The Great Cakescapade

Well, Bless Your Biscuits

2012-01-27T20:37:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year (since I haven't posted since December)!

This month's Daring Baker Challenge was biscuits. Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens! Audax Artifex hails from the land down under, and what they call scones are what us Southerners call biscuits.

I was happy to begin the challenge because while I do love biscuits, I've never really been good at making them. So, I made several variations.

Yes, I could have cut these a little smaller...

Inside view of a fresh baked biscuit

Batch 1: I followed the challenge recipe and instructions. The biscuits had a nice texture, but I thought there was something of a weird aftertaste.

Batch 2: Cinnamon raisin biscuits -- based on "soda biscuits" -- A while back, I found a recipe on Pinterest described as tasting like biscuits from Popeye's fried chicken. That was the hook. Reading the ingredients, I was curious how Bisquick, 7-Up (or Sprite) and sour cream played out in a biscuit. Consider that the line and the sinker. I made them for the first time in December, and they were absolutely the best biscuits I'd ever had. Light, fluffy, moist, buttery...MMMM!! Adding some raisins, a pinch of cinnamon, and a vanilla glaze turned breakfast biscuits into dessert. These were like what you'd get at Hardee's or Bojangles (if you're in the South), but better.

I know you don't actually SEE any raisins in this picture, but they're in there.

Batch 3: Modified soda biscuits. I used the standard recipe and used sour cream and Sprite instead of milk. Better than batch 1, but still not as good as the original soda biscuits.

See what a litte sour cream can do?

Batch 4: Cheddar biscuits -- These obviously were meant to imitate what you'd get at a certain seafood restaurant chain. But these didn't spend any time under a heat lamp waiting for your server to bring them out. They didn't spend much time on the table, either!

Batch 5: Whole wheat biscuits -- by the end of the month, I finally ran out of Bisquick! So....back to the original recipe. After measuring out half my flour, I found myself scraping the bag. I had an unopened bag, but decided to go for one last experiment, and use half whole wheat flour. You may be thinking they would be hard and inedible. WRONG. Just as light and fluffy as before, with a nice flavor from whole wheat.

Biscuits
Servings: about eight 2-inch or five 3-inch biscuits

Can be doubled

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons frozen grated butter
Approximately ½ cup cold milk
Optional 1 tablespoon milk, for glazing the tops of the scones

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to very hot 475°F.
2. Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl.
3. Rub the frozen grated butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles very coarse bread crumbs with some pea-sized pieces if you want flaky scones or until it resembles coarse beach sand if you want tender scones.
4. Add nearly all of the liquid at once into the rubbed-in flour/fat mixture and mix until it just forms a sticky dough (add the remaining liquid if needed). The wetter the dough the lighter the scones (biscuits) will be!
5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board, lightly flour the top of the dough. Knead very gently about 4 or 5 times (do not press too firmly) the dough until it is smooth. To achieve a layered effect in your scones knead very gently once (do not press too firmly) then fold and turn the kneaded dough about 3 or 4 times until the dough has formed a smooth texture. (Use a floured plastic scraper to help you knead and/or fold and turn the dough if you wish.)
6. Pat or roll out the dough into a 6 inch by 4 inch rectangle by about ¾ inch thick. Using a well-floured 2-inch biscuit cutter, cut out without twisting six 2-inch rounds, gently reform the scraps into another ¾ inch and cut two more scones. Or use a well-floured sharp knife to form squares or wedges as you desire.
7. Place the rounds just touching on a baking dish if you wish to have soft-sided scones or place the rounds spaced widely apart on the baking dish if you wish to have crisp-sided scones. Glaze the tops with milk if you want a golden colour on your scones or lightly flour if you want a more traditional look to your scones.
8. Bake in the preheated very hot oven for about 10 minutes (check at 8 minutes since home ovens at these high temperatures are very unreliable) until the scones are well risen and are lightly coloured on the tops. The scones are ready when the sides are set.
9. Immediately place onto cooling rack to stop the cooking process, serve while still warm.

7-Up Biscuits (Yields 9 biscuits)
2 cups Bisquick
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup lemon lime soda (Sprite, 7-up, etc).
1/2 stick butter

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Stir sour cream into baking mix with a fork.
3. Add soda to bowl and stir until just mixed. Do not overmix! Dough will be very wet and sticky. Don't add more flour.
3. Turn out onto floured work surface and knead a few times with floured hands.
4. Use a well floured biscuit cutter to cut out. You should get about 9 biscuits.
5. Melt butter in 8" square baking pan.
6. Place biscuits in pan and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Notes: If you'd like, you can skip the kneading in step 3 and make drop biscuits. OR, dump it all into your buttered pan and it'll be like cake. That worked well for the cinnamon raising biscuits.
Cinnamon raisin variation: Stir in a cup or so of raisins and a teaspoon of cinnamon before kneading. Top with a quick vanilla glaze: Mix togerther 1 tablespoon softened butter or margarine, with about 1/2 cup of confectioners sugar to make a smooth frosting like mixture. Stir in a teaspoon or two of milk to thin to a glaze. Spread the glaze over warm but not hot biscuits.

Cheese variation: Add a good sized handful of cheese and a stalks worth of chopped green onions before kneading. You can also add a little garlic powder.

Enjoy! See you next time.

Daring Bakers - December 2011: Sourdough Bread

2011-12-27T15:18:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of King Arthur Flour

Our Daring Bakers Host for December 2011 was Jessica of My Recipe Project and she showed us how fun it is to create Sour Dough bread in our own kitchens! She provided us with Sour Dough recipes from Bread Matters by AndrewWhitley as well as delicious recipes to use our Sour Dough bread in from Tonia George’s Things on Toast and Canteen’s Great British Food!

Let me first say that I love sourdough bread. Anytime I see a grilled toasty sandwich on sourdough, I'll take it! As for the sourdough making process, I can't say it was an enjoyable process. Even the science nerd in me was kind of grossed out.

unlike regular bread, sourdough bread is made from a starter, and has no yeast. No yeast? Well, you ask, how does it rise? The starter is a mass of fermented water and flour. The recipe Jessica provided consisted of flour and water left to ferment in a covered container for several days. Periodically, you feed the starter with more flour and water.

All starter well in the beginning, I could see it starting to bubble away on the counter, and I dutifully fed it each day. However, by day 4, it had stopped bubbling, and a layer of greyish liquid had formed on top. Not sure what to do, I proceeded with the recipe, hoping it would still do something. After the final feeding/refreshing, I was ready to bake. It looked like the thing that ate Manhattan, and stank to high heaven! But, reading other DBers' posting who said that it would be an extremely wet and loose dough, I kept going. I don't have any pictures of the blob because it would have dripped off the counter onto the flour if I'd tried to take pictures.

I waited for it to proof and rise. And waited...and waited... and waited. Nothing. I hoped it would have some oven spring. Nope. My final project was flat, dense, greyish in color, and not at all edible.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T17:15:00.001-04:00

When you were a kid, what candy in the trick or treat bag made your day? For me, it was chocolate, of course. And it couldn't be just any chocolate, either. It had to be the good stuff - the name brand chocolate. You name it..Snickers, Reese's, and of course, Butterfinger.

We don't have any trick or treaters of our own yet, and we're the type to eat any candy we buy for the trick or treaters a week before Halloween. So,...we typically don't buy any (until after Halloween, that is). But, the past few weeks, I've been seeing pins on Pinterest for homemade butterfinger candy bars. One recipe has lots of ingredients, and the other so simple you don't believe it could possibly work.

