Halloween Hazelnut Checkerboard Cake

Happy Halloween from Bake It With Booze!  Hope you're all enjoying the day replete with costumes and candy.  It's going to rain here tonight, so I have no solid prediction on the number of Trick or Treaters...So glad I bought ALL that EXTRA candy since it is a Friday Halloween!  Looks like my freezer will be happy with left overs...Oh, what to do! 

I've thought about this checkerboard patterned cake for a very long time.  I knew I wanted to make it a theme or holiday cake so that I could get creative with the colors.  I wanted a nice white cake recipe and a nice subtle flavor so I used Frangelico instead of the traditional almond flavor.  I knew I only wanted three layers.  I first saw a checkerboard cake at Sprinkle bakes.  It looked so fun, but perhaps a bit more anal retentive than I wanted to take on.  

In the end, it was so much more easy than I had anticipated.  I just had to have a PLAN.  And, like most of life, the 6 Ps prevailed: 

Prior Preparation Prevents Piss-Poor Performance.  

Read that first in a hiking magazine a life time ago.  Still holds true today.  

I simply adore the Italian Meringue Buttercream!  Not as difficult as I had thought, so I was pleased with the results.  Very smooth, yet amazing stable at room temperature.  Perfect for this cake...These Italians Rock!

You can make this cake with no worries!  Have all your ingredients and equipment ready, set aside some time so that you're not rushed, and enjoy what unfolds!

This cake was a huge challenge but one I was so thankful to have accomplished.  Lots of oohs and ahhs from the folks at work, which is always nice.

Happy Halloween!

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Fig and Hazelnut Tart with Frangelico

Sweet and nutty, laced with Frangelico with a crunchy top and creamy center...Just my kind of Sunday treat to end my weekend on a happy note.  This is a Bakewell tart and legend has it that the source is English and the buttery spongy center is much like a frangipane.  My recipe comes from inspiration from my friend, and fellow blogger, Susan at My Mother's Apron Strings and her recipe for Bakewell Tart.  Susan is an amazing baker and I know that recipes she shares are tried and true.  Just like her!  :-)

I wanted to make something with Frangelico, the Italian hazelnut liqueur that I first discovered in my mid 20s while on a business trip in Seattle.  There were a bunch of us working up at Boeing facilities and dinner out was always an adventure.  We discovered a great Italian restaurant that served Frangelico warmed in a small snifter.  Such elegance, such warmth...We always slept well after a long day at work, a great dinner, much laughter and our Frangelicos.  Ah, those were the days!

I have never roasted and removed the skins from hazelnuts.  I'm not really sure whether I will do that again, although the pay-off is pretty damn sweet!

I hope you try this tart.  It's really easy and you can make it in all sorts of combinations...Some of the few that Susan and I discovered: strawberry or raspberry jam with almonds and Chambord and peach or apricot with almonds and Amaretto.  Choose your favorite jam, nut and liqueur and you're sure to please just about anyone! 

Manga!

(P.S. I've learned to make collages on PicMonkey...Yay!  I would very much like to thank Ashton at Something Swanky for her AWESOME tutorial.  Very Cool!!!)

I'm sharing this over at Cake of the Week's Baking with Spirit Challenge for May: Fruit and Alcohol (booze or hootch around these parts...). Please visit Janine's blog to see ever more great baking creations with booze! 


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