Cake Decorating Continues...

Last evening was my third class of cake decorating and unfortunately I will have to miss the final class next week as I will be traveling for work. As you can see from the photos we learned how to make people and to stripe the icing on the clowns. One of the women in my class refused to make clowns because they freaked her out--she made flowers instead. Now that I have graduated from Cake Decorating 101... onto fondant... yum!

The Final Product..

This is the final product from our second class where we learned to decorate with designs and most importantly.... This was my first red velvet cake and I filled it with Mom's homemade raspberry preserves... I don't think I will ever buy a red velvet cake again... Yes, it was pretty but if you make it the old-fashioned way from scratch--you need to add two bottles of red food dye... that is just not good for the system. I, however, used a box mix this time (I know, sacrilege!) and the cake dyed my tongue red... Hmmm... However, it was mighty tasty and I was so proud of my creation...

Cake Decorating 101

For the last year I have wanted to learn the art of decorating cakes... and I finally found an affordable and local cake decorating class that I am taking with a friend of mine in town. Not to be too modest, but I can make a tasty dessert, however, when it comes to the presentation and appearance, I need some work.

This class is going to do just the trick! We had a homework assignment last week to bake a cake and ice using the techniques we learned in class with our icing bags and try out one or two of the designs we learned last week. I baked a red velvet cake (my first time!) and was psyched at how well the icing and design turned out... Yes, it is fairly basic but to me it looks like something you would find in an actual bakery (at least a grocery store bakery...) Now tonight we are going to dye the icing and learn to make shapes... try to contain your excitement... I will try to post again with the results this week.

Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Cream Icing aka the BEST cake EVER!

This cake was so divine... from the creamy frosting to the juicy sweet strawberries to the dense vanilla cake... Unfortunately I did not have the proper pans to bake the cake so I had to use a bundt cake pan which did not work very well with the torting (aka cutting the cake in half to add a layer of filling--which is also why I do not have a photo of the final product. Additionally it left me with about 1.5 extra cups of strawberry frosting... I am sure we can find a use for that!). So this weekend I will be making an investment in our baking future and purchasing two of the 9 inch round pans that the cake was supposed to be made with. Most importantly though, the cake was "licking your plate" good.

VANILLA CAKE WITH STRAWBERRY CREAM ICING

FROSTING
2 x 8 ounce packages of light cream cheese (room temperature)
1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
½ cup seedless strawberry jam (or with seeds if that is all you can find…)
¾ cup chilled heavy whipping cream

CAKE
3 cups cake flour (or if you do not have cake flour then for every cup of cake flour, substitute 7/8 cup regular flour and 2 T cornstarch... Additionally I used whole wheat flour to make it a bit healthier).
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
3 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, room temperature
7 large eggs
2 T vanilla extract
1 cup light sour cream
6 T plus 1/3 cup strawberry jam
2 ¼ pounds strawberries, hulled, sliced (about 6 cups) divided

Frosting
Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl. Beat in sugar, then jam. Beat cream in a separate medium bowl until peaks form. Fold whipped cream into frosting. Cover; chill until firm enough to spread, about 2 hours.

Cake
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans with 2-inch high sides. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda into a medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to blend after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add in sour cream and beat for 30 seconds. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, beating to blend after each addition. Divide batter between prepared pans.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Cool in pans on rack for 10 minutes. Run small sharp knife around pan sides then turn out cakes onto racks and cool completely.

Using large serrated knife, cut each cake horizontally in half. Place one cake half, cut side up on cake plate. Spread 2 T strawberry jam over, then ¾ cup frosting. Top with ¾ cup sliced berries, arranging in a single layer. Repeat 2 more times with cake layer, jam, frosting, and berries. Top with remaining cake layer, cut side down. Spread two cups frosting over top and sides of cake in thin layer to coat completely. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Stir remaining jam to loosen and spoon spoonfuls onto top and sides of cake, then use back of spoon to swirl jam decoratively. DO AHEAD—Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover with cake dome and refrigerate. Cut cake into wedges and serve alongside remaining strawberries.

RECIPE FROM BON APPETIT MAGAZINE, MAY 2009.

4 Cheese Baked Penne with Leeks

Mr. E. and I try never to let anything go to waste in our kitchen. So... as I was scanning the refrigerator on Friday so that I could create our grocery list for the next morning, I found a bag of what I thought were leeks that I had purchased the previous week. Realizing that their shelf life was probably close to expiring, I quickly scanned my cooking magazines for a recipe that included leeks and would satisfy our saturday comfort food craving. This recipe immediately struck my fancy.... However, Mr. E. and I have been trying to eat healthier in the cheese department as that lovely food is chock full of saturated fats! AND... Mr. E. fancies a four cheese macaroni and cheese prepared by Trader Joe's so we decided to alter the recipe in the magazine to meet both of those needs with four different LITE cheeses and 2% milk rather than whole milk...The only problem was that as I worked to prepare the food for dinner...I realized that the bag of leeks in the refrigerator, was actually a bag of bok choy. Whoops... thank you Mr. E. for making yet another trip to the grocery Saturday afternoon... We served it with a side of peppery arugula salad... Bellisimo!

