It make look like a cake, but to the Trained eye...

A little while ago I posted about my first foray into fondant work as part of a commissioned cake.  You can read about that here.  The second part of the challenge was sculpting the actual engine part of the cake.  I think it came out pretty well for a first attempt, but what do you think?

First I had to sculpt the cake into the shape of engine.  The trick here was freezing the cake the day before.  It makes the cake 10x sturdier and makes it more"forgiving" when a nutcase like me tries to sculpt for the first time.  As long as you wrap the cake in several layers of plastic wrap before putting it in the freezer the cake will still be moist when you serve it.

The second step is applying a crumb coat.  For those of you who don't watch cake shows as obsessively as I do, a crumb coat is a thin layer of buttercream that you set in the fridge before applying the real deal buttercream.  Basically, it prevents the hogillion crumbs that you created when carving the cake from getting mixed up in the outer, decorative layer of icing.  Think of it as a "happy hat" for your cake.

I didn't take pictures as I was decorating because not only was I covered in frosting, everything that I had touched in the course of the previous 2 hours was covered as well.  Since I didn't want my camera to join the peanut gallery, I decided to take pictures once I was done.  Only I forgot... and packaged the cake in a huge box, covered it, and sealed it with tape.  Crap... So C, got to take pictures once he got it into work... while it was storming... good times.  Anywho, this is what the finished Henry looked like!

,

Apparently C's co-workers were afraid to cut into him.  This was the damage around lunch time, but once someone had the cajones to take the face off, I hear it didn't last too much longer.

The Little Engine That Could (force me to post again)

So I'd like to say that I have some awesome excuse for not posting, but my only reason is that I haven't really been baking much of anything in the last few months.  Lame-sauce, I know.  In order to make up for my shameful lack of baked goods, I bring you phase 1 of my most difficult cake yet: Henry the Tank Engine.

One of my co-workers asked me to make a birthday cake for his adorable little boy's 3rd birthday party.  He saw the Spongebob Squarepants cake that I made several months ago and liked what I had done, so he asked if I would be willing to make a cake for him - of course! :-)  The tricky part?   He and his wife are throwing a "Henry the Tank Engine" party and he wanted the cake in the shape of Henry (the #3 Engine from Thomas the Tank Engine).  Now,  I've done a few character cakes before, but they've all been drawn on a flat cake. My challenge here is that this will be a carved cake and it will involve some fondant work, both things which I've never done!

I wanted to do a practice round so that the real cake wouldn't be my first time practicing these new techniques, so over the last couple of days I made marshmallow fondant and began practicing Henry's face.  It's not perfect, but for never having worked with this medium before I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out. 

This was round 1:

 Round 2:

Round 3 (the one I'm happiest with):

Once I'd picked the face I was going to use for the trial cake, C was allowed to pick a face to chomp since he'd been asking since yesterday if he could bite Henry's face! The poor Henry was Henry #2.  First went his forehead:

 And then went his nose.  Poor Henry didn't see it coming...

Stay tuned for updates on my foray into cake carving!

That's Not Baking!!!

A while a go one of my BFFs asked me to post about some of the healthier food that I've been fixing instead of the baked yumminess, which has obviously been severely lacking recently.  So here goes! 

Fish and I have had a difficult relationship in years past.  I blame it on my mom (like most adults do with any "problem") and her love of feeding us fish sticks as children.  To this day when I smell fish, I'm taken back to those sticks of fishy mush coated in heaven knows what covered in ketchup so that I could choke them down. 

Gross, right?  That's what I thought about all fish.. or at least I did until recently.  C LOVES fish, including their mushy sticks, and since I've cut most of the meat out of his diet already, I figured I couldn't deny him another source of healthy, lean protein simply because I didn't like it based on childhood memories of frozen, processed fish.  Enter Tilapia.  It's a mild (read non-fishy fish) that can be used in lots of different ways.  We generally broil it with some kind of topping, but this past week I decided to try something a little different.  I had leftover low-fat buttermilk in my fridge from making a dessert for C to take into work, and I also had some potato flakes in my pantry from the last time I made sticky buns (yes, there are potato flakes in my sticky buns... what's it to ya?), so I decided to make potato encrusted tilapia.  It's pretty simple, and pretty darn tasty too!

