cakes -

by snebbu

Gingersnaps Gone Wild! Top Ten Gingersnap Recipes

Last week, one of my co-workers brought in a box of gingersnaps. Of course, I grabbed a couple throughout the day. As you know, I enjoy fall and all the flavors that come with it. However, as I bit down into the rock hard cookie, I nearly broke a tooth. In considering what to feature next on our top ten lists, I thought of some ways that would highlight the tasty flavors of gingersnaps without the risk of breaking your teeth. Therefore, we found the top ten gingersnap recipes! Links will bring you straight to the recipes. Let us know what your favorites are!

(Bake it in a Cake)

10. Pumpkin Cupcakes with Rolos, Gingersnap Crust, and Apple Cider Buttercream

Pumpkin cake, caramel, apple cider frosting, and a sweet and crispy crust? I’ll take two.

(Five Crafty Sisters)

9. Gingersnap Pumpkin Pudding

I’ve always had problems with pudding – a texture issue. But this may be something I’d at least try. A whole different take on gingersnaps…with PUMPKIN.

(strawberryplum)

8. Gingersnap Bread Pudding with Bourbon Butter

Stop drooling. You’re making a fool of yourself.

(Heidikins Cooks)

7. Chocolate Covered Gingersnap Pancakes

Screw chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes…lets get fancy up in here with sugar, spice and everything nice.

(Brown Eyed Baker)

6. Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

Now this is an excuse to get you through an entire box of gingersnaps…without the mere threat of breaking a tooth.

(Tasty Trials)

5. Gingernsap and Cranberry Pork Tenderloin

Some of us enjoy savory of sweet. Here, we have a combination of the two. With some sweet potatoes, it may even start to feel like Thanksgiving.

(The Humble Food Snob)

4. Gingersnap Beef Stew

I love me a hot stew on a Sunday afternoon during a football game. I never thought to add something sweet and spicy like gingersnaps to the mix.

(Fifteen Spatulas)

3. Fifteen Spatulas – Pumpkin Chip Gingersnap Ice Cream

If you truly have a sweet tooth, then you know ice cream never goes out of style. The flavors just change by season.

(Recipes for Our Daily Bread)

2. Pumpkin Gingersnap Crunch Cake

A pumpkin-spice take on an apple cobbler(ish) recipe sounds like a fall-flavored challenge.

(Food 52)

1. Gingersnap Pumpkin Icebox Cake

Eff the summer and its icebox cakes. This is where it’s at. Gingersnap cookies with pumpkin filling.

Don’t see your favorite? Tell us what it is!

For other top ten lists, check them out here!

by unsightly

Gluten-Free, Failure-Free: Red Currant Thyme Cake

I’ve been experimenting with gluten-free baking for a few months now and have had quite a few failures. I would say maybe one in every ten gluten-free experiments actually turns out to be worth making again. This is one of those experiments, which was enjoyed immensely by both gluten eaters and gluten avoiders.

Red Currant Thyme Cake

by BS

Plate It or Hate It

Recent food world discoveries the ES crew is loving and hating

Plate It: Creamed Honey

We love honey. We hate how it sticks all over everything. Creamed honey is pure honey that is crystallized so that it changes texture; you get a smooth, creamy product that spreads like butter and doesn’t drip-drip-drip all over everything like that pedestrian un-creamed honey. Brilliant. (Available at http://www.shopbot.co.nz/)

Hate It: Push Pop Cakes

The latest mom blogger craze picks up where cake pops left off. Come on, foodie moms — please stop sacrificing practicality for cuteness. That is not how you eat a cake. Push it up and things start to fall apart once you take your first bite. (Photo: kristin_a)

Plate It: Travel-Size Brie

Finally. We no longer have to fly with just Laughing Cow. Quality doesn’t compare to regular brie, but it’s sure better than no brie. (Available from Ile de France)

Hate It: Rachael vs. Guy Celebrity Cook-Off

in Celebs / Cheese / Eggs / Lists / TV 3 comments

by Russell Warnick

I’m Not Bloody Kidding: Chocolate-Tomato Cake

When I think of chocolate pairings I usually go with strawberries, orange, mint and perhaps bourbon. Tomato, I think not.

