Improve your KitchenAid mixer

easy peanut butter glaze

10/23/2019

Perfect to drip, drizzle or smear onto your favorite chocolate or yellow bundts or cupcakes. Comes together in about two minutes flat.

ingredients

2 Tablespoons milk (plus more if needed)
2 Tablespoons peanut butter
2 cups confectioner's sugar

directions

Place all ingredients into you stand mixer bowl. Mix on low until moistened then on medium high until fully incorporated and creamy.
Use more or less milk to reach your desired consistency

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Here's a pumpkin doughnut recipe that we really like for fall. Easy to put together, you can bake the batter in special doughnut pans or make them as muffins or as donut holes in your mini muffin pan. Moist, tender and packed with pumpkin and just the right amount of spice, you'll want to add these to your autumn baking rotation.

These doughnuts are delicious plain, but if you're hankering for a sweet treat, try them with the brown sugar icing. Sooo good!

This recipe is very slightly adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction. It makes 12-14 doughnuts.

ingredients

Doughnuts

1 - 3/4 cups (220g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 -1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil (or canola oil or melted coconut oil)
3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (227g) fresh or canned pumpkin puree
1/3 cup (80ml) milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Brown Sugar Icing

3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup (60ml) milk
1 Tablespoon (14g) unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
pinch of salt, to taste

VIDEO coming soon!

directions

Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Spray doughnut with non-stick spray. Set aside.
Make the donuts: Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice together in a large bowl until combined. Set aside.
In your stand mixer (fitted with SideSwipe) or a medium bowl, mix/whisk the oil, brown sugar, eggs, pumpkin puree, milk, and vanilla extract together until combined. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, then fold everything together gently just until combined and no flour pockets remain.
Spoon the batter into the donut cavities or for ease. We used a teaspoon, but you may prefer using a large zipped-top bag. Cut a corner off the bottom of the bag and pipe the batter into each donut cup. Fill each cavity about halfway.
Bake for 10-11 minutes or until the edges and tops are lightly browned. To test, tap your finger onto the top of the donut. If the donut bounces back, they’re done.
Cool donuts in the pan for 2 minutes then transfer to a wire rack. Re-grease the pan and bake the remaining donut batter. *For donuts holes, bake in a mini muffin tin for 8-9 minutes.
Make the icing: Combine the brown sugar, milk, and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the butter has melted and mixture is smooth. Bring to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 1 minute then remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla extract and sifted confectioners’ sugar until smooth and combined. Taste, then add a pinch of salt if desired– we always add a little pinch too all our icing and frostings. Let the icing cool for 5-10 minutes to slightly thicken. Dip the tops of the pumpkin donuts into the icing. Place dipped donuts on a wire rack placed on a baking sheet so any excess icing can drip off. Top with chopped nuts or other toppings if desired. If applied lightly, the icing will eventually set in about an hour so you can stack or transport the donuts.
Don't cover the iced doughnuts until they are very cool and a little dried out. Otherwise your icing will melt and look terrible. They'll still taste delicious, though!

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French Apple Rum Cake

9/30/2019

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Here's another cake that ticks all our boxes. Easy to make. Check. Simple ingredients. Check. Tastes delicious. Check. Better using SideSwipe. Check!

We slightly adapted this recipe from one by Once Upon a Chef. It's a super simple single layer cake that's perfect for the fall, when apples are at their most delicious. Apples are the star of this cake, so choose wisely. We used Honeycrisp apples, but you can use Granny Smith or any other tart-sweet apple that stays firm when you bake. You don't want the apples to disappear. The recipe calls for rum, and you get a little zing from its addition to the cake. But you can replace it with juice or a combination of water and rum extract if you like.

We baked our cake in an 8 x 8-inch pan. You can also use a 9-inch round pan if you prefer. Check the cake about 10 minutes before the finish time. Our baked faster than the original recipe. The cake is done when the top is golden and light finger pressure bounces back.

This cake serves 9 with average size pieces, 6 if you're like our folks. Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar and/or whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Theoretically, the cake will keep for several days at room temperature. We found it didn't last that long at our house!

ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled off with knife
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons light rum
2 sweet baking apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (such as Honeycrisp, Fuji, Granny Smith or golden delicious)
2 Tablespoons+ granulated sugar, for sprinkling over cake
Confectioners' sugar (optional)

directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray an 8x8 -inch square pan, 8-inch springform or 8-inch regular cake pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line standard pan with parchment sling if desired (spray the paper also)
Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.
Using a stand mixer with SideSwipe or your paddle attachment, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffly.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Beat in vanilla and rum. Don't worry if the batter looks grainy.
Add the flour mixture and mix on your lowest speed until just barely combined.
Fold in chopped apples using SideSwipe on your mixer or a rubber spatula.
Pour batter into prepared pan and sprinkle evenly with 2 Tablespoons of granulated sugar.
Bake cake for 30-40 minutes, or until cake is lightly golden and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you use the touch method, gently press your finger onto the top of the cake. It should not leave an indentation.
Allow cake to cool until just warm. If you are using a sling, lift out using the paper's overhanging edges and set on a wire rack to cool completely. Otherwise, run a blunt knife around the edges of the cake and remove to rack.
After the cake is cool, dust with confectioners' sugar if desired. Cake can be served room temperature, with or without lightly sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

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chocolate chip bundt cake

9/17/2019

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This is one delicious cake. It's a family favorite that we make for parties and anytime we want something chocolatey but not too chocolatey. Best of all, it's EASY to make. It starts with a boxed cake mix and comes together quickly with SideSwipe on your KitchenAid mixer. It will be eaten just as quickly! Make this soon. Your friends and loved ones will thank you.

The recipe, adapted from one by the Cake Doctor, doesn't call for any icing. And we prefer it that way. But if you want to make it look more festive, drip a chocolate ganache over it as we did for the photos.

ingredients

1 bar (4 oz) German Chocolate or dark chocolate
1 package yellow cake mix
1 package vanilla instant pudding mix
1 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

directions

Place rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F.
Lightly mist 10-inch tube or bundt pan (or 3 eight in loaf pans) with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour. (or use spray with flour)
Break German chocolate bar into four pieces. Grate the bar in food processor or with hand grater until the bar is finely grated. If using the food processor, insert the steel blade and drop the chocolate pieces into the processor one at a time.
In your stand mixer fitted with SideSwipe, add cake mix, pudding mix and oil. Mix on low to medium speed until combined. Add eggs one at a time and mix until thoroughly combined.
Add grated chocolate and mix on medium speed 1-2 minutes more. On lowest speed, allow the mixer and SideSwipe to fold in whole chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with a rubber spatula and place in the oven.
Bake the cake until it's golden brown and springs back lightly when pressed with your finger, 58 to 60 mins for tube or bundt pan (50 to 52 mins for loaf pans). Once you remove it from the oven, place on cooling wrack and cool for about 20 mins, then serve.
You can store this cake in a sealed container up to one week. It also can be frozen for up to 3 months.