butternut squash cake with whipped cream cheese frosting

Pumpkin and carrots get all the attention in the vegetables-for-dessert world. But there are so many other vegetables you can dessertify. To be fair, sometimes zucchini loaf pops in and beets seem to be vying for a spot through certain natural type red velvet cakes.

But the options don’t end there. There are many more ways to dessert your vegetables. Butternut squash is practically pumpkin anyway-it's so pumpkiny that it’s most likely been masquerading as the pumpkin purée in the can you used for your last pumpkin pie. Probably. It’s a curcurbita conspiracy.

Also, there is really no such thing as a vegetable anyway. A vegetable is just a plant that we eat, that we don't call a fruit or a herb. In fact, loads of them are actually fruit, botanically speaking, just masquerading as vegetables. To confuse things even further, some fruits are not fruits (that interloper rhubarb!) and every plant that we don't call a fruit is either called a vegetable, herb, grain or just not food.

So squashes are fruits, so this must be a fruitcake then! In fact they are berries, in the botanical sense, since they have a bunch of seeds in one fruit-body.

Anyway, this ramble is just to say that we shouldn’t be too closed-minded about what does and does not belong in a cake. The butternut squash makes for a very moist, but still very fluffy, comforting, Autumnal sort of cake. The cake is probably moist enough that it doesn’t really need a syrup drizzle to keep things tender, but if you are feeling it, a bit of half strength simple syrup (1 part sugar to 2 parts water) with some vanilla and cinnamon wouldn’t hurt anything. Your call.

butternut squash cake:

adapted from Pastry Affair

• 4 large eggs

• 1 2/3 cup granulated sugar

• 1 cup vegetable oil

• 2 cups butternut squash puree (1 large butternut squash, roasted until very tender, peeled and mashed)

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp baking soda

• ¼ tsp each ground nutmeg, ginger & cloves

• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1 tsp salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 6” cake pans with parchment paper.

Beat together the eggs, sugar, oil, butternut squash puree and vanilla until everything is evenly incorporated. Add in all remaining ingredients and mix until smooth.

Portion about ⅔ of the batter into the two prepared pans. Reserve the rest for later or make a few cupcake. Uncooked batter freezes really well.

Bake about 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pans at room temperature or in the fridge.

whipped cream cheese frosting:

adapted from Just a Taste

• 2 (8-oz.) packages cream cheese, at room temperature

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 1/3 cups cold heavy whipping cream

In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese until soft. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until well incorporated. Whisking at a medium-high speed, pour whipping cream into mixer bowl in a slow stream. Frosting should become very fluffy.

assembly:
Trim cakes as required to flatten and level the tops. If using, drizzle syrup generously over the cake layers and let soak in for a couple minutes.

Place one cake layer on a 6" cake board if you have it, or a flat plate or cake stand. Cover cake with a very generous layer of frosting. Sandwich next cake layer on top and frost cake quickly all over with an offset spatula, making sure to cover all exposed cake. Chill in the fridge for 15-20 minutes and then frost with another layer of frosting. Use a bench scraper at a 90 degree angle to tidy up the sides, evenly turning the cake as you hold the bench scraper and add more frosting to fill up any holes or crannies. Decorate with sprinkles if your heart is full of childlike wonder, or leave plain if you prefer a stark, cold, brutalist cake to help you to steel yourself to the cold grey winter to come.

crème brûlée cheesecake with sour cherry compote

There is nothing quite as lovely as cracking through the sugary crust of crème brûlée. It’s like unwrapping a present. A crunchy, creamy, vanilla present. But you don’t have to limit this lovely topping to making actual crème brûlée. You can give the same crunchy caramel treatment to cheesecake. It's rich and creamy enough to evoke crème brûlée but with a little tang from cream cheese. This is lovely on it’s own, but even better with a sweet-and-sour cherry topping.

Baking the cheesecake in a water bath provides gentle, even heat and helps prevent cracking.

crème brûlée cheesecake:

adapted from Fine Cooking

• 1 cup graham crumbs

• ¼ cup. unsalted butter, melted

• 1.5 8-oz. packages cream cheese, at room temperature

• 4 oz. mascarpone or full-fat yogurt

• 1 Tbs. all-purpose flour

• Pinch of flaky salt

• ½ cup + 2 tbs cups granulated sugar

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• 2 large eggs, at room temperature

• 3 tbs granulated sugar

Heat the oven to 375 F. Line the bottom of a 6” springform pan with parchment paper.

Combine graham crumbs and melted butter, mix until well combined. Press crumbs into the bottom of prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes and set aside to cool. Reduce oven temperature to 350 F. Wrap the outside of the springform pan in tinfoil to make it watertight. Half-fill a large roasting pan with water, making sure it’s big enough to hold the springform pan without overflowing.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat cream cheese, mascarpone, flour and salt on medium speed until there are no more lumps. Scrape down the bowl and add ½ cup + 2tbs sugar. Continue beating until well incorporated and smooth. Add vanilla and beat briefly. Add eggs one at a time and beat until just incorporated. Pour filling over the prepared crust and set in the water-filled pan in the oven. Bake 45-50 minutes, or until set around the edges with a wobbly centre.

