Dad's Birthday Cake

Here is a new cake recipe I tried out for my dad's birthday.  The cake is good.  The icing is amazing.  I'm making another cake for a friend's birthday at work this week and everyone has requested this icing.  

Yellow Cake

1 cup (2 sticks) of butter at room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 eggs at room temperature

3 cups self rising flour, sifted

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour (3) 8 inch cake pans (or use Cake Release by Wilton, soooo much easier).  Using a mixer, cream butter until fluffy.  Add sugar and continue beating for 7 minutes.  Add eggs one at at time.  Beat well after each egg is added.  Add flour and milk (alternating to butter mixture), beginning and ending with flour.  Add vanilla and butter flavoring to mix; until just mixed.

Divide batter equally into three cake pans.

Bake 25-30 minutes until done.  Cool in pans 5-10 minutes.  Remove and immediately wrap each layer in plastic wrap to seal in moisture.  Cool completely on wire racks.

Easy Buttercream

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 lb 10x powdered sugar

1-3 teaspoons milk, half and half, or cream

Using a mixer, cream softened butter and vanilla until smooth.  Add sugar gradually, allowing butter and sugar to cream together before adding more.  

If you want your frosting a little creamier, add a teaspoon of milk at at time and beat on high until you get the right texture.  (I used heavy cream and it turns out really smooth.)

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Another Barefoot Contessa recipe from her Parties cookbook.  After typing up this recipe I realized I put in more sour cream than called for but it's very tasty.  I also doubled the streusel recipe which I think worked out better.  

The weather is forecasting 2-4 inches for Inauguration Day so I'm already looking forward to sitting on my couch with my cup of coffee and coffee cake to watch Obama take his oath of office.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

~Ina Garten - Barefoot Contessa Parties!

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3 extra-large eggs at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups sour cream

2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self rising!)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For the Streusel:

3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 ground cinnamon

1/4 kosher salt

3 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter cut into pieces

3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

For the Glaze:

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

2 teaspoons maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 1o inch tube pan.

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for 4 to 5 minutes, until light.  Add the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla and sour cream.  In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined.  Finish stirring with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.  

For the streusel, place brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and butter in a bowl and pinch together with your fingers until it forms a crumble.  Mix in walnuts, if desired.

Spoon half the batter into the pan and spread it around with a spatula.  Sprinkle with 3/4 of streusel.  Spoon the rest of the rest of the batter in the pan, spread it out, and scatter the remaining streusel on top.  Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.  

Let cool on rack at least 30 minutes.  Carefully transfer the cake, streusel side up, onto a serving plate.  Whisk the confectioners' sugar and maple syrup together, adding a few drops of water if necessary to make the glaze runny.  Drizzle as much as you like over the cake with a fork or spoon.  

White Chocolate Peppermint Bark

Here is another new recipe I tried out for the New Years party.  Instead of peppermint candies I used some "Peppermint Snow" from William-Sonoma that I had bought earlier but not used yet.  

It came out really well.  By far one of the easiest things I made during the holidays.  Use good white chocolate!  It's sorta hard to find but Ghiradelli makes white chocolate bars and chips (use the bars for this one).  It's the best white chocolate I've found.  Everything else I've ever seen is called "premiere white" or something and seems really sketch in my opinion.  The rice krispies made it very light and crispy.  I'd like to try out a few variations of this recipe at some point.

White Chocolate Peppermint Bark

~MarthaStewart.com

Ingredients

1 lb white chocolate, chopped

2 cups rice cereal

1 bag (7.5 oz) peppermint candies, crushed

1. Spray a 10-by-15-inch rimmed baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray; line with a piece of waxed paper.

2. Place white chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over (not in) a saucepan of simmering water. Heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in rice cereal.

3. Transfer mixture to prepared pan; with a spatula, spread to edges of pan.

4. Sprinkle with crushed candy; with a piece of waxed paper covering the entire surface, press in gently. Chill until firm, 20 to 30 minutes (no longer, as candy will begin to soften).

5. Peel waxed paper off. Break bark into 2-inch pieces. Store at room temperature in an airtight container, up to 1 week.

New Year, New Recipes

I've thought and thought about a good New Year's Resolutions.  So besides being more productive with my lesson plans I'm thinking of trying out a new recipe every week.  I did this for a while last year but after moving to my new apartment and having computer issues I got off track.  

So, Happy New Year.  My first recipe I actually made yesterday for my New Year's gathering at my apartment and it's another Ina classic.  I bought another Barefoot Contessa cookbook several days ago with some Christmas money and this recipe had to be tried out immediately.  

They were just the right amount of sweetness and very chewy.  I have to admit I don't even think I've ever eaten a Macaroon until I made these but I'm pretty sure these are better than all the rest.  

Coconut Macaroons

~Ina Garten from Barefoot Contessa Family Style

Makes 20-22 cookies

14 ounces sweetened shredded coconut 
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk 
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
2 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature 
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Combine the coconut, condensed milk, and vanilla in a large bowl. Whip the egg whites and salt on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until they make medium-firm peaks. Carefully fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture.

Drop the batter onto sheet pans lined with parchment paper using either a 1 3/4-inch diameter ice cream scoop, or 2 teaspoons. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown. Cool and serve.

Oatmeal Pie Cookies

Last week in honor of National Education Week our PTA ordered a catered lunch for us.  My boxed lunch came with the most perfect Oatmeal Pie cookie I'd ever had.  A few days later I wanted another one and set out to find the recipe.  

After searching online forever I was about to give up when I decided to browse through this local church's cookbook that my mom gave me several years ago.  And miraculously, I found a recipe that I thought would work for the cookie part.  It was simple and I had all the ingredients already.  With the addition of cream cheese frosting it was as good or better than what I was aiming for.  I have to give out credit to Julie Hoffner from St. Luke's for this one.

Quaker's Best Oatmeal Cookies

Makes 24 cookies (12 sandwich cookies)

1 1/4 cups butter, softened

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

3 cups old fashioned Quaker oats

Heat oven to 375.

Beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and spices; add to butter mixture, mixing well.  Stir in oats.  Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet.  Flatten out batter for a flatter cookie.  Bake 10 to 12 minutes.

Cream Cheese Filling

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

Halloween Spider Cake

This cake was made for my kid's halloween party.  I went with the spider so the Jehovah's Witnesses could still partake in it.  I made this using my soccer ball Wilton pan (also used for the Hydrangea cake).  It's proven to be quite the multi-tasker.  

Everytime I make black frosting I always wonder why I started.  I used a chocolate frosting recipe to begin with but it still took the entire jar of black coloring.  It was really easy besides that.  Cherry sours for the eyes, candy corn teeth and licorice legs.  The kids were really impressed.

Nutella + Brownies= happiness

Lately I've been on a nutella kick.  So naturally I've been lookng up all the nutella recipes I can find.  The first I've tried (of many I'm sure) is from Giada De Laurentiis.  

Gianduja Bars

Ingredients

Brownies (I just used Betty Crocker's Supreme Brownie mix) 

1/4 cup nutella  

1/4 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts  

1/4 cup chocolate chips (I used a mix of white chocolate and milk chocolate)

Directions

Bake the brownies as directed on the package.  Remove from oven and spread with nutella. Sprinkle the brownies with chopped hazelnuts. Top the nuts and chocolate chips. Put brownies back into the oven and bake for 5 to 7 minutes until the chocolate is starting to melt. Transfer the brownies to the refrigerator and let cool until the chocolate hardens, about one hour.