Ice Ice Baby

Vanilla IceBox Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting and Candied Lemon Peels

Really - Why do I even try and be cute with the titles.



Cake

• 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for pans
• 3 cups cake flour (not self-rising), plus more for pans
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 vanilla beans, split and scraped
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup whole milk
• 8 large egg whites
• Pinch of salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 8-by-3-inch cake pans. In the bowl of an electric mixer using the paddle attachment on medium speed, cream together butter, sugar, and vanilla seeds until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
2. Sift together flour and baking powder. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients, alternating with milk, starting and ending with flour; scrape down sides twice. Transfer batter to a large bowl.
3. In the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk egg whites with pinch of salt on low speed until foamy. Increase speed to high, and continue to whisk until stiff (but not dry) peaks form, 3 to 5 minutes. Whisk one-third of the beaten whites into the batter to lighten the mixture. Using a large rubber spatula, fold remaining whites into the lightened batter. Divide the batter equally among the prepared pans. Bake until golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the cakes comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the pans to a rack to cool for 5 minutes. Invert the cakes onto the wire rack to cool completely.
4. If cakes are not level - go to this post, or use a serrated knife to trim tops off. Carefully slice each cake horizontally into two equal layers, about 3/4 inch thick. (You will have four layers.) To assemble, place one sliced layer on an 8-inch cardboard cake round (or directly on your cake stand that Grandma got you that is really awesome because it is also a punch bowl). Spread with 1/4-inch of frosting. Repeat with remaining layers, placing the final layer bottom-side up. Lightly coat the assembled cake with a thin layer of frosting to protect against crumbs in the frosting. Finish with remaining frosting. Garnish with candied lemon zest. Serve immediately, or keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Candied Lemon Zest

This makes a nice lemon syrup after you strain out the peels. A nice syrup that I have no clue what to use in. Thoughts?

• 6 lemons, scrubbed
• 2 cups sugar

Directions

1. Using a vegetable peeler, peel zest from lemons. Use a knife to remove any white pith; cut zest into strips as thinly as possible.
2. Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add zest; blanch for 1 minute, drain, and rinse under cold water.
3. In another medium saucepan, combine sugar and 2 cups water; bring to a simmer. Cook until sugar dissolves completely, about 2 minutes. Add lemon zest. Simmer until translucent, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat; let zest cool in syrup. When cool, transfer zest and syrup to an airtight plastic container. Store in refrigerator up to 1 month.

Icing (thanks FoodNetwork)

• 1 1/2 pounds sweet butter, soft
• 3 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 1 pinch salt

In an electric mixing bowl place the soft butter and beat it on a low speed while adding powdered sugar. When all the sugar is mixed in, turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in the vanilla and salt and let the mixer beat for 5 to 7 minutes on a medium speed.

OK, heres the thing:
My husband is my ultimate taste tester. I demand he is honest, and he is. He ate one of the "scraps" from when I leveled it off, and said it was "eggy". I didn't know eggy was even a word, let alone know what he meant as far as taste. Then I took a bite, and it was, well eggy. There was a distinct egg taste to it. After the cake was frosted and cooled it was not nearly as noticeable, however, I am stumped on this one. Did I not whip the whites enough? Should I have used actual eggs to get the whites instead of egg beaters egg whites? Is the cake supposed to taste that way? I don't know. We ate it, and so did our guests, and Jim actually really liked the eggy-ness. I for one, was not nearly as impressed. I was disappointed I used my not very cheap vanilla beans on this cake.
At least it looked pretty.

Pineapple Coconut Loaf Cake

The results are in...

The cake was delicious. It was a perfect breakfast treat. The sour cream provided a nice little zip. I would suggest you raid the pantry and get baking.

If you don't feel like baking, just toast some coconut.....it makes the house smell amazing!

I wanted to be sure Emily didn't mind if I linked to her site. She said go for it. You will find the link on my sidebar as well. Today she made suckers and then baked crayon biscuits.

I needed a little inspiration...

And "little momma" delivered.

I didn't get to make it out to Whole Foods for the chocolate for the cookies from the New York Times article, so the dough didn't get made before we headed to Orlando Saturday. I intended to take care it yesterday, but I woke up with a headache (its always nice to open your eyes and be greeted with a migraine) that never went away. I just felt worse as the day went on. No cooking or baking was happening (Lucky Charms for dinner).

Today I felt better, but still not great. I wanted to bake, but just didn't feel like going out to pick up anything. I made my daily blog visit and was so happy to see Emily's post.

Emily's blog is one of my favorites. She blogs everyday and always has something fun, creative, and exciting to do. She really does give me fun ideas and inspires some of my creative bursts! I often wish she were my neighbor (especially May Day). Not to mention I may be able to get some of the ric rac button/hair tie/whatever you want to do with them creations, or amazingly cute spritz cookies, and who can forget (or doesn't want) her homemade aprons.

Yesterday, she made Coconut Pineapple Loaf Cake, and it sounded divine. I was excited, because I had all the items on hand, and got to work.

The cake is baking now. I can't wait to try it. I will give my update tomorrow. I promise.

Coconut Pineapple Loaf Cake
1 1/2 C sweetened coconut
1/2 C butter (room temp)
1 1/2 C flour1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 C sugar
3 eggs
1 C sour cream
1 can (20 oz.) pineapple, drained well.
Preheat oven to 350.
Place coconut on a baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted. While keeping an eye on your toasting coconut, grease and flour a 9X5 inch loaf pan.In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and incorporate well. Add dry mixture, mix well. Add sour cream and mix until combined. Do not over mix.
Fold in pineapple with a spatula. Fold in 1 C of the coconut. Spoon into prepared pan. Sprinkle remaining coconut on top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (60 minutes). Let cool and remove from pan.

You want a cupcake? I'm gonna need to see some ID

Hey there cupcake...You come here often? (That Guinness is a smooth talker.)

So, a cupcake walks into a bar, the bartender says "sorry we don't serve food here".

OK, I'm done. Really.

This weekend I wanted to bake something different. Not new necessarily, because I experiment a lot with baking, just different.

My biggest issue with baking is coming up with my own, original recipes (although, the malted cookies turned out pretty well). I nearly entered a large scale cooking contest until I read that a requirement was submitting 50 original recipes. I stopped right in my tracks and declined to enter.

I bake because of the science of it, and because there are "rules". In general, you have to follow the "rules" or recipe when you bake, otherwise, you end up with bread that doesn't rise or cakes that fall apart. I enjoy recipes, because I am a rule follower, always, and not just in baking. If the sign says don't walk - I don't walk. The speed limit is not a friendly guide, its the limit, and I count every item in my basket before entering the express 10 items or less lane. You get the point. Those of you that know me, could probably agree that given certain "things" that have happened in my life, perhaps the baking thing is for the control aspect. I don't know, and now I am really getting off track.

What I am trying to get to is that even though I like to try new things, I have yet to allow myself to really experiment, and for now use recipes from blogs, cookbooks and websites for my inspiration. And after searching and searching on Saturday, I found this weekends creation. Let me tell you people.....Wowsers!

I found my inspiration from Anna at Cookie Madness (see link to her site on sidebar). She made a Chocolate Stout Cake with Malted Chocolate Frosting, which I made into cupcakes rather than a whole cake. You can adapt a cake recipe to cupcakes by simply forgoing the bake time called for in the cake recipe and baking your cupcakes for 17-20 minutes.

This tasted great and worked well because I got to use some of my malted milk powder that I bought on a whim and Jim ended up with the 5 leftover bottles of Guinness since the recipe only requires a cup of stout. Win-Win!

Follow the link if you want to try it.

I posted a picture for this part of the frosting recipe:
Melt chocolate and half of the brown sugar together in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water or in top of a double boiler. Let cool slightly.

If you don't have a double boiler (I don't), just use a bowl that sets in the pot and allows room below for the simmering water and allow the sugar and chocolate to slowly melt. If you don't follow this or the double boiler method, you will scorch the chocolate.



Here they are. Guinness and Cake..4-ever

I'm baaaack! And I brought Chocolate Angel Food Cake!

Have you missed me?
Its been a crazy month - lots of traveling, lots of work, I chopped my hair off, and got a horrid sunburn. Things are starting to slow down now, so I should be much better.
This weekend I made Chocolate Angel Food Cake with Chocolate Whipped Cream frosting. My oh my was it good. I don't have a picture to prove it - only the recipe. Someone broke into our frig and took the last piece before I could get a picture. Imagine that.
This is one of Jims favorite cakes. It is one of his family's recipes, and it is AMAZING! I really only married him for this recipe.

