Life In a Peanut Shell

GO VOLS!!

2009-11-13T20:59:00.002-05:00

I'm off to the Tennessee vs. Ole Miss football game tomorrow in Oxford, Mississippi! My boyfriend was a player on the U of Tennessee football team several years ago so naturally, he is a die-hard fan! Mississippi is only about an hour from Memphis and we are leaving super early to tailgate. There's nothing like smash mouth SEC football. This rivalry should be great.

Since the tailgate is consisting of over 100 people, I thought it would be a nice touch to bring Tennessee Volunteer decorated cookies including a football, helmet, and "T" logo. I made about 6 dozens of these today using a basic sugar cookie recipe. All of the cookies were dipped in icing and decorated with royal icing. These were super fun to make and tasted so delicious. I individually wrapped each cookie and topped the baggies off with orange and white ribbon. I hope everyone enjoys them tomorrow at the tailgate! GO VOLS!!

TWD: SUGAR-TOPPED MOLASSES SPICE COOKIES

2009-11-10T18:12:00.002-05:00

The month of November was a great time for me to rejoin my beloved Tuesdays With Dorie baking group; and because November is such a crazy time with the holidays, the members can bake any of the 4 recipes selected for November and post on whichever Tuesday they please. With that in mind, I decided to start off with these cookies. I've been inundated with cakes, cupcakes, and pies the last month or so that I really missed the operation that is cookie baking!

Pamela of Cookies with Boys chose these cookies for November 17th, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the recipe that will be posted on her blog. These cookies were tremendous and by tremendous I mean tremendously delectable. They had a sugary crunchy top with a semi-soft center and a spiced molasses flavor that was to die for! All the cookies baked perfectly uniform and were super easy to make. I doled out half of the batch for noshing and the other half to be ground up as a crust for my pumpkin cheesecake that I will be making later this week. Thanks for a great selection, Pamela!

FALL YUMMIES

2009-11-08T18:19:00.003-05:00

Hi there. I know, I know. I keep making promises that I can't keep. I keep disappearing without any notice. I'm neglecting you. It's wrong. Will you forgive me? Give me another chance? I promise to be the blogger you deserve! I've gone MIA once again but with very good reason!! You see, the very last module of my culinary program involves a 210 hour internship to be completed practically anywhere in the country; based on your future food industry aspirations. Practical experience in the food biz is so incredibly important. In my case, a small bake shoppe is what gets my wheels turning, so I chose this fantastic little mom and pop bakery in Memphis, TN. Yes, you heard correctly...Memphis! As random as the home of pulled pork may be, my boyfriend lives there so it was a no-brainer! Needless to say, the past few weeks have been madness between shlepping my dogs on an 18 hr car ride, setting up a new place to live, getting my bearings adjusted, and catching up on much needed sleep. OK, y'all? I'm working on my southern drawl, so bear with me. I've digressed a tad from my original reason for posting and that reason is Fall deliciousness!! Think pies, pumpkin, a world of delicious spices, and...wait for it...BBQ!(I joke, I joke). Over the last few weeks I made some delicious goodies and let me tell you; my boyfriend's co-workers are psyched that I've become a Tennessee resident :) See for yourself...

Ghost Petit Fours- pumpkin spice cake baked on a sheet pan cut into 1 inch circles, piped buttercream, and smothered in a buttery icing glaze. Black decorating gel used for the eyes and mouth. Super cute and super tasty! Recipe and how-to found here.

Mini chocolate cupcakes with orange cream cheese frosting- The "BOO" was made by smearing chocolate icing on the back of 1/2 an Oreo cookie and piping on top. I used Martha's One Bowl chocolate cupcake no-fail recipe. Cream cheese frosting recipe found here.

Pumpkin pie with gingersnap pecan crumble- I got this recipe off the cover of the November Southern Living issue. I can't find the recipe online yet, however, I will post as soon as it becomes available. This pie had a flaky pie crust followed by a gooey gingersnap layer with a spiced up pumpkin pie filling. It was topped off with a gingersnap pecan crumble and homemade whipped cream. Beyond delicious.

001_ICE 2.0-MUSIC

2009-10-19T10:33:00.004-04:00

Welcome back to the 2nd year of Iron Cupcake Earth where the first challenge of the year is music! Iron Cupcake is trying to get onto the Ellen show and since Ellen Degeneres has such a love for music, this first challenge is dedicated to her. Therefore, we were given the opportunity to pick any song and develop a cupcake around the title. In my case, I went with "October" by U2. Fitting? I thought so.

What you see here is a pumpkin muffin bursting with plump raisins and chopped pecans. The muffin was moist and cake-like with just enough hint of cinnamon, all spice, ginger, and nutmeg. The raisins and chopped pecans added more flavor and crunch. I topped each muffin off with a cream cheese glaze and garnished with a pecan half.

