rosy girl baked goods

a time to be thankful

2011-12-22T21:12:00.000-08:00

as this holiday season winds down, i wanted to take a moment to talk about how thankful i am for all of the wonderful parts of my life that help me to wake up with a smile in the morning. i am writing to remind everyone that while there are undoubtedly frustrating parts of the holidays, whether it be the family member you have to see that you don't get along with, or maybe it's the gift you wanted but didn't receive, or perhaps it's the 2011 new years resolution that was never accomplished, whatever it may be, this is not the time to focus on what we have lost, but instead a time to focus on all the things that enrich our lives. the next time you are faced with a challenge this holiday season, i invite you to think of just one thing or one person you feel fortunate for in your life. then i want you to think about someone out there that has gone through a recent loss and will have a void in their holidays this season. be thankful for what you have and try to make the best of every situation.

perhaps instead of going out to eat one night, you can help out a recent widow who is struggling to pay their bills and donate to the Liz Logelin Foundation. or maybe you are an animal lover like me, and then i advise you to donate to your local animal shelter. even if you buy a bag of dog food to donate, it's the small steps that make the big difference. almost all animal shelters have a list of items they need year round. there are many families that cannot afford dinner and will have empty plates this holiday season, so please think of places like the Los Angeles Mission, where just $38.57 can help to feed 19 people.

if you don't have money to donate this year, then volunteer your time if you can. i have had many rewarding experiences through volunteer work. i also want to mention that i received a gift last year that a donation had been made in my name to an animal shelter, which truly touched me, and for all of you last minute shoppers out there, this is a wonderful gift idea.

happy holidays everyone :)

the great food blogger cookie swap !

2011-12-12T11:47:00.000-08:00

so i decided to participate in the great food blogger cookie swap this year, which i found out about through the lovely blog love and olive oil. i've been following this blog for quite some time now and when lindsay posted about a cookie swap, i had some hesitations because i know how busy december can be, but after talking with my friend jessi, i decided to participate with her help. we both love baking so it seemed like a natural fit to do this together. after looking around for cookie inspiration, we ultimately decided to stick with what we know, or rather what jessi knows, and made her grandmother's buttermilk lady locks. jessi just learned how to make these not too long ago and she said they were a lot of work, but i figured she was exaggerating and we would be finished in a couple hours. this is not true, these cookies are A LOT of work and we spent the bulk of our friday making them, but it's work well worth it for the final product. i should also note we took a two hour break that friday to eat indian for lunch & decorate our shipping boxes. so here is the recipe:

BUTTERMILK LADY LOCKS

dough:

2 cups flour + more for rolling out dough

1/2 lb soft margarine

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup sour cream

-In medium bowl cut margarine into flour and salt mixture. In large bowl mix buttermilk and sour cream together. add flour mixture to buttermilk mixture. refrigerate overnight or for at least three hours. divide dough into 3 parts. roll 1 part at a time into a rectangle and cut down the middle horizontally, lengthwise, across rectangle. cut strips 1 inch wide. wrap strips around foil covered clothespins, overlapping slightly

-bake at 350 degrees for 20 mins or until light brown. remove pins right way and cool before filling. dust with powdered sugar.

Icing Filling:

(paste)
1 cup milk

2 tbs corn starch

-mix in pot and cook until thick. remove from heat and allow to cool

mix:

1/2 cup margarine

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup crisco

-cream together with beater

pour cold paste into creamed mixture and beat together for a long time.

*this recipe is exactly as grandma told jessi via the phone, so yes it is a bit short and lacking the modern detail of other recipes, but that's what makes it great. as we were making the cookies, jessi actually said she wasn't sure she was doing any of the steps right, she was just doing what she thought was right, as her grandma did not actually show her how to make them
so here are some things we noted to try for next time or to keep in mind for next time:
-we think we would use butter instead of margarine next time. my aunt makes a delicious frosting very similar to the filling for the lady locks and she uses butter, not margarine, so we thought it would be worth trying out.

-investing in proper lady lock rolling devices. we used clothing pins like these covered in foil, which worked okay but we found that after a few uses the clothing pin foil started to come off. i googled what other people used and i found the ones below. i think it would be worth the investment. jessi said it was a real pain in the butt to make the foil clothes pins as well.

-the other thing we did not do was dust them with powered sugar at the end. i thought they were plenty sweet as is without the dusting, but i tend to like a bit of salt with my sweet, so keep that in mind.

for the cookies i received i shared with jessi of course, and we got an adapted thomas keller cookies (chocolate chip, almond & marshmallow), peanut butter chocolate cookies & white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. they were all really great :) i would definitely participate again next year!

vancouver

2011-11-20T15:55:00.000-08:00

so i've been a lazy blogger, but i've had so much exciting stuff going on! besides having two new babies come into my life (mary ryzner & avi gennert) i finally made it to the proper west coast :) i've been to arizona before but now i can add seattle and vancouver to my list. michael and i traveled first to seattle for a wedding and then spent the following week in vancouver. it was a much needed vacation and a really special time with michael :) i hope to make it back again one day! so for my lack of blogging, please enjoy some of my vancouver food related pictures...

the wedding cake!

other dessert goodies

this is the only food picture i managed to take at the wedding, but i wish i had more. honestly, the BEST wedding food i have ever eaten. i would happily order my entree at any restaurant.

awww, aren't we cute? my dress matched the flowers almost too well...

breakfast at local 360 in seattle..... this was really good!

beautiful vancouver :)

i forgot to take a picture of the sushi before we started eating. it was a long day and i was STARVING. needless to say, this plate was cleared.

i ate a japadog !!!! i hate hot dogs, but i felt like i needed to try a japadog. if anthony bourdain says it's good, i'm in.

so begins my favorite meal in vancouver at chez meme. obviously a good start to any meal is hot chocolate. i wish i could eat like this everyday! just a really happy moment in time.

this was michael's meal. i made him order the salad for his side because he was already getting a full portion of french onion soup as an app so i wanted some salad :)

the french onion soup !

this was my meal!! the soup was tomato yam & cilantro, and it was AMAZING. then i had a ham & brie sandwich. i don't normally like ham but when i researched this place online everyone said this was the sandwich to get, and it was really tasty.

so we went to this cute little diner called templeton that served all organic food, but kept it real with the diner theme. we were actually there for our last meal in vancouver and it just so happened to be the saturday before halloween, so we had some good people watching while we ate.

and michael would insist i include this picture in the list because he is still talking about these little guys... not my cup of tea, but maybe it's yours?

so i could have done a better job of taking pictures of more of our delicious food, but usually i was too busy enjoying the moment to get out my camera and i'm okay with that. looking forward to my next adventure with michael :) next summer we already have a trip to nyc & a trip to south carolina planned but who knows. i'd love to go to spain !!

birthday !

