The caramel icing was interesting: butter and sugar are heated in a saucepan, then milk and vanilla are added and brought to a boil. The mixture is removed from the heat and icing sugar is gradually added in. After being drizzled on the cake, cinnamon sugar is sprinkled on. 
I swear there are so many ingredients in this Pumpkin Date Coffee Cake, it would take forever to list them. The gist is that the dry ingredients {which include flour, sugar, nutmeg, allspice, cloves & cinnamon} are combined with the wet {eggs, pumpkin pulp, milk, melted butter}, then chopped pecans and dates are stirred in. Baking time is an hour at 375 degrees. This was one of those "I don't like pumpkin either, but THIS will be a good cake." It was okay but, you know, it tasted like pumpkin. The spice glaze was amazing: icing sugar, unsalted butter, milk, cinnamon & allspice. Yum!
Two types of chocolate drop cookies for our last night of class. Basic recipes...
Chocolaty Chocolate Chip cookies: Lots of stuff in these! Bread & pastry flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, butter, sugar, white & dark chocolate chips, pecans...baked at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.
I'd leave the fudge frosting off this next time; you can barely taste the Chocolate Orange Marble Cake underneath! An easy one: Butter, sugar, vanilla is creamed, eggs are added, then flour, baking powder and milk. The batter is then split into two and melted chocolate is added into one bowl, orange zest in the other. The two batters are dropped into the pan in an alternating pattern, then the end of a wooden spoon is swirled through it to create a marbled effect. Baking time is 40 minutes at 350 degrees.
Fun word. I think because I've been so busy eating the Polish version of this {babka} my whole life, I've never paid attention to the thousands of panettones on store shelves during the holidays. This Italian sweet bread includes only a handful of ingredients but the trick in the preparation. Yeast, warm milk {not too hot!} are combined to form a slurry and bread flour is added to create the sponge, which helps the bread rise. This is left to rest for about 20 minutes. 
The sponge is then combined with sugar, eggs, salt and bread flour in a mixer for a minute. Butter is added and the dough is mixed for 4 more minutes, THEN raisins and candied peel are added and everything is mixed for 2 more minutes. We also added marsala {fortified wine}, creme ovo {cream of egg} and citrus essence, so it was the real deal. The dough is rounded up and left to rest for 20 minutes, then split into smaller pieces, eggwashed and proofed for 45 minutes {at home, it can be left under a thin blanket for 1.5 to 2 hours}. Baking time is 45 minutes at 350 degrees. It took just as long to make as it sounds, but was totally worth it.
