HCB - Jancsi Torte

While the Heavenly Cake Bakers baked the No-Bake Whipped Cream Cheesecake this week, I decided to go a different route. For this week's bake sale at work, I wanted to add a flourless (and gluten-free) option to the array of other goodies I had already baked. Rose's Jancsi Torte was the answer! I subbed almonds for the walnuts and presto!

I baked it in a tube pan

P.S.: the final tally is still TBD but so far it looks like we raised $600 at the bake sale, benefiting Susan G. Komen For The Cure. YES!!! :o)

Winner of the giveaway

Before I announce the winner of last week's giveaway, I would like to thank America's Test Kitchen and especially the folks at Cook's Country for giving me the opportunity to review their wonderful book, Cook's Country Blue Ribbon Desserts, and for allowing me to give away a copy of the book to one of my readers. I also would like to thank everyone for taking the time to participate in this giveaway. Unfortunately, there can only be one winner, so for those of you who didn't win, I highly recommend purchasing your own copy of the book right HERE.

My next baking projects include their Boston Cream Cupcakes and Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies. Doesn't that sound amazing? I cordially invite you to visit my blog soon to check them out :o)

Now without further ado, the winner of the giveaway as randomly chosen by Random.org is: commenter #10. This means that Aaron is the winner of this giveaway. Congratulations!!!!! :o) You will receive an email from me shortly, asking you for your mailing address.

Book review and a giveaway

I've always been a huge fan of America's Test Kitchen (ATK). I discovered their TV show on PBS many years ago and every Saturday morning at 11:30am, I'm glued to the TV for 30 minutes. As you may know, the folks at ATK also have a show called Cook's Country. Although I like their cooking recipes, I have to admit, my favorite part is when they talk dessert!! Pretty much any kind :o) So to say I'm excited about reviewing their latest cookbook, Cook's Country Blue Ribbon Desserts, is an understatement. And it doesn't end there. ATK has generously offered to send a copy of this book to one of my readers via this giveaway!!! That could be YOU :o)

*** This giveaway is closed. The winner has been announced HERE. ***

HCB - Marble Velvet Cake

For this week's HCB Free Choice week, I decided to bake the Marble Velvet Cake. Instead of baking the full recipe in a 10-cup Bundt pan, I decided to use one of my small loaf pans. It measured 2 cups so I made 1/5 of the recipe. Easy! Jenn is the queen of small(er) dessert portions, so I decided I'd give it a try too :o)

This is a sour cream based butter cake where melted dark chocolate is added to 1/3 of the batter. It came together so quickly and easy that I didn't even take pictures of the batter. Since my loaf pan is dark-colored, I reduced the oven temperature by 25 degrees (I used the convection setting which means I lowered the temperature by another 25 degrees bringing it down to 300). The cake baked for about 35 minutes.

Look at that crumb!

Final thoughts/tips:

• Rose has every right to call this a "velvet cake". The texture is phenomenal. Soft and velvety smooth. It just melts in your mouth. The chocolate sections are intensely chocolaty which is a nice contrast against the buttery non-chocolate part.
• As always, I substituted 10% of the butter with canola oil for extra moisture.
• The cake might be a little bit on the crumbly side, but then again, I cut very thin slices to justify eating more than one slice :o) I'll make a note for myself in the book to try bleached AP flour next time instead of cake flour.
• Hubby has been busy all day working on his home improvement project so he hasn't tried it yet. When he does (assuming there's any left!), I'll update this post with his rating.

ABC - Butterscotch Spiral Coffee Cake

Yeasted coffee cake. I no longer fear you. Bring it on! :o) Two years ago, or even a year ago, I would have been really intimidated by the prospect of making anything with yeast in it. They say "practice makes perfect", but after many tries and failures, I figured "they" must have excluded yeasted baked goods. Now I can honestly say, practice DOES make perfect. You just have to keep trying, keep making them, and learn from your mistakes. I can't believe I'm at a point now where I can touch the dough-in-the-making and know that it needs a bit more water, even though I used the required amount in the recipe. I used to keep adding flour to sticky doughs until it became the total opposite of "sticky", and guess what? The end result would be heavy and dense. You could seriously injure somebody with my baked [bread, rolls, you name it]. So if you recognize any or all of this, I say to you my friend, don't despair. If I can do it, you can too :o)

Let's get back to business here, after that little detour :o) The ABC bakers tackled the Butterscotch Spiral Coffee Cake this month. As I'm writing this, three ABC-ers (Monica, Raymond, and Chelly) as well as this month's guest blogger, Jenn of Knitty Baker, have already blogged about it and loved it. You guys rock! It's basically a giant cinnamon roll with lots of spices (and in my case, orange zest too), and a fabulous butterscotch glaze. What's not to love!