2011-10-07T12:31:00.000-07:00

so it's michael's birthday again! well, it was michael's birthday as the day has passed now. but we had quite the celebration, a clam bake feast with his family. michael's grandma and i took on the dessert for the meal and she made a lovely coconut cake, complete with 7 minute frosting! michael had requested a cake with raspberries, nuts & chocolate. this was kind of an odd request, but i had remembered seeing a cake on smitten kitchen that covered all of the based. so the almond raspberry layer cake came alive! i have made cupcakes in the past using almond paste as an ingredient and michael went crazy for them so i knew this would be the perfect cake. as far as filling i actually added in a vanilla bean buttercream and then topped that with raspberry jam for one layer, and then did the same vanilla buttercream for the next layer but this time i topped that with strawberry jam. i have to admit, there were two open jars of each kind of jam in the fridge and it was just easier to finish them both up rather than opening new jars! michael strongly dislikes wasting food, so i thought he would appreciate that little gesture. also, we made both jams together so that added a bit of love into the cake :)

voila! the finished product. i actually took this picture in the car on the way over. i tend to forget to take finished product pictures and i figured i better do it while it was on my mind.

we had dinner at michael's sister sarah's house and she had this lovely little fall table set up.

THE CLAMS!!! i don't like clams at all, but i pretended that i was just like everyone else and made my little table setting with them. michael happily ate my leftovers.

and one more shot of the happy birthday boy with his cake !!

the garlic bake off !

2011-09-13T12:54:00.000-07:00

i was asked by north union farmer's market to participate in a garlic bake off at this year's garlic festival. while i am happy to say i took home second place, i don't think this is something i would do again in the future. i don't feel the need to go into too much detail, but i walked away from the experience a little confused about some things and without much confidence in the event. regardles, let's get back to the cupcake! i decided to make a rosemary roasted garlic cupcake with a bittersweet ganache frosting. i am just thrilled to death about these little guys! they were so tasty. i went through quite a few trial runs on these and i never received any negative feedback. people seemed shocked that they could love garlic in a dessert so much. it just goes to show the endless possibilities in baking with savory ingredients.

blueberries

2011-08-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

so i recently went blueberry picking at black river organics! i had never been before and i can't wait to go again next year. michael and i woke up bright and early to beat the crowds as it's nearing the end of the season and it was just us and old couple for the first hour. once it got to be around 1030 though, the place was filled! we walked away with a little over 10lbs and then scooted off to the lakewood art's festival where we were sharing a booth. get your cupcakes & messenger bags! hey, it works.

after the long day finished we sorted our blueberries & made some jam! admittedly neither of us really like blueberry jam, but we made some nonetheless. we kept the majority of the berries frozen for later snacking. for our jam recipe, we really try not to use any sort of thickening agents and just cooked it for a long time with a little bit of sugar. the jam ended up being a bit thicker than we wanted, we were hoping for more of a syrup for pancakes, but i'm happy with the result. i ended up using the jam as a garnish on these lovely blueberry cupcakes i sent off to the sweet spot the following friday :)

rhubarb muffins

2011-08-03T22:13:00.000-07:00

these muffins are awesome! i made these for the lovely people at anthropologie opening day. they were a hit and needless to say i went home without any leftovers. i really shouldn't eat rhubarb because of my kidney stones but i will make an exception for delicious muffins like these. i also love a good strawberry rhubarb pie! last month i went on vacation in maine and i saw lots of strawberry rhubarb jam. this will have to be a project for next spring. i did manage to go strawberry picking the last week of the season and make around 20 cans of jam and freeze a quart of strawberries. so i feel pretty good about that. i really need to go blueberry picking though. i got lazy when i got back from vacation and kept putting it off and last week when i tried to go the farm ended up switching the day of the week they are usually open and michael couldn't get off work. blueberry picking, or any fruit picking is not something you can do solo. well i guess you could, but it would take a long time. so this week we tried to go again but of course, the farm decided to close for the week. i guess that's how it works. so no matter what, i will be going next week even if it means i have to visit a different farm than i want to. i also haven't gone peach picking but honestly i still have peaches leftover from last year. i just don't use them that often. i'm hoping to just buy a bunch from woolf farm and take the easy route on that one.

but back to the muffins.. i found this recipe from surprise! smitten kitchen. you can find the link to the recipe here. i made mini muffins so they would go further at the store, but i think a giant muffin would be nice too. i also left the topping off of half the muffins and they were just as good without the streusel. so if you're trying to make them a bit lighter, just skip the streusel and maybe put some strawberry jam on them right out of the oven. that sounds delicious.

as a last note, if you haven't checked out my website yet you should.

rosygirlbakedgoods.com

cinnamon rolls

2011-05-24T12:28:00.000-07:00

i can't believe how long it's been since i have updated this. sorry! things got really busy after my last entry and i just sort of forgot about this blog. i have a rosygirl website operating now, and with everything else i had to do this just didn't make the cut. that doesn't mean i haven't been baking my little heart out though. i'll start regularly updating this again i hope. today i have some cinnamon rolls i made for easter. well, actually i made them because i had a craving for cinnamon rolls and easter just happened to be the next day so it worked out. these cinnamon rolls are the best i have ever made, and i am very picky about my cinnamon rolls. one of my friends even commented that these were better than the ones they carry at her fancy coffee shop she works at. of course, it's a recipe from tartelette, where else? everything this woman makes is delicious (and gluten free!). she just actually published her first book, plate to pixel, and i highly recommend checking it out. you can find the recipe for these cinnamon rolls here. my pictures were taken before i put the frosting on. once i put on the frosting, i was unable to resist their warm melty goodness and ate two of them in the next twenty minutes. you won't be disappointed by these.

lemon layer cake

2011-02-07T19:16:00.000-08:00

i had a request for lemon or chocolate by a very special client, and after much debate we ended up going with this cake. a yellow cake with lemon curd filling frosted with a 7 minute frosting. the cake came out perfect! the batter tasted pretty awesome. as for the lemon filling, well i had some issue with that. and i've made 7 minute frosting so many times now, you really just can't go wrong there. the recipe is actually a paula deen recipe, but i saw it on smitten kitchen. i also tried to take some step by step pictures, but naturally i forgot half way through. you do get to enjoy the first few steps though !!

so here is the recipe as follows on smitten kitchen, i will tell you what i changed and add a different lemon curd recipe i find to be much easier to work with.

