The Ghost of Muffins Past

It's pumpkin season, it's pumpkin season! Near where I live, there is a Kneaders. Throughout the month of September, they had a countdown posted on their Marquee of how many days until Pumpkin Bread was available, on October 1st. Being cheap, on October 1st I made some pumpkin bread, but I posted that last year, so I decided not to repeat. I also made some pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes in honor of General Conference this weekend. And then I had leftover pumpkin in the fridge, so I made these delectable Pumpkin Muffins. I love October.

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Maple Pumpkin Muffins

From Tasteofhome.com

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Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons maple syrup, divided
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, softened
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Directions
In a large bowl, combine the flour, 3/4 cup brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Whisk the eggs, pumpkin, milk, oil and 1 tablespoon syrup; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in pecans.
In a small bowl, beat cream cheese, remaining brown sugar and syrup until smooth. Gently stir into batter until mixture appears swirled.
Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups about three-fourths full. Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Yield: 1 dozen.

Sukiyaki

This Friday I was introduced to a Japanese way of eating that I had never heard of before - Sukiyaki. My father-in-law served an LDS mission in Japan, and after we treated them to fondue last week, they thought it would be appropriate that they return the favor and make us Sukiyaki.

Basically what it was was a variety of foods - crab, water chestnuts, tofu, green onion, steak, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, peas, bean sprouts, and some lettuce-y looking stuff - which you throw in a wok that has some sort of sweet and sour beef broth in it. They you cover it, let it cook, and then put your choice of toppings over a bowl of rice.

My father-in-law tells me that in traditional Japanese eating, to finish off the rice you add a raw egg to the rice and it slides down real nice.

Wedding Cheesecake

Inspired by a cheesecake she saw in the May/June issue of Bride Magazine, my BFF decided that for her wedding she wanted a cheesecake instead of a traditional cake, makes sense if you don't like cake all that well. We won't go into details about making this cheesecake, just know that a lot of love and effort was put into it and that I am happy she was happy with the final product!

For some reason blogger isn't letting me paste in the recipe I want, so here is a link to Dorie Greenspan's cheesecake recipe. This isn't the recipe I used, but I can't find the recipe I used and this one was a close runner up.

A Great Big Kiss!

The theme of the potluck: Survival. I thought to myself, how is that a theme for food? Luckily, one of my coworkers mentioned that the birthday girl loved Hershey Kisses, so after a quick Google search I am across an article talking about making a 3-D Hershey Kiss cake, and with a little carving help from EC (ok, actually, he carved the whole thing, I never touched the knife) - Voile! Hershey Kiss cake was born!
I used a sour cream frosting, something I have never done and I am not sure what I thought of it...sour cream and chocolate and not two things I am used to putting together. I am going to have to give this one some thought.

The Wedding Cake!

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, I made a wedding cake! Mi Hermanito got married a couple of weeks ago and I was in charge of the wedding cake. All of that practice payed off because it turned out mostly pretty good! The bride (my new Sister) watched me working on part of it, and that was slightly nerve wracking. Imagine making a huge cake, that you have never made before, and having the bride sitting there, staring at you - plus assorted family members, whoa.

When I was making the first 12 inch layer, I put it in the oven, I was watching it, everything was going well...and then it fell. Luckily my mom's friend who makes wedding cakes had volunteered to help me, so I called her, very distraught, and she came over. Thank heavens for friends. We found out after the wedding that the top element on the oven I was using wasn't working, so the fact that I baked a wedding cake in that oven, and not all of the layers fell is pretty impressive, if you ask me.

The next big piece of news is my BFF is getting married in less than 6 weeks, hooray for her! She isn't sure what she wants for her cake (or if she is sure, she still hasn't sent me a picture), so we may be in for round two here in a little more than a month!

Bridal Shower Cakes

Oops, my bad, it has been a long time since I have posted anything. There is a good reason for that. At the end of May I traveled home to see the family, throw a bridal shower, and drop EC off for his summer internship. Then I had to drive home, just me and the cat. Then 11 days later I turned around and came back home to see the family and bake the wedding cake for mi Hermanito's wedding, which is over! Congratulations Hermanito on being married! Yay for having a new sister!

