Halloween Cut-out Cookies

    

Aren't they so cute?!

These are made with the same butter cookie dough I used for the iced butter cookies.  Yum!  However, I did things a little differently this time.  I dyed one batch orange (using food coloring) and a second batch brown with coco powder (I substituted 3 tbsp coco for 3 tbsp flour) and a few drops of black food coloring.  I used new cookie cutters I found.  They're mini pumpkins, ghosts, bats and cats.  The former two I did with the orange dough, the latter with the chocolate dough.  I didn't bother icing them, because they were too tiny and really good plain anyway!

Chocolate Caramels with Fleur de Sel

    

Just in time for Halloween, we have caramels!

I have seen many caramel recipes with fleur de sel, but this is particularly good because it adds chocolate to the mix. It is from Chocolate Epiphany, by François Payard with Anne E. McBride, an excellent cookbook all about chocolate desserts.

Anyway, back to the caramels.  They are chewy but not overly sticky and tough.  The taste is smooth with an undertone of chocolate. (The recipe calls for milk chocolate, but I’m not a huge fan of milk chocolate, so I used semi-sweet which I’m sure changed the taste slightly, but I’m not complaining). The fleur de sel (french sea salt) brings out the chocolate while balancing the sweetness of the caramelized sugar. This is all just a long-winded way of saying they are really good! I don’t think I’ll ever eat a store bought caramel again.

Whole Wheat and Plum Cake, con't

      

Oops, here's the picture of the whole wheat and plum cake I promised ten days ago!

I'm back!

Sorry I fell off the face of the world last week!  I've been in midterms, which have required my nearly undivided attention.  As such, I've barely had time to bake let alone blog.  But midterms are now over, thank goodness, and Halloween is upon us so I'll be baking and blogging plenty in the next few days and then things will hopefully get back to normal.

Tonight I'll be posting something, I promise, so stay tuned!

Whole Wheat and Plum Cake

I found the recipe for this in the New York Times more than a month ago and I've wanted to try it since then.  However, I was out of whole wheat flour and I only just remembered to buy it, so I only just got to make it.  It is really good!  The cake is soft and fluffy and the whole wheat flour adds a nice nutty-ness.

I took their suggestion and used two different varieties of plums (black and red plums, to be precise), which was very nice. You actually top the cake batter with the plums rather than mixing them in so it is similar to a frangipane (because the fruit is baked into the cake, but only on the top layer--not because it tastes at all like one).

It's really quite good and actually healthy (as cakes go, anyway!)  It looks nice too, but you'll have to take my word on that for now, because it is late and I don't feel like uploading photos.  I'll post them tomorrow, I promise!

Chocolate Orange Brownies

These are another adaptation of the Roland Mesnier brownies.  I used his basic recipe (without nuts or chocolate chips or the glaze on top) and added some orange zest to the butter and sugar when I creamed them together.  Then I added one half teaspoon of orange extract to the batter along with about a third of the vanilla that the recipe called for.  I guess that at this point they really aren't the Roland Mesnier brownies (having left out some ingredients and added others) but I still made them with his book open, so you can see why I still call them a variation on his recipe.

Anyway, they came out wonderfully, still chocolaty with a wonderful orangey flavor.  I'm a huge fan of chocolate orange anything, and a huge fan of brownies (as you may have noticed) so these are a hit with me!

P.S. I didn't bother with a photo, since they look exactly the same as the regular Roland Mesnier brownies, or for that matter as the Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownies.

Chocolate Nut Biscotti

    

Since I didn't post anything yesterday, I figured I'd post twice today.  So here we have chocolate nut biscotti.

I love biscotti!  These are from Martha Stewart's Cookies, and are very good, though they aren't as good as the amazing biscotti made by our friend Sandra.  But, then again, these quite are different, so I wanted to give them a try.

They are a chocolate cookie with chocolate chips, pistachios (not a traditional nut for biscotti, but I love them) and hazelnuts mixed in.  Plus a little orange zest is added to the dough, this doesn’t make the biscotti taste orange-y, it just adds an extra dimension to the flavor.

Chocolate Cake with Whipped Ganache Icing

      

I made this using the left over layer of chocolate cake from the Birthday Cake.  It was very good!  Basically, I used the left over whipped dark chocolate ganache (of which there was a lot) to ice the cake.  I didn't even try to make it smooth looking, instead I decided to give it a nice textured look.  It's really easy to get this look, all you have to do is spread on a think layer of a smooth, creamy icing (not stiff buttercream, like I used for the other cake).  Then, using an offset spatula, swirl the icing.  Don't worry about it being neat, it is supposed to look messy, that's the beauty of it!

