Happy Birthday Jacob!

Today is my baby's birthday and he is 5...where did the time go? WOW I just can't believe that he is 5 today. I am having a hard time with this because next thing I know he is going to off to college.

So today he is bringing cupcakes in to celebrate his birthday with his friends at school. I asked him what kind he wanted me to make and he said...chocolate cake...and he wanted it to be a Batman cupcake.

The cake recipe (Devil's Food) and frosting recipe (Easy Vanilla Frosting) was easy to figure out but the decorating now that is a little bit trickier. Mostly because I waited to the last minute to figure out how to do this. Also we don't have a good party store in the area so I couldn't find any Batman party supplies.

It got me thinking of how I could make a batman symbol and this was the best I could come up with. First I found a stencil online and shrunk it down to cupcake size.



Then I traced it a bunch of times onto wax paper so I could get enough for the whole class.


Flipped the paper over and filled it with melted dark chocolate and waited for it to cool and harden.



I then colored the frosting yellow and put one symbol on each cupcake....I sort of want to put a chocolate outline on it but I am going to resist the urge because sometimes less is more and I don't want to mess up a good thing.




I think they came out great and I hope all the kids enjoy them!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACOB!!

Orange You Glad You Came...

I saw this on a post about a month ago and it has been in my mind ever since...Campfire Orange Cakes! I just thought this would be something fun to do while we sit around the fire pit with the neighbors. If anything it would be a conversation piece and a bonus of eating yummy cake at the end. I did not take any pictures of my process because if you go over to ljcfyi's blog she has detailed pictures. Also I prepared them ahead of time and was in a rush to get other stuff done.

I did find a little trick (of course at the end) on how to scoop out the insides. It is sort of hard to explain but you basically try to get your finger in between the skin and the "meat"....I will have to take pictures the next time I do this.

Review: I found this to be a fun idea and I think everyone enjoyed it as well. I think the hardest and most time consuming part of this recipe is taking the "meat" out of the oranges. I only bought 4 oranges and had probably enough cake batter left for at least 4 more oranges. I think the reason for that is I couldn't find those huge oranges that you sometimes find out there. I now find myself thinking about what else I could use in place but so far the only thing I thought of is a grapefruit. I think my next campfire cooking adventure might be the banana boats.

Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake

This always happens to me...I am searching for a recipe (this time it was for an Oreo type cookie) and come across at least a few others I want to try. I file them into my folder of recipes I want to try and usually don't get to them. This time I was determined not to let that happen again because I found a recipe that made my heart jump a couple of beats....

Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake.

You have to check out the page on where I found it because it has really nice pictures and the full recipe there. I took a couple of pictures of my cheesecake just out of the oven and once I put the ganache onto it.

Just out of the oven

With the ganache onto....yummy!

Review: For the most part this was an easy recipe to make but it is just time consuming because of all the part. I made the brownie part of it Thursday night and put it in the refrigerator. Friday I made the rest of the cheesecake parts. No part was really that complicated in fact my neighbor told me the brownies were the best brownies she ever had (Baker's One Bowl Brownie)...I brought over the extras for our Friday night get together. I don't think there is anything I would do different because it tasted really good as is and I think everyone at the party liked it. The ganache part was perfect because as you can see from my out of the oven picture I got a few cracks that those were covered right up by the ganache. The ganache recipe also makes just the perfect amount to go on top. Heidi wants me to make it bring to my Mom's house for the holidays coming up...so I think this one is a keeper!

Tres Leches Cake

We had our 2nd annual family bbq/baseball game a couple of weeks ago which was a lot of fun. It was just after my sister-in-law's birthday...so of course I had to make her a birthday cake. She really isn't the traditional type and I had to come up with something special for her.

Then it hit me in the car driving some where...Tres Leches Cake. In May we went to see her graduate from Grad school and she took us to a place that served Tres Leches cake which she said she really loved. I know there is a bakery near me that supposedly makes a really good one but I wanted to try making it myself.

