tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35025243821231580932024-03-05T01:08:02.255-08:00A Cake StoryUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3502524382123158093.post-3158082219852905482013-03-04T13:56:00.002-08:002013-03-04T13:56:52.570-08:00A Pretty Wedding Cake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGnk4LaZ2JsiwiOqzwy90VRGRyE6_LRi46ZOq8MMULd-0v3XF7LoqpjoBFVX8olUUvX9nqjJvPREvTPcbluiNBa-h3tCDy7wIe_nkDNEnItwk8sryNtQXGslLUX0C1RLImDTlh19R82Ao/s1600/861333_10151542439747640_1859667727_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGnk4LaZ2JsiwiOqzwy90VRGRyE6_LRi46ZOq8MMULd-0v3XF7LoqpjoBFVX8olUUvX9nqjJvPREvTPcbluiNBa-h3tCDy7wIe_nkDNEnItwk8sryNtQXGslLUX0C1RLImDTlh19R82Ao/s1600/861333_10151542439747640_1859667727_o.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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I attended a wedding this past weekend and this was one of the more beautiful wedding cakes I've seen. This cake is the epitome of the word <i>sweet</i>, isn't it? Much like the rest of the wedding, this cake was graceful and elegant. Furthermore, the food was perfect, the flowers were tastefully done, and the band was hands down the best live band I've heard at an event. I wish all weddings were this fun. :)<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://www.stumbleupon.com/hostedbadge.php?s=2"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3502524382123158093.post-72739351729278433222013-02-27T09:36:00.003-08:002013-02-27T10:09:36.528-08:00Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cucakes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wI9hqJJpJ8o/US5CPOU2gBI/AAAAAAAACug/OkU21QqCVWI/s1600/856627_10151532347772640_229542452_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wI9hqJJpJ8o/US5CPOU2gBI/AAAAAAAACug/OkU21QqCVWI/s1600/856627_10151532347772640_229542452_o.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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I've been on a cupcake kick lately, not wanting to bother with the torting and frosting of cakes that you're not even allowed to cut into and taste until the final presentation. I mean, how is it that people blog about making cakes for birthday parties and events and manage to shoot and style professional looking photos, complete with props and lighting? Just slide that little sliver back in and smooth more frosting over? Hmph. I tried out this "Sprinkles Cupcakes" peanut butter chocolate chip cupcake recipe out of curiosity. It's the one Candace Nelson demo-ed on <a href="http://livewellnetwork.com/Home-With-Lisa-Quinn/7624608">Home with Lisa Quinn</a>. Admittedly, I have never had the real thing since I usually stick to red velvet when I go there. I have to wonder, however, if it's the recipe for the ones they sell at the shop. In any case, it was a total win.</div>
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In summary, this was a great cupcake. I was worried that they were a little firm and muffin like (like a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie), but they were wonderful when combined with the frosting. They were a little too crumbly, possibly due to the 2 cups of chocolate chips (per dozen cupcakes) so I'd reduce that on the next round. I also found the frosting to be a bit fussy, which may have been attributed to the natural peanut butter I used which is not as thick and smooth as the "conventional" brands. The ratio given did not work at all, producing something to soft and not sweet enough. "Not sweet enough" will usually pass, but in this case, the saltiness of the peanut butter needs that sweetness to balance and brighten it up. I ended up added about double the powdered sugar which produced a frosting that was still a little less firm and structured that I'd normally like, but tasted just sweet enough to lighten the already rich cupcake. Taste always trumps appearance.<br />
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These were a hit with the bf and his coworkers (since he usually ends up bringing them to the office on Monday mornings).<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0EGyDWoOU9w?rel=0" width="420"></iframe>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Peanut Butter Chip Cupcakes Cupcake Ingredients</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1 cup unbleached all purpose flour</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1 tsp baking powder</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1/4 tsp salt</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">3/4 cup smooth all natural peanut butter, at room temperature</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1/2 cup sugar</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">2 large eggs</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1 tsp vanilla extract</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1/2 cup whole milk</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine milk and vanilla in small bowl. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in bowl. Beat butter and sugars in mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs and blend until smooth. Slowly mix in peanut butter. Add half the flour mixture and blend slowly. When fully incorporated, add milk mixture. Continue to blend slowly. Add remaining flour mixture and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Add chocolate chips and fold in by hand. Scoop into 12 lined baking cups and bake for about 22 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly touched and the edges are golden brown.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Frosting: </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">6 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1/2 cup confectioners' sugar</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1/2 teaspoon salt</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1 cup creamy peanut butter, natural (or if you want a smoother look, go not-natural)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">1/2 cup whole milk</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Combine sugar and salt in bowl. Combine milk and vanilla in bowl. Beat butter and peanut butter in mixer until smooth and creamy. Alternately add sugar and milk mixture until fully incorporated. Add additional milk for a softer consistency. Frost on top of cooled cupcakes.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://www.stumbleupon.com/hostedbadge.php?s=2"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3502524382123158093.post-54018808318298374022012-07-03T00:03:00.002-07:002012-07-03T00:03:38.347-07:00Rhapsody 4th of July Cake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5TjJ3Q8ZOuo/T_KRKGx46EI/AAAAAAAACkU/mFic3ckmNRA/s1600/IMG_3739.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="491" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5TjJ3Q8ZOuo/T_KRKGx46EI/AAAAAAAACkU/mFic3ckmNRA/s640/IMG_3739.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Every since I first got my hands on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cake-Bible-Rose-Levy-Beranbaum/dp/0688044026/ref=cm_rdp_product">The Cake Bible</a>, I have wanted to make the Star-Spangled Rhapsody cake. The thing about holiday cakes is, well, you've got to wait for the holiday to come around, and I was not going to miss this opportunity. I had been daydreaming about it for weeks. How many layers? What kind of filling? Keep the same decorative pattern?</div>
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As usual, the details of my cakes tend to result from what I have on hand. At that moment, it was a farmer's market with fresh ripe sweet strawberries, extra egg yolks from a batch of Swiss meringue buttercream, and two layers of white velvet butter cake I had in the freezer left over from baking for the <a href="http://sweetapolita.com/2011/01/neapolitan-5-layer-birthday-cake-with-strawberry-frosting/">Neapolitan cake</a> last week. The cake was still not complicated enough for it to be fun for me, so somehow I decided it must be an ice cream cake. Must.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WIZ7-bY5sio/T_KRQ-CSPjI/AAAAAAAACkc/BtpnBuTOpMI/s1600/IMG_3748.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WIZ7-bY5sio/T_KRQ-CSPjI/AAAAAAAACkc/BtpnBuTOpMI/s640/IMG_3748.JPG" width="475" /></a>
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This was pretty good for a first ice cream cake. Although, I may have been a little obsessive with the over-freezing and dry ice transport. I might do a few things differently the next time.</div>
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<li><span style="background-color: white;">Turning my freezer to maximum seemed to make the ice cream too icy. This is probably not necessary next time.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Making a Swiss Meringue buttercream is totally wasted here because the "best frosting I have ever tasted in my life" is completed dulled by the freezing process. Sadly, it became unremarkable.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Freezing the decorative fruit made them all frosty! They were gorgeously vibrant right before I returned the cake to the freezer. </span></li>
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Overall, I am simply very pleased with this cake. I think the red, white and blue just presents spectacularly as inspired by the Cake Bible showcase cake. This 8 inch cake also served 12 perfectly. There was apple pie too of course. So of course, you have to have both. You can't have 4th of July without apple pie.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--yHDYLKh1KQ/T_KRoNR-dQI/AAAAAAAACkk/8kmdb8KfifU/s1600/IMG_3763.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--yHDYLKh1KQ/T_KRoNR-dQI/AAAAAAAACkk/8kmdb8KfifU/s400/IMG_3763.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://www.stumbleupon.com/hostedbadge.php?s=2"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3502524382123158093.post-45223000691642531892012-06-26T14:42:00.003-07:002012-06-26T14:42:29.015-07:00Tres Leches Cupcakes with Dulce de Leche Swiss Meringue Buttercream<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BofUNF6aUGc/T-onLAnJH9I/AAAAAAAACkI/O7_96Qav7C4/s1600/562793_10151053659072640_635490562_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BofUNF6aUGc/T-onLAnJH9I/AAAAAAAACkI/O7_96Qav7C4/s400/562793_10151053659072640_635490562_n.jpg" width="262" /></span></a></div>
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This is one of my favorite cupcakes. It's sweet and rich, and surprisingly really satisfies my sweet tooth even without any chocolate. If you've never had tres leches cake (proudly displayed in Mexican bakeries and supermarkets), it's a white sponge cake completely soaked in a milk combination, topped with whipped cream and some combination of fruits or chocolate. It sounds odd if you've never had it, but hey, think about French dip and au jus - it's better when the good stuff is soaked in. Yuummm.<div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">This recipe requires a little more work in beating up and folding in egg whites. Then the milk has to be infused somehow. And then, after all that folding and baking and infusing, you don't even get to enjoy it until you let it sit overnight. But like macarons, the wait is totally worth it. Plus, using a meat injector to soak the cake, and getting to wave my giant syringe around in the kitchen and jabbing it defenseless cupcakes is just something you know you want to try.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Naturally, this cupcake is frosted with a variation of Swiss meringue buttercream (SMBC), utilizing dulce de leche. Dulce de leche is a sort of caramalized, sweetened condensed milk. Does that not sound like heaven? You can <a href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1e7bCp/www.bakersroyale.com/basic-baking-series/baking-basics-how-to-make-homemade-dulce-de-leche/">make your own</a>, which I've done before, but I just don't always have the time so allowed myself a little shortcut and just bought a can of it. In my opinion, when you have<a href="http://www.acakestory.co/2010/11/one-swiss-meringue-buttercream.html"> make a SMBC</a> base, you're allowed.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Recipe:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u><span class="highlighted0">Tres</span> <span class="highlighted1">Leches</span> Cupcakes</u></b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Makes 14-16 cupcakes</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">From <a href="http://www.bakersroyale.com/cupcakes/tres-leches-cupcakes/">Baker's Royale</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px;">¾ cup unsalted butter, softened</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px;">1 cup sugar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px;">3 eggs, separated</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px;">1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px;">1 cup all-purpose flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px;">1/2 teaspoon baking soda</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px;">1/2 teaspoon salt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px;">3/4 cup buttermilk</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px;">1/2 cup evaporated milk</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px;">1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px;">1/2 cup coconut milk (light is OK)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Preparation: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake wells with paper liners.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Instructions:</span></div>
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<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy on medium speed. Add egg yolks one at a time, mixing until combined. Add the vanilla and combine. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Alternately add the dry mixture with the buttermilk to the creamed butter beginning and ending with the flour.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">In a small bowl, beat the egg whites on high speed with clean beaters until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into cake batter.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Fill paper-lined wells 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to wire rack and set aside.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stir together the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and the coconut milk. Use a meat injector needle to inject warm cupcakes all over with about 1/2 to 3/4-ounce of the mixture. (you can also poke holes in the cupcakes with skewers and pour the mixture over them). Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight before frosting.</span></li>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Dulce de Leche Buttercream Frosting</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px;">5 large egg whites</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px;">1 1/2 cup sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px;">4 sticks unsalted butter, diced and softened</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px;">1/4 teaspoon salt</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px;">1 tablespoon vanilla</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px;">1/2-1 cup of dulce de leche, room temperature</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Instructions:</span></div>
