Blueberry Cakes

Knowing a friend likes sour-cream-blueberry donuts from the local donut purveyor, I decided to do a variation on them for his birthday.  I modified a pound cake recipe into cupcakes, topped them with my usual buttercream, and arranged some white chocolate ribbons on top.

1 c. butter, softened

2 1/2 c. sugar

6 eggs, separated

1 c. sour cream (I use the light stuff, to maintain some pretense of healthfulness)

1/4 t. baking soda

3 c. flour

1 t. vanilla

1 t. almond extract (I omitted to make these nut-allergy-friendly, but would really like to try it next time)

2 c. blueberries (I use frozen)

Stir baking soda into sour cream in a small bowl.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar, add egg yolks, one at a time.  Beat until fluffy.  Add flour alternately with sour cream mixture, mix well.  Whip egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold into batter.  Add blueberries (if using frozen, keep them in the freezer until you add them or else you'll have blue batter - I mean, unless that's your thing.  In that case, blue it up!)

Heat oven to 350 degF.  Fill cupcake papers 75-80% full, and bake 35-40 minutes (yes, it's a long time).   Makes 24 full cupcakes and 2 4-inch round cakes, a huge yield.

As far as blueberry cakes go, I have another recipe I like a little better, but I wanted the effect of the sour cream in these cupcakes.  Here's that one, from a Junior League cookbook from my hometown:

1 1/2 c. butter, softened

1 1/2 c. sugar

4 eggs

1 t. vanilla

1 1/2 c. flour

1 t. baking powder

1 pint blueberries

powdered sugar

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, add vanilla.  Sift together baking powder and flour, add gradually to butter mixture.  Beat for a moment at high speed to make it fluffy.  Fold in blueberries.  Pour into greased and floured 9-inch springform pan, and bake 70 minutes.  Serve on a pool of blueberry sauce, with a dusting of powdered sugar.

Valentines Cake

Here's a cake I made for a Valentine's Day dinner at church.  I didn't actually get to go because we had relatives in town!  Anyhow, it was red velvet on the inside with almond buttercream.  I know the purists in the audience will recoil - no cream cheese frosting with red velvet? sacrilege! - but I really like the flavor of the almond better.  There are few cakes that truly benefit from cream cheese, and I just don't think an artificially-red chocolate cake is one of them.  Sorry.

That said, here's a picture!

My Latest Project

Ha ha - well, the latest project I've actually finished.  The scrollwork is a little shaky, but it's not bad, considering I was balanced upon crutches to do it. 

Jess's Birthday Cake!

Cakery Chronicles 2008

[Updated with pictures: 21 July 2008]

Since I have my laptop in the kitchen, I'm tempted to liveblog my cake-making today. I'll do it as long as I'm running on schedule. :) Delivery is set for 500p, with a 50-min drive.

Pre-Blog: Most of cake baked. Top tier (6" pecan spice), second tier (9" pecan spice), third tier (12" toasted coconut), and one layer of bottom tier (16" vanilla bean - but without the bean...) are already baked and wrapped and ready to go. I even have a couple 4" pecan spice layers that I may make into a special bride-and-groom cake for them to share. I had leftover batter, but the bride and groom never get any cake that they don't feed each other after cutting, so this seems like a good use of my little layers.

1017a: Oven preheating. About to make second layer of vanilla bean cake. I'm going all Rachael Ray with a garbage bowl. Someone stop me. [WTF - they sell these? Use a mixing bowl, people!]

1020a: Almost forgot to take out butter to soften!

1022a: Playlist choice for today is High School Favorites. REM, 10,000 Maniacs, Milla Jovovich, Don Henley, Tracy Chapman, Gin Blossoms. Decided yesterday (with ridicule from a certain music snob) that Third Eye Blind is good kitchenwork music. But that's on my College Favorites playlist.

1034a: ...Leonard Bernstein!... Ha ha ha.

1113a: Six minutes to go on the cake in the oven. Apricot filling ready to go between some layers. Took the picture of my pans above.

1125a: Vanilla layer out of oven. Very soon I am going to have to make a decision whether to bake another. They're baking deeper than I expected, but they're still a bit shallower than the others. Well, if some is good, more is better... This means I need more eggs. :-\

1151a: All (except the hot one out of the oven) layers are leveled. Coconut tier filled and squared off, same with top anniversary tier and the bonus tiny tier. I'm really pleased with the vanilla bean-less cake - it's a new recipe. Tight, dense crumb that trims easily, tastes like pound cake. The coconut tier is messy - very crumby and just sort of dissolved when I carved out a well for filling. I'd better go get some eggs.