Chill the cheesecake in the fridge for at least 8 hours. Run a knife around the outside of the cheesecake and release the sides of the pan. Carefully slide the cake onto a serving plate.

Sprinkle 3 tbs sugar over the cake and use a kitchen torch to melt and caramelize it, moving in steady circles over the surface until evenly caramelized. Serve with cherry compote.

sour cherry compote:

• 1 cup fresh or frozen pitted cherries

• 1 cup sour cherries, fresh or from a jar

• ¼ cup sugar (+ more if using fresh sour cherries)

• 2 tbs lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer over medium low heat. Cook until the cherries soften and the sugar and liquids thicken into a heavy syrup, about 15-20 mins. Allow to cool and spoon over cheesecake slices. 

super lemony cake with cream cheese frosting

I think cake is almost always way too sweet. Super sweet frosting without any obvious flavour other than slick, fatty, sweetness with the faintest whiff of a mirage of vanilla. I never liked super sweet cakes and I think  that's why I like to make cake. I want cake to be its best self. Floofy and light and flavourful and intense and not quite so damn sweet all at once. It is possible! This cake combats over sweetness in two ways: super tart and thick lemon curd, combined with extra strength lemon syrup soaked cake layers; and a fluffy, tangy whipped cream cheese frosting. 

Layering the lemon in syrup and curd gets this cake intensely lemony: zingy and tart and puckering and bright. It's a summer time, sunshiney cake. This frosting is a little different that other cream cheese frostings, it's whipped up with whipping cream. It makes a really fluffy and light frosting that is pipeable and holds it's shape beautifully. 

Note about amounts: This cake recipe makes at least twice as much as you will need for the petite cake I made here. Either extra freeze raw batter in mason jars (make sure to leave 1" of space at the top of the jar and freeze without lid, put the lid on after batter is frozen) for using later, or just double the frosting, syrup and curd amounts and make a mega cake! The frozen cake batter will work great thawed, more on this coming soon. Frozen cake batter will change your life. 

yellow cake: 

adapted from smitten kitchen

• 4 cups plus 2 tablespoons cake flour

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 cup butter, softened

• 2 cups sugar

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 4 large eggs, at room temperature

• 2 cups buttermilk (or two cups milk soured with a splash of lemon juice)

Heat oven to 350°F. Line the bottoms of two 6" cake pans with parchment paper. 

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Cream butter and sugar together until light in colour. Add vanilla and eggs and beat to combine. Scrape the sides of the bowl and eat again until well incorporated. 

On the lowest speed, beat in buttermilk. Add flour mixture in three additions. Hand mix with a spatula a little to avoid flour explosions. Scrape down bowl to make sure there are no unmixed spots. 

Reserve half the batter for another use. Divide remaining batter between two prepared 6" pans. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until cakes are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool cakes and run a knife around the edge so they come out of the pan cleanly. 

lemon curd:

adapted from Martha Stewart

• 6 egg yolks

• 1/2 cup lemon juice

• zest from one lemon

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 1/2 cub cold butter, cubed

Combine yolks, lemon juice and rind, and sugar in a small saucepan. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Remove from heat and stir in cubed butter, mixing until well combined. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, transfer to a glass jar and chill in the fridge until cool and very thick. The curd can be made several days in advance.

lemon syrup:

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup lemon juice

Combine sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Chill.

whipped cream cheese frosting:

adapted from Just a Taste

• 8 ounces cream cheese

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

• 1/2 cup + 2 tbs whipping cream, chilled

• 1/2 vanilla bean innards, or 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese until soft. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until well incorporated. Whisking at a medium-high speed, pour whipping cream into mixer bowl in a slow stream. Frosting should become very fluffy. 

assembly:

Trim cakes as required to flatten the tops, I like to cut the side crusts off too to get nothing but the super fluffy middle cake. Drizzle lemon syrup generously over the cake layers and let soak in for a couple minutes. 

Place one cake layer on a 6" cake board if you have it, or a flat plate or cake stand. Cover cake with a very generous layer of curd, it should be quite thickly set so you can really pile it on without oozing over the edge. Leave a thin boarder of uncovered cake around the edge to make space for squishing when you add the next cake layer. Sandwich next cake layer on top and cool in the fridge around 15 minutes to set up, to help the curd not ooze out into your frosting. This is a good time to make the frosting. 

Frost the chilled cake quickly all over with an offset spatula, making sure to cover all exposed cake. Adding more frosting as you go, use an offset spatula, or bench scraper to tidy up and give the cake some nice clean angles. I used a cake comb to make the ridges along the side on the cake.  

Optional: decorate your cake with some sprinkles. You really should do it though, look how cute they are.