You could stop at this point, the cake looks beautiful and delicious plain.  However, I wanted to practice my decorating technique before I started on the big cake, so I did it on this one.  I think it came out looking really beautiful.  If you want to know how I made the icing just click here.

Oops and Chocolate Covered Peanuts and Raisins

Oops, I didn't post yesterday.  I forgot, sorry!  Anyway, this is what I was going to post yesterday, had I remembered:

This is a great way to wrap them to give as a gift; just cut the top off a plastic baggie and tie with ribbon. 

Last week, I made dark chocolate covered peanuts and flame raisins.  It was very easy but tedious.  Basically, I melted chocolate and dipped each nut and raisin in it individually.  To dip the nuts I put a little chocolate in a spoon and rolled the nut (or raisin) around until it was completely covered.  Then I put the chocolate covered nut/raisin on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.  It's that simple!  (It just takes a long time.)  All you have to do is be patient and let them harden at room temperature.  At this point, I decided to mix the two, but by all means keep them separate.

By the way, I used peanuts and flame raisins (fancy raisins, I'm assuming 'flame' comes from the fact that they are made from red grapes), but you can used any nut or dried fruit you want.  Obviously if you use a larger nut or fruit, dipping rather than rolling the nut in chocolate might be more practical.  And of course you can use other types of chocolate.  Some other parings I recommend: white chocolate and pistachios or dried apricots, milk chocolate and cashews (actually my aunt's recommendation, not my own idea, I've never tried them, but they sure sound good!), and dark chocolate and pecans or dried cranberries, to give a few ideas.

Fudge, con't

     

Fudge is great to give as gifts because, well, who doesn't like fudge?  I cut the fudge into 1in squares and stacked a chocolate peanut square and a peanut butter square in the center of a square of cling wrap and then tied the wrapping with a small piece of curling ribbon.  Simple as that!  Simple, but it took me over an hour to wrap 30 of these.  They were quite a hit, let me tell you!

Chocolate Peanut Fudge and Peanut Butter Fudge

  

Last week I made two batches of fudge to bring into class on Thursday and to my old high school on Friday.

I made Paula Deen's chocolate dummy fudge with peanuts (instead of pecans, to go with the next batch, you'll see why in a minute!)  It is a wonderfully easy recipe, hence the name, and it is really, really good.

I also wanted to experiment with a more traditional fudge recipe, so I looked on the Food Network website and found a recipe for Peanut Butter Buttermilk fudge.  It isn't the really traditional type made on a marble slab, but it is still boiled sugar and liquid (buttermilk, in this case) brought to soft ball stage.  It was fun!  I've never made candy that has been sugar based, so I've never fiddled with soft ball stage or the others before.  Have I mentioned, I had fun?!  This is really good fudge as well, and really peanut buttery!

The two different fudges have really different textures, and not just because the chocolate fudge had nuts.  The chocolate fudge is creamy and needs to be kept refrigerated or it goes all gooey.  The peanut butter fudge is slightly less creamy and a tad bit dryer.  It doesn't need to be kept in the fridge, though kept it there with the chocolate peanut fudge, because it is much more convenient.

Tomorrow, I'll post how I wrapped these to give as cute little goodies to all the teachers at my old high school!

Birthday Cake, step 6

  

This is the last step: decoration!  Honestly, you should feel free to do whatever you want to do at this point.  What I did, is made a new batch of buttercream and divided it up.  I put a small amount aside and dyed it yellow to make the centers of the flowers (unless you are completely covering the cake with flowers, you shouldn't need much at all).  I then took somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of what was left and dyed it green to make the leaves.  I dyed the rest a pretty pink (using red food coloring).

Now for the fun part.  I fitted one pastry bag with a large closed star tip (with six points) and filled it with pink icing.  I fitted another with a small drop flower tip (a small closed star tip would work just as well) and filled that with more pink icing.  I fitted yet another pastry bag with a leaf tip and filled it with the green icing.  Finally I fitted the last pastry bag with a small round tip (like the ones you use for writing) and filled it with the yellow icing.

