I made Strawberry butter cream cupcakes.
With fresh farmer’s market strawberries that tasted like candy!!
They were so fragrant and sweet!
Some had Sprinkles, some were chocolate cake, some were vanilla cake, some had chocolate chips….All made with fresh strawberries and LOVE!!!
I went crazy…
Mmmmmmm…Strawberry butter cream is so scrumptious!!!
XXOO
I have never made Red Velvet cake in my life, and actually wasn’t entirely sure what it even consisted of prior to making it.
I knew it was red!
I got this ADHOC cake mix from Williams-Sonoma as a gift and I figured I might as well try it out.
It also happened to be one of the server’s birthdays at the restaurant I work at, so I figured it was the perfect time to make magic happen.
I opted out of making a layer cake because I live in Nashville and the weather has been punishingly hot these last few weeks.
Which means the cake would probably melt enroute.
The high today is 99.
Add our delightful Southern humidity and you have an actual recipe for disaster.
No bueno.
The recipe called for oil, buttermilk, vinegar, and eggs to be added.
And it is definitely red.
I suggest wearing black clothing when preparing this cake.
I’m a freakin idiot and did not.
I am definitely making these again if I ever have a TRUEBLOOD party.
My kitchen sink looked pretty suspect.
As did my oven.
Look how badly it needs to be cleaned.
Gross.
Here is my cream cheese frosting whirlin’ away in my beloved KitchenAid Mixer.
Close-up
Baked perfectly.
Gorgeous Scarlet hue.
Iced and dressed with mini chocolate chips!
Organized on a pretty silver platter with birthday candle added!
Look at the Happy Birthday girl!
MMMMMMmmmmmmmmm.
Overall they were a big success. Ashley loved them and I got lots of compliments from my co-workers!
Yay!
Oh man these were good.
Except I didn’t actually get to taste them. I just heard that they were amazing from all of my co-workers.
I’m going to trust them.
It’s good for my self esteem you see…
I’m still without a proper camera, so I’m still taking pics of food from my iPhone.
Sorryboutit.
Make these Cupcakes:
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 cup boiling hot water
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup salted butter, room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Lightly butter, or line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.
In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder.
Let cool to room temperature.
In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Then in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.
Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full with batter and bake for about 16-20 minutes or until risen, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing.
Make the yummy Ganache frosting:
Makes 4 cups
1 pound good-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 1/3 cups heavy cream
3 cups powdered sugar
Place chocolate in a large heatproof bowl. Bring cream just to a simmer over medium-high heat; pour mixture over chocolate. Let stand, without stirring, until chocolate begins to melt.
Beginning near the center and working outward, stir melted chocolate into cream until mixture is combined and smooth.
Refrigerate, stirring every 5 minutes, until frosting just barely begins to hold its shape and is slightly lighter in color. Use immediately (ganache will continue to thicken after you stop stirring).
Once cooled to room temperature, transfer the ganache to stand up mixer bowl and begin to whip using paddle attachment, slowing adding the confectioner’s sugar.
Whip it. Whip it until it is light and fluffy and delightful.
Refrigerate for at least two hours.
To decorate the cupcakes like fluffy clouds:
Place frosting in a ziplock bag, cut the corner of the bag, use as pastry piping bag, or just use an actual pastry bag!
Top with pretzel pieces, toffee pieces, espresso dust, candied coconut, butterscotch chips, or whatever your heart desires!!
And don’t even try to figure out the calories. Just eat them.
This is going to sound super egocentric, but I only started liking carrot cake when I started making it myself.
The carrot cake I have had in the past has ALWAYS been really dry (probably because the person who made it was trying to stay on the healthier side of things)
Well, not me. At least, not when I bake.
And, in all fairness, I seldom indulge in the desserts I make. I watch others lick their plates and imagine how delicious it is.
So, to me personally, it matters not how many calories are in my creations.
Only that they taste amazing and make people dance in place.
What is the point in eating sweet treats if they aren’t worth every extra calorie you are consuming?
There is nothing worse than cheating and immediately regretting doing so because it wasn’t really worth it.
Well, I promise you, this recipe is TO DIE FOR delicious.
Again, this is not diet food.
Carrots or no carrots.
