Cake For A Crowd

Mini Red Velvet Cakes

Before serving, place each cake in a cupcake liner and add a dollop of cream cheese icing.

These Mini Red Velvet and Carrot Cakes were part of a dessert buffet that I recently catered and of all the things I made, they were the easiest and very well received. I think people liked that the mini cakes were small enough that they could try one of each without over indulging and I liked that I was serving cake without having to slice and plate it.

To make the mini cakes, I simply baked my favorite Red Velvet and Carrot Cakes and then broke them into crumbs that I mixed with enough cream cheese icing to form a mixture that would hold together. This is basically how cake balls are made except that I skipped the rolling into balls step and the dipping into a coating step and just scooped (I used a 1-inch cookie scoop) and released the cakes flat side down on a piece of parchment paper. When you are ready to serve, place each cake in a mini cupcake paper and add a dollop of cream cheese icing on top. That's all there is to it and you have my favorite new way to serve cake to a crowd.

Mini Carrot Cakes

A tray of mini carrot cakes at the reception.

Here are the cake and icing recipes I used, but don't be afraid to get creative and make these using other cake and frosting recipes. Be creative and have fun.

Red Velvet Cake
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 ounce red food coloring
1/2 cup buttermilk
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line two 9-inch cake pans.

Cream butter, add vanilla and mix well. Add sugar and beat until fluffy.

Add eggs, sour cream, food coloring and buttermilk. Mix well.

Add salt and baking soda. Mix well.

Add cocoa powder and flour and mix just until blended. Don't over mix.

Divide batter among the two cake pans and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until done.

Carrot Cake

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable (I have also used canola or olive oil)

4 eggs

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

3 cups raw grated carrots (I usually add an additional cup to bring the total to 4)

1/2 cups chopped walnuts

1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineapple

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. With a whisk, cream together sugar and oil. Add eggs; cream well. Add flour, soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix well. Add carrots, nuts and pineapple. Mix well and pour into two 9-inch cake pans that are greased and floured. Bake at 300 degrees for approximately 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

 Cream Cheese Icing

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

12 oz. (1 1/2 pkg.) cream cheese 

1/4 cup softened butter

2 teaspoons vanilla

Whip cream cheese and butter thoroughly. Add vanilla. Add sugar, a little at a time and whip until smooth.

 

Guinness Chocolate Cake With Peanut Butter Filling

What's better than a Guinness Chocolate Cake? Two Guinness Chocolate Cakes with Peanut Butter Filling!

Hands down, my most requested cake is Chocolate Cake With Peanut Butter Filling and Chocolate Buttercream but sometimes it's fun to experiment and mix things up a bit. So staying with the peanut butter and chocolate theme I instead made two Guinness Chocolate Cakes and topped each of them with Peanut Butter Filling and Cream Cheese Icing.

I just thought the smooth lightly sweet icing would go really well with the chunky peanut butter filling. And, there really is no cake better than super moist Guinness chocolate.

When it came to decorating, I kept the sides of the cakes bare since I like the look of the bright white cream cheese icing against the dark chocolate brown cake. For a little extra pizazz I piped borders around the top, middle and base of the cake. The border also hides the not so pretty edges of where the peanut butter filling and icing meet.

I'm serving this cake tomorrow at the Wednesday Community Meal in recognition of our volunteers who have November birthdays and I hope it's a hit.

Here's how I made it:

Guinness Chocolate Cake
(makes two 9-inch cakes)

2 cup Guinness
2 sticks plus 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups cocoa powder
4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups sour cream
4 eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla
4 cups all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and line two 9-inch springform pans.

Pour the Guinness into a large saucepan, add the butter in slices and heat until the butter is melted. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and pour into the beer mixture and finally whisk in the flour and baking soda.

Divide the cake batter among the two greased and lined pans and bake the cakes for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Leave them to cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack before releasing them from the pan.

Once the cakes are cool, make the filling and cream cheese icing.

Peanut Butter Filling:
1 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk

In a mixing bowl, whip peanut butter and butter together. Add vanilla and powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Finally add milk and beat just until the filling comes together and is spreadable. Don't over beat.

Cream Cheese Topping
2 packages (8 oz) cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup heavy cream

Whip the cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar and whip again. Add the cream and whip again until it's light and spreadable.

To Assemble:

Place one of the cakes on a platter and top with half of the filling.

Spread the filling evenly over the cake being careful not to get too close to the sides.

Add a little more than a third of the icing to the top of the filling and spread it evenly, trying your best to keep it neat and the layers separate.

Top the first cake with the second cake and repeat, adding filling and cream cheese icing to the top.

Put the remaining icing into a pastry bag fitted with the tip of your choice and pipe a border around the top of the cake.

Also add a border around the middle of the cake. This hides the messy edge of where the filling meets the icing.

Finally, add a third border to the base of the cake. Keep the cake chilled until you are ready to serve. Enjoy!

Cherry Chocolate Guinness Cake

My good friend Fred who was my partner in organizing the Wednesday Community Meal back in 2004 and is still the program's hardest working volunteer today loves Black Forest cake, but I hate to make him the exact same cake over and over.

So to change things up this year, I created this Cherry Chocolate Guinness Cake using my favorite Guinness cake recipe from Nigella Lawson and dividing the batter in half to get two cake layers.

Between the layers I added a thick coat of dark cherry filling and topped the whole cake with a traditional whipped cream cheese icing.

