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21 November 2010

cake slice bakers: cinnamon pudding cake


cinnamon pudding cake with pumpkin ice cream and candied walnuts

I'm a Cake Slice Baker Virgin no longer! Oooooohhhhh yeeeeeeaaaa........

Cake Slice Bakers (CSB for short, hollah!) is great because once a month, a group of bakers all over the world help each other out making something from a cookbook. At the moment the book of choice is Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman and this Cinnamon Pudding Cake is not only the first I’ve made with CSB but also the first I’ve made from the book.

The cake is a cinnamon flavoured cake covered in a brown sugar caramel sauce (in a kinda upside-down cake way). If made correctly, it's moist and comforting and downright delish. 



The first time I made this cake I screwed it up royally. I was in a hurry and threw the mix, including 3 cups of thin caramel sauce, into a 9 inch pan with a removable base. Oh boy.

I'm embarrassed to say I only realised my mistake when, 10 minutes in the oven, I smelled caramel sauce burning on the bottom of the oven. That's when I thought, "What would Tim Gunn do?"
I MADE. IT. WORK.



I shovelled/poured the cake into an 8inch (without holes in the bottom) pan and threw it back into the oven. I thought I had a disaster on my hands but when it was done, it was moist and covered in a lovely caramel and just delicious!

I know a few of my fellow CSB-ers had issues with the dreaded dryness so I recreated my fortunate mistake. Frankly, I'm writing up my version because the original recipe is unreliable and I reckon my changes fix it. My changes make it amazing and moist and pudding-ey and easy-peasy and something I can NOW rely on.

I've got a couple of nice photos of the perfected cake but it'll take me a couple of days to load them up because I use old-fashioned film for my photos and they need to be developed.



Hmmm now that I've loaded this pic, I'm thinking it looks a little suggestive of something else... Heck, what with this picture and my mention of the 'V' word, I have a horrible feeling that this blog is soon going to become R-rated. My mother would be so proud.


fixed cake about to be demolished

Fixed Cinnamon Pudding Cake
Adapted from Cake Keeper Cakes


For the caramel sauce
1 cup plus
1 tablespoon
light brown sugar, packed
1 cup
water
1 tablespoon
unsalted butter
½ teaspoon
salt


For the cake
2 cups
all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons
baking powder
3 teaspoons
ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon
salt
2 tablespoons
unsalted butter, softened
1 cup
white sugar
1 cup
whole milk
1 teaspoon
vanilla extract



















Preheat oven to 350F/180C and grease an 8 inch round cake pan*.

To make the sauce
Combine caramel ingredients in a saucepan and heat on a medium-low heat until sugar melts, stirring occassionally. Bring the sauce to a boil and then set aside.

To make the cake
In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter and white sugar until creamy. Because there is so little butter, the mixture will be very grainy and not a typical creamy mixture. Fold in a third of the flour mix and then half of the milk. Fold in another third of the flour, the rest of the milk, and then the last of the flour. Add the vanilla and 1/4 cup of the caramel sauce and gently combine.

Pour 1/4 cup of the caramel into the baking pan. Pour the cake mixture into the pan and gently smooth over the caramel. Pour the rest of the caramel over the cake. The sauce will make holes in the cake and bits of cake will float up but don't worry - carefully smooth the cake through the sauce as much as you can.

Put cake in the oven and bake until a cake tester comes out just clean, about 40 to 50 minutes. Don't overcook!

Cool the cake on a cake rack for 15 minutes then invert onto a platter. Caramel sauce will pour out so make sure your platter has raised sides. Wait another 5 minutes if you want the sauce to thicken a little. Serve warm.

The cake is best eaten just made but can be kept, covered, for 3 days in the fridge.

*This cake will rise a bit so make sure your pan has high sides. If your pan isn't high enough, swap with a wider pan. The pan I used had sides nearly 3 inches high and the cake rose to the very top.

14 comments:

Cream until Fluffy said...

Ooooh that looks good! (Love those pics!)Oops about using the losse-base tin, but well fixed :)

Please Do Not Feed The Animals. said...

Ha ha - I made the exact same mistake! I thought I was the only one silly enough to do that - glad to have you join me! Lou.

Anonymous said...

Great picture...love the touch from the candied walnuts!
Did you by chance make the ice cream? I don't think I have ever seen pumpkin ice cream at my grocery store. Thank you for commenting on mine! =)

Future Grown-Up said...

Your step by step explanations are great. And I wish I could pull the cake off the computer screen because it looks so yummy.

Brownieville Girl said...

Glad it turned out well for you - every cloud etc!

Hope your oven wasn't a nightmare to clean!

My version wasn't great.

Kelly said...

I wish I had some pumpkin ice cream and candied walnuts for the cake, too. Yum!

I was among the disappointed camp, but I'm glad that you enjoyed yours. Your pictures look great.

Kelly said...

P.S. I love, love your pink polka dot plate!

Rachel said...

I followed the recipe exactly..mine wasn't dry but was overtly sweet. You have done well.

All That's Left Are The Crumbs said...

I love how you shortened it to CSB. R-rated or not I love your blog. I will have to try your new recipe as I had problems with this one. It just didn't turn out like I thought it would. I have made plenty of self-saucing puddings which is what we call Pudding Cakes and they all were not dry and had plenty of sauce.

Katie said...

Your cake looks wonderful and very gooey! I've poured syrup into a loose based pan too - the dreaded smell of buring sugar in the oven!! Well done for rescuing it

Emily said...

That last picture is adorable!

Miri said...

@Please Do Not Feed The Animals. - I can't believe someone else put it into a loose tin too! I know it's horrible but I'm kinda glad it wasn't just me...
@thedaintyapron - Yes I did make my own pumpkin ice cream! It's DIVINE. I'll post about it asap :)

Miri said...

Thanks everyone for taking a look and commenting - you've all been so encouraging! xoxo

Elle said...

Great save with the change of pans...and lovely photos. I really like your positive attitude as well as quick thinking!

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