Glazed Tangerine Donut Cake ~ #TheCakeSliceBakers

If you are a donut lover, you are going to love this cake! This cake really has 

the best of both worlds - a tender, lightly spiced cake topped with a delicious citrus 

glaze - it tastes just like a donut and you don't need to deep fry it.

Walnut Espresso Cake ~#TheCakeSliceBakers

This rich butter cake, flavored with espresso powder, has a decadent 

whipped espresso and rum buttercream frosting. The candied praline pecans 

on the top add just the right crunch to complement the cake.

 

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bundt Cake ~ #BundtBakers

What's better than a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich?  A Peanut Butter and Jelly 

Bundt Cake that will take you back to your childhood as you savor each bite.

Hot Cross Bundt Cakes ~ BundtBakers

These Hot Cross Bundts are warm and spicy, with a touch of citrus 

and the sugar crosses piped on top add another sweet note.

Pina Colada Cake ~ #TheCakeSliceBakers

This little Pina Colada Cakes brings to mind tropical islands and relaxing

in the sun - something we are all hoping to be able to do freely very soon.

Fig and Orange Cake ~ #TheCakeSliceBakers

Dried figs and orange flavor two ways - juice and fleur d'oranger -  

combine  to make this cake a delicious afternoon treat.

Chocolate Guinness Bundt with Yogurt Glaze ~ #TheCakeSliceBakers

This Chocolate Guinness Bundt is da bomb! But the real surprise is in how

easy it is to make.  Baking a cake doesn't have to be difficult.

Mochi Doughnuts ~ #BreadBakers

Doughnuts. An excuse to eat cake for breakfast.

Glazed Cinnamon-Raisin Roll Bundt ~ #BundtBakers

"I really don't think I need buns of steel. I'd be happy with buns of cinnamon" - Ellen DeGeneres

Carrot Cake Cheesecake Bundt ~ #BundtBakers

Carrot Cake is taken to the next level when it has a cheesecake filling

and a lovely tangy orange glaze.

Lilikoi-Lime Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies ~ #CreativeCookieExchange

#CreativeCookieExchange is baking Cookies for Tea this month. As a big tea drinker and a cookie lover, this theme is perfect for me. The only trouble I had was narrowing it down to just one cookie. There are so many great cookie recipes out there waiting to be baked.

Banana Loaf ~ #CakeSliceBakers

The #CakeSliceBakers are back with their next cake from World Class Cakes by Roger Pizey. As always there were some great choices again this month, and I'm looking forward to seeing which cake my fellow bakers chose to make.

Lemon Drizzle

The #CakeSliceBakers are back with their next cake from World Class Cakes by Roger Pizey. There were some great choices again this month and I am looking forward to seeing which cake my fellow bakers chose to make.

Banana Bundt Cake with Vanilla Caramel Glaze ~ #BundtBakers

Our theme this month for #BundtBakers is Birthday Bundts.  I am one of those unfortunate people who have a December birthday, and it always seems to be an afterthought, or just forgotten altogether.  I really like the idea of celebrating in January instead. I can't wait to see what everyone has chosen as their Birthday Bundt.

Cinnamon Dolce Coffee Bundt Cake - #BundtBakers

Cinnamon invokes such a warm and comforting feeling. Sitting in front of the fire, drinking hot chocolate, eating a piece of Cinnamon Dolce Coffee Bundt Cake while the snow gently falls outside......well that is not going to happen here, except the eating cake part. I was still excited when I found out that the theme for this months #BundtBakers was cinnamon.

Limoncello Pound Cake ~ The Cake Slice Bakers January 2014

It is Cake Slice Bakers time - our first for 2014! The votes were cast, tallied up, and the winner was Old-Fashioned Pound Cake.  You just know you can never go wrong with a classic like this, and we had the choice of plain, spirited, nutty, or chocolate chip.  Of course I choose the boozy one :). As you know we are baking from Great Cakes by Carole Walter. So far we have baked some Streusel Squares, an Applesauce Spice Cake, and this Old-Fashioned Pound Cake - and each one has been a winner.  It is an expansive book filled with great recipes and Ms. Walter's expert knowledge, and I'm looking forward to each month's baking challenge.

The Cake Slice Baker's November 2013 - Applesauce Spice Cake

I have been looking forward to this day for a while.  Not only is it time for a new cake from the Cake Slice Bakers, it is also time to reveal our new book for the upcoming year.  Can I have a drum-roll please - we all voted and the winning book was Great Cakes by Carole Walter.  Ms. Walter is a respected author, has over 30 years of teaching experience, and has been honored for her "Outstanding Commitment to the Culinary Arts.”  It would be an understatement to say that this woman knows her stuff.

