Eggnog Cake

I found this recipe online and it makes a pretty amazing cake, even if the recipe is a tad labor intensive. Especially the frosting. I made it twice over the holidays for various company parties and plan to make it again. The cake is pretty white, so is the frosting, so you can obviously color it to suit your needs.

Ingredients

Cake:

• 4 eggs, at room temperature

• 1/2 cup eggnog, room temperature

• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 
1 3/4 cups cake flour
• 
1 1/2 cups sugar

• 2 tsp baking powder
• 
3/4 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 16 pieces  

Frosting:

• 5 egg whites
• 
1 cup sugar
• 
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

• pinch of salt

• 2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 1-2 Tbsp eggnog
• 
1 tsp vanilla extract 

Directions

Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Spray 2 9-inch cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, eggnog, and vanilla.
4. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. 
5. With a mixer on medium low, add the butter one piece at a time to the dry ingredients until the mixture looks sandy, and just start to come together. 
6. Add half of the wet mixture and mix on low until it just comes together. 
7. Increase the speed to medium high speed and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. 
8. Reduce mixer speed to medium, and add the remaining egg mixture in a slow, steady stream.
9. Continue mixing until thoroughly combined, scraping the bowl, as needed.
10. Pour batter evenly into the pans and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it.
11. Cool for a few minutes, the run a knife around the edges of the pans and flip cakes onto a cooling rack.

Frosting:

1. In a medium bowl set over a pot of simmering water, combine the egg whites, sugar, nutmeg, and salt. 
2. Heat the mixture, whisking often, until it reaches 160 degrees and the sugar is dissolved. Be careful, the mixture temp rises quickly.
3. Pour into a large bowl and whisk on medium high speed until stiff peaks form, about 8-10 minutes. The mixture should also be room temperature, at this point.
4. With the mixer on medium speed, add the butter, 1 piece at a time, and beat until incorporated before adding another piece. 
5. Continue to beat until thick and smooth (if it looks curdled or soupy, just keep beating it until smooth again, another 3 minutes or so).
6. Stir in the vanilla and eggnog until incorporated and tint with food coloring, as desired.

Thoughts:
This cake is like the holidays in cake form to me. I might try upping the eggnog flavor in the cake next time I do this.

Next Time:

• Maybe some allspice?
• Add more eggnog to the cake

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Buttercream

Not the best photo, I know, but these cupcakes are amazing, labor intensive beauties. If you can enlist a helper, there's plenty of work to go around.

Ingredients

For the Pumpkin Pies:

• 1 batch of pie crust dough 
• 1 15 oz. can Libby's pumpkin pie filling
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 can (12 fl. oz.)

For the Cupcakes:

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/3 cups whole milk
• 2 1/2 cups flour

For the Frosting:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup cinnamon chips
• splash of whole or 2% milk 
  

Directions 

Pumpkin Pies:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees (F).
2. Combine sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in small bowl. 
3. Beat eggs in large bowl. 
4. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. 
5. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
6. Roll out the pie crust dough and cut it into small circles that are large enough to cover the bottom and sides of mini cupcake tins. A biscuit cutter works well for this.
7. Press the dough into the lightly greased mini cupcake tins, and then fill them with the pumpkin pie mix. (Don’t go all the way to the top, the filling will expand a little while baking.)
8. Bake the pies for about 7 minutes at 425 degrees (F), and then turn the oven down to 350 degrees (F) and bake them for another 10 minutes or so, until the crust is brown and the filling is completely set.
9. After taking them out of the oven, cool them on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then take them out of the pan and allow them to cool further while you mix up the batter.

Cupcakes:

1. Combine the butter and the cream cheese together on medium speed for about 90 seconds—you want the ingredients to be well incorporated.
2. Then mix in the sugar until the mixture is fluffy.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
4. Then mix in the milk and the flour, alternating between the two ingredients. 
5. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, to make sure everything is getting well-mixed—beat again on med-high speed for about a minute. It should be smooth and creamy.
6. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of batter into regular-sized, paper-lined cupcake tins. 
7. Plop a cooled pumpkin pie into the center, and press gently into the batter. GENTLY. You don’t want it to touch to the bottom of the pan. 
8. Cover the pies with another heaping tablespoon of batter, so the top and sides are completely covered.
9. Bake at 350 degrees (F) for about 25 minutes, until the cake is set and the edges and tops of the cupcakes have turned golden brown.
10. Allow them to cool in the cupcake tray for at least 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack—they’ll be a little fragile at first. 
11. Once the cakes are cool, frost ‘em!

Frosting:

1. Put the cinnamon chips with a splash of whole milk in a microwave safe bowl. 
2. Put them in the microwave for about 45 seconds on high. 
3. Remove and stir until all the chips are melted, and allow it to cool a bit while you whip up the rest of the frosting (you can put the bowl in the fridge, it’ll cool faster that way, and the milk will keep it from solidifying). 
4. Cream together the butter and cream cheese until they’re well incorporated. 
5. Then whip in the powdered sugar, a cup at a time, until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
6. With the mixer on low, drizzle in the cooled cinnamon chip “ganache” (if it’s too hot it’ll melt the buttercream and ruin it—you don’t want that). 
7. Put in about half, then stop to taste it and decide if you’d like to add more. Some like it strong, others like it milder.  

Thoughts:
These are pretty amazing. When I first read about them, I didn't realize how good they would be. They're definitely worth the effort