Cranberry and Cornmeal Cake with Caramel Walnut Topping

This year I was at a loss of what kind of dessert to make for our Christmas dinner. Part of me was just tired and didn't want to do anything. My usual stand-bys are being used for other occasions: my delicious Nutella Cake (recipe is posted already) is being brought to a Christmas Eve soiree, and my Triple Chocolate Peppermint Cake (Matt's favorite) will be brought out for New Years' Day.

So, I considered a variety of pie type items (french silk, peppermint, grasshopper, pecan), or cupcakes, or just plain cookies. But with a formal dinner (Matt's roasting a duck again this year with potatoes and brussel sprouts) it seemed like a more formal dessert was in order! I wanted something packed with flavor, but not too heavy after the duck. Something light, and refreshing. And thus, I came upon this recipe. While I'm not trying the cake til tomorrow (I'll report back!) the reviews on other websites are great, the batter looks delcious, and once baked the cake smells delicious. I also can't find a way to go wrong a caramel walnut topping.

Here you have it:

Cranberry and Cornmeal Cake with Caramel Walnut Topping
courtesy of The Food Network

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 35 - 45 minutes
Cooling time: 20 minutes
Yields: 1-9" cake

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for the pan
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting the pan
• 1/2 cup yellow fine cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/4 cup orange zest (from 2 large oranges)
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 large egg yolks
• 2 large eggs
• Caramel Walnut Sauce, recipe follows

DIRECTIONS:

1. Put an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and orange zest. Measure 3 tablespoons of the flour mixture into a small bowl. Add the chopped cranberries and toss until coated. Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the egg yolks and whole eggs, 1 at a time. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Using a spatula, gently fold in the cranberries.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the surface with a spatula. Bake until the cake is golden brown, and a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 40 minutes.
4. Cool for 20 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Cut the cake into wedges, arrange on a serving platter and serve with the Caramel Walnut Sauce. (The cake can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight in a plastic container.)

Caramel Walnut Topping

Ingredients

Caramel-Walnut Sauce

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 25 - 30 minutes

Yields: 2 cups

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
• 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, optional

For the Caramel-Walnut Topping Sauce:

1. In a medium saucepan, mix together the cream, brown sugar, and butter over medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.
   
2. Reduce the heat and simmer until the mixture thickens, about 25 to 30 minutes.
   
3. Stir in the walnuts and sea salt, if using.
   
4. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature before serving.

Enjoy!!

Heaven = Nutella Cake

Okay, for those of you out there that love chocolate & hazelnuts...this is the cake for you!! It's a flourless chocolate cake that incorporates, you guessed it, Nutella. It is the perfect cake - not too heavy, delicate, and delicious. It's also not that difficult but very impressive sounding, so a good cake to take with you to a holiday party. The other beauty about this cake is it doesn't have very many ingredients! And...I'm not an expert, but I believe that it's flour-less status by default makes this gluten-free? Though I think the Nutella may make it not-so. If your really interested, you should Google it.

So here you have it:

Nutella Cake

Ingredients - For the Cake

• 6 large eggs, separated
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 - 13-oz container of Nutella
• 1 TBS rum
• 1/2 cup finely ground hazelnuts
• 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, melted & cooled

For the Ganache:

• 4 oz whole hazelnuts
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 TBS rum
• 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate

Getting down to baking:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F; butter a 9-inch springform pan.
2. In a large bowl (preferably metal, but I use glass and it works out just fine), whisk the egg whites and salt until stiff. In another bowl, cream the butter & Nutella, then add the rum, egg yolks, and ground hazelnuts. Fold in the melted chocolate.
3. Add a blob of beaten egg whites to the chocolate batter, and mix gently until well-combined. Fold in the remaining eggs whites, one-third at a time, very gently but thoroughly. Pour into springform pan and bake for 40 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a tester, which should come out mostly clean; lightly pressing a finger into the top to check for a slight bouncing-back; and observing edges beginning to separate from the pan. Let cool completely, in the pan, on a rack.
4. Toast the hazelnuts in a dry skillet, shaking them around frequently, for about 5 minutes or until they are lightly browned, then let cool completely. If the hazelnuts came with the skins on, put them in a kitchen towel after toasting and rub around; this will remove the skins, if you are diligent. I never have the patience, so just get as much skin off as I can and have partially-skinned hazelnuts crowning my cake.
5. Chop the chocolate, and add to a sauce pan with cream and rum over medium-low heat. Once the chocolate is melted and components are combined, whisk until the mixture reaches its desired thickness, then cool.
6. Remove the rim of the cake pan and pour cooled ganache over, spreading lightly to create a smooth, shiny surface, and apply hazelnuts all over. Let the ganache settle and meld with the top of the cake, resting for about an hour, before serving. Goes well with a nice cup of coffee!

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Hazelnut Diamonds

So, this is under the "holiday cookie" section of the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook...there are a bunch of recipes based off of one basic recipe. This is one of the variations...and is quite a pretty and delicious cookie with a delicate crumb.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Diamonds
courtesy of Americ'as Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Prep time: 1 hour 5 minutes (includes making the dough)
Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes, plus cooking
Yields: about 50 cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup superfine sugar (Superfine sugar will give your cookies a finer crumb and crisper texture. If you don't have superfine sugar or can't find it in the store, process about 1 cup granulated sugar in a food processor for abotu 30 seconds, then measure out 3/4 cup for the recipe)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 16 TBS (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and softened
• 2 TBS cream cheese, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and chopped fine (If you don't have/like hazelnuts, you can substitute another nut. I chose to use almond slivers.)

1. Whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl.
2. Beat the butter into the flour mixture, one piece at a time, using an electric mixer on medium-low speed, then continue to beat 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the cream cheese and vanilla until the dough just begins to form large clumps, about 30 seconds.
3. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Press the dough in an even layer into a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake the cookies until they are light golden brown, about 20 minutes.
4. Immediately after removing the baking sheet from the oven, sprinkle evenly with the chocolate chips and let stand until melted, about 3 minutes. Using an offset spatula, spread the chocolate in an even layer, then sprinkle evenly with the shopped hazelnuts. Cool on a wire rack until just warm, 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Using a pizza cutter, cut into 1 1/2-inch diamonds. Transfew cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.