I did not get a picture of what I made because my camera and because it was gone in minutes. I am always looking for an excuse to make something from The Pioneer Woman's website...there you can see step by step pictures with instructions on how to make this super yummy cake!

(This is not my picture)

Tres Leches Cake
The Pioneer Woman

1 cup All-purpose Flour
1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
5 whole Eggs
1 cup Sugar, Divided
1 teaspoon Vanilla
⅓ cups Milk
1 can Evaporated Milk
1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
¼ cups Heavy Cream

FOR THE ICING:
1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
3 Tablespoons Sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.

Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.

Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.

Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.

Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.

Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.

Review: THIS IS A KEEPER for sure. There was a small amount leftover and everyone was fighting for it the next day. I think this cake was super easy to make because I made it the morning before everyone came and didn't feel stressed about it at all. Instead of the cherries I used some fresh strawberries and blueberries which added a nice fresh taste to it.

I Picked Chocolate Cake...

It is no secret that I LOVE chocolate cake very much. Last week in Jacob's school they read the book A Very Hungry Caterpillar and so that was the theme for the week. The teachers asked the parents to volunteer and bring in one of the foods that the hungry caterpillar ate...so of course I picked the chocolate cake.

I know I was putting way to much thought into this because a 4 year old doesn't care what the cake looks like...you have them at cake. I just wanted to put a little extra effort into this "project" and make it look similar to the one in the book. Lucky for me we actually own the book so I looked at the picture...

Picture from the book (I can't get it to rotate)

When I saw the picture I thought it was more complicated then I remembered it to be I thought it was more like a regular chocolate layer cake. This looked like something with moose and fudge and something fluffy...too much for little kids.

I knew simple was better for the kids and decided to make chocolate cake (KAF Devil's Food) with a 7 minute frosting on top. I bought chocolate sprinkles but didn't end up using them because I had to cut off some of the cake to put it into a disposable pan. I created the crumbs from that on top and them put a cherry on each slice...

I thought it came out great and even the teachers commented to me that it looks like the one from the book...Mission accomplished!

Cupcakes from Scratch...

Last week for the birthday boy I made cupcakes from scratch to bring in for his class. I was actually going to make the cake from a box mix and the frosting from scratch. With preparing for the family party I just wanted it make it easier on myself. Well the baking gods had another plan because I did not have enough oil to make the box mix so I had to make it from scratch.


So I used my well tested and trusted KAF Devil's Food Cake recipe which came out I think the best I have ever made it. It is the same one I used for Jacob's birthday cake last year which I now wish I did this year. This time I topped the cupcakes with KAF Easy Vanilla Frosting recipe which I have never made before.


Easy Vanilla Frosting
KingArthurFlour.com

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 to 5 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 to 1/3 cup milk or cream

1) In a large bowl, beat together the butter, shortening, and salt till fluffy.
2) Add about half the confectioners' sugar, and beat slowly until well blended.
3) Add the vanilla and half the milk or cream, and beat until fluffy.
4) Continue mixing in sugar and milk alternately until they've been completely incorporated.
5) Beat until the frosting is light and fluffy.

Note: If you want some frosting left over to use in decorating, increase the ingredient amounts to: 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup vegetable shortening, approximately 6 cups confectioners' sugar, and up to 1/2 cup milk or cream.

All done and ready to be taken to school...

Review: I am going to review the frosting since this isn't the first time I have made this very yummy cake. I was a little worried about making my own frosting because I haven't really found one that I like very much. All other buttercreams that I have made came out tasting well like butter. This one does not have that taste at all and goes perfectly with the chocolate cake. I made the larger amount because I wanted to do some fancy decorating but time and cranky kids got in the way of those plans. So I did the next best thing put a bunch of sprinkles on them...Jacob LOVES sprinkles so he was happy with it. He is my child after all...loves sprinkles, loves frosting and LOVES chocolate cake! I would definitely make this frosting again and I want to try the chocolate version next time maybe.

Birthday Cake & Shrimp Fajitas

Saturday we had Jacob's birthday party with the family which was a lot of fun. I decided to make him one of those checker board cakes this year. I actually bought it last year but didn't make it. To be honest I don't think I am going to make it again. I used the recipe on the box which was ok (a box mix would have been better) but my checkerboard did not come out right. The best part of the cake was the sprinkles that Jacob put on the cake himself.


The one thing that was a success and will be added to my list of thing to make is the shrimp recipe I used. I wanted to provide a few option for everyone so I made chicken, taco meat and shrimp for my fajita bar. I left half the shrimp plain (just salt and pepper) and marinated the other half. I did not know how the marinade would taste since I never made it before that night and was worried about having something inedible on my hands. I thought most people would like it but I was worried it might not be what I thought it would be. Well the that was the first thing to go completely...it was a success.

Marinated Shrimp

1 pound medium shrimp, shelled
1 cup chopped cilantro
2 cloves minced garlic
1/3 cup lime juice

1. Stir together shrimp, cilantro, garlic, and lime juice. Let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes.

2.Add shrimp mixture to pan, increase heat to high, and cook, stirring often, until shrimp are opaque in center; cut to test (about 3 minutes).

Review: Who does not love a recipe that is only 3-4 ingredients and ingredients I had on hand anyway because it was all the stuff I was using for fajitas to begin with. The shrimp had a really great refreshing taste to it and was perfect for the fajitas. This would make a great summer recipe and probably good on any type of fish. It is a keeper!

Oops - Turtle Mess

One day Mike asked me to make him a dessert for him to take to work for a luncheon. I asked him what other people were bringing to figure what to make. He came back with... You know the usual. Men...always great with giving you the details. I told him about this Turtle Cheesecake recipe I came a cross and thought it sounded good. So I went to the store and bought all the ingredients and got to work. I was making the cheesecake and tasting along the way I was really excited. It was easy to make and tasted very yummy. And than....all went to the hell.... You know when you read a recipe and something doesn't sound right about it....against my better judgement I decided to follow the recipe and here's what happened.

How did this happened you might ask? The recipe called for the cheesecake to bake for a certain amount of time until the center is set. Then take it out of the oven, let cool for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes than take the rim of the spring form pan off. That was the part of the recipe that didn't seem right to me. I've made a cheesecake a few times and didn't think that you would take the rim off that fast. But I was following the recipe. About two minutes after I took off the rim off is when the screaming started....OH @#$%, OH@#$%, is all my husband heard from the kitchen, so he came to find out what all the screaming was about. That's when he found me trying to put the rim back on and informed me that it was probably too late. I was like you think!!! Not really in the mood to hear the what were you thinking comments, especially from the non-baker in the family. I was so mad and upset. Since it was to late to make him something else to bring to work he ended up having to go to the store a buy something. I was able to save the cake, but he still didn't want to take it.


I told him I could cover it with whipped cream and caramel and no one would know. He said he we would just buy something. Which he did and when people asked why, he told them he dropped the cake I made. I told him he didn't have to do that, but that it was sweet of him.

Cupcake Bakery

On Saturday the girls got together to go out for lunch before baby Babore comes to town. We all met at Jenn's and then headed out for lunch. We ate very yummy pizza but decided not to get an appetizers but save our room for dessert. We originally were going for ice cream (which we did get) but in the same shopping center was a cupcake bakery called Crumbs Bake Shop. Well I got excited because I read a ton of blogs about cupcakes and cupcake bakeries. I live in an area where it is hard to find one of them unless you make a trip into NYC (where you can find a lot of them).

We shared 3 of them:

The Baba Booey: Chocolate cake filled with peanut butter, topped with peanut butter and chocolate cream cheese frosting and rimmed with peanut butter chips.

Cookie Dough: Vanilla cake with chocolate fudge filling covered in our signature vanilla cream cheese frosting mixed with real cookie dough (not raw) and topped with a chocolate chip cookie.

