The Cake Merchant

Mini Pumpkin Layer Cakes for Two

Mini-Pumpkin-Cakes

I can’t believe I’ve been away from blogging for almost 2 weeks! This is my favorite time of year to bake, but commuting back and forth from Dallas to Amarillo for work has kept me away from my oven. Not that I’m complaining at all. As a musician, any work is always welcome, and I’ve had so much fun playing with the Amarillo Symphony this week. I just wish this hotel room had an oven, because I’m dying to make a cake right now.

I did, however, manage to sneak in some baking before I left for my trip. And yes, it’s another pumpkin recipe. Another pumpkin cake recipe to boot. That’s what happens when you’re a procrastinator like me and you save all of your fall recipes until the last minute.

Mini Pumpkin Layer Cakes

While I have been lucky enough to spend the last few Thanksgivings with my fiancé and his family, this recipe was inspired by the many Thanksgivings I have celebrated on a much smaller scale. Some of my favorite Thanksgivings have been those that were spent with a roommate or a close friend or two, and these mini pumpkin cakes fit just that kind of an occasion.

Mini-Pumpkin-Cakes

This recipe makes a small batch- just 2 tiny cakes! I suppose I could have just made cupcakes, but layer cakes just have a better cake to frosting ratio. Plus, they’re cuter.

You may remember this recipe that I posted over at Best Friends for Frosting last year. These mini cakes are also baked in cans. I found some cans of organic pumpkin in BPA free liners, so I used those, but if you don’t want to bake these in cans, you can use a 4-inch cake pan. You may need to adjust the baking time if you do that.

Mini-Pumpkin-Cakes

To be honest, frosting these tiny cakes proved to be a bit cumbersome, so I left one without frosting on the outside just to show that they can look cute either way. I used 3 1/2 inch cake boards underneath, but if you don’t frost the outside, they really aren’t necessary. The frosting recipe makes enough to crumb coat and frost each cake with some left over for piping, but if you don’t plan to frost the outside, you can cut frosting the recipe in half.

Read The Post

Pumpkin Layer Cake with Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin-Layer-Cake

Happy fall! I know fall started weeks ago, but now that I’m visiting my parents in Indiana, it actually fells like it. I haven’t lived in a cold climate for almost 10 years now, and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen fall colors. This year, I caught more of the tail end yellows and browns than the bright reds and oranges, but it was still nice to see. This pumpkin layer cake is the perfect fall dessert, and would make a great addition to your Thanksgiving spread.

Pumpkin-Layer-Cake

You may be wondering why you should care yet about another pumpkin cake recipe on the internet. Here’s why:

1. It’s small (only 6 inches) but really tall.
2. Swiss meringue buttercream can be made with cream cheese! (keep reading for details)
3. It looks good naked.

Let’s start with the naked part. I’ve been wanting to try frosting a cake this way forever, but I just can’t let go, and I keep frosting until I have smooth sides and a straight top. Seriously, it’s like a disease. Who knew there was such a thing as frosting OCD. Anyway, I thought fall might be a good time to experiment with a more rustic look, and luckily this time (partially because I was short on time), I didn’t overwork it.

Pumpkin-Layer-Cake

This doesn’t mean that the cake is short on frosting by any means. There are piles of Swiss meringue buttercream in between each layer. While we’re on the subject of frosting, let’s talk about this cream cheesy Swiss meringue buttercream. I was planning to make a regular SMBC with brown sugar instead of white, but when I found this cream cheese variation on Bravetart’s website, I was sold. This has to be the world’s most perfect frosting. If you think American buttercream is too sweet, you will love the subtle sweetness and caramel notes of this brown sugar frosting. And if you think SMBC is too buttery (a common complaint) the addition of the cream cheese tames the butteriness. I also added a couple of teaspoons of cinnamon, which was enough to give a good kick, but not enough to obliterate the flavor of the brown sugar. It’s truly a crowd pleaser.

Pumpkin-Layer-Cake

I’m a fan of really tall cakes, but if you want to make this and transport it somewhere, I would recommend using 7-inch pans. The 6-inch version was just a little too tall to fit in my cake caddy, and a 7-inch version would still have the tall, show stopping quality while being a little easier to transport. If you do use 7-inch pans, I would start checking the cake at around 30 minutes, as it won’t take quite as long to bake.