First I mixed the leftover buttermilk (maybe 1/2 c) with a clove of chopped garlic and let it sit for a few minutes.  Then I lightly seasoned the fish with salt and pepper and let it soak in the buttermilk for a few minutes.  Once it was done introducing itself to the buttermilk, I dredged it in some potato flakes, popped it into a hot pan that had some olive oil in it.  Let that puppy sizzle on each side for 2-4 minutes (depending on the thickness of the fish) and serve!

I paired it with a spinach salad that had brown turkey figs and a raspberry pomegranate vinaigrette.   Yum!

My Shortcake Goes Both Ways

I know I promised to get out of my baking funk, and for the most part I think I have.  I have moved on from the disappointing cupcakes and have decided to focus on things that I can actually eat (i.e. slightly healthier).  In the latest issue of cooking light there was a recipe for a citrus shortcake that was intended to be used for several desserts (a trifle and a brandied peach shortcake).  There were recipes for the dessert ideas, but I run in street gangs and do what I want, so I took their recipes as suggestions and worked with what I had in the house.

But before I could make the desserts, I had to actually make the shortcake.  The recipe can be found here.  And what would a post be without some pictures?

The recipe told me to make this in an 8x8 square baking dish, but since I don't have that I improvised.  I think it turned out pretty well, don't you?

Now that the shortcake was done, I had a couple desserts to make.  The first was a berry trifle.  I cut a couple slices of the shortcake into small cubes and put them in the oven to toast.  While they were getting a tan, I mixed about 1 c of greek yogurt with 1 tbsp of sugar, 1 tsp of orange zest, and maybe a tbsp of fresh orange juice.  Then I tossed some strawberries and blueberries in another couple tbsp of fresh oj and let them all get acquainted with each other while the shortcake finished getting toasty.  When the cubes looked more latina then white-bread I took them out of the oven and layered them in a glass with the berries and the yogurt sauce.  All said and done, they looked like this:

Next up was peachy shortcake (om nom nom).  The recipe in Cooking Light called for Brandy, and grilling peaches, and lots of other ingredients.  Since the peaches I had were in season, ripe, and basically amazing, I decided to forget all of the complicated stuff and let the peaches speak for themselves.  I removed the skin, sliced them, and then drizzled with just enough honey to make a light sauce.  Next I mixed about 1/4 c of greek yogurt with 1 tbsp of honey to sweeten it.  Last, but definitely not least, I layered the citrus shortcake with the peaches and the yogurt sauce.  The end result was such a fresh, light dessert that it was perfect for the ridiculous summer heat we've been having these last few days.

Take home message?  Recipes are great, but don't go out of your way to follow them.  Listen to you gut, go with what's in your pantry, and the end results will be well worth it!  Enjoy!

Bring in 'da noise, bring in 'da funk

Cause that's what I'm in.  A Baking Funk.  I was all excited about the cupcake journey until cupcake after cupcake from that book seemed to disappoint.  It's so hard to be excited about a project that doesn't deliver on a consistent basis.  Sad no baked yumminess panda.

There are tons of other recipes that I've back-logged in my "omg that would be amazing" file, but due to recent events I've been trying to cut back on calorie-laden foods.  What recent event, you ask?

BAM!

So now that I've entered the world of wedding planning and actually have to fit into a pretty white dress at some point without feeling like a sea cow, a cupcake, or a snow beast, I have to cut back on the baked goods (cause as we all know, you can't bake something and then not "quality test" it at least once... or maybe twice...)

I promise that I'll attempt to be better about posting in the future, it just may not be as frequently since I'm not baking as much as I was. 

Pucker Your Sucker White Chocolate Lemon Meringue Pie

So this post is long overdue.  I made this pie the same weekend that I had all of my wisdom (teeth) removed and had bling (titanium dental implant) put in, but I've been too busy and/or lazy to post about it.  After some prodding from C, I decided that I should finally share the joy that was white chocolate lemon meringue pie (and I say was, because it lasted about 2.5 days in our house).

Let me start with I <3 lemon meringue pie.  Like, I would marry it if it were legal to marry an inanimate object, if I didn't think people would look at me funny, and there wasn't the danger of me getting a little too hungry one day... hrm.  Anyway, growing up this is one of the things I remember my grandma fixing for special occasions.  Granted, I think she used canned pie filling, but the sentiment was still there.  When I saw a recipe in a magazine that added white chocolate to this most beloved dessert, I almost peed myself with glee.  (OK, not really... but I was totally stoked).

