Cookies and Candids

Remember the Persimmon Bundt Cake that I made a few weeks ago? Remember how cinnamony-spicy-delicious I described it to be? And, do you remember how I suggested that it would be a perfect cake for Christmas? Well, every year I celebrate Christmas Eve at a dear family friend’s home and we have a huge decadent dinner and sit around the Christmas tree and usually we open Poppers, decorate gingerbread houses, and this year we lit candles and had a lovely Winter Solstice moment. I was asked to bring a festive dessert, and the first thing I thought of was revisiting this Persimmon Cake. Wilbur, who does the bulk of the cooking for the holiday, is an amazing chef. I knew I couldn’t compete with his savory dishes, and even his desserts are out of this world. I wanted my cake to be a little more complex than the bundt cake sprinkled with powdered sugar (although that simple cake was incredibly tasty as it was!), so I came up with a Nutmeg Frosting that complimented the combination of spices already in the cake.

One of my favorite people to bake with is my friend Julie, because first of all, she is a great baker! And to top it off, she is creative, open to taking pictures at each step of the way, and generally super. Together we have brainstormed, drawn out plans for, and baked some amazing desserts, including White Chocolate Champagne Cupcakes, White Russian and Strawberry Daiquiri Cupcakes, Piña Colada Cupcakes, Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes, Lemon-Apricot Scones, and Bran Muffins. Did anyone else just notice a theme? If you were paying attention, you may have figured out that the two of us really like cupcakes! However, on Christmas Eve Day I needed a little help baking (and some good company!) and Julie came over like the good friend she is – even though I wasn’t making cupcakes! Because they are so sweet, we made an extra cake for her housemates to share. We simply doubled the original recipe, and then divided the batter between four pans (two 8-inch pans for Julie, and two 9-inch pans for me). Then, we baked the cakes for about 45 minutes (after the first 30 minutes, I checked the cakes with a toothpick inserted into the center every 5 minutes to see if they were done). After they cooled, we dolloped the center with huge spoons of frosting, and spread it out generously. We layered the cakes on top of each other, and slathered the tops with more frosting. Mmm. This cake is pretty sweet on it’s own, so it didn’t need frosting on the sides – This also allowed us to see the intense red color of the cake before slicing into it.

I made the cakes a little more festive by adding some red holly berries on top (not edible, but beautiful).

Nutmeg Icing Ingredients:

1/2 cup Earth Balance margarine, room temperature
1 cup Tofutti cream cheese, room temperature
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

To make the frosting, cream together the margarine and cream cheese until just combined. Add the powdered sugar half a cup at a time, mixing in each addition until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla extract and spices, and whip until fluffy and smooth. You can add more powdered sugar to reach your desired consistency, or add spices to change the flavor. Spread onto you fully cooled cake. Enjoy!