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World Dessert Atlas

All the tasty stats and facts about our passion for desserts the world-over. Created by http://www.thevanillavalley.co.uk/ Source: http://www.t...ley.co.uk/

From Visually.

The smell of fresh baked cake woke me up

But it wasn't what I thought

I stayed up late last night drinking coffee and doing research for my website. I finally went to bed about 2:00am. Around 4:00am the smell of fresh baked cake woke me up and it smelled soooo good. I thought..... why is my hubby baking in the middle of the night. So I crawled out of bed to go to the kitchen and have a bite of whatever he had made. To my surprise as I walked around the bed in the dark, I ran into my hubbies foot hanging off the bed. "So he's not baking afterall." He was fast asleep.

While making my way to the kitchen to investigate..... I flip on the light. The smell in the kitchen was beautifully mouthwatering. I smelled chocolate and I smelled caramel. Yummm! As I rub the sleepies from my eyes, I look on the table and "there's nothing there". I walk over to the stove, opened the door and peeped inside, searching for what fresh baked good I could take a bite of- there's nothing there either. I even feel the top of the stove to see if it's hot. "No it's cold." ??? Confused I start to look around.

And then I saw it!

I forgot and left the coffee pot on. Beside the coffee pot was a pedestal cake stand with what was left of a huge stack of cookies I made 3 days before. It seems my cats had a bit of a wrassle and knocked over the cookies. They landed on top of the heating element of the coffee pot. I was so tired I left out my caramel flavored coffee creamer and they knocked that over as well and it pored onto the cookies. To my disappointment - there was no cake baking - instead I had a simmering mess that smelt like heaven. I sadly cut off the coffee pot and cleaned up the mess. I then went back to bed to dream of cake.

On the positive side
I KNOW I'm adding that caramel coffee creamer to my next batch of chocolate cookies! 
by: Pamela Svoboda

• List of National Cake Holidays

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Photo at the top:
Did you guys like my picture at the top? I took this picture around dark30 from my patio. It was so beautiful I just had to capture the moment while I could. I have more I'll post later that show the colors changing. Pam

Laugh when you can..✿. Apologize when you should..✿. And let go of what you can't change..✿. Love deeply & forgive quickly..✿ . Take chances & give your everything ..✿. Love what you have... and always remember.. that life goes on..  "Live Everyday like a Holiday' 

Pound Cake Tips

cream cheese pound cake
Originally uploaded by Lex in the City

Have your ingredients at room temperature before you start.

The size of sugar crystals can make a cake a winner or a dud. If your pound cake turns out perfect then you better make note of what type of sugar you used and use the same crystal size the next time you bake pound cakes. If your cake is soft in the middle, the size of the sugar that you used could be the reasons why.

One of the most common mistakes in baking cakes is to over beat the batter after adding the flour.

Don't wing it. You must measure the ingredients.

Don't leave out the baking soda if your recipe calls for it. You need the baking soda to help the cake rise and create the little bubbles that lighten the texture of the cake.

If you are using a salted butter you won’t need to add salt to your batter.

Try using Cake Flour for a better textured cake. Two different kinds of flours are used in pound cake recipes - cake flour and all purpose flour. Cake flour is milled from soft wheat flour and yields a soft, fine texture. All purpose flour is milled from both hard and soft wheat and yields a taller, firmer cake.

The most important step in pound cake making is creaming the butter or shortening with the electric mixer. The air whipped into the cake during the creaming process makes the cake rise during baking.

Greasing and flouring the pan prevents the cake from sticking. Use solid shortening for greasing rather than butter, margarine, or cooking spray.

Cool the cake right side up on a wire rack for 10 to 15 minutes. This gives the cake time to firm up and prevents it from breaking.

Troubleshooting:
Batter Overflows:
Overmixing, or too much batter in pan

Sticky Crust :
Too much sugar

Damp Cake: C
ooled too long in pan, or underbaking

Tough Crust:
Overmixing, or not enough sugar, fat, or leavening

Sinking in Center:
*Underbaking, or removed from pan too soon
*Exposed to draft during baking or cooling
*Too much liquid, leavening, or sugar

Heavy Texture:
Not enough leavening, or overmixing
Old baking powder or baking soda
Too much fat, sugar, or liquid

Crust too brown on bottom:
Use of dark baking pan
Pan too low in oven

Cake Falls:
Insufficient baking time
Oven temperature too low (check with oven thermometer)
Removed from pan too soon

Outside Links & Resources for Making the Best Pound Cakes
catsue.wordpress.com/lemon-poppy-seed-pound-cake
sippitysup.com/perfect-lemon-poppy-seed-tips-techniques
southernliving.com/tips-for-baking-a-perfect-pound-cake

Pound Cake

McNannygocious Pound Cake Originally uploaded by in2jazz

March 4 is National Pound Cake Day! I love every kind of cake there is. It doesn't matter if it's pound cake, coffee cake or birthday cake.... I will eat it up. My sister in law Brenda can bake some fantastic pound cakes and it's traditional for her to bake many of them at Christmas time and give them away to friends and family. The way I like to eat pound cake is with can milk bored on top so it can soak in the cake. Then put cold sliced peaches on top. yum! McNannygocious Pound Cake 1 8oz Philly Cream Cheese 1 1/2 cups Butter (3 sticks) 3 cups Flour (Triple Sifted) 3 Cups Sugar 6 Eggs 2 teas. Vanilla Butter and Nut Flavoring * 1 teas. Butter Flavoring 1 teas. Vanilla Flavoring 1/2 teas. Lemon Flavoring Cream butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Add eggs, flavorings. Triple sift flour and remeasure 3 cups. Blend into creamed mixture. Bake in a tube pan at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Easy, huh? * If Vanilla Butter and Nut Flavoring is not available in your area, use 1 extra teaspoon of Vanilla and 1 extra teaspoon of Butter flavoring instead. Also, for a change, you can substitute the 1/2 teaspoon Lemon extract with any extract of your choice like rum, brandy, almond, or orange.

Chocolate Cake Day

Chocolate Carrot Cake Originally uploaded by scubadive67

January 27 is National Chocolate Cake Day! Everybody loves Chocolate Cake. In fact it's the #1 cake choice among all the different flavors of cake recipes out there. Chocolate Cake is asked for and served in homes and restaurants more than any other flavored cake. Chocolate Cake comes in many different flavor combinations. In fact while doing my research I found over 55 different chocolate cake recipes and I stopped at that. I looked at so much cake until I went straight to the kitchen and baked myself a German Chocolate Cake, which happens to be a very popular flavor combination cake. (chocolate and coconut). A few more top flavor combinations for chocolate cake is (chocolate & peanut butter) (chocolate and cherries/ black forest cake) and the great picture I found is a slice of chocolate carrot cake. Click on the photo and you will find the recipe for this great cake. For more cake facts and Holidays; visit our cake pages.