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<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Combine egg whites and sugar in a bowl placed over simmering water. Bring mixture to 150 degrees F while whisking constantly. </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Transfer mixture to stand mixer bowl, fitted with a whisk attachment and beat on medium speed until mixture cools and doubles in volume.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Add butter in one piece at a time, mixing to incorporate after each addition. Add salt and vanilla and mix to combine. Add dulce de leche and mix to combine.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Assembly</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">1. Frost cooled cupcakes with dulce de leche buttercream and either sprinkle lightly toasted flaked coconut on top or dust with grated chocolate.</span></div>
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<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://www.stumbleupon.com/hostedbadge.php?s=2"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3502524382123158093.post-35003433487264049302012-02-14T17:02:00.000-08:002012-02-15T11:40:05.223-08:00I Finally Got It Right: Strawberry Valentine's Macarons<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've made one hundred and eighty two million thousand "variations" (versions, renditions, interpretations...) and, behold, the first batch I've been happy with was this Valentine's one. They've just always been lopsided, cracked or footless. It's just completely baffles me how some people can churn out batch after batch of gorgeous, immaculate macarons. Not to mention all the hoity toity shops with their macaron towers. Pshah. I'll admit, I've been a little jealous walking by those shops.</div>
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A couple weeks ago, I made a double batch of macs intended for a party: half lemon curd buttercream filling, and the other half was a salted caramel popcorn mac. They were beautiful, but I was convinced they were underdone, and put all of them back in the oven on a "warm" setting to stiffen up and dry out for a few minutes. I won't give you the blow-by-blow, but even after allowing them to mature, singing to them and pleading with them, they were brittle, crunchy, and just plain wrong. I had to chuck them. </div>
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Maybe it's my ego, or my stubbornness, or the crazy coming out (yeah, I'm a catch), but I just couldn't accept defeat. I folded them exactly 50 strokes, baked them at a low 280 degrees for a solid 16 minutes and gave them plenty of room in between so they wouldn't run into each other. </div>
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<strong>Me</strong>: This is getting to be an expensive hobby - I keep making these things and throwing them away. I just. Can't. Give up!</div>
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<strong>BF</strong>: *<em>Exhasperated look</em>* You're being a perfectionist. Your macarons are great.</div>
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<strong>Me</strong>: But they're not quite right. If I keep doing it over and over, maybe I'll get it right. Wait. Isn't that the definition of insanity, or something? Repeating the same behavior and expecting different results?</div>
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<strong>BF</strong>: As long as it keeps making you happy, you should keep doing it.</div>
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<strong>Me</strong>: So crazy is OK, if I'm happy?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ARIsiRYnf3uTlpLD92xog1HcL-1cacmlwMAs0Sudfs4dXAi_zQJKzzLPyVsEZdfPNeeVD3LgdHwgPX1e2Z3GkUzIjZB3WPg3GfCfbg-A3o79xAf8_92HYM2_GtVYdm1Wq5x8REL9PsY/s1600/Valentine's+Macarons+017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ARIsiRYnf3uTlpLD92xog1HcL-1cacmlwMAs0Sudfs4dXAi_zQJKzzLPyVsEZdfPNeeVD3LgdHwgPX1e2Z3GkUzIjZB3WPg3GfCfbg-A3o79xAf8_92HYM2_GtVYdm1Wq5x8REL9PsY/s400/Valentine's+Macarons+017.jpg" width="400" yda="true" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-we6KEom9t80/TzrjEdXJ10I/AAAAAAAACT8/9p24Ycy-acU/s1600/Valentine's+Macarons+007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">For my Valentine, who's simply always encouraging.</span></div>
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</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://www.stumbleupon.com/hostedbadge.php?s=2"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3502524382123158093.post-20602472895242489232012-01-16T13:58:00.000-08:002012-01-16T13:58:04.879-08:00Dad's Dark Chocolate Ganache Covered, Fresh Banana and Peanut Butter-Mousse Filled Yellow Birthday Cake<br />
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Happy New Year with a very very very late post. This cake is not even something I made this year but deserves a special post nonetheless. This was Dad's birthday cake from just before Christmas and it was one that was very carefully thought out. But I'm just going to be honest - I've newly rediscovered this phenomenon called "sleep", and I haven't baked a thing since the New Year except maybe a DiGorno's. And I'm not sorry at all. Christmas and New Years were the perfect end to 2011 with some time off of work, a great family gathering at my boyfriend's and then an epic ski trip with a big group of wonderfully silly and awesome friends.<br />
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My sister and I really had to puzzle this cake out. If we ever cooked or baked anything just for him, he'd obligingly eat it, but generally speaking, my dad doesn't really have a sweet tooth. We brain stormed and recollected the bits and pieces of our childhood for any memory for a sweet or treat that he favored. What we determined was that the cake would have to have peanuts or peanut butter, a simple classic yellow cake, dark chocolate and maybe caramel. Something like a snickers bar. What I ended up with was a four layer yellow cake with fresh banana filling, peanut butter mousse, and a dark chocolate ganache. Sorry. I can't do simple. Not worth my time.<br />
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I'm not a fan of yellow cake but this yellow cake was light, moist and fluffy thanks to an adaptation of a Cake Bible recipe. It was so light and fluffy, in fact, that if I were to make it again, I'd torte it in fewer layers so it could hold up a little better. This is a yellow cake that I'd gladly eat again and serve to my favorite people. The peanut butter mousse (by far my favorite part) tasted just like a Snickers ice cream bar. I could've eaten scoops of that stuff. The airy mousse paired perfectly with the fluffiness of the cake. I sliced up some ripe bananas to go in between the layers and topped the whole thing off with a my favorite dark chocolate ganache.<br />
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As an afterthought, I made some <a href="http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/how-tomake-chocolate-curls/">chocolate curls</a> and melted some almond bark for the writing. We brought this cake to Dad's surprise birthday party and my uncle's sushi restaurant. There wasn't a teeny tiny piece left. I think he liked it.<br />
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One would think that having been a science major in college, and having worked in research all my adult life, I'd be better at documenting what it is I'm adapting in the kitchen. Alas, let's hope that I scribbled down on my stained and tatterred baking notepad how it was exactly that I formulated this creation so that the "experiment" can be repeatable...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://www.stumbleupon.com/hostedbadge.php?s=2"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3502524382123158093.post-26879113794440633922011-11-23T10:49:00.001-08:002011-11-23T12:23:01.523-08:00Rainbow Velvet and Marshmallow Clouds<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When I was a kid, I loved Lisa Frank stationary. Remember that stuff? It was bright and colorful, and even at age nine, when you should be a little too old for stickers, I had a sticker collection which consisted mostly of Lisa Frank and Sanrio stuff. This rainbow cake reminds me of a Lisa Frank collection and of being a kid. In fact, I believe I was humming the Reading Rainbow theme song while affixing the clouds onto the sky… “Butterflies in the sky, I can go twice as high…</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A cousin of a friend of a friend (right?) was planning her daughter’s first <em>rainbow themed</em> birthday party and had this cake in mind. I was super excited, you have no idea. Lately I’ve gotten opportunities to challenge my skills and make things that I couldn’t justify doing just for fun. Except wedding cakes. When I start getting more than 4 hours sleep a night, I realize I’m just being a lazy blub, and I start making <a href="http://www.acakestory.co/2011/11/baker-shaker-wedding-cake-maker.html">wedding cakes</a>. Just for fun. I kid. It’s usually 5 hours of sleep. But these opportunities actually justify all my trips to Costco for embarrasing amounts of butter.</span></span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’ve made <a href="http://www.acakestory.co/2010/11/airplanes-in-skies.html">marshmallow clouds</a> before and I think the idea is really really cute and I’m so glad I got to make them again. It’s just <a href="http://www.marthastewart.com/261309/marshmallow-for-piping">Martha’s piping marshmallow</a>, with a 3/8” round tip (the same one I use for macarons) piped into free form cloud shapes. They are fixed onto the fondant cake with royal icing. I was pressed for time, however, and used a toothpick to hold the clouds on as the royal icing dried. I wish I could take credit for the cake topper, but this creative mommy actually ordered this figurine to be custom made to her little girl’s photo, favorite bear and birthday outfit! It’s just so insanely cute. It hurts.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’ve been on a red velvet kick lately and I thought to make the cake a “rainbow velvet” which would have some of the same great “velvet” complexity. I used a double batch of my wedding cake recipe, omitting the cocoa and leaving the baking soda/vinegar emulsion to the end to be mixed separately for each portion before baking. Once the batter was mixed, I portioned out into seven bowls (using a scale) and mixed my colors in. Since I only have three 8” pans, the baking was done in three batches. Yes, I waited for each batch to cool enough, re-washed, re-greased, and re-parchmented. This is also where I learned that stacking your pans on two different levels in the oven results in uneven cake layers (no convection oven here) even when using cake strips. Luckily, with the thickness I needed the layers to be, I torted off essentially all of the unevenness. With seven layers, it was necessary to really get these even and level while building on them so they would be structurally sound as well as aesthetically pleasing. I used a ruler, as cake leveler and a cake knife to do it. A thinner layer of cream cheese frosting went in between to keep the layers from sliding around or icing from oozing out from the weight of the stack, but with seven layers, I was not worried that there wouldn’t be enough frosting to cake ratio.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The cake was complemented with a set of <a href="http://www.acakestory.co/2010/11/butterfly-effect.html">Lemon Cupcakes</a> and Coconut <a href="http://www.acakestory.co/2010/11/one-swiss-meringue-buttercream.html">Swiss Meringue Buttercream</a>, which was a standard SMBC recipe with added reduced coconut milk. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I'll post the recipe soon-ish!...</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://www.stumbleupon.com/hostedbadge.php?s=2"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3502524382123158093.post-35323372638007072942011-11-14T12:38:00.001-08:002011-11-14T13:48:50.135-08:00Baker, Shaker, Wedding Cake Maker<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">A month ago, a friend asked me to make the cake for her daughter’s wedding and confirmed my standing suspicion that she was a little cuckoo. (Tooootally kidding! I love you, Liz!) I was honored and happily agreed… and as I thought and thought about it over the course of weeks leading up the wedding day, I realized that I was, in fact, the cuckoo-bird. I started to wake up in the middle of the night from dreams of the cake toppling, or being in a car wreck on the way to the reception, or even forgetting to bake the cake! <em>Really</em>, who do I think I am? I bake at home, purely for my own amusement. My mom pragmatically pointed out that this was someone’s</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> wedding</i>, and maybe just a little more than one of my fun little baking experiments. A wedding cake is one of the most important pieces of one of the most important events in two peoples' lives! No pressure or anything. But in the end, they had that much faith in me to have me do my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">first ever</i> wedding cake and I always step up to a challenge. Anyways, I’ve watched enough Food Network Challenges to have it in the bag.