Lemon Layer Cake
from smitten kitchen
1-2-3-4 Cake
Adapted from several sources: this cake is a classic
This cake gets its name from its proportion of ingredients: 1 cup butter and milk, 2 cups sugar, 3 cups of flour and 4 eggs, and from cupcakes to layers cakes, as a basic, white cake, it does not fail.
Yield: 3 9-inch layers (for the purpose of this cake) or 24 cupcakes (good to know, eh?)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 cups sifted self-rising flour*
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350°F. Using an electric mixer, cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar and continue to cream well for 6 to 8 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Add vanilla and continue to beat until just mixed. Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Level batter in each pan by holding pan 3 or 4-inches above counter, then dropping flat onto counter. Do this several times to release air bubbles and assure you of a more level cake. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (start checking at 15 minutes if you are making cupcakes).
* Self-rising flour has both salt and baking powder in it, but you can make your own at home with the following formula: 1 cup self-rising flour = 1 cup all-purpose flour, minus 2 teaspoons + 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder + 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Lemon Curd
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking
From the Joy of Cooking: This makes a sensation filling for sponge rolls or an Angel Food Cake. You can also marble it into a cheesecake.
8 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
3 lemons, zest grated and juiced
Place the ingredients in the double boiler over boiling water. Don’t let top pan touch the water. Cook and stir until mixture begins to gel or thicken ever-so-slightly. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Cover and refrigerate it to thicken.
This keeps, refrigerated, for about 1 week.

Seven-Minute Frosting
Adapted from Joy of Cooking
5 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs whites at room temperature
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts or shredded sweetened dried coconut (optional)
Whisk first five ingredients together in a large, stainless-steel bowl. Set the bowl in a wide, deep skillet filled with about 1 inch of simmering water. Make sure the water level is at least as high as the depth of the egg whites in the bowl. Beat the whites on low speed until the mixture reaches 140 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. Do not stop beating while the bowl is in the skillet, or the egg whites will be overcooked. If you cannot hold the thermometer stem in the egg whites while continuing to beat, remove the bowl from the skillet just to read the thermometer, then return the bowl to the skillet, or yell “[Insert your husband/wife/sig-other's name here]!! Halp! Can you check the temperature of this for me!!!” It might or might not work.
Beat on high speed for exactly five minutes. Remove the bowl from the skillet and add vanilla, beating on high speed for two to three more minutes to cool. Stir in coconut or nuts, if you are using them.
Use this frosting the day it is made.

Lemon Layer Cake Assembly: Add 1 tablespoon of filling to the cake pedestal. Run hands along the side of the cake to remove excess crumbs. Place the cake layers on the pedestal, spreading filling between the layers and on top. Spread the sides and top of the cake with the remaining filling. Frost top and sides of cake with frosting.

so first problem, the lemon curd was too runny. i ended up adding cornstarch to mine to thicken it up and that worked fine but i really think you'd be better off using another recipe. more specifically, look to my lemon meringue pie entry and use that lemon curd. really, it tastes AMAZING. and while a little thick, it would still be easier to spread than the runny mess this recipe provides. if you look at smitten kitchen's photos you can see how runny it really is. also the curd never really thickens like it is supposed to in the recipe, you wait and whisk and whisk and wait and finally you just say enough and cool it. i also have another awesome lemon curd recipe from a lemon blueberry tart recipe in one of michael's tart books, but i am too lazy to type that up right now. we have plans to make this tart again in the not too distant future, so check back for it! i also should add that i take issue with any recipe that calls for "3 lemons" or 3 of fruit/veggie for that matter. lemons are not all created equal! recipes should always be more specific with quantities, and it would be really great if everything just went by weight instead because everyone had their own digital scale in their kitchen.

other issues/suggestions: like smitten kitchen says, no need to buy self rising flour. i happened to have some, but you really don't need to buy it. also her 7 minute frosting recipe comes from the joy of cooking and i've always used paula deen's recipe. while i know i have just complained about paula deen, i also have made this frosting so many times now and have never experienced any problem whatsoever it seems silly not to include the recipe. a lot of times SMBC and 7 minute frosting call for a candy thermometer, which i have and do use from time to time, but i find that once you make something enough you can pretty much tell when to move on from step a to b. also when you are whisking or beating, who really has enough hands to hold the bowl, beat the meringue and test the temperature. i sure don't. i also don't have a digital candy thermometer which might make it easier. for 7 minute frosting, please just try paula's recipe. as for SMBC i find a 3 minute whisk over the double boiler, 5 minute medium high beating in the stand mixer with the whisk attachment, followed by a 8 minute medium high beating with the paddle attachment always works. maybe you need 4 minutes with your double boiler, but usually when it starts to look like foam on a latte, you are ready to move it over to the stand mixer. so as promised, here is the paula deen 7 minute frosting recipe off of foodnetwork.com:

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar or 1 tablespoon white corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup water
2 egg whites
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

Place sugar, cream of tartar or corn syrup, salt, water, and egg whites in the top of a double boiler. Beat with a handheld electric mixer for 1 minute. Place pan over boiling water, being sure that boiling water does not touch the bottom of the top pan. (If this happens, it could cause your frosting to become grainy). Beat constantly on high speed with electric mixer for 7 minutes. Beat in vanilla.

now here are my step by step pictures up until i forgot :(

these are my buttered and parchment lined cake pans. some people say you just need to grease/butter and flour them but i prefer the parchment bottom. it has yet to fail me, whereas just the grease and flour has gotten stuck on me multiple times.

here is the first step in any cake process, creaming the butter. i won't lie, sometimes i skip this step and just mix the sugar and butter immediately but you should do as i say, not as i do. but when you are making over a hundred cupcakes in one day, sometimes this step just seems tedious.

next you add the sugar and beat it until it becomes fluffy! what does fluffy mean? well it looks like a frosting. you can tell from picture 1 to picture 2 that it has gone up the edges quite a bit, so it has expanded in fluffiness? i can't really describe it any better than that. if your butter wasn't properly left out to room temperature, you will be able to tell at this step. it just won't cream together the way it's supposed to. i know from experience. my kitchen is very cold because it has a lot of windows and i always have trouble getting my butter to room temperature in the winter, so i have come up with a solution. i put it in front of the heater. it never gets warm enough to melt it, but it does a fine job of making it spreadable.

now here i have added an egg, or maybe two. i'm not really sure to be honest. the important thing to remember in this step is scraping down the edges! and adding the eggs ONE AT A TIME!! i can't stress that enough. please, for the love of your cakes and cupcakes do not add all of the eggs at once.

now here i where i forgot to take anymore pictures. whoops! i will answer your questions though if you have any, and i promise to try harder to remember to take pictures of the full process.

