Bird's nest cupcakes :)

I made these bird's nest cupcakes for the Orthodox Easter party we went to on Sunday. My kids helped me decorate them- they placed all the "eggs" in the nests. :) It was a really fun project!

The cupcakes were our now favorite chocolate/peanut butter recipe combo.

For the recipe, click here. This is my original chocolate cake recipe with peanut butter cream cheese frosting. For cupcakes, bake only 18-19 minutes.

Carrot Cake for Easter

Happy Easter to all my Christian Orthodox  friends! We went to a party yesterday and I made this carrot cake to take there. I decorated it with jelly beans in bright colors, so the kids have fun. :) This cake is THE best carrot cake you will have in your life! I absolutely guarantee it! I am forever grateful to our friend, Don Cotrell, for sharing this recipe with me!

Ingredients: 

2 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/4 tsps baking soda
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tsps cinnamon
3 large eggs
2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups white sugar
8 oz crushed pineapple with the juice
1-1/2 cups shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and line two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans with parchment or wax paper.

2. Mix flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon together.

3. Separately, beat oil, sugar and eggs WELL.

4. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture

5. Fold in pineapple, carrots, coconut and walnuts (if using)

6. Bake at 350 F for about 40-45 minutes (but you may start checking at 35 minutes because different ovens take different time).

Note: One trick I have started using when baking my cakes is wrapping a wet tea towel around the cake pans and securing it with a pin (one that is all metal, no plastic on it), then baking the cakes just like that in the oven- don't worry, the towels don't burn because they are wet- they just dry out and brown- make sure you use old towels for this. :) This way, the cakes bake very evenly on top and the sides do not get too hard in order for the center to bake through- which seems to be a tendency for this particular recipe, as wonderful as it is. The wet towel strips around the cake pans during baking totally solved this problem for me and the cake was extremely moist throughout. Give this a try! Of course, you could also use ready store-bought baking strips from stores such as AC Moore but the tea towels work great for me. :)


I frosted the cake with a simple Cream Cheese Frosting:

Ingredients :

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tsps vanilla extract

Cream the butter and cream cheese well. Add the powdered sugar gradually, covering your stand mixer with a towel to avoid sugar flying all over the place. :) Add vanilla extract and beat until fluffy.

This frosting can be made with a lot less sugar but for my purposes, I need it stiffer in order to pipe it when decorating, so the 4 cups make just the right consistency- and I haven't had anybody complain about it being too sweet. :)

Special thanks for this fabulous carrot cake recipe to my husband's co-worker, Don Cotrell. This one is a keeper!

Guitar cake

I made this guitar cake last May but I just realized today that for some strange reason I never put it up my blog. Shame on me! So, I am hurrying up to rectify this omission. :) It was actually one of the most challenging and rewarding cake projects I have ever undertaken. When I agreed to make it, I knew I could do it. I just didn't have a clear idea of how long it would take. :) It was fun (and daunting at times) but so worth the experience! The whole cake was covered in buttercream (even though it may look like fondant- but this is just because of my amazing skills at smoothing buttercream out to perfection :))). And even though it may look like chocolate buttercream, it was actually regular vanilla with brown gel food coloring (Wilton) because this was what my friend requested- vanilla cake on the inside too. The cake was in fact for her son  who was graduating from high school and going to study guitar in college in the fall, so we gave him a guitar cake. :)

I followed pictures of a real classical guitar, created my own template and tried to make the cake as authentic as possible. The research and planning process took me a couple of weeks. :) Making the actual cake- three days. :) 

It turned out 26 inches long! 

And here is the cake with the personalized text on it:

And here is the pat on the back I got from my friend who ordered the cake:


"The graduate LOVED it... And so did the rest of the family. Yum! ... The cake was not only beautiful, it was delicious! We gobbled it up. Thank you! Your cake making skills are incredible!"

More chocolate cake! :)

"Back by popular demand", I had to make another dark chocolate mocha cake with peanut butter cream cheese frosting. The occasion was the Easter party we attend every year and the request came from none other than my husband. :) The hostess was delighted too. :)

 To see the recipe for this cake, click here. 