Speaking of having a new sister, when I went through the receiving line after the ceremony and said "Hooray, a new sister!" I think my new sister may have said "Yay, I always wanted a crazy older sister." Not sure if she did or not, I'll have to ask when they get back from the honeymoon. Also not sure how I feel about being called crazy.

These are pictures of the cakes I made for the bridal shower. As part of it (aside from playing Family Feud) we had a cake testing party so the bride and groom could tell me what flavors they wanted for the wedding cake. They ended up choosing white, chocolate, and lemon.

Wedding cake pictures are soon to come. I am pretty excited that I can now officially say that I have made a wedding cake. How cool is that?

Spring Cake

One of the things that I like so much about making cakes is I feel like I am creating some sort of work of art. I have NEVER EVER been an artistic person. I had to take drawing in 7th grade and it was a painful experience. We once had to draw an animal, that animal morphing into some sort of tool, and then the tool. Seriously? Why? I ask you why?

So, you can imagine that when I work on cakes, I can get a little touchy with people telling me how to decorate them. I think most people don't understand that I put hours into these things, so someone telling me to just leave off part of a decoration irks me. So please, unless you specifically ordered flowers with no leaves, just trust me that most flowers have them and the whole cake will look better with them.

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Marshmallow Fondant

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16 ounces white mini-marshmallows (use a good quality brand)

2 to 5 tablespoons water

2 pounds powdered sugar

1/2 cup Crisco shortening (you will be digging into it so place in a very easily accessed bowl)

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Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave or double boiler: Put the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, open microwave and stir, back in microwave for 30 seconds more, open microwave and stir again, and continue doing this until melted. It usually takes about 2 1/2 minutes total. Place 3/4 of the powdered sugar on the top of the melted marshmallow mix.
Now grease your hands GENEROUSLY (palms, backs, and in between fingers), then heavily grease the counter you will be using and dump the bowl of marshmallow/sugar mixture in the middle. (By the way, this recipe is also good for your hands. When I’m done, they are baby soft.)
Start kneading like you would bread dough.

Keep kneading, this stuff is sticky at this stage! Add the rest of the powdered sugar and knead some more. Re-grease your hands and counter when the fondant starts sticking. If the mix is tearing easily, it is to dry, so add water (about 1/2 tablespoon at a time and then knead it in). It usually takes me about 8 minutes to get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing when you apply it to the cake.
It is best if you can let it sit, double wrapped, overnight (but you can use it right away if there are no tiny bits of dry powdered sugar). If you do see them, you will need to knead and maybe add a few more drops of water.
Prepare the fondant for storing by coating it with a good layer of Crisco shortening, wrap in a plastic-type wrap product and then put it in a re-sealable or Ziploc bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible.

Birthday Cake Part II: Conviviality

Con*viv`i*al"i*ty\, n.; pl. Convivialities. The good humor or mirth indulged in upon festive occasions; a convivial spirit or humor; festivity.

My coworker's Best Friend called me one day asking if I would make a surprise cake for B for her actual birthday celebration. She only had one request: that the phrase "Welcome to Your Mid-Twenty's" be on the cake, since B has been excited to turn 24, since that will put her in her mid-20's.

She has also proclaimed this year the year of Conviviality. And what says "conviviality" and "welcome to your mid-20's" than a Topsy-Turvey Moulin Rouge-esq cake? The top tier was 3 Vanilla with a Raspberry icing, the middle tier was carmel with carmel icing, and the bottom tier was chocolate with a chocolate ganache filling and chocolate frosting. This cake was actually relatively easy to make. The fondant went on smoothly, EC helped make it all Topsey-Turvey and the decorations were no where as detailed as the Jungle Cake. I personally think the feathers made the whole cake. Sometimes it is good to sweat the little things.

Ganache Filling

From RecipeZaar.com

6 ounces best-quality bittersweet chocolate
2 cups heavy cream

Directions

Place chopped chocolate in a medium-sized bowl.
Heat heavy cream and sugar (if using) in a large heavy saucepan over med-hi heat until it simmers gently.
Immediately pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir gently until the chocolate is mostly melted.
Let stand for 15mins to be sure all chocolate is melted.
Stir ganache gently until perfectly smooth, let cool.
Cover and chill for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight (it must be very cold or it will curdle when it's whipped; ganache can be made up to 4 days ahead).
When you're ready to assemble the cake (and NOT before), whip ganache until it's stiff enough to hold a nice shape and seems spreadable (Don't overwhip; overwhipped ganache looks granular, so watch carefully).
Spread whipped ganache immediately, as it will firm as it sits.