vegan strawberry shortcake cupcakes

2011-02-05T19:20:00.000-08:00

so it may have been a little late, but i finally had my secret santa gift exchange with michael's ohio city friend group. it was the chinese new year though, so it seemed appropriate. i had michael's friend noah, who, thanks to maria's queen bee knowledge, i found out is vegan. what a great opportunity to try out a new vegan cupcake recipe. i actually make a lot of my cupcakes vegan (shh!) because i find i prefer the lightness that vegan cupcakes have. there is just a heaviness that comes with eggs and milk in baking and because i don't have a sweet tooth (again shh!) i like to keep it lighter (also the reason i don't pile on the frosting). so i just made the same vegan chocolate cupcakes i always make and then used inspiration from food network's cupcake wars. they had a chef on a few weeks, maybe months, back that actually won the competition by making vegan cupcakes. it was pretty awesome. her winning cupcake was a chocolate strawberry shortcake cupcake and as soon as maria told me noah was vegan, i just knew i had to try to make these! the vegan frosting, well ..... ehhhhhhhh. it just tasted like generic cupcake frosting to me, but i guess that's what happens when you use vegetable shortening instead of butter. next time i might try margarine or coconut oil to see how that tastes. i got tons of positive feedback on the extras i gave out of this cupcake, so i know the frosting couldn't have been as bad as i think, but i just don't like sweet frostings. i actually left one chocolate cupcake aside without any frosting just for me. that was an excellent breakfast friday morning ;)

apple palmiers

2011-02-04T11:15:00.000-08:00

so last saturday michael and i went to the shaker square farmers market. he rarely gets a saturday off and we always try to make it out there when that happens. i finally got the beeswax lotion that i've wanted for months! deanna black used it at a yoga class a few months ago and i was planning to get it the last time we went to the market, but i spent too much money on food and didn't have enough left over to buy some :( i am hoping it will help with my allergies. while i was busy buying lotion, michael bought lots of meats and lots of apples. by the end of the week he had dealt with all of his meat, but the majority of the apples remained. i debated between smitten kitchen's apple cake because i love using bundt & tube pans, and apple & cinnamon palmiers but my craving for a cinnamon roll made the decision pretty easy. these came out pretty awesome and i love how they look like little hearts. pretty perfect for valentine's day! more importantly, they are EASY to make and it would make a great breakfast treat for your valentine. the recipe is after the pictures :)

yes, that is my hand in the background and yes i know, pretty much a hand model.

Apple and Cinnamon Palmiers

from chocolate shavings

2 sheets of square puff pastry
1 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon of kosher
1 apple**

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.

Mix the sugar, salt and cinnamon. Spread 1/2 cup of sugar mixture onto your working area. Place one sheet of puff pastry on top of the sugar. Add another 1/4 cup of the mixture on top and gently press down with the palm of your hand. Using a small brush, brush off excess sugar.

Peel and grate the apple. Tightly press onto a kitchen towel to remove excess moisture. Sprinkle half of the grated apple onto the puff pastry. Lightly press them down with the palm of your hand. Fold 2 sides of the square puff pastry into the middle of the puff pastry surface. Fold the sides towards the middle again to create double-layered folds. Then, fold one of the sides onto the other (as if you were closing a book). Reserve and do the same with the second puff pastry sheet.

Slice the puff pastry into 3/8 inch slices and place cut side up on a parchment-line baking sheet. Bake for 6 minutes, turn the palmiers over, and cook for another 3-6 minutes or until perfectly golden. Let cool on a cooling rack. Enjoy!

**i used two apples per pastry sheet(4 total) because we had smaller apples & 1 apple just didn't seem like enough. i also tried grating one batch and shredding the other. michael & i decided we preferred the grated apple version.

lemon meringue pie

2011-01-31T10:21:00.000-08:00

michael and i are going on vacation in july with his family to maine and as a thank you to his parents, we made them a lemon meringue pie (his step dad's favorite). i had been meaning to try this recipe out for a while after michael made a lemon blueberry tart one day over the summer. i just really love lemon curd, or more specifically i love lemons. given the opportunity i will happily eat a lemon like an orange. nom nom nom. anyways, the pie crust recipe i wasn't too crazy with the results compared to the normal recipe my mom taught me. it tasted good, but i just find the way i learned to be a bit easier. one day i will make a post about it i hope. my favorite part of the pie was the meringue of course, because i just love seeing little vanilla bean flecks. as i near the bottom of my first vanilla extract i made, the more vanilla bean flecks appear in my baking. it's awesome. the next vanilla extract jar was made with tahitian vanilla beans & bourbon so i am curious to see if it will taste any different. i also just ordered some bourbon vanilla beans that i plan to use for the next vanilla extract round with vodka. basically i just wait for something to go on sale at beanilla and then order 10 of them. if you haven't checked out beanilla you should as i haven't been able to find a better deal on vanilla beans anywhere else.

i should also mention that there should be more meringue on top of the pie, but i cheated and made 3 mini tarts for michael, my mom and i. i just couldn't resist. i found the recipe from the daring baker's blog archive and after reading how many successful pies came out of this recipe it seemed foolproof.

Lemon Meringue Pie
(from "Wanda's Pie in the Sky" by Wanda Beaver)

Makes one 10-inch (25 cm) pie

For the Crust:
3/4 cup (180 mL) cold butter; cut into ½-inch (1.2 cm) pieces
2 cups (475 mL) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (60 mL) granulated sugar
1/4 tsp (1.2 mL) salt
1/3 cup (80 mL) ice water

For the Filling:
2 cups (475 mL) water
1 cup (240 mL) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (120 mL) cornstarch
5 egg yolks, beaten
1/4 cup (60 mL) butter
3/4 cup (180 mL) fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon zest
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract

For the Meringue:
5 egg whites, room temperature
1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) cream of tartar
1/4 tsp (1.2 mL) salt
1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) vanilla extract
3/4 cup (180 mL) granulated sugar

To Make the Crust:
Make sure all ingredients are as cold as possible. Using a food processor or pastry cutter and a large bowl, combine the butter, flour, sugar and salt.Process or cut in until the mixture resembles coarse meal and begins to clump together. Sprinkle with water, let rest 30 seconds and then either process very briefly or cut in with about 15 strokes of the pastry cutter, just until the dough begins to stick together and come away from the sides of the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and press together to form a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes.

Allow the dough to warm slightly to room temperature if it is too hard to roll. On a lightly floured board (or countertop) roll the disk to a thickness of 1/8 inch (.3 cm). Cut a circle about 2 inches (5 cm) larger than the pie plate and transfer the pastry into the plate by folding it in half or by rolling it onto the rolling pin. Turn the pastry under, leaving an edge that hangs over the plate about 1/2 inch (1.2 cm). Flute decoratively. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line the crust with foil and fill with metal pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before filling.

To Make the Filling:
Bring the water to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan. Remove from the heat and let rest 5 minutes. Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together. Add the mixture gradually to the hot water, whisking until completely incorporated. Return to the heat and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. The mixture will be very thick. Add about 1 cup (240 mL) of the hot mixture to the beaten egg yolks, whisking until smooth. Whisking vigorously, add the warmed yolks to the pot and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in butter until incorporated. Add the lemon juice, zest and vanilla, stirring until combined. Pour into the prepared crust. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on the surface, and cool to room temperature.