The science geek in me really wanted to see how candy corn plus peanut butter equaled butterfinger bars! But, yes, ladies and gentlemen, it works. And, if I do say so myself, the homemade version is better than the original. (But just as bad for you, LOL)

The "real" butterfinger is on the right. Doppelganger on the left.

Homemade Butterfingers
16 oz candy corn

16 oz peanut butter

Chocolate coating (Candy Melts, Chocolate Bark, whatever you please)

Microwave the candy corn and peanut butter in a glass bowl until it starts to melt. Stir. Continue melting and stirring. The candy corn will not melt as easily as the peanut butter, but you shouldn't need more than a minute and a half of microwaving total. Keep stirring until the candy corn is completely melted and combined with the peanut butter. The mixture will start out pretty grainy, and you'll think you're going to have to toss your bowl out. But, pretty soon, it comes together into a smooth ball, and very little candy sticks to the bowl. You can now press the mixture into a pan or candy molds to set, or scoop them into bonbons. Let cool completely before covering in your melted candy coating.

I used a 5 oz bag of candy corn and about a half cup of peanut butter and got 5 "fun size" candy bars plus three small bonbons. The homemade butterfingers are the size that fun size candy bars used to be when I was a kid (Don't you think they've gotten smaller?), had a stronger flavor, but had a softer texture. You still get the crunchiness, but they don't get stuck in your teeth as much as the original.

Daring Baker October 2011 - Povitica

2011-10-27T22:06:00.001-04:00

Before I start, this wonderful sweet bread, spelled povitica is pronounced po-vi-teet-sa.

The Daring Baker’s October 2011 challenge was Povitica, hosted by Jenni of The Gingered Whisk. Povitica is a traditional Eastern European Dessert Bread that is as lovely to look at as it is to eat!

And, best of all, not too hard to make. And once you taste the povitica, you have to learn t make it. These bad boys go for $27 apiece online! The hardest part was making and rolling out the dough, and this one was pretty easy to work with. And pretty tasty to eat. This was one of those things you have to sneak a taste of everytime you pass through the kitchen. It didn't make it through the weekend.

Here's the recipe that Jenni put together. NOTE: The amounts referred to in the instructions do not match the recipe amounts. Jenni's original recipe made FOUR loaves!

Povitica (Makes one loaf 1.25 lbs/565 grams)

To activate the Yeast:
½ Teaspoon (2½ ml/2¼ gm) Sugar
¼ Teaspoon (1¼ ml/¾ gm) All-Purpose (Plain) Flour
2 Tablespoons (30 ml) Warm Water
1½ Teaspoons (7½ ml/3½ gm/0.125 oz/½ sachet) Dry Yeast

1. In a small bowl, stir 2 teaspoons sugar, 1 teaspoon flour, and the yeast into ½ cup warm water and cover with plastic wrap.
2. Allow to stand for 5 minutes

Dough:
½ Cup (120 ml) Whole Milk
3 Tablespoons (45 ml/43 gm/1½ oz) Sugar
¾ Teaspoon (3¾ ml/9 gm/0.17 oz) Table Salt
1 Large Egg
1 tablespoon (30 ml/30 gm/¼ stick/1 oz) Unsalted Butter, melted
2 cups (480 ml/280 gm/10 oz/0.62 lb) All-Purpose Flour, measure first then sift, divided
To Make the Dough:

3. In a medium saucepan, heat the milk up to just below boiling (about 180°F/82°C), stirring constantly so that a film does not form on the top of the milk. You want it hot enough to scald you, but not boiling. Allow to cool slightly, until it is about 110°F/43°C.
4. In a large bowl, mix the scalded milk, ¾ cup (180 gm/170 gm/6 oz) sugar, and the salt until combined.
5. Add the beaten eggs, yeast mixture, melted butter, and 2 cups (480 ml/280 gm/10 oz) of flour.
6. Blend thoroughly and slowly add remaining flour, mixing well until the dough starts to clean the bowl.
7. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead, gradually adding flour a little at a time, until smooth and does not stick.
8. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces (they will each weight about 1.25 pounds/565 grams)

9. Place dough in 4 lightly oiled bowls, cover loosely with a layer of plastic wrap and then a kitchen towel and let rise an hour and a half in a warm place, until doubled in size.

Filling Ingredients (enough filling for one loaf)
1¾ Cups (420 ml/280 gm/10 oz) Ground English Walnuts
¼ Cup (60 ml) Whole Milk
¼ Cup (60 ml/58 gm/½ stick/2 oz) Unsalted Butter
1 Egg Yolk From A Large Egg, Beaten
¼ Teaspoon (1¼ ml) Pure Vanilla Extract
½ Cup (120 ml/115 gm/4 oz) Sugar
¼ Teaspoon (1¼ ml/1 gm) Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
¼ Teaspoon (1¼ ml/¾ gm) Cinnamon

To Make the Filling
10. In a large bowl mix together the ground walnuts, sugar, cinnamon and cocoa.
11. Heat the milk and butter to boiling.
12. Pour the liquid over the nut/sugar mixture.
13. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly.
14. Allow to stand at room temperature until ready to be spread on the dough.
15. If the mixture thickens, add a small amount of warm milk.

To Roll and Assemble the Dough:

16. Spread a clean sheet or cloth over your entire table so that it is covered.
17. Sprinkle with a couple of tablespoons to a handful of flour (use flour sparingly)
18. Place the dough on the sheet and roll the dough out with a rolling pin, starting in the middle and working your way out, until it measures roughly 10-12 inches (25½ cm by 30½ cm) in diameter.
19. Spoon 1 to 1.5 teaspoons (5ml to 7 ½ ml/4 gm to 7 gm) of melted butter on top.
20. Using the tops of your hands, stretch dough out from the center until the dough is thin and uniformly opaque. You can also use your rolling pin, if you prefer.
21. As you work, continually pick up the dough from the table, not only to help in stretching it out, but also to make sure that it isn’t sticking.
22. When you think it the dough is thin enough, try to get it a little thinner. It should be so thin that you can see the color and perhaps the pattern of the sheet underneath.
23. Spoon filling (see below for recipe) evenly over dough until covered.
24. Lift the edge of the cloth and gently roll the dough like a jelly roll.
25. Once the dough is rolled up into a rope, gently lift it up and place it into a greased loaf pan in the shape of a “U”, with the ends meeting in the middle. You want to coil the dough around itself, as this will give the dough its characteristic look when sliced.
27. Brush the top of loaf with a mixture of ½ cup (120 ml) of cold STRONG coffee and 2 tablespoons (30ml/28 gm/1 oz) of sugar. If you prefer, you can also use egg whites in place of this.
28. Cover pan lightly will plastic wrap and allow to rest for approximately 15 minutes.
29. Preheat oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4.
30. Remove plastic wrap from dough and place into the preheated oven and bake for approximately 15 minutes.
31. Turn down the oven temperature to slow 300°F/150°C/gas mark 2 and bake for an additional 45 minutes, or until done.
32. Remove bread from oven and brush with melted butter.
33. Check the bread at 30 minutes to ensure that the bread is not getting too brown. You may cover the loaves with a sheet of aluminum foil if you need to.
34. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes, still in the bread pan. Remember, the bread weighs about 2.5 and it needs to be able to hold its own weight, which is difficult when still warm and fresh out of the oven. Allowing it to cool in the pan helps the loaf to hold its shape.

35. It is recommended that the best way to cut Povitica loaves into slices is by turning the loaf upside down and slicing with a serrated knife.