1239p: Back from my egg run. Oven re-heating.

118p: Third bottom vanilla layer in the oven - 26 min to go. Quick kitchen cleanup, then I'm going to start buttercreams and level the now-cool vanilla layer.

135p: No matter how innocuous it is, "beating butter" for buttercream just sounds dirty. "whipping butter" isn't much better. Tee hee. Maple buttercream about to fill pecan spice cake. Just need to hollow out a well for it.

Maple Buttercream

150p: Last cake is out of the oven. Pecan spice cake filled and edges trimmed. Time to coat all but largest tier with crumb layer of buttercream to prepare it for fondant.

202p: Water simmering in double boiler to melt chocolate for espresso ganache. Brewing espresso.

243p: Ganache is filling the vanilla layers. Just waiting for the third vanilla layer to cool so I can trim it and put it on top. About to crumb coat the other tiers.

252p: Sky over the airport is getting very dark, and I'm starting to hear thunder. Should also hear some aborted landings, if it's typical operations. [254p: Yep, there's one, as if on cue. Spirit, I think?]

331p: All layers crumbcoated. Rolling out fondant means I have to move my computer so I have enough room. I severely overestimated my powdered sugar needs. And forgot I had a big ol' bag in my pantry. So now I have three unopened seven-pound bags of confectioner's sugar in my pantry. Yipes!

427p: Fondant on all but one layer. My layer supports are too tall for them, so I'm going to have to improvise. Running a little behind schedule, but still on target.

455p: Okay, everything that's supposed to be covered in fondant is covered in fondant. Plus some other things. Like the chef. Okay, off to put on some clean clothes, real shoes, and then these go in the car.

458p: Whoops. Never mind. I should make a small batch of royal icing before I go.

525p: Fortuitous discovery of dowels in the house! Engaging in an activity with a saw that is highly likely to end in serious injury.

817p: Cake is delivered and assembled, but no photos yet because the tiers need ribbons, which I had to pick up on the way home. I'll add those before the reception tomorrow!

Done!

Birthday Week!

First, to the kind and gentle reader who sent me two memory cards, the package arrived with no note - so please take this public acknowledgment of the gift until I can thank my anonymous benefactor personally.


Second, good gravy, it's been a while since I posted. But, I'm finally finished with school. No, that's so not true. I don't have to go back to school. No wait, that's not totally true, either. The school year is officially over! I still have exams to finish grading, and it escapes me why I'm not doing that and writing here instead... but anyhow, it is indeed summer. My summer to-do list is so long, I have to get cracking.

Third, I'm still recovering from birthday week. The week was capped off in a fete at the home of friends, friends good enough to (a) throw a low-food party in my honor - see also this, this and this , (b) serve meat1 in their vegetarian kitchen, and (c) eschew our typical highbrow wine for jug sangria. Kids, can we make a pact never to drink such quantities of plonk again? I'm all for integrity of theme, and I suspect the aftermath had a lot to do with my sleep deficit from the school year, but in the last 36 hours, I spent 22 of them asleep, and the better part of one trying to get back to sleep with a raging headache. We drink the J. Lohr next time with our Fritos and hummus! But, I have to say, it's fantastic to have friends willing to sacrifice good taste to make me a Poke Cake (with Cool Whip!) for my birthday. :)

1 the term "meat" used very loosely...

A Fine Fuss

I really love birthdays. There's a lot of joy in an excuse to make a fuss over someone. And there are few things I enjoy quite like a good fuss!

Plus, there's cake involved! Here are two I made this week. One for a friend (dark chocolate cake, mocha cream filling, coffee buttercream, and fondant):

One for my mother-in-law (vanilla bean cake, black raspberry filling, vanilla buttercream, fondant, and gumpaste leaves):

Race Car Cake

I spent my Friday evening making a race-car themed cake for a colleague's son's birthday party.

Lessons learned:

Buy red fondant. I bought pre-tinted black fondant, with which I was pleased, but all my attempts at tinting white fondant red looked like whoopie-cushion rubber. Ew. So the purple stripes were supposed to be red, and I think it would have looked far better as red. Oh well.

Dig out a well for buttercream. With fondant, you really want just a thin layer of buttercream as a crumb layer between the cake and the fondant. Too much between layers, and the cake settles, making the fondant all bulgy. So with fondant, you miss out on the buttercream frosting. Instead, I hollowed out a quarter-inch well between layers of the cake, filled them with buttercream, and topped them with the next layer. That will give every slice a decent amount of frosting, without all the buttercream on the outside that just squashes out everywhere when you smooth the fondant over it.