To Make the Meringue:
Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, salt and vanilla extract until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually, beating until it forms stiff, glossy peaks. Pile onto the cooled pie, bringing the meringue all the way over to the edge of the crust to seal it completely. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a rack. Serve within 6 hours to avoid a soggy crust.

rosy girl at the galleria

2011-01-30T09:09:00.000-08:00

hello everyone! sorry for my long absence on here but i am finally just recovered from a month of sickness! between the stomach flu, a cold, and a terrible sinus infection i was pretty much out of the running the entire month of january. i am lucky that i had such good caretakers :) but now for the good news.... cowboy george contacted me about being a part of the galleria tuesday lunchtime market from 11-2 every week, so now you can find rosy girl downtown! i wasn't able to be there last week but george and tino were rosy girls in training and did an excellent job selling my cupcakes. i sold out so they must have been doing something right :) for this event i made a chocolate cupcake with raspberry preserves and a vanilla bean cream cheese buttercream and a chai cupcake with a blackberry surprise and chocolate cream cheese buttercream. if you remember the raspberry post i had a few months ago, you'll know the preserves were made by michael and i. it's been great having raspberry jam all through winter! anyways, george sent me these wonderful pictures:

looks pretty awesome, doesn't it?! next week i really want to make this bacon cupcake, but i need to find maple extract!!!! does anyone know where to get it locally? it seems silly to order it offline being that we have so much local maple syrup but i can't seem to find it anywhere. keep your eyes out for me please!

in other exciting news, i am in the process of getting a website up so watch out for that!! and rosy girl products will also soon be available at a new desserts restaurant in lakewood opening sometime in the spring. so many great things have perked me up out of my sickness! oh, and my last bit of good news was that i got tipped off that costco had cupcake couriers available so i went and got a bright blue one. but i have to say, costco is crazy! it was so distracting. i haven't been in there in years but i borrowed my aunt's membership card and i felt like mitchell from modern family in season 1, episode 3. i tried to find a clip to post here but there weren't any :( so go look up the episode and watch it. it's pretty hilarious. i only recently started watching modern family during my sick time off and i am pretty obsessed now. i highly suggest it!

it's not too late to get your orders in for valentine's day. i'll have red velvet this week at the galleria to kick off february/valentine's day. hope to see you there!

the last thursday of the holiday at the beach market

2010-12-29T13:23:00.000-08:00

the last thursday before christmas i spent the day at the holiday at the beach market. i was hoping to be there more before christmas but i was feeling under the weather and was only able to do the one day. i am so thankful to cowboy george of blaze gourmet for letting me get involved with the market, and i also owe a big thanks to tino who really helped amp up the sales and bring a great energy to the room. i was able to also connect with lakewood cookies', who is so nice and makes wonderful & beautiful cookies! if you need some, you should look her up! all of the vendors were just really great and i feel lucky to have been able to met and shared this holiday season with them at the beach market :) for my final day, i made my mexican hot chocolate cupcakes, apple spice cupcakes with caramelized apple swiss meringue buttercream and gingerbread cupcakes with marshmallow fluff frosting. everything came out perfect during baking the day before and i owe my success to the christmas jams my mom had going in the background for me. baking really helped amp up my christmas cheer this holiday season. speaking of, i hope everyone reading this had a wonderful holiday :) and may the new year bring you even more joy!

mexican hot chocolate cupcake

gingerbread fluff cupcake

apple spice cupcake with caramelized apple swiss meringue cupcake

i also have some exciting developments in the works, but it is too soon to go spreading the word yet. i'll have a post next week about it :) again, wishing you all a very happy new year.

last minute market

2010-12-22T13:11:00.000-08:00

here is my table at the last minute market outside of michael's studio! i brought chocolate chai cupcakes, pumpkin graham cracker cheesecake cupcakes, vanilla filled lemon curd with raspberry swiss meringue cupcakes, and chestnut cupcakes. i made the chestnut puree myself! it was pretty fun. the squirrels were happy because they got the extra chestnuts too. michael was also pretty happy because he got to eat the extra lemon curd i made for the vanilla cupcakes. the same day i sent these same flavors over to the holiday at the beach market in rocky river. i couldn't be there but i had some little elves who looked after me :)

chocolate chai cupcakes

vanilla cupcakes filled with lemon curd topped with raspberry swiss meringue buttercream

the famed chestnut cupcakes with cream cheese chocolate swirl frosting! one of my top 5 for sure :)

pumpkin graham cracker cupcakes with pumpkin cheesecake frosting

dog birthday cupcakes

2010-12-18T13:24:00.000-08:00

i've inserted this extra large picture because a dog cupcake is worthy of an extra large picture! i made a batch of dog birthday cupcakes for stella's first birthday. she LOVES peanut butter, so katie asked me if i could make a peanut butter dog cupcake for stella. and what did the dog think of them? well she LOVED them, ate it in one big bite! i gave my dog zooey one of the extras and she was so cute about it. she licked the frosting off and then wouldn't eat the cupcake until i cut it up for her. sometimes she is such a lady, but other times she can be a little gassy and clear a room. i guess that is what makes her so special. anyways, happy birthday stella! i am glad i was able to make your birthday treat come to life.

holiday at the beach

2010-12-14T14:00:00.000-08:00

this past weekend i did the holiday at the beach market in rocky river. i will be there again possibly this weekend, but definitely the few days leading up until christmas. this weekend i will be selling my cupcakes out of michael's studio at the lake erie screw factory for the last minute market. please come visit us! anyways this past weekend i had a great time at the market and met a lot of really fun people. i made peppermint tea cupcakes, almond blackberry cupcakes, marbled lavender cupcakes, blueberry & raspberry ricotta almond cupcakes, eggnog latte cupcakes and chocolate orange cupcakes. the eggnog latte cupcake frosting is honestly the best frosting i have made to date. i was eating the leftovers by the spoonful! here are some pictures of my cupcakes:

i had made a different peppermint cupcake the weekend before, but found the peppermint flavor to be a little too intense and toned it down for this past weekend's version.

i used the lavender leaves i got from cathy's baby shower to make these cupcakes!

almost the end of the summer frozen blackberries! sad.

i do however still have a good amount of frozen raspberries leftover :) look forward to some of them appearing in the next couple weeks!

the eggnog frosting i was raving about! so delicious!!!

and the simple and beautiful chocolate orange cupcake!

so i hope to see you at the last minute market or at the holiday at the beach market! mention you follow by blog and i'll happily give you a little something extra ;) the flavors i am hoping for this weekend are chesnut cupcakes, hot chocolate & lemon curd something. i am debating a few recipes with lemon curd filling involved and i just can't decide which one i want to make. i might also delay the hot chocolate cupcake and swap it for a chocolate chai. really, it all depends on what i can find at the store and what i feel like making! i will also be making some puppycakes for stella. i took care of stella during the day while katie (her mama) was workin the long hours at the clinic and that little sneak is going to be one soon!

