Cinnamon Streusel Cake

As you can see from the picture, this has an interior of yummy, cinnamon goodness. We topped ours with whipped cream, which balanced out some of the sweetness.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8x8 in baking pan or a 9 in spring form pan with cooking spray and set aside (I used the spring form).

1/2 cup butter, soft
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 1/4 tsp vanilla

In a small bowl, mash the soft butter, 1/4 cup flour, brown sugar, sugar and cinnamon with a fork. It will be creamy.

In another small bowl combine 1 1/4 cups of flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

In a large bowl beat the egg and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the melted butter, milk and vanilla. Add the flour mixture all at one time and stir together until just incorporated. Don't over mix.

Pour into prepared pan and dot surface with the brown sugar mixture. Bake for 40 -50 min or until moist crumbs cling to a toothpick inserted in the middle.

Honey Bun Baked French Toast

4 tbs butter
4 eggs
3 tbs honey
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup pecans, toasted
pinch of allspice
2/3 cups apple cider or orange juice
6 slices thick bread

Preheat oven to 400. Whisk cider, eggs, cinnamon, salt, and allspice together in a shallow bowl. Place butter and honey in a 13x9-inch glass baking pan. Heat in the oven until the butter is melted and the honey is bubbling. Do not allow the mixture to take on any color. Remove the pan from the oven, stir to mix the honey and butter. Meanwhile, toast the pecans in a skillet until fragrant. Sprinkle the pecans over the honey and butter mixture.

While the butter and honey are melting, dip one or two slices of bread at a time in the egg mixture, turning until thoroughly saturated but not falling apart. Arrange the soaked bread over the nuts in the baking pan. Bake until the top is golden brown and the bottom is bubbly, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Notes - This is from the Joy of Cooking. The original calls for apple cider, but we rarely have cider and always have orange juice. Cider is bar far the best, but if you don't have any, juice is still tasty. I prefer orange over any other juice, because it seems to make the bread more tender. Be sure to let it soak for a bit, you don't want it to fall apart, but it needs to be pretty saturated. Be careful not to overcook this, the top doesn't brown as much as I expected it too. When it goes longer than 20 min, the syrup and pecans start to burn and the bread gets tough. This goes together really fast and is so yummy. Those who have a sweeter tooth will want a little extra syrup, but it's good without any extra. Enjoy!

Carrot Cake

I usually don't care for carrot cake, but this is yummy. The frosting really makes this cake. Chocolate improves everything!

Cake
4 eggs
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups sugar
2 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
20 oz carrots, shredded (about 3 1/4 cups)
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1 cup crushed pineapple, well-drained

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing
1 1/2 lbs cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups white chocolate chips, melted
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp lemon zest
chopped peacans, toasted

Preheat oven to 350. Spray bottom of three 8-inch round cake pans with nonstick spray and then line with parchment paper, spraying bottom again.

Combine eggs and oil in a large mixing bowl. Beat 2 minutes with a mixer on medium speed. Add 1 cup sugar and continue mixing 2 minutes. Add remaining sugar and mix 4 minutes.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg; add to egg mixture, beating on low speed until blended (about 1 minute). Add carrots, nuts and pineapple; mix until well combined.

Divide batter evenly among pans.

Bake 60 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs.

Cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Run knife around edge of cakes and remove from pans. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

To prepare icing, place cream cheese in mixing bowl; beat with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add melted chocolate a little at a time, continuing to beat at medium speed. Add butter a little at a time. Scrape down sides of bowl; add lemon zest and beat until combined.
Remove cakes from refrigerator. Ice the top of one layer. Place second layer on top; ice top. Place third layer on top; ice top and sides of cake. Press chopped nuts into sides of cake.
Serves 20

Notes - The recipe said you could use 2 9-inch pans instead of the 8-inchers, increasing the time to 75 minutes. I did this and found the baking time to be too long. I took the cakes out with 12 minutes remaining and they were done. Next time I'll stick with the 60 min and add if necessary. Since I did two cakes instead of three, I split the cakes in half to make four layers. The ratio of cake to icing would have been too much for me (I don't like thick icing - this way it was more spread out). I also didn't press the nuts into the sides of the cake. I don't like a lot of nuts either. The original called for walnuts, but I swapped those for pecans. Toasting adds a lot of flavor, so don't skip this step (I just heat a skillet and toast them on the stove top). I've had two pieces of this cake now and I like it better after it's been in the refrigerator. The first time had soft icing, and the second time the chocolate and butter and gotten firm again. Enjoy!