasphemy. Eventually, I came across this recipe. After some tweaks, it was a keeper. In the 2-3 years that I have been making rum cakes, this is one of the most-requested cakes in my repertoire. It also holds the distinction of being one of the very few “soaked” cakes that I have a stomach for. (more…)
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Chocolate Covered Oreo Cake
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A few years ago, I came across this recipe for a Chocolate Covered Oreo Cake online. I thought that the idea was brilliant, but I wasn’t keen on the idea of using boxed cake mix and Cool Whip. For the record, I hate Cool Whip. Let’s just get that out of the way right now, and we can all be friends, okay? Whip your own cream, people! Assuming you have an electric mixer of some kind, you can do it! Trust me. (more…) -
Mini Chocolate Bundt Cakes
Thanks to a friend of mine, I found out that Bed, Bath, and Beyond was having a clearance sale on some of their bakeware. One of the baking pans that I managed to score was a mini bundt pan from Wilton. It was just so cute, and the sizes were perfect for individual servings. Naturally, it didn’t take me very long to succumb to the urge to try it out. (more…)
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Molten Chocolate Cake
One upon a time, a molten chocolate cake or chocolate lava cake was classy ending to a fancy meal. Then, it started cropping up at chains like Red Lobster, Chili’s, and Applebee’s. And, when you can get a dessert at a place where a group of servers will sing to you on your birthday while cursing their lot in life, there is no room for pretentiousness. (more…)
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Pastel Imposible (AKA Chocoflan)
I love chocolate cake. I love flan. So, what happens when you combine the two? Pure excellence! Pastel imposible translates into “impossible cake” for you non-Spanish speakers, and it gets its name from the seemingly impossible feat of layering creamy flan on a bed of dense chocolate cake. It is believed that this dessert originated in Mexico, where it is still very popular to this day. (more…)