Cranberry almond coffee cake

This is another Thanksgiving gift, made for our neighbor who have been looking after us throughout our difficult days. It's my first time trying out coffee cake. It's modified from a KAF recipe.

Recipe Cranberry almond coffee cake (1 medium 8x4 pan)

Ingredients:

cake

- 5 TB Smart balance stick

- 3/4 cup granulated sugar

- 1 egg

- 1/2 cup sour cream

- 1/2 tp almond extract

- 1/2 tp baking powder

- 1/2 tp baking soda

- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

- 1/3 cup evaporated skim milk

- 1/4 tp salt

- 1/3 cup whole cranberries

- 1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

glaze

- 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

- 2 TB milk

- 1/2 tp almond extract

Procedure:

1. Sieve together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

2. Cream together butter or shortening with sugar using a fork. Then beat in the egg, sour cream and almond extract. Use electric mixer to beat until smooth. 

3. Pour batter into a 8x4 pan greased, lined with waxed paper, and greased again.

4. Press gently cranberries into the batter.

5. Sprinkle toasted almonds evenly on the batter.

6. Bake at 350F for 55 minutes or until thermometer comes out clean.

7. Turn cake out, allow to cool.

8. To prepare glaze, mix sugar, milk and almond extract. Dribble onto the bottom side of the warm cake. 

Results:

1:44pm, ingredients:

1:52pm, wet ingredients and dry ingredients:

1:54pm, creaming butter with sugar:

1:58pm, egg added to creamed butter:

2:00pm, sour cream added:

2:03pm, beating wet ingredients:

2:15pm, wet ingredients beaten:

2:16pm, dry ingredients added to wet ingredients:

2:18pm, batter in pan:

2:20pm, cranberries pressed into batter:

2:21pm, topping of almond:

2:22pm, batter height in pan:

2:22pm, to bake at 350F:

2:30pm, loaf baked 10 minutes:

3:09pm, loaf baked 50 minutes:

3:10pm, cake's internal temperature reaching 190F:

3:10pm, thermometer coming out clean:

3:10pm, cake's height:

3:17pm, cake's side:

3:17pm, cakes's bottom:

3:20pm, dribbing glaze on cake:

3:24pm, done with glaze:

3:30pm, toppings added on glaze; glazed side:

3:32pm, broken corner of cake:

Observations:

1. It's probably better to bake a cake in a low and wide-based pan. This allows the cake to rise better, not against its own weight.

2. Do not prepare the glaze too early. Else it may dry up.
3. I get to taste a small sample of this cake out of its broken corner. The cake's crumb is somewhat lightly than bread. It's is very sweet alright.

Genoise cake

This is my first attempt to bake a cake without chemical leavening. It's my greatest adventure so far in cake baking.

Recipe: Genoise cake (2 small round cakes and 1 small sheet cake)

Ingredients:
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup KAF all-purpose flour
- 1 TB cornstarch
- 1.5 TB melted unsalted butter
- 1 tp almond extract

Procedure:
1. Sieve together 1/4 cup flour, 1 TB cornstarch and 1 TB sugar. Mix well to break all lumps. Set aside.
2. Melt butter. Add 1 tp almond extract. Mix and set aside.
3. Heat up about 4 cups of water until hot but not boiling. Pour into a large container to make a water bath.
4. Break 3 eggs into a tall metal round bottom bowl. Add 3 TB sugar.
5. Place metal container in water bath. Beat lightly with fork, until the sugar has melted completely to form a smooth batter.
6. Remove metal bowl from water bath. Beat with electric mixer on medium, then high, until very light and fluffy. Volume may increase to 3-4 times.
7. Sprinkle a few TB of flour mixture onto batter. Use a whisk, fold in the flour mixture. Repeat this until all flour mixture has folded in.
8. Add about 1/4 of batter to melted butter mixture. Stir gently until mixed. Then fold the mixture back into the batter.
9. Bake at 350F for about 15-20 minutes.

Results:
12:11pm, cake pans greased, then lined with wax paper cut to shape, then greased lightly again:

12:14pm, ingredients:

12:31pm, getting all the ingredients ready:

12:31pm, 3 eggs and 3 TB sugar in warm water bath:

12:32pm, starting whisking eggs and sugar:

12:34pm, sugar dissolved:

12:35pm, bowl removed from water bath, ready to beat:

12:38pm, beaten on medium speed for 3 minutes, neat, not spilling:

12:39pm, beating on high speed:

12:41pm, beating at an angle on high speed to introduce more bubbles:

12:41pm, beaten 6 minutes:

12:42pm, flour mixture to be folded in:

12:43pm, dusting flour mixture by TBs on batter:

12:44pm, rotating to fold in flours:

12:46pm, all flour folded in:

12:51pm, mixing a quarter of batter with melted butter:

12:52pm, buttered batter to be folded back into the whole batter:

12:53pm, the final batter:

12:55pm, batter poured into pans:

12:55pm, batter heights in pans:

12:56pm, batter in sheet pan:

12:56pm, to bake at 350F:

1:12pm, sheet cake baked 16 minutes, top spongy, springing back with a little crackling sound when pressed on:

1:13pm, round cakes baked 17 minutes, one already collapsed in oven, the other still springing up:

1:15pm, baked tops:

1:15pm, cake 1's initial top:

1:15pm, cake 1's initial height:

1:15pm, cake 2's intial top:

1:17pm, detaching pan of cake 2 from the side and bottom:

1:18pm, to cool:

1:21pm, edge peeled:

1:21pm, sheet cake's bottom:

1:22pm, sheet cake broken open from middle:

1:23pm, sheet cake with 2 distinctive layers: the well risen (light colored) top half and the dense (yellow) bottom half:

1:26pm, cake 1's bottom:

1:25pm, cake 2's bottom:

1:48pm, cakes' cooled height:

2:29pm, cakes' tops:

2:29pm, cake 1's interior:

2:29pm, cake 2's interior:

4:29pm, cake 1's interior when torn open:

7:27pm, cake 2's interior when cracked open, with a deep yellow uncooked layer at the bottom:

7:29pm, cake 2, with a much thinner hard bottom, which is obviously cooked:

Observations:
1. Crackling sounds are heard during baking. That's the bursting of gas bubbles.
2. Cakes collapse (shrink by half in volume) after coming out of oven.
3. The sheet cake does not rise uniformly. The bottom half is somewhat uncooked, but the top top is spongy and bounces back when pushed.
4. Next time, grease pans and papers more generously.
5. I am kinda disappointed that the cakes collapse after coming out of the oven. However, I am pleased with the batters so far. My experiment with "fold-in" seems to be successful.
6. This cake has a distinctively rich taste of egg. It's not very sweet.