Walnut Rum Raisin Cake

Walnut Rum Raisin Cake

(Source: Maida Heatter's Cakes (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2011 ed., pg. 42)

A Christmas present was this beautiful Nordic Ware cake pan -

I could not wait to try it and finally decided on the Walnut Rum-Raisin Cake to share with company on New Year's Eve. It was a great success and I was thrilled with the pan. I prepared it well (see my notes) and there was no sticking.

This is a delicious cake and the orange and lemon hints make it especially wonderful.

The recipe calls for dark rum and I only had golden rum on hand. I'm not sure how much difference that would make in the recipe.

1 cup light or dark raisins (or a mixture of both)
1/3 cup dark rum
2 1/4 cups (8.5 oz.) chopped walnuts (3/4 of which are finely ground)
2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
8 oz. (2 sticks) butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
Finely grated rind of 2 lemons
Finely grated rind of 2 oranges
Optional: confectioners' sugar

Soak the raisins with the rum in a covered jar, overnight, turning occasionally. (Note: I did not do this. I did soak them, but only for an hour or so.)

Preheat the oven to 350 and use the bottom third rack.

Prepare the pan. With an intricate-patterned pan such as this, I wanted to be extra careful since Bundt cakes are notorious for sticking. Maida recommends butter but after some further research, I decided to use shortening. Melt about 3 tablespoons of shortening and brush it thoroughly around the pan and the center column. Sprinkle the 3/4 cup of ground walnuts over it and also the column. I also added a few tablespoons of sugar to the walnuts for extra protection.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.

Beat the butter until soft. Add the vanilla and sugar. Mix well.

Beat in the eggs.

Add the sifted flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk on low speed.

Stir in the lemon and orange zest and the raisins. 

Stir in the nuts.

Transfer to the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Let the cake stand in the pan for 10 minutes. Prepare the rum sauce.

Rum Sauce

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
1/4 cup dark rum

In a small saucepan over medium heat, stir the sugar and water until it comes to a boil.

Remove from the heat and sit for a minute or two to allow to cool slightly.

Stir in the orange and lemon juice.

Finally, stir in the rum.

Carefully invert the cake pan onto another rack to slide it out.

Brush the sauce over the cake with a brush (you can also pour it slowly over the cake).

After the cake has completely cooled, confectioners' sugar can be sprinkled over it if you desire.

Palm Beach Chocolate Tube Cake

Palm Beach Chocolate Tube Cake
Source: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1999 ed.), pg. 52.

This recipe contained no introduction and when I looked it up on the Internet, I kept seeing another recipe for a chocolate cake from The Silver Palate Cookbook, published in 1982. I have that book and pulled it off the shelf and took a look. Sure enough, the recipes appears identical. The Silver Palate calls it "Decadent Chocolate Cake"with the only notable exception being the frosting, which the Silver Palate had done differently (more on that later). Maida Heatter's book was published in 1974. Hmmm....

Regardless of who came up with it first, it is a scrumptious cake - dense, moist, richly chocolate - heaven!

Now, about that frosting. Maida's recipe calls for only three ingredients - semisweet chocolate, sour cream and 1 egg. After reading the recipe, I decided to skip it since it calls for a raw egg. That doesn't bother me that much but Michael will not touch anything with raw egg. I did want to use sour cream because sour cream chocolate frosting is both our favorite frosting. I remembered seeing another recipe in Maida Heatter's Cakes and went with it. It is fantastic! That icing goes with a different chocolate cake that I have not made yet called "American Chocolate Layer Cake". Note to self...

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2 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/4 lb. (1 stick) butter
1 cup boiling water
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
Pinch of salt

Adjust the oven rack 1/3 from the bottom and preheat to 350. Butter a 9-inch tube pan and line the bottom with paper (cutting around the center tube). Dust with fine bread crumbs.

Sift together the flour and baking powder and set aside.

Combine the chocolate, butter and boiling water. Melt over medium heat.

Transfer to a mixing bowl.

Reserve 2 tablespoons of the sugar.

Add the larger portion of sugar to the chocolate mixture.

Add the vanilla

Add the eggs, mixing until smooth.

In a small bowl, add the baking soda to the sour cream and whisk together until smooth.

Add the sour cream to the chocolate mixture.

Add the flour gradually, beating only until smooth. Remove the bowl from the mixer and replace with a clean bowl with clean whisk attachment.

Beat the egg whites until they have a soft shape. Add the 2 tablespoons of sugar and beat until stiff but not dry.

Add a few dollops of the chocolate to the egg whites and gently fold together.

Now add the egg whites to the bowl of chocolate and fold together.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.

Bake for 50 - 60 minutes until the top springs back when lightly pressed.

Cool the cake on a rack for about 5 minutes, then carefully invert the pan to remove from the pan. Allow it to cool completely. After it has cooled, place pieces of wax paper around the edges to prepare for frosting.

After frosting is completed, slide the paper out.

ICING

Here is the original icing recipe that accompanied the cake recipe. Like I said earlier, I did not use this one but I've included the one I did use at the bottom.

8 oz. semisweet chocolate
3/4 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1 egg

Melt the chocolate, transfer to a mixing bowl. Beat in the sour cream and egg until smooth.

Let stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes, until slightly thickened.

Alternate (the one I used):

Chocolate Sour Cream Icing 

8 oz. milk chocolate
6 oz. semisweet chocolate
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over barely simmering water.

Transfer to mixer bowl. Add the salt, vanilla and sour cream. Beat on low speed until smooth.

If icing is too thin, let it sit at room temperature about an hour or until slightly thickened.

Chocolate Gingerbread

Chocolate Gingerbread (Source: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2006 ed.), pg. 89. 

This is very moist and delicious gingerbread although I have to say I don't really taste the chocolate in it.  When I was making it, I was remembering other gingerbread recipes of Maida's that I had tried so I'm thinking they are similar.

Note the icing is not in the recipe - in fact, this is in the chapter called "Old Fashioned Cakes Without Icing". I thought that the icing might be a nice touch. This is a cream cheese/pecan frosting that is similar, if not identical, to the one I use for carrot cake.

This is made in a 9" x 13" pan so it is a large, flat cake. I decided to freeze half of it and will report on how that turns out.

2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) sweet butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup boiling water or hot coffee
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup light molasses
4 large eggs
Optional:  1/3 cup candied or preserved ginger

Preheat oven to 325. Adjust rack 1/3 from bottom of the oven. Butter a 9" x 13" pan and dust with fine dry bread crumbs.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and all-spice. Set aside.

Melt the chocolate in top of a double boiler. Set aside to cool.

Place the butter in a mixing bowl. Add the hot water (or coffee)
and mix until the butter is melted.

Mix in the brown sugar.

Mix in the molasses.

Mix in the eggs.

Mix in the chocolate.

Gradually add the flour mixture.
Stir in the optional ginger, if using.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.

Bake for 45-50 minutes until the top springs back when gently pressed.
Cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes.

Remove the cake from the pan and let it cool completely on a rack.

The following is the icing that I added. (This is not in the original recipe)

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 lb. (1 stick) butter, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans

Mix the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing well. Add the vanilla. Add the pecans.