Every year, InsuranceHub puts on a little friendly holiday cooking competition. What can we say? We love food, and we love a good competition. (But we’re not at all competitive. Not at all.) Anyways, this year we did a Bake-off with each of our contestants bringing in delectable baked goods. We had pies, we had cakes, we had cupcakes! It was a delicious day here at InsuranceHub.
And of course, we had to crown a winner at each of our locations. Our Lawrenceville team voted for their favorite of the baked goods and our Atlanta team voted for theirs. Each dish was judged out of 30 points, with ten points possible for three categories: Presentation, Taste, and Overall.
Congratulations to Tamara and Lynn for their victory!
We also wanted to share the joy of these dishes, so we asked both Tamara and Lynn for their recipes. If you’re in a baking mood, give one of these tasty desserts a try!
Mini Pineapple Upside-down Cakes (Lynn)
Cake Ingredients:
- 2 eggs
- 2/3 cup white sugar
- 4 tbsp pineapple juice
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
Topping:
- ¼ cup of butter
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 can pineapple rings
- 6 maraschino cherries
Directions:
Preheat over to 350: Spray muffin tins with non-stick spray
In a mixing bowl, add eggs, white sugar, and pineapple juice, beat for 2 minutes. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and turn the mixer back on for 2 minutes.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter and add brown sugar. Stir on low heat for one minute.
Spoon a layer of the warm brown sugar mixture into bottom of each muffin pan, then place a pineapple ring on top. Add a cherry in the middle of each muffin. Pour cake mixture over to fill muffin tin ¾ of the way full.
Bake for 25 minutes.
And enjoy!
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Whiskey Apple Spice Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting & a Honey Rum Drizzle (Tamara)
The Apples
- Cook the apples, ½ cup of brown sugar and ½ cup of butter in a skillet on medium-high heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Add whiskey and lemon juice to the pan, bring to a boil.
- Stir and remove from heat.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 2 cups chopped and peeled Gala apples (@4)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 3 cups cake flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Brown Sugar Frosting (recipe follows)
- Drizzle (recipe follows)
The Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with baking spray with flour.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat sugar and remaining 1 cup (227 grams) butter at medium speed until fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape sides of bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating just until combined after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Fold in apples. Divide batter between prepared pans (smoothing tops if necessary).
- Bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 28 to 30 minutes. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and let cool completely on wire racks.
The Brown Sugar Frosting
- In an electric mixer with paddle attachment, mix 1 cup of Unsalted Butter (softened), 1 Cup of Powdered Sugar, 1 Cup of Brown Sugar, 1 tbsp of Milk and a Splash of Vanilla until smooth
The Drizzle
- In a saucepan over medium-high heat, bring butter, brown sugar, rum and honey to a boil
- Reduce heat to low and stir until all the sugar is dissolved
- Remove from heat and let sauce sit to thicken
The Finale
- Frost top of bottom layer, add & frost top layer
- Drizzle Cake until desired visual effect achieved
We hope that you enjoy these two baked goods this holiday season! (And if you’re looking for more recipes, check out these winter soups and the Battle of the Holiday Dishes from 2016.) On behalf of our entire InsuranceHub team, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! We hope the holiday season is filled with joy.
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