Birthday Cake, Part I

A while back at work I decided I was tired of guessing what type of birthday treat everyone liked for their birthday, so I made all of my co-workers fill out a staff survey. I figured that was fair, due to the fact that I was tired of trying to sneakily figure out if they liked cake and if not, what other birthday treat they would prefer.

You see, at my office, when someone has a birthday, we always have a potluck. We try to go about it in a covert manner - not let the person actually know we are having the potluck in their honor, not let them know the theme, but it has become standard practice around work to have the potluck, so the only time it is a suprise is if they forget your birthday and you DON'T get one. No bitter feelings about my birthday last year...

It was recently my coworker B's birthday, and on her sheet she said she liked "Ooey Gooey chocolate-y carmel cheesecake". So I asked her if she would prefer a cake or a cheesecake. This caused her some dilemma, so I told her not to worry about it, I would figure something out. After a little Google searching I came across this recipe for Cheesecake Stuffed Dark Chocolate Cake. Wonderful, two birds, one stone. I made some alterations, I made my own cake instead of using a box mix, and I used Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting instead of from a can.

Ok, this was one of the best cakes in the world. I don't know if it was the combination of chocolate cake and cheesecake or the dreamy frosting, but whatever it is, it caused a fight between two people over who got the one piece. SUCCESS!

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Cheesecake Stuffed Dark Chocolate Cake

From Christmas with Southern Living

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Ingredients:

Unsweetened cocoa

1 (18.25-oz.) package devil’s food cake mix

1 (3.4-oz.) package chocolate instant pudding mix

3 large eggs

1 1⁄4 cups milk

1 cup canola oil

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

1 1⁄2 tsp. chocolate extract (optional)

1 tsp. almond extract

3 (1.55-oz.) milk chocolate bars, chopped (we tested with Hershey’s)

3 (16-oz.) cans homestyle cream cheese frosting

3 (7.75-oz.) boxes frozen cheesecake bites, coarsely chopped (we tested with Sara Lee)

1 (12-oz.) jar dulce de leche caramel sauce (we tested with Smucker’s)

Double chocolate rolled wafer cookies, coarsely broken (we tested with Pirouline)

Chocolate fudge rolled wafer cookies, coarsely broken (we tested with Pepperidge Farm)

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Preparation:

Grease 2 (9") round cakepans, and dust with cocoa.Beat cake mix and next 7 ingredients at low speed with an electric mixer 1 minute; then beat at mediumspeed 2 minutes. Fold in chopped milk chocolate bars. Pour batter into prepared pans.Bake at 350° for 32 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool cake in pans on wireracks 10 minutes; remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.Wrap and chill cake layers at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours. (This step enables you to split cake layerswith ease.)Using a serrated knife, slice cake layers in half horizontally to make 4 layers. Place 1 layer, cut side up,on a cake plate. Spread with 1⁄2 cup cream cheese frosting; sprinkle with one-fourth of choppedcheesecake bites. Repeat procedure with remaining 3 layers and cheesecake bites, omitting cheesecakebites on top of last layer. Frost sides and top of cake with remaining frosting. Drizzle desired amount ofcaramel sauce over cake, letting it drip down sides. Chill until ready to serve. Decorate cake with rolledwafer cookies and remaining chopped cheesecake bites. Store in refrigerator.

Garlic Chicken Pasta with Spinach

Looking at my monthly menu you can tell one of two things about me: either I really like pasta, or I am cheap, because almost all of my meals are pasta. Actually, both are true. I do like pasta, probably a bit too well. And I am cheap - I make EC turn off lights when he leaves the room, don't go out to eat very often, and take leftovers to work for lunch every day. But sometimes I need a change from the normal BLT pasta that we eat, so I found a new recipe that looked good, and it was pretty good, but I don't think I am THAT big of a fan of soggy spinach.