First things first, you need to make a pie crust.  I showed you all how to do this on pie day. When you've made your crust, place it in a 9-in pie plate, fold/crimp the edges, prick it with a fork, and bake it in a 475 degree oven for 8-10 minutes (or until lightly browned).  Take that sucker out of the oven and let it cool while you get busy making magic.

Ingredients

1/2 c white chocolate morsels
2 tbsp heavy cream
1 1/3 c sugar, divided
1/4 c cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 c cold water
4 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 tbsp lemon zest
1/3 c fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
3 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Directions

In a small microwave safe bowl, combine the white chocolate and cream.  Microwave on high in 30 second intervals until the chocolate has completely melted and is smooth (about 1 min).  Spread evenly over the bottom of your baked pie crust.

In a medium saucepan, combine 1 c sugar, cornstarch, and salt.  Gradually whisk in water.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat; cook for 1 minute, whisking constantly. Remove from heat.

Gradually add 1/2 c of the hot mixture to the egg yolks, whisking to combine. (Side note - this is a very important step.  What it does is slowly raise the temperature of your egg so that when you add them to the hot mess you just made, you end up with velvety lemony goodness instead of lemony scrambled eggs.)

Add the egg mixture to the remaining hot mixture in the saucepan.  Return to medium heat and cook for 1-2 minutes, whisking constantly, until mixture is thickened.

Whisk in the lemon zest, lemon juice, butter, sour cream, and vanilla.  Cook for 1 minute, until mixture is thickened.  Remove this bad boy from the heat.

In a medium bowl beat egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed with an electric mixer (unless you have super human strength and can do this by hand... I am not blessed with that skill) until foamy.  Gradually add the remaining 1/3 c sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.

Pour the hot filling into the white chocolate smothered pie crust.  Spread the meringue over the hot filling, completely sealing to the edge of the crust.  Bake for 20 minutes at 350-ish or until meringue is lightly browned.

When it comes out of the oven it will look something like this:

Now comes the hard part - you HAVE to let it cool.  Remember that runny filling you put into the pie shell?  Well it's still runny and is now about 350 degrees, which = lemony lava in your mouth.  Poor choice... So yes, you have to let it cool at room temperature for 1-2 hours.  To add insult to injury, you have to wait a little longer because it sets up best if you refrigerate it first - so into the fridge it goes! (An hour or so should do it.)  After all that waiting, here is your reward:

Enjoy!

Hole-y Mouth Batman! Flourless Chocolate Cake

For those of you who know me well, you know I buy my baking supplies in bulk.  Costco is a wonderful land where I can buy 4 lb packages of butter, 7 lb bags of powdered sugar, and 25 lb bags of flour without shame because hotpants in the next checkout aisle over has a 3 gallon jar of mayo and a lifetime supply of cheesy poofs. Now stop looking at me like that over the 25 lb bag of flour. I use it in everything I bake, and I've gone through about half of the bag in the last month.  Flourless cake you say?  Well shit...

Like I mentioned in my last post I had some awesometastic oral surgery last week that has left me with the chewing capabilities of an infant for the past 7 days.  In honor of that I gave myself free reign to eat as much ooey gooey awesomenss asI could before my good excuse was gone.  One of the things that I decided to make was a flourless chocolate cake.  All I have to say is O-M-G.

Once you've greased, floured, and lined a 6in round pan with parchment paper, place a cake pan filled halfway with water into a 325 degree oven.

Step 1: Melt 1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate with 6 tbsp butter in the microwave in 30 second intervals.  You set that aside and let it cool slightly while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Step 2: Beat 3 egg yolks (reserve whites) with 1 1/2 c sugar, 1/2 c cocoa powder and 1 tsp vanilla.  It will be a thick mess, but it gets better.  Add the slightly cooled chocolate-butter mix to the egg yolk mixture and stir until combined. 

Step 3: Remember those egg whites you saved?  (If you forgot, pretend you remembered and have your boyfriend distract any bystanders as you crack 3 more eggs, throw away the yolks and magically produce the whites in a bowl.)  Beat the eggs until soft peaks form.  They should look something like this:

Step 4: Fold (do not stir!!!) your egg whites into the chocolate mixture 1/3 at a time.  Be gentle here people!  The egg whites are what's going to give your cake some height.  Stir too hard and you'll end up with chocolate flavored shoe leather.  It's OK if there are a few white streaks here and there throughout the batter.  You're really just looking for it to be evenly mixed.