The artist is always most critical of her own work, but it's not my best cake, mostly because of the lack of red. It looks a lot more pastel in the pictures than it really was. I do like the checkered-flag effect with the black and white. And it was a nice opportunity to refine my fondant techniques.

Oh, Wealthy Benefactor...

Go here.

Click "Send to a Friend".

Send to me.

Now.


Please and thank you. :-)

Low Food

So I've already admitted to liking some rather base food. A couple days ago, I destroyed my gourmet credibility with one of my friends, so I'll happily admit in a public forum that I like Jell-O. I own this cookbook and have made several recipes in it. (1) And yes, there are, indeed, initial joys to warrant the title. I made myself a Poke Cake yesterday, pictured here. Oh, it's so wonderful - I haven't made one in years. I'd heard about them, but the first time I ever tried one was in my college dining hall. This one isn't nearly thick enough, and I probably used a bit too much Jell-O, but I don't care - it's still good. And the texture - the gelatin soaked into the cake firms up when refrigerated. Mmmmmm!

Jell-O Poke Cake
1 box white cake (I prefer Duncan Hines "Classic White" - prepare as package directs)
1 box Jell-O (any flavor, I prefer "red")
1 c. boiling water

Bake cake as package directs. When cake is cool, poke all over with a fork. Combine boiling water and gelatin and pour gelatin over top of cake. Refrigerate and frost with whipped cream. Or, this frosting:

Whipped Frosting
2 envelopes Dream Whip
1 (4-svg) package instant pudding (use White Chocolate for pure white frosting, Vanilla if you don't mind it a little yellow, or any other flavor as your needs dictate)
3/4 c. milk

Combine packages of powder with milk and beat until stiff. Frost cake.


Speaking of that frosting, using Pistachio pudding mix to frost a pistachio cake (make another white cake, dumping a package of Pistachio pudding mix in the batter) makes for a tasty treat.

As other "low food" goes, I freely admit I like hot dogs. Pigs in Blankets were my favorite school lunch, and I still make them now. (Chicken hot dogs + refrigerated breadstick dough = yum!). Speaking of hot dogs, if I don't have hot dog buns, I'll make hot dog sandwiches - split a hot dog in half lengthwise, and then again crosswise - line 'em up flat on a hamburger bun with some mustard. And if you're making homemade pizza, hot dog slices are surprisingly good toppings.

I am also not ashamed to admit that I like Cool Whip. In fact, I personally prefer it to fresh whipped cream. And the French Vanilla Cool Whip available in November-December? Heavenly. I could take down an entire container in one sitting, left to my own devices.

(1) Used copies starting at a penny! You're just depriving yourself if you don't buy one.

Cake cake cake

Apparently, all I do now is cook. Not that I'm complaining. It's great to have the time.

Happy birthday to Marlena, who provided a lovely excuse to make this:
I really love working with fondant - it's so much more elegant than buttercream, but sadly doesn't taste as good as buttercream. The top layer is my new favorite cake combination: Toasted Coconut Cake with Pineapple Filling - tastes like pina colada. Super super super good. The bottom tier is my now-second-favorite cake combination: chocolate cake with raspberry filling.

Will report on the wine tasting later.

Ah, Monday

Had a day of ups and downs. All's well that ends well:

Woke up late, after staying up late. At least I get to sleep in, as opposed to the up-late/awake-early pattern I was running during the school year. Still, it just seems so undisciplined. :-|

Anyhow, I got myself ready for the day and headed out to my cake-supply shop. Bought some new food color, some clear vanilla, and some fillings for a birthday cake. It was *pouring* outside, so instead of paying for my purchases and just standing at the door and waiting for the rain to abate, I wandered the shop. There was a couple in there, and I swear they were following me. I'd walk down an aisle and they'd come by and look at something nearby. I'd saunter over a few aisles, next thing I know, they're all up in my business. Repeat at least five more times. Back off. People I know can invade my space, but not strangers in a 1500-square-foot building. :-\