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We decided to go with Red Velvet – as the bride is a big red velvet fan. The only catch was, this cake needed to be <a href="http://kosherfood.about.com/od/glossaryofkosherterms/g/parve.htm">parve</a>, and I know from my vegan sister, that subbing for dairy sometimes results in wonky tastes and textures. I went through a few recipes and test batches and put together my favorite Red Velvet, parve or not. Ever (recipe to be posted soon). I was also really inspired by <a href="http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/project-wedding-cake-ta-da/">Smitten Kitchen’s wedding cake</a> and took advantage of many of her tips. And just like she said, my kitchen floor ended up disastrous. Maybe the kitchen walls too. Somewhere along the way, I knocked a bowl of red food color-cocoa emulsion from the counter. Splatter. Everywhere. I’m sure it really looked like a crime scene when my boyfriend came running in response to my shrill scream to discover a deep read puddle in the middle of the kitchen and me and everything in a five foot radius covered in forensic evidence. It’s really funny actually. Or twisted. As far as clean-up, I had three days of sleep to catch-up on and another wedding to attend the next day and decided to avoid going into my kitchen altogether. In fact, tonight I'll have to chose between doing dishes and disposable dining ware. My hands are still chapped from washing my mixer bowl 73 times. When the <strike>dust</strike> powdered sugar settled, there were piles and piles of emptied flour and sugar sacks, bottles of vanilla, buttery stick boxes, cocoa containers, shortening and tofutti tubs. I’ve never gone through so many baking supplies before. Not to mention cake boards and cake board foil and transporting boxes, pans and parchment. I literally multiplied my standard 8” cake recipe by 15 times. Read: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">72 cups of batter</i>. I needed a spreadsheet for these calculations. Now I get why wedding cakes are so expensive. Macarons too. Totally justified.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The wedding venue was a gorgeous historic building in Downtown LA, complete with marble balusters, a dramatic cascading staircase leading to a mezzanine and over 200 guests. I must admit, when I arrived to set up the cake and saw the crews of florists, caterers and lighting specialists running around, I started to get nervous. By the time I saw the showcased cake table and display of exotic fruits and desserts behind it, yogic breathing was all I could do to quell my shaking hands into piping the snail-trail trim on the cake. Ricardo from <place w:st="on"><a href="http://www.lunagardensevents.com/"><placename w:st="on">Luna</placename> <placetype w:st="on">Gardens</placetype></a></place>, who was a delight, added the exquisite Black Magic roses to finish it off. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I snapped some pictures and slipped out just as the valet guys were taking the first guests to pull up for the ceremony.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s an amazing feeling to have successfully pulled of my first wedding cake and I must give special thanks to my boyfriend. He picked up food for me when I forgot to eat, demanded that I take power naps (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">demanded –</i> we were on the verge of a fight at my refusal to sleep) and made up my whole delivery team. Imagine the patience it takes to keep it together when you're driving a car full of wedding cake and your girlfriend is hyperventilating at every stop light you close in on. He completely believed I could do it and assured me the world would not implode if I didn’t.</span></div>
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<em>Congratulations, Natlie & Ed</em></div>
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<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://www.stumbleupon.com/hostedbadge.php?s=2"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3502524382123158093.post-45900504628159779702011-11-01T20:13:00.000-07:002011-11-02T11:29:03.845-07:00Roasted Pumpkin Seeds and a Pumpkin Carving<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Yeah, I’m one of those people who likes to enter into every contest, giveaway and raffle. Some person, somewhere, is going to win free stuff, and that person might as well be me! It so happens that my boyfriend is a tech enthusiast (I didn’t say “geek”, ok? You did. Didn’t you? Oh, you didn’t. Ok…) and told me about this contest that </span><a href="http://www.intomobile.com/2011/10/26/giveaway-win-galaxy-tab-89-jawbone-jambox-and-25-gift-card-intomobile-nvidia/"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: purple;">IntoMobile </span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">was having for some great shiny new toys provided by Nvidia. Mostly, all I heard was that I get to carve a pumpkin and my mind wandered off with the possibilities of how I would execute this, while <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">he </i>went on about how awesome the prizes were (a Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9, a Jawbone Jambox and a $25 gift card).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The day before Halloween, we set out to find a pumpkin. We strategically consulted some neighbors and learned that the best place to get pumpkins was at the Trader Joe’s… in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Valley</i>. I briefly considered a Coach purse and some Juicy Couture sweat pants to blend in with the natives but abandoned that idea when we decided to expedite the process to fit in a beach day as well (wouldn't have worked without a Range Rover anyway). We were gonna go into this store with shields up - quick and dirty!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Well, after stumbling over a few bales of hay, elbowing a couple of pre-teen girls and narrowly avoiding a head-first dip into the giant pumpkin bin, we succeeded in securing the largest, orangey-est, most gorgeous two pumpkins, if I do say so myself. We happily went on to enjoy an such a fantastic picnic on the beach that we neglected to realize that it would mean not getting home to start the carving until very late! Seven long, infomercial filled, exhausting hours later (including ice cream breaks), this is what I got:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">To do this, we printed out a logo image in grayscale and taped it to the pumpkin. Then I used an exacto knife to make perforations along all the lines I wanted to carve. Exacto blades (that were completely dull by the time I was halfway through) were used for almost the entire thing, with the help of a sharp paring knife for some of the clean up. I used a serrated steak knife for the lid, of course. The texture in the negative space is a familiar one I'd done before in making this watch carving a few years ago from a bar of soap. I love exacto knives. Exacto knives and silicone spatulas. And puppies.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Oh yeah, the pumpkin seeds! Well these were a total bonus. I haven’t carved a pumpkin in years, I almost threw these away as an afterthought. Glad I didn't, because I'm chomping on them right now. Here they are, all dressed up and yummy!</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Cinnamon-Sugar Roasted Pumpkin Seeds</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><em>from </em></span><a href="http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/10/cinnamon-sugar-roasted-pumpkin-seeds-recipe.html"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: purple; font-size: x-small;"><em>Serious Eats</em></span></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">1 1/2 cups pumpkin seeds </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">2 tablespoons melted butter (or olive oil) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">2 tablespoon granulated sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">1 teaspoon cinnamon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Preheat oven to 350°F. Wash pumpkin seeds and lay out on a paper towel on a cookie sheet to dry. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">In a medium bowl, toss the seeds with the melted butter, coating thoroughly. Add the remaining ingredients and toss. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Spread the seeds out evenly across a baking sheet lined with foil. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Bake for 30 minutes, or until the seeds are golden brown. Stir the seeds every so often while they're baking, so that they toast evenly.</span><br />
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</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://www.stumbleupon.com/hostedbadge.php?s=2"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3502524382123158093.post-6554329144685019432011-10-25T17:15:00.000-07:002011-10-25T17:15:22.577-07:00A Halloween Cake: Waldorf Astoria Red Velvet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week I had a housewarming party to go to, a cake recipe to test, and some Halloween spirit to get out of my system. Since I am a super-woman, multi-tasking model of efficiency, I did all three in the form of this one cake. Of course, since the party was across town on a Friday evening, and I have a day job that might as well be located in another country, and every now and then my body does this weird shut-down thing called sleep, something inevitably had to go. (So, super-woman - not so much) Usually that something is combing my hair, or matching my left shoe to my right. Luckily, when you walk in with a triple layer cake, no one seems to notice that you didn’t get your hair done, nails done, everything did…</span></span><br />
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<span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Red velvet cake has been in trend that past few years and I’m not one to jump on a bandwagon. However, I really do love the complexity of this flavor and it’s a little puzzling to me why it’s not as ubiquitous as chocolate or white cake. I have a very big project coming up in the next few weeks involving a whole lot of red velvet cake - <em>dairy free </em>red velvet cake - and I’ve been going through all my red velvet recipes. This may be the one. I used the traditional boiled icing for the frosting here (which has dairy ingredients) and found it to be really nice – not too sweet, and not too buttery.</span></span></div>
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<span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Waldorf-Astoria Red Velvet Cake</strong></span></span></div>
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<span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em>Adapted from </em></span><a href="http://www.food.com/recipe/waldorf-astoria-red-velvet-cake-8972#ixzz1bq38PJk8"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em>troyh </em></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">on Food.com</span></em></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1/2 cup shortening (Spectrum brand organic vegetable shortening)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 1/2 cups sugar</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 ounces red food coloring</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Prepare three 8” round baking pans with parchment rounds and baking spray. Pre-heat your oven to 350</span><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">°</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">F. Cream the shortening and sugar and eggs one at a time until blended. In a separate bowl, combine the food coloring, vanilla and cocoa until dissolved. Add to the creamed mixture. Add almond milk, alternating with flour and salt. In a small dish, add soda to vinegar, and blend into the batter. Pour batter evenly into the baking pans and bake immediately. Bake 24-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean. Allow to cool in pan about ten minutes, and then remove from pan and allow to cool completely on a rack, parchment side down.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Adapted from </span><a href="http://www.sprinklebakes.com/2011/09/portrait-of-poe-in-waldorf-astoria-red.html"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sprinkle Bakes</span></a></em></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1/4 cup flour</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">In a large saucepan, combine flour and salt. Whisk in almond milk slowly until smooth while placed over medium heat.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;"> Allow mixture to reduce and thicken while whisking constantly until past-like. Remove from heat and cool completely. For me, this was at about one in the morning so I decided to “relax” on the couch while the mixture cooled…until 6 am when I woke up with a giant couch cushion imprint across my face. This was probably why my frosting wasn’t as smooth as I would have liked.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;"></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and mix until combined. Combine cooled flour mixture on high speed and beat for about 10 minutes until smooth and you can no longer feel the sugar granules. Or just beat for as long as you can get away with before your neighbor puts in a complaint that you’re doing kitchen construction at the crack of dawn. Frost cakes as desired. Go to work. Come home and stencil some orange frosting on the side of the cake, throw some Halloween sprinkles across the top, find a clean dress, and go to the party. Remember to bring the cake.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0PIVLG5sjKs/TqdMUrZ_bFI/AAAAAAAAB9c/yFTeED0ZjBc/s1600/2011-10-14_22-56-32_961.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" ida="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0PIVLG5sjKs/TqdMUrZ_bFI/AAAAAAAAB9c/yFTeED0ZjBc/s320/2011-10-14_22-56-32_961.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://www.stumbleupon.com/hostedbadge.php?s=2"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3502524382123158093.post-47691537865399911492011-10-07T13:59:00.000-07:002011-10-07T13:59:02.342-07:00Pumpkin Whoopie Pies<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">It rained here this week. And by rain, I mean it was raining cats and dogs, minus the cats and dogs. Because that would have been awesome. And it was cold too! And by cold, I mean about 60 degrees around dinner-time by which time the rain had cleared in Hollywood and I was able to don my high heals. The weather forecast also says it should be back in the mid-eighties next week. Okay, so for just a day or two, I got to feel sad for my sun dresses and flip-flops that didn’t get nearly enough wear this past summer. I got to pretend I was a Seattleite and wear my favorite trench coat. I also got to be nostalgic over fall spices and pumpkin baked goods. Fortunately, this is LA, and that rain thing is sooo just a fad. And I can still have my pumpkin spice latte at the corner Starbucks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">I’ve been planning my baking around pumpkin for the past month, but pumpkin puree wasn’t nearly as easy to find as I thought. Luckily, my wonderful boyfriend was able to track some down at Trader Joe's and got me three times as much as I asked for. This was a quick one to whip up: <a href="http://acozykitchen.com/soft-pumpkin-sandwich-cookies/">Soft pumpkin sandwich cookies</a> (aka: pumpkin whoopie pies) from A Cozy Kitchen. I have to say, I couldn't resist filling a pair of the cookies with cream cheese filling while the cookies were still a bit warm. If only you (someone, anyone) were there with me for that - it was amazing. And you know - they only come out of the oven once.