Step 5: Spoon the batter gently into the prepared 6 in round pan and place in the pan of hot water in the preheated oven. 

Bake for 45-55 min, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the cake cool for 15 minutes in the pan on a cooling rack (or on top of your stove if hopped up on pain meds and you're too lazy to pull out a cooling rack just yet).  After 15 minutes, gently run a knife along the edge of the pan to release any sticky bits, and then turn onto a cooling rack (and yes, your lazy butt does actually have to get a cooling rack now).

Now the recipe tells you to let it cool completely and then serve.  I say screw the directions.  This sucker tastes like a warm ooey gooey brownie when it's fresh out of the oven like this.  So you have my blessing to cut it up and dig right in!

Perhaps with some fudge sauce?

*Drool*

Grandma Don't Need Her Teeth Bread Pudding

Whew, what a whirlwind couple of weeks it's been!  Last weekend one of my best friends got married, so I was in Blacksburg, VA for her wedding (hence no posting).  A picture of me and the boy once the open bar started to kick in:

My week at work was "awesometastic" (and for those of you who know me well, you know the real meaning of that word...), so I was too tired to bake at night when I got home.  To add insult to the injury of my work week, I had oral surgery yesterday.  I had my last 2 wisdom teeth removed and a dental implant placed for the tooth that I've never had (brotha from anotha motha, anyone?).  I will say the best part about all of this is the guiltless nomming of pudding, ice cream, and as much mac n' cheese as I can eat.

In honor of my inability to eat anything harder than the consistency of baby food for the next week, I've decided to dedicate this week to all things ooey, gooey, and relatively chewless.  This first of this weekend's awesomeness is what I'm lovingly calling Grandma Don't Need Her Teeth Bread Pudding and I'm serving it with a whiskey sauce (to get grandma sauced, of course).

Ingredients:

Pudding -
1 loaf of hearty bread, cubed and dried overnight
4 tbsp butter, melted
1 c dried fruit of choice (I used raisins and some orange essence prunes - don't tell the boy!)
8 eggs
4 c half and half
1 1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
2 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze -
3/4 c butter
3/4 c light corn syrup
1 1/2 c sugar
1/2 c whiskey

Directions:

Spray a 13x9 glass dish (or something comparable) with cooking spray.  Layer the dried bread cubes and dried fruit in the dish and drizzle with the melted butter. 

Combine the eggs, half and half, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla.  Pour over the bread and fruit in the dish.  Lightly squish the bread so that it's coated in the egg mixture. 

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35-45 minutes, or until it springs back when you touch it.

For the sauce, combine the butter, sugar, and corn syrup in a sauce pan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil and then remove from the heat.  Add the whiskey and whisk that sucker good.  Drizzle (or pour...) over the warm bread pudding, and then sit back and enjoy the chewless noms!

Everything's Better with Bacon

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, prepare to be amazed!  Prepare to be terrified!  Prepare to be shocked by the awesomeness!  Prepare yourselves for... Apple Bacon Bundt Cake. 

Now that you've had a chance to pick yourselves up off the floor and have steadied your constitutions, I'll repeat, prepare yourselves for Apple Bacon Bundt Cake.  That's right, there's bacon in this cake.  I have to admit when my wonderful mama passed along this recipe I was a bit horrified, so of course I had to try it.

Imagine, if you can, a combination of sweet/tart, warm cinnamon and nutmeg, with smoky, salty bacon all wrapped up and covered in a layer of glazed goodness.  That, in a nutshell, is today's cake.  You start by cooking the bacon until crisp.  Once the bacon is cooked, you remove it from the pan and add the apples to the hot bacon grease.  I really thought this step would make me gag, but the smell of the apples caramelizing in smokey bacon drippings was actually amazing.  Like a chocolate covered pretzel with its sweet/salty aroma, but a hogillion times better.

The batter itself is a pretty basic spice cake recipe, minus the bacon of course.  Once combined, you add the bacon and caramelized apples, pour into a greased/flour bundt pan and bake until the dogs are sitting in front of the oven salivating like Pavlov has rung a bell.  On a side note, all I could think while baking this cake was "There's a hole in this cake" in a very Greek accent.  Don't worry, I fixed it...