The best way to fill the pastry bags is to hold it loosely in your non-dominant hand and fold the top edge down over you hand.  Using a rubber spatula or large spoon scoop icing into the bag, trying to get it right to the bottom (don't stress about it though).  Don't fill it too full or icing will ooze out the top.  Fold the top back up and twist it so it closed.  Using your dominant hand apply pressure at the top of the bag, just at the base of the twist to push the icing down into the tip (kind of like a toothpaste tube).

Applying even pressure squeeze the pastry bags to form the different size flowers, leaves and flower centers.  I piped clumps of flowers, added centers, and then finally the leaves.  You can do this in any pattern you want.  I decided to do a sort-of random pattern coming from the top right.  I used the bigger flowers around the top, and slowly switched to using the smaller ones.  As you can see here:

I hope this helped give you some guidance on how to assemble and decorate a truly impressive cake!

New York Food and Wine Festival

Paula Deen and Michael, aren't they cute?!

Don't worry, I'll post the final step of the Birthday Cake soon, I haven't forgotten about it...but I went to the New York Food and Wine Festival and wanted to share.  I went and got one of Paula Deen's cookbooks signed by Paula and her husband Michael.  Then I headed over to see her cooking demo.  She really didn't cook, instead she spent the whole time talking.  I like that more, because I can watch her cook on TV anytime.  But this was hysterical, she was so cute and funny, as were Michael and Chef Robert Irvine.  And can I just say, Robert Irvine's arms are amazing or as Paula said "he's pretty!"

Robert Irvine

Birthday Cake, step 5

  

The bottom row of scallops.

Now that you have a nicely iced cake, chill it again.  Then you can really decorate it however you want.  May I suggest doing the scalloped edging that most grocery store birthday cakes have.  It's pretty, not too hard, and quite professional looking.  Plus, it covers any imperfections on the edges of the cake.

Basically, there isn't much help I can give you with this...practice is really the key.  Put the left over plain icing in a pastry bag fitted with a star tip that has many points (I use Ateco #32).  Go around the bottom and top edges of the cake making a scalloped edge.  To do this squeeze the bag harder and go slightly backwards, then as you are bringing the bag forwards gradually lighten the pressure on the bag and speed up moving it.  I realize this isn't the most technical language, but hopefully it will give you the idea, and then you can work it out from this base yourself.  I highly recommend practicing before you start on the cake (I did)!  If you mess up a scallop, don't worry it is the same icing as you used for the cake, so you can just try to lift it off and smooth out any excess and redo it.  

Coming soon: decorate the top of the cake.

Birthday Cake, step 4

  

Please ignore the decoration on the bottom edge, it belongs with the next step, but I don't have a photo of the just iced cake.

Frosting the cake:

Ok, I'm not going to be a huge help on this, I warn you.  You might need a new batch of buttercream to do this, it depends on how much you made for the filling and crumb coat steps.  I personally prefer to make a smaller batch for those steps and then making a second batch to do this.  So now to the actual frosting.  Basically what I do is put a decently large amount of buttercream on top of the cake.  Then I use a large offset spatula to spread it smooth, letting the excess icing go over the side of the cake.  Now spread the icing over the side of the cake, getting more on the end of your offset spatula as you need.  Smooth the sides by holding the offset spatula almost vertical (but not quite) and going around the cake.  Then go back and smooth out the top.

Yes, I know that was rather un-technical.  This is how I do it but probably not how real chefs do it.  And I admit, I'm not great at making it completely smooth yet.  Perhaps that's because I use this not-really-a-method method.  Perhaps it's just because I need more practice.  I suspect it's a combination of the two.

Don't worry if it isn't perfect.  The decorations will hide imperfections nicely.  Anyway, no one cares, they just want to eat it!  To be continued...

Birthday Cake, step 3

    

As you can see, the crumb coat is not thick at all, you should be able to see the cake through it, at least if it's chocolate!

A crumb coat is a very important step if you want a professional, clean looking cake.  It is very easy, but a bit time consuming.  The idea is that it will trap all the cake crumbs in so they don't get into the outer, thick layer of frosting.  Also, it smoothes out the cake, so you don't have to worry about that when you are applying the outer layer of icing.

Once you have filled and stacked the cake layers, put the cake in the fridge for about 30 minutes, until it is nice and chilled.  Then use some of the plain buttercream that you made to make the ring on the layers (in step 2) to thinly coat the outside of the cake.  First coat the top, then the sides.  I find the easiest way to do this is using a large offset spatula.  For the sides, I dip the spatula into the icing and spread it onto the cake, rather than putting a glob on the cake and then spreading it out.

