Coffee Almond Cake

December already! I wonder why they decided to skip November this year? Going straight from Halloween to the Christmas season just seems so wrong. It's quite a monumental moment in our world history--I'm actually surprised there wasn't any sort of massive uproar over it. I mean, Thanksgiving is a pretty sweet holiday. It's too bad we missed it. At least thousands of turkeys' lives were spared this year. 

Nah, I just didn't blog at all in the month of November, and I wanted to cover it up by trying to convince you that the wonderful 11th month of our year was non-existent. I think it worked for a second, but then you realized that I'm really bad at lying. And I'm also pretty fickle. How about we move on to YOUR imperfections? No? 

Thousands of turkeys actually died, by the way. And the one that died for our Thanksgiving dinner was fantastic. (Shout out to you, Mama!)

ANYWAY.

How's your holiday season going? It is a little on the warm side, but I can dig it (I am NOT complaining Mother Nature, not for one second). Our holiday season over here starts with my mom's birthday, which is TODAY. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAMA! Double shout out. 

If you know my mom, you already know she's an awesome lady. She's super fun...I'm pretty sure she has more of a social life than I do. And she's super nice, and really pretty. I'd post a picture of her and have you guess how old she's turning, and you'd probably all guess somewhere around 30, 32--MAYBE. But, she's probably horrified at the thought of that all going down, so we'll just skip that little game. But seriously, she's pretty much my BFF, and puts up with my fickleness, which is very admirable. Enjoy your day, Mama. I love you!

Obviously this cake is for my mom's birthday. I tried to come up with something that combines a few things she likes. So, I started with coffee buttercream (Mom loves coffee!), then moved on to the cake. Hmmm...what goes with coffee?....chocolate: BORING, vanilla: BORING, coffee: TOO MUCH COFFEE, hazelnut: NO. So what did I go with? Almond. Mom seems to like almonds. And I figured if I douse it in Disarrono, she'd be sold (Mom loves alcohol!). Now we have a party. 

Almond Cake 

Adapted from Living Tastefully

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup almond butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup amaretto liquor (I used Disarrono), plus more for dousing the cakes
2 cups cake flour (or 1 3/4 cup AP flour and 1/4 cup cornstarch)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup hot milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and prepare two 9" cake pans. Cream butter, almond butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, and then add vanilla and amaretto. Mix in dry ingredients, slowly add the milk, and mix until just combined. Divide batter between the two pans and bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool cakes a bit and use a pastry brush to add some additional liquor.

The frosting I used was basically this frosting from a previous post.

See you in February!

Just kidding, maybe.

Espresso Buttercream and New Endeavors

Happy October! Well, mid-October. Since my last post I've been busy making cakes for some dear friends (Happy Baby Shower, Christina! And Happy Birthday, Umran!), being a leaf-peeper in Vermont, playing jump-rope with the cable wire laying in our driveway (cough Comcast sucks cough) (Side note: do you understand how difficult jumping-rope is? From what I remember from my childhood, it shouldn't be very complicated. My boxing trainer has me jump rope EVERY WEEK and I still can't do it without tripping over myself. And that's super intimidating when you're getting ready to throw down.When did I become so uncoordinated? I digress.), and getting a new job!

If you remember correctly, I recently started a new job in August. But now I have a new new job! Where I get to replace my heels with sneakers! And be surrounded by baked goods all day! That's right, I'm gunna be doing pastry. Full time. And get paid for it. So that's definitely going to up my cred with all these recipes I'm giving you, so if I were you I'd write them down furiously. Just kidding, I have no cred. But I think this is a step in the right direction! I'm technically the "Pastry Finisher," which means when all the pastries are done, I get to eat them. Quality control of sorts. Are you jealous of my job yet?

Okay, that's not what I'll be doing at all. I'll be assembling all the pastries and decorating them and making them look nice. I think. I haven't started yet so I could be lying. Either way, I'll keep you all updated when I'm not working at the bakery or the restaurant, and if our Internet doesn't decide to take a nap in our driveway again.

I just have a simple recipe for you today. Simple but delicious. And chock-full of caffeine. I also have some pictures of the baby shower cake I made a few weeks ago. So by the time you're done, you'll have relived the last few weeks of my life. Minus the awkwardness that I tend to contribute. Enjoy!

Espresso Buttercream
Adapted from Sweetpolita

5 egg whites
1 cup granulated sugar
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) butter, softened (I use salted so it's not overpoweringly sweet, but if that's what you like, use unsalted!)
1 1/2 Tbsp instant espresso powder mixed with 2 tsp water to make a thick, syrupy mixture (this amount makes it fairly strong--use more or less depending on how strong you'd like the final espresso flavor to be)
1 tsp vanilla

Over a double boiler that's simmering (not boiling), whisk egg whites and sugar until mixture is hot to the touch (around 140 degrees F), about 7-10 minutes. Transfer to a mixing bowl with the whisk attachment, and whip on high until egg whites are fluffy and glossy, and mixture is no longer warm to the touch (this takes me 10+ minutes. To help cool it off, I keep a damp towel in the freezer then wrap it around the mixing bowl as it whips). Switch to a paddle attachment and add butter one tablespoon at a time until it is all incorporated. Add espresso mixture and vanilla and stir until combined.

Here's the baby shower cake pics-- pink and leopard cake for sweet little Aleeah! Can't wait to meet her!

                                                                   *thanks for getting the pic, Christina!