The Cake Lady Strikes Again!

I did this cake for a girly get-together. Again, nothing too fancy here, but it was a cute idea that I found online. All you need are two 8-inch or 9-inch rounds, some buttercream (homemade or otherwise), some licorice, and jelly beans. Saw off the bottom of each of the rounds, frost, and decorate!

An Elementary Birthday Cake

Since my daughter loves school buses, I thought I'd get creative for her 2nd birthday and make a school bus cake. I just used an idea from a cake decorating book since I have absolutely no great experience with cake decorating, and I'm really not creative enough to cook up a scheme like this. It was so easy--elementary even.

Start with a cake mix. I used Pillsbury Funfetti since the kids seem to like it, and it's a little jazzier than just plain white. Bake the cake as a directed in a square 9x9-inch pan. Only fill the pan two-thirds full and use any leftovers for cupcakes. Let it cool completely and then remove from the pan. Sometimes heating just the bottom of the pan on a burner helps to loosen it a bit. Using a serrated knife, cut the cake in half; it doesn't matter if you go length-wise or width-wise since it's a square. It helps to freeze the cake for a half hour before cutting to minimize crumbs.For the frosting, you can use store-bought, but I like a simple, homemade buttercream. Whip together 6 tablespoons of butter or margarine, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 5-6 cups of powdered sugar, and 4-5 tablespoons of evaporated milk to the desired consistency. Use food coloring to reach the right color. Spread between the two layers of cake and place one on top of the other. A twinkie can be used for front of the bus or just use some of the extra cake/cupcakes.Cover the entire cake with frosting and then gather the following items: 4 Oreos for wheels, 2 round chocolate-filled cookies or 2 long Tootsie Rolls for bumpers, 2 white Lifesavers for headlights, 2 red Lifesavers for taillights, Tic Tacs or jelly beans for turn lights, 5-6 pieces of white Wrigley's gum, and 1 vanilla wafer cookie. Decorate. Enjoy!

A Lovely Shower

I love baby showers; I love bridal showers. I love getting together with girlfriends to eat cute and yummy food. I especially love giving showers. I gave a baby shower for a friend just recently, and because of the proximity to Valentine's Day, we decided to let that be our theme.
This is our buffet line. We had sandwiches, salads, fruit, desserts, and punch. The punch was fabulous. A friend made it from raspberries, grapefruit soda, raspberry Crystal Light, cranberry juice concentrate, and pineapple juice.
Chocolate dipped strawberries are always fun, and both chocolate and strawberries seem popular around Valentine's Day. We did tea sandwiches in three different varieties: egg salad, cucumber and herbed cheese, and BLT chopped salad. Each sandwich was on a different kind of bread, and we used a cookie cutter to make them heart-shaped. Cute!
One of our desserts were strawberry tartlets. I used heart-shaped pans to make them even more cute, but anything dainty and a little different is always a good idea for a shower.
Our second dessert were these chocolate heart cookies. They're just a basic butter cookie with cocoa powder, dipped in white chocolate, and drizzled with semi-sweet chocolate. So easy and so pretty.

Cinnamon Swirl Loaf

Sometimes a fresh-baked loaf of sweet bread just really hits the spot. I definitely have a soft spot for bakeries and their wide variety of breads and pastries, but I have a hard time buying things that I know I could and should make myself. So, I decided to make my first cinnamon swirl bread. It turned out great, so great that I was too impatient to wait for it to cool. As a result, my bread separated from the cinnamon swirl just a little bit since it was still too hot. Oh well, it tasted great!

Cinnamon Swirl Loaf
7 to 7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 packages active dry yeast (about 4 1/2 teaspoons)
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Confectioners' icing

In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 1/2 cups of the flour and the yeast. In a saucepan, heat milk, 1/2 cup sugar, shortening, and salt just till warm (115-120 degrees), stirring constantly to melt shortening. Add to dry mixture in mixing bowl; add eggs. Beat at low speed with a mixer for 1/2 minute. Beat 3 minutes at high speed. By hand, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough. Turn out on lightly floured surface and knead till smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball. Place in lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface.

Cover; let rise in warm place till double (about 1 hour). Punch dough down; turn out on lightly floured surface. Divide in half. Cover; let rest 10 minutes. Roll each half into a 15x7-inch rectangle. Brush entire surface with water.

Combine the 1/2 cup sugar and ground cinnamon. Spread each rectangle with half of the sugar-cinnamon mixture. Roll dough up as for jelly roll, beginning with narrow side. Seal long edge and ends. Place, sealed edge down, in 2 greased 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Cover and let rise until almost double (35-45 minutes). Bake at 375 till done, 35-40 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on racks. Drizzle with Confectioners' Icing.

