Yippee Ky Yay Cake Lovers, number 5 is alive!!!! This weekend, courtesy of the nicest man on the Internet, Greg Swenson, we are celebrating Cowboy Day with a Cookalong. I have chosen to bake a cake (because every celebration needs one) from Greg’s book, Recipes for Rebels: In The Kitchen with James Dean – and oh (cow)boy, what a cake it is. Pepsi Cola Cake with Broiled Peanut Butter Frosting.
You might be wondering what is the connection between a cake made from Pepsi and Cowboys? Well, hear me out here. It is a little like one of those puzzles you used to do at school where you change one letter at a time to turn one word into another…
But here me out:
James Dean played a cowboy in the film Giant
James Dean’s first paid acting job was in a Pepsi Commercial
Pepsi is a key ingredient in this cake.
Cowboy to cake in less steps than it will take you to go from bath to tubs!
Good lord, just look at that face!!! If that is not a textbook definition of impossibly handsome, I do not know what is.
Something that is most definitely not impossibly handsome is the Pepsi-Cola Cake. It is a massive brute of a thing (might one say a Giant?) that erupted like a volcano in my oven. It reminded me of the ads we used to have for Picnic bars – deliciously ugly.
I mean, ok, it doesn’t look quite as much like a pooh as a Picnic bar but at the point of removal from the oven, it did not look good.
But as the picnic ad states that’s what wrappers are for. And the wrapping on the Pepsi-cola cake is some divine Peanut Butter frosting.
I mean it’s still not the prettiest cake in the world. But, do not let it’s somewhat less than gorgeous faced fool you. Remember the delicious part of deliciously ugly? Well this cake has a ton of delicious! The cake itself is moist and fudgy, a little like a brownie. The slight slatiness in the peanut butter frosting is a perfect accompaniment to the sweetness of the cake. Beware though the Pepsi Cake is not just rich. It is filthy rich!!!
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I have a sweet tooth and even I would recommend cutting what you think is a normal-sized slice of cake then cutting that in two. And bada bing bada boom that’s elevenses and afternoon tea sorted!!!!
Pepsi Cola Cake – Recipe
So, the recipe for this cake made me laugh. I love the way they ask for non-sweetened cocoa powder. I mean, when you already have 2 cups of sugar and a cup of Pepsi in your cake I guess you have to draw the line somewhere.
Here’s the recipe!
This was so much fun! I loved cooking this cake and being able to take part in the world wide cookalong to celebrate Cowboy Day 2021! Thank you Greg for organising and inviting me to contribute!
Why should you invite a mushroom to your birthday?
Hands up all of you who thought I was going to go with that corny old “Because he’s a fun guy” schtick? Well boo to you!!! My jokes are never that bad. Are they? I’m actually terrible with jokes. The only one I can ever remember is “Why are pirates called pirates?” And the answer is “Because they are” Only you have to say the “are” in that pirate voice. “Arrrre” See? The only joke I know and it’s not even funny written down.
So, mushrooms, parties…I made a cake!!! In fact I made lots of little cakes. And they looked kinda like mushrooms. And you should definitely have them at your next party!
Oh and the taste? So good. Chocolate, marzipan and sour cherry jam….how could you go wrong?
Have I ever mentioned exactly how much I love marzipan? Well, it’s this much – I ate the left over marzipan from making this recipe by itself. Then I bought another pack and ate that by itself too. Then I felt sick for about three days. But it was worth every minute of it.
My mini mushroom cakes are based on a recipe from The A-Z of Cooking which has it as one large cake. This is from the Children’s Favorites sections which means we have hit C. Why does it feel like I have been cooking from this book for YEARS? How can we be only up to C?
To be honest, I’m not sure of the validity of the mushroom cake as a child’s favourite. Teddy Bears, Thomas The Tank Engine, one of those awesome Barbie Pool Party Cakes – hmm whatever, yes and definitely yes, yes yes! (Note to self, Make Barbie Pool Party Cake for next year). I’m not sure there’s many children asking their mum to bake them the fungi cake. Not even back in the hippy ’70’s.
Mushroom Cake – Original
You start with one big or lots of little chocolate cakes. I used the recipe from The A-Z of Cooking but you could use any chocolate cake you wanted. This would be A-MAY-ZING using your favourite brownie recipe too.
Here is the original recipe, my slightly tweaked recipe is below.
Mini Mushroom Cakes1
Spread the top your cakes with the sour cherry jam,
Roll out your marzipan until quite thin, then cut into rounds large enough to drape over the top and sides of your cake. Trim additional marzipan so the marzipan is flush with the bottom of the cake. Turn over so the uncovered part of the cake is now facing the top.
Roll another long thin piece of marzipan. Spread with the sour cherry jam and roll up, lengthways. Cut this into 4-5 pieces depending on how long you want your stalk. Repeat until you have the same number of stalks as you do cakes.
Pipe or spread your icing onto your cakes. I spread mine and made the mushroom gills with a toothpick.
Then place your stalks onto the middle of each cake.You may need to hold these in place with a little dob of jam or icing.
Mini Mushroom Cakes3
Despite their dubious credentials as a children’s favourite, these mushroom cakes are just adorable and so tasty, and you know what would make then even better and certainly not kid friendly? Douse the cakes with a little bit of kirsch before adding the jam.
