With Christmas on the way, another festive time is paving in soon and that is the end of current year and the start of NEW YEAR.
The last day of the year is on 31st December which is also known as the 7th day of Christmastide in the Gregorian calendar. In almost all the countries, the New Year’s Eve is celebrated at evening social gatherings where people, eat, dance, drink and light fireworks to mark the New Year.
New Year’s Eve is a traditional time to celebrate with friends and family and food plays a vital role in not only this but in all festive atmospheres. Along with buffet meals, a beautiful cake is always available as an accompaniment to the party or casual get together.
New Year is the best time to put cake baking and decorating techniques and skills to work to impress your Guests.
Cakes created for New Year’s Eve can either be simple or creative as per your choice in order to celebrate holiday with style.
Here are some of the latest cake ideas:
Cranberry Lime Pie:
The key lime pie in luscious cranberry curd will raise the New Year’s spirit of all the Guests you have at your party. The contrast in this recipe is a perfect genius between snappy press in crust and tart filling.
For this, you will need:
Gingersnap Cookies: 4 Ounces.
Pecans: 1 Cup.
Unsalted Melted Butter: 4 TBSP.
Light Brown Sugar: 3 TBSP.
Fresh Cranberries: 1 Package of 12 Ounce, plus 4 Ounce for Serving.
Granulated Sugar: 2 ½ Cups.
Large Eggs: 3.
Egg Yolks: 2.
Lemon Zest: Finely Grated, 1 TSP plus 2 TSP divided.
Fresh Lime Juice: ½ Cup.
Pinch of Kosher Salt.
Unsalted Butter in Pieces: ¾ Cup.
Whipped Cream.
Directions:
Oven preheating to 350 degrees. In a food processor, pulse cookies until it is finely ground, add pecans and pulse again until it grounds finely. Now add brown sugar and butter and pulse again to combine. Transfer it to a deep 9 inches pie dish. Press firmly onto bottom and up side of the dish, using a measuring cup. Bake until it gets firm and slightly dark in color for10 to 15 minutes. Gently press back up, if the crust slides down and then let it cool.
Over medium high flame, collect 12 Oz. cranberries, 1 cup granulated sugar and ¼ cup of water to boil in a saucepan. Reduce the heat and simmer until cranberries burst and most the liquid evaporates for around 12 to 15 minutes. Allow it to cool down and then blend it until it gets smooth.
Now cook the above ingredient along with egg, egg yolks, lemon zest, salt, ½ cup sugar, lime juice and 1 TSP. lime zest in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water making sure that the bowl should not touch water and stir it with a rubber spatula and scraping down sides of the bowl until the curd gets thick and coats the spatula. This will take around 8 to 10 minutes. Let it cool until it just warms up.
With an electric mixer on medium high, beat curd while adding a piece of butter one at a time until curd looks lighter in texture and color for about 5 minutes. Scrape it in the crust and chill until it gets firm for about 2 hours.
Collect ½ cup granulated sugar and ½ cup of water to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Add remaining 4 Oz. of cranberries and cook until barely starting to soften for about 1 minute. Transfer cranberries to a wire rack using a slotted spoon set inside a rimmed baking sheet and chill until it is no longer sticky which might take 20 to 30 minutes.
Toss the remaining granulated sugar and lime zest in a bowl, toss cranberries in lime sugar. With cranberries, top the pie and serve it with whipped cream.
Coffee Cake with Mocha Frosting Recipe:
A cake with intense coffee flavor iced with creamy coffee mocha frosting. For this cake, things you will need are:
Plain Flour: 2 Cups.
Granulated Sugar: 2 Cups.
Salt: ¼ TSP.
Butter: 1 Cup.
Coffee Mixture: 3 TBSP (4 TBSP instant coffee + 1 Cup boiling water).
Buttermilk: ½ Cup.
Eggs: 2.
Baking Soda: 1 TSP.
Vanilla: 2 TSP.
FOR MOCHA FROSTING:
½ + ¾ Cup Butter.
3 ¾ Cups of Icing Sugar / Powdered Sugar.