I'm pretty positive Fred is going to love it. This cake proves that simple can be a standout.

Here's the recipe:

Cherry Chocolate Guinness Cake

Guinness Chocolate Cake
1 cup Guinness
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup sour cream ( or substitute plain yogurt)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and line two 9-inch springform pans.

Pour the Guinness into a large saucepan, add the butter in slices and heat until the butter is melted. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and pour into the beer mixture and finally whisk in the flour and baking soda.
Divide the batter between the two pans and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Leave the cakes to cool in the pans before inverting them onto cooling racks.

Let the cakes cool removing them from the pans.

Cherry Filling
1 16 oz package frozen pitted cherries
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons cornstarch

The frozen cherries that I used.

In a saucepan over medium heat combine the cherries, sugar and almond extract. Cook until simmering, stirring and using the back of a spoon to break apart the cherries.

In a small bowl whisk together the cream and cornstarch. Add the cream mixture to the simmering cherries and cook until thick. Remove from the heat and let cool before using.


Cream Cheese Icing
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream

Whip the cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar and whip again. Add the cream and whip again until it's becomes light and spreadable.


To Assemble:
Set one of the cakes right side up on a serving platter or cardboard round and top with just enough of the cherry filling to give it a good thick and even coat (Extra filling can be saved and used as jam).

A nice thick coat of cherry filling.

Add the second cake right side up and frost just the very top with the cream cheese icing so that it resembles a frothy top of Guinness.

Letting the filling and cakes cool well before assembling keeps the filling from running out the sides and the cake looking pretty.

Ice just the top of the cake.

Keep the cake chilled before serving.

Guinness Chocolate Cake

A Guinness Chocolate Cake sitting in a bakery box and ready to give.

A Guinness Chocolate Cake is the cake I turn to when I want to make something special but also no fuss.

The cake is moist, rich and quick to make. Because it's a one-layer cake, frosting it couldn't be easier. Just spread on a batch of cream cheese icing so that it resembles the froth on top of a pint of Guinness and it's done.

The recipe is from Nigella Lawson's cookbook "Feast" and it also makes great cupcakes.

Chocolate Guinness Cake
1 cup Guinness
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and line a 9-inch springform pan.

Pour the Guinness into a large saucepan, add the butter in slices and heat until the butter is melted. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and pour into the beer mixture and finally whisk in the flour and baking soda.

Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Leave to cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.

Cream Cheese Icing
8 oz. cream cheese
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream

Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sift over the powdered sugar and beat them both together. Add the cream and beat again until it's a spreadable consistency. Ice just the top of the cake so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.

Guinness Chocolate Cake

 I needed a last minute dessert to bring to a dinner party tonight so I turned to my favorite fail-proof Guinness Chocolate Cake. The cake comes together lickety-split — You mix it by hand in one bowl!

Today I substituted plain non-fat yogurt for the sour cream in the original recipe because I didn't feel like running to the store and it worked. The cake still came out moist and delicious.

The original recipe is from Nigella Lawson's cookbook "Feast." Try it and you won't be disappointed.

Guinness Chocolate Cake
1 cup Guinness
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup sour cream ( or substitute plain yogurt)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and line a 9-inch springform pan.

Pour the Guinness into a large saucepan, add the butter in slices and heat until the butter is melted. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and pour into the beer mixture and finally whisk in the flour and baking soda.

Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Leave to cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.

Once cool, frost with Cream Cheese Topping.

Cream Cheese Topping
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream

Whip the cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar and whip again. Add the cream and whip again until it's light and spreadable. Frost just the top of the cake so that it resembles a frothy top of Guinness.

Iced Cupcake

Here's my Red Velvet Cupcake iced and ready to eat.
I made a basic cream cheese icing and topped it with touch of cupcake crumbs.

Yum!

Classic Carrot Cake

One of the simplest cakes to whip up is a classic carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

For the cake, all the ingredients can be mixed by hand in less than 5 minutes.

Really, the hardest part of the recipe is grating the carrots. After that, it's smooth sailing.

Grating the carrots can be made easier by using large carrots — they're easier to grip and you'll get the required amount in less time. I also prefer a box grater to a food processor — Fewer parts to clean up!

My carrot cake recipe comes from "Seasoned with Love," my trusty German Baptist Cookbook. The cake is baked at a low temperature (300 degrees)  which I think is the secret to its moist texture.

The original recipe calls for vegetable oil but I usually use canola or olive oil. It's your pick — the results are always delicious.

 I also usually add an additional cup of carrots. I made notes of these changes in the recipe below.

Carrot Cake

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable (I have also used canola or olive oil)

4 eggs

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

3 cups raw grated carrots (I usually add an additional cup to bring the total to 4)

1/2 cups chopped walnuts

1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineapple

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. With a whisk, cream together sugar and oil. Add eggs; cream well. Add flour, soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix well. Add carrots, nuts and pineapple. Mix well and pour into two 9-inch cake pans that are greased and floured. Bake at 300 degrees for approximately 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. When cool, frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Two carrot cake layers waiting to be stacked and iced.

Adding the second layer.

Icing the cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 cups powdered sugar

12 oz. (1 1/2 pkg.) cream cheese 

1/4 cup softened butter

2 teaspoons vanilla

Whip cream cheese and butter thoroughly. Add vanilla. Add sugar, a little at a time and whip until smooth.