There are 3 sticks of butter and two cups of sugar and we haven’t even started on the icing yet…the icing that not only tops these adorable cupcakes, but that I injected into the centers using this new handy dandy tool from Williams-Sonoma:http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/mechanical-pastry-bag/
Holy Sh*t That’s Good Carrot Cake (or Cupcakes!)
Ingredients
3 sticks SALTED BUTTER
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons nutmeg
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs
5 cups grated carrots (I use 6 sometimes)
1 cup food processor chopped pecans
1/2 cup golden rainsins
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
Crazy Delicious Cream Cheese Icing:
16 ounces cream cheese
2 stick unsalted butter
2 (1-pound) boxes of confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
(you will probably have a lot of icing left over if you make cupcakes, but if you decide to do 2 layer cakes, you will have a perfect amount)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
If making cupcakes, this recipe makes 24 big cupcakes!
Spray with cooking spray, or butter 2 cupcake/muffin pans, or use foil liners.
If making a layer cake, butter 3 (9-inch) cake pans.
In a large bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer. Add the sugar, and beat. In a medium bowl or on a piece of parchment, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well.
Add the dry ingredients, alternating with the eggs, beating well after the addition of each. Add the vanilla extract and mix. Add the carrots and beat on medium speed until well incorporated, about 2 minutes. Fold in the nuts, coconut, and raisins. Divide between the 3 cake pans and bake until set and a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.
(cupcakes will take the same amount of time, 25-30 minutes)
Remove from the oven and let rest in the cake/cupcake pans for 10 minutes.
Invert onto wire racks, remove from the pans, and let cool.
For The Frosting:
In a large bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.
Add the sugar gradually, beating constantly. Add the vanilla last.
Refrigerate icing for at least 25 minutes.
When the cake is cool, place 1 cake layer on a cake plate or stand. Spread the top with cream cheese frosting and top with a second and third cake layer, spreading the icing between each layer. Spread the icing around the sides of the cake and let harden slightly before serving.
If making cupcakes, pipe the icing onto the tops of the cooled cupcakes as desired using and sprinkle with leftover chopped pecans.
(Refrigerate!)
I have some very sad news.
I broke my camera…Er…Drowned it.
In tea. It’s ruined. Basically. Yeah. Ruined.
I have some backlogged photos & blog entries, but after that, its just me and the ole iPhone pictures until I get a new camera.
This is one of those entries.
Le sigh.
Obviously, I’m really sad about it, and consequently I have been baking up a storm to cope.
But then, I can’t take proper photos of my creations, and the pain sets back in.
No camera = difficult food blogging.
It’s an unfortunate situation.
What can I do but start saving my money!!??
Nothing. So I’m going to suck it up and keep on keepin on!
I’m BEYOND ready for Spring, and have been for some time now, but Nashville weather has simply refused to oblige me.
Sooooo…. I decided to make a light and refreshing dessert to perhaps coax Spring into my arms!
I give you, my first attempt at Strawberry Genoise Cake!
(It’s basically a fancier Strawberry Shortcake.)
I changed a few things from the recipe. I mixed the chopped up strawberries with a few teaspoons of sugar and stirred them up until they started getting syrupy. THEN I added them to the whipped cream set aside for the filling. Make sure not to pack too many strawberries in there!
I also sweetened my cream a bit more than the recipe called for.
I also added colored sugar to the top!!!
It was delicious!!
My boyfriend definitely thought so!
I definitely need to learn how to make my desserts prettier.
But they sure do taste MIGHTY FINE Y’ALL!
Strawberry Genoise Cake
Ingredients:
For the Genoise:
4 eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup cake flour, sifted
3 tbsp. (1.5 oz./42g) unsalted butter, melted
For the Filling and Finish:
2 cups heavy cream
2 tsp. confectioners’ sugar
3 cups strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/2-inch slices, plus 6 strawberries, halved lengthwise, for garnish
Extra Sugar to sweeten cream if not sweet enough!!
Instructions:
To Make the Genoise:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F/180 degrees C. Line the bottom of a 9 x 3-inch round cake pan with parchment paper.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the eggs and granulated sugar by hand until combined. Place the bowl over but not touching simmering water in a saucepan. Gently whisk until the mixture registers 140 degrees F/60 degrees C on an instant-read thermometer, about 3 minutes. Put the bowl on the mixer and beat with the whisk on high speed until the mixture is pale and almost tripled in volume, 5 to 8 minutes.