Anyhow, the shop didn't have the fondant cutters I wanted, but I knew there was a Michaels nearby that would. I chose the wrong direction, but came across a new wine shop a few blocks away. A couple friends and I are throwing a wine tasting party (theme: whites for novice wine-drinkers) on Wednesday - another friend was kind enough to have been born 25 years ago this Wednesday, so we're taking advantage of it as an excuse. Her birthday cake was the reason I needed to go to the cake supply. Anyhow, I figured this wine shop was worth a look, so I dashed in through the deluge. Wow! This place is off the hook! Great domestic, French, Italian, and Australian selections. A wide variety of varietals (ha) from all over the globe. The choices were overwhelming, really. I headed first for the Chardonnay aisle. I had one in mind that's a versatile everyday wine (Lindemans Bin 65 Chardonnay - no oak, good fruit, better with food than most chardonnay). I normally find it for $7-8 or so, but their price is $4.79. This is a good sign. Anyhow, I picked up a Gewurztraminer for the party (2005 Washington Hills, though a Jekel with a Monterey appellation was tempting) We're heavy on the reds here at home, so I picked up a Moscato for us, along with a French white - 2006 Bougrier "V" Vouvray (Chenin Blanc grapes - Loire Valley) that was recommended by one of the staff. The plan was to drink it at dinner, but I got distracted when I returned home and neglected to chill it... :-) :-)

I have been anticipating making a bread recipe(1) for days, so I threw the ingredients into my machine before leaving for the cake shop and was looking forward to having some for lunch with some cheese and pickles. Well. I returned home to a rather acrid smell coming from the kitchen, not the heavenly aroma of a gassy yeast dance party. I opened the hatch of the machine and found a lumpy, unmixed brick of crap. All my ingredients were layered as I had left them, but they'd been baked in place. Not pretty. Grrr. I figured I'd not snapped the baking pan in place and the drive shaft just hadn't engaged the little stirring thingy in the pan. So, I dumped out the brick o' crap and filled the pan with fresh ingredients. Turned on the machine, and it crabbed at me because the temperature is too warm for the start of a new cycle. So I went into the bathroom and snarfed my hair dryer. I blasted the inside of my machine with a stream of cool air for 5 minutes and gave it another go. The cycle started that time, and I was pleased. This pleasure would be short-lived. The machine began whirring like it's stirring up the ingredients. Just... there's no stirring. So I reached in and removed the pan. Nothing was turning. :-/ I fiddled with it, to no avail. So I dug out the manual, no info, but there's a phone number. And a 12-month warranty. I bought the thing 14 months ago. Naturally. So I'm a bit peevish at this point, but, I called them up anyhow, and the very nice lady at the other end of the customer service line informed me that the warranty is extended to 15 months! Sweet! So she e-mailed me a label so I can send it back; oh, and they don't actually carry the same model, so they'll be replacing mine with a newer, better-featured model. :-) :-) :-)

At Publix, I noticed that they had Tri-Tip steaks. What! I hadn't seen those since we left CA. I mentioned this to the butcher and asked him how long they'd been carrying them. He says they've had them since the store opened. Hm. Apparently I don't shop for steak very often. :-) :-)

I made dinner and a couple cake layers. When I pulled my eggs from the refrigerator, I was happy that I had the exact number of eggs for both tiers. Upon closer examination, I realized two of them were cracked. Grrr. So I was not as productive on the cake as I would have liked. Oh well, I'll bake tomorrow. :-|

I put away some laundry and noticed that during some step in the laundering process, a pair of shorts had been ripped. Now, I loathe shorts, so to find a pair that fits is a happy accident. And now they're ruined. :-(

After that unfortunate discovery, I sat down with my computer and read through some posts on a cake-decorating web site I love. I stumbled across a forum post informing everyone of a killer sale on Kitchenaid mixers. A $530 mixer for $150! I have half that in birthday monies, so I think I'm going to finally get myself one! I just can't pass up this deal. Two years ago, I couldn't decide between an iPod or a Kitchenaid, and I opted for the iPod. Since my car has an input jack and I use my iPod in my classroom and car all the time, the iPod was a great choice; now I may finally get my stand mixer, too. Wheeee! :-) :-)


How sweet is this piece of gadgetry? I don't know how often I'd use it, but I totally want one. Maybe the Kitchenaid first.


(1)
I hope this doesn't take you three tries and a warranty repair:
Bushman Bread

1 1/4 c. warm water
2 c. bread flour
1 3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1 T. cocoa
2 t. sugar
1 t. salt
2 T. melted butter
1/4 c. honey
2 T. molasses
2 1/2 t. fresh yeast

Add water to bread machine pan, followed by ingredients in order listed. Bake on a cycle for whole wheat loaves. Mix in a little caramel color or dark brown gel food color for a deep brown bread, if you like.

French Toast. Different Context.

Well, after yesterday's attention-deficit post, I promise this will be more focused...

If overprocessed white bread and plastic cheese are good - then more is better! I bought the "Texas Toast" thick-sliced bread and good ol' American slices and had a fantastic sandwich yesterday. So now I have a (loaf - 2 slices) of bread, so I decided to make French toast. I don't overwhelmingly love French toast - in the Breakfast Trifecta, waffles and pancakes always beat French toast by several points. The crust edges are serviceable, but the middle is almost always soggy. So, I figured thicker bread would make for tastier toast, and I was pleased.