When the dogs have practically licked the door off the oven, take it out and let it cool for about 10 minuts, plop it onto your cake plate of choice, slather it in the glaze that's been sitting patiently in the bowl on the counter, and then sprinkle it with bacon.  You heard me... I said sprinkle it with bacon.  Do it... just trust me.  The end result is something that will make your mouth water and your boyfriend groan.. in a totally PG kinda way of course.

And now, what you've all been waiting for... Bacon Cake Pictures!

And because we could hardly wait to try it, here's what it looks like when you cut into it:

See the bacon pieces in the cake??  YUM.

What?  You want the recipe?  Sure thing.

Cake:
2 c finely diced granny smith apples
10 slices thick apple-wood or maple-smoked bacon
3 eggs
1 c natural no-sugar added applesauce
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 c sugar
3 c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking powder

Glaze:
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp no-sugar-added applesauce

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour 10-in fluted bundt pan. 

Dice the bacon into small pieces (no larger than 1/2 in) and brown in skillet until crispy.  Set bacon aside to drain; add apples to remaining bacon fat and cook just until they are a little caramelized (about 1-2 min).  Remove apples from skillet and set aside. 

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs with an electric mixer at medium speed until thick and lemony-looking.  Add applesauce, oil, and vanilla.  Mix on medium speed until everything is incorporated.  Add sugar and beat for 1 minute.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and baking powder; add into wet mixture and beat until fully incorporated.

Reserve 3 tbsp of cooked bacon for cake topping.  Add the rest of the bacon and the apples to mixture and beat for 1 minute.  Pour batter into pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Right after you put the pan into the oven, mix ingredients for the glaze and let sit in a covered bowl until the cake is ready. 

Remove the cake from the oven and cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.  Turn cake onto cake place.  Drizzle glaze all over warm cake and sprinkle with reserved bacon.

So, there you go.  Hope you all can terrify your friends and family, and enjoy!

Cupcake Sunday: Beehive Cupcakes and Mini Pear and Walnut Cupcakes

I left you all last week with the mental image of me on the floor in front of the fridge and a teaser shot of the cupcakes that I made last weekend. Now that a week has gone by and I've been remiss in my blogging, I thought it was time I got off my lazy butt and posted like I should have done a week ago.

Last weekends cupcake was called a Beehive Cupcake.  It was a honey cupcake that had a yellow meringue frosting piped on in the shape of beehives.  The cupcake itself started off more like a chocolate chip cookie base (creaming together butter and brown sugar) than a cupcake base.

Now I don't know how many of you have made a meringue frosting before, but I never had.  I used to watch my grandma make it to put onto shortcake, but I'd never attempted it myself.  I was running a little low on eggs, so instead of wasting the yolks, I thought I would use the egg beaters egg whites that were in the fridge.  The container says 100% egg white, so I figured it would work the same... WRONG.  I sat there and beat those egg whites like they deserved it, and nothing... no white fluffy goodness.  Not even a substantial amount of bubbles that could lie and say they were meringue.    So yeah, I not only wasted egg beaters, I had to use the real egg whites anyway.  As C would say, lesson learned.  When I finally got it right, the frosting was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  It's like the younger, prettier sister of the fluff that you get in the jar at the grocery store.  The jarred fluff wishes it could be like my fluff (...that sounds kinda wrong...).

The recipe called for foil wrapped bees, but let's be honest.... the closest I was going to get to finding foil wrapped bees were the bees that Squirt catches in the backyard.  Who thinks of these things?

This week's cupcake (mini Pear and Walnut Cupcakes) was equally delightful.  The best part?  I already had almost everything I needed on hand to make them.  All I had to buy was a can of pears and a small bag of walnut pieces.  Rock on.  I love when that happens because it makes me feel like a girl scout - always prepared.  The cupcake started off similar to last week's cupcake, but instead of folding in honey at the end, I had to fold in chopped up pear and walnuts. 

The frosting on these was like a little bit of Wisconsin in my mouth.  One of my best friends, B, has a significant other who is from them thar parts.  Said boy has an uncle who has a tree that made the maple syrup that went into the icing.  D-lightful.  I love knowing where my ingredients came from! (Side note - I've almost gone through the ginormous jar she gave me and that makes me only completely sad.)  C liked these almost as much as last week's cupcakes, but seriously, what can compete with marshmallow fluff?  That's right... nothing.