Just as we finish a good meal with something sweet, so shall we round out the month of madness with one of the kookiest recipes I’ve seen lately. And here it is:
Nutty Nutella Cake
Looking at that photo, I know what you are thinking. And you know what?
So these are not the best looking cakes in the world. There is a definite dip in middle of all of them. The texture is kind of rough….then again….that rough texture is also kind of crispy and there is a delicious fudgy layer in the middle. And who doesn’t love a fudgy layer?
Nutty Nutella Cake2
But remember the Twinkie Defence? I’m about to launch the Picnic Defence. The Picnic is one of the best chocolate bars ever. Chocolate, caramel, wafer, peanuts. So good. The only problem? It looks like a big old turd.
But so good to eat.
And the Nutty Nutella Cake is the Picnic bar‘s next door neighbour in “Dammit we taste so much better than we look” Street.
You know what else makes this cake so special? I’ll tell you in a moment but first, let’s take a walk down Pronunciation Avenue and talk about Nutella. In Australia ( and I believe England), we call this super delicious chocolate hazelnut spread Nut-ella. Because it’s made of nuts. And….ella. Ella being an Italian euphemism for a shit ton of sugar.
However, definitely on The Splendid Table Podcast and I’m sure a few others I listen to, I have heard Americans call this stuff Noo-tella.
WTF? I can get over that whole tomato / tomayto thing. But Noo-tella is a step too far.
It’s NUT-ella. End of.
Nutella Cake3
I first found this recipe on the Masterchef site. However, it has since been taken down. Only a picture remains. And yep, phew…Matt Preston’s cake is as ugly as mine…
But I was able to find a copy in Matt Preston’s latest book and in the same spirit of adventure in which I made muffins from ice cream and flour a few years back I decided to give it a whirl. And you know what else….there’s obviously some weird psychic connection between Matty P, and me because in the same book, he has a recipe for “bread” made from you guessed it, ice cream and flour!
So, you wanna know what’s in these ugly but delicious sweet treats?
Nutella Cake Ingredients
Nutella…or if you’re cheap like me, supermarket brand hazelnut spread.
Eggs
Vanillla
That’s all folks. C’est tout. Three ingredients. To get this….
Nutella Cake 4
And you know what? That little dip….don’tcha just want to fill it up with all sorts of deliciousness?
I went for a contrast – still warm cake with some of my ancho berry sorbet and a couple of leaves of chocolate mint – direct from the garden!!!
Nutella Cake and Ancho Sorbet 1
But you could have any flavour of ice cream, or some salted caramel sauce..or even some normal frosting…
Or what if you added a big dollop of nutella into the dip and then made a meringue over it? OMG. I am so making that….stay right here. I”ll be back…..
Just got to fill these cakes….
Filled Nutella Cakes
Then whip up a meringue….
Meringue top
And bung ’em in the oven for a bit….
And then…..
Meringue Topped Nutella Cake
I am giggling like a little girl and dancing round my kitchen. My, face, my hands, my camera are all smeared with chocolate and meringue and am feeling both a little nauseous and like I have died and gone to heaven….
We only had three of the cakes left and I have just eaten two of them….they were that good!!!!
Scuse the fingers….but you’re lucky there are any photo’s I was so busy shoving these into my gob taste-testing to ensure the highest possible quality standards.
Nutella Meringue Cake2
And look at that…the light as air toasty on top meringue, the oozy melty nutella and the cakey base….
What a way to end the month!!!!
I am racing to get this out because I am heading up to the sunshiney Gold Coast very early tomorrow morning for a couple of days – sadly mostly work and not much play – but by the time I can post again it will be February….which is as scary as hell. Where did January go????
Have a great week where ever you are and what ever you get up to.
240g Nutella or chocolate hazelnut spread of your choice
1 tsp vanilla
For the topping
Additional Nutella – 1 tsp per cake
3 eggs
1 1/2cup of sugar
Instructions
For the cake
Preheat the oven to 175C.
Lightly grease your cupcake liners and place in a tray.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs on top speed until they have tripled in size (approx 6 minutes but this will depend on the power of your mixer).
Place the Nutella in a metal bowl with the vanilla extract and stir over a pan of boiling water until the Nutella softens. (You can also do this in a microwave – use a microwave safe bowl and heat for 1 minute, stirring every 15 seconds).
Turn the mixer down to low and drop spoonfuls of Nutella into the egg mixture. Repeat until all the nutella has been added and the Nutella is completely mixed in.
Scrape down the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl with a spatula to ensure there is no Nutella sticking to them and stir a few times by hand.
Pour the Nutella mixture into the prepared cases, filling them about 3/4 full.
Bake for approx 15-20 minutes until a skewer inserted into a cake comes out clean.
The cakes will look lovely and round when they come out of the oven but they will collapse as they cool.
Once cool, add a spoonful of Nutella into each dip.
For the Meringue
Separate the eggs and place the whites in a clean, dry bowl.
Beat until the mixture forms stiff peaks.
Gradually add the sugar and beat until the mixture is thick and glossy.
Spoon or pipe this mixture onto the cakes.
Place under preheated grill for 1-2 minutes or until lightly toasted. Alternatively, use a culinary blow torch to lightly grill the meringue
Notes
This cake is also great topped with a scoop of your favourite icecream, would be awesome with a salted caramel, berries and cream etc.
I used a coconut oil spray to grease the cupcake liners which added the slightest hint of coconut to my cakes.
The meringue quantities above will cover an entire batch of cupcakes.
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