Remove the bowl from the mixer. Sift the flour over the egg mixture in 2 additions and carefully fold in with a large rubber spatula. Fold a large dollop into the melted butter, then fold back into the egg mixture.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake until the top of the cake is browned, about 20 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely.
Run a table knife around the edge of the pan and invert the cake onto a work surface. Turn the cake right side up, leaving the parchment paper in place. Cut the cake into 2 equal layers. Put the top layer, cut side up, on a serving plate.
To Make the Filling and Finish:
Whip the cream and confectioners’ sugar to soft peaks. Place the sliced strawberries in a bowl. Fold about one-fourth of the cream into the berries. Spread the mixture evenly on top of the cake. Position the remaining cake layer, cut side down, on top. Spread the top and sides of the cake with the remaining whipped cream.
NOW EAT IT WITH YOUR FACE!!!
Dieter’s beware. This is the real deal knock-you-over-and-steal-your-purse kind of pound cake.
(Hi Tam, sorry about your purse)
This recipe is definitely not good for your body, but I swear on a pile of unicorn puppies that it is undoubtedly amazing for both your mouth and your soul.
UNICORN PUPPIES!!!!
I don’t know why I decided to try to master pound cake.
I never even think about pound cake until it’s being shoved under my nose at holiday dinners.
I mean, I liiiiiiiiike it. But it just seems so boring by itself.
Is this one of those moments where I’m supposed to value simplicity?
Let’s see about that…
I took the buttermilk pound cake recipe from Alton Brown’s recipe here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/buttermilk-pound-cake-recipe/index.html
I have made it a couple of times with varying results.
When I followed Alton’s recipe baking one hour at 375, the middle was still squishy but the top was browning far too quickly and I had to lower the temperature to 325 and bake another 15 minutes with aluminum foil over the pans.
NOT FUN.
I take it personally when things I make don’t turn out as expected.
(Mom, this is exactly the reason I don’t want to do this for a living, but I appreciate your continued support)
When I baked the pound cake in two loaf pans, I lowered the temp to 350 and added an extra 15 minutes and it came out perfectly, but when I tried a bundt cake or tube pan, the bottom was about 90% cooked.
Damn it.
Well, whatever. Baking is trial and error. It’s just that I don’t get this bad boy until my birthday…
(Again, Mom, thanks for the support!!)
So, for now I’m having to hand mix it all (I know…boo hoo) and it takes twice as long since Alton’s recipe is an exact science and you TOTALLY have to follow it to the letter (except for the baking temperature issue…I’m not sure about that…maybe my oven is messed up)
I’m stubborn, and I realize that I could just wait to try to master this when I have my magic stand mixer, but I just never listen to anyone.
Especially my inner voice.
This recipe is also different from Alton’s in that I took the liberty to add both a cup of mini semi-sweet morsels as well as two tablespoons of cinnamon!!!
SO MUCH FOR BORING. HELLO FANCY DELICIOUS!
(If you like your pound cake less cinnamony or chocolatey you can always half that amount, or omit it altogether, but I’d like to go on the record and state that I don’t think you should)
So here is the picture of the bundt pan about to head into the oven:
This turned out so-so. Almost perfect. But NOT PERFECT. But delicious. It got eaten.
Remember it is also important that all of your ingredients are room temperature. I don’t know why, other than Alton Brown says so. So do it.
It’s Science or something.
Oh!! Here is a gorgeous picture of one of the uber-successful loafs that were quickly devoured by loved ones:
This loaf was split between my Mom and Dad as well as my best friend Abigail and her wonderful family …And she FINALLY HAD HER BABY BABY!
If you don’t remember, she accompanied me on one of several of my journeys to Monell’s…
http://gimmeyummy.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/review-monells-germantown/
Is he not the most adorable little thing ever???????
Okay. Calm down ovaries. There is time left.
Back to the sweets…
So…look at that right there…I mean, why would you ever want less chocolate in anything?
Trust me. Make this.
These turned out so good.
