Yellow Cake With Chocolate Frosting

My Very 1st Birthday Cake!!

Woo Hoo!  How exciting is this??  Yes, I have made many cakes, cookies, pies and cupcakes but I have never EVER made a birthday cake before!  For this little project I really wasn't all that concerned with the actual cake or icing, although, I am on a search for a good yellow cake/chocolate icing combo (not sure this one is it BUT it certainly wasn't bad).  This was really more about assembling a layer cake.  The cake recipe yields three 9 inch cakes so I decided to only make a double layer cake and use the last layer as practice.  After baking all three cakes I froze them so cutting them and crumb coating them would be easier.

After the cakes came out of the freezer, I leveled off the two layers for  the large cake and leveled off and cut 4 small rounds of of the last layer so I could practice my icing skills on 2 other (much smaller) cakes.

After I cut the cakes I brushed them with some vanilla simple syrup which I made by boiling the rest of my vanilla bean (from the vanilla wafer recipe) and a 1/2 cup sugar and a 1/2 cup water      just until the sugar is dissolved.  Adding the simple syrup to the cake is a good way to keep the layers moist. 

The next step is to add a small layer of icing to the top of one of the layers and to sandwich the next layer on top.  You do not need to spread the icing all the way to the side and it will kind of smush out when you add your next layer.

After you have your layers together, you want to crumb coat the cake which is where you add a thin layer of icing to seal the crumbs so you don't end up with crumbs in your finished product.

After you get your cake crumb coated, park the cake in the fridge and let the icing set up before adding the next layer of icing. 

When you pull your cake out of the fridge the thin layer of icing should be pretty set making it much easier to finish icing. 

This takes practice!  I had three cakes to practice on and my last one came out LOTS better than my first which was unfortunate since the 1st one I did was the actually b-day cake....oh well...

Here are the finished products...

This is the actual b-day cake (in case you didn't figure that out haha).  Instead of writing on the actual cake I melted white chocolate and wrote the text on some waxed paper with a piping bag.  I DO NOT have nerves of steel and was terrified that I would misspell something or royally mess it up so I took the whimpy way out.

And now for the WAY cuter mini layer cake...

If you guys really want the recipes I used for these cakes I will be glad to give them to you, they were just not my favorite and I'm feeling lazy and don't feel like writing them out (they were not that worth it).

Vanilla Wafers

Vanilla Wafers

I was on a quest to recreate the classic Nilla Wafer (which is one of my favorites).  While I can't say these cookies taste anything like the original I do dare to say they are BETTER.  This is the kind of cookie you start eating and don't stop until you are left with nothing but crumbs.  They are seriously DELICIOUS.  Not only are they fabulous they are super easy to make.  The only downside to this recipe is the use of real vanilla which most people don't have on hand and it's also pretty expensive.  I was lucky enough to get some free vanilla beans from school last semester and have been saving them for the right occasion and boy I am glad I did!  This cookie comes together just like any other cookie and then piped onto the cookie sheet for uniformity. 

After getting all of your batter piped onto the cookie sheets they bake for about 15-20 minutes.  Make sure to watch them closely and its always a good idea to rotate your trays during the baking process.  I got lazy with the rotating and burned one of my trays (I ate them anyway haha)

As you can see what you end up with is a thin, crunchy (the good kind of crunchy) cookie marked with the little black flecks that take this cookie from just OK to extra special. 

I brought a gallon sized Ziploc bag filled with these cookies to my office and they were gone within an hour.  These will definitely be placed in my regular cookie rotation, they are seriously THAT GOOD.

Vanilla Wafers

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, seeds only
• 1 large egg white
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 1/3 cups AP flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1. With an electric mixer, cream butter, salt, sugar and vanilla seeds until light.
2. Beat in egg white until well incorporated, scraping sides and bottom of mixing bowl to insure that all white has been incorporated.
3. Beat in extract and milk until well incorporated.
4. Whisk together flour and baking powder and add to butter mixture. Mix just to incorporate, scraping down sides and bottom of mixing bowl to insure that all flour has been incorporated.
5. Fit a piping bag with a large, plain pastry tip.  Fill bag with about 1/3 of the batter. Holding the filled bag perpendicular to a parchment-lined baking sheet, pipe batter into nickel-sized mounds, about 1 inch apart. To make neat, well-shaped cookies, as you finish piping each round, sweep the pastry tip horizontally off to the side with a slight curving motion. (The cookies should cover 2 to 3 standard baking sheets. Batter will hold for a while after it is piped, so trays can be baked one or two at a time, as your oven allows.)
6. Bake at 350°F for about 15-20 minutes, until cookies are lightly browned, rotating trays every 5 minutes or so for even coloring. Cool completely before storing. Cookies will keep in an airtight container for at least a week.

  ENJOY!!

Brownie Truffles

Brownie Truffles

Ok so the vote this week turned out to be a tie so I decided to make something that was not on the list PLUS I had a request for "something chocolate" so here's SOMETHING CHOCOLATE!  While I cant take credit for the method of making these I think they are pretty special and well worth sharing!

These are actually pretty easy to make they are just a little time comsuming.  The first step is to start off with a great brownie recipe, I use the king arthur flour recipe (which can be found on their website).  After you bake and cool the brownies, cut the edges off.  I know, I know thats the best part BUT not for this recipe (plus it gives you something to munch on while your working).  Cut the brownies into small chunks (about 1 1/2 inches). 

 Roll each of the chunks into balls.

