Harris’ Yellow Layer Cake!
Since we just threw our friend a birthday dinner at our home, we wanted to share with you the recipe for Harris’ Yellow Layer Cake!
Yellow Layer Cake
Ingredients
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
1 ¾ cups sugar
10 tablespoons soften butter
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 large egg yolks, at room temperature
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
Directions
Grease two 9-inch round cake pans and line the bottom with wax paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a bowl whisk together and set aside, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a medium size bowl whisk egg whites until soft peaks form, gradually add ¼ cup of sugar and whisk until moderate peaks form and set aside.
Beat in large bowl, using whisk attachment if possible, beat together, 1 ½ cups sugar, butter and oil until lite and fluffy, which usually take 4 minutes. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla.
With mixer set to slow speed add flour mixture alternating with buttermilk and beat until smooth. Fold in egg whites. Pour into cake pans and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients
1 10 oz. Package of Semisweet Chocolate Chips or Squares
¾ Light Cream or Half & Half – Room Temperature
¾ lb. of Unsalted Butter
3 ¼ C Confectioners Sugar
Directions
In saucepan on low heat, melt and combine the butter and chocolate. Add cream and sugar. Whisk until smooth and holds shape.
Princess Diana’s Poached Pears: A Romantic Dish for Valentine’s Day
Inspired by Princess Diana, this is a very special dish that we only make for very special occasions!
Poached Pears are beautiful as a dessert, which is the way Princess Diana preferred them. Or you can place them on top of a salad which is how we like them at The Dads: Harris & Dave! Make these for your loved one on Valentine’s Day or any day you want feel like romancing! Nothing says “I Love You” like these babies!
As a bonus, you will be left with our “liquid gold” sauce that you can use for the rest of the year! The “liquid gold” is great over ice cream or even as a base for a rich vinaigrette! That’s amore!
Poached Pears in Port Wine
(Recipe adapted from In the Royal Manner, Paul Burrell, former Butler to Diana, Princess of Wales.)
Ingredients:
3 cups ruby port wine
Directions:
Pour wines into saucepan. Add citrus rinds, jelly, and cinnamon sticks. Bring to a boil, stirring until the jelly has dissolved.
Meanwhile, peel the pears, leaving the stalks intact. Since the bottoms if necessary so they stand up straight. Squeeze and rub the juice of the lemon on the pears to prevent browning.
Place the pears in the sauce pan with the wine. Bring back to a boil, removing any surface scum. Once the wine returns to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cover; turning every ten minutes and spooning the wine over the pears to allow all sides of the pears to absorb the wine mixture. Cook until the pears are tender, about 45 minutes.
Remove the pears using a slotted spoon, reserving the wine and set the pears in a heatproof dish. Return wine mixture to the heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook until the liquid is reduced and syrupy, 15 to 20 minutes. Pour liquid through a sieve to remove any pieces of cinnamon, etc. Allow to cool before serving.
These delicious pears are wonderful served standing straight up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with the wine syrup.
They are also a wonderful topping to your salad. Imagine baby field green salad with gorgonzola cheese, a few cherry tomatoes and a few Kalamata olives, topped with the poached pears. So good!!
Slice the pear in half lengthways. With a paring knife trim, off the stem and core very carefully, as the pears are very tender. Slice pears lengthways in ¼ inch slices, holding pear intact and fan on top of the salad. Top the salad with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
Video: Harris Bakes a 3 Layer Chocolate Cake!
Recipe: The Dads’ Perfect Chocolate Cake!
Who can resist a bite of this delicious, decadent Chocolate Cake?!
Chocolate Cake
Cake Ingredients:
1 C Unsweetened Cocoa
2 C Boiling Water
2 ¾ C Sifted All-Purpose Flour
2 t Baking Soda
½ t Salt
½ t Baking Powder
½ lb. Unsalted Butter – softened
2 ½ C Sugar
4 Eggs
2 t Vanilla
In a bowl, combine cocoa and boiling water. Mix with whisk until smooth. Allow to cool completely. When cooled, preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour-dust three 9 inch layer cake pans. Cut rounds of wax or parchment paper and place on bottom of cake pans to help remove cake from pans after baking.