Jen's French Toast (Cooks Illustrated recipe)
1 egg, beaten
3/4 c. milk
2 T. butter, melted
2 t. vanilla
2 T. sugar
1/4 t. salt
1/4 c. flour

Whisk together egg, milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Whisk in sugar, salt, and flour. Pour into shallow dish. Heat a pan over medium heat for at least 5 minutes - longer is better. Add some butter to the pan. Soak both sides of bread in egg mixture, then place in pan. Brown on both sides.

Hints and notes: I didn't have enough milk, so I used half milk and half cream. I mistakenly used double-strength vanilla, but I usually over-vanilla everything anyhow. Make sure the butter is thoroughly combined into the wet ingredients, or else your flour will clump to it. I was relatively quick with the batter-soaking. If you like the "custardiness" (read: soggy!) more, fine, but you still don't want the bread oversaturated.

Summer fruit is the best thing about summer, so I scattered fresh peach slices and blueberries on top and coated it all with a dusting of confectioners sugar. Not bad.

I would actually like to try a savory variety with a slice of French toast (minus the vanilla and sugar), topped with ham and Gruyere - maybe a schmear of raspberry jam, like an open face Monte Cristo, maybe?



Okay, one digression. But it's still food - so it's tangentially related. I've been making every excuse to use up leftover fondant, so here's a marbled-fondant cake that I made for our anniversary earlier this week. Inside: vanilla cake, dark chocolate ganache filling, irish cream buttercream.

You know, as much as I say I'm trying to use up my fondant, it's fun stuff to have around. I'm making a friend's birthday cake this week, and I can't wait!

Cakery Chronicles

Time to assemble Shawn & Marlena's wedding cake!


900p: Arrive home. Cursory check of internet turns into 3h session.

1157p: Begin multitasking, taking laptop into kitchen.

1212a: Chocolate ganache filling cooling.

132a: Buttercream complete.

144a: Tiers are beginning to be filled and stacked.

153a: First tier layered and covered with buttercream.

207a: Second tier layered and covered with buttercream.

239a: Third tier layered and covered with buttercream.

242a: @&#^~@!!(&#*!!! 60% structural failure on Tier 1A (18-inch - bottom layer). Large portions completely crumbled. Other areas have large pieces still intact. Photographs document the damage. Wristwatch covered in raspberry filling. Cake crumbs *everywhere*.

250a: Salvage operation in progress.

258a: Chocolate frosting makes reasonably good mortar. Fondant will hide *multitude* of sins...

325a: Tier 1 (6-inch) covered in fondant. Fondant seems to be working a bit dry. Will work in some shortening when kneading next batch.

343a: Tier 2 (9-inch) covered in fondant. Fondant working extraordinarily well. Far better than temperamental chocolate of last year.

400a: Tier 3 (12-inch) covered in fondant. Rolling fondant more of an aerobic workout than expected.

412a: Taking break to clean up and wash dishes before tackling crumbled/patched/biggest layer for fondant.

425a: Floor still needs mopping, but will deal with that later. It's now or never on the big layer's fondant...

450a: Big tier covered in fondant. Phew. Doesn't look awful... but not perfect.

458a: More cleanup. All the layers are relatively even in height. This pleases me.

502a: Prettiest sides identified for front of cake. Will deal with royal icing and fondant swags tomorrow. Off to get a 1.5-h nap!

826a: Yeah, that was more like 45 min. Threw on whatever clothes were handy and drove into school for last exam. Very. Tired. Now. Must. Sleep.

204p: Begin final assembly and decoration. Fondant drapery work takes several tries before they are satisfactory. Sugar-paste flowers - ordered sight-unseen - look good, but awfully minty-green, compared to the color I have in my head for the bridesmaid dresses.

359p: Disaster narrowly averted as bottom two layers throw themselves off the kitchen table. Quick hands catch the cake, stuffing a thumb into the bottom layer. Will fix onsite! Damage report: One (new, natch) glass cake plate.

511p: More sugar flowers stuck into cake to cover thumb hole. All is well.

531p: Bridesmaids walk down aisle in dresses that are a perfect match to cake flowers.

654p: Reception gets underway; compliments fly.

840p: Cake is cut and quickly consumed. :)

This is two years in a row - remind me not to take on a wedding cake next year until *after* school is out. (I'm reasonably sure I said the same thing last year!) :)

It's My Birfday!

No. Corner pieces EVERYDAY!