A colleague recently told me how she substitutes water with canned tomato as the wet ingredient for her chocolate cake mix. Yes, you read that right. Tomato in a chocolate cake. As I’m not the baker in my household, it was nice to know that this little experiment would consist only of a box of chocolate cake mix and a can of diced tomatoes.

Following the instructions on the back of the box, an Organic Chocolate Cake Mix from Arrowhead Mills, I added just short of a whole can of Whole Foods 365 brand of no salt added, plain diced tomatoes, pureed.

Read on to see how this crazy combination turned out.

in Recipe 10 comments

by ML

John Mayer’s Interfaith Holiday Baking Competition

Breaking celeb food news from ES’ favorite satirical food blogger, Perez Hilton paramour, and Eater of the Year also-ran. Yes, food fans, it’s time to talk John Mayer. Again.

Last year, after trying to get into the holiday spirit via TV commercials that:

“can be nearly offensive if you didn’t happen to have the kind of year that saw you making friends with an omni-ethnic fully gorgeous group of friends who like to dance in unison,”

John Mayer came to realize that baking cakes was the best way to fill your heart with holiday cheer.

I’m not kidding.

So I present to you, The Second Annual Interfaith Holiday Baking Competition, presented by John Mayer.

What is this you ask? What are the rules? There is one rule: Bake something that inspires or moves John. Send picture. This is good news for us at ES, because baking really isn’t our thing.

The winner will receive 4 tickets (and a meet and greet) to any show on John’s upcoming tour and a Martin OMJM Signature Series acoustic guitar. Runner up wins a Fender JM Stratocaster.

Want to submit an entry? Read the full story and submission rules here.

(Pic: Last year’s winner, Danielle’s leg lamp cake)

in Celebs / Contests 3 comments

by BS

Our Top 10 Favorite Halloween Cakes

While we here at ES put most of our Halloween energy into thinking up weird food costumes, we’ve noticed in the past couple of years that our friends around the blogosphere and flickr-verse have been getting crazy creative with the cakes for this particular holiday season. Since you know we can’t bake to save our lives, let’s take a look at a few of the freakiest, loveliest cakes we’ve spied around the web.

10. Black Spider Wedding Cake

(Pag asa)

9. Zombie Fingers Cake

(Dessert by Candy — includes full recipe)

8. Jack-o-Lantern Cake

(Williams-Sonoma, where you can actually buy a $99 pan specifically for making this cake)

7. Vampire Bat Cake

(My Own Sweet Thyme — includes step-by-step instructions.)

6. Bloody Eyeballs Cake

(megpi)

5. Mad Scientist Cake

(Don Buciak)

4. Cockroach Cake

(Make)

3. Zombie Cake

(Crafster)

2. Kitty Litter Cake

(Cleverswine) (plus recipe here)

1. Bleeding Heart (and all the other organs, too) Cake

(Do It Myself! — includes full instructions)

What other kinds of cakes are all you weirdos baking! Drop your links in the comments.

All of our Halloween costumes, cocktails and recipes — in Endless Halloween

in Desserts / Holiday / Lists / Top 10 Lists 17 comments

by gansie

To Bake or Drink, or Both

Editor’s Note: Continuing with her summer project, here’s LC’s latest discovery while digging through her family’s recipes.

In going through these family recipes, we have found several that have made us dig deep into our collective subconscious for their origin. The Harvey Wallbanger cake, however, is clearly attributed to a family friend. Now, I am all for mixing booze with baking. One of the ES recipes that has made it into my family’s regular rotation are the mint julep cupcakes from C. Christy Concrete. We’re not big on sweets, but we are big on booze so the combination is magically delicious for us (even though yes, I know, the alcohol itself bakes off). I was confused, as usual, by this recipe and how the booze was going to fit in.

The MVI* in a Harvey Wallbanger drink and cake is Galliano. Galliano is an amaretto-like liqueur. It’s pretty good but unless you find you have an affinity for Harvey Wallbangers, which I do not, you are going to have some Galliano hanging around your wet bar for a while. The bottle is quite pretty though and lets people know you’re serious about your cocktails, if that’s the message you want to send.

in Desserts / Drinks / Recipe 4 comments