Chocolate Souffle

Understanding that a souffle is a work of art, I set about to try my hand at this art. Souffle is not my favorite thing to eat (it's not rich and dense enough), but it is still a yummy dessert. I would say that my first attempt was a success as far as preparation and taste goes. However, the souffle dish was filled a little too full, and thus, my souffle puffed up so nice and high that it spilled over the sides of the dish. So, I don't have a picture of the finished product, but be assured that it was fabulous.

Chocolate Souffle
7 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
5 large eggs, separated
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 large egg whites
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup sugar
Whipped cream, for serving

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Butter a 1 1/2-quart souffle dish and dust it with sugar. Have a 9x13-inch baking pan ready and put a kettle of water on to boil for the water bath.

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of about 1 1/2 inches of simmering water, whisking until smooth. My first choice for chocolate is Scharffen Berger, but if you can't find it, Guittard makes an excellent semisweet morsel that can be found in most grocery stores. Remove the bowl of chocolate from the heat and whisk in the egg yolks and butter until well blended.

Beat the egg whites and salt with an electric mixer on medium-high speed in a large bowl until the whites form soft peaks when the beaters are lifted. Beat in the sugar about 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition, and beat just until the whites form stiff peaks when the beaters are lifted.

With a whisk or a rubber spatula, fold one-quarter of the whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Fold in the remaining whites gently but thoroughly, and pour the mixture into the souffle dish. Place the dish in the baking pan, place it in the oven, and add enough boiling water to the pan to reach halfway up the sides of the souffle dish. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the souffle is set but the center is still jiggly and soft.

Serve immediately, with the whipped cream, if using. I highly recommend using the whipped cream to complement the chocolate.

A Gingerbread House....well, sort of

So, this year, I decided to finally do my first gingerbread house. The stores sell all sorts of kits, but I thought, "why pay for something when I can do it myself." This probably wasn't the best decision, since I have no experience in either cake decorating or gingerbread house construction. Even still, I had all these grandiose ideas of how cool I was going to make my little house, and how perfect it would be. This is the creation I envisioned...
...and this is the house I created.
You could call it a tragedy. You could call it an embarrassment. I call it 'the reason I'm buying a kit next year.' A lot of things went wrong, so here's the list.

1. I rolled out the dough into a jelly roll pan, so I couldn't tell how thick it was. I thought it was only 1/4th-inch thick, but clearly, it is over 1/2-inch thick--definitely more cake than cookie.

2. I wasn't too careful when I was cutting out the pieces, so many of them don't have straight lines, and the house isn't true as a result.

3. I didn't have enough powdered sugar for the royal icing. I thought I would just make less frosting, but as you can see, I ran out and couldn't even put half the candy on the house.

4. Related to number three above, the icing that I did make was too runny. I didn't have any more sugar to thicken it up, and I have no experience with icing of this variety. All the candy started dripping off the house, and I wasn't sure that the house would even hold together. Luckily, it is still standing--a sad testament to my poor attempt.

Hopefully, you'll learn from me and either buy a kit or skip it all together. :)

Oreo Cream Fudge Brownies

I am really proud of this recipe because it is all mine. Well, I combined elements from three different recipes, but the inspiration and end-result were my original idea. These brownies are extremely rich and chocolatey, so if you're not a hard-core chocoholic, you may want to stick to regular brownies. :)

Fudge Brownies
1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup sugar
pinch of salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup cake or all-purpose flour, sifted
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a saucepan over low heat, combine the butter and chopped chocolate. Heat until melted, stirring often. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar and salt. Add the eggs and vanilla and stir until well blended. Sprinkle the sifted flour over the mixture and stir until just blended. You don't really need to use the cake flour since these are dense brownies, but if you want them to be a little lighter and fluffier, go ahead. Stir in chips. You'll notice that there is no chemical leavening in this recipe. That's what makes these more dense and fudgy instead of light and cakey.

Pour into a greased 8 x 8-inch square, preferably glass. Bake 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out almost clean. Do not overbake. Cool completely.

Oreo Cream
1/2 package cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 cups thawed whipped topping
6 Oreos, crushed

Beat cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl until well blended. Gently stir in whipped topping and crushed cookies. Spread over cooled brownies. You can add as much or as little as you want. The brownies are a very dark chocolate, almost bitter, so the sweetness of the Oreo cream is a great complement.

Chocolate Ganache
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Heat cream in microwave or in saucepan until small bubbles start to form. Stir in chocolate until melted. Let cool slightly. Spread over Oreo cream and refrigerate until ready to serve.