Margarita: Vanilla cupcake with a lime flavored cream cheese frosting and rimmed with sugar.

Review: I was not sure how to write this review but here it goes. I have to say the overall presentation of the cupcakes made it very hard to pick just one or in my case two to buy. I would have liked to see a menu with the descriptions of all the cupcakes. The person that helped us knew her stuff but I didn't want to ask her what was in every one. I like to try things that are different and not something I can make at home. Like the Margarita one was just a vanilla cupcake with a flavored frosting...it tasted good but I just felt this was something I could do at home and maybe better (probably not but I could try). The groups favorite one was the Baba Booey because I mean who doesn't love chocolate and peanut butter together. Would I go back if I had the chance probably not but I can't wait to visit my next cupcake bakery to try out another one...

Daring Baker's Challenge: Bakewell Tart...er...Pudding

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Bakewell tarts…er…puddings combine a number of dessert elements but still let you show off your area’s seasonal fruits.

Like many regional dishes there’s no “one way” to make a Bakewell Tart…er…Pudding, but most of today’s versions fall within one of two types. The first is the “pudding” where a layer of jam is covered by an almondy pastry cream and baked in puff pastry. The second is the “tart” where a rich shortcrust pastry holds jam and an almondy sponge cake-like filling.

The version we’re daring you to make is a combination of the two: a sweet almond-flavoured shortcrust pastry, frangipane and jam.

Bakewell Tart…er…pudding

Makes one 23cm (9” tart)
Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
Bench flour
250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the center and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Sweet shortcrust pastry
Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz - 1 stick) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Frangipane

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Review: For me the challenge in this recipe was making the crust for the tart. I am not really the best make my own pie crust/dough type person. I decided to make the crust the night before because to me that seemed the most time consuming part. Well lets just say I should not make stuff after having gone out to dinner with friends and having some margaritas. As a result I didn't add enough butter the first time (I thought it said 4 TB and not 4 oz) and just decided to make it again. That is when I discovered my mistake and was thankful that I didn't suck as bad as I thought at that moment at making the tart dough. I also think that when I grate the butter into the flour part to mix it a little bit because my butter just all clumped together and was a big grated mass. Thankfully the crust part was forgiving in I couldn't roll it out that nicely and it got stuck to the counter.

I have to say I was really surprised on how easy this was to make and how it didn't really take that much time. I was also excited to finally use the tart pan I got as a gift maybe 5 years ago for the first time. All my guest really enjoyed the tart and my mom even asked me to make it again for the holidays...in September!

Daring Baker's Challenge: Cheesecake

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

This month has been a really busy month for me and my family. With a new baby at home I haven't had much time to do a lot of baking. When some of my husband's family were coming over to visit with us I decided to try my challenge for this month.

My father-in-law had an Aunt that would make cheesecake for local restaurants for a living. She would even send him one every year on his birthday as a gift. My husband always compares every cheesecake he tries to hers. Unfortunately she got sick before being able to pass down the recipe to anyone. So we are always in search for something that can compare to hers. So of course I got excited to try out a new recipe and see how it compares. Mike's favorite kind she made was with pineapple on the bottom which is what I tried to do with this one.





Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

Review: I am going to start with the bad...well I should say my errors...I used the wrong size springform pan (10") and so my cheesecake was thinner then I expected. I thought I had the right size but then realized I didn't when it was too late. I should have used the casserole pan as suggested because my foil wrapping wasn't the best and some water did leak in which caused my crust to get a little soggy. Other than that everything came out great and the family loved the surprise of pineapple on the bottom. It wasn't like my husband's great-aunt's recipe but was still loved by the family!