The money shot!

Taste of Atlanta 2011

2011-10-23T10:54:00.001-04:00

Have you been to the Taste of Atlanta? If not, you need to go next year!

The Taste of Atlanta is our favorite fall food festival. It's a weekend full of fantastic food -- more than you can even think about eating in a single afternoon. This year was the tenth anniversary, and over 80 restaurants were featured. With your general admission ticket, you receive 10 "taste tickets" which you can redeem at the different booths for samples of their yum yum yummies. To get the most of our taste tickets, the Artist and I always go in with a plan:

1. Scope out the entire festival. Who's got the good stuff, and how many tickets is it?
This step is crucial, it's way to easy to use up all of your tickets before you even get through the first block! I mean, really! Sublime Doughnuts and Jim 'n Nick's BBQ met us at the entrance gate!

2. Have a tasting strategy.
We usually share things that are more than a bite or two. That way, we don't both fork over 3 or 4 tickets for the same thing. Also, it's hard to do, but don't load up on desserts first. I speak this one from experience. Last year, I was stuffed...uncomfortably so, and way before I was ready to go home!

3. Plan to buy more taste tickets!
Because really, 10 tickets is not going to be enough

Seafood Bisque

Cheesesteak

Orange Dream Doughnut

Soft Pretzel w/Beer Cheese Dip

Lamb Slider

Banh Mi

Mississippi Delta Tamale

Caramel Apple Bread Pudding

Orange Kissed Frozen Yogurt

Lemon Pepper Wings and Fries

Even going in with a plan, there's always something you want to taste but don't. Ri Ra's line for fish and chips stayed a block long for the entire afternoon! I wanted to try the arroncini, but 1 tiny rice ball wasn't really worth 2 tickets, was it?

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall!

2011-09-11T08:25:00.001-04:00

It's that time of year....it's still hot as Hades, but I still am optimistically believing that I can "feel" fall in the air. It seems this year that Labor Day was literally the switch for fall, it's been in the low 70s all week since, while just two days before Labor Day, it was 95!

As the final hurrah to summer, I made ice cream. Sort of. As much as ice cream can be made without an ice cream maker. And as much as ice cream can be made in a plastic freezer bag. I've seen this several times before, most often in family oriented magazines under "Things to Keep the Kids Busy". No kids here, just a science nerd and foodie who is still fascinated by the butter we made in a jar in the 2nd grade. I followed this recipe from 2 little hooligans.

It turned out to be a runny soft-servish consistency. At this point, ice cream maker ice cream would also be soft and you'd put it in the freezer to finish up. I put this in the freezer and it got too hard and lost any creaminess it started out with. Not bad in a pinch, but the stuff from the store works for me.

The same day, to usher in fall, I made white chocolate pumpkin scones. I'm usually not a scone girl. For me, I classify them as snacks/dessert, and my baked snacks/dessert should be sweet. All of the scones I've had have been of the Starbucks/Panera variety, which means dry triangular biscuits with something either in them or on them. These however, were AWESOME. Rich, buttery, flaky. I also was finally able to understand what the descriptor "tender" means in relation to baked goods.

I doubled the recipe from Small Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers, and skipped the glaze. I only skipped the glaze because I only had a handful of white chips, and they went inside the scones.

Changing gears, today is the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Do you remember where you were? How has your life changed?

Take-out Fake-out: Red Thai Curry

2011-06-28T19:34:00.011-04:00

Here's a first at the Great Cakescapade: A RECIPE! And not only a recipe, but a take-out favorite, Thai Curry. I like red curry, but would never in a million years have thought it would be so easy to make at home. A few weeks ago, I was visiting my mom, and snatched a couple of magazines to read on the plane back home. Fine Cooking had a spread on DIY Thai curry, including a matrix to mix and match your own custom curry that can be found here.
This recipe is totally easy and doable, with very little in the way of 'odd' ingredients. I think I spent more time chopping than cooking.

Red Chicken Curry (adapted from Fine Cooking Magazine)
*Curry Base
14 oz can coconut milk
1/4 cup red curry paste
1 cup chicken broth
*Aromatics
3 slices of ginger
1 stalk lemongrass, cut into 4-inch pieces and bruised (I hit it with a meat mallet a couple times)
*Protein
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced
*Other stuff
2 TBS brown sugar
1 tsp fish sauce (I realized at the last minute we didn't have any. I left it out completely and couldn't tell you it was missing)
*Veggies
3 cups chopped vegetables : I used carrots, onions, bell peppers, and sugar snap peas

To make the curry base, simmer 1/2 a cup of the coconut milk until it is thickened and reduced by half. Whisk in the curry paste, cook 1 minute, then whisk in the remaining coconut milk and chicken broth.

Add the ginger, lemongrass, and brown sugar. Stir to dissolve the brown sugar, then start adding the remaining ingredients according to cooking time. The chicken went in first, then the carrots, peppers, and onion. Snap peas went in last, as they don't take too long. Let the whole wok simmer until everything is done! Serve over rice, and supper is ready.

The Fine Cooking Magazine matrix is easy to follow and really lets you realize how customizable the recipe is. The Artist, who had never before had Thai curry, really enjoyed it, and so did I.

Opa! Daring Baker Challenge - June 2011

2011-06-27T00:01:00.000-04:00

Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.

Homemade phyllo? Now, that's a challenge. Challenge number one was when the recipe said to knead by hand for 20 minutes (the alternative when you don't own a stand mixer). I was resourceful and had my bread machine do the kneading. The dough was a bit sticky, but was wonderfully smooth and silky -- much nicer than it looks when I make actual bread!

After letting the dough rest for a couple of hours, I was ready to rock and roll. I thought getting the phyllo sheets paper thin would be no big deal -- I roll fondant and gumpaste that thin for flowers. This just was not the same. It seemed at some points that, while the dough didn't seem thin enough, the rolling pin wasn't doing anything, and I had to put my weight into it. As you can see in the picture below, I need to invest in a cute, frilly apron.

Eventually, I was tired of rolling phyllo dough. But finally, I had about 12 thin enough sheets of phyllo, which I was able to cut down to 18 sheets the size of my small baking dish. After the dough rolling, assembling the baklava was simple: layers of phyllo brushed with melted butter, alternating with layers of finely chopped nuts and cinnamon.

I knew going into the challenge that I was not a big baklava fan. I think if I made it again, I would go with my usual store bought whole wheat phyllo, and use something other than honey in the soaking syrup.

Thanks for the challenge (and upper body workout), Erica! Stay tuned for July's challenge.

Not your regular graduation cake

2011-06-09T16:24:00.005-04:00

My baby sister's all grown up! This past weekend, L graduated from high school. I was 13 when she was born, and still remember life before she was around. I hadn't had the opportunity to share the perks of my cake baking hobby with my mom and sister, and decided to whip up something for the occasion.

Harder than it sounds because L is a notoriously picky eater.

Me:What kind of cake do you want?

Crickets...It took her forever to decide.

L:White cake with vanilla frosting.

Seriously? White on white?

L: Well, you can color the frosting.

Me: Alrighty, then. What kind of design do you want?

L is a budding artist, and of course, had to come up with something extreme. This is the description she sent via Facebook:

"Can you just make me a BAD-ASS manticore cake with vicious teeth in a creepy smile, yellow cat-like eyes with black pupils, a dirty blond main thats really messy and flops around, human-like paws, blueish purple hind-quarters with digit grade back legs, deep blus scorpion tail dripping poison, and lightning bolt stripes of electric blue. Oh, and can you make him a hipster?"