 

Before we left for the party, I decided to add "Happy Easter"on top of the cake too, so here it is with the writing on top before it got all carved up. :))

Lemon-raspberry rose cake

We had very special friends visiting from out of state this past weekend. We hadn't seen them in almost five years, so we were thrilled! Needless to say, I just had to make a special cake for their visit. I baked a lemon layer cake (which was my vanilla cake recipe with the zest of 1 lemon and 1 tsp lemon extract added to the batter- click here for the vanilla cake recipe). Then, I made a raspberry mousse filling out of raspberry fruit yogurt, whipped cream and gelatin. To add a little more of the raspberry flavor, I "poked" the cake and soaked it with raspberry jello (before it had set). It was pretty to look at too, once we cut into it, plus it produced a very moist cake. The frosting I made was a lemon-flavored buttercream which I actually mixed with cream cheese to make it more tangy. This, however, didn't work 100% successfully with my idea of making a rose-covered cake because the cream cheese frosting made the roses on the side of the cake "sag"- as you can see on the pictures. So, next time I make a rose cake, I will definitely be using a stiff consistency buttercream. I do like the rose design and will be making it again in the future.

A close-up of the roses on top. I sprinkled some pink "fairy dust" (as my daughter calls it) and pearls on top, to make it even more feminine.

And this is how it looked when we cut into it:

Happy Easter! He is risen!!!

Happy Easter everyone!

"He is not here; He has risen, just as He said."
Mat 28:6

Lemon-Blueberry Cupcakes with Whipped Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

I love any citrus flavored dessert! I decided to make some lemon cupcakes and whipped up a light, fluffy lemon cream cheese frosting to go on top. I filled the middle of each cupcake with some of my homemade blueberry preserves. The final result was quite yummy. :)

Lemon Yogurt Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
zest of two lemons
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin pans with cupcake paper liners.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a larger bowl, stir together yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, vanilla, and oil. Add in dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Divide batter evenly into muffin pans. Bake for 18-19 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the  center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pans for about 10 minutes. Take out on wire racks and cool completely before filling and frosting.

Recipe adapted from Barefoot Contessa : http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/lemon-yogurt-cake-recipe/index.html

I filled these with my homemade blueberry preserves. You could also use store-bought raspberry preserves, or any other filling of your choice. I use the wide end of a large Wilton piping tip (such as 1M) to make the hole in the center of each cupcake. Then I put about one teaspoon of the filling inside.

Next, pipe your frosting on top..This is what I made for these cupcakes:

Whipped Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

 

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

3- 4 cups powdered sugar

2 tbsps lemon juice

1/2 tsp lemon extract

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar with an electric mixer until smooth.  Mix in lemon juice and lemon extract. 

Separately, whip the heavy cream in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until it forms stiff peaks (be sure not to over whip or it will curdle). Fold cream cheese mixture with whipped cream. Stir gently by hand until blended. Refrigerate for at least an hour, so it sets a little bit and can be piped. 

 

Dark chocolate cake with peanut butter cream cheese frosting

I made this delicious cake for a dinner party we had last night. If you like dark chocolate and peanut butter combinations, you are sure to love it!

 

Dark Chocolate Cake

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tsps baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup hot coffee

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare two 8-inch x 2-inch round cake pans – Line with parchment, then butter and flour the pans (or use “PAM for Baking”).

1. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.
2. In another bowl or large measuring cup, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Gently whisk.
3. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine – scrape up from the bottom to make sure all the flour is incorporated.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack to complete cooling.

Recipe adapted from: http://wee-eats.com/2011/06/06/chocolate-cake/

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting:

I came up with this recipe after pouring over dozens upon dozens of peanut butter frosting recipes.This is the version I ended up with, after some experimentation. :)

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 to 5 cups powdered sugar, sifted (depending on how thick you want the consistency for piping)
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter (not natural)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

In the bowl of your electric mixer (have I ever mentioned I love my KitchenAid? :) fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and the butter until creamy and smooth. Add the sifted powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating on low. Mix in the peanut butter and the vanilla extract. Spread as filling between the cake layers and frost the top and sides of your cake. I had just enough to pipe some rosettes on my cake too.

If you would like to add another chocolate kick to the cake, feel free to make a chocolate ganache and pour it over the top of the cake... :)

Chocolate ganache:

6oz dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Bring the whipping cream to a boil in a little saucepan. Watch it carefully, because it may boil over. Put the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Pour the hot whipping cream over the chopped chocolate. Stir a little until the chocolate melts. Pour over the cake before it sets.

I hope you enjoy it!

April Fool's Day cupcakes :)))

Today, I cooked these mock cupcakes for April Fool's Day. :) They are really mini meatloaves with mashed potatoes piped for "icing".

