Nana's 75th Birthday Cake

We threw Nana a surprise 75th Birthday this year.  It was alot of fun...and of course I made the cake.  Nana loves crosswords, so I found a website that you can create your own crossword puzzle.  I entered in 16 clues/answers about Nana and it created a personalized puzzle.  I then made fondant and drew the crossword puzzle and clues onto the fondat using edible markers.  I had been asking Nana for the recipe for her favorite cake and Uncle Chet told me what to fill it with and ice with.  As usual, I made everything from scratch, even the fondant. (which was a pain in the butt, but I did it and thought it tasted great).

Nana's 1-2-3-4 Cake
1 Cup butter or margarine
2 Cups Sugar
3 Cups Cake Flour (if use presto cake flour omit the baking powder and salt)
1 Tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
4 eggs separated
1 Cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Grease the bottom of a 13x9inch pan.  Line with parchment paper.  Grease the parchment paper.
Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks and vanilla. Add flour and milk alternating between the two only until incorporated. Set Aside.
Beat egg whites to stiff but not dry peaks. Fold 1/3 into the cake batter and then add the rest gently.
Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes.

Lemon Curd Filling
5.25 oz butter cubed and divided
4.5 oz sugar divided
4.5 oz lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
4.5 oz egg yolks

Combine half of the butter, half of the sugar, all of the lemon jucie and zest in a saucepan.  Heat until sugar dissolves.

Blend the egg yolks with the remaining sugar.  Temper by adding 1/3 of the hot lemon sauce, stiring constantly with a whisk.  Return the tempered egg mixture to the saucepan.  Continue cooking , stirring constantly with the whisk until the mixture comes to a boil.

Add the remaining butter

Strain the curd into a large shallow bowl.  Cover and refrigerate to cool.


Buttercream Icing
2 extra large egg whites (room temp)

3/4 Cup sugar
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/3 tsp salt
3 sticks butter (room temp - not melted)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar and salt in heat proof mixing bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and heat until warm to touch - about 5 minutes. Beat with whisk attachment for 5 minutes or until stiff peaks form.

Add 1 T of butter at a time on medium speed mixing until just incorporated. Scrape down bowl and add chocolate and vanilla. Mix until blended. If too soft put in refrigerator for a few minutes and beat again.

Fondant
1 1/2 oz. water
1 package unflavored gelatin
4 1/2 oz light corn syrup (I only had glucose on hand so I used that)
1 1/2 tsp. glycerin (optional)
1 lb 8 oz confectioners sugar

Mix the water and gelatin and heat gently to dissove only.  Remove from the heat and stir in the corn syrup and glycerin (if using). 

Add the sugar and mix until smooth and well combined.  Form into a disc, lightly coat with shortening and wrap in plastic if not using right away.  Best if used the same day. 

I had some trouble getting the sugar to mix into the other ingredients.  So I took out of the pan and put into my mixing bowl with the paddle attachment and let it knead together for a minute.   It worked perfect.

Nana's Pinch Cookies

My Nana has been making these cookies for as long as I can remember.  The recipe is her mothers, so I guess that makes me the fourth generation to make this cookie. (I don't remember my mother ever making these though). They are easy enough to make but time consuming.  I'm not going to give the recipe away, but it is a flour/butter cookie filled with apricot jam and chopped up nuts. (or you can use prunes or poppy seeds - which I don't like so I don't make)  I make them every year for Christmas and everyone loves them.  I use the cutter that my Grandfather made to cut them to give them a zig zag edge.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

(I need a better camera to document my stuff)

One of Dac's clients asked me if I could make her Red Velvet Cupcakes.  I know the classic red velvet is with plain cream cheese frosting, but I decidied to divide the frosting and add chocolate to half of it.  It was pretty yummy.  I had to make this recipe twice because the first time I rushed and overbeat the batter and the cupcakes fell.  The second time I took my time and only beat when I needed to.  And they came out light and fluffy.  I did get some feedback from Dac's client that she thought they were great but needed more cocoa and the color could be more intense and she loved the frosting.  I will make them again when she comes back.  

Cake Mix:

1/2 stick unsalted butter softened

3/4 Cup sugar

1 large egg

food coloring (I have food gel that I used and only needed about 5-6 drops but will probably use more next time)

1 tsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup plus 2 1/2 T sifted cake flour (next time I will reduce this to 1 1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 T flour and add an additional 1 T of cocoa powder)

1/2 T vinegar

1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tins.

In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Beat in egg beating well after each addition.  In a small bowl whisk together the food coloring and the cocoa powder and add with salt to the butter mixture, beating until blended.

In a measuring cup mix the buttermilk and vanilla.  Add the flour to the butter alternating with the buttermilk starting and ending with the flour beating only until combined.  In a small bowl stir together the baking soda and the vinegar (it will fizz).  Pour into the batter and STIR - DO NOT BEAT!

Pour into the muffins tins until they are about 2/3 -3/4 full.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.  Let cool a few minutes in pan on rack and remove to cool completely on a rack.

Frost when cupcakes are completely cooled.

Frosting:

1 8oz package of cream cheese COLD

5 Tbsp unsalted butter softened

2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup - 4 cups of confectioners sugar - It all depends on your taste for sweetness.  I only used 1/4 Cup

To make it chocolate - melt 5 oz of chocolate (I used semisweet but you can use dark) let it cool and add to the vanilla cream cheese frosting.  (If you want to do half chocolate and half vanilla frosting divide the frosting after you've made the vanilla and only add 2.5 oz of melted chocolate)

New York Style Cheesecake

Graham Cracker Crust
7 oz graham crackers
5 T. melted unsalted buttter
1/4 Cup sugar

Filling
20 oz Cream Cheese
6 oz sugar
pinch of salt
5 oz eggs
1/2 oz egg yolks
2 1/2 oz heavy cream
1/4 oz vanilla

To make the graham cracker crust:
In a food processor blend the graham crackers until fine crumbs. Add the sugar and process. With the processor running, add the melted butter.

Press the mixture into the bottom and almost halfway up the sides of a 8 inch springform pan. (you do not want the crust to be showing when you add the filling - even though my did...next time it won't.)

Wrap the pan with 2 sheets of tinfoil. (This is so that no water will get in when you bake it in a water bath.)

Set aside.

To make the filling:
*Note - do not overmix - this will cause air bubbles and it may cause bubbles in the cake or cracking *
Combine the cream cheese, sugar and salt on medium speed with the paddle attachment, occassionally scraping down the bowl, until the mixture is completely smooth, about 3 minutes.

Whisk the eggs and yolks together. Add to the cream cheese in 4 additions until fully incorporated.

Add the heavy cream and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated.

Pour into the prepared pan. Gently tap the side of the pan to release any air bubbles.

Bake in a water bath (using hot water to fill it) for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the center is set (but still a little jiggly is ok).

Very Important! Let cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack. Cover with plastic wrap - with the plastic wrap touching the surface of the cake. Then move it to the refrigerator and chill overnight. It is very important to cool completely before refrigerating so that the cheesecake does not crack.

Bran Muffins

Ingredients:

3/4 Cup Wheat Bran

1/2 Cup Buttermilk

2 Tbsp and 2 tsp vegetable oil

1 egg white

1/3 Cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 Cup AP flour

1/4 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup raisins

Preheat Oven to 375. Line muffin tins with paper cups or grease them without.

Mix together the buttermilk and the wheat bran. Let sit 10 minutes.

In a separate bowl whisk together the egg white, sugar, vanilla and oil. Add the wheat bran mixture.

In a separate bowl sift together the flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add to the wet ingredients. Whisk until just combined. Fold in the raisins. (I made 1/2 with raisins and 1/2 without).

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until a toohpick comes out clean.

Can brush the tops with a drop of honey once they come out of the oven.

Apple Pie

Dac and I went Apple Picking at an orchard in Warwick. It was a first for both of us - we had a lot of fun and got A TON of apples. (maybe like 10lbs). I love apple pie so decided to make one for Sunday dinner party with great friends. It was pretty easy to make and sooo delicious! Definitely not the healthiest thing but I am pretty sure I will be able to make a healthy version - so watch for that.

Recipe:

Pie Shell - Yes I have to make it from scratch - there's no other way! This will make enough for 2 9inch pie shells.

The key to this is to have everything (except the flour and salt) as cold as possible. When you are rolling out the first half of the dough be sure to have the other half in the fridge. You may need to refrigerate all of the dough to make it easier to work with.

Sift together and put in a food processor:

2 1/2 Cups Flour

1 1/4 tsp salt

Add:

3 Tbsp cold butter cubed

1/2 Cup cold shortening

Pulse until resembles coarse crumbs.

Add 1/4 Cup Cold Shortening and pulse until pea sized crumbs.

Drizzle with 6 Tbsp ice cold water. Blend until the dough forms a ball and pulls away from the side. (about 1 minute). Divide dough in half

Refrigerate or roll immediately. I rolled one half of the dough out just a little bigger than the pie pan. The other half I rolled out and cut into strips and latticed the pie.

Apple Filling:

6-8 medium/large apples - peeled, cored and sliced into 1/4 inch slices

In a large wide frying pan melt 3 Tbsp butter

Add the Apples and coat with the butter. Cook for 5-7 minutes or until apples are still crisp but tender.

Increase heat to high and add:

1/2 Cup sugar

1/4 Cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Coat apples and bring to a rolling boil to thicken the liquid. Cook for about 3 minutes. When done remove apples to cookie sheet and allow to cool for about 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350.

Once apples are cooled add to the pie shell. Lattice the top (or whatever top you decide on).

Cook for 30-40 minutes or until top is browned and filling starts to boil.

Serve with vanilla ice cream!

Mini Ricotta Cheesecakes with Carmelized Pecan Graham Cracker Crust

I made eggplant parm the other day and have a bunch of leftover ricotta. I don't want to just throw it out so here is a recipe I found and manipulated a litte bit. I've made ricotta cheese cookies before (haven't made since I started this blog) and they were great so I decided to try a different recipe. I also love cheesecake but don't get to enjoy it that often. In my searches for a recipe I came across a recipe by Giada that someone changed a bit. I also came across another recipe for a Turtle Cheesecake (that didn't call for ricotta cheese). So I decided to combine the two and make mini ricotta turtle cheesecakes.

The recipe called for 1/2 Cup of sugar but when I tasted the batter it was very sweet so I decided to add more ricotta and more cream cheese.

I had carmelized pecans in my cupboard (a gift from someone). I decided to grind them up and add them to the crust mixture. The mixture itself was very yummy uncooked, but then again how can carmelized pecans, melted butter and graham crackers taste bad?

Ok - so on to the recipe.....

Preheat the oven to 350. Prepare your mini muffins tins with mini muffin papers :)

Crust:

1 handful of Carmelized pecans - yes I didn't measure (If you don't have the carmelized pecans just omit them)

2/3 Cup crushed graham crackers

2 T. butter, melted

Put the pecans in a food processor until a crumb mixture. Add the graham crackers and blend. While the pecans and graham crackers are processing pour in the melted butter.

Put about 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp of the crust mixture into the prepared muffin tins. Use something a smiliar size to press the crust firmly into the papers.

Cheesecake Filling:

1 Cup Ricotta Cheese
6 oz Cream Cheese
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 tsp vanilla (I am going to use amaretto next time)
2 eggs

Put everything into a food processor and processor until blended and smooth.

Fill the muffin tins almost to the top (leaving a small space for a pecan or other topping (carmel, chocolate, etc.).

Get a sheet pan big enough to hold the muffin tin and fill 1/4 of the way with water. Place the filled muffin tin on the sheet pan. Place in oven. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately put in freezer for about 20 minutes.

Store in the refrigerator.

Topping: I did Caramel and Melted Chocolate drizzled on topped with a tiny piece of the carmelized pecans. But you can do any topping.

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar

2 T Butter

1/2 T milk

Melt all in pot until sugar is dissolved and starts to bubble a little bit. Let cool for just a minute and work quickly to drizzle over the cooled cheesecakes.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Well the season is upon us! Time for soups and stews and comfort foods! And that includes sweets! I've been dying to make something with pumpkin so I decided to make pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting...YUM!! I made them with no white flour and no white sugar and with all organic ingredients. That being said - I can't say that it is the healthiest thing in the world. Still has brown sugar and butter in it - but hey - have to indulge! So here we go....

Recipe:

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line cupcake tin with papers.

Melt 2 sticks of butter. Set aside to let cool slightly.

In a large bowl sift then whisk together:

2 Cups Spelt Flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

In a separate bowl whisk together until incorporated:

1/2 Cup light agave nectar

The melted butter

4 large eggs

1 Cup brown sugar

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Whisk gently and only until incorporated. (You do not want to overmix since you are using spelt flour. The gluten in spelt flour is more fragile than white or wheat flour. Whereas wheat flour needs to be mixed and kneaded for awhile to strengthen the gluten, you need to be much gentler with spelt flour taking care not to over-mix or over-knead. Over-mixing may result in too a crumbly texture.)

Fold in a 15 oz can of pumpkin puree.

Fill the cupcake tins halfway with the batter. Bake for 18-20 minutes until the tops spring back or a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely before icing.

Icing:

8oz Cream Cheese at room temp

1/2 Cup butter at room temp

1/2 Cup Confectioners Sugar

4 T Agave Nectar

1 tsp vanilla

Beat until light and fluffy.

Sprinkle iced cupcakes with cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg.

Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Icing

I made this cake for my friend, Alfonso's birthday. It came out moist and was pretty sweet, but he loved it. It has a ton of sugar in it - so not what I love to bake with but I wanted to do something great for his bday. He loves Buddha and similar things to that. i found this picture online and decided to replicate it on the cake. I don't think it came out too bad for my first hand drawing on a cake. They thought it looked great. Being a perfectionist I know it could be better...I just need to take a trip to Chef Central and pick up some more tools...

I made 2 types of icing because I wanted one white and one Chocolate. You can just do one or the other - but I put a decoration on the top of the cake which is why I wanted it white. The white sugar icing is much more sweet than the Chocolate icing.

Recipe:

Chocolate Cake

2 Cups Sugar

1 3/4 Cup AP Flour

3/4 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 Cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup boiling water

Heat oven to 350F. Grease and line 2 8 or 9 inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Mix for 2 minutes on medium speed. Slowly stir in the boiling water. (The batter is going to be pretty thin). Pour evenly into the prepared pans. Bake for 30-32 minutes, Cool in pan for 10 minutes and move to wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing

6 oz chocolate chopped

2 extra large egg whites (room temp)

3/4 Cup sugar

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

1/3 tsp salt

3 sticks butter (room temp - not melted)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Set aside and let cool to room temp.

Mix egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar and salt in heat proof mixing bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and heat until warm to touch - about 5 minutes. Beat with whisk attachment for 5 minutes or until stiff peaks form.

Add 1 T of butter at a time on medium speed mixing until just incorporated. Scrape down bowl and add chocolate and vanilla. Mix until blended. If too soft put in refrigerator for a few minutes and beat again.

White Sugar Frosting

2 Cup confectioners Sugar

1/4 Cup shortening

2 T + 1 1/2 tsp milk (more or less if needed)

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Cream the sugar and shortening together. Slowly add the milk and vanilla until smooth and stiff consistency.

Coconut Frangipane

I made these for mine and Dac's salon soft opening. They were almost a big a hit as our salon! I got a bunch of people telling me they were going to be calling me for Christmas to bake these for them. They really were yummy! I can't wait to make them again! They were super easy too!

Yields - 55 mini muffin cakes

Ingredients

Coconut Cakes

7 oz Butter

1/2 lb 1 oz Confectioners Sugar

3 1/2 oz All purpose flour

.875 oz coconut rum

5 1/4 oz eggs

5 1/4 oz heavy cream

5 1/4 dried coconut

(the rum, eggs and cream should equal one cup)

Coconut rum for brushing - as needed

Swiss Meringue

2 oz egg whites

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

1/4 pound sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a mini muffin pan with non-stick spray.

Cream the butter, sugar and flour on medium speed with paddle attachment until smooth - about 2 minutes.

Combine the rume, eggs and heavy cream. Add to the butter mixture in 4 parts beating until well combined. Add the coconut and blend until incorporated.

Fill a pastry bag (with no tip) and pipe into the prepared muffin pans about 3/4 full.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from pan and place on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Let cool.

After all batches have been cooked and cooled use a pastry brush to brush the tops with coconut rum.

To make the swiss meringue.

Place the ingredients into a metal bowl and stir until thoroughly combined. Place the bowl over barely simmering water and slowly stire until it reaches 165F. Transfer to a mixer and whip on high speed until meringue forms stiff but not dry peaks.

Using a pastry bag fitted with flat tip pipe the swiss meringue in a snake like motion on top of the cakes.

Brulee the meringue until a nice golden brown appearance. You can use a torch for this part but I stuck them under the broiler - which you have to watch very closely or they will burn.