Me: WTF???

So...yeah....what I decided to do was merge our respective hobbies in the middle. We split a box of fondant and each created a manticore (which, BTW, is a chimera like creature). Best manticore would go on the cake. And MINE WENT ON THE CAKE!

And quite the tasty cake, too. An ice cream cake! Chocolate cake (I talked her into living a little), cookies and creme ice cream, and white frosting. I need to plan the ice cream cake process a little better; it started to melt and wouldn't firm up without an overnight freeze. But, I think it turned out pretty good, despite the drips and bulges, considering I frosted it with a plastic knife! The plastic knife was because I wasn't sure if my cake spatulas would make it past the TSA screeners.

Congratulations, little sister!

Small Batch Baking

2011-05-22T09:25:00.003-04:00

Sometimes, baking is not just to quench the craving of my sweet tooth. (Often, it is, but not always!). Truth be told, I just really enjoy the act of baking. Feeling the mixer buzz in my hand, or turning the bowl as I mix ingredients, is strangely soothing.

And, when it's not the sugar high that I seek, a cookie recipe that yields 4 dozen is just way to much! So, when I saw Debbie Maugan's two cookbooks centered around baking for two -- say, 6 cupcakes or a dozen cookies, I was game.

This weekend, I tried out two recipe from Debbie's Small Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers: Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, and Chocolate Chip Cookies.

The chocolate sandwich cookies were, of course, supposed to compete with those famously addictive Oreo cookies. This recipe will not replace the Oreos in my shopping cart, but the Artist and I both thought they were quite tasty. I tweaked the recipe to use chocolate that I had on hand, and used milk chocolate instead of the semi-sweet specified. I think the darker chocolate would calm the overly sweet taste of the filling. Will have to try these again...

Who doesn't love chocolate chip cookies? This recipe was great. They made a dozen little cookies full of chocolate and nuts that would give the $20/pound cookies from a local gourmet shop a run for their money! A plus was that using my cookie scoop, I got exactly one dozen cookies rather than the 8 predicted by the recipe. Too many chips? Chewy, crispy, chocolaty, nutty, with the addition of creme bouquet flavoring rather than regular old vanilla extract, these cookies were great!

This book and I will be getting to know each other very well. Debbie features cakes, pies, brownies, and more (even a chocolate cocktail or two). I'll probably eventually try them all!More to come....

Daring Baker Challenge - April 2011

2011-04-27T00:01:00.001-04:00

What an interesting challenge this month! Maple mousse in an edible container.

The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 27th to May 27th at http://thedaringkitchen.com/!

Hint, hint...vote for me!

Some of the suggestions for edible containers included weaving bacon strips together and baking into little cups, or nut tartlet shells. Obviously, I wanted to take it in my own direction. But what?

I was inspired one day as I passed by my mega shelf of cake supplies: CANDY BARS! I thought they would fit the bill: handheld, bite sized, and definitely contained. Trying to think of what kind of candy bar, I sort of combined the idea of a Snickers bar, and Maple Nut Goodies.

My candy bars were the maple mousse, toasted pecans, and caramel, all covered in white chocolate. I must say, while the mousse was not something I could eat by itself, the flavors in the candy bars went together quite nicely! I was pleased, as was The Artist.

Daring Baker Challenge - March 2011

2011-03-28T18:20:00.002-04:00

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake. When I found out the challenge, I was curious and intrigued. Ria and Jamie challenged us to fill the coffee cake with meringue and whatever filling of choice. I'd never made meringue before, as I never really have cared for it. And what to pair it with? I thought about a lemon curd, as a twist on lemon meringue. Then, I found an old Cooking Light recipe for triple berry curd, and decided to go with that. Another idea I considered was Nutella and orange zest, which I well try on another day. My first try at meringue was a success; it whipped up with no problem. But, when spreading it on my dough, I overfilled it, and couldn't roll it up. I wound up sort of shaping it into a circle and scooped it into a round cake pan. It was pretty and swirly when done, but not the vision I had originally. But, isn't that the story of my kitchen adventures? In short, I would make the yeasted coffee cake again, minus the meringue. Other Daring Bakers described it as baking to a nougaty finish, but mine didn't do that. It just took away from the berry curd which was absolutely awesome on its own.

Daring Bakers' Challenge - December 2010

2010-12-23T00:01:00.002-05:00

The 2010 December Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie's Baking. She chose to challenge the Daring Bakers to make Stollen. She adapted a friend's family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinharts book....and Martha Stewart's demonstration.

I was especially excited for this month's DB challenge, being December and all. Many in the group, including myself, were afraid it would be fruit cake. Though stollen, a German Christmas bread, contains fruit and nuts, it's bread, not that nasty rum soaked door stop of a cake.

Having never made stollen before, I stuck pretty close to the original recipe, using raisins, orange scented dried cranberries, candied citrus peel, and almonds. Be warned: this makes quite a hunk of dough. As you can see, my regular wooden rolling pin was no match, and I had to break out my 20" pin I use for fondant. When all was said and done, the dough, when rolled out completely, was larger than the 20" pin! Part of the challenge was to shape the dough like a wreath. This was a lovely touch for the holiday season. To top it all off, the bread is traditionally coated in alternating layers of melted butter and powdered sugar -- 3 layers each. I figured one fairly generous layer of butter and sugar would be more than enough, and it most certainly was.

This recipe is definitely a keeper, but only for company, 'cause this thing was huge (I baked it on a 16" pizza pan)!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Daring Bakers' Challenge - Nvember 2010

2010-11-27T12:00:00.003-05:00

The 2010 November Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers' to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi's Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

Though I make many things from scratch, I had never made any type of pie crust. I'd heard enough horror stories, and decided it wasn't worth the fuss. Especially since I'm not really a pie kind of girl. For this month's challenge, we were to make pasta frolla, as sweet pie/tart dough, and shape it into a crostata, an Italian tart. The filling was up to the baker, and I immediately knew I wanted to use Dorie Greenspan's recipe for almond cream. Just before receiving the challenge, I'd been reading DG's Baking, and it sounded amazing. I paired the almond cream with cherry preserves. Not a bad filling, but entirely too sweet! Yes, too sweet, even for me! The Artist thought is was good and ate nearly the whole thing.

Daring Bakers' Challenge - October 2010

2010-10-27T09:12:00.002-04:00

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

I was very excited about this challenge, looking to kick it up a notch from the National Doughnut Day adventure. At The Artist's request, I got things rolling with chocolate doughnuts.

They looked pretty good, but the dough was pretty gooey, so when I went to fry them, they formed a battered crust on the outside. They also got a bit burned, so the outsides were very crispy. I don't fry all that often, and it showed with this challenge.

SOOOOO...to redeem myself, I went out to Sur La Table and bought a mini doughnut pan. This pan baked up the cutest little pumpkin doughnuts! Much tastier, and much easier. The doughnuts bake up in only five minutes. You're never far from doughnuts with this pan.

I quickly dusted the pumpkin doughnuts with cinnamon sugar. Soft and yummy, it's way too easy to eat a whole dozen; especially when they're only about an inch wide =).

No Knead to Exagerrate

2010-10-12T16:22:00.002-04:00

Hmmm...Remember in the spring, wen I was quite intrigued by the books Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, and Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes s Day? Well, not so much, anymore. At the time, I was willing to accept the books' premise: You could make perfectly good bread by stirring a few things together, and wait for it to rise WITH NO KNEADING.