Once you have all of your brownie balls prepared, get your toppings ready.  After you get yourself all set up with balls and toppings melt your chocolate.  I used the chocolate melting wafers you get at the craft store. While its not the best chocolate for eating, its easy to work with and it's just fine for these purposes.  Drop one ball at a time into the chocolate and use a spoon to cover the brownie with chocolate.  Once you get the ball campletely covered use a fork to lift the ball out of the chocolate.  Tap the fork lightly against the bowl to help the excess chocolate drip off the ball.  Carefully place the chocolate covered brownie of wax paper.

Once you get the covered balls onto wax paper sprinkle with toppings of your choice WHILE THE CHOCOLATE IS STILL WET.  I used sprinkles, white chocolate, heath bar crumbs and walnuts as my topping but you can pretty much use anything you can think of.

These are really DELICIOUS!  They are super chocolatey and just adorable!  I think I will make these again for valentines day, shaped like chocolates and placed in a heart shaped box!!  Now I just need to find a man to feed them to!

Jewish Apple Cake

Jewish Apple Cake

The vote for Jewish Apple Cake was almost unanimous and I have to say I was pretty pleased because this is probably my most favorite cake EVER!  I made this on Saturday night and by 9:30am this morning (Monday) there was not a crumb left.  This is one of those cakes that you can just eat and eat and eat.  I've never met a person who doesn't love it. 

This cake is extremely easy to make, the worst part is peeling and cutting the apples. 

The directions in the recipe say to mix the cake batter then cut the apples and mix with cinnamon-sugar mixture.  I always cut the apples first and mix with cinnamon-sugar because I like the apples to let some of their juice out.

The only other thing I do differently from the recipe is use apple juice instead of orange juice. I have made this cake MANY times and experimented with OJ, apple juice and even apple cider and found that using Simply Apple juice is the way to go.

After you get your cake batter and apple mixtures ready, start to layer the mixtures into a well greased tube pan.  I always start with cake batter and end with apples. 

The cake takes about an hour and a half to bake and will make your house (and probably your entire neighborhood) smell absolutely delicious!! 

Jewish Apple Cake
 
3 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 tsp vanilla
4 large eggs
1/2 cup orange juice (or Simply Apple)
5 large apples
5 tsp cinnamon
5 tbls sugar (separated from other sugar)
 
Preheat oven to 350
 
Beat flour, 2 1/2 cups sugar, baking powder, salt, vanilla, oil, eggs and juice together until smooth.  In a separate bowl combine sliced apples, cinnamon and 5 tbls sugar. 
 
Layer batter and apples in greased tube pan, starting with batter and ending with apples.
 
Bake at 350 for 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hours.
 
 

Animal Crackers!!

ANIMAL CRACKERS!!

I was SO excited to make these!  What could be a better way to take a trip down memory lane than these cute little cookies.  For the record I prefer the term ANIMAL CRACKERS.  I know most people say animal cookies but I grew up calling them crackers and I'm sticking to it!  These "crackers" are really a labor of love because they are very time consuming but trust me they are well worth your time.

I used a cute Noah's Ark cookie cutter set from Wilton to get the perfect shapes.

After baking them until they turn brown around the edges I iced them with a simple royal icing.

They came out so CUTE!  They were a huge hit at work!  I am in love with these cookies (I mean crackers)

Animal Crackers

1 cup butter room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tbls whipping cream
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups sifted all purpose flour

Cream butter, add sugar slowly.  Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add egg, cream, baking powder, baking soda, salt and vanilla.  Slowly add the flour until incorporated.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill until firm (I recommend over night).  Once dough is chilled preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick and cut into desired shape.  Bake crackers on a lightly greased cookie sheet (or cookie sheet lined with parchment) for 5 - 7 minutes or until brown around edges.  Cool on racks before icing. 

Royal Icing

4 tsp meringue powder
4 tbls water
1 tbls vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
food coloring

Mix all ingredients until smooth.  I find that the thinner this frosting is the easier it is to coat the cookies.  If your icing is too thin just add more water until you reach the desired consistency.  Please note:  this icing starts to dry quickly, always cover the icing while you are not using it.

Red Velvet

Woo Hoo!  First post!

Well, I figured my first post had to be Red Velvet since people just seem to LOVE this recipe.  This recipe can be  dressed up with fresh fruit or simply decorated with cute sprinkles (my favorite).  The cake is vibrantly red and super moist but the icing is the real star if you ask me. 

Just be careful when mixing, the red dye is very unforgiving!  My Kitchen has many red splotches from years of making this recipe.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

15 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/4 salt

1 1/4 unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

13 ounces sugar

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

3 eggs

2 tbls plus 2 tsp red food coloring

1 1/4 white vinegar

1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 cup water

For the cream cheese icing:

1 1/2 lbs cream cheese room temperature

1 lb unsalted butter room temperature

2 lbs powdered sugar sifted

1 tbls vanilla

For the cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder and set aside

Mix oil, sugar and buttermilk until combined in a mixer with a paddle attachment.  Add the eggs, vanilla, vinegar, water and food coloring.  Add the sifted dry ingredients in thirds scraping sides of bowl in between additions until just incorporated.  DO NOT OVER MIX.

Divide the batter into cupcake pans (I usually get 24 standard size cupcakes) and bake for 20-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

For frosting:

Combine the butter and cream cheese and whip with paddle attachment until creamed.  Add the powdered sugar slowly, scraping sides of bowl in between additions.  Add in vanilla and mix until smooth.