Birthday Cupcakes

On March 25th was my husband Mike's birthday. Where he works they are responsible for bring in their own birthday treats. I told him I would make him something to bring in, if he wanted me to. He said ok and then told me I had to make enough for around 40 people....So I went looking for ideas. I came across a blog called Smitten Kitchen and found the perfect birthday treat for Mike. Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes. What is an Irish Car Bomb Cupcake?!?....It's a chocolate Guinness cupcake with a whiskey (Jameson, of course) ganache filling and a Bailey's Irish Creme frosting. Mike told me they were a big hit everyone loved them. But they recipe only made 24, so I had to make something else. He told me not everyone drinks so I decided to also made just plain yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Yellow Cupcakes w/Chocolate Frosting

Classic Yellow Cake
12 tablespoons butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs , plus 2 yolks
2 3/4 cups unbleached AP Flour
1 1/2 cups milk

Preheat the oven to 350

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, salt, baking powder, and vanilla until fluffy and light, at least 5 minutes.

Add the eggs to the butter mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. Slowly blend one-third of the flout into the creamed mixture, then half the milk, another third of the flour, the remaining milk, and the remaining flour. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl occasionally throughout this process.

Pour batter into cupcake pan and bake for 17-19 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes in pan and then turn out on a rack to cool completely before frosting.

Easy Chocolate Buttercream
1/2 cup semisweet, bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate, chopped
4 tablespoons butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 to 5 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons milk or cream

Melt chocolate and set aside to cool to room temperature.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and salt until fluffy. Add about half of the sugar and beat slowly until well blended. Add the vanilla and half the milk and beat until fluffy. Add the melted chocoalte and mix until thoroughly blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the remaining sugar and milk alternately until they've been completely incorporated. Beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, adjusting the consistency with more milk or sugar as needed.

My Review: Both recipes were easy to make. I felt the frosting for the car bomb cupcakes might not have turned out right, but Mike said everyone loved them. The only thing I would do differently next time is not make and decorate all 48 cupcakes in one night....Boy was I tired afterwards and the kitchen was a mess. Live and learn!!

Jacob's Party

I can't believe that my son has just turned 3 years old...where did the time go? It seems just the other day he was born...So this weekend we had a big family party for him and I decided to make everything myself. For the most part I kept it simple but I had to make a really cool cake this time around.

I found the idea of the Racetrack cake on FamilyFun.com which has a lot of really great cake ideas in all different themes. My son is totally into cars and trucks so this one was a perfect choice to make...plus it looked simple enough.

The recipe I used to make the cake was from the cookbook The King Arthur Flour: Baker's Companion...I am totally in love with that book. I used their Devil's Food Cake recipe. Which you can actually get one their website as well: Devil's Food. For the frosting I made a Seven Minute Frosting recipe from the Joy of Cooking cookbook. Another thing my son is in love with lately is Marshmallows.

Review: I really thought that the cake came out great and everyone enjoyed it. My son loves chocolate cake and loves marshmallows...so he was totally into it. The cake wasn't that sweet so it paired well with the frosting and you weren't in sugar shock after eating it. I just realized that this cake was basically the same cake I made him for his first birthday...devil's food with seven minute frosting...a tradition in the making I guess.

July Recipe: Blueberry Buckle

Wow, so it has been 3.5 months since my last entry! And probably almost as long since I have even been on the blog - how sad is that?! I took a new role at work and since June, there has been little time for anything else. Hours have been long and weekends fly by so fast, that I've blinked and Monday has already arrived. *sigh* However, being that I do work in the financial industry, I won't complain too much, as at least both my husband and I still have jobs.

I am home sick today (I blame it on the stress of work along with the cold weather!), so figured I would take a few minutes and post my various recipes for the past few months! P.S. I am really inspired right now - I'm watching Martha Stewart and there are 2 sisters that started a cupcake shop in Georgetown (DC) and now have a very successful shop making 900 cupcakes per day (at $2.75 per cupcake, do the math!). See, girls, there is still hope for us to open up our own shop!

Anyhow, back to my topic, my July recipe, Blueberry Buckle. I remember my mom making this for our Annual Family Picnic the first Saturday in August each year. I had made one myself years ago, but had such a craving for this the past summer and thought it was a perfect fit for our July recipe. The recipe comes from Better Homes & Gardens: New Cook Book (1965).