thanksgiving desserts

2010-12-01T18:48:00.000-08:00

i hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving and your bellies are still full from all of the food you ate. were you expecting me to make cupcakes for my thanksgiving dinner? well i didn't, not a one! i did however make pumpkin bread pudding, an almond poppyseed cake for my cousin's birthday and a coconut cake for ned and his family. a spiced apple caramel sauce was used for the bread pudding, which of course i forgot to take a picture of and the poppyseed cake didn't get photographed at all. it was made early thursday morning and i had SO MUCH to do that i just didn't have time. all of the desserts were a success and michael and i just finished off the last of the leftover cake yesterday but today i am wishing i had just a slice more! i don't think i could ever get sick of that almond poppyseed cake. it's my all time favorite, probably because it doesn't have frosting. confession time, i don't really like frosting! i much prefer my cakes plain. frosting often tastes too sweet to me, which is why i always cut the sugar in half for the frostings i make, often causing the consistency to be a tad off. so if you were wondering why my buttercreams aren't as rich as others, it is because i just don't like that much sugar. anyways, here are some pictures of the coconut cake & pumpkin bread pudding sans dessert.

cupcake toppers

2010-11-22T17:46:00.000-08:00

so once i found out i would be making the cupcakes for cathy's baby shower i knew i had to make cupcake toppers! i have been wanting to make them for a while now because buying them already made is not cheap. melissa told me that cathy liked birds and owls and that one or the other would be incorporated into the shower... so i had ned make me two different designs. the sex of the baby is also unknown so i had to try to stick with the more gender neutral colors like purple and green. i'm not really sure why purple is gender neutral but i saw the two colors paired together a lot so for some reason it works. i then went and got myself some paper punches, a 2" scallop and a 1.5" circle, some ribbon and some lollipop sticks. michael was nice enough to lend me his glue gun and i used my own glue sticks. then i went to work!! the process was actually really easy and so much fun. i am going to make extras and sell them on etsy because i hope someone else can use them for their own party! also, from now on i will be offering cupcake toppers on my orders for an additional cost if you want them. here is the finished product... i apologize for the poor quality photos but it was late and i was tired after a long day of baking for the sip into the holidays event.

the cupcakes i made for the shower were a lavender marbled cupcake with cream cheese frosting and a chocolate & pear cupcake with vanilla bean buttercream. one of the party favors from the shower was some lavender from the host's garden so i will be making these cupcakes again for the last minute market at michael's studio.

sip into the holidays

2010-11-21T18:03:00.000-08:00

last night was the sip into the holidays mad men themed event at local girl gallery. they were auctioning off wine/martini glasses that were decorated by local artists to benefit the Lakewood Commission on Aging. it was a really awesome event with so much to look at and so many snacks! one one of the snacks included my cupcakes. i made minis because those are just much easier to eat at an event than a big cupcake. no one wants to drop cupcake crumbs all over their fancy outfit! i chose to make a white russian cupcake and a bourbon & pecan chocolate cupcake. i really really don't like bourbon, so i found those cupcakes to be really, well, not great. however, michael loves bourbon and he ate all 10 extra mini bourbon cupcakes so i guess they were pretty good. i did love the white russian minis though! the kahlua whipped cream was delicious! i will definitely be making these again.

look how full my fridge was! the minis took over!!!!!

pumpkin muffins

2010-11-14T08:48:00.000-08:00

so today i will be feasting with michael on goodies we bought from the shaker square farmer's market yesterday. we already made the sun choke soup, but he is making a roast of some sort today and i am to make a brussels sprouts salad. i also was in charge of dessert and because the meal is already so heavy i decided to make pumpkin muffins. although to be honest i had pumpkin i just needed to use up. are you sick of pumpkin flavored baked goods yet? i know i have posted quite a few pumpkin dishes so far, and i don't plan on stopping anytime soon. i haven't made pumpkin rolls yet and it wouldn't be thanksgiving without one. i was watching boy meets grill this morning too and bobby flay's pastry chef had made an awesome pumpkin bread in a pumpkin custard with a caramel apple glaze or sauce. i would like to try my own version of this dish as well! but back to today's pumpkin dessert, i saw this recipe in my reader a few days ago and thought it would be an excellent way to use up my pumpkin. cupcake rehab is a pretty funny and cute blog so you should check it out if you have some extra time on your hands. i would also recommend the recipe, although my muffins were done in 18 minutes and i think the muffin topping could have used a tad more butter or a little less flour. as usual i used about half the amount of powdered sugar called for in the icing as well.

estate sale finds!

2010-11-13T18:28:00.000-08:00

on friday i had the pleasure of visiting ned at work. ned works for his mom who does estate sales. i have gotten the majority of my baking tools from them.. no really, my stand mixer is from a sale and a lot of my pans are from them too. this weekend i was lucky that they had a sale happening in rocky river and that the homeowner was a baker. she had a really nice almond stand mixer. the almond color was so pretty i almost questioned my red mixer, but there is just something so special about a red kitchenaid. yes, i love my mixer. anyways, if you are ever bored on a friday or saturday you should check out patton & breznai and see what they have going on! even if you don't need anything, it is pretty neat going through someone's house like that and seeing all of the things they have collected. anyways, at this weekend's sale i got a popover pan!! this is something i would never buy myself full price, but i am happy to have it and i am more excited to start making some popovers and/or tall cupcakes. look forward to seeing something from this pan soon!! michael also found me these two awesome cook books, baking with julia and chocolate. sorry for the picture, i was doing some reading in bed and just took the picture there. i have wanted to make bagels for a long time and now that i own baking with julia, i think i'll just have to move bagels to the top of the list. did i mention that these books were only 2 dollars? what a deal !! thanks ned for being my friend and also for making my awesome logo!

thanksgiving yam cupcakes

2010-11-12T09:14:00.000-08:00

thursday michael and i were lucky enough to be invited to alex and maggie's pregiving dinner party. it really was an awesome evening, filled with lots of wine and good fun. i managed to spill gravy all over my sweater within the first ten minutes of getting there, but after i let go of that i had a really great evening. michael made some poblano scalloped potatoes which were AMAZING and i made these thanksgiving yam cupcakes, which of course had to have the 7 minute marshmallow frosting! this frosting always makes my arms tired, but it's worth it. i do find though that pumpkin, yams and sweet potatoes all kind of taste the same in cupcake form. well not identical, but the spices are always pretty similar. i was reading in one of my cookbooks that chef's often use sweet potato instead of pumpkin in their fall pumpkin dishes because sweet potato is actually easier to work with and no one can really tell the difference. something to think about!

screw factory open studio

2010-11-08T08:50:00.000-08:00

i had the pleasure of setting up shop in michael's studio on saturday and selling some cupcakes. he was having an open studio, along with the other artists in the screw factory + some extras and i set up my little table! i meant to take a picture of my set up but the heat didn't come on until later in the day and i was freezing so i mostly huddled around michael trying to absorb his warmth. when the heat finally did come on, i stood by there for a long time. so i apologize that there are no pictures of my little booth. anyways, i decided to make a salted caramel chocolate cupcake, a cabernet blackberry cupcake and a pumpkin cupcake with chocolate ganache. they all turned out quite well although i think my blackberries might be at the end of their freezer life. they aren't freezer burned or anything, they just aren't the lively bunch they were back in august. i don't have very much left either. i still think they taste better than the store bought ones though! nothing like picking blackberries from your neighbor :)

if you haven't already please make sure to check out michael's website and/or facebook page. here is the link to his website: Forest City Portage which is really just another link to his blog, but i promise his website is coming soon! actually, you can creep on it a little early if you want to forest city portage unfinished ... remember it isn't done yet though! jon bobel really has done a great job on it so far. i am now going to include a cutesy picture of michael with a bag he made because i don't like his about me picture on his website. he will even admit he looks a bit creepy in it!