Not anymore. I was making pumpkin pie brioche from Healthy Bread, and after nearly 2 hours, all I had was a dry-ish scraggly looling lump of dough that had not risen at all. Something told me to knead it, though the authors adamantly tell you in their books not to do so. What could it hurt? Kneading it would either improve it, or leave me with the same scraggly lump of dough. Still mindful of the authors' warning, I lightly kneaded for a minute or two, then covered it with plastic wrap. I swear I could see it start to rise immediately. I left it there for about half an hour, poked it. Rolled it out , spread with brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter...shaped it into cinnamon rolls....let them proof....popped them into the over for 20 minutes. These were awesome!

I have to admit, while I absolutely love cooking and baking, bread baking had never been my forte, so...these books seemed to cut out the middleman (kneading). The resulting flavor was OK, but kind of hard and dry if any more than 20 minutes out of the oven. And not much to look at, either. My loaves were higher than a cracker, but not as lofty as a full loaf of bread. As a result, I haven't made much more than pizza dough since spring.

After my kneading experiment, I had full, pillowy rolls that were still a nice, soft texture. I'm now a believer in kneading!

BUT -- to the artisans of the Bread in 5 Series....no 'knead' to exaggerate your techniques to sell a book.

Fall is in the Air

2010-10-11T15:12:00.003-04:00

Ahhh, fall. There's something about fall and 'fall' foods, like pumpkin. I've never picked a pumpkin, been to a pumpkin patch, or carved a jack o' lantern, but I love pumpkin baked goods -- muffins, bread, cake, donuts, etc. I had the better part of a can of pure pumpkin in the fridge (leftover from the DB doughnut challenge), and was trying to figure out how to use it. So, my eyes were peeled for any pumpkin goodies that sounded interesting. After seeing a few similar posts, I decided that pumpkin cinnamon rolls were in order.

To go the easy route, I chose the recipe for Pumpkin Pie Brioche from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. (This recipe was the lynchpin in my Healthy Bread in 5 rant from a few posts back.)

For the filling, I threw together some brown sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkled it on to the dough after smearing it with a smidge of butter -- sorry, no measurements!

Let the sliced rolls rise, bake, and voila!

Daring Baker Challenge - Sept 2010

2010-09-27T00:00:00.003-04:00

The September 2010 Daring Baker's Challenge was hosted by Mandy of "What the Fruitcake?!" Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and the Joy of Baking.

While sugar cookies are not a new challenge for me, the theme of the cookies was "September". Hmmmm, what does 'September' mean? I thought of bushel baskets of leaves, acorns, and apples. Red ones, and green ones, and caramel covered ones!

I wanted to add to the September/apple theme, I wanted to make an apple-y flavored cookie -- something like cinnamon sugar cookies with apple filling. Sounded good, but I made sandwich cookies with a fall spice buttercream instead.

My first DAring Baker challenge was a lot of fun, and if I do say so myself, was a success! CAn't wait for the October challenge.

Bagel BLTs

2010-09-08T19:14:00.003-04:00

Continuing on my bread baking journey, I decided to try my hand at bagels!

Modifying a recipe from Cooking Light, I made whole wheat 'everything' bagels. And what to do with them once they were done? Well, bacon makes everything better. So,....Bagel BLTs!

Homemade hot sauce

2010-08-29T09:30:00.004-04:00

We are hot sauce junkies at our house. We keep a couple of types on hand at all times, because you never know what you might want to put it on. But, i the grand scheme of things, hot sauce is kind of expensive. So, jackpot bingo when I saw this post in the New York Times! I made immediate plans to make it after a trip to the DeKalb Farmer's Market. I was ready to throw every pepper they had into the pot!

For the first try, I held back and tried to stick to the recipe. They only had 3 red habaneros peppers (all the rest were green -- I figured they wouldn't be hot), so I subbed in 2 serrano peppers. Three red and three green habaneros plus 2 serrano peppers cost me all of 26 cents! Can't beat that with a stick.

Right now, I'm on day 2 of the 3 day setting process. I am SOOOOOOOOOO ready to taste the final product. Of course, I did sneak a taste when it came off the stove. It definitely had some zip. I don't know if the wait period is going to increase the flavor, mellow it out, or what. Tomorrow's going to be taco night --- a perfect time to crack this baby open!

My First Cake Order

2010-08-26T12:06:00.004-04:00

Yeah! I just completed my first ever cake order! 200 red velvet wedding cupcakes!

How do you bake 17 dozen cupcakes in a regular home kitchen without losing your mind?

HAVE A GAMEPLAN.

1. Set a schedule. Each day before the wedding, I accomplished a different task. For example, two weeks ahead of time, I did a test run with the giant cupcake (Remember "Chris and the Giant Cupcake"?). One week before, I molded the giant cupcake wrapper out of fondant and left it to dry. On Thursday, I made 15 or so pounds of cream cheese frosting. On Friday, I did all the baking. And on Saturday, I decorated and delivered the cupcakes.

2. Be flexible. My original plan was to use an idea from Hello, Cupcake! to use a large freezer bag to portion out the batter evenly. Well, it worked great for the first two batches. When I went to pick up the bag to fill the next batch, the bag had a gazillion holes in it. (NOTE: Red velvet cake contains vinegar. Not much, but enough to completely eat through a freezer bag in 15 minutes.)

I also planned to speed things along by baking 2 trays at a time. My oven is much colder on the bottom than the top. The cupcakes didn't bake evenly, so I resorted to one pan at a time.

3. Be organized. The weekend before the wedding, I portioned out all of my dry ingredients into my own little cake mixes. On baking day, I laid out everything in sets. Unfortunately, this didn't prevent me from forgetting the vanilla extract in the first 3 dozen cupcakes. OOPS!

All in all, I think the cupcakes turned out great, and the bride was pleased. I look forward to the future when I have a professional grade kitchen and a truck or van -- squeezing 200 cupcakes into the back of a Nissan worked, but it took some doing.

The finished product:

And the happy couple, perched upon their giant cupcake:

Chris and the Giant Cupcake

2010-08-16T18:14:00.003-04:00

Now, who doesn't love a cupcake? And even if you could pass on a cute little bite size cupcake, could you really pass up a GIANT cupcake? I surely can't. Neither could The Artist. He appears to be spellbound.....

It's Doughnut Day!

2010-06-04T15:24:00.005-04:00

Today is National Doughnut Day! At least two of your local doughnut shops are giving away free doughnuts today, and I had every intention of getting one. But, life gets in the way...

I was THIS close to making a 30 min trip to get one measly free doughnut when I remembered my latest bookstore bargain table find: Snack Cakes for Dummies. I'm no dummy, but it's a nifty little book, especially for $3.99. And just as I was headed out the door to snag my freebie, I remembered that this book had an entire chapter on doughnuts.

A totally impromptu experiment. I wanted to make Devil's Food Doughnuts, but....no cocoa powder (No idea how that happened. I always have cocoa powder on the shelf). So I turned the page, and there were buttermilk doughnuts. Luckily, they required the same amount of flour (I only had half of the amount needed of that. Note to self: go grocery shopping) that I had already measured out, and proceeded to make half a batch of buttermilk doughnut holes. Actually, sour cream doughnut holes, because I didn't have any buttermilk, and the 2% was expired.

Whipped up a batch of doughnut ...dough? batter? stuff? and fried it up (BTW, used up the last of the canola oil, too).

Some got tossed in powdered sugar, and for the rest, I whipped up an impromptu lemon glaze. I may not have flour or milk, but do actually have 6 lbs. of confectioner's sugar, and that is no exaggeration!