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Garlic Chicken Pasta with Spinach

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6 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

6 tablespoons olive oil

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

salt and pepper to taste

1 pound penne pasta

1 (5-ounce) bag baby spinach

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil or 1 tablespoon dried

6 tablespoons juice from 2 lemons

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

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Bring 4 quarts water to a boil in a large pot. Meanwhile, combine garlic, pepper flakes and oil in a small microwave-safe bowl and microwave until garlic is golden and fragrant, about 1 minute.

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Pat chicken dry with paper towels and cut into bite-sized pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer 1 tablespoon of the garlic/red pepper oil to a large skillet and heat over medium heat until oil is rippling. Add chicken and cook until well browned and cooked through. Transfer to a plate and tent with foil.

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Add 1 tablespoon salt and the pasta to boiling water and cook until tender but still slightly firm. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking water. Drain pasta and return to the pot. Stir in chicken, spinach, basil, lemon juice, Parmesan, and remaining garlic mixture, adding reserved pasta water as needed. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Popovers

I have been spending a lot of time in the kitchen recently, making various cakes. To help me pass the time, I like to listen to books on tape. My book on tape obsession dates back to middle school when I first discovered the section at the library and thought "genius, you can read a book without actually having to read". I picked up the habit again last summer as I made the 6 hour one way trek to visit EC while he lived in a different time zone completing a summer internship.

Recently I have been listening to a series about a cookie baker who solves murders. This poor baker keeps finding dead bodies. One would think that would be bad for business, but not in her fiction world. In the books, there are also recipes. I got brave and decided to try one, mostly because I was testing it to see if it would work for my brother's wedding. I don't think it will. But, the popovers were pretty good. Not like I expect them, I expected bread. These are more like a single serving German Pancake.

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Popovers

From a book on tape

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4 eggs

2 cups milk

2 cups unsifted flour

1 teaspoon salt

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Heat oven to 450. Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with Pam. Whisk eggs by hand until light and uniform, approximately one minute. Whisk in milk, then dump in flour and salt all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon until flour is moistened and incorporated - mixture will be lumpy. Pour into cups and bake for 30 minutes. Don't open the oven while they are baking or the Popovers will fall. Bake until browned. When you take them out of the oven, pierce the tops with a knife to release the steam and let stand for 1-2 minutes before serving.

Showering a Baby

I have this friend, who is pregnant. She was nice enough to invite me to her baby shower, so I offered to make her a cake (since I am a nice person too). The theme was jungle and the baby's room is decorated in all sorts of jungle paraphernalia (it's pretty dang cute or pretty photogenic, at least, since I have only seen pictures). It is decorated in Target's NoJo Jungle Babies stuff, and, since the baby shower theme was a jungle theme, I had the genius idea of making a jungle themed cake. Yes, I know, I don't know how these wonderful cake themes come to me either, I am just brilliant :P
Anyway, the cake took FOREVER to make, but was totally worth it, even though I didn't get to have any because at the shower they didn't want to cut into it and I had to leave early to pick EC up from church. I am sure it tasted great though, since I used a recipe that Addie has raved about, and she has yet to lead me astray. I also used a Raspberry Icing recipe for the filling of one cake and for the cupcakes. B said she liked it, so it may be what I use for the upcoming wedding cake.

Raspberry Icing

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick butter, at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar (sift if lumpy)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam (or more to taste - I added more, I also couldn't find seedless, so mine was seedy - hee hee)
1-2 drops red food coloring if desired (I did not so desire)

Mix ingredients together first on low speed, then beat on high until frosting is fluffy.

Out of this World Cake

For the past while I have been working on a birthday cake for my boss's son. He is turning three this year and the theme is "Celebrate His Third Orbit Around The Sun" - so my boss requested a solar system themed cake. She left the majority of the design up to me, she told me she wanted it to be a white cake with a strawberry filling - something simple for the little kids - and rectangle. Other than that I had complete creative control. The problem with giving me creative control is that I'm not very creative, as before mentioned. So, one night while EC and I were out dining at the local Tucci's (which wasn't amazing), we were talking about the cake, and he started sketching ideas for me on the paper tablecloth (which was amazing).