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">These are just perfect. Not too sweet with just the right amount of spices. And oh, my new fascination with the scent of cardamom! This was my first time using it. I finally got to use the cardamom I picked up a while ago, but they were whole pods and I didn't have a spice grinder. Just cardamom pods... and a hammer... Guess what? Of all the bumps and cuts I've gotten over the past few days - burning my finger on a sheet tray, getting a paper cut from card-stock, a sore arm from the flu shot - I did not injure myself with the hammer. Ha! Well, not this time... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">I think you should make these. They're super easy. And yummy. I didn't fuss with the recipe at all (if you don't count the hammer-spice-grinder technique) so you can get it at <a href="http://acozykitchen.com/">A Cozy Kitchen</a>.</span></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://www.stumbleupon.com/hostedbadge.php?s=2"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3502524382123158093.post-43371696076821435832011-08-23T15:27:00.000-07:002011-08-24T09:30:56.005-07:00Go Bananas for Best Chocolate Frosting and Cupcakes<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-llJyqGmICNQ/TlQobancP_I/AAAAAAAABrk/c7q9Tt0xXls/s1600/Picture3+002.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="410" qaa="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-llJyqGmICNQ/TlQobancP_I/AAAAAAAABrk/c7q9Tt0xXls/s640/Picture3+002.1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Recently, I was told by my boyfriend that his mom’s chocolate frosting was the best chocolate frosting he’d ever tasted in his entire life, wait, no, in the <em>world </em>(he might have held his arms outstretched demonstrating the magnitude of this concept: the <em>world</em>). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">That</i> was quite a bold statement. Everyone thinks their mom’s such and such recipe is the best ever. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Even Supreme Court judges are biased when it comes to their mothers' cooking, I'm sure. I considered my own frosting repertoire and although I make</span> ganache from time to time, I never really do chocolate buttercream. I guess I hadn't yet found <em>the one. S</em>uffice it to say, I was extremely intrigued and I’ve been a squeaky wheel about getting this recipe for a while. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">I was taken aback to find out that it was an American (aka simple or confectioner’s sugar) buttercream, which I’ve been poo-pooing since I discovered meringue buttercreams. American buttercreams are usually over-the-top sweet and just one-dimensional. Alas, it seems that sometimes the most elegant solution is the simplest one. This gorgeous frosting was just right – light, not too sweet, with just the right sharpness from the chocolate. There is noticeably less butter in this recipe than other confectioner’s buttercreams making it much lighter in taste and texture. I added a touch of cornstarch so it would hold up to the summer heat a little better. I will definitely be making this again. What a find.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Chocolate and bananas are one of my favorite cake combinations. Banana cake is just simple and homey and satisfying. This Smitten Kitchen recipe was used for a <a href="http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/09/monkey-cake/">monkey cake</a> (cutest idea ever) and makes the moistest, most yummiest banana-ey cake ever (I'm allowed that - I was eighth-grade vocabulary bee champion). I cut the recipe by half, hoping to yield just a dozen cupcakes but ended up with 18. Somehow, they've almost all been eaten.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj74SUtXeW1PL0OzCE5Wt4v9dSjz2Nzfqxi-XLDYFvZvE0rasQxpCLgaHHd858bgFv29QAr3Bu-OsLFRinukDi7i-10abTNTYB21kQ7bVKj7wjbk1o_0RRlvoF8MyrCirYJToNNTkeB4oA/s1600/Picture3+017.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj74SUtXeW1PL0OzCE5Wt4v9dSjz2Nzfqxi-XLDYFvZvE0rasQxpCLgaHHd858bgFv29QAr3Bu-OsLFRinukDi7i-10abTNTYB21kQ7bVKj7wjbk1o_0RRlvoF8MyrCirYJToNNTkeB4oA/s320/Picture3+017.1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"><strong>Banana Cake</strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Adapted from <a href="http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/09/monkey-cake/">Smitten Kitchen</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">(<em>Yields ~18 cupcakes or one 9” round cake</em>)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">1 ¾ C cake flour</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">1 tsp baking powder</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">¾ tsp baking soda</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">¼ tsp salt</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">¼-½ tsp cinnamon</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">½ C unsalted butter, room temperature</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">½ C sugar</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">½ C packed golden brown sugar</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">2 large eggs</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">1 cups mashed very ripe bananas (2-3)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">3 tbsp sour cream</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">1 tsp vanilla extract</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Whisk together dry ingredients and set aside. Using electric mixer, cream butter and sugars in large bowl. Beat in eggs one at a time, and then bananas and the remaining ingredients. Beat in dry ingredients in two additions just until combined. Divide batter into cupcake pan evenly (about 2/3 full). Bake about 22-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out mostly clean with just a few crumbs on it. Allow to cool in pan 10 minutes before transferring to a rack.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Rich Chocolate Buttercream</span></strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Adapted from The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">(<em>Yields about 2 cups for 14-18 cupcakes</em>)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">1 oz unsweetened chocolate</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">1 oz semisweet chocolate</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">½ C butter, softened</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">2 C sifted powdered sugar (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I sifted this with the cocoa</i>)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">1/8 C cocoa</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">1/8 C milk (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I used almond milk</i>)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">1 tsp vanilla extract</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">1-2 tbsp cornstarch (<em>optional)</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Melt chocolate on double boiler, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add chocolate and mix until combined. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mix in powdered sugar and remaining ingredients and beat until smooth and fluffy. <em>Optional</em>: I added some cornstarch (let's be honest, I wasn't really measuring) to get a consistency that would hold up to piping and popped the batch in the fridge for a bit before actually frosting.</span><br />
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</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://www.stumbleupon.com/hostedbadge.php?s=2"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3502524382123158093.post-17452058938339878112011-08-22T12:38:00.000-07:002011-08-22T12:40:09.837-07:00Dog Bone Sugar Cookies for Humans<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZhZJtid4WjxVmLdP_j5SmssOa2QcZBj3DXJnYIyTlJhyphenhyphenHdgEqoIKClgyvbJWF6xSR3vEPYfJE9L2zoFgMCyd3kNwycwr7Q_5RYdqYz69ThCs099xy9aXf4_8KVkqkdc5XHGfG3EYXJ2Y/s1600/Picture2+005.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="508" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZhZJtid4WjxVmLdP_j5SmssOa2QcZBj3DXJnYIyTlJhyphenhyphenHdgEqoIKClgyvbJWF6xSR3vEPYfJE9L2zoFgMCyd3kNwycwr7Q_5RYdqYz69ThCs099xy9aXf4_8KVkqkdc5XHGfG3EYXJ2Y/s640/Picture2+005.1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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After last week’s success with the Owl Cupcakes, I’ve gotten requests for more treats from the same bunch at the office: doggy themed sugar cookies! This <strike>quirky</strike> fun group threw a little farewell party for the office Chihuahua, Chloe. Chloe is moving out of state and these cookies are in her honor. Except the cookies are not for Chloe, they are for the humans (I'm hoping Chloe got a nibble anyway!). I should mention that these people are entertainment industry folk. And it's LA. Now it’s making sense, right?<br />
<br />
Ok, so for these dogbone cookies – I went to <a href="http://www.surlatable.com/">Sur la table</a>, the toy store to my inner child. They have a really great selection of all kinds of gadgets. I’m giddy right now just thinking about it. Really. Well, they had every cookie cutter I could have wanted – except for the one I wanted. When I probed an employee to see if he was hiding the one shape I was looking for in his apron pocket, the security guard dutifully chimed in that a group of hoodlums had hit the display the day before and shuffled all the shapes together. I just didn't get that - I was the OCD kid that was sorting the items by type, size, shape and color while my mom shopped. Well, Security-Man was also <em>absolutely</em> certain that there was <em>exactly</em> one dog bone cookie cutter somewhere in the pile. <em>One</em>. That much confidence is always inspiring and contagious, so the three of us were now crouching, reaching and squinting about this massive rotating cookie-cutter tower, up to our elbows in crimped aluminum. You should have seen it – quite the collective effort. The outcome did not look good, and just as I was about to throw in the towel, Security-Man shot a triumphant fist in the air with gleaming copper dogbone cookie cutter safely in his possession. The entire store broke out in sustained applause. Ok, not really, but I was quite grateful.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="265" qaa="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3-ry0lkDI3k/TlKire8L-LI/AAAAAAAABrU/cYsE60Zket8/s400/Picture2+013.jpg" width="400" /></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="265" qaa="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AfsrOWnsECw/TlKhmMJyOeI/AAAAAAAABrQ/s4Gj-84F_Wk/s400/Picture2+001.jpg" width="400" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div>For this cookie, I used <a href="http://bakeat350.blogspot.com/2008/04/taste-of-yellow-yellow-rose-sugar.html">Bake at 350’s recipe</a> with the addition of a vanilla bean. It’s awesome because the dough is quite manageable and easy to roll. It maintains it’s shape well after baking, without the requisite hour or two of refrigeration normally called for. For decorating and transporting, however, I found that it was not as sturdy as I would have liked. For eating – it was perfect. I think I would like to have baked these a couple minutes longer just so they would have been slightly crisper.<br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div>The <a href="http://bakeat350.blogspot.com/2010/01/royal-icing-102-or-201-or-whatever.html">royal icing</a> was also from Bake at 350 and it was a pleasure to work with. The recipe calls for corn syrup, which I think adds to the drying time. While the icing was in the mixer, a friend popped by and totally distracted me in conversation. Of course I didn’t forget about it – please, I’m not an amateur – but I assumed it was like <a href="http://sweetopia.net/2009/05/tea-party-cookies/">Sweetopia’s royal icing</a>, where you could walk away for half an hour while the mixer was stirring away with no problem. Problem. The icing was fluffy and meringue-like and dreamy to pipe with, but I realized later that the extra air and fluffiness resulted in an icing that lacked the density to withstand the <em>Throw Your Cookie Across the Room at Your Cat/Family Member/Neighbor’s Kid</em> Test. I suppose you could probably get away with just holding and packaging your cookies very gently. The cat/family member/neighbor’s kid would probably prefer that too. But that's no fun.<br />
