June 7 2017

Lemon Balm Cake with Candied Flower Syrup

Lemon Balm Cake

This mildly sweet cake tastes of flowers and lemons and sunshine. And when I say it tastes of flowers, I mean that literally. Lemon Balm cake by itself is a light lemony treat, but covering it in syrup made with chamomile flowers really makes it special! This herbal cake is a great way to use the herbs in your garden. Also, Chamomile and Lemon Balm compliment each other beautifully!

I can just imagine eating this cake with tea in a lacey white dress and hat, and feeling very refined.

Lemon Balm Cake
Lemon Balm Cake with Candied Flower Syrup
Print Recipe
A simple cake, flavored with Lemon Balm. What really makes it special is the candied flower syrup which gives it extra sweetness. It also looks pretty!
Servings Prep Time
8 slices 10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Servings Prep Time
8 slices 10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Lemon Balm Cake
Lemon Balm Cake with Candied Flower Syrup
Print Recipe
A simple cake, flavored with Lemon Balm. What really makes it special is the candied flower syrup which gives it extra sweetness. It also looks pretty!
Servings Prep Time
8 slices 10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Servings Prep Time
8 slices 10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Ingredients
Cake
Candied Flower Syrup
Servings: slices
Instructions
  1. Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and flour an 8" round cake pan.
  2. Cream together butter, lemon balm, and sugar.
  3. Separate your eggs. Set aside the whites (preferably in the refrigerator!). Add the egg yokes and vanilla extract to the butter-sugar mixture.
  4. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to your butter mixture. Then add the buttermilk. You should have a thick batter.
  5. Beat your egg whites on high until soft peaks form. Fold into your batter until just combined. Do not over-mix!
  6. Bake your cake for approximately 20 minutes. When its done, the top will be a golden brown.
  7. While your cake is baking, put water and sugar in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, until the sugar is dissolved, and the water has partially evaporated.
  8. Once your water and sugar are slightly thickened (you want a light syrup), add your chamomile flowers. Stir to cover the flowers in syrup, and allow the syrup to cool.
  9. Pour the syrup over the cake once both have cooled. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes

Chamomile flowers give a syrup a lovely flavor, but you can use other edible flowers too! The orange flower in the picture is a Nasturtium. Other edible flowers include violets, and lavender.

The Lemon Balm Cake was inspired by this recipe from Magnolia Days.

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February 8 2017

Chocolate Molasses Cookies

Chocolate Molasses Cookies

Molasses and dark chocolate mixed together make quite the cookie! A completely black cookie. Yes, you needed this information. Chocolate molasses cookies turn out to be rather yummy.

I started with a standard chocolate chip recipe. Alas, I had no chocolate chips. Such minor inconveniences never keep me from my cookies, however. Some days require cookies (this is a fact).

Instead of chocolate chips, I added dark cocoa, and supplemented the sugar with molasses. The result was a very lovely cookie. Not too sweet, but not un-sweet. I suspect it would be more chocolatey with chocolate chips, or more flavorful if I used more spices. But overall, it is an excellent cookie!

Chocolate Molasses Cookies
Cookies of Blackest Molasses
Print Recipe
Dark chocolate molasses cookies - chocolate chip cookies with dark cocoa and molasses.
Servings Prep Time
15 cookies 10 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Servings Prep Time
15 cookies 10 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Chocolate Molasses Cookies
Cookies of Blackest Molasses
Print Recipe
Dark chocolate molasses cookies - chocolate chip cookies with dark cocoa and molasses.
Servings Prep Time
15 cookies 10 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Servings Prep Time
15 cookies 10 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: cookies
Instructions
  1. Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy (or at least smooth). Add molasses, stir. Add egg and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined.
  2. Add your dry ingredients - flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt - to the wet mixture. With stirring, you should get a nice cookie dough.
  3. Throw in your chocolate chips last, if desired. You want to get them evenly distributed throughout the dough. Mmmm. . . chocolate. . .
  4. Scoop out 2ish tablespoons of dough for each cookie. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about ten minutes.
  5. Enjoy with milk.
Recipe Notes

Between the dark cocoa and the dark molasses, it will be very difficult to tell when your cookies are done. Make sure to take them out of the oven while they are still soft. Because molasses isn't quite as sweet as pure sugar (especially with dark chocolate thrown in), your chocolate molasses cookies will not stay sweet if they're overcooked. . .

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Category: Cookies, Sweet Things | 1 Comment on Chocolate Molasses Cookies
January 1 2017

Toasted Walnut Pie Crust

Walnut Pie Crust

There’s something that sounds soooo good to me about nutty pie crusts. Almonds, walnuts, pecans – they all go wonderfully with thicker or custardy pies. Pumpkin pie with a pecan crust? Molasses pie with walnut crust? Yes, please!

This will make one deep dish pie crust.

Walnut Pie Crust
Toasted Walnut Pie Crust
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
1 pie 8 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Servings Prep Time
1 pie 8 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Walnut Pie Crust
Toasted Walnut Pie Crust
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
1 pie 8 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Servings Prep Time
1 pie 8 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: pie
Instructions
  1. Chop up the walnuts in the food processor. Try to get it as fine as possible, that will make it easier to press into the pie plate.
  2. Add in the baking soda, salt, and butter. Pulse until its all mixed together. It should start to clump.
  3. Pour into pie plate, and press against the edges and bottom of the plate. This should be enough to just cover a deep dish pie plate.
  4. Toast in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes by itself. Then you can fill it with whatever pie filling and complete cooking.
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October 2 2016

Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake

Carrot cake is great. Its nice, and moist, and cakey. But it has a veneer of healthiness. After all, it has carrots! And. . theoretically less sugar!

Its cake. And veggies. And cake!

Carrot Cake
Carrot Cake
Print Recipe
A lovely moist carrot cake. If you don't put any icing on it, you can pretend its healthy and eat it for breakfast.
Servings Prep Time
9 pieces 20 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Servings Prep Time
9 pieces 20 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Carrot Cake
Carrot Cake
Print Recipe
A lovely moist carrot cake. If you don't put any icing on it, you can pretend its healthy and eat it for breakfast.
Servings Prep Time
9 pieces 20 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Servings Prep Time
9 pieces 20 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Ingredients
Servings: pieces
Instructions
  1. Prepare your carrots. Finely grating them in fine, but so is cooking them down and mashing them. Put to the side.
  2. Beat your two eggs. Add in oil, sugar, pumpkin puree, molasses, and vanilla extract. Mix well.
  3. Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in another bowl. Combine your wet and dry mixtures.
  4. Add carrots to your batter. Mix well. Pour the carroty mixture into a buttered 8x8 baking pan.
  5. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about one hour. Make sure the cake is done by inserting a knife into the center; it should come out clean.
Recipe Notes

Its fairly common to cut the oil required in a carrot cake recipe with applesauce, but pumpkin puree works well too! Its especially practical if you've been cooking down a lot of pumpkin recently.

Blackstrap molasses actually tastes acceptable in this cake - possibly because it is not the main sweetener, it just gives the cake a nice brown color. You could probably also use brown sugar and no molasses.

This cake is good enough to be dessert for sure, especially if you ice it with cream cheese frosting. But I like to leave it plain and have it for breakfast with my morning coffee. Yum!

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Category: Cake, Sweet Things | 2 Comments on Carrot Cake