Armed with my tabletop drawing, I set out to work. Everything on the cake is edible, a positive since most kids I know like to stick everything in their mouths. I made stars, sculpted planets, UFOs, and little green aliens. EC got into the spirit of things and sculpted the tentacle alien.

My boss also requested cupcakes for the adults. Each cupcake was topped with a space topper and lots and lots of frosting. The vanilla cupcakes are probably the best cupcakes I have ever had in my entire life. Period. The chocolate cupcakes were ok, but not nearly as good. The actual cake, as requested, was a simple white cake. I couldn't resist adding a few sprinkles to the cake batter though, creating a "Funfetti" look.

(This was my alien, that I was super proud of)

Classic White Layer Cake

From Cooks Illustrated

Nonstick cooking spray2

2 ¼ cups cake flour (9 ounces), plus more for dusting the pans

1 cup whole milk, at room temperature

6 large egg whites (¾ cup), at room temperature

2 teaspoons almond extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract1

¾ cups granulated sugar (12¼ ounces)

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon table salt

12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1½ sticks), softened but still cool

1. For the Cake: Set oven rack in middle position. (If oven is too small to cook both layers on a single rack, set racks in upper-middle and lower-middle positions.) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans (I used a 9x13) with nonstick cooking spray; line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper rounds. Spray the paper rounds, dust the pans with flour, and invert pans and rap sharply to remove excess flour.
2. Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended.
3. Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add butter; continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining.
4. Add all but ½ cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed (or high speed if using handheld mixer) for 1½ minutes. Add remaining ½ cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed and beat 20 seconds longer.

*To make cake Funfetti - add two tablespoons Jimmies. Gently stir until incorporated.5. Divide batter evenly between two prepared cake pans (or in my case, one 9x13 pan); using rubber spatula, spread batter to pan walls and smooth tops. Arrange pans at least 3 inches from the oven walls and 3 inches apart. (If oven is small, place pans on separate racks in staggered fashion to allow for air circulation.) Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes.
6. Let cakes rest in pans for 3 minutes. Loosen from sides of pans with a knife, if necessary, and invert onto wire racks. Reinvert onto additional wire racks. Let cool completely, about 1½ hours.

Italian Bread Bowls

Oh goodness, it has been a long time! Not because I have been super busy or anything, just lazy. And I am getting slightly to very caked-out, which I never thought could happen to anyone, ever. Anyhow, here in my little town, the weather has been miserable. My favorite quote describing the weather is a friend was talking to his daughter and said "I thought it was supposed to be Spring" and his daughter said "Well, winter thought it was supposed to be winter". That about sums up the weather.

One of the perks about it being so cold is that it makes soup taste extra good. And since I love bread bowls (LOVE!) I decided to make clam chowder and bread bowls for dinner one night. These are the best bread bowls I have ever eaten, seriously. EC liked them too, and he doesn't like soggy bread, so that tells you just how good these are. They are definitely the perfect cure for ANOTHER snowy day.

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Italian Bread Bowls

adapted from allrecipes.com

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1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

2 1/2 cups warm water

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

7 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon cornmeal

1 egg white

1 tablespoon water

In a large bowl (or bowl of an electric mixer), dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
Add salt, oil and 4 cups flour to the yeast mixture; beat well. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well with an electric mixer at medium speed after each addition until a soft but not sticky dough is formed (you may not need to use all 7 cups).
When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 minutes (or let knead in an electric mixer). Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Punch dough down, and divide into 6-8 equal portions. Shape each portion into a round ball. Place loaves on lightly greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk, about 35 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, beat together egg white and 1 tablespoon water; lightly brush the loaves with half of this egg wash. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Brush with remaining egg mixture, and bake 10 to 15 more minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks.

The Time I Forgot My BFF's Birthday

I had a conversation last week that went like this:

BFF: my editor: Di tells me they wouldn't sing to you at Chili's me: nope. thank goodness. amorie asked them to but they only do that for children.editor: (nods) (awkward pause) ... well, enough idle chitchat
me: and why is your editor talking to you about Chili's in the first place?
oh no
oh no
oh no
oh no
oh no
oh no
oh no
it's your birthday isn't it? crap
BFF: you're funny! oh my gosh don't even worry about it
me: oh no
oh no
oh no
oh no
Happy Birthday
BFF: THANKS!!!
me: how long were you waiting until you thought I noticed?

