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Not really. I love baking, but real pastry work drives me batty. Too finicky and fiddly and delicate.
A few weeks ago I had an amazing spice cake dessert and I have been playing around trying to come up with a recipe to replicate it. It's quite simple and very very tasty. Great for holiday baking.
Spice Cake with Cheese Creme Brulee
For the Cake:
1/2 cup of butter
1 cup of Molasses
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 T dried ginger, or 3/4 T dried and 1/2 T finely chopped candied ginger
2 t cinnamon
1 T baking soda
1 cup of recently boiled water
2 1/2 cups flour
2 eggs
Mix the butter, molasses, sugar, ginger, and cinnamon in a large boil.
Measure and sift the flour into a second bowl.
Beat the eggs in a small bowl or ramekin.
Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water and add directly to the molasses/butter mixture.
Immediately fold in the eggs and flour.
Pour into a greased 9" square pan and bake at 325 for 35 minutes or until done.
Allow to cool completely.
For the Brulee.
Cream equal parts cream cheese and chevre (about 1 cup total, more if you love frosting) in a kitchenaid.
Add icing sugar slowly to form a frosting to your taste.
Ice the top of the cake only and refridgerate until the frosting is set completely.
Sprinkle the frosting with a thin layer of granulated white sugar. Using a kitchen blow torch, carefully melt and caramelize the sugar to form a caramel crust over the frosting.
You cannot do this step in advance - the sugar will absorb the moisture from the frosting and you will lose the crunch.
Delicious as is, even better served with sliced pears poached in marsala.