Instant Coffee: 2 TBSP.
Dark Cocoa Powder: 3 TBSP.
Salt: ¼ TSP.
Heavy Cream: 4 TBSP.
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F or 170 degrees C.
Take a big round baking pan and grease and flour it.
Mix sugar, flour and ¼ teaspoon salt and baking soda in a large bowl and set it aside.
Over medium low heat in a pot, melt butter. Add coffee mixture in the pot to the butter once the butter melts. Let it boil for 10 seconds then turn the heat off and then set it aside for a minute.
Add buttermilk, vanilla and eggs in a separate bowl and mix until it is combines well.
In the flour mixture, pour the butter / coffee mixture and stir the mixture gently. The purpose is to cool down the heat before adding the egg mixture.
Once done, add in the mixture of egg and stir it until well combined. Once done, pour it into the pan and bake it for 20 to 22 minutes or until it cooks.
Let it cool once done.
FOR MOCHA FROSTING:
Take all the icing ingredients, combine them and ice the cake. Before serving, chill it for an hour.
Spiced Bundt Cake with Apple Caramel Sauce:
Add a cream of tartar to the caramel to prevent the sugar from crystallizing. Drizzle the sauce on the cake and save the rest of it for passing. The apple caramel cake is a perfect blend for your New Year party. Get amazed in the liquid treat with soft combination. For this cake, you will need:
CARAMEL SAUCE:
Sugar: 1 Cup.
Cream of Tartar: 1 Pinch.
Fresh Apple Cider: ¼ Cup.
Heavy Cream: ¼ Cup.
Apple Cider Vinegar: 1 TBSP.
Vanilla Extract: 1 TSP.
Kosher Salt: ¼ TSP.
CAKE:
Non Stick Vegetable Oil Spray.
Butter: 1 ¼ Cups.
Vanilla Bean: 1 Split Lengthwise.
Flour: 2 1/3 Cups.
Slivered Almonds: 1 ¼ Cups.
Baking Powder: 2 TSP.
Kosher Salt: 2 TSP.
Freshly Grated Nutmeg: 1 ½ TSP.
Ground Cinnamon: 1 ½ TSP.
Ground All Spice: 1 TSP.
Ground Ginger: ¾ TSP.
Freshly Ground Black Pepper: ½ TSP.
Ground Cloves: ½ TSP.
Dark Brown Sugar: 1 Cup.
Sugar: 1 Cup.
Powdered Sugar + More for Dusting: ¾ Cup.
Finely Grated Lemon Zest: 1 TSP.
Eggs: 3.
Egg Yolks: 5.
Whole Milk: 1 Cup.
Directions:
Special Equipment: 10 inches diameter non stick Bundt pan.
CARAMEL SAUCE:
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine cream of tartar, sugar and ¼ cup of water and stir until sugar dissolves. Without stirring and occasionally swirling pan for even cooking until mixture turns a dark amber color, Cook. Once done, remove it from the heat and add cream, vinegar, apple cider, vanilla and salt and whisk to combine. Keep the pan back to medium heat and boil it. For a minute, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook and stir to dissolve any caramel bits. Remove from heat, once done and allow it to cool. Once done, set it aside. Cover and let it chill, once done.
CAKE:
In the middle of your oven, arrange a rack and pre heat to 350 degrees. Coat the Bundt pan with non stick spray. In a medium sauce pan on a medium heat, place butter. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add the beans. Stirring often, cook, until the butter foams and then turns brown for about 5 minutes. Once done, remove the vanilla bean, pour brown butter in a medium bowl and chill until it gets firm for about 45 minutes.
In a food processor, pulse flour and almonds until almonds are finely ground. Once done, transfer it to a bowl, whisk in the baking powder and the seven other ingredients and set it aside.
With the help of an electric mixer on medium speed, beat brown sugar, sugar, brown butter and ¾ cup of powdered sugar in a bowl, frequently scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl and beaters for about 5 minutes until it gets fluffy and light.