So that story illustrates how good of a friend I am. I forgot my BFF's Birthday. Guilt swept over me, especially since I remember Freshman year, when we had first met and it was her birthday. We had only known each other for 7 months and we were not BFF's at this point, we were roommates, she was BFFs with our other roommate. Anyway, so it was her birthday. I was grocery shopping and remembered her saying something about being out of milk. After much deliberation I decided to buy her a gallon as a birthday present. I wrapped it in newspaper, stuck it in the fridge, and gave it to her as a present. Lame? Possibly - BUT - her current BFF at that point had forgotten her birthday, so my token milk present seemed pretty amazing.

And now I have turned into the BFF who forgets birthdays. Sad.

So in order to make up for it, I made her a cake. Now, BFF and I do not live in the same state. We do not even live in the same time zone. So EC devised an ingenious packaging plan and we packed the cake up and I had it shipped to her. I am happy to report that she said it made it there looking like the picture, which somewhat restores my faith in the United States Postal Service. And, I hearby resolve to add her birthday to my calendar, thus sparing me any more awkward, hey, I forgot your birthday, again, moments.

The cake was a chocolate cake from The Perfect Cake by Susan G. Purdy. I was a little concerned about it because it turned out super moist. I mean almost dripping moist. So I let it sit out at room temperature for a while and the moisture seemed to have seeped back into the cake or the air. The frosting was a simple buttercream with half a pack of oreos blended up and mixed in. The filling was oreos. BFF said it was good. We had a leftover layer that was good, so I guess it was good, but the post-baking sogginess was a little too worrisome for me, so I don't think I will make this again.

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Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

From The Perfect Cake by Susan G. Purdy

2 c Sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 ts Salt
1/4 ts Freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/2 ts Baking soda
4 oz Unsweetened chocolate
1 c Unsalted butter; at room
1 3/4 c Granulated sugar

4 lg Eggs
1 1/3 c Buttermilk

1 ts Vanilla extract

1.Prepare pans: Spread solid shortening on bottom and sides of pan(s), then dust evenly with unsweetened cocoa or flour; tap out excess cocoa or flour. Position shelf in lower third of oven. Preheat oven to 325 F (165 C).

2.Sift together the flour, salt, nutmeg, and baking soda. Remove 1 tablespoon of flour mixture and set rest aside.

3.Melt the 4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate in the top pan of a double boiler set over hot, not boiling, water. Remove chocolate from heat, stir to make sure it is completely melted and smooth, then set aside to cool until comfortable to touch.

4.In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl and beaters several times. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

5.With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to batter, beginning and ending with flour. Stir in the vanilla and cooled chocolate, blending until the color is even.

6.Turn the mixture into the prepared pan(s). Smooth it level, then spread it slightly from the center toward the edges of the pan so it will rise evenly. Bake in the lower third of the oven for 40 to 50 minutes for the sheet cake, 35 to 45 minutes for layers, or until the top is lightly springy to the touch and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Leave the cake in its pan(s) on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Top with a second rack and invert; lift off pan(s). Cool the cake completely on the rack. (If splitting layers, use a serrated knife.) Fill and frost the layers. Or leave the sheet cake in its pan to cool, and frost and serve it from the pan, making 3-inch squares.

Toffee Apple French Toast

The local newspaper has a "Cookbook Corner" where a few times a week the author will post a recipe. I have not been impressed with the recipes thus far. The author posts things such as: Creamed Eggs, Old-Time Tuna Bake, Savory Pea Soup with Sausage - things that just don't sound appealing, EVER.
Then, one day, the author posted Toffee Apple French Toast. Now, I am not a lover of French Toast. In fact, I don't like it at all. But I like Toffee and I usually like apples. Now ED on the other hand LOVES French Toast and always wants to make it. So, when I saw this recipe, I decided it would be a good compromise. The only problem with it was that it took WAY longer to cook than 35-45 minutes, even though I halved the recipe. And it isn't a very aesthetically pleasing dish, but it tasted all right, as good as any French Toast can ever taste, I suppose.

