Friday Faves – The Novice Chef makes Churro Cake
Happy Friday everyone!! Who’s ready for the weekend? It’s supposed to be beautiful here in Boston, so I plan to spend some quality time outside. For this week’s Friday Favs, I bring you Jessica from The Novice Chef. Have you guys read her blog? She seriously cracks me up on a daily basis. Between the humor in her posts and her random tweets, Jessica is one sassy lady! And to top things off, her recipes and photos are totally drool-worthy.
If there is proof that God loves us, I am sure it is in the perfect combination of butter and sugar. Just about any recipe that begins with “in a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar” is a guaranteed winner in my book. Sometimes you can pick a bottle of bad wine. Or you try a new restaurant and it’s just…eh. But when you are baking with butter and sugar…magic happens. Even when the recipe is a flop, you still find yourself trying second and third bites over the sink. At least I hope you are that kind of person, it would be awkward if I am the only one with crumbs all over my shirt.
When Jen asked me to guest post for the Friday Favs I knew exactly what I wanted to make for y’all. Churro Cake! …or more precisely named, Cinnamon Vanilla Scented Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting and a drizzle of Dulce De Leche. In essence, this is the cake that will bring down anyone’s willpower. The soft, tender cake and big wonderful swirls of frosting will be the end of diets everywhere.
Good to the very last bite!
Don’t forget about my Power of Pink Challenge – make something PINK by the end of the month to raise Breast Cancer Awareness!
Churro Cake: Cinnamon Vanilla Scented Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
To make the spikes on the buttercream, just tap the cake gently with the back of a small spoon.
Yield: Serves 12-16
Ingredients:
For the Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons cinnamon
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 (2 sticks) cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk
For the Frosting
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Directions:
For the Cake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray three 8 inch round baking pans with Baker's Joy; set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, until just combined then stir in the vanilla and oil. Sprinkle 1/3 of the flour mixture over the butter mixture and gently stir in until barely combined. Add half of the milk, mixing until just combined. Repeat these steps with the remaining flour mixture and milk, ending with the flour. Do not over mix.
Fill each baking pan with a third of the batter. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with one or two crumbs clinging to it. Allow the layers to cool completely before frosting.
For the Frosting
Cream the butter and cream cheese together in a large bowl. Add the sugar, one cup at a time, beating well between each addition. Stir in the cinnamon until thoroughly combined. Then stir in the vanilla. Beat the mixture well, until light and fluffy.
Ice onto cake, sprinkle with a little cinnamon sugar and top with a drizzle of Dulce De Leche if desired.
Recipe originally posted on The Novice Chef as cupcakes, adapted from My Baking Dom
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I am of two minds on this post. On the one hand, my OCD really kicked in when I read that you had not followed Mark Bittman’s recipe but still decided to write about it. Seemed a bit sloppy for a nerd and an engineer. On the other hand, that is how Pasteur discovered Penicillin. Bittman is such a great cook, that I think he deserves better treatment; so I plan to do him the honor of making his recipe. I am not going to make the other two though!
Oops! Senior moment that – it was the Scottish scientist and Nobel laureate Alexander Fleming in 1928. Apparently, the Pasteur Institut ignored the work of a French physician, Ernest Duchesne, who in 1897 discovered the curative properties of the Penicillium Glaucum, a different mold than the one Fleming discovered, but in the same genus. Gotta love Wikipedia.
There are two tapioca recipes on the Minute Tapioca box. I always use the one for Fluffy Pudding, which calls for 2 cups milk and whipping the egg whites separately from the cooked milk with tapioca and egg yolk. I think you will find the pudding much improved over the basic recipe.
Also, the quality of the vanilla makes a huge difference in something like tapioca. Cooks Illustrated likes McCormick and I found this on amazon and at Sam’s Club in large bottles for very reasonable prices.
One other note: I find that CI has a sweet tooth: their recipes are sometimes too sweet for my taste, though they are a go-to source otherwise.
This is an interesting discussion. I tried the Kraft recipe today. I threw everything (except the vanilla) in the blender before putting it on the stove. I also added 1/2 tsp. salt and a bit more vanilla. I actually thought it was sweet enough already, though. However, I agree with your overall conclusion that it’s a bit boring. Well, at least it was easy. Anyway, next time I may a recipe using large tapioca. 🙂
Thanks for the comparison.