Just to refresh your memory the Cake Slice Bakers consists of a dedicated group of bakers from all over the world and every year we bake from a different cake book. Each month a selection of cakes are presented and we vote on which cake to bake next from our current book. We then have a month to bake it in secret before we all blog about it on the same day each month – the 20th – never before. We never reveal to anyone outside of the group which cake it is until this date. There are a few rules that we follow but the most important one is to have fun and enjoy eating cake! We have a blogroll which is open to anyone to view and it lists all the members. We link to this at the end of our cake reveal posts each month and it can be also be found at The Cake Slice Blogroll. Please come and visit us!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Bundt Cake #BundtaMonth

I was definitely excited when I found out that the theme for this month's #BundtaMonth was candy. Who wouldn't be thrilled to be asked to "bake us a bundt using your favorite candy"? Now my only problem was that I have two favorite candy bars - one from Australia and one from the US.  Which one should I use to make my bundt?

A mix of chopped cherries and coconut, smothered with Cadbury dark chocolate, the Cherry Ripe has always been from favorite chocolate in Australia.  It is also the oldest chocolate bar in Australia. However, I can't seem to resist little cups of chocolate filled with peanut butter - the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup - that has always been my favorite chocolate in the US.  In the end it was an easy decision because I did not have enough Cherry Ripes in my secret stash, and Reese's Peanut Putter Cups are more readily available for the majority of people.  The Cherry Ripe bundt will have to wait for another day.

I wasn't sure if I should just wing it, but then I found this recipe at Wee Eats and it seemed to be just what I was looking for. After a few slight changes I was ready to bake.  To get a deep, dark chocolate color and flavor this recipe uses Dutch-process cocoa.  This type of cocoa is produced from beans that have been treated with an alkali that neutralizes the acidity.  It therefore it does not react with baking soda and needs to be used in recipes that contain baking powder, or a recipe that has other acidic ingredients in proportionate amounts, hence the sour cream. For a more detailed breakdown I found that David Lebovitz has an excellent explanation on his website, which can be found here.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Scones

There is a place quite close to Waikiki Beach that sells the most amazing scones.  Diamond Head Market & Grill is quite well-known to locals and tourists alike. They have a great variety of gourmet foods that are packaged in to-go containers, so it is the perfect place to stop and pick up a picnic lunch. They also have a great selection of baked goods including pies, cakes, cookies, and their famous scones.  Blueberry was the original flavor and is probably their most popular, but they have added a few new flavors over time including banana, apple crumb, and pineapple. Once you have had one of their scones you are hooked for life.

Since they sell hundreds of these scones every day, it is not surprising that the owner is keeping the recipe a secret.  Of course that has not stopped people from trying to copy it, including me.  In my quest to find a recipe for these scones I came across an article that had been written back in 2003 by Betty Shimabukuro (food writer & recipe guru in Hawaii) in the Honolulu Star Bulletin that seemed pretty close.  I decided to give it a try, with a few small tweaks.

Every time I that I have eaten these scones they seemed to have a very soft, pillowy crumb and I would always wonder how they got them so soft. I decided to replace some of the all-purpose flour with cake flour to achieve a softer and finer texture.  One of my favorite things about these scones was the glaze on top, so I omitted sprinkling the berries with sugar and added a glaze that was brushed on liberally with a pastry brush as soon as they came out of the oven. I also decided that I wanted to use fresh blueberries. I found that the easiest way to incorporate the berries and cream cheese pieces was to leave the dough in the bowl, poke a few berries and cream cheese pieces into it and then gently put my hand underneath the dough and fold it in half, repeating this until all were incorporated. Also, the recipe did call for cutting the cream cheese in pieces, which I have left in the recipe below, but I found it easier to just break off pieces by hand as I was incorporating it.

My scones were a little smaller than the ones you will find at Diamond Head Market, but I have to say that the taste was a perfect replica.  Warm from the oven, with a little glaze over the top, they were melt-in-the-mouth good.  I found myself breaking off just a piece here and there throughout the day, until I finally thought to myself this is ridiculous, so I made a cup of my favorite coffee and sat down to relax and enjoy one.  And I am so glad that I did.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Scones
(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup butter, cut into small pieces
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cake flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅓ cup milk
• 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 egg, beaten
• ½ cup blueberries
• 2 ounces cream cheese, cut in 1/2-inch pieces (see note above)
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• ¼ cup hot water

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400℉.
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment.
3. Combine butter, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl and cut with a pastry blender or two butter knives until crumbly (I like to use my hands for this).
4. Whisk milk into softened cream cheese (3 oz), add egg and continue to whisk until well-combined. 
5. Stir cream cheese mixture into flour mixture until dough forms a ball - if the dough is a little wet sprinkle some additional flour on top and gently knead).
6. Gently push blueberries and cream cheese pieces (2 oz) into the dough to incorporate evenly. Be careful not to crush the berries or mash the cream cheese pieces.
7. Using a large spoon or (ice cream scoop) drop mounds of dough onto a cookie sheet to make 8 scones. Tuck berries and cream cheese pieces into the dough as much as possible.
8. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until golden. 
9. While the scones are baking make the glaze; place the powdered sugar in a small bowl, gradually add the hot water, and whisk until smooth. Once the scones are removed from the oven glaze them generously with this mixture.

Recipe adapted from The Honolulu-Star Bulletin by ATLATC.