Toffee Apple French Toast

• 8 cups cubed French bread (1-inch cubes)

• 2 medium tart apples, peeled and chopped

• 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1 3/4 cups milk, divided

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided

• 1/2 cup English toffee bits or almond brickle chips

• 5 eggs

Place half of the bread cubes in a greased 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish; top with apples. In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugars, 1/4 cup milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla until smooth; stir in toffee bits. Spread over apples. Top with remaining bread cubes. In another mixing bowl, beat the eggs and remaining milk and vanilla; pour over bread. Cover and refrigerate over night.Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

Oreo Truffles

I have no good words today. I just don't feel it. Sorry. So, this is an Oreo Truffle. I liked it. EC liked it. My co-workers liked it. So chances are if you try it, you would probably like it too. And they only have three ingredients.

Oreo Truffles
From Bakerella

1 pkg. Double Stuf Oreos - (1 lb. , 1 oz. pkg.) use 22 cookies with cream centers included• use 10 cookies with cream centers discarded
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, room temperature
chocolate bark or candy coating

Finely crush the cookies in a food processor or a ziploc bag with a rolling pin.
Stir in softened cream cheese. Use the back of a large spoon to help mash the two together completely.
Roll the mixture into 1" balls and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet.
Place covered in freezer or refrigerator for a few minutes to help retain shape when dipping in melted chocolate.
Melt chocolate as directed on the package and then dip balls into chocolate, tap off extra and set aside on wax paper covered cookie sheet to dry.
Refrigerate and enjoy!

Strawberry Tuxedos

Hooray for February! One of the special treats I made for EC for V-Day were these little guys. However, I think they may have been more for me than for him, since I have been dying to try them out ever since I saw them here. Something happened to the stems during dipping and they got all dried out and weird, but they were sure tasty. But then again, it is chocolate and strawberries, it is really hard to go wrong with just two ingredients.

Strawberry Tuxedo

As seen on Cafe Fernando

Ingredients:
15 strawberries
3 ounces bitter chocolate
3 ounces white chocolate
Method
Chop chocolates and place in separate bowls. Place these bowls over a pot of barely simmering water and let stand until melted. Stir until smooth and let cool a little bit. Dip one side of the strawberries in white chocolate and place on a baking sheet. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Dip sides of the strawberries in bitter chocolate. Back to the refrigerator for 10 more minute. Dip a thin paint brush in bitter chocolate and draw the bow tie and buttons.

Penne Gorgonzola Chicken

EC and I decided that we wanted to celebrate Valentine's Day on the Friday the 13th this year instead of the 14th, so we did. We had good food, lots of it, but what I really want to say is what happened on Valentine's Day.
EC's computer has been slowly dying, which is not a good thing for someone who is in Law School. So we decided to get him a new one, and since Office Depot was having a President's Sale, it was perfect timing. So, we scoped out the laptops, did our research, and decided on one. When we got there, the salesman informed us that they were out of those particular laptops but that we should get this other brand, same "Specs" but cheaper, since it was an HP and not a Sony. So we agreed. He went to grab it for us, and came back empty handed, stating that they actually did not have those. Way to sell us on something you don't actually have, salesguy.
So we drove home. We called the next closest Office Depot and they did not have it either, but were slightly more helpful and mentioned that the computer was showing one left at another store in the same city. So we called that store. After much talk and much waiting on hold, they said they would hold the laptop for us. So we got in the car again to make the hour and forty five minute trek to the next nearest Office Depot (it was a really good sale).
We got off the freeway at the right exit, but I was in the third left hand lane, and needed to turn right, so of course, a normal person would assume they need to get over two lanes, right? No, you would be wrong. I went to change lanes and all of the sudden there was a KUTHUNK and we were going over a barrier, in the middle of the road, on a one way street.
After much screaming (by me) and an interesting mix of nonswear words, I managed to get the tire back over the barrier. Turns out that intersection is the stupidest one in the world and there is a RIGHT turn arrow for the THIRD lane at the LIGHT.
I'm ok, EC is ok, and luckily the car is ok. Apparently studded snow tires are good for more than just driving on ice. They also help you climb cement barriers.