Mini meatloaves:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup mozzarella or cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup quick oats
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp minced dry onion
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped finely
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 lb. ground beef or turkey, or a combination of both
  Glaze:
• 3-4 tbsps ketchup
• 1-2 tsps mustard
• 1 tsp brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly spray a muffin pan- this recipe makes about 10-12 mini meatloaves.

In a large bowl, combine egg, milk, cheese, quick oats, oregano, minced dry onion, garlic, cumin, parsley, black pepper and salt.  Add ground beef/turkey and mix well. (I usually do this part with my hands.)

Evenly divide the meat mixture in muffin pan. In a small bowl, mix ketchup, mustard and sugar.  Evenly divide the glaze over each mini meatloaf.

Bake, uncovered, for about 40 minutes or until meat is done.

Recipe for the mini meatloaves adapted from:
http://myblessedlife.net/2011/08/mini-meatloaf-recipe.html

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

3lbs Russet or Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled and quartered
3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled
4 oz cream cheese, softened, cut into small pieces
1/2 stick butter, softened, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste

Bring potatoes and garlic to a boil in a large pot filled with water. Cook for about 25-30 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. Drain. Return to pot. Turn burner on low. Mash potatoes and garlic with a potato masher until they are creamy and with no lumps (whenever my husband is around, I ask him to do that for me, since- let's face it- this is the most labor intensive part of making mashed potatoes :). Turn burner off. Add cream cheese, butter, milk, salt and pepper. Mash until everything is well incorporated.

I wait for the mashed potatoes to cool off a little bit, so I can handle them without burning myself, and then fill them in a pastry piping bag fitted with a star piping tip (I think I used Wilton 2D for this batch). Pipe on top of the baked mini meatloaves to make mock cupcakes. Enjoy!

No-bake cornflake peanut-butter cookies

My 7-year-old daughter had a play date one night last week. She usually wants to make cookies when she has a play date. So, I had a recipe ready for us to try out! It was super easy- just the thing for two 7-year-old girls!

Ingredients
(Makes about 3 dozen cookies)

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 jar (18 oz ounce) peanut butter, crunchy or smooth
6 cups corn flakes
3 oz good quality chocolate of your choice

Directions

Combine sugar and corn syrup in a medium saucepan. Place over medium-high heat and stir until the mixture comes to a full boil. Remove from heat and stir in the whole jar of peanut butter. Mix well.

Add corn flakes to a large bowl. Pour peanut butter mixture over corn flakes and mix well, taking care to coat all of the corn flakes.

With a tablespoon or cookie scoop, scoop out and form into 1-2 inch balls, depending on your preference, and place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. Flatten out a little bit, or leave them shaped like balls- they will taste yummy either way! :)

Put the chocolate in a small bowl and melt in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Stir until smooth.
Drizzle the melted chocolate over the cookies. My kids absolutely LOVED these!

Recipe adapted from: http://stickygooeycreamychewy.com/2008/01/06/holycraptheseareamazing-cookies/#ixzz1pzwtTQV6

The most AWESOME vanilla cake/cupcakes EVER!

I had been searching for a looong time for the best vanilla cake recipe and time after time I kept being disappointed. Until last week! I finally found a recipe that I can honestly say is the BEST vanilla cake recipe ever! Thanks a million to my friend and neighbor Lauren! This will be a treasured card in my recipe box! I cannot sing this recipe enough praises- the oil and sour cream make it super moist (unlike most vanilla cakes from scratch which turn out somewhat dry) and it is so, so flavorful and delicious (in stark contrast to many bland vanilla cakes I have tried and scratched off my list). Give it a try- I hope you like it as much as I do!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tins with paper liners (for cupcakes).

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar until thick and creamy (about 2 minutes).

Blend vanilla, oil and sour cream.

Add flour and milk, alternating- starting and finishing with flour.

Pour in muffin tins. Bake 18-19 minutes or until they test done. 

Frost with your frosting of choice. I decided to frost these with Swiss Meringue Buttercream, which was highly recommended by many reviews I read online but which I personally did not care for. Still, I will include the recipe for this too... It's your call- after all, you might be like the zillions of other people who actually love this buttercream! :) If you give it a try, let me know what you think.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients: (makes enough for 24 cupcakes) 

• 4 large egg whites or about 1/2 cup
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 lb unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract (or extract of your choice)

Directions:

Lightly whisk egg whites, sugar and salt together over simmering water until egg-white mixture is hot to touch or a candy thermometer reads 150°F and sugar has dissolved.

 Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form and the mixture has cooled to room temperature, about 8 minutes.

Switch to paddle attachment. While beating on medium speed, add butter 2 tablespoons at a time, adding more once each addition has been incorporated.  If the frosting looks curdled, continue beating on medium-high speed until thick and smooth again, about 3-5 minutes more (don’t worry, it will come together!)  Stir in the vanilla extract and mix just until incorporated. 

Keep at room temperature if using the same day, or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat with paddle attachment on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.

Rustic artisan no-knead bread

This was a recipe I had been "eying" for a while... :) Boy, was I glad I gave it a go! I hate store-bought sliced bread. I'd rather not eat any at all than buy these sugary, no-crust, full of artificial additives loaves of so-called bread. My husband is not a fan of them either. So, I had been hoping I'd find a recipe that at least resembles the kind of bread I yearn for: artisan, healthy crust, rustic look, flavorful, delicious, natural-tasting, wholesome bread. Well, here it is, friends! I was so thrilled when it came out of the oven, I could cry! It is an Italian twist on a recipe I was lucky to uncover on the net- I added a teaspoon of dry Italian seasoning to it with all the great flavors of rosemary, sage, oregano- what aroma, what taste, what texture!

Now, this is the kind of bread that is easy to put together because it does NOT require any kneading. However, you do need to plan ahead because one thing it does require is time! You have to start it the night before. One other thing-  ideally, you do need to have a cast iron Dutch oven with a lid that has a high-temperature resistance knob because this is what you want to bake your bread in, and have it covered for the first 30 minutes- if you want to achieve optimal results, that is. Now, as it happens, I do have a Dutch oven, but the knob on the lid- currently- is not stainless steel and can only withstand temperatures of up to 375F. So, I used a casserole dish which I knew could go in a hot oven. I was happy with the bread but I think that once I got myself that stainless steel lid knob, I will be nothing short of ecstatic with the way it bakes (you think I am going to Le Creuset's store soon? :)))

All that being said, here is the beauty I was able to produce last night! Joy, oh, joy!

And here is the recipe:


Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon dry yeast (yes, it is very little yeast- but trust me, that is all you need!)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry Italian seasoning
1 1/2 cup water (I used lukewarm)

Additional suggestions: 
You can also alter the recipe to make whole wheat bread by using 1/2 all purpose flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour. I am thinking of even sprinkling some flax seed in next time.
This recipe also makes great focaccia by adding 3 tablespoons of light extra virgin olive oil to the original recipe and baking as you would a pizza.

Directions: 

In a mixing bowl add the flour, the yeast and the salt. Using your hands or a wooden spoon, blend the dry ingredients.

Pour in 1 1/2 cup of water and mix. Pull together the dough using your hands or a wooden spoon.Scrape any excess flour from the bottom and sides of the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well incorporated and form into a ball.  The dough will have a stringy texture.

Place a piece of plastic wrap on the bowl to avoid the dough from drying out. Allow to rise in a warm dry, and draft free place for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours.

Dust a large piece of parchment paper, measuring about 24 inches with flour to prevent the dough from sticking during its second rising. Scrape the risen dough onto the floured parchment paper.

Sprinkle some flour on the dough to prevent it from sticking to your hands.Lightly pat down the dough with your hands to form a piece of dough measuring approximately 10x10 inches.

Fold both side edges to the center of the dough.take the top edge and fold into the center, doing the same with the bottom edge of the dough.

Turn the dough and place the folded side of the dough on the parchment paper and dust with flour to prevent sticking.

Loosely wrap the dough in the parchment paper and place on a baking sheet. Cover with a tea towel. Transfer to a warm and dry place and allow to rise a second time for 2 hours.

Place a cast iron Dutch oven with its cover on the second rack from the bottom of your stove's oven.  Preheat the oven to 450ºF .  Dust the smooth side of the risen dough with flower to prevent it from sticking to the bottom while baking.

Once the oven reaches the required temperature, remove the pot from the oven and take the cover off. Place the dough, folded sides up and cover. Bake for 30 minutes at 450ºF

Remove the cover and continue baking at 375º F an additional 10-15 minutes.

And if you are lucky as I was, you should have something as beautifully looking as this awesome loaf of bread. Do give it a try! It is worth the wait! Trust me!

Recipe adapted from: http://annastable.blogspot.com/2011/01/rustic-artisanal-no-knead-bread.html?spref=fb