Delish

A couple weeks ago, my dear friend Traci and I had a dinner party with some very cool gals (and my Other). We made this amazing lasagna (which I've never made before) and cheater tiramisu cake. It was delish.

Basically all this cake consists of is a boxed cake mix (I told you...cheater cake!) soaked in super strong coffee and then layered with a mixture of cream cheese, sour cream, powder sugar and whipped cream. The recipe called for "whipped topping", but that stuff scares me. And then you grate all the chocolate you can handle and layer it up! It was SO good.

I tried to make it again for Easter, but forgot the chocolate. Woops! It was alright, but not nearly as good as the first time.

And how about those flowers? That's a super easy arrangement to make. Just get the little carnation bouquets from the grocery and a pretty bowl. Cut the stems so they will lay nice in the bowl and just pile them in! Traci still has it (2 weeks later!) and it still looks beautiful.

Next post? Probably my DUCKLINGS! Wee!!

What's Boston good for?

Boston Cream Pie. Mmmm.....

I found these delicious little cupcakes in Martha Stewart's magazine and I had to give them a try. I made them for a function for our middle school youth group at church...and they loved them. (Which is good...I thought they might be a little too much for them and they wouldn't appreciate my hard work. But they did.)

You can find the recipe here: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/boston-cream-pie-cupcakes

I've always had issues with gnashe glaze. It just doesn't work out for me. However, I had to kind-of make up my own recipe. I didn't have any heavy cream, so I just used milk. I actually like this a lot better. It didn't seem to be quite as runny and it got harder (but not too hard) quickly. It made for the perfect topping for these individual little cream pies.

The recipe as a whole was very simple to make. I put everything together from start to finish in a matter of a few hours, which worked well while doing laundry, tending children, etc.

Sweet tooth, anyone?

So it's time to post November's Daring Baker's Challenge!

This month's challenge is by Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater. Caramel Cake...and you can find the recipe here: http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2006/12/24/caramel-cake-the-recipe/

Hosting this month's month challenge were: Dolores (http://culinarycuriosity.blogspot.com/), Alex (Brownie of the Blondie and Brownie duo: http://blondieandbrownie.blogspot.com/), Jenny of Foray into Food (http://forayintofood.blogspot.com/) and Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go (http://glutenagogo.blogspot.com/).

Now that I have the people behind the baking noted, I can get on with the challenge! I decided to make this cake for my friend Emily and her farm loving boyfriend. I thought it would make a nice sweet end to a country cooked meal. And...oh my gosh...sweet it was.

When I saw that this month's challenge was Caramel Cake, I got excited. I love caramel. I mean LOVE.

But, alas, this cake was a HUGE let down for me. It seemed very simple to make (and indeed it was), but the cake was very dense and the entire cake was so sweet I don't think any of us finished a whole piece.

I did have fun putting it together, though. And I learned how to make caramel syrup (which is heavenly on ice cream!). I've never been very good at making fluffy homemade cakes, so maybe that's part of the problem. But even the frosting (which I've never had a problem making) was super sweet.

Several fellow bakers made this recipe into cupcakes and just put a little dab of frosting on them. I think that, if I ever choose to use this recipe again, that's what I'll do. They seemed to have very good results this way and the cupcakes wouldn't be as overpowering as a whole slice of super-sweet cake would be.

If you're interested in the recipe, here it is:


CARAMEL CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
2 each eggs, at room temperature
splash vanilla extract
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, at room temperature

Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.

Sift flour and baking powder.

Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}

Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan.

Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it.

Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.

CARAMEL SYRUP

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup water (for "stopping" the caramelization process)
In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.

When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back.

Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}

Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.

CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
Kosher or sea salt to taste

Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.

Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner's sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner's sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.

Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.
To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light

(recipes above courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon)

Apples!

Our heirloom apple tree had a huge crop this year. I picked more apples than I have in my whole life combined. Tons and tons of them. I made apple pie, apple crisp, apple empanadas, and, of course, applesauce.



I have a super easy and delicious recipe for applesauce and it's a nice way to use up apples if you find yourself with a billion of them. I froze almost all of mine, making some with my awesome recipe and some without any sugar or spice for upcoming baby. I gave the two jars above away as a gift (hence the cuteness with the fabric top), but the rest I froze in glass jars from pickles, jams, etc. that I've been saving.

So, here is my recipe:

use about 1/2 cup water
around 8 apples, depends on the size and how many you have
1/2 cup brown sugar
cinnamon and nutmeg to taste (figure about a tablespoon of each)

Peel and core your apples. Put them in a pot with the water and let them cook down on a medium heat. You can move the experience along by mashing them as they go. Add the brown sugar and spices when it's still chunky. The Other likes chunky sauce (yup, I really wrote that), so I don't let mine cook down all the way. However I made some for Monty and I that I let cook for around 2 hours so it was super smooth and had a lot of nutmeg in it. YUM.

We'll have more apples soon (two more trees are coming ripe any moment now). Let me know if you'd like some!

Strawberry Rhubarb Goodness

I know...I know...it's been forever. I'm sorry. Times have been busy! And being pregnant just taps the energy, which means the blog takes a back burner.

I made these delightful little empanadas a while back and they were SO good. A co-worker actually said, "It doesn't matter what you put in these little things. They are just GOOD."

It was pretty easy. I just mashed about a cup of strawberry and a cup of rhubarb (frozen...they weren't in season yet) and added some sugar and a little flour. Looks good, hu?



Then I made a pastry dough...which is exactly the same as my pie dough and it said to make it in the mixer, which I did...and it was SO easy. That probably means I'll be making more pies now that I've found a super-secret way to make crust! Yesss...
That's Mont's fingers feeling the dough. He loves to feel things.




Then you assemble. It's so easy. Just roll out your dough (I'll make mine thinner next time...you only need it about 1/8" thick even though the recipe calls for 1/4" thick). I cut little circles about 3" in diameter.



Then you fill each little circle with about a tablespoon of the filling. Fold over, press with a fork and glaze with some egg yolk. They look so pretty.



And then bake! See how mine are all open with the filling gooping out of them? That's why I'd make the dough thinner and maybe bigger circles. They were still super duper good, though. And I forgot to sprinkle them with sugar. Oh well. Next time they'll be even BETTER!





I found the recipe here: http://laylita.com/recipes/2008/05/18/rhubarb-and-strawberry-empanadas/
It's way easy and way good. You could easily add pretty much any filling to this and it would be wonderful. Perfect for a carry-in because they hold their shape and are a nice little bite-sized snack! Yipee!

Coming soon: The Ugliest Cake EVER. I'm not even joking.

My biggest challenge

So last February I promised a friend that I'd make her wedding cake. It was a fantastic experience, but I now have a complete understanding for why wedding cakes are so dang expensive!

So here's a play-by-play of the entire experience.

I made a classic white wedding cake with raspberry filling. I couldn't find a filling recipe I liked so I just took some frozen raspberries, sugar and a little corn starch to thicken it and put it on the stove. It was SUPER good. The entire cake turned out moist and wonderful. And, of course, I used my favorite buttercream frosting. Yum.


This is the top cake. Three layers with raspberry filling between each one (and a band of frosting around the edge to keep the filling contained.


Here is the top cake...four layers!


Both frosted. Fondant is icky so i worked hard at making my buttercream super smooth.


Eep! They're stacked....let me tell ya, I held my breath through this whole process. Bride wanted black ribbon around bottoms...which worked well for covering up the layer seam.


The final product! Those are fake flowers...but it still looks nice. I mounted it on a wooden pedestal at the reception and it looked very pretty.

All in all it it took close to 12 hours from start to finish. But, man oh man...it was goooood!

Cream Puffs!

I have an abundance of eggs lingering in my fridge, so I decided to make a batch of cream puffs with special vanilla filling. It used up 7 of my eggs!

I've made cream puffs before, but have always been a little disappointed with the way they turned out. However, I found an amazing recipe here: http://www.frontiernet.net/~albert1/crmpffs.html.
It was very easy to follow and made some DELICIOUS results.

They are fresh out of the oven here. I love how golden-brown they are. I also have to give props to my awesome new oven wit a special "baking" feature. Love. It.



Here they are after I filled them. Basically, I cut off the tops of the puffs, cleaned out the centers and put the cream in there. The recipe called to chill the cream and then use a frosting bag to pipe it in. However, I'm not a patient person so I just spooned in the filling.



Cream Puffs really are a joy.

Delicious Smoothie

This morning I really wanted a smoothie. Probably because I'm pregnant. I didn't have a recipe on hand, so I made it up. Here is how it went:

I started with 4 ice cubes.


I then added about 1 cup plain yogurt. Exactly this kind, because it's good for you.


Next came frozen raspberries. mmmmmmm...... I imagine that you can use fresh, but you might have to add more ice.


After the raspberries, I added some pineapple tidbits with the syrup. I used one of Monty's little fruit cups and it was the perfect amount. But any tidbits will work.


And last some apple juice. I just added it until my smoothie became the desired consistency. I'll guess around 1/2 cup. Mott's Apple Juice is the best.


Blend, pour into a large cup, and enjoy! SOOOOO tasty!


It was nice and think so I was able to have it in the car on my ride to work. Simply delicious.

However, I did encounter a problem by not making sure the blender bottom was on tight. Whoops! I had a big mess all over the counter, so, needless to say mine didn't look like the picture above. It looked more like a scooped up mess in my electric blue cup. No biggie, though...my nice new counters make it super easy to clean up messes :) Plus, it wouldn't be a Megan Creation without a mess!