Penne Gorgonzola Chicken

From My Kitchen Cafe

3 chicken breasts

1 lb. penne pasta

½ C. butter

1 pt. heavy cream

4 oz. gorgonzola, crumbled

¼ C. shredded parmesan

½ tsp. nutmeg

Season chicken with salt and pepper and grill (I used my indoor grill pan). Slice into thin strips. Bring water to a boil and add pasta. While pasta is cooking, make the sauce. Melt butter in saucepan, heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Simmer 1 minute being careful not to let the butter burn! Slowly add cream and heat to a low boil to reduce, stirring constantly. Boil for 3 minutes. Reduce heat, add gorgonzola, parmesan, and nutmeg. Stir until melted. Serve sauce over noodles and top with chicken.

Wedding Cake, Teddy Bear Edition

This week's wedding cake practice came in the form of a Carmel Cake with a Carmel Whipped Cream Frosting. Obviously this would not actually be practical for a REAL wedding cake because of the Whipped Cream Frosting but I didn't want to make two white cakes in one week. And can I tell you, this cake was superb. The flavor of the caramel was subtle but having the cool, light taste of the whipped cream made it great. As my boss said "You need to find a way to make the frosting firmer, but if you make this for the wedding, you will have a reputation." She didn't mention what kind of reputation and I didn't ask.

I also had a leftover teddy bear from my learning-how-to-sculpt-teddy-bears-that-don't-collapse-on-themselves night, so I put it on top of the cake as a sort of Valentine's Decoration, I guess, because what is more cliche than a teddy bear with red hearts for V-Day? I also had a little too much batter, so I made cupcakes to give to my favorite food critics. Happy upcoming V-Day everyone!

Caramel Cake
From Shuna Fish Lydon

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Ingredients:
10 Tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 c. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/3 c. Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
2 eggs, at room temperature
Splash vanilla extract
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 c. milk, at room temperature

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Preheat oven to 350F. Butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan.In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.
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.

*As a random side note, learning how to sculpt things is a good idea - it helped me at a recent retreat when we played Pictionary with clay. My team didn't win, but I did get someone to guess "light" by sculpting a light bulb.

I recently checked out some books from the library about how to mold things with clay. As I mentioned earlier, I have decided to try my hand at making figurines out of fondant. But that was my first problem, was trying to make them out of fondant. My elephant and mouse took forever to dry out, so after some quick research on the Internet I learned that I needed to use gumpaste, which sets up quicker. So with my 50% off coupon in hand, I trekked to Michaels to buy some gumpaste.My first animal attempt was a bear. The first bear was great, he looked all bear-y and cute and wonderful. Unfortunately, since I was new at the process, I didn't wait long enough for the gumpaste to harden before I put his heavy head on him, so he began to slowly slouch, until it got to the point that is was less painful for me to squish him and retry. This is bear #3. Bear #2 looked good as well, I made #2 and #3 at the same time, but #3 was smaller and had more character. Just like with the bear, my first monkey didn't turn out so well. I did wait for the body to stiffen a little before I put the head on, but not long enough, so he looked more like a slouched, old monkey. This monkey on the other hand, turned out much better. Although I think I will call him Spot, because he has a watermark spot under his eye, poor guy.The giraffe is EC's favorite and was the only giraffe I had to make because luckily he turned out. He did have a few minor incidents, such as his neck having a hard time supporting his head, but with a little more gumpaste and gumpaste glue I fixed him up so you can't even tell.

The cakes on the other hand were much more dramatic. This is only the second time I have EVER worked with square cakes, and as you can see, these cakes are not quite as cubical as one would hope. But, out of the four that I made, these are the better of the two. The cake is a white cake with a Raspberry filling. The cake recipe is from The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum, which I definitely recommend reading. The filling is a Raspberry filling, which turned out slightly too sweet in my opinion, but I am still waiting to see what feedback my friend has for the finished product.

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Raspberry Filling

From Good Things Catered

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2 c. powdered sugar

minuscule pinch of salt

1/2 c. shortening

1 1/2 tsp natural raspberry extract

1/2 tsp butter flavor

4 oz. fresh raspberries

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In the bowl of stand mixer, combine shortening and extracts and stir on low until relatively combined. In a separate bowl, combine sugar and salt, then add to mixer while still on. Stir, scraping down sides of bowl, until thoroughly combined. Add raspberries and stir to combine.(Add water if needed to reach desired texture.)