Oh happy day…first college football Saturday! GO ILLINI! My mom and I are whipping together the first batch of chili which was entered into the Prevention Chili Contest (full review tomorrow or Monday), as well as Mr. Prevention’s beloved and most sought after buffalo chicken dip. Yea, yea, yea…
Yesterday was an absolutely stunning day in central Ohio and I celebrated by making MORE of Biz’s Baja Fresh Salsa and taking a LONG walk with my mom. We were on a mission to Kroger for limes, but that turned into a stroll around the majority of the neighborhood. Loved it! We all went out for a Mexican meal on a patio and back to enjoy a cake I had whipped together (before the salsa, that is). I’m noticing that when I have discretionary time, most of it is spent in the kitchen. And I love it that way! 😀
Behold, the most delicious baked good I’ve ever made (other than the Big-O Brownies), thanks to Faith’s amazing recipe!
Spumoni Pudding Cake very slightly adapted from An Edible Mosaic
1 1/2 c. white sugar
3/4 c. canola oil
3 eggs
3/4 c. milk
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 c. cherries, pitted and quartered
1 Haas avocado
2 tsp pistachio extract – I subbed 1 tsp vanilla extract + 1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp almond extract
6 oz semisweet chocolate
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
Butter and flour (to prepare the cake pan)
Powdered sugar (optional, to garnish)
Springform pan
Directions:
In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook the cherries until they are slightly softened and starting to look glossy (about 5 minutes). Set aside to cool to room temperature; stir in the almond extract.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave or a double boiler; cool slightly.
Preheat the oven to 350F; butter and flour a springform pan. Beat together the sugar and oil, then cream in the eggs until light and fluffy; stir in the milk. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually beat the dry ingredients into the wet; stir until just combined, making sure not to over-mix. Divide the batter equally into 3 separate bowls.
Mash the avocado; stir in the pistachio extract.
To bowl #1, stir in the avocado/pistachio extract mixture. To bowl #2, stir in the cherry/almond extract mixture. To bowl #3, stir in the melted chocolate and cocoa powder.
Pour the chocolate batter into the springform pan and spread out in an even layer; pour the pistachio batter on top of the chocolate batter and spread out; lastly, pour the cherry batter on top of the pistachio batter and spread out. Bake 45-55 minutes, until golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a couple crumbs.
Cool completely, then dust with powdered sugar and a few cherries if desired. Keep refrigerated. Serves 12.
Nutrition Information (per serving): 406 calories; 21.6 g. fat; 54 mg. cholesterol; 71 mg. sodium; 53 g. carbohydrate; 1.6 g. fiber; 4.5 g. protein
Results: Well, dad said it was the best dessert he’s ever had and my brother who wouldn’t touch an avocado with a 10-foot pole loved it. Mom, Mr. P, and I all loved it, as well. It is very rich, however…so I kept portions small. It’s a good thing, too…I purposefully calculated the nutrition facts after making and eating this delicious dessert! At least it is really low in saturated fat and high in heart-healthy MUFA’s and PUFA’s! It is totally unique and Faith’s recipes are my favorite, so it came as no surprise! Make this! 🙂 And try to make the layers in the right order…first chocolate, then pistachio, and THEN cherries. I am not a baker, and step-by-step directions just seem to get lost in translation somewhere in that head of mine. Regardless, the cake turned out awesome 😀
Off to celebrate college football, family, and chili!
Question: Who are you rooting on today? If not cheering on college football, what are you up to? 😀
Go Illini,
I love football! Always rooting for U of M! Go Blue!
Faith’s cake looks delicious! Copying now.
Faith’s cake looked so good when I first saw it, and it still looks amazing. 😀 Nice pictures, by the way!
Not rooting for anyone (to my father’s absolute shame, I couldn’t care less about sports ;)) but I’m going to today’s second farmer’s market (first one we got up at 5 for… yay) in a few minutes, then making some chow. 🙂 Have a great day!
The cake looks great! And I love that it is a bit “unusual.” And I guess you found a way to get your brother to eat avocado… 😉
Have a great weekend, Nicole!
So great you get to spend all that time with your mom. Football time already!? It came sooo fast!
That cake sounds like a very unique combo of ingredients, but it looks like it yields a delicious result!
GOOOO PENN STATE!!!! 🙂
Question for you: if you know anything about this topics, could you write a post about how nutrition can help improve bone density? Please, and thank you!
Love that this had an avocado in it. And that your dad said it was the best dessert ever. Sounds amazing!
Cake looks just superb…loved it….
That cakes looks and sounds amazing!!!!! 🙂
I’m thrilled you liked the cake and that it was a success!!! 🙂 Thank you so much for your sweet words, they really mean a lot to me. Hope you enjoyed the football game! I can’t wait to hear about your first batch of chili!
Avocado in a cake dessert? I’m intrigued.
No college football for me. We had a bull fight run on our street last night, so we prepped some snacks and had a couple people over. That was really all we did yesterday. Hope you had a nice day watching your team.
This cake looks delicious! I love the idea of including avocado. I’m glad it was such a hit.
I like salsa is just the perfect thing to have for a football game! I am not a big football girl but still love to go to the parties. haha.
Have a great weekend, Nicole!
Glad you made my salsa again! 😀
I spent the day at Septemberfest in Schaumburg with Hannah and my mom – perfect weather and delicious food – um, I may have had fried cheese curds!
We actually went to our first college game of the season yesterday and it was great fun. We did not however, have your amazing cake. I’m not much of a baker but that looks worthy.
It was so weird to watch OSU play on Thursday night, I didn’t like it! So yesterday felt like a typical Saturday for us.
This cake sounds FABULOUS, and last night I was equally surprised when Nick LOVED a zucchini chocolate cake that my mom’s friend made. It was low fat and not even very moist, but it was so delicious, and he kept begging for more. The addition of an avocado is new to me, and I think I’ll have to try it myself!
Have a nice Labor Day!
Beautiful Spumoni cake, perfectly executed! Faith always has the best recipes, so I knew that one would be a winner! Love the fact that it’s full of MUFAs and PUFAs, too 🙂 I’m glad it was a general hit all around. I’m with you on the spending discretionary time in the kitchen. Plus, baking helps me destress!
Have a great Labor Day, Nicole!
Haven’t been following sports too much this summer so missed the start of college football season 🙁 I won’t be missing the start of the NFL season though. I played poker,ran 20 miles,golfed and worked this weekend.