:) :) :)

carrot cake!!!

2010-11-03T21:28:00.000-07:00

it was michael's dad bob's birthday today and his step-mom cheryl kindly requested that i would make a carrot cake and 12 carrot cupcakes for the gathering at their place this evening. so i made a traditional simple carrot cake that just had walnuts in it and i flavored it with cinnamon. the cake was very moist! one of my favorites for sure. the frosting came out perfect. if you can't tell i am not about the fine lines of cakes. i prefer a more natural look.

because i was making cupcakes too i wanted to try something a little different. i know some people like their carrot cake with pineapple, or coconut, or raisins... well, there are so many different things people add to carrot cake these days. i opted to take the original recipe and add some fresh ginger, some candied ginger and i used pecans instead of walnuts. i also had some mascarpone so i topped half of the cupcakes with lemon mascarpone frosting and the other half with the more traditional cream cheese frosting. both were really great! as for the garnish, i dehydrated some carrots that were cooked in a simple syrup. they kind of look like bacon... i am a mostly vegetarian so i found this a little strange but they still tasted awesome!

this saturday i will be selling cupcakes with michael in his shop for the open studio! i am going to make a blackberry red wine cupcake and a pumpkin ginger with chocolate ganache cupcake! not something to miss out on :)

pumpkin whoopie pies

2010-10-21T10:00:00.000-07:00

i first wanted to share this lovely picture of my dog at the spooky pooch parade in lakewood last saturday. zooey really doesn't like clothes so for a compromise my mom and i bought her an extra large shirt that felt more like a blanket, because she loves blankets, and it worked! she was ok with the shirt. there were so many cute dogs (lots of greyhounds!) at the parade and i was surprised by how creative people were. zooey and i also made a special stop in front of melt to wave to michael, cleveland's hottest bartender, who looked a little embarrassed ;)

anyways, i saw pumpkin whoopie pies on brown eyed baker a while back and knew i had to try them. they looked so delicious and around this time of year i am always craving pumpkin. i have never made whoopie pies before, but after making these i will definitely have to try more of them. they were so good!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Cream Cheese Filling
copied from brown eyed baker
Yield: About 2 dozen assembled whoopie pies (will vary depending on how large you make them)

For the Whoopie Pies:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups chilled pumpkin puree (canned pumpkin)
1 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Maple-Cream Cheese Filling:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 ounces (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger and nutmeg. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the granulated sugar, the dark brown sugar, and the oil together. Add the pumpkin puree and whisk to combine thoroughly. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined.
4. Gradually add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and whisk until completely combined.
5. Use a small cookie scoop or a large spoon to drop a rounded, heaping tablespoon of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.
6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, making sure that the cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. The cookies should be firm when touched. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on a cooling rack.
7. To make the filling, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth with no visible lumps, about 3 minutes. Add the cream cheese and beat until smooth and combined, about 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time, then add the maple syrup and vanilla and beat until smooth.
8. To assemble the whoopie pies: Turn half of the cooled cookies upside down. Pipe or spoon the filling (about a tablespoon) onto that half. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling. Press down slightly so that the filling spread to the edges of the cookie. Repeat until all the cookies are used. Put the whoopie pies in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to firm before serving.

banana crumb muffins

2010-10-16T14:43:00.000-07:00

the other day i noticed that the bananas on my kitchen counter were starting to get to the point where fruit flies were gathering around them and so in order to use them up as soon as possible, i made banana muffins. i really don't like when fruit flies get out of control. at a dinner in the spring my friend jessi and i had a problem with them because they kept drowning themselves in our sweet beer. this sweet beer was a nice beer and i was rather disturbed to notice 3 fruit flies floating in my drink after i had been sipping on it for the last half hour. i try really hard to keep the fruit flies away after that happened. so anyways, these banana muffins are really easy. i use this crumb topping on a lot of my muffins, i usually put a little cinnamon in but this time i opted not. i was really surprised by how well these muffins were received, because they are just a simple banana muffin and i was actually worried i overcooked them a little. guess not! they were a hit. here is the recipe:

Banana Muffins with Crumb Topping
copied from everyday home cook
Banana muffins:
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 large egg
2 medium ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup) **
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar **
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Crumb topping:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons cold butter
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottoms only of a 12 cup muffin tin, or line with paper baking cups. In a large bowl, beat together milk, oil, and egg. Add banana and mix well. Stir in flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt, just until mixed. Batter will be lumpy. Divide evenly among muffin cups. To make crumb topping, cut butter into flour and sugar until crumbly. Top batter with crumb topping. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown. If baked in a greased pan, let cool 5 minutes in pan before removing to wire racks.
Makes 1 dozen.

**i used 3 bananas which was a little over 1 cup and that was fine. i also never use as much sugar as a recipe calls for, especially when topping the muffin or cupcake with something else that is sugary. it's just unnecessary. i usually use about half as much and add some cinnamon for this recipe, or just 3/4 as much. for being a baker, i really don't have a strong sweet tooth! my favorite sweet is actually the lindt touch of salt chocolate bar. if you haven't tried it you really should!

coming soon: pumpkin whoopie pies! i am also going to be donating some cupcakes at the end of november to a great lakewood event, called sip into the holidays. here is the link for the event sip into the holidays. the theme is mad men and i am so excited to make some cocktail cupcakes !!

michael's birthday cake

2010-10-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

with michael's birthday fast approaching, i decided a couple weeks ago i needed to make him this special celebration cake i saw on smitten kitchen, called the pistachio petit-four cake. i wish i had more step by step photos, but i was in such a rush to make this. i baked the cakes saturday, using my new cake bake even strips (which are awesome btw) and did the flash freeze method. on sunday morning, mind you the day of the party, i quickly made the marzipan and let it rest for an hour and then had a quick hour to assemble the cake. for being done so rapidly, i am pretty pleased with the result. next time, i'll remember to use a cake board and parchment paper to keep the bottom pretty. michael was very pleased with his cake and everyone else seemed to love it too, so i guess the sloppy bottom didn't matter anyways! i really loved the apricot preserves in the cake. i wish i had made them myself, but hopefully next time. i also have plans to make this cake into a cupcake in the not too distant future. so stay tuned. and if you feel like making this cake, just make sure to go check out smitten kitchen! she has the best cake tips you could ask for.

