What Did You Put in This? The Black-and-White Brownie

When our small group Bible study got together for a cookout earlier this month, I needed some non-fussy desserts.  I ended up making Karly's eclair cake (easy! tasty!) and a batch of black-and-white brownies.  They're basically blondies with melted and cooled white chocolate creamed into the butter and sugar mixture.

It was an interesting idea, but I can't say I've become a fan.  The white chocolate taste was kind of faint -- just enough to make you say, "Huh, what's that?"  But not really in a good way.

If you'd like to experience the "what is going on here?" brownie, you can find the recipe, courtesy of King Arthur Flour, here.

Daffodil Cake (no, there aren't real flowers in the recipe)

For those of you who live in regions where early May is still spring and not blazing-hot summer (sorry, Raleigh readers), you might want to celebrate the season with a daffodil cake. It's angel food cake with a denser bottom layer (you add in egg yolks) and an orange glaze.  (Which is always my favorite part. I've been known to lick the serving platter after the cake is gone.  But I do it very demurely.)

If you're not up to making your own angel food cake batter or if you're pressed for time, you could cheat and use a box mix.  Angel food isn't tough to make from scratch, though, so you might want to give it a try.

Daffodil Cake

• Your favorite angel food batter
• 6 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 t. orange extract
• 3 T. cream cheese, softened
• 1/3. c. orange juice concentrated, thawed
• 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Make the angel food batter.  Set aside about 3 cups; pour the rest into an ungreased tube pan.

Add egg yolks and orange extract to reserved batter and fold together.  Spoon into tube pan over plain batter.  Bake until toothpick in center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.  Cool and unmold.

To make the glaze, mix together the cream cheese and orange juice concentrate.  Whisk in the sugar.  Drizzle over cooled cake.