At first bite, I didn't feel too impressed. They definitely weren't Krispy Kreme, but they weren't the frosted bread of Dunkin' Donuts, either. Not too bad, as you can see by the nearly empty plate below:

Enjoy the doughnuts. I'm off to the grocery store.

Playing Catch Up

2010-05-24T09:48:00.003-04:00

Sorry for not posting more regularly. The spring semester was busy, to say the least. Because we obviously had to eat, I made things, but somehow never got around to posting.

So, here's a quick "Semester in Review" of things I've made lately.

Birthday cake for a neighbor:

Barbecue chicken braid:

Homemade buttercream fondant on a cookie:

Deep dish pizza:

Trying out a new cake recipe as cupcakes:

Happy caking!

DANG, GINA!

2010-05-21T16:49:00.004-04:00

Do you remember one of Martin Lawrence's catchphrases: "DANG, GINA!"? Well, after trying this Memphis Mud Pie reipe, that's all I could say. Especially since it came from Gina Neely of Down Hone with the Neely's. I'm so glad the semester is over...I haven't gotten to watch them in forever.

This pie has it all: Oreo crust, chocolate brownie like filling, nuts, whipped cream, and a scoop of ice cream made it even better! Enjoy!!!

Pita Pita Pita!

2010-04-04T13:25:00.005-04:00

See those? Those are homemade pita pockets, fresh from the oven. I made them using a recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. This has got to be my new favorite cookbook (or book). Everything tastes great. Though I wish they'd mentioned the use of vital wheat gluten in this book. I had to go digging in their second book, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, to grab that little nugget. I'll save that for another post.

I've been on a Mediterranean kick lately, and wanted to create the yumminess without the expense of going out. Artisan Bread and Cooking Light to the rescue. Homemade pita stuffed with spicy chicken shawarma, bhaba ghanouj and tabbouleh. I made the pita, The Artist made the chicken shawarma.

It's not cake, but it was good!

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T13:20:00.004-04:00

No Easter treats for us this weekend, but I did make a quick red velvet cake for dear friends in town for a mini vacay!

We forgot to take pictures before it was cut!

Enjoy the day with your friends and family.

Baker's Bread Basket

2010-03-12T19:11:00.010-05:00

Have you ever had the pleasure of eating a slice of fresh, home baked bread? Have you ever thought about making it yourself? Probably not...the measuring, sifting, kneading, rising, doubling, punching...that's a lot of work.

Well, that's all about to change. In Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, a physician/home cook pairs up with a pastry chef to create a volume of easy peasy bread recipes that can be whipped up in five minutes, and stored in the fridge for two weeks. With minimal prep and only a little planning, you can have fresh baked bread!

I'd been waiting for this book from the library, and it became available just in time for Spring Break!

My first experiment was with the classic, simple, and straight forward Boule. We planned to have homemade pizza for dinner on Friday, and I thought this would be a good way to test the dough. Of course, I had to "test" it before pizza night. So, I grabbed a glob of dough, thinned it out, and threw it in a frying pan -- my version of flat bread.

IT WAS GOOD! Alright, we're on to something. Pizza time.

Oops. Don't try to be a professional baker at home unless you have professional tools. I tried to follow their directions and heat the heat the oven to 550, sprinkle cornmeal on the pizza stone (I used the back of a cookie sheet), then transfer the dough to the extremely hot pizza stone. Don't try this if you don't have a pizza peel, or your dough has holes in it.

My dough wrinkled as I was laying it out, and it became a funky, twisted branched dough blob. But, I baked it anyway, and it was great. It would have made the perfect pizza crust...chewy, crispy...Sigh. But never fear, dinner was still a few hours away, so I whipped up a batch of Olive Oil Dough. It sounded more pizza worthy, AND IT WAS!

I also made Buttermilk Cinnamon Raisin Bread. Maybe I'm too used to commercially produced bread, this looked like a loaf of ciabatta. Don't get me wrong. I looove ciabatta. But I was expecting a big fluffy loaf of bread.
However, don't let the outside fool ya. This bread was awesome -- way better than the dry, fluffy, mashable stuff from the grocery store.

Coming Soon!

2010-03-05T07:56:00.002-05:00

Hi all,

Going away for the weekend, but when I come back, I've got plans...As it will be Spring Break, I'll have time to try some things: French toast cupcakes, 5 minute Artisan bread, cake balls, and cookies for a friend! STAY TUNED.....

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T19:31:00.006-05:00

Happy V-day! I hope you got to spend today with the one you love. If you're unattached: love yourself, and live it up.

The Artist has got to be the BEST husband ever. We usually don't have a big whoop to do on Valentine's Day. We met on FEbruary 7th, so usually celebrate our love sometime in between. But this year we celebrated V-day on V-day, and he cooked for me! He does cook from time to time, but today, he went all out!

Teriyaki Chicken Wings....

Shrimp Kebabs....

Rib-eye Steaks....

Garlic Mashed Potatoes...

and Broccoli... (we needed something green)

And it was all absolutely delicious. Completely from scratch (he even roasted garlic). With no help from me. I was quite impressed.

But, what is Valentine's Day without a little bit of chocolate? Or a few strawberries? OK,...a lot of chocolate. And Nutella. And strawberries. And almonds.

I introduce to you my favorite new cake: Chocolate with Nutella Buttercream!!! (Sorry, red velvet) Coated in sliced almonds, and topped with the biggest strawberries I've ever seen (This is only a 6" round cake, BTW)

They were so big, I couldn't help but dip them in chocolate too!

Who Needs Flowers?

2010-02-07T11:19:00.014-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I just had to show off these super cute, super easy cookie creations! Yesterday, I had a cookie demo at Michael's. Valentine's cookies was the theme, and to drum up business for future classes, I decided to feature a cookie blossom. What, you ask, is a cookie blossom? Well, keep reading....

First, there are sugar cookies baked onto sticks...

Naked cookies aren't exactly blog worthy, sooo....we had to get all dressed up. CUTE.

Wrapped and ready to go...

Tucked into a cute V-Day bucket.

If you're in the Atlanta area and want to learn how to make these yourself, I will be holding a two session cookie blossom class in late March. Send an email (cakescapade@gmail.com) to get on the mailing list for more details.

Wow...it's been awhile

2010-02-05T14:11:00.003-05:00

WOW. Well, a belated Happy New Year to everyone! I just realized today that I haven't posted in a while. I didn't realize that I hadn't posted since Thanksgiving. I haven't had a whole lot of time, but here a few photos to get you up to date:

Another shot of Thanksgiving's Red Vevlvet Cake, featuring a basketweave design on top.

And, making their debut appearance on my blog.....(drumroll, please).... COOKIES! Even better, CHRISTMAS Cookies. I made these for a Wilton Cookie Exchange Demo. My first time really doing color flow work, but I think they were quite cute. If you're into cute cookies, check out my new fave sweets blog: Bakeat350.

Here's another rendition of the Oreo Cookies and Cream Cake. This is the first cake (or first anything, actually) that I ever made for my inlaws. It was my contribution to the New Year's Eve festivities. After The Artist, his brother and his dad got to it, half was gone before anyone else even saw it! I also made a chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting to take to The Artist's Grandma's house for New Year's Day. She gave everyone a chance to get a slice. BUT, after a polite amount of time had passed, she hid what was left in the back of the fridge! Must have been good..hee hee.

That's it for now, but I'll be back soon. Valentine's cookies are in the oven as I type! Stay tuned.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-27T09:01:00.002-05:00

Nope. No pictures of turkey over here. What I've got is better! RED VELVET CAKE!!!

