Sunday, January 2, 2011

A magazine to get you baking
delicious desserts more often

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to bake delicious treats more often, then here’s a magazine that will help you on your way: Easy Desserts from the publisher of Fine Cooking magazine.
   In fact, I urge anyone who is looking for innovative but easy baking recipes to buy it. The front of the magazine-style book says it will be on newsstands until March 1, 2011.

   Added on Jan. 24, 2011: Note - Since I originally wrote this blog entry, I have found that many of the recipes in the Easy Desserts magazine are also in a cookbook called Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman. I now have the cookbook!
Cake Keeper Cakes at amazon.ca

   I’ve only tried one recipe from the magazine so far, but I plan on continuing to pump out desserts from it this year.
   The first recipe I tried, the confection we enjoyed on New Year's Eve, was the easy-to-make Peanut Butter-Sour Cream Bundt Cake with Butterfinger-Ganache Glaze.
   It tastes like a peanut butter cookie in cake form (my husband’s apt observation), with a chocolate glaze topping and crumbled Crispy Crunch bar sprinkled on top (my substitution when I couldn’t find the called-for Butterfinger bar).
   It’s a very family-friendly cake that looks lovely, too.
   The recipe I’ve linked to above is on a blog called The Food Librarian, and is featured in a series of entries called “I Like Big Bundts” – great name.
   However, the Food Librarian quickly passes over the full directions for making the glaze that goes on top of the cake after is baked and left to cool completely.
   To make the glaze, eight ounces of finely-chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate are put together into a heatproof bowl with two tablespoons of unsalted butter.
   Heavy cream, ¾ of a cup, is heated in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil (be careful it doesn’t burn!), and is then poured over the chocolate and butter. The mixture is left to stand for five minutes and then is whisked until smooth.
   The warm glaze is poured and spread over the top and sides of the cake, then is sprinkled with 60 grams of chopped Butterfinger or Crispy Crunch bar. The cake is left to stand until glaze is set, about half and hour.
   The cake can be stored in an airtight container for up to three days.
   Another note – the Food Librarian’s recipe says to “prep a 12-cup Bundt pan.” By that, she means grease (I used butter) and lightly dust a 12-cup Bundt pan.

Click here for a list of recipes I have my eye on to try from Easy Desserts

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