everyday chocolate cake and baked french toast

Everyday Chocolate Cake:
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2010/08/everyday-chocolate-cake/

I pretty much made this one exactly as she stated-- I even pulled out my electric hand mixer for this to really cream the butter and sugar together. Would I ever make it again? Probably not. I always find chocolate cake to be too dry, and this one was no exception.





Baked French Toast
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2006/12/new-years-day-2001/

My changes: I added in sliced almonds and golden raisins, didn't use any booze and added 1.5 tsp of vanilla extract. I put extra cinnamon between layers. It came out great! In the future I would try pecans instead of sliced almonds or may even sliced bananas.

Super-Crumb Coffee Cake

Leftover buttermilk usually means lots of googling to figure out what to do with it, but not this time! I went to a Galentine's brunch a few weeks ago that featured a delicious sour cream coffee cake and had me hankering for more later on. I came across this recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction that used buttermilk, and decided to give it a try.

Super-Crumb Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon flour, for coating the pan
• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 10 Tablespoons (1 and 1/4 stick) unsalted butter, firm and cold
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Generously spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray or grease with butter. Sprinkle the bottom of the pan with 1 Tablespoon of flour and tap out the excess.
2. Whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large mixing bowl until combined. Cut in the butter in very small pieces using a pastry blender or mix with a fork until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside 1 cup of the flour mixture.
3. Mix the baking powder and baking soda into the remaining flour mixture. Add the room temperature buttermilk, egg, and vanilla - you may want to do this with a mixer. The batter is very, very thick. Vigorously mix everything together until the batter is smooth, fluffy, and resembles frosting - about 2 full minutes. Spoon the batter into the prepared springform pan, smoothing the top.
4. Add the brown sugar and cinnamon to the reserved flour mixture. Toss with a fork until well blended. Sprinkle the crumbs over the batter, pressingly lightly so they stick. Bake the cake until the center is firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean - 50-58 minutes. Mine took 55 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then remove the sides of the springform pan and allow cake to cool completely before serving (about 2 hours).
5. Make ahead tip: Cake tastes best on day 1 or day 2. The cake may be made 1 day in advance. Store covered at room temperature for up to 1 week. Cake can be frozen up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

My Notes:

1. I added in about half a cup of my cousin's homemade plum jam into the batter once in the springform pan, which I definitely would do again. The cake itself doesn't have much flavor, and the tartness of the jam helped cut the sweetness of the topping.

2. Too much topping that was too sweet! Or perhaps the topping didn't have enough butter, so it ended up being very sandy. 

3. I did use a pastry cutter to blend in the butter, but I was able to mix the batter by hand. Which is great. I really dislike pulling out my handheld mixer. 

4. Cake tastes great and has a nice moist crumb.

Some pictures: