Finally

I'm finally getting around to posting!

Here's what my mother and I worked on for Christmas Day dessert:

Huge spread of mini desserts!

Strawberry shortcakes

Apricot Oat Bars

Chocolate Mousse Cups

 For Valentine's Day, I made my hubby and his friend huge filled cupcakes. I actually made them using a mini bundt pan then cut out a hole in the middle. I filled them with Mocha frosting and put the lid back on. The frosting was a yummy suprise!

 I also made mini cupcakes for his office

Aside from baking, most of my cooking has been for Abby. I'm loving making my own baby food! But, I have managed to get a few new meals into our bellies as well :) I guess I've been thinking Asian lately, I have Thai and Indian below!

Red Curry Chicken and Shrimp over Basmati Rice

Vegetable Dal

Birthday Cake

My husband loves cake. Loves it. So, for his birthday, I always make him his special birthday cake. I make it only for him, the same one every year, and he loves it. I love it. We all love this cake. So, if you have someone that you love more than anything, make them this cake on their birthday. They will love you for it. :)

Here is what you need to assemble this cake:

-2 sponge cakes. Make sure that you allow PLENTY of time for them to cool! After they have cooled, slice each cake into two layers, resulting in 4 layers of cake.

-1 batch of mocha frosting. Set aside 1 cup of this frosting to pipe on decorations later.  

-1 batch of chocolate frosting

-cake syrup

Place your first layer, cut side up, onto the cake stand. Make sure you center it now, becuase it will be too late later ( I always forget this step!) Brush a few teaspoons of the cake syrup onto the top of the layer. Spread on mocha frosting. Use as much or little frosting as you would like, but remember this is going to be a 4 layer cake- don't go overboard now! Top with second layer, cut side up. Again, brush on syrup, then frosting. Repeat with third layer. Brush the 4th layer of cake with syrup, then place it onto the cake, cut side DOWN. This will give you a smooth surface to frost on top. At this point you want to apply the crumb coating to the cake. This is the first round of frosting the entire cake. It is a thin layer of the mocha frosting, just ment to keep everything (crumbs) in place. After you have finished, place the cake into the fridge for at least 20 minutes to allow the frosting to set up.

When you are ready to continue, take the cake out of the fridge and frost the cake with the chocolate frosting. Everyone has their own method, so just do whatever works best for you. Once you are done, put the cake back into the fridge to set up while you prepare your piping bag. A few notes about piping: use the mocha frosting to decorate, as it is a different color as the chocolate frosting. It gives the cake a nice contrast of chocolatey colors. :) Also, when filling the bag, I find that it is easiest to stand the bag up in a large glass. This way, you save any frosting that escapes. Pipe the decoration around the cake, or you could use chocolate shavings if you don't want the hassle. I used a very basic decoration this year, as I was running out of time. But you can be as simple or elaborate as you want. Trust me, it doesn't matter. This cake is that delicious!

Enjoy!

One Year!

It's the one year anniversary of my blog! I have had such a great time trying new things and meeting new people. This is just a short post to say thank you for reading. Here are a few of the things I've been making:

Vanilla Pound Cake




Individual Baked Zitis


Grilled Shrimp Picatta





Hope you are all having a wonderful week!

All Marbled Up and Nowhere to Go

Yesterday, a coworker of mine told me about a marble cake that she had recently purchased. When she got home, she found the cake to be stale. Don't you just hate that? You spend all day thinking about something particular and nothing will satisfy that need! Well, later that night, the marble cake was on my mind. I decided to make a marble cake to bring to work.

I made batches of chocolate cake and yellow cake.



I first made a regular 9" round yellow cake with chocolate swirls.



Then, I made a chocolate bundt cake with yellow swirls.



I still had left over batter! So, I decided to make mini yellow cupcakes with chocolate swirls in my new mini muffin pan (thanks RP!).





I made 24 mini cupcakes, although I had a bit of leftover batter, so I could have probably made it to 30. But, it was getting close to midnight, and I was pretty tired. I brought the mini's and half of each cake to work for my co-workers to taste test. Consensus: Light, fluffy, and very tasty.



Chocolate Cake:

3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa
powder, plus more for dusting pan
1 1/2 cups water
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
16 Tbs. (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 325°F. Grease the bottom and sides of a cake pan and dust with cocoa powder.

In a small saucepan over high heat, bring the water to a boil. Pour into a small heatproof bowl and whisk in the 3/4 cup cocoa powder. Let cool to lukewarm.

In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium-high, slowly add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat for 30 seconds.

Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the cocoa mixture and beginning and ending with the flour. Beat each addition until just incorporated, stopping the mixture occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Tap the pan gently on a work surface to break up any air pockets. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 60 to 65 minutes.

Vanilla Cake:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
16 Tbs. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs
1 Tbs. vanilla extract


Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 350°F. Grease and flour the cake pan.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer. In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sour cream, eggs and vanilla until combined. Fit the mixer with the flat beater. Add the butter mixture to the flour mixture and beat on the lowest speed until the dry ingredients are moistened, 15 to 20 seconds. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 30 seconds.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean, 18 to 22 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes, then invert the cake onto the rack and let cool.

Williams Sonoma

Baked With Love...

It's my birthday! (real, not blog)

I have been a little down lately. Someone recently broke in and stole my beloved pet turtles. (I know, who steals turtles??) To cheer me up, my AWESOME husband decided to make me a birthday cake. Most of the time, I bake everyone a cake on their birthday. But then I have no cake on mine. So Joe spent all night last night in the kitchen while I watched TV- talk about a role reversal! I was banned from even helping. But, I did make him promise to take pictures of his creation in its various stages, for blogging purposes. So, just to be clear: I had nothing to do with the making or decorating of this cake whatsoever. I didn't even take these pictures. I was allowed to see it this morning, and I'm really looking forward to eating it! Without further ado, allow me to present:

My Birthday Turtle Cake



Ok, so Joe committed the cardinal sin of my kitchen and used boxed cake mixes and prepared frostings. But, as long as I'm not committing the sin, I guess it's ok. He baked 2 cakes, one chocolate and one vanilla. he put chocolate frosting in the middle, and covered it with buttercream frosting.



The first cake was cut down to be the body, while the second cake was shaped to be the shell.




He dyed the fondant green and striped on the shell markings.





Legs and a tail were added.He couldn't add a head because it wouldn't fit on my cake holder, and we would be transporting this cake to my birthday dinner. So, he added some eyes peeking out from underneath the shell, as if the turtle were hiding. This is very realistic, as it is how my turtles always reacted to him!



I can't wait to eat this cake! And, it was SUCH a sweet gesture. Even though I didn't make this cake, it was so nice that I had to post about it.
Thanks Joe!!!

A Disney Birthday

My cousin's birthday was this past weekend. And, as promised, I made him a birthday cake. After much thought, a Disney cake seemed appropriate (he's a Disney freak like me). His favorite character being Goofy left me no choice: a Goofy had to be made.

I recruited my husband for this project, and we spent many hours debating how we would tackle it. We ended up using a bit of floral wire to secure Goofy's frame (totally the husband's idea). As for the cakes, I made 4 9" round Devil's Food Cakes. I filled them with a Chocolate Ganache and frosted them with vanilla buttercream. After they were shaped as Mickey's head and ears, each cake was covered in black fondant. Finally a painted Goofy was afixed on top. All in all, a success.

Devil's Food Cakes
Chocolate Ganache

Goofy
I don't want to bore all of you with pictures of Goofy being made. If you are interested in seeing the progression, follow this link.
Enjoy!

A Cake for Father's Day

My father has a serious sweet tooth (we are very much alike) and likes golf, while I am trying to perfect my decorating skills. So, the golf cake for Father's Day was born.

My aunt has taken up an interest in cake decorating as well. So, we did this one together. We started with two 9" round butter cakes. (I know, I just did that with the red hat cake! But, I thought my dad would like those best, so excuse the repeat!)

Chocolate buttercream went on top of the first and third layers, while a bananna and strawberry mixture went onto the second layer. The buttercream was piped onto the cake by my Aunt, who was practicing her piping skills. Looking good!

The entire cake was then covered in buttercream. Let's just say that we're a chocolate kind of family!

The white fondant went on first as a base.

We then dyed some fondant green. The green fondant was cut to form hills for the side of the cake, and a putting green for the top of the cake.

We had purchased a plastic golfer, which included a plastic hole and golf ball. Those were added to the top, and little flags were adhered to the side of the cake. (ready for the bad pun?)

The cake.....was a hole in one!

Red Hatters Love Cake!

My family has their own chapter of the Red Hat's Society. Even though I am in my 20's, I go to their get-togethers as a "Pink-Hatter." This month the RHS decided to go out to lunch, and I made a Red Hat Cake to bring to along.

I started out with a basic butter cake (recipe to be added soon). I made two 9" rounds and one 12" round. The 12" round was cut to fit my cake holder, using a dinner plate as a guide.

I then assembled the cake, using chocolate buttercream and raspberries as my filling.

The sides of the cake were trimmed to give the top of the hat rounded edges. I frosted the outside of the cake with the rest of the buttercream and put it in the refrigerator to set. Next, I dyed my fondant red using icing coloring. *Note: This took forever! So, don't attempt if you are in a hurry!* The red fondant covered the entire "hat."

I added blue to the leftover red fondant to make a purple "ribbon" for my hat. I then added a store-bought purple feather, and my cake was complete. This project took several hours to complete, from start to finish. But, it was well worth it!

From the land of Oz...

My hubby and I had plans to go to my parent's house for dinner last night. My mom and brother will be going to Australia for the summer, and are leaving this week. So, my mom had plans to make us a really nice dinner. Around 2:00 Sunday afternoon, I decided that I wanted to make a cake to bring to dinner. Since I wanted to be at my parent's house around 5:30, I did not have much time! Since it was quite hot outside, I decided on something light: Sponge cake with strawberry filling.

For the Filling:
I had a huge carton of very ripe strawberries, which I cut up into slivers. I added about 3/4 cup of sugar, to bring out the strawberries' natural juices. In a small saucepan, I combined 1/2 cup of strawberry jam with a little bit of water and brought the mixture to a simmer. I then added the mixture to the strawberries.

For the Cake:
I made one 9" sponge cake.

Frosting:
Butter cream

Once the cake was cool, I cut it in half. I put the strawberry mixture through a sieve to eliminate any excess liquid. I then put the strawberries onto the first layer of the cake.

The top layer of the cake was then added.

It was at this point that I decided to cut the cake into the shape of Australia. :) I figured I could turn it into a "Bon Voyage" cake. As I am terrible at carving, I recruited my husband. He did a great job! I then iced the cake with a light layer of butter cream frosting.

Now came the fondant. A word of warning: I have never used fondant. I have only aspired to use fondant; which is exactly why I had a package of Wilton pre-made white fondant. I dusted my cutting board with confectioner's sugar and layed out the fondant. It was pretty hard to roll it out to the consistency I wanted, because of my lack of space. But, I was able to roll it out pretty thin.

My husband cut off a piece and started working on a kangaroo for the top of my cake. The poor guy has endured hours of the Food Network with me, and had seen some fondant molding on Ace of Cakes. So, he was pretty sure he could make a kangaroo. A little brown food coloring and it looked really good!

I put the cake onto the base of the cake container. Then I covered it with fondant. Little by little, I smoothed the top and sides of the fondant to fit the form of the cake. I found that cutting little strips at a time helped me form the fondant around the edges. Next time, I will wrap the fondant to the underside of the cake, and then transport it to its final resting place. That will give it better edges.

I added a little red food dye to my leftover butter cream and piped "Bon Voyage!" onto the cake. I secured the kangaroo with a dot of butter cream as well. We were very happy with our results!

Now the hard part: transporting the cake to my parent's house. Since I already had the cake on the base, all I had to do was secure the lid, and go...right? Well...that's where Ollie comes in.
Oliver is my curious little dog:

Taking him and a cake in the same car can be quite difficult. The only way to get around this is to have my husband drive, while I hold the dog, and put the cake on the backseat. I was concerned that my cake would do a lot of sliding around, and ruin the kangaroo. So, we buckled the cake in.

We arrived at my parent's house all in one piece. After a lovely Lebanese meal (thanks mom!) we cut into the Australia cake. It was light and fluffy, but moist and very flavorful. The strawberries were sweet and soft. Overall, a success. Thanks for your help, Joe!