In large bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In large mixing bowl, at high speed cream together butter and sugar for about 5 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla. At low speed, alternately beat in 25 percent of flour mixture and chocolate mixture until fully incorporated – do not over beat. Divide equally into the 3 cake pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the top springs bake when gently pressed with fingertip. Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Allow to completely cool on rack.
Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients:
1 10 oz. Package of Semisweet Chocolate Chips or Squares
¾ Light Cream or Half & Half – Room Temperature
¾ lb. of Unsalted Butter
3 ¼ C Confectioners Sugar
In saucepan on low heat, melt and combine the butter and chocolate. Add cream and sugar. Whisk until smooth and holds shape.
Assemble and frost the cake. Enjoy!
Christmas Baking: Classic Pumpkin Pie
Our Christmas baking is underway! Is yours?
We have been so busy doing our last-minute shopping that we haven’t had much chance to post. The holidays are just so crazy! But here’s our Classic Pumpkin Pie recipe! It would be fantastic on any holiday table! Hope you enjoy it!
Pumpkin Pie
Use a deep dish 9 or 91/2 pie plate and use flaky pie dough for the crust.
Ensure eggs milk and cream are at room temperature. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 cups of fresh pumpkin or pumpkin puree in a can
¾ cup milk
¾ cup heavy cream
¼ cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground allspice or clove
½ teaspoon salt
Directions:
Whisk egg yolk in small bowl and brush pie dough. Allow egg wash to dry.
Please note… the above step is optional, but the reason we suggest it is because the egg forms a moisture barrier between the crust and the filling and helps to keep the crust for getting soggy and soaked with the pumpkin filling.
Whisk eggs in a large bowl and whisk in all remaining ingredients. Pour into a prepared pie plate and bake until the filling sets up. It should take for 40 to 45 minutes. You will be able to tell when it is done when you nudge the pie the center will quiver.
Let the pie cool completely before you refrigerate. For the best pumpkin pie flavor allow it to refrigerate for a day or two before serving.
Pumpkin & Cheesecake, Oh My!!
It is snowing outside and we are lucky to be cozy at home. On days like these, it is the perfect time to do some baking! And what is better to bake than cheesecake? Pumpkin Pie layered on top!
Dave demonstrates in the video below how to make this creamy and decadent dessert! Let us know if you make it and how it turns out!
Harris’ Homemade Flaky Pie Crust!
Video: Jewish Apple Cake
Harris and Dave demonstrate how to make the Jewish Apple Cake.
The Dads’ Jewish Apple Cake
Jewish Apple Cake is a recipe which we absolutely love. It’s the perfect holiday dessert which works not only for the evening, but also for the next morning. It’s also great to bring to parties, and when sliced, has beautiful rings of apple and cinnamon between the layers of cake. We will be serving it at our Thanksgiving feast! We hope you will give it a try for your next holiday party or brunch. What are your favorite comfort desserts?
Ingredients
- 5-6 Granny Smith Apples, thinly sliced
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 5 teaspoons white granulated sugar
- 3 cups flour
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 2 1/4 cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup orange juice
- 2 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
Directions
Mix cinnamon and 5 teaspoons of sugar.
Place sliced apples in a bowl, sprinkling each slice with the cinnamon and sugar.
In a separate large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
In another separate bowl, beat together on medium-high speed, the vegetable oil, butter, and remaining sugar until light and creamy. If you wish, you can use all butter, all oil, or a combination, so long as you have a half cup of oil, butter, or a combination of both.
Add one egg at a time to the wet mixture with a mixer on low speed.
Add the vanilla to the wet mixture.
While still on a low speed, alternate between adding the dry ingredients and the orange juice, until well blended.
Grease your pan. We prefer to use a bundt pan for this recipe.
Pour a short layer of batter in bottom of pan, just enough to cover the bottom.
Line the pan with apples.
Continue to alternate between layers of batter and apples, ending with apples on top.
Bake 350 degrees for 1 ½ to 2 hours.
Test with a toothpick, but you will know your cake is ready when it looks like this:
Simply flip your cake and enjoy. This cake is delightful warm, but is just as good for breakfast/brunch the next day. Enjoy!