This pumpkin muffin recipe came from Dorie Greenspan's: Baking From My Home To Yours bake book. I would most certainly make these again. Bring on the pumpkin season!

Be sure to vote for my "musical" Iron Cupcake submission on Friday October 30th at No One Puts Cupcake In A Corner. Voting will be open through November 5th.

Pumpkin Muffins

From Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Makes 12 regular sized muffins or 6 jumbo muffins

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

pinch allspice

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling!)

1/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup plump raisins (soak in hot water first if yours seem too dried out) (optional)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

unsalted raw sunflower seeds, for sprinkling on top (optional)

Preheat oven to 400F / 200C. Grease your muffin tin or fill it with paper muffin cups (unless you're using silicone bakeware, which needs no greasing).

In a small bowl combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and spices.

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or an electric hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, beating and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each one, then add the vanilla. Lower the mixer speed and add the pumpkin and buttermilk.

With the mixer on a low speed, add the dry ingredients. To avoid over mixing, I tend to have the mixer on for only a couple of seconds when adding the dry mixture, then to turn it off before everything is completely incorporated and finish mixing by hand. Dorie recommends this too! Stir in the raisins and nuts, if using.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tin and sprinkle a few sunflower seeds over each muffin, if using. Bake in the center of the oven for 20-25 minutes (mine were done in 18 mins), until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean (jumbo muffins will take longer).

Cream Cheese Glaze
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups confectioners sugar

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, at medium speed, beat the cream cheese and sour cream until smooth. With the mixer on low speed, add the confectioners sugar one cup at a time. Mix until incorporated. Yield: 2 cups glaze.

Our Generous IronCupcake:Earth Prize Providers:

PROJECT WEDDING CAKE

2009-10-16T15:50:00.006-04:00

It has been exactly 1 month since I've posted. If that's not reflective of how busy my schedule has been, then I'm not really sure what is! You see, yesterday was graduation day! In case you are a first time reader, I've been enrolled in a baking and pastry arts program at a culinary school in Manhattan dating back to last May. As part of my final exam, an individual wedding cake was to be presented at graduation. Well, folks...here it is!

My chef was pretty lenient as to what style wedding/celebration cake each person was to make. Many of my classmates went super modern when it came to decoration and detail. But me? I went down the traditional avenue of wedding cake decoration. My wedding cake was reminiscent of a classic, elegant cake that was the standard for several years before modern cake decorating became the norm. With that said, here is what you're looking at:

-2 tier yellow cake consisting of a 10 inch round and 6 inch round. The 10 inch cake was split into 3 layers all filled with french vanilla buttercream. The 6 inch round was split into 2 layers.

-Each round was covered in fondant which I colored ivory. I used royal icing to make the uniform white dots.

-The rose bouquet and leaves were made out of gumpaste which I petal dusted to give it a realistic effect.

-Each layer was wrapped with a champagne colored ribbon at the bottom.

I took a ton of pictures, so here you go! Your thoughts?

RED VELVS

2009-09-16T21:08:00.002-04:00

My oh my. I made these puppies for a 30th birthday that I catered last week and let me just say that I doubled the batch on purpose. Yep, these are the best red-velvet-cream-cheese-frosted goodies that you'll ever have in your life! And the best part...? I've finally tweaked my own recipe to be both delicious AND to produce the most magnificent, atheistically appealing red velvet cupcake on planet earth. Now, for the bad news. No recipe postage. I knowwww, I'm sorry. How could I possibly use such enormously descriptive words for a cupcake and then not share love? Well, you see..I've started my own business which means I'll be using all my own recipes that I've been working on perfecting for years. If I were to release such classified information, I might as well get out of this business and become a lawyer..or a kindergarten teacher, or a tennis pro. You understand, right? No grudges, please.

So, with that said; I will still be posting wonderful drool-full pictures as well as recipes..just not my own recipes. I promise there will be plenty to gawk at over at the peanut shell. No worries. Don't hate me :) I got nothin' but love for ya!

BROWNIE CHEESECAKE TEACAKES

2009-09-03T19:48:00.003-04:00

I'm sensing a theme here...hmmm; perhaps a certain little combination pertaining to cheesecake....and, er, brownies? Yep, that's it. I'm addicted. I've been tossing and turning this whole week thinking of ideas for brownie/cheesecake combos. Here's a text message conversation I had with my mother today:

Mom: "Hi! I'm in the city, are you around?"

Me: "Really? I didn't know you were coming in..what are you doing in the brownie?"

Yea? 'Nuff said.