Once done, reduce the speed to low and add half of dry ingredients and mix until almost blended. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix until the batter is blended and smooth. Scrape in a prepared pan and then tap the pan on the counter to even out.
Bake it until the tester inserted near the center of the cake comes out clean and the cake is dark golden brown and starts pulling from the sides of the pan for about 60 to 70 minutes.
Once done, transfer the pan to the wire rack and let the cake cool down in the pan for about 25 minutes. For about 1 hour, let the cake cool down by inverting the cake on the rack. Store it at the room temperature in an air tight container.
With a powdered sugar, dust the cake, drizzle caramel sauce on the cake and let it drop down sides and in the crevices and grooves. Serve the remaining sauce.
Chocolate Mug Cake Recipe:
Do you crave for a cake? If yes, then make one now with this quick and easy recipe. The rich delight can be shared with your friends too, only if you want. Indulge in some sinful eating by baking this dessert at your home. The rich little cup of wonder takes total of 10 minutes to cook for which you will need:
Egg: 1.
Oil: 3 TBSP.
Milk: 3 TBSP.
Maida Flour: 4 TBSP.
Sugar: 4.5 TBSP.
Baking Powder: ½ TSP.
Cocoa Powder: 1.5 TBSP.
Salt: A Pinch.
Vanilla Essence: Few Drops.
Directions:
Take a large mug and break an egg in it to avoid the overflowing in the microwave.
Add milk and oil and whisk with a fork until you get a smooth batter.
Add Maida flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, salt, powdered sugar and drops of vanilla essence and mix them all with a fork until it gets combined properly.
Keep your mug in the microwave and cook it for 2 minutes.
The fluffy decadent chocolate mug cake is now ready to be consumed. Take the mug out and let it cool down for few minutes and then serve.
Fallen Chocolate Cake:
The cake is inspired by the author and champion of home cooks the world over, Late Richard Sax. To make this cake, you will need:
CAKE: Unsalted Butter: ½ Cup, cut down in 1 inch pieces, plus more at room temperature for the pan.
Sugar: ¾ Cup plus 2 TBSP, divided, plus more for the pan.
Semi Sweet or Bitter Sweet Chocolate: 10 Ounces, coarsely Chopped.
Vegetable Oil: 2 TBSP.
Eggs: 6.
Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: 2 TBSP.
Vanilla Extract: 1 TSP.
Kosher Salt: ¾ TSP.
TOPPING: Chilled Heavy Cream: 1 Cup.
Mascarpone: ½ Cup.
Powdered Sugar: 3 TBSP.
Directions: 9 inches diameter spring form pan.
CAKE: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and then butter the spring form pan and dust it with sugar. Tap out the excess.
Mix oil, chocolate and ½ cup of butter in a large heat proof bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water and heat, stir it often until the butter melts. Remove the bowl from the sauce pan, once melted.
Break 4 eggs and place whites and yolks in separate bowls. In the bowl of yolks, add vanilla, salt, cocoa powder, ¼ cup sugar, and remaining 2 eggs and whisk it until it gets smooth. Once done, mix the yolk mixture in chocolate mixture and blend it.
Beat egg whites until it gets frothy using an electric mixer on top speed. While the mixer is running, mix in ½ cup of sugar and beat firm peaks form.
Fold the egg whites in chocolate mixture in 2 additions, folding until incorporated between additions. Scrape the batter in the prepared pan; smooth top and sprinkle with remaining 2 tbsp of sugar.
For around 45 minutes, bake it until the top is puffed and starts to crack and pulls away from the edge of the pan.
Once done, transfer it to the wire rack and let it cool down in the pan.
TOPPING:
Beat mascarpone, cream and powdered sugar in a bowl until soft peak forms with an electric mixer on medium high speed.
From the cake, remove the sides of spring form pan and mound the whipped cream mixture in the cake’s center.
Here are some of the cake recipes which you can try for the coming year. Do not forget to play with ingredients because there are endless possibilities. Use your own ideas and mix them up for an unusual creativity and show off your baking skills to impress your Guests.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