Things are a little slow...

2009-11-01T19:17:00.004-05:00

It's been awhile since I posted anything, which means it's been awhile since I've made anything worthy of a blog post. I'll be back soon! I promise!

Unless you want blogs on cooking. I HAVE been cooking, just not baking. How about lasagna? It's baked...

Aloha!

2009-10-03T13:55:00.002-04:00

Not much to say about this cake...other than I LOVE the way it turned out.

For the finale cake of the Wilton Fondant and Gumpaste Course, I decided to break away from the book and do something different. Whenever I saw the fantasy flowers, I thought they were very tropical feeling, and used that as inspiration for the final cake. Let me know what you think.

Happy Birthday, Baby!

2009-09-11T17:01:00.003-04:00

The Artist's birthday was this week, so of course, I baked him a cake. I came across a recipe a few weeks ago for a Cookies and Creme cake. I described it to him as a chocolate overload, and of course, the chocoholic that he is, he requested it. He even went so far as to ask for cream cheese frosting instead of chocolate on the outside. A bit extreme, but your birthday only comes once a year, right?

I was agreeable to making it because it's based on my usual chocolate cake recipe -- Hershey's Perfect Chocolate Cake. It really is perfect, and the recipe is so simple! For a twist, Oreo cookies are baked into each layer of cake. Then, the cake is filled with an absolutely delicious cookies and cream filling -- homemade whipped cream folded with Oreo crumbs. And, at the Artist's request, the whole thing was frosted in cream cheese frosting, topped with a hearty dollop of the cookies and cream filling, then garnished with more cookies and cookie crumbs.

Delish! The filling tasted just like cookies n' creme ice cream but without the brain freeze. My dear hubby LOVED it. I knew he would, because, it's CHOCOLATE!!!

(For future reference, I would leave out the cookies baked into the layers. They tasted a bit scorched.)

My first tiered cake

2009-08-28T10:54:00.005-04:00

Yay! I've finished my first tiered cake and the third course in the Wilton series. The bottom tier was the salvaged brown sugar caramel cake, and the top tier was chocolate cake with Nutella buttercream frosting. YUM!

I was really pleased with the way the cake turned out. I especially like the blend of colors I chose for the fondant flowers. I didn't particularly care for the ruffle, but I knew that before I put it on there. I just didn't have time to think up anything better prior to class, so went with the book's project idea.

Boy, do I have a story to tell...

2009-08-26T17:32:00.008-04:00

You may have already guessed that I like to tinker in the kitchen. I'm always on the hunt for new recipes, and on occasion, I make them up. What you may or may not know is that I am, have always been, and will always be a Southern Girl. There's nothing like sweet tea, southern hospitality, and the word "ya'll". That being said, there is a great food magazine called Taste of the South that publishes nothing but good, old-fashioned fattening recipes that remind me of my childhood. Each month, in one section, they publish several variations of the same recipe, the most recently intriguing issue being on caramel cake. Despite being southern, I've never had caramel cake, but the cover photo looked great, and cooked frostings are always interesting.
So, let me tell you about my attempt to make the Brown Sugar Cake with Cooked Caramel Frosting:

First of all, I was going to use this cake as the bottom tier of my cake for class. I also planned to pawn it off on my classmates so we didn't have to eat it all.
After a trip to the store to get brown sugar for the cake, and another to get butter for the frosting, I was all set. I baked the cake the night before and planned to frost the cake and cover it in fondant.

I should have known something was up when I had to keep running out to the store. I also should have known this frosting was problematic when I saw the magazine had added a step by step video tutorial for the frosting recipe -- that usually indicates it's kinda hard to do.

The recipe instructs you to caramelize sugar in a saucepan while bringing butter, sugar and evaporated milk to a boil in another pot. Both pans are to be whisked continuously, and should reach their magical moments of completion at the same time. This was the biggest indicator of potential problems, especially since we only have one whisk. I started whisking on my right and stirring/melting sugar on my left. Everything seemed to be going well. So, working quickly, as the directions said to do, I began putting the frosting on the cake, expecting it to turn into a solid mass at any minute. (I have another very easy cooked chocolate frosting that does just that.) It was really runny, but, I thought it was still pretty hot. I let it sit for a bit and stalactites of caramel are hanging from cake. At this point, the frosting does start to cool and thicken, but by no means is it "set". Not what I had in mind. Luckily, I had the forethought to place waxed paper under the cake. I finished glazing the cake and was not impressed. Lucky for me, I'd purchased a can of cream cheese frosting for back-up. After putting the cake in the fridge, the caramel had turned into a chewy, gooey, tasty consistency. Not "frosting", exactly, but it was on the cake. I thought the layer was pretty thin, so I did put the cream cheese frosting on top. Oh well, it was being covered in fondant anyway.

In case you were wondering, boiling baking soda and water completely and easily removes caramel and melted sugar from pots, pans, whisks, spoons, and anyting else you may be tempted to throw away.

While my frosting did not turn out, it did make a nice topping for microwave popcorn!

I'll post the results of the completed cake tomorrow.

Fondant!

2009-08-22T19:00:00.004-04:00

For the month of August, I've been taking Wilton Course 3: Fondant and Tiered Cakes. I was excited to work with fondant, thinking about all of the amazing creations seen on shows like Ace of Cakes or Food Network Challenge.

Just in case you don't know, fondant is a sugar based clay (for lack of a better descriptor) used to cover cakes and give a nice clean finish. It can be rolled out flat, or molded into figures and flowers.

In the second week of cake class, we covered out first cake in fondant. The lesson was a square cake decorated to look like a present. Overall, for a first attempt, I think it turned out pretty good. There are a few details that I didn't have time to finish because the people in my class are amazingly slow! For tonight's class, the final lesson, I'm winging it and not going step by step with the class. I know already that they're going to come with cakes un-iced, or not covered in fondant and hold up the show. I did not prepare 50 fondant flowers ahead of time to not put them on the cake!

After all of the fuss the cake artists on TV make about non-cooperative fondant, I expected the worst. It wasn't that bad at all, except for smoothing the corners. And with patience, that too didn't turn out bad at all. If you've ever rolled out pie crust or played with Play-Do, you can do fondant.

Teaser: the finale cake is a "wedding" cake with fondant flowers cascading down the side.

Dummy Cakes

2009-08-16T11:18:00.004-04:00

So obviously, I can't bake a cake every time I want to practice decorating. I decided I would purchase a couple of cake dummies to use whenever the mood strikes.

Cake dummies are basically styrofoam pieces cut to standard cake sizes. I have an 8" square, 8" round, and a 6" round.

Here are a few of my latest creations. I was particularly happy with the floral brush embroidery, and the feet on the baby shower cake (too cute!).

My Baking/Cooking To-Do List

2009-08-09T17:47:00.005-04:00

I haven't baked anything except some pumpkin muffins since I finished the second Wilton course. I'm currently taking the third course, which has two cakes. Until then, I have been mentally compiling a list of treats to make when I have an occasion to make them....The Artist and I would be round balls of chocolate, otherwise.

Things I'd like to make:
Sweets
Cake Pops (ala Bakerella)
Mini Oreo Cheesecakes (ala Martha Stewart Cupcakes Book)
Chocolate Oreo Cake
Chocolate Quinoa Waffles
Super Hero/Comic book themed birthday cake for The Artist (may be replaced by the Chocolate Oreo Cake)

As the summer winds down this month, so too, do my cake classes. However, I'm always cooking up something or another, so I may highlight some favorite dinners as well.