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 well-beaten egg
1/2 cup milk
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 cups fresh blueberries

Cinnamon Crumbs:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter


DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly cream shortening and sugar; add egg and mix well.
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Pour into well-greased 11 1/2 x 7 x 1 1/2 inch pan. Top with blueberries. Sprinkle Cinnamon Crumbs over berries.

Bake at 350 degs. for 45-50 minutes. Cut in squares. Serve warm. Makes 8-10 servings.

Cinnamon Crumbs: Mix sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Cut in butter till crumbly.


Review: Well, I have to say, it wasn't as good as I remember, UNTIL the next day when it got a little moist and what I would call gooey. This is how I remember it and the way I enjoy it. It is a great breakfast treat or coffee cake type recipe and one that brings back warm summer memories. Enjoy!

Cream Filled Cupcakes

Sunday we threw my brother and his fiance an Engagement party. My sister and I were pretty much in charge of all the preparing of food and desserts. We each made 2 salads a piece and I made all the desserts. I decided to make cupcakes (enough to feed 60+ people). Amanda's colors for her wedding are yellow and blue, so of course thats the color of the icing I made. To be a little different, I thought I'd try to stuff each cupcake with icing ( like a hostess cupcake ). I thought they came out AWESOME!! Rusty loved them =). Next time I might try stuffing them with more of a pudding or custard, instead of icing. I thought they were a little too sweet.

To actually stuff them was simple enough. First I used a regular cake mix and baked the cupcakes according to the box directions. After they were completely cooled, I used the smallest tip of a decorating kit and poked a hole right thru the paper liner on the bottom. Then I used the larger circle tip and squirted the icing into the whole already made in the bottom of the cake. Worked great =).

I'd definally make these again!!!

Happy New Year!

Well last night started the Jewish New Year and tonight I am going to my parent's for dinner. I volunteered to make an Apple Spice Cake and I decided to try something new Honeycomb Candy. Since apples and honey are a traditional food during this holiday I thought it was the perfect thing to bring.

I thought I made the apple cake before but can't find any record of that. I know my mother-in-law made it for a family dinner once so many that is why I am confused. I got the recipe from MarthaStewart.com and it is linked above. I am going to wait until tonight to take a picture of it set up on the table looking pretty. This cake was really easy to make and smells awesome! Something I would definitely make again and again.

I remember a while back after watching a show on the food network that showed the host making the honeycomb candy. It just seemed to me like something I would like to eat and I was interested in tasting it. However it isn't one of those candies you can get in the store. I finally found a recipe (it is linked up above) that I had all the ingredients in the house and decided to make it.

Review: It wasn't that hard to make and I think the hardest part was waiting for the sugar mixture to get to the right color/temperature. The recipe above doesn't state a temperature but others I looked at all said to wait until it reaches 300 degrees. It was really fun to watch it grow when you put in the baking soda. I only tried a tiny piece of it which I liked but I will update this review tonight when I have a nice size piece with dessert. All in all I think I would make this again.

BBQ - Wedding Cake and Cupcakes

When the planning started for the BBQ I had volunteered to make a cake. Mike's mom wanted the cake to look like a wedding cake. She then called a few weeks later and said she was going to combine it with her husband (and his twin brother's) birthday. So she than asked me to make a second cake. I said sure and then volunteered to make more desserts. Only a week went by before I was having my "what was I thinking" moment. I mean I've never really decorated a cake before, let a lone one that's suppose to be a wedding cake. But I search and read a bunch of frosting recipes to prepare myself. I'm also glad I decided to practice once before actually doing it for real. The practice round didn't come out that great so I found a different recipe to try. I also read a How to Guide from King Arthur Flour on cake decorating. I think the tip that helped the most was to leave the butter out for 2 hours to soften. The end result were great and I received a lot of compliments.

The Wedding Cake

Top Layer - Yellow cake with green buttercream
Bottom layer - Checker Board (chocolate and vanilla cake) with green buttercream in between layers (left over from the cupcakes, see below)

Since the wedding was in Disney I decided to decorate the cake in a Mickey Mouse Theme. I don't know if you can tell, but on the bottom layer there are Mickey heads all around it.

Sorry no pictures of the inside, it went quickly

I'm happy with the way the cake turned out, but I wish I could have gotten the frosting a little smoother.

Birthday Cupcakes

Cupcakes - Devil Food Cake
Golf Balls - White chocolate made from a mold

Now for the finishing touches

You might be asking yourself why a golf theme. The birthday boys are big golfers so what better then a solid chocolate golf ball.

The Candy Tower

Top - Chocolate Covered Pretzels
Middle - Rainbow Cookies (Store bought)
Bottom - On the left Chocolate dipped chocolate chip cookies and on the right chocolate covered mini Oreos.


My very pleased with the way everything turned out. There was so much food at the party that I wasn't sure if people would eat the desserts, but who doesn't have room for cake! By the end of the night there was not one dessert left.

Oh, wait!! I just realized I didn't tell you about another dessert I made. I had made key lime tarts, too. I forgot to take a picture of those. But the recipe made 24 mini tarts and by the end of the night only about 10 were left. That's it!! Wa-hoo!!

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Pound Cake

For the bottom layer of the wedding cake I was making for the BBQ I decide to make a 9 inch size checkerboard cake from scratch. But since I felt like I wasn't going to be able to make everything from scratch I decided to make the top layer from a box mix. Since it was only a 6 inch layer I had all this extra batter left over. What to do, what to do?!? I have been looking a cake recipes with peanut butter and came across one for Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Pound Cake. The reason for my search is because Peanut Butter Boy is having another contest. This time for Cup(cake).


Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Pound Cake

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix
1 cup milk
3/4 cup peanut butter
3 eggs
2 cups mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and lightly flour a 12-cup bundt pan or fluted tube pan; set aside.
2. In large bowl, with electric mixer at low speed, beat cake mix, milk, 1/2 cup Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter and eggs until blended, about 1 minute. Beat at medium speed 2 minutes, scraping sides occasionally. Stir in 1 cup chocolate. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. On wire rack, cool 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely.
4. Meanwhile, for icing, in medium microwave-safe bowl, microwave remaining 1 cup chocolate with 1/4 cup Peanut Butter at HIGH 1 minute or until chocolate is melted; stir until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cake and sprinkle, if desired, with chopped peanuts.

My Review: I love simple recipes. I didn't follow this recipe to the T, because I was making the top layer, so instead followed the recipe on the box. But my insperation came from this recipe. All I did was just add some peanut butter and chocolate chips to the left over batter and Wa-la. I brought it to work and everyone loved it. Next time I'll follow the recipe above and might even try it with chocolate cake mix instead. Enjoy!

Daring Bakers Challenge: Opera Cake with a Twist

I have to say I am one of many who get very excited when the new challenge is posted. I am always wondering where my skills are going to be tested. Thanks to Daring Bakers Lis, Ivonne, Fran & Shea for giving me a great challenge this month in making an Opera Cake. Please visit Ivonne's blog for the full recipe.

I have to say that there were a couple of challenges for me with this recipe. After making the French bread the lenght of the recipe didn't scare me like it might have in the past. One of my challenges was when I was going to get this all done. I was going to try and make this month's recipe for my Mother-in-laws birthday which is on Friday but the post date is before that. So I made it for Mother's Day which turned out to be a nice little treat. I have to stop doing this with long recipes but I made it all in one day...which can be done but very tiring to say the least.