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<img border="0" height="408" qaa="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-49zuexR_dmY/TlKis1KzIeI/AAAAAAAABrY/fBP0An2uzfA/s640/Picture2+004.1.jpg" width="640" /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong>Vanilla-Almond Sugar Cookies</strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">From <a href="http://bakeat350.blogspot.com/2008/04/taste-of-yellow-yellow-rose-sugar.html">Bake at 350</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">3 C AP flour</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">2 tsp baking powder</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">1 C sugar (you can use sugar stored with vanilla beans in it)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">2 sticks (salted) butter, cold</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">1 egg</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">¾ tsp pure vanilla extract</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">½ tsp pure almond extract</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Preheat oven to 350. Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter and then add the egg and extracts. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, making sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Knead the dough just so the crumbly bits come together when taking it out of the bowl. Roll on a floured surface and cut into shapes. Place on parchment or silpat lined baking sheets and freeze for about 5 minutes before finally baking 10-12 minutes. Allow to set for a few minutes out of the oven before transferring to a cooling rack.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong>Royal Icing</strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Adjusted for yield from <a href="http://bakeat350.blogspot.com/2010/01/royal-icing-102-or-201-or-whatever.html">Bake at 350</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><em>(Enough to cover 4 dozen cookies)</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">6 tbsp meringue powder</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">¾ C water</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">1.5 lb. powdered sugar</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">1 tsp light corn syrup </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">A few drops clear extract (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I used lemon)</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">With the paddle attachment your stand mixer, mix the meringue powder and water on low until foamy. Sift in the powdered sugar continue to mix until combined. Add in the corn syrup and extract and increase speed to med-high/high and beat for about 5 minutes and glossy stiff peaks form. The corn syrup is optional, really, and I think I’ll skip this next time as it added to the drying time. Divide and color using gel paste food colorings. Use this consistency for lettering and decorating. Use a portion of the divided and colored icing to dilute with water into flooding consistency (the streak of a butter knife swiped through should disappear completely in 10-12 seconds).</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFqBvG6ho9bdE5XBlnZ5hiG1M01UE40ETnqln_LgQhy8IxtAAhr4JLdL7PGZGmHGhZNQgKjQ64dQNq5ar4eKMPDpKm0B-80m2ZzGowykagE_yqxVKL-vRlgHLybttvzEnkXTQ5z42SGTM/s320/1_imagejpeg952.jpg" width="320" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Au revoir, Chloe!</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://www.stumbleupon.com/hostedbadge.php?s=2"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3502524382123158093.post-77757695286412687302011-08-12T12:12:00.000-07:002011-08-16T10:15:01.228-07:00Guess Whoooo? It's a girl!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BuNayeowySY/TkVW0zhDGtI/AAAAAAAABoI/JrdaOrs0G6E/s1600/Picture1+002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" naa="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BuNayeowySY/TkVW0zhDGtI/AAAAAAAABoI/JrdaOrs0G6E/s640/Picture1+002.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can share something with you because we're so close, right? Meh, I don't care, I'm going to tell you anyway. I've always known I'd have a daughter someday; someone whom I would dress up and be besties with… and I'm really excited I finally get to celebrate! Yes, there is a baby girl on the way and so this cake story was a labor of love. And of course, it was always a given that my first girl would be special. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These creations will be taken to work for the office baby shower and I'm so excited to share them with everyone there. They are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the</i> best chocolate (cup)cakes with the most delicious strawberry-raspberry Swiss meringue buttercream. And <em>who</em> doesn't love owls. WHO? WHO? I can’t believe I stayed up all night making over 30 of these little buggers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I haven't told many people about this but I guess I'm telling all 3 of my readers now - this was the first order I’ve received for a girl baby shower and it was so much fun! So, no, there are no actual baby showers in <em>my</em> honor. I’m just <strike>crashing others'</strike> living vicariously for now. (Mom: You can exhale and release your death-grip on the chair arm-rests. No grandkids for you just yet.) I also did a </span><a href="http://cakestory.blogspot.com/2010/11/airplanes-in-skies.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">sky themed</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> order for a baby boy named Skylar last year with piping marshmallow for clouds. Just redonkulously cute. I can't help but wonder what theme my own baby shower will have... A girl's gonna day dream, right?</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ve used this <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/03/layer-cake-tips-the-biggest-birthday-cake-yet/">Smitten chocolate butter cake recipe</a></span> before for the <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://cakestory.blogspot.com/2011/02/captains-cake.html">Captain’s Cake</a></span> and for cupcakes… I don’t remember the occasion. Cupcakes don't need an ocassion. They should be eaten just because. This cake is just so dang soft and chocolately and delicious that I always forget to write down that it does not make for a very pretty cupcake! The cake is so light that the paper liner kind of slumps off. Fiddlesticks! Whatevs, it’s still delish and I got <em>mine</em>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Swiss meringue buttercream was made in <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://cakestory.blogspot.com/2010/11/one-swiss-meringue-buttercream.html">the usual manner </a></span>with added berries and the frosting came together beautifully with no fuss at all (the stars must have aligned in my favor). Just think of the best strawberry ice cream you’ve ever had. This is it. Next time, however, I would pipe with an<span style="color: black;"> <span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">open star</span></span> tip Atecco #828 rather than the <span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">closed star tip <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Wilton</place></city> #2D</span></span> because pieces of fruit purree kept stopping up the tip - but really, this might only become frustrating if you're sleep deprived, covered in cake batter and piping at 3am with 32 fondant owls still to make.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ve learned to make my own fondant since the fiasco of my first experience (you can re-live that <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://cakestory.blogspot.com/2010/10/airplines-and-clouds-and-marshmallows.html">here</a> if you must</span>). It’s time consuming, but so much tastier and cheaper. You can make it ahead and freeze it too according to Rose Levy-Berenbaum in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cake Bible</i>. And We do not question Rose. For this project, however, I am guilty of using the pre-made stuff. If you’ve ever played with play-doh, it’s pretty much that. No special tools. I don’t have a ton of experience with fondant but this was just what I needed to get back in my artsy groove. (Fondant's a total fad and buttercream will rise up and dominate once again.)</span><br />
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</span><br />
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chocolate Butter Cake</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I adapted</span><a href="http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/03/layer-cake-tips-the-biggest-birthday-cake-yet/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Smitten Kitchen's recipe</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> to yield 2/3 of the batter and 48 cupcakes</span><br />
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</span><br />
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Strawberry & Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream</span></strong><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enough for 36 cupcakes</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6 sticks of butter (1.5 lbs)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1.5 cups plus 3 tablespoons sugar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8 large egg yolks</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 teaspoons vanilla extract</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1/2 cup raspberry puree</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1/2 cup strawberry puree</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mmmm, so I eyeballed the amount of buttercream I needed for 4 dozen cupcakes and came up short by a whole dozen. Good thing I needed only three dozen! You can look at my post on </span><a href="http://cakestory.blogspot.com/2010/11/one-swiss-meringue-buttercream.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Swiss meringue buttercream</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> for the method. Make sure to use soft butter that's been out at room temperature for a while, and have to whisk attachment on your stand mixer set to medium-high. Add the fruit last, little by little, making sure the buttercream doesn't get too runny.</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Can't you see? I'm no good without you... Billy really did say it best - she totally got it. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I had no oven for an entire month. (Pause to appreciate the gravity of this situation) No. I'm not kidding you. And seeing as how I don't really know how to do much else in the kitchen aside from baking, I was lost. Last month I moved to a new apartment. It’s a very charming place, really, with loads of character and vintage details. At first, I was concerned that my half-sheets wouldn't fit in kitschy, made-for-TV oven. But they did. And even the overwhelming sunny-yellow 1950’s kitchen tile grew on me. So when just enough boxes were unpacked that I could get by (think toothbrush and clean underthings), I decided that the new Smitten recipe could wait no longer. I got to work with my dozen eggs and two pounds of sugar, buzzing with the excitement of turning out my first creation here. And of course, just before I poured the batter into the pan, I checked that the thermometer in the pre-heating oven read 350<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">°</span></span>F.<br />
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This would be the part of the movie where the music crescendos - right before the alien/evil-bad-guy/mutated-virus-infected zombie jumps out at you...</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Nothing.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">As in: No heat. As in: No fire – that thing whereby the ability of which to create it propelled Man into an era of progress and development. Wild-eyed and ear pressed against the oven to listen to the subtle changes of the gas flow, I frantically cranked every knob, pushed every button and checked every pilot light. <br />
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Nothing. <em>Nothing!</em><br />
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The next few hours were spent writhing on the kitchen floor - kicking, screaming and cursing the gods who laughed down on me, cruelly.<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">OK, not really. But I had to be somewhere and there was just no more time. No TIME, I say! I forced myself to shove the batter into the fridge – it was too painful to toss and too painful to look at. It would take three weeks for the repair guy to track down the antique spare parts needed to make my soul whole again. In that expanse of time, my stand mixer was left to sit quietly in the corner of my kitchen, watching me with sadness and resentment. A sign of onsetting psychosis, I'm sure.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUWgiCf_W0d-jaCeMrf9LOrvYHz919RgUPdH9BErpEuvX22aGcxQsLJk6Y0naHfcUPgSRof_1lDksVdQyoZ91B9F8cZ4Su3k9_egKSGTJXFxKqdg9vUHxc5P3nIUCPHYua4zAKtbypuvo/s1600/279796_10150313644077640_727347639_9077176_3637888_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUWgiCf_W0d-jaCeMrf9LOrvYHz919RgUPdH9BErpEuvX22aGcxQsLJk6Y0naHfcUPgSRof_1lDksVdQyoZ91B9F8cZ4Su3k9_egKSGTJXFxKqdg9vUHxc5P3nIUCPHYua4zAKtbypuvo/s400/279796_10150313644077640_727347639_9077176_3637888_o.jpg" t$="true" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Meanwhile, life went on. But everything I came across reminded me of the lost opportunities to bake. Like these gorgeous organic summer cherries that were on sale at Whole Foods.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CXnK_bSuS8s/TjM92Nm9-pI/AAAAAAAABgU/E0vzm7Gs618/s1600/271946_10150314082012640_727347639_9080576_920707_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CXnK_bSuS8s/TjM92Nm9-pI/AAAAAAAABgU/E0vzm7Gs618/s320/271946_10150314082012640_727347639_9080576_920707_o.jpg" t$="true" width="220" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">And then these strawberries, that, as sweet and delicious as they were on their own, yearned for a coating of chocolate to make them all fussy and special. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOu7nurA0ThKl_EkEDQRBNGYMRswtzwdjthwwkYNGIbcDar6WVwS1-ffbd4UE25JAu4piR3ApZz36DRUHtD5FGnNUXzIS29DqYFP2CVvf_jFFazQ7CZRQm7wNrpho2IfOBlLguXiGmpuk/s1600/271654_10150313636017640_727347639_9077005_5945418_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOu7nurA0ThKl_EkEDQRBNGYMRswtzwdjthwwkYNGIbcDar6WVwS1-ffbd4UE25JAu4piR3ApZz36DRUHtD5FGnNUXzIS29DqYFP2CVvf_jFFazQ7CZRQm7wNrpho2IfOBlLguXiGmpuk/s400/271654_10150313636017640_727347639_9077005_5945418_o.jpg" t$="true" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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The <a href="http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/06/dobos-torte/">Dobos Torte</a> was actually baked the next day after work. I had anxiously driven to my mom's with the batter cradled by ice packs in a cooler, white-knuckling the entire drive the way a mother might as she urgently and calmly drove a sick child to the doctor. The Torte was saved (and delicious) and my oven was eventually fixed. Good thing, because otherwise I might have gotten a bit overly dramatic. Maybe.