Savories
Spicy Shrimp and Chorizo Skewers
Just about anything from TasteSpotting.com (This site is eyecandy for the stomach!)
Indian food
Spanakopita
Huli Huli Chicken

Basket Case...I mean Cake

2009-07-30T11:30:00.007-04:00

On Tuesday, I finished Wilton Course II. The finale cake features a basket weave design and is overflowing with a lush bouquet of royal icing flowers.

The cake is 1-2-3-4 cake (with lemon extract instead of almond) featured on the back of the Swan's Down Cake Flour box, with Wilton's lemon filling, and lemon cream cheese frosting. I was getting tired of the sticky sweet Class Buttercream, so decided to try this recipe for Crusting Cream Cheese Frosting. Perfect!

The course II student kit comes with two oval pans for baking the final cake. The pans are quite small, which meant.....cupcakes!

The Artist couldn't wait to be my guinea pig and cupcake hand model. He definitely enjoyed the cake...I think he's been eating it for breakfast.

Cupcakes!

2009-07-17T19:24:00.006-04:00

I love to tinker in the kitchen, but not with lots of tiny, individual items...like cupcakes, or even cookies. However, I was meeting up with an old friend for lunch, and thought it would be nice to bring her some cupcakes. And the day before we went out, my husband, The Artist, wanted a cupcake from Whole Foods. He said I made him want one with all my recent cake/cupcake blog reading. (Imagine, he blames his loving wife for his uncontrollable sweet tooth!) So, it was the perfect situation to kill two birds with one stone.

And, what made it even better was that I found a chocolate cake recipe (Midnight Chocolate Cake ala myrecipes.com) that only made one layer -- perfect for a dozen or so cupcakes. The recipe actually made a dozen plus a ramekins worth.

For The Artist, the ultimate chocoholic, I made half a dozen chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream. As you can see, it didn't take long for him to jump into the cupcakes.

For my friend, she got a half dozen variety pack. She was a guinea pig of sorts because I had a couple of frosting ideas I wanted to try out. She got 2 Blooming Bouquet cupcakes, 2 Cabbage Patch Kid cupcakes (because she's preggo), and 2 chocolate/chocolate cupcakes. The Cabbage Patch Kids need some work, but I have an idea to fix their faces for the next go round!!!

Cupcakes.....I think I like making them, after all. And I have to make more because I only got one!

Practice Makes Perfect...If You Have a Plan

2009-07-07T09:19:00.006-04:00

Practice makes perfect. Or so I've been told. At any rate, I was itching to make a pretty cake with my new frosting skills. But, we really didn't need the cake around the house. I toyed with buying a cake dummy, but thought that would be a waste of frosting. I toyed with making cupcakes, but that would leave 18 indidual little cakes to be devoured.

.....So, I compromised by baking the cake in a loaf pan, and cutting it in half to make two separate mini cakes. Two canvases for the effort of one! Beyond that, I didn't have a decorating plan...and, it showed in my finished pieces.

The first cake, with the polka dot ribbon was supposed to be decorated with pink dots. However, I will definitely need some sort of stencil or marking guide to do this in the future. Since the dots weren't working, I switched to a pink ribbon type swirl, accented with dots.

Then, I wanted to practice my roses, but the rest of my tiny cake was a blank canvas. It would have made a cute individual birthday cake. But, alas, no birthdays, though "LOVE" is always in the air.

Lessons learned from this experiment:

1) Have a plan. Wandering all willy-nilly with the frosting is not going to work.

2) Frosting square cakes neatly is hard. (Will be looking for a YouTube video on the topic)

3) Make sure you have an abundance of frosting (see lesson 1).

4) Certain frosting consistencies are recommended for certain applications for a reason.

5) Using milk instead of water in a cake mix improves the cake mix taste and texture. Not as good as homemade, but better than straight box mix.

Wilton Course I Finale Cake

2009-06-30T22:56:00.002-04:00

Tonight was the final session of the Wilton Course I. From my practice roses, I thought the cake was going to look homemade. But, that's what I get for trying to read ahead and make them without the teacher demonstrating. (That IS what I paid for, right?) So, after watching the demonstration, I saw exactly what I'd been doing wrong, and voila! Wonderful buttercream roses!

Here is the final cake:

Not that we were eating grocery store cakes before, but definitely not from this point on! I'm not ready to make wedding cakes or anything, but I think I can outdo the folks at the local grocery store.

Course 2 starts next week, and I'm definitely excited. I'm not sold on that finale cake design with the basket and the birds and what not, but excited none the less. See ya next week.

Those Darn Wilton Buttercream Roses

2009-06-28T12:33:00.003-04:00

The Wilton Course I finale is a cake decorated with a spray of buttercream roses. I'll be making this cake on Tuesday, and am not sure how it will turn out. I've been practicing for about two weeks, and think I may be getting the hang of it.

My early attempts weren't too bad, though they definitely were not great (see picture below):

I did realize that my frosting was too stiff. Thinning the frosting a bit helped. I also tried to thicken canned frosting and that worked great, except that the roses were very sticky. But, it was a good cheap and fast alternative to whipping up a batch up decorator frosting.

So, the problems I am encountering:

My base cone is to narrow, so that when any pressure is applied when forming the petals, the whole thing leans and the flower is lopsided.

When I get to the bottom row of petals, there isn't any room for me to get in there with the piping tip.

Do any of you Wilton alums and cake decorators have any advice? All tips are appreciated.

In any case, I think I like mine better than the "textbook" Wilton rose. I feel that they look more natural/organic. So, I'm not sure if I want to change them up too too much.

Chocolate Cake Copy Cats

2009-06-27T19:25:00.007-04:00

So, last week, I made a chocolate cake to take to a get together with some school friends. It was chocolate cake (Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake) with chocolate buttercream frosting. I used the Wilton recipe for chocolate buttercream; one, because I had not yet tried that recipe, and two, I wanted a consistency that would let me practice my new cake decorating skills. All was well until I tasted a dab of the frosting....

Not what I was expecting. For whatever reason, it didn't taste right. It didn't taste bad, but something was off. It tasted and even smelled...sweeter? The only thing I could think of was that I had run out of regular vanilla in the cake batter and had had to use the Wilton clear vanilla in the frosting. Well, since it was still pretty good, I went ahead and frosted the cake with it using a star tip.

At the party, a couple of people commented on the "something extra" in the frosting, and one asked me if I had used almond extract. And then it hit me! When I grabbed the bottle of clear vanilla, I didn't read the label to make sure that it was vanilla. It actually was almond extract. The two bottles are identical except for a colored stripe. Mea culpa.

So, the cake was an interesting flavor, but no one seemed to mind. Another interesting tidbit is that another friend at the party who is from Canada, wondered where I'd gotten the cake, as it looked exactly like a cake sold only in her country. She said the cakes were nearly identical, right down to the disposable tin foil pan. My mistake cake even tastes identical to the Canadian cake! How funny is that?

My cake:

The Canadian cake, "McCain's Deep and Delicious":
http://www.mccain.ca/framework/builder.aspx?page=SubCategory&lang=en&partition=1&category=3&category1=5028&selected=5028&marker=CMF_LEVEL_TWO_MARKER:CategorySee

My First Cake

2009-06-17T12:14:00.004-04:00

Well,...not first cake, exactly. But it is the first cake I made with skills from my Wilton Cake Decorating Course I. I think it turned out pretty good! I'm already planning cakes for my birthday in a few weeks, and my husband's birthday in September. Stay tuned...