Chocolate Angel Food Cake
The cake is done in two parts:
1 - Sift together 3 times (just do it people):
3/4 C cake flour
7/8 C Sugar (3/4C plus 2 T)
1/4 C cocoa
Place in bowl and set aside

2 - Measure into a large mixing bowl (if you have a stand mixer, use that bowl)
1 1/2 C egg whites (you can buy them in a carton)
1 1/2 t cream of tartar
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 t vanilla
Beat until foamy, then SLOWLY add:
3/4 C sugar

Continue beating until very stiff. You can tell if a peak is formed and doesn't fall. Use a spatula or spoon to test it. This is very stiff:
Now that your batter is stiff, sift the dry mixture over the meringue about 3T at a time. After each addition, fold gently with rubber spatula about 15 strokes until all the dry mixture is mixed in.

Push the mixture into and ungreased tube pan making sure batter touches the walls of pan. Run a butter knife or spreader through the batter to remove air pockets.

Bake at 350* for 35-45 minutes.
DO NOT invert the pan during the cooling period. Frost with the whipped cream. I slice my cake in half and make it like a layer cake, but its up to you.

Variation -
If you would like white angel food cake, sub 1/4 C white flour for the cocoa and bake at 375*

Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting

3 C Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 C cocoa
1 C sugar

Put all ingredients in mixing bowl and stir to moisten cocoa. Place in refrigerator for several hours before beating.
Beat until thick and spread on cake and in between layers.

Enjoy! Thanks to Jims mom for this yummy recipe.

Happy Birthday Sarah!

My First Cake! (that wasn't for cake class). Oh yeah - those are Barbie glitter candles. We go all out for birthdays. No holding back!

Fall is in the Florida Air (kind of) - Pumpkin Cupcakes

It may seem odd to make pumpkin pie, roll, or in this case, cupcakes in April. After all, the taste and spices and smells that are part of these recipes all are associated with fall. The thing is, Florida doesn't have fall. Or winter, or spring...just summer. It is nearly a year since we made the move from Ohio to Florida and even though I thought the holidays would be rough, what I miss most so far was the changing of the leaves and that first day when it just cool enough that you need a sweater but no jacket. I am starting to get off track, but the point was I get a pass, because if I wait for fall in Florida these cupcakes will never happen. Unless of course I wait for the day when it hits 55 degrees again, since that seems to be fall and nearly winter like for Floridians. Its 55 - is a winter coat really necessary?

I liked these cupcakes a lot. I liked them more than the jelly roll cupcake. Pair one with a nice cup of coffee and it makes perfect mid morning snack.

To make this treat, I used a pumpkin cupcake recipe I found on Martha Stewart online and took a basic cream cheese frosting and changed it up a little. Some cream cheese frosting recipes will call for butter, and some won't. I like to use butter for the flavor and consistency it gives. I find it makes the frosting creamier.

Pumpkin Cupcakes - Makes 18

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree***

***Pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin is what you need for this recipe. It can be found in the bakery aisle. You do not want pumpkin pie filling. Be sure to check the can.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin puree.
3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Once cool, frosting with cinnamon frosting (recipe below)


**Tip**
My cupcake pans are dark metal. I heat my oven to only 325 and bake for 25 - 27 minutes. This is a tip from boxed cake mixes and I follow it for anything I bake in a dark metal pan. Basically, you should decrease the oven temp and add about 5 minutes to bake time. In this case, I bake for the full 25 minutes suggested as a max bake time.

Cinnamon Frosting

• 1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 C butter, room temperature
• 4 C powdered sugar (feel free to adjust to get the flavor and consistency you want)
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 t almond extract
• 1 T cinnamon

1. Mix the cream cheese and butter until well combined
2. Add vanilla, almond extract, and cinnamon
3. Slowly add powdered sugar until combined.

Frost away!
I like to pipe frosting on cupcakes for two reasons.
1. It is easy. Wilton actually makes a cupcake decorating set. It comes with some disposable
bags, 4 tips (one is the #230 tip for a filling center in your cupcake) and a pamphlet with a few simple techniques. I really do think its easier to pipe frosting on the cupcake than to
spread it on.
2. It looks pretty.

As a note to Nick - I apologize for the lack of an actual pumpkin on the cupcake. I just didn't like the way my frosting looked when I colored a little bit of it orange, and a blob of uncolored frosting trying to look like a pumpkin just ends up looking like a blob. Not to worry though, I am sticking to the clown ban.