So chocolatey.
So perfect in every way.
Here is my personal recipe:
Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick softened butter
4 overripe bananas
2 large eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour bottoms of muffin tins or two loaf pans. Choose two 8×4 loaves or 18 regular muffins.
Beat softened butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and slowly mash in bananas until everything is incorporated.
Slowly stir in flour, baking soda and salt.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Bake on center rack at 350º 25-30 minutes for muffins or 55 minutes for loaf pans, until toothpick in center comes out clean. Cool at least 20 minutes before removing from pan to avoid tearing on the bottom side.
I have been doing a lot more baking lately now that I have accepted that baking requires exact measurements and I really have to pay attention.
I’m sort of a rebel in the kitchen.
And by rebel I mean that my knife skills are laughable, I have no idea how to do 1/8 of the fancy culinary tricks on Top Chef, and I have no formal or informal training.
I just sort of wing it.
Despite my being a complete novice in most respects, I am learning as I go.
The thing about baking that I have definitely learned is that most of the time 2 eggs means 2 FREAKIN EGGS!
I’ve gotten pretty comfortable with making the perfect chocolate chip cookies, and this weekend I got a little bit more creative and added peanut butter to the mix.
I used a recipe from one of my favorite baking blogs http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2008/03/peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies/
The dough was much firmer than what I’ve gotten used to when making chocolate chip cookies, and the recipe called for 1/2 cup more flour than I typically use.
(this worried me)
The recipe also called for rolling the cookie dough balls in just a tiny bit of sugar before placing them on the parchment paper, but that sounded pretty smart and was actually a super nice touch!
I must say, they looked much prettier once rolled in sugar.
Peanut butter cookies just aren’t complete without their traditional criss-crossed fork pattern!
I only have enough cookie sheets and oven space to bake half of the cookie dough this recipe yields at a time and this served me well because the first batch I baked came out a little bit cakey and spread weird (which I had sort of expected might happen since the recipe called for that extra 1/2 cup of flour).
In order to salvage the rest of the dough I simply mixed in another half stick of butter and let me tell you, these came out SO MUCH BETTER!
I think perhaps the extra flour is due to the addition of the peanut butter, but the kind I used wasn’t very oily and maybe that made a difference.
I would definitely suggest only using 2 cups of flour, or adding an additional stick of butter to this recipe if you like crunchier, less cakey cookies.
They were absolutely scrumptious and I pawned them off quickly onto family & friends.
See? Even Nina approves!
Is it just me, or does everyone else secretly fantasize about plunging their entire face deep into a mixing bowl full of chocolate chip cookie dough?
I made from-scratch chocolate chip cookies a few days ago and the results were very very nice. I don’t do a whole lot of baking and I realized that there were a few tools that I was missing that might have come in handy ie: cookie sheet, mini scooper, wax paper…
I just winged it and used my 3-15″x10″ pyrex dishes. Besides the cookies being too flat (my fault for not shaping them at all) they tasted pretty amazing for a first try.
I’m going to give it another shot tonight, using less sugar than the recipe calls for as I thought they were too sweet.
I stole the recipe from this fine lady:http://smittenkitchen.com
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.
3. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.
4. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time (for giant cookies) or a tablespoon at a time (for smaller cookies) onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
5. Bake larger cookies for 15 to 17 minutes, or 10 to 12 minutes for smaller ones (check your cookies before they’re done; depending on your scoop size, your baking time will vary) in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
P1060058, originally uploaded by Jamie Susan.
This was no regular Apple pie. This was the best confectionary delight my mouth has ever experienced. Homemade in every sense of the word.
Thinly slices apples simmered in a syrupy sweet cinnamon lake of perfection, tucked into a flaky and delightfully browned crust, and topped with crumbled bits of insanely delicious crumbly crumbliness.
(Yeah I know, that’s not an actual thing. whatever)
I came across this pie made by these two lovely ladies at at a Christmas party and after having a tantrum over how delicious my first two pieces were, embarrassingly snuck three pieces into tupperware like a crack addict and smuggled them home with me. I rationed out 3-5 bites per day until only one bite remained. Let me tell you I agonized over that one last bite for about 3 minutes.
Yeah……. I already know.