Pumpkin-Layer-Cake

If you’re new to or wary of Swiss meringue buttercream, here are a few links that will make your life easier.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream by Bravetart
Swiss Meringue Buttercream Demystified by Sweetapolita- this one has a step-by-step tutorial
Swiss Meringue Buttercream by Sprinkle Bakes- this one has a video tutorial
How To Fix Swiss Meringue Buttercream by Confections of a Foodie Bride- this one has trouble shooting tips that have saved me on more than one occasion. If you keep beating and the frosting just won’t come together, the microwave trick really works!

Don’t forget to wipe down all of your tools with vinegar before you start, as greasy utensils make for a weepy meringue. Also, some of these tutorials switch over to the paddle attachment at some point, but I use the whisk attachment the whole time.

Update 10/7/15: After making this frosting several times, I’ve changed the mixing method and have had much better success. I hope you will too!

Pumpkin-Layer-Cake

Read The Post

Dark Chocolate Speculoos Truffle Cake

Dark-Chocolate-Speculoos-Truffle-Cake

Speculoos cookie butter. Also known as Biscoff spread. Also known as the greatest creation on earth. I’m not sure why it took me so long to jump on the Biscoff bandwagon. Maybe because it’s because I’m not a bandwagon jumper by nature, and I tend to resist fads. This fad, however, is totally not a fad. It’s here to stay, and it’s going to make me fat because I can stop eating it right out of the jar.

Cookie-Butter

I first tried this stuff just a few months ago in the form of a candy. If you’re a Trader Joe’s fan, you may know what I’m talking about. They make these dark chocolate bars that are filled with cookie butter, and to make matters worse, they put them right by the checkout. This means that every time I go to Trader Joe’s, I have to pass right by them, which is just too much for my willpower to handle. And if you don’t think that cookie butter and dark chocolate go well together, I dare you to try this candy and not love it. It was this little bar that inspired me to make this cake.

Dark-Chocolate-Speculoos-Truffle-Cake

I made several versions of this cake, but the one I’m sharing with you today actually did justice to the candy bar. I’m so excited about this recipe, that I want to tell you all about the process of making it, but if you don’t care to know, just skip down to the recipe. Ok, let’s start with the cake. I’ve shared a few recipes for dark chocolate cake on this blog, but I needed something really fudgy and truffle like. I ultimately chose a sour cream chocolate cake from one of my favorite cake books, Sky High. Not only is it super moist (I know, I hate that word too), but it’s an easy one bowl recipe that doesn’t even require a mixer! It’s also 3 layers, and I totally have a thing for 3 layer cakes. It’s my favorite cake profile. And yes, in case you’re wondering, I’m a cake nerd.

Next, the filling. My first cake attempt began with a quick and easy American buttercream, but the cookie butter itself is sweet, so by the time I added enough powdered sugar for it to hold up, it was sickeningly sweet. I ended up settling on a Swiss meringue buttercream. If you’ve never made SMB before, please don’t be intimidated. It’s a little bit more work than American buttercream, but totally worth it. I’m pretty lazy when it comes to frosting, so I tend to fall back on American buttercream, but whenever I make the Swiss variety, I’m glad I went the extra mile. I adapted a recipe that I found on BraveTart, and if this is your first time making SMB, I recommend reading her original post as well as this post.

The filling recipe makes enough for 2 thick layers in between each layer of cake. One of the reasons I love Swiss buttercream is that you can get away with having a thick layer of frosting without it being too sweet. If you don’t want a thick layer, the leftovers can be frozen. Or, you can grab a spoon and eat the leftovers directly out of the mixing bowl (not that I did that, or anything).

For the frosting, I tried both a sour cream chocolate frosting and a chocolate ganache before settling on this one from Sweetapolita. It’s intensely chocolaty, but not so rich that you can’t eat a whole slice of cake. There’s a pound of chocolate in this frosting, so use the best quality you can find (I used Callebaut). I live in a warm climate and the frosting was a bit too runny just after a I made it, so I put it in the fridge for about 10 minutes until it reached the right consistency (just don’t let it sit for too long or you won’t be able to spread it).

Read The Post