Ingredients

* 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
* 5 cups chopped leeks (white and pale green parts only; about 5 large)
* 1/4 cup all purpose flour
* 3 1/2 cups 2% milk
* 1 pound Lite extra-sharp cheddar cheese, lite swiss, lite gouda and lite edam coarsely grated (about 4 cups packed)
* 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
* 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
* 2 large eggs
* 1 pound penne pasta

Preparation

Lightly butter 15x10x2-inch baking dish. Melt 1/4 cup butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add leeks; stir to coat. Cover saucepan and cook until leeks are tender, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes (do not brown). Uncover saucepan; add flour. Stir 2 minutes. Add milk; bring to simmer, stirring often. Add cheese, mustard, and pepper sauce. Stir until cheese melts. Remove from heat. Season cheese sauce to taste with salt.
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Whisk eggs in medium bowl. Gradually whisk in 1 cup cheese sauce. Stir egg mixture into cheese sauce in saucepan.
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Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain. Return to pot.
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Stir cheese sauce into pasta in pot. Transfer to prepared baking dish. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.
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Preheat oven to 400°F. Bake pasta until cheese sauce is bubbling around edges and some ends of pasta are golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes.
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Let stand 15 minutes. Serve hot.
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Test-kitchen TIP
Unlike classic mac and cheese, which is thickened by a roux (a flour and butter mixture), this one uses eggs to make a rich, gooey custard. But be careful when adding the hot cheese sauce to the eggs; you'll need to whisk the sauce in slowly so that the eggs don't curdle.

Original Recipe from Bon Appetit, March 2009. Altered on 4/4/09 by M. Elton

Sugar Cookies

My grandma had surgery a few weeks ago and rather than send her flowers (I am sure she received plenty of flowers.. and they always die! Giving someone a plant that will continue to grow is always better from my perspective). However, I did not have a plant to send so I decided to make her the next best thing... colorful sugar cookies! A few months ago I purchased supplies to decorate cakes as I had been hoping to take a class this winter. Unfortunately that did not work out... however, I did find a class starting in April and my friend Gloria and I are going to learn how to decorate cakes this spring. The reason for the long explanation is that I had the supplies at home to dye the icing those incredible colors. On a cloudy day like today, everyone could use a colorful sugar cookie in their life, right?

Vegetable Reubens

As I mentioned in one of my previous blogs, Mr. E. and I were in Burlington, VT for a wedding and ate at this amazing restaurant called the Penny Cluse Cafe for the rehearsal dinner and then for brunch before we flew home on Sunday. My brunch meal was a vegetable reuben with homefries that had to be one of the top five sandwiches I have EVER eaten, hands down. So this past Friday I attempted to recreate this mouthwatering sandwich for the Mr. and I...and I must say... I was quite successful!


SANDWICH INGREDIENTS

Light Rye Bread (unless you want the full intense flavor of Rye... I like a mix)
* 1 large yellow onion
* 8 oz. button mushrooms
* 8 oz. frozen spinach
* Gouda Cheese (or Swiss if your husband will eat it...)
* 6 oz. Sauerkraut
* 2 T butter
* 1 T olive oil
* sprinkling of white sugar

EMERIL'S RUSSIAN DRESSING (www.foodnetwork.com)I actually halved the recipe because we did not need 1.5 cups for two people... and we had leftovers for aioli the next day!

* 1 cup mayonnaise
* 1/4 cup chili sauce
* 1 tablespoon minced yellow onion
* 1 tablespoon minced dill pickle
* 1 tablespoon minced celery
* 1 tablespoon minced parsley leaves
* 1 tablespoon heavy cream
* 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
* 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
* 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
* 1/4 teaspoon sugar
* Salt

In a bowl, combine all ingredients except salt and whisk until well-blended. Add salt to taste, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Yield: about 1 1/2 cups

Slice the onions and button mushrooms and defrost the frozen spinach in the microwave with a tablespoon of water. Melt 1 T butter and 1 T olive oil in a large saute pan and add the onions. Saute the onions until translucent, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with white sugar to help them caramelize a bit... add the mushrooms and spinach and continue to saute until mushrooms have turned a creamy brown color. Set aside to cook.

Prepare the reuben dressing and then slice enough Gouda cheese for both sandwiches. Take one piece of rye bread and spread the dressing on the sandwich and follow with a layer of vegetables and then a layer of sauerkraut (I patted mine with a paper towel to remove some of the liquid). Top with the gouda cheese and the second slice of rye bread.

Turn the broiler to medium heat and place a medium saute pan on the heat. Paint some of the melted butter on the sandwich and place it butter side down in the pan for four minutes. After four minutes, paint the other side of the sandwich with butter and flip and grill for an additional four minutes until cheese is melted and sandwich is warmed through. Repeat with the second sandwich. Slice the sandwich on the diagonal (I will only slice on the diagonal for reubens...) and serve with a big kosher pickle!