My next challenge with the recipe was how I was going to flavor this cake. A traditional Opera cake is flavored with chocolate and coffee but ours was suppose to be a twist on that tradition. We need to come up with a light in color and flavor instead of the dark and heavy. I being my mother's child had a very hard time with this because when it comes to food I can't make up my mind (my mom is famous for changing her mind when we used to go out to eat...lets go here or no maybe here or wait how about here...that would go until we got to a restaurant).

Just look at all the elements of an Opéra Cake:
Joconde: The base of an Opéra Cake is a thin sponge cake that is made using nut meal, traditionally almond meal (finely ground blanched almonds).
Syrup: The joconde is flavoured with a sugar syrup that can be flavoured to suit your tastes.Buttercream: The first two layers of the joconde are covered in a rich buttercream. This particular buttercream is made with a syrup, eggs and butter.
Ganache/Mousse (optional): In some recipes, the final layer of the joconde is covered in a ganache or mousse. Glaze: The final step to an Opéra Cake is the glaze that gives the cake a very finished and elegant appearance.

I had a bunch of different ideas on how to flavor it which came to me from looking at a drink recipe book. Pina Colada, Mojito, and a bunch of crazy drinks that I can't remember the name of. I chickened out and just made one of the verison that was given to us as an example. I sort of thought of it as a verison of a Baklava which to me seems really fun.

I used the recipe for the joconde which is an almond cake...lucky for me I have a frozen years and years supply of grounded almonds. My syrup I flavored with honey and some spices traditional found in a baklava. I made the buttercream also with honey because one thing I noticed with a lot of Opera cake recipes is that they kept the syrup and the buttercream the same flavoring. I flavored my Ganache/Mousse with Rum because I thought I had a couple of liqueurs but they were not there.

Review: I enjoyed making this cake and all the elements that go into it. I have to say that I have gotten really good a making buttercream thanks to the daring bakers. The recipe for the buttercream is by far my favorite of all the ones we made and I would use it again for another cake. Overall i found the cake I made too sweet for my taste and for most of my families taste as well. I served half for mother's day and froze the other half to serve for the bbq I had this past weekend. Most people said that cake was too sweet and didn't really want to eat it. I think that is my fault because I probably used way too much honey to flavor everything. The next time I make this cake I am going to try the traditional flavors because this is a very easy (yet time consuming) and beautiful cake.

Chocolate Chip Cake

Someone my husband works with is very kind and generous to us. She have been giving us a bunch of clothes and toys for Jacob. This has been going on for a while now and I feel like it is time to repay her in some way. The best way I know how to do this is by making her something homemade. The first time I did this was during the fall and I made her my very yummy pumpkin bread. This time I had something different in mind...a recipe that I have been wanting to find and make Chocolate Chip Cake.

It was like it was meant to be because on our trip to King Arthur Flour we all bought a bunch of stuff from their store. I have been thinking about getting The Baking Sheet which is a bimonthly, full-sized print newsletter. So while I was there I bought an issue to see if it was something I would be interested in subscribing too. I opened it up and what is the very first recipe on the very first page...Chocolate Chip Cake!!

Review: I didn't change the recipe but I decided instead of making it a cake with a filling in the middle of two layers...I would bake it in my mini loaf pan (and I had some batter leftover to make 7 mini cupcakes). The recipe itself was easy to make and the only ingredient I don't normally have on hand is the sour cream which is a good thing because that is what prevents me from making this more often.

The note from KAF is that they were trying to reproduce Entenmann's filled chocolate chip coffeecake. From the mini cupcake that I tried I think it is so good and so what I was hoping this would be. If I wasn't trying to watch my weight a little bit I would be tempted to run to the store and do a taste test.

Like my husband says...add to the list of things I should make again. If I get invited to a brunch I might make the recipe as is with the filling and all.

Update: I just ate a piece of the chocolate chip cake from one of the mini loafs I made...oh my I am in love with this cake. It was way better then the mini cupcake I had yesterday. The chocolate crumbs on top add another layer of sweetness to it which is awesome! I can't wait to try the original recipe with the filling the next time I make it...and YES there will be a next time!