</div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fFRxbDwogGk/TjM9zWAKreI/AAAAAAAABgM/-Eyu1u-00qA/s1600/266941_10150313636497640_727347639_9077013_5711352_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fFRxbDwogGk/TjM9zWAKreI/AAAAAAAABgM/-Eyu1u-00qA/s400/266941_10150313636497640_727347639_9077013_5711352_o.jpg" t$="true" width="266" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DUVWTaLESRg/TdKu8UUPz6I/AAAAAAAABac/rP_thwdn-Jw/s1600/230847_10150228113767640_727347639_8332175_953584_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" j8="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DUVWTaLESRg/TdKu8UUPz6I/AAAAAAAABac/rP_thwdn-Jw/s400/230847_10150228113767640_727347639_8332175_953584_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Aren't they beautiful? Can you tell how very chocolate dense these are? How very rich and addictive? Now can I feed you? Open wide... I've made at least half a dozen batches of these cookies in less than a month. They are soooooo goooood. I don't normally eat a lot of my own baked goods - I enjoy giving them to others. But I really couldn't help myself with these. I just kept breaking off pieces, promising myself it was the last one.... and before I knew it, half a dozen were in mah belleh before I was even done photographing. I'm a nibbler. Isn't that weird how we do that? (I know you do it too) For example, it's like with ice cream. You decide to go in for just a spoon full. But then the ice cream container looks uneven, and you just can't leave it like that. So just one more spoonful to even it out...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Anyway, the first time I made these I had to triple check the recipe. It called for a pound of chocolate and only half a cup of flour. For reals? But yes, the recipe was correct. And really, who complains about too much chocolate? And then there's the salt. It's mystifying how a little sprinkling of course sea salt can make such a difference. I forgot the salt with one of the trays going into the oven - good but not memorable. So my conclusion is, these cookies are ah-mazing. I want you to try them. In fact, I will make them for you if you ask me to. I even made these for the Share Our Strength bake sale in Los Angeles last Saturday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VfklTtWKxDw/TdKu618VSCI/AAAAAAAABaY/E8UJJ-2CgNo/s1600/225903_10150228114002640_727347639_8332179_4346594_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" j8="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VfklTtWKxDw/TdKu618VSCI/AAAAAAAABaY/E8UJJ-2CgNo/s400/225903_10150228114002640_727347639_8332179_4346594_n.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><a href="http://whatsgabycooking.com/wp-content/uploads/Bake-Sale-2011-500px.jpg"></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">The 2011 National Food Bloggers Bake Sale was held on Saturday throughout the nation to benefit Share Our Strength and ending childhood hunger in America. Our LA edition was organized by Gaby of <a href="http://whatsgabycooking.com/">What's Gaby Cooking</a> and raised over $2300 which will stay in the LA area to benefit our community. I am so impressed and moved that the collective efforts of people in the community, whether they baked a little, bought a little or contributed a little time, have raised money and awareness. You wouldn't think that in this country, childhood hunger would be a problem. But it is. There are many underserved and vulnerable groups of people in our very own communities who lack access to healthy and affordable nutrition. The bake sale was such a success thanks to everyone involved and especially thanks to Gaby for making it happen.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_RVB3qjUpkw/TdLa6_aZ2qI/AAAAAAAABag/Vv3Fh6jfcdc/s1600/Bake-Sale-2011-500px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" j8="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_RVB3qjUpkw/TdLa6_aZ2qI/AAAAAAAABag/Vv3Fh6jfcdc/s320/Bake-Sale-2011-500px.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Chocolate Toffee Cookies</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Recipe from <a href="http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/11/chocolate-toffee-cookies/">Smitten Kitchen</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Makes about 45</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1/2 cup all purpose flour<br />
1 tsp baking powder<br />
1/2 tsp salt<br />
1 lb bittersweet/semisweet chocolate, chopped<br />
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter<br />
1 3/4 cups (packed) brown sugar<br />
4 large eggs<br />
1 tbsp vanilla extract<br />
7 oz chocolate-covered English toffee bars (such as Heath), coarsely chopped*<br />
1 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped<br />
Flaky sea salt (or kosher salt) for sprinkling</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in small bowl. Stir chocolate and butter on a double boiler over simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool to luke warm. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs in bowl until thick, about 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture (don't over mix), then toffee and nuts. The batter will be very thin - chill batter about 45 minutes to firm up.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment or silpat. I like to use a cookie scooper to drop batter onto baking sheets. Allow about two inches in between because they will spread out. <em>Don't</em> forget to sprinkle with a little salt. Bake about 12-14 minutes until tops are cracked. <strike>Pick off pieces to eat right from the pan before they've set up</strike>. Cool completely before trying to remove cookies from the baking sheet.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Since these have turned out to be such a favorite of mine, I freeze the cookie dough into logs about 1.5" in diameter. When I need a hit of chocolate, I just slice right out of the freezer using a sharp knife and bake immediately. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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I love hydrangeas. I just get so happy when I see them in full bloom. They are elegant yet unpretentious. So it is no wonder to me that I couldn't wait to do try a hydrangea cake inspired by Amanda of <a href="http://iammommy.typepad.com/i_am_baker/2011/.../hydreangea-cake.html%20-">I Am Baker</a>. Her cake is gorgeous. Mine passable though, right? It sort of reminds me of some sea creature or maybe something from a coral reef - but if you squint just right, you could see an arrangement of hydrangea flowers. Hopefully. My mom saw me making this cake and at first guess thought it was some sort of hat. Hmph, well it's the thought that counts! And I also happen to think my sea creature creation is pretty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HBLY6ZK5TDA/TcruR_1h1oI/AAAAAAAABaU/FpiU0pWF8gY/s1600/IMG_1198.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" j8="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HBLY6ZK5TDA/TcruR_1h1oI/AAAAAAAABaU/FpiU0pWF8gY/s640/IMG_1198.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">My idea for this cake was for a chic contemporary arrangement of tightly placed hydrangeas in a cube shaped flower vase - so en vogue these days. I was having issues with the buttercream modifications I made, the weather, and overall, it was just one of them days that a girl goes through... (Monica, anyone?). First, the colors came out a bit more intense than I intended. I love pale green and blushing pink hydrangeas, but I was a little heavy handed in coloring the frosting. Secondly, although I gave this cake a crumb coat, this frosting did not harden enough even when placed overnight in the fridge. This also lead to petal shapes that were not as sharp as I would have liked. The original frosting suggested for this cake, also used in my <a href="http://cakestory.blogspot.com/2011/02/cake-of-roses.html">cake of roses</a>, was perfect. If it ain't broke, well then, that's a challenge to tinker it to make the recipe better? Maybe not. I subbed an organic, non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening I picked up at a health food store, because I was trying to avoid Crisco (which grosses me out). I guess fully-hydrogenated fats are essentiall to piping perfection.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I used on of my favorite <a href="http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/03/layer-cake-tips-the-biggest-birthday-cake-yet/">chocolate cake recipes</a> from Smitten Kitchen<em>. </em>I made half the recipe and baked up one 12" x 12" sheet and divided into four quarters. I stacked the quarters with a chocolate <a href="http://cakestory.blogspot.com/2010/.../one-swiss-meringue-buttercream.html">Swiss meringue buttercream</a> filling and carved the top two layers into a dome. Once the whole thing was crumb coated and chilled, I frosted the bottom half to mimic a vase and then went wild on the top for the hydrangeas. The flower was made with a Wilton #104 tip into four petals. Amanda from I Am Baker has a <a href="http://iammommy.typepad.com/i_am_baker/2011/03/hydrangea-cake-tutorial.html">tutorial</a> on how to do this! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g4IPZzlltB4/TcruAslHmxI/AAAAAAAABaQ/Ke3EIAa2QkU/s1600/IMG_1285.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" j8="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g4IPZzlltB4/TcruAslHmxI/AAAAAAAABaQ/Ke3EIAa2QkU/s400/IMG_1285.JPG" width="265" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">These are my hydrangeas just starting to bloom. Isn't spring exciting?</div><br />
<div></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I think we should respect Mother Earth and our environment everyday (so I'm not really late at all on the Earth day posting). In my little world, everyone does whatever they can to be "green". But every now and then, I get the sense that the universe does not revolve around me and that there are still people out there driving Hummers and burning through plastic water bottles. Just a nagging feeling (did I ever mention that this is Los Angeles?). I suppose I've always been a romantic type, believing that we could change the world and make it a better place when we grew up. The environment is actually something that <em>can</em> be saved seeing as those who are causing harm to it, have both the wealth and ability to try to undo some of the damage. And as individuals, it wouldn't hurt to be more conscientious about daily choices we make. But what do I know, I am just a humble baker.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">One thing I did know was that I wanted to mark the occasion of Earth day with a treat: chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and royal icing Earth decorations. With all the wonderful exotic flavors that I love to try, chocolate never fails to make me happy. This was a chocolate cake recipe from Smitten Kitchen I used for my chocolate peanut butter banana <a href="http://cakestory.blogspot.com/2010/12/chocolate-peanut-butter-banana-time.html">birthday cake</a> last year with enough intensity to satisfy the true chocolate lover. I adjusted the recipe to yield about 20 cupcakes. I am not one for basic buttercreams, but I think a cream cheese frosting cuts the richness of the chocolate cake nicely. I used <a href="http://annies-eats.net/2011/02/25/hummingbird-cupcakes/">Annie's cream cheese frosting</a>, which tasted and piped gorgeously for me in the past. I did, however, make the mistake of using a neufchatel cheese I had on hand instead of a full-fat cream cheese, which resulted in a less stiff and slightly stickier consistency (more appropriate for sticky buns I would say). Listen kids, I know your cringing that I just said full-fat. Say it with me: Full. Fat. If you skimp, it will not be as good. If I'm going to eat a chocolate cupcake, it should be an experience of chocolate insanity in my mouth. Got that? Good. Now that we've learned a lesson here, I got pretty positive feedback from these. I took these beauties to a birthday party the same night where they were promptly consumed - royal icing decorations and all. (happy bellies make me a happy baker)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="266" j8="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--5ZvGzwngDs/TcHWGuUwqYI/AAAAAAAABY8/Mv0-uBzMfQE/s400/IMG_0930.JPG" width="400" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">As usual, I was too wrapped up in my project to take pictures. The fun of royal icing is that you can pipe up whatever your imagination designs. To make these decorations, I referenced some images of Earth I had googled. I then drew sketches to the size I thought would work. I prepared my piping bags with royal icing tinted to bright aqua and green, with couplers and #1 Wilton icing tips. I placed transparency film (the type you get at Office Depot for overhead projectors) over the sketch and outlined and immediately flooded in the continents with green - the way you would pipe on sugar cookies. I repeated that a million times, filling up about four transparency sheets. I allowed the continents to dry enough to touch and then proceeded with outlining the globe shape and flooding with the blue color icing. Once done with the blue icing, make sure to allow a couple days sitting out to dry completely. I made the mistake of trying to peel the decorations off the transparency a day after and broke quite a few of these because they didn't come off cleanly.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bV9nCw_oibs/TcHVg03pokI/AAAAAAAABYQ/Kx5kh4O9Up4/s1600/IMG_0948.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" j8="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bV9nCw_oibs/TcHVg03pokI/AAAAAAAABYQ/Kx5kh4O9Up4/s400/IMG_0948.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
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Yes, yes, I know. It's been a little while since I've posted. Things have been hectic lately with the new job, all the snowboarding that needed to get done, and the little baking orders along the way. Posting just got away from me. So where do I begin. Let's dive right in with the bane of my baking existence then, shall we? The macaron is such a finicky little <strike>pain in the</strike> creation. Who the heck came up with such a high maintenance dessert? I swear, if you even look at them the wrong way, they will produce no feet. If you know macarons, you know the importance of proper feet. Read: feet = good. I know my feet are a bit uneven still, but I'm not unhappy with them. Um, that's probably enough talk about my feet...<br />
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In the beginning, I made lots of mistakes: <br />
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1. Using a thin, warped baking sheet. Go for good quality, thick & heavy, aluminum ones.<br />
2. Parchment. I had trouble with this, but luckily, I went crazy buying multiple silicone mats at an after-Christmas sale one year. I <span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">© </span></span>Silpat.<br />
3. Over-mixing - I got a chewy, flat cookie that was impossible to get off the parchment.<br />