Ever since my much anticipated espresso cheesecake brownie selection; to which I earned real life positive feedback from THE Dorie Greenspan herself, I've been inspired to create interesting and fun cheesecake/brownie collaborations. I'd say these brownie cheesecake teacakes fall under that category quite nicely.

My boyfriend's father's birthday is tomorrow and I thought it would be nice to bring along these teacakes. You see, he has very little to no sweet tooth whatsoever, so I wanted to choose something that, at the very least, would be tasted due to the unique manner in which it's baked; because, who wouldn't want to taste a rich chocolate brownie with a surprise center of vanilla creamy cheesecake with creamy chocolate ganache on top? Yes, please!

These were fantastic. I used the same recipe as I did when I made the actual bar version of this recipe a while back, only these were baked in a teacake pan which I've been dying to utilize. Since the top of a "teacake" has that indentation, the cheesecake was put on the bottoms and baked its way through the cake. The outsides baked crispy while the insides were moist and creamy. I topped each teacake with a rich whipped chocolate ganache aiming for a "flower" look and placed multi-colored candies in the center. I arranged these in a beautiful shoebox that I've been holding on to for a while (it's a great lime green!) and wrapped it with beautiful ribbon. Go on and treat yourself--make these, stat.

BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE CRUMB BARS

2009-09-02T19:35:00.004-04:00

Ain't that a mouthful? Oatmeal raisin cookie crusted vanilla bean blueberry cheesecake crumb bars. Whoa. And that was the exact reaction they received, whoa. I went ahead and made this recipe up, from scratch, consisting of all my most favorite flavors and combining them into one crunchy, creamy, sweet, fruity taste all in one bar. Lets review:

Favorite Cookie? Oatmeal Raisin. Check.

Favorite Cold Dessert? Cheesecake. Check.

Favorite Fruit? Blueberries. Check.

Favorite flavoring? Vanilla Bean. Check.

Favorite topping of all time? Crumble. Check.

Get my point? These were the quintessential most sinful dessert on this planet. Just blogging about them is causing drool on the keyboard. I brought these to a BBQ I attended last weekend where the host requested several desserts, including cheesecake. I wanted something fairly simple that didn't make a mess and something that had less of a chance of getting ruined while transporting. I cut them into perfect 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 squares after trimming down all 4 sides. Because I couldn't bear to throw any part of this cheesecake bliss out, I brought the trimmings across the hall to my neighbors, who, renamed these guys "blueberry magic". Magical would be an understatement.

Unfortunately, I cannot give this recipe out because I truly believe it could be a staple dessert for my business! However, use your imagination and I'm sure you can simulate you're own kind of unique magic. :)

1ST BIRTHDAY CAKE

2009-09-02T19:18:00.003-04:00

This 1st birthday cake was for another one of my clients; super light and springy white cake filled with a vanilla bean buttercream and decorated with multicolored fondant covered sable cookies. Wallah, hopefully a very memorable 1st birthday cake, indeed. I knew I really had to make this cake special and super childish because after all, 1st birthday's are ones that will be cherished forever! The cake is by far the most important part.

This cake was absolutely enormous weighing in at close to 25lbs! It consisted of 3-10 inch layers all smothered with rich swiss meringue buttercream and I sure as heck wasn't worried that it wouldn't feed a total number of 25 people at the birthday party. I baked dozens of chocolate and vanilla sable cookies which were shaped exactly like balloons, so I covered each one in a different color fondant and rolled some fondant into "string-like" structures as the base of each balloon.

Like I stated in the previous post, if you are interested in special occasion cakes, cupcakes, cheesecake, pies, cookies, brownies, and what have you--email me!

My business website is under construction and should be up and running soon. In the meantime, my blog is a great way to display my work until further notice. Thanks :)

BABY SHOWER CUPCAKES

2009-09-02T19:05:00.002-04:00

These cutie blue cuppies were made for one of my clients and, as you can see, were meant for a baby shower. I went with simple golden yellow mini cakes topped with a vanilla swiss meringue buttercream, blue and white non pareils, and a sugared blue rattle. I filled each cupcake with a dollop of homemade cookie dough which I froze the night before so they'd bake gooey and delicious.

These were the perfect favor for a baby shower; simple yet elegant and most importantly, tasty! If you would like to order special occasion cupcakes, feel free to email me!

TWD: ESPRESSO CHEESECAKE BROWNIES

2009-08-31T21:23:00.003-04:00

Wow. It has been well over a year since I first joined the lovely interactive baking group; Tuesdays With Dorie, and my day has finally come...the recipe rotation gods have spoken! It's my week to choose a recipe from Dorie Greenspans, "Baking: From My Home To Yours" and my opportunities of choice seemed endless. There were pies, tarts, cookies, cakes--oh so many I could have selected without batting an eye. However, when my eyes scanned page 104-105; it was love at first site. Espresso? Brownies? Cheesecake? All in one?--I had to plea no contest.

These brownies were absolutely delicious. Each creamy, espresso-spiked, chocolaty, brownie bite got better and better as my consumption continued...and continued...and (we all know how this story ends) resulted in my dinner for the evening that left me with a sugar hangover. And a worthy hangover at that.

Rather than the suggested 9X9 square pan I baked these guys in a 9 inch round pan and sliced them in thin wedges. Chocolate chunks, dark chocolate covered espresso beans, cappuccino chips, cocoa powder, and a chocolate wafer cigar were among many of the toppers. Please please pleaseeee make this if you haven't already. They are a great end-of-the-summer cool treat for season ending BBQ's! Labor Day, anyone? You're welcome.

Espresso Cheesecake Brownies

From Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours

For the brownies:

1/2 cup ap flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1/3 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 F, with a rack in the center. Butter a 9" square baking pan placed on a baking sheet and set aside.

To make the brownies:

Whisk together the first three ingredients. Put the butter and chocolate over a double boiler with water simmering. Stir until the ingredients melt, but don't overheat so that the butter separates. Remove the top of the double boiler and set aside.

Stir the sugar into the chocolate mixture with a whisk, then add the eggs one at a time. Beat well after each egg, then beat in the vanilla. Next, gently stir in the dry ingredients until they disappear. Set aside.

For the cheesecake:

1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder dissolved in 1 tablespoon boiling water

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon ap flour

Allow the espresso to cool to tepid. With a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the cream cheese on medium until it's completely smooth. Add the sugar and continue to beat for 3 minutes more. Beat in the vanilla and espresso before adding the eggs one at a time. Beat for 1 minute after each egg, then reduce the speed to low and add the sour cream, then the flour. The batter should be smooth.

Pour about 3/4 of the brownie mixture into the prepared pan. Smooth it out, then pour the cheesecake layer over the top, taking care to make it even. Place spoonfuls of the rest of the brownie batter on top, and use a knife to swirl the dark and light batters together. Be careful, however, not to plunge the knife into the base brownie layer. Swirl only as much as necessary.

Bake for around 30 minutes. The brownies should come away from the sides of the pan. The cheesecake will puff and turn lightly browned around the edges. Transfer the pan to a wrack to cool. Once it reaches room temperature, refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until well chilled.

For the topping:

1 1/4 cups sour cream

1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Warm the sour cream and sugar in a small saucepan over very low heat. You need to stir constantly until the sugar is dissolved. Pour over the chilled brownies, then return them to the refrigerator and chill for at least another hour. Cut the brownies into squares and serve.

VANILLA MINIS

2009-08-25T21:28:00.002-04:00

I made these tonight with left over cake batter. They are adorable. They are delicious. They are minuscule. Three adjectives that would highlight any great dessert, in my mind. I experimented with my own recipe for a full-on fluffy, moist, white cake. No no no folks, no egg yolks in these bad boys. Many people get confused with the traditional white cake. I've seen several recipes for "golden vanilla cakes" that have the taste of vanilla but not the appearance; keyword golden. In this case, it's all vanilla from the inside out and it's darn tasty at that.

I topped these minis with a creamy, rich, instant fudge frosting and garnished with blue and white non pareils. I'd love love loveeee to publish this recipe for ya'll because I feel like I'd be doing an injustice to the world of sweet teeth if I didn't, butttttttt I think I need to keep this one to myself because it just may be my next unique go-to white cake recipe. Everyone should feel special, shouldn't they?

CAKE SLICE BAKERS: MARBLED LEMON BLUEBERRY BUTTERCAKE

2009-08-23T12:48:00.002-04:00

OK, I realize I'm SEVERAL months behind in my favorite little baking group, The Cake Slice Bakers. I've been so incredibly overwhelmed that I've completely neglected this interactive monthly baking group for oh so long. However, my mini hiatus has come to an end. What better time to start back up being that I'm in my Advanced Cakes module in culinary school...? Any excuse to bake cakes, consider me in!

Well, I'm back and better than ever and began catching up with July's cake which was posted on the 20th; marbled lemon blueberry buttercake. Luckily I already made August's cake selection; Pistachio Petit Four cake, last year so I'm up to date for September. Wow, I came back just in time because this cake was absolutely fantastic. It was very similar to the base of Dorie's perfect party cake with an added marbled blueberry throughout, a homemade lemon blueberry puree, and a lemon swiss meringue buttercream. Mmmm mmmm delicious!

I went the extra mile and made my own lemon swiss meringue buttercream. The original recipe called for whole eggs and I'm really not a fan of that kind of buttercream. I stuck shaved coconut around the sides of the entire cake and colored a portion of my buttercream purple to pipe across the top. I sprinkled a touch more coconut on the rosettes and stars and dropped a blueberry on each, as well as 3 in the center. I had dinner with my 94 year old grandma last week in the city and brought her this cake. For a woman who weigh 85lbs and doesn't have much of an interest in food, she sure scarfed this cake down faster than you could imagine. She called me the next morning to inform me that she had it for breakfast as well.

Go ahead and check out the cake slice bakers blogroll and become a member today. We'd love to have you!

September's selection features Sky High's triple chocolate fudge cake. Keep your eyes peeled!

Marbled Lemon Blueberry Butter Cake
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1½ tsp lemon extract
7 egg whites
3 cups cake flour
4 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1¼ cups milk
Fresh blueberries, for decoration

Lemon blueberry preserves (below)
Lemon buttercream frosting (below)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of three 8 inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.
In a mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, lemon zest and lemon extract until light and fluffy. Gradually add the egg whites 2 or 3 at a time, beating well between additions and stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt, whisk gently to blend. In 2 or 3 alternating additions, beat the dry ingredients and milk into the butter mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl several times. Beat on medium-high speed for about 1 minute to smooth out any lumps and aerate the batter.
Scoop 1 cup of the batter into a small bowl. Divide the remaining equally among the 3 prepared pans, smoothing the tops with a spatula. This gives you a smooth surface to work with. Add 2½ tbsp of the lemon blueberry preserves to the reserved batter and blend well. Drizzle heaping teaspoons of this blueberry mixture over the batter in the pans. Use a skewer to swirl the blueberry mixture in short strokes to drag it down through the lemon batter without mixing it in.
Bake for about 25 minutes or until a cake tester or skewer stuck in the centre comes out clean and the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan. Lat the layers cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack, peeling off the paper and leaving to cool completely.

Lemon Blueberry Preserves
3 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
¾ cup sugar
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1½ tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp grated fresh ginger

Puree the blueberries with any juices that have exuded in a blender. Pass the puree through a coarse strainer to remove the skins.
In a heavy medium saucepan, combine the blueberry puree with the sugar, lemon juice, zest and ginger. Bring to a gentle boil over a medium heat, stirring often for 20 minutes, or until the preserves have thickened and are reduced to 1 cup. To check the proper thickness place a small amount of a saucer and put in the freezer until cold. Drag your finger through it. If a clear path is made through the preserve then it is ready. Let the preserves cool before using. (Can be made up to 5 days in advance).

Lemon Buttercream Frosting
1 cup sugar
¼ cup water
2 eggs
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Continue to boil without stirring, occasionally washing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage, 238 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Immediately remove from the heat.
In a large mixer bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, beast the eggs briefly. Slowly add the hot syrup in a thin stream, pouring it down the sides of the bowl; be careful to avoid hitting the beaters or the syrup may splatter. When all the syrup has been added, raise the speed to medium,-high and beat until the mixture is very fluffy and cooled to body temperature. This can take 15-20 minutes.
Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and gradually add the softened butter 2 to 3 tablespoons at a time, beating well between additions. As you’re adding the last few tablespoons of butter, the frosting will appear to break, then suddenly come together like whipped butter. Beat in the lemon juice, and the frosting is ready to use.

To Assemble
To assemble the cake, place a layer, flat side up, on a cake stand. Spread half of the lemon blueberry preserves over the top. Place a second layer on top of the first and spread the remaining preserves over it. Finally place the third layer on top and frost the top and sides with the lemon buttercream.
Decorate with fresh blueberries and serve.
Makes one 8 inch triple layered cake.

ENGAGEMENT CAKE

2009-08-23T12:41:00.003-04:00

This is an engagement cake I made for a friend of a friend's engagement party. The cake consists of 4 layers (it was huge!) of interchanging chocolate and vanilla sponge cakes and each layer was filled with a whipped chocolate ganache. The entire cake was iced with a chocolate swiss meringue buttercream and I used a cornet to pipe the writing using white chocolate. I made chocolate sablee cookies and piped their initials on them which I then stuck around the sides of the cake. I made marzipan white roses in bunches around the 4 corners of the cake and piped pretty borders around the top and bottom perimeters. I heard the cake was a huge hit and I was so happy to share my love of decorative sweets with the bride and groom to be! Enjoy!

CAKES GALORE

2009-08-23T12:17:00.003-04:00

As I mentioned earlier, I've been knee deep in cakes. All day, everyday I'm immersed in the art of cake baking, cake technique, and decorating in school. I still have 2 more weeks of my advanced cakes module so stay tuned. Here's what I've been up to lately in both school and extra curricular projects:

Horseradish Grill's chocolate cake filled with whipped praline chocolate ganache, iced with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream with a rich chocolate ganache glaze across the top and drizzled down the sides. Piped buttercream rosettes garnished with shaved chocolate and toasted hazelnuts

Triple layer chocolate genoise cake soaked with brandy syrup, filled with a mocha swiss meringue buttercream with piped buttercream kisses and "mocha" written across in chocolate using a cornet.

Petit Fours: Almond frangipane cakes sandwiched together with raspberry and apricot jams and topped with poured fondant. Decorated with dried lavender, chocolate, and almond slivers.

LEMON SCENTED WHITE CAKE WITH ORANGE GRAND MARNIER BUTTERCREAM

2009-08-18T16:34:00.002-04:00

Cake, cake, and cake. Yes folks, it's official..I've entered my 3rd module of culinary school and it's all about cakes! I've been looking forward to this module since I first read the curriculum long before I enrolled. Is it everything I thought it would be? Absolutely. I'm so incredibly obsessed with school these days I can hardly wait to wake up at 6:38am everyday. By 8am the baking, assembly, and decoration of cake madness begins. It's fantastic!

With all this said, the next several posts over the coming weeks will be tons of cakes; so suit up, buckle in, and join me down the aisle of cake love.

The first week of class featured a lemon scented white cake which is very similar to Dorie Greenspan's perfect party cake. This wasn't a surprise to me when I found out that Dorie and Nick Malgieri, who wrote the curriculum for my baking and pastry arts program, are very dear friends. Perhaps Dorie emulated Nick's lemon scented white cake for her perfect party cake..? Nonetheless, it tasted exactly the same; delicious.

When our cakes are done baking, each student individually has to select one of several flavor/design combinations offered to us in our books. Once you choose a cake theme you stick with it through the filling, stripping (if applicable), the frostings of the outside and top, glazes, as well as a particular design. In my case, I chose the orange Grand Marnier cake which featured an orange marmalade stripping, Grand Marnier swiss meringue buttercream filling in between layers and around the cake, and then garnished with sugared almonds. I piped 12 rosettes across the top indicating 12 slices and added some criss-crossed candied orange rind.

I've learned the art of cake assembly in the first 2 weeks of 'Advanced Cakes'. My layers are all neat and even, the top and sides of the cake are perfectly flat and straight, and my slices look divine! I have many many more cakes to come so don't be a stranger!

TWD: CLASSIC BANANA BUNDT CAKE

2009-08-05T21:29:00.004-04:00

Well, it's hard to believe I haven't posted a TWD recipe in months. There's been culinary school, recreational baking, and lots of traveling. I apologize to all you TWD'ers out there who have been participating all summer. I promise to get back on the bandwagon stat, beginning with this classic banana bundt cake chosen by Mary of The Food Librarian. Have you ever takin' a peek of Mary's blog? If not, I suggest you mosey on over there immediately! She's absolutely incredible from her recipes to her photographs; she's unbelievably talented.

This hunk of banana deliciousness was the epitome of banana bundts. It was moist, super flavorful, light, and perfect with a cup of joe in the morning or as a midnight snack. I added chopped pecans, coconut, and a touch of rum to the bananas before baking. The coconut and banana combination was excellent and it's a flavor combo that I would definitely use in the future. Oddly enough I had an entire lesson on bundt cakes yesterday in class, so I brought this into school this morning. My classmates loved it and my chef instructor, who's a big banana fan, said it was great!

Hop on over to Mary's blog for the recipe. Stay tuned for next week where I will be participating (2 consecutive weeks, woo hoo!) in brownie buttons. Yum.

BIRTHDAY CUPCAKES

2009-08-03T19:23:00.007-04:00

With birthday cake (shown below), comes birthday cupcakes! What's a party without cupcakes? In addition to the cake featured below, I made cupcakes for all the attendees of Jana's birthday party. After all, the cake was solely intended for Jana's tummy and I didn't want to make her guests envious.

So, I brought these: a bevy of vanilla cupcakes with alternating chocolate buttercreams and vanilla/chocolate swirl buttercreams each topped with a different theme. I used leftover batter from the cake recipe below this post as well as Billy's chocolate buttercream.

Here is what I came up with...

Thin Mint Cupcake: Vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream topped with chopped thin mints, mint drizzle, and a whole thin mint cookie

Peanut Butter Brittle Chip Cupcake: Vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream topped with mini chocolate chips and a shard of homemade peanut brittle

Chocolate Oreo Cupcake: Vanilla cupcake with chocolate/vanilla swirl buttercream topped with Oreo crumbs and a Chocolate Cream Oreo

M&M Cupcake: Vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream topped with mini M&M's and a red sugar icing drizzle

Peanut Butter Coffee Cupcake: Vanilla cupcake with chocolate/vanilla swirl buttercream topped with peanut butter drizzle and a chocolate covered coffee bean

Chocolate Brownie Cupcake: Vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream topped with chunks of Dorie Greenspan's Katherine Hepburn brownies and a white chocolate drizzle

BIRTHDAY CAKE

2009-08-03T17:24:00.002-04:00

My best friend Jana turned the big 2-6 last week and I was thrilled to be making her a special birthday cake. I didn't need to ask what kind of cake she required because if a cake has frosting on it, this girl will eat it; be it chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, and what have you. If Sesame Street had a frosting monster character, she would surely get top billing. "Meee...wanttt..frostinggg"

Jana is a simple girl with simple tastes so I went with my favorite vanilla cake recipe with my favorite vanilla frosting and some quintessential birthday confetti sprinkles on top. I used funky black glittery candles and dolloped a chocolate kiss-like-shape of frosting in the center.

Trying this cake would have been at the top of my priority list, however, it was guzzled down in a matter of moments..in the privacy of Jana's home...by herself...where it belonged :)

KING ARTHUR'S CHOCO-NILLA CAKE

2009-08-01T21:56:00.002-04:00

I mentioned in the previous post that I made a 6 inch 4 layer birthday cake with the leftover batter from the Half Baked cuppies. Well, here it is. I've been a King Arthur fan since I've been baking; for both ingredients and recipes. This cake is absolutely delicious. The chocolate cake is fudgy and moist while the vanilla cake adds a firmer more textured cake. Together they make the best of both worlds with the most delicious fudge frosted filling sandwiched in between. I will most definitely be referencing back to this cake for my go-to birthday cakes.

The recipe can be found in the below post or just click here.

HALF-BAKED CUPCAKES

2009-08-01T13:37:00.008-04:00

I did some part time fill in work at my old job last week and Ben & Jerry's flavors happened to be a major topic of discussion. Why, you ask? Because it was 4:00 on a Friday and these are the kind of filler topics that come up when everyone is ready for the weekend! Lucky for me, it was a conversation I could add some serious input to! As I deeply contemplated my favorite flavor, I knew there was no match for Ben & Jerry's Half Baked ice cream. Have you ever had it? If not, you must go try it immediately. They even make it in a Lo-Fat version, so I don't want to hear any excuses out of y'all. Chocolate and vanilla ice creams studded with fudge brownies and gobs of chocolate chip cookie dough. I mean, really??? Wow. Dear Ben & Jerry: you tryin' to kill me? Love, Melissa.

So, in honor of this fabulous flavor, I decided to create a cupcake version of Half Baked. At least with this creation, I could take my time to savor and not worry about the melting factor :) Here's what I came up with: swirled vanilla and chocolate cake studded with chocolate chip cookie dough, topped with a chocolate chip cookie dough whipped cream frosting with a brownie chunk and chocolate ganache drizzle. Yep, this reenactment definitely did the trick.

I used King Arthur's choco-nilla cake recipe for the actual cupcake (so delicious and super easy). I only made a few of these so the rest of the recipe was used to make a 4 layer 6 inch birthday cake which is featured above.

Enjoy!

Half-Baked Cupcakes

For the Vanilla Cake:

1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream or plain yogurt (full-fat is best) [I used sour cream]

2 large eggs

1 cup (7 ounces) sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 ¾ teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup (2 3/8 ounces) vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups (8 ½ ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

For the Chocolate Cake:

1 1/3 cups (9 3/8 ounces) sugar

1 1/3 cups (5 3/8 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

2 tablespoons (3/8 ounce) Instant ClearJel® or cornstarch (1/2 ounce)

1/2 cup (1 1/2 ounces) Double-Dutch Dark Cocoa or Dutch-process cocoa

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons espresso powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

1/2 cup (3 ½ ounces) vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup (6 ounces) water

Eggless Cookie Dough:

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips [I used mini chocolate chips]

*reserve 1/4 of cookie dough recipe for frosting*

-Use any brownie recipe you prefer and cut up into 1 inch chunks. I used Dorie Greenspan's Katherine Hepburn brownies.

To make the vanilla cake:

1)Whisk together the yogurt or sour cream, eggs, sugar, salt, baking powder, vegetable oil, and vanilla.

2) Stir in the flour, mixing till smooth. Drop in little bits of cookie dough.

3) Pour the batter into one of the prepared pans. [muffin tins-marble in chocolate batter]

4) Bake the cake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the cake is beginning to brown on top. It may crack slightly; that’s OK. [I didn't time these, but keep an eye on them after 12 mins]

5) Remove the cake from the oven, and after 10 minutes turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool.

To make the chocolate cake:

6)Whisk together the dry ingredients.

7) Add the eggs, oil, and vanilla, beating until smooth.

8) Gradually add the water, beating until smooth. Drop in little bits of cookie dough.

9) Pour the batter into the prepared pan. [muffin tin-marble in vanilla batter]

10) Bake the cake for about 35 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
11) Remove the cake from the oven, and after 10 minutes turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool.

12) Divide the cooled cakes in half horizontally, to make four round layers. Place one vanilla layer on a serving plate.

To make the cookie dough:

In a bowl beat 1/4 cup butter or margarine with the brown sugar and 1/4 cup of the white sugar. Stir in the water and 1 teaspoon of the vanilla. Beat in the flour and the semisweet chocolate chips. Stir until combined. [Set 1/4 of the recipe aside for frosting]

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Whipped Cream Frosting:

1 ½ cup heavy whipping cream

8 oz cream cheese, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

To make the frosting: in a medium bowl beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks form (do not overbeat); set aside. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream. Fold the remaining cookie dough chunks into the frosting and immediately frost the cooled cupcakes. Drizzle chocolate syrup or ganache on top and use a brownie chunk for garnish.

PUFF PASTRY FUN

2009-08-01T13:10:00.004-04:00

Well, I just finished my second module of culinary school:bread and pastries. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed! I'm so psyched for the next module which begins Monday; Cakes!!!A big chunk of this module was dedicated to classic puff pastry which is totally awesome and very different from what I've ever done. I've never made puffed pastry before this and boy is it a fun dough to work with. It allows for sooooo much creativity and it tastes pretty darn delicious, especially when paired with the right fillings, pastry creams, fruits, etc. However, the one downfall of puffed pastry is the ridiculous amount of time it takes to prepare. It requires double turns (the lamination process), resting periods, more double turns, then the sheeting process all before it is even put in the oven. I now realize why and how puffed pastry is so expensive in bakeries and rightfully so due to the extreme labor and expense that is put into it. Below is a whole bunch of puffed pastry recipes that I made this past module.

Fresh Fruit Strip

Napoleon

Apple Tart

Spanakopita using Phyllo dough filled with feta, ricotta, spinach & dill

CHERRY CHEESECAKE SQUARES

2009-07-20T14:26:00.003-04:00

Ok, these were simply incredible. My parents threw a huge 60+ person BBQ over the weekend and I was designated to do all the desserts. Obviously. One of the several desserts I made were these cherry cheesecake squares. Picture this: chocolate chip cookie crust, cherry cheesecake filling, almond streusel topping. Um, amazing. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take any more pictures of the actual squares because these were gobbled up in about 5.2 seconds; no joke. However, I would HIGHLY advise you to make these and you can interchange any kind of fruit filling; i.e. apple, blueberry, etc. You can even go with a sugar cookie crust if that suits your fancy! The best part about these bars is that the cookie crust comes from a mix. I rarely ever bake anything from a mix but I had so many desserts to make that I thought it would be easier on myself to cheat a bit..Enjoy!

CHERRY CHEESECAKE SQUARES recipe

LINZER TORTE

2009-07-20T14:06:00.002-04:00

Ok, I swear this is my last post on tarts/tortes. My culinary curriculum has officially moved on from tarts and is now entering the world of puff pastry! I'm so excited!

My father loves linzer tarts. Linzers were the first cookie I ever consumed at the very wee age of 3 months! I obviously don't remember this experience but it has been confirmed by my mother and makes a whole lot of sense since linzers are my absolute favorite cookie ever! You could imagine my excitement when my chef told us we were going to make them. However, there is a distinct difference between linzer cookies (like the ones you buy in the bakery with the powdered sugar) and linzer tortes, which are baked in a round cake pan, smothered in jelly, and latticed on top. Regardless, the linzer tortes we made in class were spectacular! Unfortunately my father never got the opportunity to try them...they never made it home!

RAINBOW FRUIT TART

2009-07-20T13:50:00.002-04:00

As stated in my previous post, the past 2 weeks in school have been filled with a plethora of tarts. Tarts. Tarts. Tarts. Over the past few years, I've made a ton of tarts but after these last 2 weeks of tart education, I've finally mastered the proper techniques to avoid dough shrinkage! This rainbow fruit tart consisted of a tart crust; using sucree dough(obviously), vanilla pastry cream, and a variety of colorful fruits. I'm personally not a huge fruit tart fan because I'm not a lover of pastry cream but this happened to be delicious. I went ahead and made a fruit tart on my own (outside of the classroom) which is pictured below. Since I had extra tart dough and pastry cream, I made another tart (in a rectangular tart pan), filled it with the pastry cream, and shaved espresso chocolate on top with a drizzle of chocolate ganache. Yum!

my extracurricular fruit tart

Chocolate Tart