Don't worry if you get some crumbs in this layer of icing, they won't show later.  Try to use this layer of icing as a chance to smooth out the surface of the cake.  For example, fill in gaps between the layers, so the sides are straight.

Put the cake back in the fridge and let it chill for, I'd say, about an hour minimum.  I let it chill overnight, because I had the time, but that isn't necessary.  Cut off/smooth out any spots where the frosting is sticking out.  Now you are ready for the thicker, outer layer of icing.  To be continued...

Birthday Cake, step 2

I forgot to mention yesterday that imbibing is especially useful if you are making a dry-ish cake like a genoise.  I do it with most cakes even if they are already moist, I just use a lot less liquid so that the cake doesn't become damp.  Personally, I tend to use Frangelico or Chambord but I'm sure other liquors would work well too, just try using what you like.  If you don't want to use liquor you can use simple syrup instead.  I've never tried that, but I'm sure it works because all my cookbooks that discuss imbibing cakes say it does.

Anyway, on to the next step.  I made a batch of buttercream.  I don't do traditional buttercream with eggs, by the way.  I literally cream butter, add lots of powdered sugar, a bit of milk, some flavoring (in this case I used vanilla extract and Frangelico), and usually more powdered sugar.  I wanted it white, but if I don't I add food coloring when I add the flavoring (and more at the very end if I need).  I really don't measure any more, I know what it should look, taste and feel like.  If you want a recipe, check it out here.

I also made a large batch of chocolate ganache (oops, I had far too much left over, but I used it on the spare cake...to be posted later).  I let it cool a bit and then whipped it.  I didn't whip it too much--certainly not enough to get it light and airy--just enough to give it some body.

I piped a thick ring of buttercream around the edge of the cake layers that would be filled with ganache (the bottom and middle layers, not the top layer).  This is a useful step if you are using a filling that is not buttercream because it keeps the filling from oozing out when you put the next layer of cake on top of it.

Then I filled inside the ring of butter cream with a generous layer of ganache.

FYI: The ring probably should have been closer to the edge of the cake, but I've never done this before so I was a little nervous about it oozing out.  In the end I had to pipe more buttercream in to fill the gaps that were left because I made the ring too far in.  

I had plenty of buttercream left over which I used for the crumb coat. To be continued...

Birthday Cake, step 1

  

 
Over the next few days I will be posting a step by step guide to decorating cakes.  I admit it may be more a how-I-did-it than a how-to, but hopefully it will be a help if you decide to decorate your own cake!

I baked the cakes.  It took a while because the recipe only made two cakes and I wanted a three layer cake. So I made two batches and had a left over cake (which I will talk about later).

The first thing I did (after baking the cakes, clearly) was level their tops.  To do that I used a very large serrated edge knife and cut off the domed top of the cake so that it was perfectly even across the whole top.  By the way, save all the crumbs in a baggie in the fridge, they're great to snack on!

Then I used a pastry brush to brush a liberal amount of Frangelico liquor on the tops.  Since I cut off the tops the inside of the cake was exposed and the Frangelico soaked nicely into the cake.

To be continued...

Birthday Cake

  

As promised, here is the cake I made for my friend's birthday.  Isn't it pretty?!

It was a rich chocolate cake imbibed with Frangelico.  Between each of the the three layers was a layer of whipped chocolate ganache.  The whole thing was frosted with my buttercream.

Over the next few days I will post the whole step-by-step method I used to make this cake, along with lots of photos.  So stay tuned!

Oops and Coming Soon!

Sorry I've neglected my blog the last couple of days.  I've been incredibly busy!  My 16-year old dog has an inner ear syndrome that makes her dizzy and lose her balance very easily.  She will recover fully, but that can take anywhere from 72 hrs to 2 weeks.  As such, my mom and I have been slightly overwhelmed with vet appointments and keeping the dog upright!

In addition, I'm working on a 1500 word thesis proposal for my undergraduate thesis and a shorter proposal for a shorter (yet still quite large and important) paper.  Plus I still have all the usual reading type homework.

On the plus side, I've still had time to work on the cake for my friend's birthday.  It's coming along nicely and I will be posting quite a bit about it tomorrow (well later today, technically) and the next day.

P.S. For being so critical about the concept of blogging about ones' day to day life and problems, I seem to have started doing that somewhat.  That's worrisome!  Well, I promise, I'll stick mainly to discussing my baking and keep these out of character moments of over-sharing to a minimum.