4. Over-blending the almond/confections sugar in the food processor - I think I got some sort of gummy goo paste from the machine overheating the ingredients.<br />
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OK. Now that I've come clean of all things mistakes I've made and learned from, I can say that I've had much success the past few times with the Italian meringue method. As if making these cookies wasn't stressful enough, you get to make syrup to incorporate into your perfectly peaked egg whites too. This method will produce beautifully domed shells for you. For me, only the rear half of my baking sheet will yield gorgeous shells as my oven is around 30 years old, is typically 50<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">°</span></span>F too hot, doesn't close properly nor has a door handle. No matter. It's probably a good thing. A convection oven is the only standing between me and a complete obsessive compulsive baking disorder.<br />
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I've searched high and low for a good tutorial and <a href="http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com/2010/02/macaron-101-italian-meringue-part-2.html">Mrs. Humble</a> has the best one. She breaks it down to a science... literally. Her tutorial is complete with scatter plots and comparisons of ingredients adjusted by time, mass and temperature. I could have been in Biochem lab really. So I'm not going to post a recipe or instructions, because really, who am I to be telling anyone else how to make macarons. But if you are having trouble making them, check out the tutorial. It changed my life.<br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">Why don't you put on your smoking jacket, sit by the fire in your wing-backed chair with brandy snifter in hand, and enjoy an engaging round of chess while your Great Dane slumbers at your feet. You go and do that. I'll be here, playing checkers, hangin out with my pudgy piggy-dog, who snorts and makes paddling motions in her sleep.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" j6="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D58T3_frq3w/TVtwEcPcwRI/AAAAAAAABVM/L6779OMwF4I/s400/IMG_0391.JPG" width="366" /></div><br />
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These <em>checkerboard</em> cookies are both casual and elegant, simple and complex. It takes some tactile competence to get all the squares in place, but the easy party is being able to make them ahead of time. In fact, I might have forgotten this cookie dough in the freezer for almost a month. Hey, that still counts as fresh baked! They keep really well and have a great buttery flavor and isn't overly sweet - perfect for tea time.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="266" j6="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x5VdrJZWOUA/TVtv5EH20ZI/AAAAAAAABUc/RurVNtKTJgk/s400/IMG_0339.JPG" width="400" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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The only catch is, if you're in the mood for something <em>right now</em>, this isn't it. You have to mix the dough and let it chill. Then you roll the dough, chill it some more. Cut into strips and layer into a log, chill it some more. And if you have a large enough attention span to not forget the completely chilled out dough in the freezer, the easiest and funnest part is slicing up the log to reveal the patten inside. I thawed the cookie dough log in the fridge overnight and then used a super sharp knife to slice and immediately bake. That's as fast as buying pre-made cookie dough in tubes from the supermarket. (I've heard they have such things for sale out there nowadays!) See? I did it on purpose.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="212" j6="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-drcUbJ4dpL0/TVtvw5CZFdI/AAAAAAAABT0/dJExMPQ-AzM/s320/IMG_0274.JPG" width="320" /><img border="0" height="212" j6="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wPFnXSz_MXQ/TVtvzBn03tI/AAAAAAAABT8/vbICO1zxULE/s320/IMG_0277.JPG" width="320" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY61MxBbibuYjceokvaG-XOBDXHIcvzjWj2j9NYR09SzB8EX1pjO0ea0QkcWQiq0hZK3IBqSqoeLWXLE26hrFMpHXhRsdQVx4ft2IGmKgyCb458zATBKYfVnXlNElE3k2BFo8pQGfmKaw/s320/2010-12-11_16-46-58_275.jpg" width="320" /><img border="0" height="240" j6="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RBE7Ooh4cG4/TQViZavCeJI/AAAAAAAAAyY/z2VJBAqESJs/s320/2010-12-11_18-05-47_110.jpg" width="320" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strike>I'll draw you a diagram and give you a blow by blow of how to assemble the checkerboard</strike> <a href="http://www.bakingobsession.com/2008/10/21/checkerboard-cookies/">Baking Obsession</a> does a great job of explaining the assembly, complete with <strike>Ikea instructions</strike> flow chart.<br />
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</div><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GHAV-1fTUZc/TVtpyNIO1GI/AAAAAAAABTI/Rhe3tPGwOU4/s1600/IMG_0514.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" j6="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GHAV-1fTUZc/TVtpyNIO1GI/AAAAAAAABTI/Rhe3tPGwOU4/s400/IMG_0514.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There's something formal about cake that makes it so special. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of the down to earth cupcake. But the celebration cake is so exclusive and ceremonious. You can't just grab a piece without doing the whole presenting, maybe some singing and then the cutting by a designated person. And then once it's been cut, you've got to pass the slices around and wait for yours, and hope you don't get jipped with a smallish slice. You possibly grab a second slice if no one's paying attention, and sneak a third for a midnight snack if your lucky enough to take some home. You hide that piece from whomever lives at home with you. Stick it way back in the fridge, push cartons of milk and heads of lettuce in front of it. So you can have the perfectly proportioned layers of cake and frosting later, and not share... Hypothetically speaking. But I digress. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QH6Ne9q1ZTk/TVwhkASPMhI/AAAAAAAABVs/KIDglPjhQB4/s1600/IMG_0426.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" j6="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QH6Ne9q1ZTk/TVwhkASPMhI/AAAAAAAABVs/KIDglPjhQB4/s320/IMG_0426.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I love the fussiness of it all, and I wanted to try doing a frilly cake with royal icing and fondant. I'm not a huge fan of the cliched fondant covered cake because I love my Swiss meringue buttercream. However, you just can't deny the clean, elegant look you that comes with a pale colored fondant backdrop contrasted to a crisp white ornate piped royal icing. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T6TfYlzw0yU/TVtptu9zabI/AAAAAAAABR0/uv3JDsW47rM/s1600/IMG_0476.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" j6="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T6TfYlzw0yU/TVtptu9zabI/AAAAAAAABR0/uv3JDsW47rM/s400/IMG_0476.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The gorgeous Martha-Stewart-esque wedding cakes in all the bridal magazines have always made me want to attempt doing one. So here it is. My attempt. It's so much harder than it I thought it would be. Try to ignore the smudges and the crooked lines. I'll do better next time, Kerry Vincent. Practice makes perfect.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0oNqaZ4Wgzc/TVtp2BgZBdI/AAAAAAAABSY/A_xz208BSD4/s1600/IMG_0535.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" j6="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0oNqaZ4Wgzc/TVtp2BgZBdI/AAAAAAAABSY/A_xz208BSD4/s400/IMG_0535.JPG" width="266" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The cake itself is chocolate and red velvet vertical layers. You can see how<a href="http://iammommy.typepad.com/i_am_baker/2011/02/vertical-layer-cake-tutororial.html"> i am baker</a> does it. It's spectacular if you chose cakes that really contrast in color such as vanilla and chocolate. I frosted with a thin layer of Swiss meringue buttercream (you knew I had to work that in) and covered with some homemade marshmallow fondant. You'd better believe I ate that slice as soon as I put the camera down. The cake smelled amazing. I must say, however, my heart still belongs to Swiss meringue buttercream, if I get to have my cake and eat it too. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Happy Monday! Here's just a random bouquet of pink roses. Aren't they pretty? Oh, is it Valentine's Day too? Ok fine. Happy Valentine's Day! I suppose they could pass for a Valentine's cake - if you do that sort of thing.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" j6="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M8Ybm2jL_t8/TVjcbUDbOVI/AAAAAAAABRc/i2Y-YzsdWnQ/s400/IMG_0450.JPG" width="266" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">But I think I would love to see this cake on any day of the year. Even if there isn't chocolate and red velvet vertical layers inside. But who's even thinking of what's insde (more on that in another post). Plus, I don't get to cut into this cake because it's for a birthday... which juuuust happens to be on Valentine's day.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="266" j6="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Nv6ugfpT5I4/TVjcR4XMsXI/AAAAAAAABRc/2TqmlpHiWI0/s400/IMG_0424.JPG" width="400" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I think the roses would look just as amazing in ivory, for a bridal occasion. This decoration is actually deceptively easy and fun. I just used a large star tip and made circles starting from the center of the rose and going around twice. You can find the tutorial from <a href="http://iammommy.typepad.com/i_am_baker/2011/02/rose-cake-tutorial.html">i am baker</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><em>My</em> little Valentine <3...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Isn't everything just happier when you're by the sea? Well, I didn't actually get to enjoy the ocean myself because I'm stuck in my office without windows all day long. But it's been sunny and gorgeous lately in LA, and I'm glad the recipient of this cake got to enjoy the ocean from a boat cruise. What a birthday!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TUzWi8a-_xI/AAAAAAAABO0/7PVeD4vgQy0/s1600/captain+cake+top.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="280" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TUzWi8a-_xI/AAAAAAAABO0/7PVeD4vgQy0/s400/captain+cake+top.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>I just really couldn't decide what cake to make or how I should decorate it until I actually started to make it. I just knew it had to be sort of nautical. It helps that my baking repertoire is all over the place and I have so many odds and ends of materials. I used a really great chocolate cake recipe. It's just what a chocolate cake should be: rich, dark, moist, soft, fluffy. I thought the <a href="http://cakestory.blogspot.com/2010/11/beer-for-everyone.html">stout chocolate cake</a> for the Irish car bomb cupcakes would be my new favorite go-to, but this one is it. I'll be using this one many many times.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivESNBtbk67NdM4rhCF3jFj-1kdsbPpd_qJycnL7NBlwxZj0flIBp7vAp4ED7GUTnLHWNxk2qbIfrpNk7Q2gTsyzyu5c91gSDpndEQvMUmiWzMhQtpOBoDKctyW6wPAnJhDnrnjxQu12Y/s1600/captain+cake+angle.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivESNBtbk67NdM4rhCF3jFj-1kdsbPpd_qJycnL7NBlwxZj0flIBp7vAp4ED7GUTnLHWNxk2qbIfrpNk7Q2gTsyzyu5c91gSDpndEQvMUmiWzMhQtpOBoDKctyW6wPAnJhDnrnjxQu12Y/s400/captain+cake+angle.JPG" width="400" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TUzWxrFCj8I/AAAAAAAABO8/4XNCZc1LzAM/s1600/captain+cake+side.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TUzWxrFCj8I/AAAAAAAABO8/4XNCZc1LzAM/s400/captain+cake+side.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I assure you this cake was very moist, but I made a Scotch simple syrup (the captain likes scotch) to add a little flavor and extra moisture just in case. I'm used to running into an event with a freshly baked cake, flour and cocoa powder still in my hair, but this cake wasn't going to be presented right away. A <a href="http://cakestory.blogspot.com/2010/11/one-swiss-meringue-buttercream.html">vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream</a> complimented the chocolatey deliciousness. Once I crumb coated the cake, I had to figure out what to do to snazz it up. Pipe shells? Blue buttercream? Brown sugar faux-sand? Fortunately, I decided to channel my inner Martha and keep it classic - ivory buttercream, simple pearl drops, and a comb swipe across the outside. Here's the fun part: I melted some candy melts and piped a ship's steering wheel onto transparency film over a template. I didn't know if it would work and I was surprised and delighted that it <em>did</em> work and on only one try! Once I placed the wheel on the cake, I mixed together and tinted some gelatin and drizzled a thin layer around the wheel to look like water, making sure the border was "leak proof" so that gelatin wouldn't run down the sides. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TUzW8ivu10I/AAAAAAAABPA/yyvRklADy38/s1600/captain+cake+top+angle.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TUzW8ivu10I/AAAAAAAABPA/yyvRklADy38/s400/captain+cake+top+angle.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Chocolate Cake</span></strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 3/4 cups cake flour </div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 3/4 cups sugar</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 scant cup cocoa powder</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2 1/8 teaspoons baking soda</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1/2 teaspoons salt</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 3/4 sticks (14 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 cups buttermilk</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2 large eggs</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 cup freshly brewed coffee, room temperature</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Scotch whiskey simple syrup*</div><ol><li><div style="text-align: justify;">Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9" cake pans with wax or parchment paper. Line with 9" wax or parchment circles and grease and flour those as well. I like to to use non-stick baking spray (it has flour in it) as it's incredibly convenient and much less messy. </div></li>
<li><div style="text-align: justify;">Sift together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add the butter and buttermilk and blend on low speed with mixer until moistened. Raise the speed to medium and beat until well combined and fluffy.</div></li>
<li><div style="text-align: justify;">Whisk the eggs and coffee together, and slowly add to the batter. Scrape down sides and beat until combined. </div></li>
<li><div style="text-align: justify;">Divide evenly into pans and bake 30-35 min or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pans 10 minutes and then allow to completely on racks.</div></li>
<li><div style="text-align: justify;">Brush tops of both cakes with syrup and frost.</div></li>
</ol><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><u>* Scotch Simple Syrup</u></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;">1/2 cup sugar</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;">1 cup water</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;">2 tablespoons Scotch whiskey</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bring water and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan. Allow to boil about 4 minutes. Cool completely and stir in whiskey. If you don't like whiskey, just omit it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><em>Chocolate cake recipe adapted from <a href="http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/03/layer-cake-tips-the-biggest-birthday-cake-yet/">Smitten Kitchen</a></em></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">Are you still out there</span><span style="color: black;">? I know I’ve been absent and I’m sorry.<span style="color: navy;"> <span style="color: black;">My world’s been upside down.</span></span><span style="color: black;"> I was sooo sick, <span style="color: navy;"><span style="color: black;">and</span> </span>then went on a New Years ski trip, and then I started a new job. All of this is happening amidst Birthday Season, as my friends and I call it – so alas, I need to pull it together and keep <span style="color: navy;"><span style="color: black;">on</span> </span>baking! One of my closest friends just had a fundraising birthday</span> party to raise money for leukemia and lymphoma and her upcoming Ironman triathlon. I made these Ironman themed cupcakes to let her know how proud I am of her, and I think she was a little smitten. The event went really well – all the dollars that go into cancer research make such a huge difference in fighting a disease that’s affected all of us in some way. Sometimes we just need to make sacrifices (like eating luscious coconut vanilla bean cupcakes) for a good cause (fundraising to cure cancer). Um, stretching?</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This amazing and beautiful friend of mine was a Hawaiian island girl in another life, so the coconut was a natural choice. The coconut buttercream was, of course, a Swiss meringue variation. I decorated with some toasted coconut and a red almond bark “M-dot” on top and voila! This whole recipe is actually a pain to make as it takes a bit of planning and a coconut milk reduction – but for a special occasion as this, it was completely worth it.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TT_KDUmgdkI/AAAAAAAABJY/KrNUOHOw5vQ/s1600/IMG_0912.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" s5="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TT_KDUmgdkI/AAAAAAAABJY/KrNUOHOw5vQ/s320/IMG_0912.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TT_KDUmgdkI/AAAAAAAABJY/KrNUOHOw5vQ/s1600/IMG_0912.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Coconut Vanilla Bean Cupcake</span></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Makes 36</span></span></i></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 cups all purpose flour</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 teaspoon salt</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 2/3 cups sugar</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7 large eggs</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seeds scraped from 1 split vanilla bean</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1½ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>teaspoons vanilla extract</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2½ cups reduced coconut milk*, room temperature</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>*Reduced coconut milk:</u></span></span></div><div class="instructions" style="margin: auto 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 14-ounce cans unsweetened coconut milk (Mae Ploy brand)</span></span></span></div><div class="instructions" style="margin: auto 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bring coconut milk to a boil in a large, tall pot over medium-high heat (coconut milk will boil up high and splatter. A lot. Everywhere.). Reduce heat to medium-low; boil until reduced to 3 1/2 cups, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely. Store chilled. I recommend making this a couple days ahead of time. Some of this will be used for the frosting.</span></span></div><div class="instructions" style="margin: auto 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="instructions" style="margin: auto 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Cupcakes:</u></span></span><span style="color: black;"><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Preheat to 350°F and line cupcake pan with paper liners. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside. Using an electric mixer, cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar; beat on medium-high speed until well blended (no longer grainy). Add 5 eggs, 1 egg at a time, and incorporate well, occasionally scraping the bowl. Beat in seeds from vanilla bean, vanilla extract and remaining egg. Add the coconut reduction and mix until blended. Stir in the flour mixture just until blended. Divide batter evenly into the cupcake pan and bake about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan about 5-10 minutes and then transfer to a rack to cool completely.</span></span></div><div class="instructions" style="margin: auto 0in;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Cupcake recipe adapted from </em></span><a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Vanilla-Bean-Coconut-Cupcakes-with-Coconut-Frosting-352095"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Epicurious</em></span></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjJhPUX-dIJ2jG3U-EpT-YwrlDa3xBUft47zQOwTop9oyqdLWX9-VZnrWll63IXjANB8OQyDlJP2RECf4v86ElS3acHO_5cOvocL2M3tTYqjPqNoFshiIqqyAoYt28QFxajDyR11xM0aY/s1600/IMG_2472.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjJhPUX-dIJ2jG3U-EpT-YwrlDa3xBUft47zQOwTop9oyqdLWX9-VZnrWll63IXjANB8OQyDlJP2RECf4v86ElS3acHO_5cOvocL2M3tTYqjPqNoFshiIqqyAoYt28QFxajDyR11xM0aY/s320/IMG_2472.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Coconut Swiss Meringue Buttercream</span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is made almost identically the same way the </span><a href="http://cakestory.blogspot.com/2010/11/one-swiss-meringue-buttercream.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Baileys SMBC</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> was made. Just use reduced coconut milk instead of Baileys! Double the amount to make enough for 36 cupcakes.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">M-Dot Ironman Decorations and Toasted Coconut</span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don’t have pictures for these but I’ll <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tell</span></i> you how I did these. Not too hard. Google the Ironman icon and bring up an image. Put a sheet of paper directly over your computer screen (or smartphone for lazier folks like me) and trace using pencil. Now, pay attention here, you are going to pipe red candy melts (or tinted almond bark) onto <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">transparency film</span></i> (parchment or wax paper would work also) that’s placed over your traced M-Dot. Shimmy it a little while it’s still wet to smooth it out. Allow to dry and peel off. Repeat 35 more times!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">For the coconut, you could buy shredded and sweetened coconut and toast it in the oven. This is what I recommend for sane people. I, however, am not so sane. I do it the way my mom taught me – which she learned from the jungles of <place w:st="on">Southeast Asia</place>. Or at least, that’s how I like to imagine it. Get a fresh coconut and crack it open all insane-like with a giant cleever. Don’t be afraid – just use one big motion, starting with the cleaver over your head and make sure you yell “Hai-Ya!” for full effect. </span><span style="color: black;">Then use a shredder tool to scrape out the meat in long, elegant strands. Here's what the thing looks like: </span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TUt5GBO6ZPI/AAAAAAAABN0/YROyFIZFj48/s1600/IMG_0014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="219" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TUt5GBO6ZPI/AAAAAAAABN0/YROyFIZFj48/s320/IMG_0014.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">Shred until your hand is about to fall off. If you enjoy pain, go ahead and do a bunch and freeze the fresh coconut meat for future use. Toast the shredded coconut on a foil lined pan for about 10 minutes at 350°F while your cupcakes are baking. Watch carefully so that it doesn’t burn.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy Birthday KJ!! XOXO</span></div><br />
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</script><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://www.stumbleupon.com/hostedbadge.php?s=2"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3502524382123158093.post-88456155622296151102010-12-23T01:36:00.000-08:002011-02-05T11:36:08.041-08:00MORE Christmas Sugar Cookies!<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTnuuLgNhagoQfT_r1dGTrtapm69cXwvig4_ug47FSTJ3AT65m2Mo03Drl1AvxQFakD-s7GVk_Yfw2jjLWzA7Knh_qNiLdLiYRysjEmKrsdnWaq8w7xR3IL_F4HqDt1cnGQywc580vww0/s1600/IMG_2463.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="464" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTnuuLgNhagoQfT_r1dGTrtapm69cXwvig4_ug47FSTJ3AT65m2Mo03Drl1AvxQFakD-s7GVk_Yfw2jjLWzA7Knh_qNiLdLiYRysjEmKrsdnWaq8w7xR3IL_F4HqDt1cnGQywc580vww0/s640/IMG_2463.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I've been having such a good time decorating sugar cookies. Practice really does make a difference and each time I make a new batch, I think my skills improve a little. So with this is yet another Christmas batch, but this time there are new adorable characters in my X-mas crew. Once again, I refuse to buy specialized cookie cutters to be used once a year, and then, frankly, put away for safe keeping and never to be found again. I began by sketching out my ideas and figuring out how many steps of icing and drying needed to be done.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiovj30Z-gO0XR-JkMwVeVwMTHIGwA6isVSkRV1y4QmZmOPIZFZbHJ0c-9Z3WzY5vKH8wb4H5iRdjcBVBGPtIvW9y1IFRAh6qascgeHEhBfbA3w0V1rNilyj-86chlxCAcw9BdETJt3QJI/s320/IMG_2345.JPG" width="320" /><img border="0" height="150" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmrzaaz2F0jd6cBM3FXeLcD-WJNvFNoYmGycWEAJvMSwAIIinvWgt9g-VuE-S2LGfs-YltiX-0exzxmdo7BL-5DHrbBNLsSgOmqJ2POcwkGc_LOtYquSqfGCCW8rFQXHfuoRBLM5VUNbg/s200/IMG_2346.JPG" width="200" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I began by piping outlines to my little polar bears and penguins with black. In the second step, I flooded with white once the black icing was dry. As I was doing this, I decided there should be a frosty backdrop of snow and snow falling. While the icing is still wet, you can drop a second color in for a smooth effect.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="150" n4="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TRLyJQ7WoqI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/dqRPKjY45y8/s200/IMG_2340.JPG" width="200" /><img border="0" height="150" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3avTxrFwldB4z99fYllslZB0XZw-SUajQIJ9ujx3QUdaBX7x2EAZYmL8QmbsP41623cGR_65QJrNIC80-xkgg_h-sP07LEL7KhU8Y-q_Z0qAlQCvQSe_3dTllhV4ICKoR1AkHX1EpeNA/s200/IMG_2360.JPG" width="200" /><img border="0" height="150" n4="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TRLybZn9Y7I/AAAAAAAAA40/YJlvC8dXnZ4/s200/IMG_2365.JPG" width="200" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The owls and birds were done the same way: start with brown, allow to dry, and move on to the next color. It really helped to sketch these out first, especially with the sparrows, because the shapes are a bit odd without conceptualizing the finished image.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="150" n4="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TRLyPPnCnmI/AAAAAAAAA3w/nqM3hZQqiew/s200/IMG_2348.JPG" width="200" /><img border="0" height="150" n4="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TRLyYxu-1xI/AAAAAAAABDw/uXye8ThgC8M/s200/IMG_2361.JPG" width="200" /></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="150" n4="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TRLygcmBQqI/AAAAAAAABD4/bepJubcKY_U/s200/IMG_2373.JPG" width="200" /><img border="0" height="150" n4="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TRLyeTeWLsI/AAAAAAAAA5E/N_7JjNlXvbU/s200/IMG_2370.JPG" width="200" /></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Details like leaves, beaks, eyes and feet were added at the end.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="150" n4="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TRLyi-ykO2I/AAAAAAAABEA/kAXxoDWY1r8/s200/IMG_2376.JPG" width="200" /><img border="0" height="150" n4="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TRLzOZQmxSI/AAAAAAAAA9E/B52R9HOXbqo/s200/IMG_2432.JPG" width="200" /></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Yes, Christmas polar creatures accessorize.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_0C309IngSjk/TRLzDS2zOQI/AAAAAAAAA8E/vE9LkQyaAeY/s320/IMG_2418.JPG" width="320" /><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHUGUdyyFR00JyZs-IWPVf1OycrzJNtpuWZiFmkfv5__t_2rpfQzOXpwEgPsfIj_5SxMm0Rljlvr63_q26AVqWpGte0WN5CYgsytFYbw0Hbdc7dodLTHYZC_mjow2p3VtmLnLgqNzc4cc/s320/IMG_2422.JPG" width="320" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And after a troop of holiday animals made, I just started doodling messages like "Happy New Year" and random filigree work. Sometimes you need to doodle.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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