black and white

i've been pretty busy these days, and i made these little pound cakes quite some time ago and never got around to posting them. they are very tasty, and very simple to make. i thought with the election coming up tomorrow, i'd post it now. since i'm a dual citizen (canada-us) i can vote in both countries, and did... i sent in my absentee ballot over 2 weeks ago! go democracy! i'll be glued to CNN tomorrow.
and in two weeks... another vote- this time for mayor of vancouver!

Ingredients

Marble Cake (martha stewart baking handbook)

Makes one 9-by-5-inch loaf

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
• 1 3/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan; set aside. Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in vanilla. Add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk and beginning and ending with the flour. Set aside 1/3 of the batter.
3. In a bowl, mix cocoa and 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water with a rubber spatula until smooth. Add the cocoa mixture to the reserved cake batter; stir until well combined.
4. Spoon batters into the prepared pan in 2 layers, alternating spoonfuls of vanilla and chocolate to simulate a checkerboard. To create marbling, run a table knife (or wooden skewer) through the batters in a swirling motion.
5. Bake, rotating the pan halfway through, until a cake tester comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. Transfer pan to a rack to cool 10 minutes. Turn out cake from pan and cool completely on the rack. Cake can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

kumbaya

i made this campfire cake for my friend's daughter. she was hosting a sleep-out-in-refrigerator-boxes party and thought a campfire theme would be great. after some research on the good ole interweb i found two possible ways to make the cake: make a "normal" cake and have pretzels and candy on top creating the campfire; or make the cake the actual campfire. the latter is what i decided upon.

on some magasine's site (i can't remember which one) i had found the idea and they used 2 store bought pound cakes with the corners trimmed off. that just wasn't going to cut it. then i remembered the buche de noel. that would be perfect. i did take their idea of melting life savers for the fire. i couldn't find any doughnut holes so i grabbed some bridge mixture and tossed them with some icing sugar for the coals. sponge sheet cake

adapted from williams-sonoma CAKES

2/3 cup cake flour

pinch of salt

4 large eggs, separated, plus 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

position a rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat to 350 degrees F. in a 10x15x1" jelly roll pan butter, parchment and butter again. dust with flour and tap out the excess. sift the flour and salt together in to a small bowl. set aside.

in a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the 5 egg yolks and 1/3 cup of the sugar. beat on med-high speed until the batter is thickened and pale yellow and falls back on itself like a ribbon when the beaters are lifted, about 3 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula. add the vanilla extract and beat until combined. transfer the yolk mixture to a large bowl; clean and dry the mixer bowl thoroughly.

beat the egg whites in the clean bowl of your mixer, now fitted with the whip attachment, on medium speed until foamy, about 1 minute. increase the speed to med-high and continue beating until the whites are holding soft peaks when the whisk is lifted, about 2-3 minutes. turn the mixer to medium and add the remaining 1/3 cup sugar 2 tbsp at a time. after all the sugar has been incorporated, beat for 1 minute more to have stiff peaks.

using a rubber spatula, pile 1/3 of the egg whites on top of the yolk mixture and begin folding. the first addition will lighten the batter. add the remaining egg whites on top of the mixture and fold them in. still using the spatula, fold in the flour mixture in 4 additions. the batter will be light and foamy.

pour the batter int the prepared pan. bake undisturbed for 12 minutes. if the cake looks set and the surface is lightly browned, tough the top gently. if it feels firm, insert a toothpick in the centre. if it comes out dry, the cake is done. if it comes out wet or with crumbs clinging to it, bake for another 2 minutes.

using pot holders, carefully transfer the sheet cake to a wire rack. let the cake cool int he pan until cool to the tough, about 25 minutes. the cake will shrink slightly as it cools. run a thin knife along the inside edge of the pan to loosen the cake, keeping the knife pressed against the side. invert a wire rack on top of the cake and invert together. lift off the pan and discard the parchment. using both hands, carefully the turn the cake top side up. the cake is now ready to be filled and rolled.

chocolate american buttercream

1 cup butter, room temperature

4-6 cups confectioner`s sugar (depends on how sweet you want it)

1é4 cup cocoa powder

1é4 cup milk (or more if you added more sugar)

1 tsp vanilla extract

beat all ingredients in the bowl of your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until smooth and creamy. scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula.