Roll It Up!

Oh my goodness, I can't believe it's been 10 days since my last post. It just seems like time has flown by and I don't know where it's gone. I strive to keep this blog up and post a couple new recipes a week, but I just don't have the energy to do so right now. I've been sick for almost 3 weeks now. It started to go away then it came back full force on Tuesday. I went to the doctor when I first got sick and they told me it was viral and it would go away on it's own, well it didn't so I'm dealing with that. Anyway, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

I did manage to whip up this red velvet cake roll last week though. I saw a picture of red velvet cake at California Pizza Kitchen and started to crave it, but wanted to make it in a different way. I searched high and low for a good recipe for at least an hour before realizing that a good blogger friend of mine had it on her blog! Note to self: If you need a recipe, ask your friends first. It was pretty simple but I did make a couple minor changes. I wanted it to be super red without adding additional food coloring, so I just decreased the amount of cocoa in the recipe. Worked like a charm.

I would love to tell you that this cake was so good that I ate half ot it, but the truth is I only had one slice and a bite of another. My taste buds aren't working right and I couldn't really enjoy or taste it very well. It did taste like red velvet cake though, and that's a plus. Texture wise, I thought the cake was better on the second day, since the flavors were allowed to meld together. The cake seemed to relax a bit as well and wasn't as stiff as it was on day 1. I wrapped it well in plastic wrap, which helped it stay moist but it did get a little sticky. A dusting of powdered sugar helps keep all that in check. Just be sure not to wear white while making or eating this :-) And if I don't blog before then, I wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day!

Red Velvet Cake Roll adapted from Imperial Sugar via One Ordinary Day

Printer friendly Version Cake:

• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp. oil
• 2 Tbsp. buttermilk
• 1 tsp. vinegar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 oz. red food coloring
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup cake flour, sifted

Filling:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

• Additional Powdered Sugar, to dust cake

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat jellyroll pan (cookie sheet with sides) with cooking spray. Line with waxed paper. Coat with cooking spray.

Beat the eggs for five minutes. Slowly add granulated sugar and oil. Beat well. Add buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla and red food coloring.

Sift together dry ingredients. Add slowly to liquid ingredients. Beat two minutes, until well combined.

Pour batter into pan. Bake on middle rack for twelve to fifteen minutes, until the cake springs back when touched in center.

Sprinkle a cloth dishtowel with powdered sugar. Immediately turn cake out onto towel. Peel off waxed paper. Starting at narrow end, roll up cake and towel together. Place seam side down on rack to cool for thirty minutes.

Combine filling ingredients. Beat well. Gently unroll cooled cake. Spread filling over cake. Trim any rough edges. Re-roll the cake without the towel. Place seam side down, on cookie sheet. Dust with powdered sugar. Refrigerate.

When ready to serve, slice cake one inch thick. Serves eight.

Red Velvet Love For YOU!

Well my friends I am finally back home! We arrived late last night, exhausted but safe and sound. Thank you to all of you who left comments and emailed me privately to encourage me to keep my head up and stay positive and to not be bothered by petty anonymous commenters. I appreciate it more than you know. And I definitely felt an abundance of love. So to thank you and to send a little love your way I have these special little cupcakes for you!

Red Velvet Cream Cheese Cupcakes- ah! Yes I know. I can't take credit for these though. I found them at My Baking Adventures and she got them from Cookie Madness. Either way, they're genius. They combine a wonderfully red and tender cake with a cream cheese center, so there's no need for frosting. They're not very sweet so I guess you could call these muffins but they're much more exciting. I made these before we left on our trip to DC but they would be perfect for your Valentine this weekend.

This cake is made with sour cream, which is unlike any red velvet cake I've ever made, but it worked. They rose and domed perfectly and the cream cheese filling accented them nicely. Since they have cream cheese in them they need to be refrigerated but their flavor tastes best with the chill taken off of them. So allow them to sit at room temp for a bit before serving or heat them ever so slightly. The only thing I would change next time is to add more filling and up the cream cheesiness. That's never a bad thing. Another good thing about these cupcakes is that this recipe has already been cut down to make 8-9 cupcakes so you don't end up with so many leftover.

Red Velvet Cream Cheese Cupcakes from Cookie Madness via My Baking Adventures

Filling:

• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 ½ tablespoons lightly beaten egg (break egg, mix with fork, measure)
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Batter:

• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons unsweetened natural cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 plus 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon red food coloring
• 3/4 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 tablespoons sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 8 (I needed 9) muffin cups with paper liners.

Prepare filling first. With a mixing spoon, beat together softened cream cheese and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and stir until smooth. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, thoroughly stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

In a second mixing bowl, stir together oil, sugar, vinegar, egg, red food coloring, vanilla and sour cream. Mix very well, then add the flour mixture and stir just until blended.

Measure out approximately 1/3 cup red mixture and set aside. Divide remaining red mixture among the 8 muffin cups – each cup should be a little over 1/3 of the way full. Spoon cream cheese mixture over red mixture, dividing evenly between all cups. Drop small spoonfuls of reserved red batter on top of cream cheese mixture, making a bulls-eye pattern.

Bake for 20-23 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Carefully remove lift muffins from cups.

Best served slightly chilled. – Makes 8-9

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day with the ones you love. We plan on staying home and making dinner together (ie. I make dinner and Mr. H eats it!) or going to my moms for Sunday dinner, which is something we do often. Either way, there will be chocolate!

Sending lots of red velvet love to you all!

Red Velvet If You Please

I missed last months cake for The Cake Slice Bakers but there was no way I was going to miss the cake this month. After all, it is one of my favorite cakes ever- Red Velvet Cake! I'll eat this cake any which way I can get it. I'll eat it in cupcake form, cake balls, from the grocery store bakery department and from a box. I don't discriminate when it comes to Red Velvet :-)



Props to you if you got the musical reference (turn your speakers on!) in my title :-) I was however a little hesitant when it came to the frosting. It's a milk and flour cooked frosting in which you add butter, sugar, nuts and coconut. I liked the texture in it but I've made a cooked frosting before and it was a disaster. That doesn't mean this one would have been bad but I went the cream cheese frosting route- always a winner in my book! I left out the coconut but I did add the chopped pecans and it was delicious!


I ate a slice of this cake immediately after I frosted it and while it was fall apart tender and oh so moist, it didn't make for a lovely picture. So I refrigerated it then sliced it for a cleaner slice. Pretty, no? I had a slice of this cold and a slice at room temperature and the room temperature slice was much better so keep that in mind when you eat this.



If you've never had Red Velvet cake before let me tell you a bit about it. It's not a white cake colored red (as I once read and was very offended by) and it's not a chocolate cake either although it does have a tiny bit of cocoa in it. It's a slightly tangy cake and moist (if it's a good recipe). And it just happens to be red, although I'm sure you could color it any color you'd like or leave it out if you don't care for the dye-- but that's part of the appeal, dontcha think?

 

Red Velvet Cake
from Southern Cakes

Printer Friendly Version

• 2½ cups all purpose flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk*
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp red food colouring
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar or white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans and line them with waxed paper or kitchen parchment. Grease the paper and flour the pans.

Prepare three separate mixtures for the batter. Combine the flour and salt in a medium bowl and use a fork to mix them together well. Combine the cocoa powder and the red food coloring in a small bowl, mashing and stirring them together to make a thick smooth paste.

In a large bowl, beat the butter with a mixer at low speed for 1 minute until creamy and soft. Add the sugar and then beat well for 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape down the bowl now and then. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each one until the mixture is creamy, fluffy and smooth. Scrape the cocoa-food coloring paste into the batter and beat to mix it in evenly.


Combine the vanilla with the milk. Add a third of the flour mixture and then about half the milk, beating the batter with a mixer at low speed. Mix only enough to make the flour or liquid disappear into the batter. Mix in another third of the flour, the rest of the milk and then the last of the flour in the same way.

In a small bowl, combine the baking soda and vinegar and stir well. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to quickly mix this last mixture into the red batter, folding it in gently by hand. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans.

Bake at 350F for 20 to 25 minutes until the layers are spring back when touched lightly in the center and are just beginning to pull away from the sides of the pans.

Cool the cakes in the pans on wire racks for 15 minutes. Then turn them out onto the racks, remove the paper and turn top side up again to cool completely. Frost with frosting of your choice.

NOTE: If you can’t find buttermilk, stir 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar into 1 cup of milk and leave to stand for 10 minutes before using.

Cream Cheese Pecan Frosting from Monica H.

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 8 ounces softened cream cheese
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined. Then add the vanilla extract and powdered sugar and beat at low speed, occasionally stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, until light and fluffy. Fold in chopped pecans. Use immediately.

Be sure to check out all the other Cake Slice Bakers' creations!

To The Rescue!

This is my first post of the new year and I had to make it good, so I have for you a cake. Not just any cake, a grandiose cake. This is the cake I for the two boys I nanny for. Their birthdays were in November and the oldest turned 3 and the little one turned 1. If you'll remember I made an applesauce spice cake for his first birthday, but this cake was made for their birthday party.

Their mom originally chose a different theme a much simpler theme, but then she changed her mind and wanted a Wonder Pets themed cake. If you're not familiar with The Wonder Pets, they are 3 school house pets that turn into super heroes once school is out and rescue other pets in need of help. They make a fly boat out of materials they find in the classroom and fly to their destinations. There were no guidelines with this cake, just make it big enough to feed 40. Sometimes that great because I'm not limited by anything and other times it makes it even harder...because I'm not limited by anything! Boundaries can be a good thing.

So I knew from the beginning I wanted this to be a tiered cake. And I like things in 3's so it had 3 tiers. The bottom tier was a 9x13-inch chocolate cake, the middle tier was a 2-layer yellow cake with confetti in it and the top tier was a Wonder Pets fly boat made out of rice krispy treats and covered in fondant. The Wonder Pets characters- Linny, Ming Ming and Tuck, were purchased.

The chocolate cake was a cake I've made before. It was the one-bowl chocolate cake from Sky High Cakes and it was really delicious. But if you'll remember, I had issues with the cake sinking in the middle. Well a reader saw that I was having a problem and decided to tackle the issue herself. The cake originally did not contain eggs, but she added them and it was fine. So I tried it and it turned out perfectly. Thanks so much!

The yellow cake, was well, a disappointment. It was even more disappointing because the title of the yellow cake was Moist Yellow Cake and it was anything but moist. It was dry and crumbly. I should have known better when the recipe called for the cake to be spritzed with a sugar syrup. I have a problem with that. Cakes should be moist without adding moisture in that form, don't you think? The flavor was fine, but the texture all wrong. So I'm not going to post the recipe for the yellow cake, but you can find it on a mega blog who likes to make cake pops, under that title. If you want to make confetti cake, just mix in several tablespoons of sprinkles to a white or yellow cake recipe.

The cake was covered in vanilla bean buttercream and tinted blue and green to make it look like the sky and grass. The clouds (those were my favorite!) were piped with a #12 tip and the flowers were cut out of fondant. The mast on the boat was made with a wooden skewer and a couple pieces of notebook paper and colored pencils. And the wheels were fondant covered Oreos.

One Bowl Chocolate Cake adapted from Sky High

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 8 or 9-inch pans. Line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper, butter the paper.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Use a wire whisk to blend the dry ingredients thoroughly.

Add the oil and 1/2 cup of the water to the dry ingredients. Add another 1/2 cup water, eggs and the vanilla; again whisk until smooth. Divide the batter between the two prepared pans.

Bake the cake layers for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes; then invert onto cooling rack. Remove the paper liners and let cool completely before frosting.

Makes 2- 8 or 9-inch layers or 1 9x13 cake. (I doubled this recipe and baked it in 2 pans).

Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting adapted from Sky High

• 5 egg whites
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 6 Tablespoons water
• 1 1/4 lbs. (5 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp.
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out

Split the vanilla bean in half and scrape the seeds out and set aside.

Put the egg whites in a large mixer bowl and set up the mixer for use. In a medium heavy saucepan, combine the sugar water and vanilla bean pods (not the seeds). Warm over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a boil and cook, without stirring, washing any crystals from the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush, until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage, 238 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat.

Beat the egg whites on a medium -low speed until frothy. Remove the vanilla bean pods with thongs and set aside (rinse these and put in a bowl of sugar to make vanilla sugar). While beating, gradually pour in the hot sugar syrup in a thin stream, taking care not to hit the beaters. Continue to whip until the mixture is luke warm and a stiff meringue has formed.

If the bowl is the slightest bit warm, do not add the butter, it will melt! Reduce the speed to low and add the butter 2-3 Tablespoons at a time. When all of the butter is incorporated, return the mixer to medium and whip until the buttercream appears to curdle and then suddenly comes together. Add the vanilla bean seeds and the extract, and beat until well blended.

Makes 6 cups

This picture makes me laugh because he kept poking his finger in the frosting. Then he would whisper to me that he ate a cloud. :-)

America The Beautiful Cupcake!

These are an adaptation of Jack's Rainbow Cupcakes. I upped the vanilla ante by adding vanilla sugar and buttermilk. I changed out the colors and added sprinkles resulting in a very patriotic cupcake. I made the star cupcake topper by punching out 2 circles of printed paper (I found the star by googling "star clipart") and gluing them together with a flat toothpick in the center. Fun, huh?

Speaking of sprinkles. I have a confession to make. I have a problem. I really serious problem. I think I'm crazy. No, seriously. Wanna know what convinced me and my husband of this? You see those sprinkles in the cup and on all those cupcakes? Well I picked them out of a bottle of multi-colored sprinkles one by one. It was late and I didn't want to go to the store and I didn't think I'd need that many. I was wrong and very foolish. My eyes were playing tricks on me and my body was aching from being hunched over in a chair for a couple hours. Don't be as dumb as I. Go buy yourself some red, white and blue sprinkles. It'll be worth your sanity. I can attest.

These are cute, fun and are very Americana. Kids love them, adults love them and they'd be a hit at your 4th of July celebration. Or make them in any color combo you like or just plain vanilla. They're very tasty either way. But I have to admit, the colors make them much more exciting!

Triple-Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes adapted from Amy Sedaris

• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. vanilla sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsps. pure vanilla
• 1/4 vanilla bean, scraped
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

In a medium bowl, mix together salt, baking powder and flour. Stir to combine then set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl, then add in egg. Add vanilla extract and the seeds of half a vanilla bean. Beat until well combined.

Alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the butter/sugar mixture. Start with flour, end with flour.

If you're adding food coloring to your batter, evenly separate the batter into as many bowls as you need- one for each color. Add food color to the desired color and mix well. Repeat until all the colors are well mixed.

Spoon or pipe your batter into the muffin cups. Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes for regular cupcakes and about 15 minutes for mini cupcakes.

Makes 10 cupcakes.

Vanilla Bean Frosting from Cupcake Bakeshop

• 1 sticks (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 package (4 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
• 2- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined. Then add the vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, and 2 cups of powdered sugar and beat at low speed, occasionally stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, until light and fluffy. Add more powdered sugar to arrive at the consistency and sweetness you like.

I put my frosting into a large freezer bag, snipped the end and piped the frosting onto the rainbow mounds. Add colored sprinkles for garnish (optional).

Makes enough to generously frost 12 cupcakes.

Be sure to stop by tomorrow. I'll have another patriotic surprise for y'all! So come back ya hear!

Rubber Banded

And my favorite of all!

Aren't these fabulous !?! I had so much fun making them. I even wanted to dye the non-boiled eggs in the fridge just because they turned out so cool, but my husband shot me down :-( Here are the marbled eggs I made last year.

I promise a real post tomorrow!

Rainbows For Jack

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have 2 sons that were stillborn. Jack's would be/should be birthday was last Saturday, February 21st.

I made these beautifully fantastic cupcakes for him. Rainbow cupcakes for my rainbow baby (a baby born after a loss). Click to see Jack's 1st, and Sam's 2nd Birthday cupcakes.

Double Vanilla Cupcakes from Amy Sedaris

• 1 ½ sticks (12 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 ¾ cups of sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 Teaspoons of pure vanilla
• 1/2 Vanilla Bean, scraped (optional)
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 2 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
• 2 ½ cups of flour
• 1 ¼ cups of milk

In a medium bowl, mix together salt, baking powder and flour. Stir to combine then set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl, then add in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla extract and the seeds of half a vanilla bean. Beat until well combined.

Alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk to the butter/sugar mixture. Start with flour, end with flour.

*For Rainbow Cupcakes: Divide the batter into 6 bowls. Color your batter with food coloring (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet). I used Americolor colors because they are more concentrated than the typical grocery store variety and the colors are intense without using a lot of it. For each bowl of color I only used about a nickel size amount of dye. If I had used liquid food dye, I would have had to use the entire bottle to get the colors that rich looking and it would have thinned the batter out too much. Each bottle was $1.80, but you only need the 3 primary colors to make the rainbow.

Spoon or pipe your batter in thin layers into the muffin cups, being careful not to mix the colors. I put my batter into Ziploc bags then I snipped the end of bag. When I was done, I just threw away the bag. No cleaning of pastry bags!

Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes for regular cupcakes and about 15 minutes for mini cupcakes.

Recipe makes 20 regular cupcakes. I made 18 regular and 4 mini cupcakes.

Vanilla Bean Frosting from Cupcake Bakeshop

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
• 4-5 cups powdered sugar ( I used 4 cups)

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined. Then add the vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, and 3 cups of powdered sugar and beat at low speed, occasionally stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, until light and fluffy. Add more powdered sugar to arrive at the consistency and sweetness you like.

I put my frosting into a large freezer bag, snipped the end and piped the frosting onto the rainbow mounds.

Makes enough to frost about 30 cupcakes.

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

Jackson Robert- February 21, 2007