Heather's Bytes

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie was a nice change — instead of the usual sugary treat, we did Sweet Cream Biscuits, which worked out really well because I was able to make them to go along with dinner last night! The recipe was chosen by Melissa of Love At First Bite.

These biscuits are a spin on a traditional baking powder biscuit and use heavy cream and a bit of sugar, but no butter or shortening. There’s a very light sweetness, and with a pat of butter they were the perfect addition to last night’s dinner of pork chops and mashed potatoes.

My pint of cream had a little leftover after I used the one cup necessary for the biscuits, so the girls poured the leftover cream into a glass container and made butter for the biscuits while dinner cooked!

Anyway, these were delicious and I’ve got the recipe bookmarked now so I can get to it quickly when I need a side for dinner.

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie was the Mocha Walnut Marbled Bundt Cake chosen by Erin of When in Doubt…Leave it at 350.

I almost didn’t make this because I forgot to check the recipe before I did my grocery shopping last week and didn’t want to head out again for a special trip. Thankfully, I had everything I needed anyway so it worked out well!

Actually, I take that back — I didn’t quite have everything I needed: I only had unsweetened baking chocolate in the cupboard, and the recipe calls for bittersweet. But I checked my chocolate drawer just in case and found a bar of Lindt 85%, which worked perfectly. I’ve used Lindt bars for baking before and have never been disappointed. In fact, the recipe called for 3 ounces and the bar was 3.5, so there was a little extra in it too

The cake itself is so moist and yummy, and I love it when chocolate and coffee flavors are combined – they really complement each other. I was also able to use some of the cold-brewed coffee syrup I had in the fridge. However, I was a dummy and didn’t pay close enough attention to my chocolate and butter mixture on the double boiler, and the chocolate and butter ended up over-heating and separating. But! They came back together again perfectly when I added in the cake batter to make the chocolate batter, so hope is not lost if it happens to you too!

After the cake came out of the oven and I let it cool for a bit, I had a heck of a time getting it out of the pan. In fact, the entire top layer stayed in the pan, which was pretty disappointing (the piece in the picture above was the only section of the entire cake that had part of a top still attached). I buttered and floured it beforehand, but it just didn’t work. It’s still yummy, though, and I know Mike and the girls won’t care!

Also, this would be amazing with some dark chocolate chips in it as well, especially after it’s cooled and the chips are able to solidify after baking.

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie was the Coconut Tea Cake, chosen by Carmen at Carmen Cooks. I made it this morning not realizing it would take an hour in the oven (I know, I know. I usually do read ahead) so the girls and I had it for lunch instead.

The cake itself was a little on the bland side so I dressed it up a bit with a simple glaze and some shredded coconut on top. Even with a little almond extract in the glaze the flavors were still really muted, so I don’t think I’d serve this for dessert, though it is perfect with coffee or tea!

I didn’t do any of the extras though if I had a lemon I would have added some of that. Like Carmen, I also took mine out of the oven several minutes before the directions said to and even that may have been too long since it was a little on the overdone side.

One Thanksgiving several years ago I was getting ready to make a pumpkin pie. I had all my ingredients out, the crust was already in the pie pan, and I was making the filling. I opened the can of condensed milk and was horrified. What was supposed to be a creamy off-white liquid was brown and congealed. Read More