Tate's Bake Shop Giveaway + Cinnamon Swirl Scones

Have a craving for a cinnamon rolls but not the time to make them?  Then I have the recipe for you - Cinnamon Swirl Scones.  These have all the cinnamon-y goodness of an actual cinnamon roll, and a yummy vanilla glaze, and can be made in a fraction of the time.

The recipe for these scones comes from Tate's Bake Shop Baking for Friend's, which was sent to me last October for review.  I have really been enjoying this book but had not had the chance to make these scones before.  Boy, had I been missing out. Even though there are three components - filling, dough, and icing - they are super quick to make.  I did make the mistake of not rolling the dough quite tight enough, so I put them in the fridge to firm up and all was well.  I also found that when I cut the dough it tended to flatten a little, and I baked the first batch like this.  With the second ones I kind of squished them a little so they were more rounded and found that they baked up much better this way.

Once again I found myself trying very hard not to nibble too much before I could get a decent photo. Warm out of the oven, with a little drizzle of vanilla icing these really hit the spot, perfectly mimicking a cinnamon roll.  They were a little crisp on the outside and then became softer as you got towards the middle of the scone. These did have raisins in them, which I liked, but you could certainly omit these if you wanted.  I made sure that I didn't put the vanilla icing on them all since I plan on warming them a little in the morning for breakfast. I think that they would make the perfect addition to your Mother's Day Celebration.

And speaking of Mother's Day, it is just around the corner and the wonderfully generous people at Tate’s Bake Shop are giving one reader of All That's Left Are The Crumbs a Mother's Day Brunch Basket. The basket includes their sinful sour cream coffee cake, a lemon pound cake loaf, two each of their heavenly raspberry bars and crumb cakes, plus a box of Tate's Bake Shop's famous chocolate chip cookies.  I still dream of their cookies, so I can only imagine how good the rest of the items in the basket are.  One lucky reader won't have to dream about it, they will win it!

Entering the giveaway is easy:


Main Entry
To enter the giveaway all you have to do is leave a comment telling me about your favorite Mother's Day memory.

Additional Entries
Even more chances to win - you can receive up to two additional entries by doing the following:

1. Following All That's Left Are The Crumbs on Facebook - leave an additional comment to let me know that you are following.
2. Follow Tate's Bake Shop on Facebook - leave an additional comment to let me know that you are following.

The Fine Print

• Deadline for entry is May 11, 2013 at 6:00PM HST.
• Sorry, this giveaway is open only to US addresses.
• Please leave a valid email address where I can contact you if you choose to publish anonymously.
• One winner will be chosen at random using Random.org.  I will announce the winner at the top of this post on Mother's Day - May 12, 2013 - and send them an email.  If I do not have a response within 48 hours, another winner will be selected.
• The winner will receive a Tate's Bake Shop Mother's Day Brunch Basket (prize supplied directly to the winner by Tate's Bake Shop).
• The prize for this giveaway to one of my readers is being provided by Tate's Bake Shop.  I was not compensated personally for this post.
  
  Good luck everyone!

Update: Happy Mother's Day and congratulations to Anne @Have a Cookie who is the lucky winner of the Tate's Bake Shop Giveaway.  Anne, please respond to my email with your details so that Tate's can mail you the prize.  Thank you to everyone who visited my blog and entered the giveaway.

Also, if you are still looking for that perfect Mother's Day gift Tate’s Bake Shop is the place to order something amazing for your mom, grandmother, mother-in-law, or that special person who is like a mom to you. There are baskets, towers, squares, and cookies - seriously, you cannot go wrong with anything you order.  They are offering everyone a special 20% off discount code that can be redeemed until Mother's Day.  All you have to do us type in mom13 when you are checking out on their website.

Cinnamon Swirl Scones

(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients
Filling

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) salted butter, at room temperature
• ½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Dough

• 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon spiced vanilla sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold salted butter, cut into ½ -inch cubes
• 1 cup dark raisins
• 1¾ cups half-and-half

Icing

• ½ cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Preparation
Filling

1. In a small bowl, mix the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon until smooth.

Dough

1. Position the oven racks in the top third and center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375℉. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, spiced vanilla, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender or your fingertips, work in the butter until the mixture is crumbly with some pea-sized pieces of butter. Do not overmix. 
3. Gently mix in the raisins, then add the half-and-half and mix stirring just until the dry ingredients are moistened.
4. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 17-by-12-inch rectangle about 1/4-inch thick. Spread the cinnamon filling evenly over the top of dough, leaving a 1/2 -inch border on all four sides. 
5. Starting at a long side, tightly roll the dough up into a log. Cut the dough into 2-inch slices and arrange them, cut sides up, 4 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
6. Bake, switching the positions of the baking sheets from front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking, until the rolls are slightly golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool on the pans for 10 minutes.

Icing

1. To make the icing: In a small bowl, mix the confectioners' sugar, vanilla bean paste, and water with a fork until smooth. Drizzle over the buns. Serve warm, or let cool to room temperature. 

Makes 12.
Recipe from Tate's Bake Shop Baking for Friend's