last market of the season

2010-10-04T11:32:00.000-07:00

this past saturday was the last market of the season. i was really sad that this would be the last market, but i was excited about the awesome cupcakes i was making for it. unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with me and it was a pretty crummy day. but i did have a lot of loyal supporters come and wish me luck and tell me how much they loved my baked goods, which is always great to hear. i made vanilla cupcakes filled with mint cream and topped with raspberry mousse, sweet potato cupcakes with maple spice buttercream, dulce de leche chocolate cupcakes, and chocolate walnut and golden raisin cookies. i sold mostly everything, but the leftovers i did have i brought to michael's oktoberfest birthday gathering sunday so it all worked out. i apologize that i have no front picture of my booth but i was so cold and i was wrapped up so nicely in my blankets i really didn't want to move. if you saw me saturday, i was very bundled. i know it doesn't seem that cold when you walk to your car or ride your bike for 15 minutes somewhere but when you are sitting outside with the wind blowing on you for 4 hours, well it is really cold. so instead of a nice front market picture, here are some other awesome photos of the market for you...

these were my lovely neighbors at the market these past few weeks. they had the most beautiful sunflowers on saturday. i had planned to buy some at the end but they had sold out!! which is really great because we were all a little worried that with the weather they would end up having a bunch of sunflower leftovers. it helped that people saw other people walking around holding them, and you just can't resist a pretty sunflower on a cold and rainy day.

my awesome sign, screamin it's american pride.

and there are all of my yummy treats!

raspberries and pierogies

2010-09-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

on wednesday i had a full day of food! michael and i woke up early to go raspberry picking at rosby's, then we went to yoga and then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening MAKING PIEROGIES!! really, we spent hours making them. well actually i made most of them because michael had taken over making the dough and rolling it out while i filled filled filled the pierogies. it was a long day. i plan on using these raspberries for my cupcakes this weekend... a vanilla cupcake filled with mint cream and topped with raspberry mousse. i also froze my extra raspberries to make sure at least for the next couple months that i will have local raspberries for my cupcakes! i froze the perfect ones special for garnish. if you haven't made it to rosby's this season you should really try to make it out soon. their website says that the season goes until the end of october. it's just a good way to spend your morning!

so after all of the raspberry freezing and canning was done, we made the pierogies. we made 3 kinds: jalapeno cheddar potato, cheddar potato, and bacon and kraut. we used two kinds of cheddar, an aged australian and a regular run of the mill orange cheddar. the pierogies are for sunday, which is michael's oktoberfest birthday party. we made pierogies last year for the same themed party and ended up making the same mistake this year except not as extreme. for some reason we always end up with a ton of extra filling and have to make 3-5 extra batches of dough to deal with all of it. while i can't complain about having extra pierogies to last through the winter, i was pretty tired around 10 p.m. and wanted to give up on the filling. so my only advice if you try to make pierogies is that you really only need 3 lbs of potatoes and not the 5 lbs the recipe usually calls for.

pierogi dough recipe

2 1/2 cups flour

2 eggs (mix before adding)
1 tsp salt
1/2 - 3/4 cup "potato" water (add in little at time)

Let dough rest 1/2 hour or so before your roll it out

this recipe comes from my mom. every christmas my aunt makes pierogies and i look forward to it every year. the "potato" water is the water you boiled the potatoes in, but normal water will work too. make sure the dough is a little sticky when you are done with it because you are going to be adding a lot of flour as you roll it out so you want it to be sticky.

as for the filling, just mash 3-5 lbs of potatoes.. we used russets... and add the normal butter and milk you would use to make your mashed potatoes.... then add about 3 cups of cheddar cheese or more or less to your liking. we didn't measure this out. we used a lot though as you can see from the above picture. then once you are done incorporating the cheese, split the potato mash in half and mix about 2-3 tablespoons of chopped jalapeno to one half of the potato mixture.

for the kraut, michael just fried up 4 slices of bacon and then added a pound of kraut in the same pan and continued to cook it all together.

when making the pierogies, we used a round cookie cutter and kept a glass of water to seal the pierogies together once folded in half. sorry these directions are so vague, we just really did it off the top of our heads. it's not hard i promise.

farmers market 9/25

2010-09-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

celebrity guest at the market this past saturday!! michael, voted cleveland's hottest bartender on metromix.com, sat with me at my booth and drank a lot of coffee. he also helped make the blackberry tartelettes which were a special addition to this week's offerings. i had apple spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, mocha cupcakes with espresso buttercream, cashew carrot and cardamom cupcakes with cashew cream cheese frosting, the blackberry tartelettes, and peppermint sandwich cookies. had michael not been there with me i probably wouldn't have been smiling as much because it was very very cold this morning. i had a blanket and two coats and i was still really chilly. the wind was not our friend. perhaps it was the onset of the cold weather, but the market was pretty dead. i don't blame anyone who decided to stay in bed instead saturday morning instead of coming out to the market. it was rough going from 92 degrees on friday to the low 50s saturday. i took a nice long nap after the market wearing lots of comfortable layers. regardless of the weather, i managed to sell out of almost everything and brought the leftovers to michael's stepdad's 60th bowling birthday. woooooo bowling. next week is the last market week and i am quite sad it is coming to an end, but also excited to sleep in a little on saturday mornings.

make your own vanilla extract

2010-09-20T21:13:00.000-07:00

do you know how easy it is to make your own vanilla extract?! i didn't. michael had mentioned how awesome it would be if i made my own vanilla extract a month or so ago and i shrugged it off, assuming it would be a daunting task but after having too much time to spend on baking blogs this weekend i found out from joy the baker that making vanilla extract would be immediately added to my monday to do list. really, it is SO EASY. you really have to try it.

what you will need: 1 cup of bourbon, 3 vanilla beans, and a pint jar. that's it!

use a sharp paring knife to cut lengthwise down the center of the vanilla beans, leaving about an inch at the top and bottom of the vanilla bean uncut. next cut the vanilla beans in half so that they can fully be emerged in bourbon. put the vanilla beans in a pint sized mason jar. next dump the cup of bourbon into the jar and shake shake shake! now store it in a dark place for 2 months, visiting the jar every week or so to shake it up again.
some people opt to scrape the vanilla beans into the jar to add a little more vanilla flavor i guess. i didn't see this as a necessary step, but feel free to do it if you want.

as far as vanilla beans go, i used the madagascar variety because it was readily available but feel free to use tahitian or mexican if you want! joy says this about vanilla beans "Madagascar beans are powerful, dark, full vanilla flavor beans. Tahitian beans remind me of vanilla figs- fruity and floral. The Mexican variety has just a hint of sweet creaminess," and i think that's a great way to explain them. also, some people prefer to use vodka or rum when making their vanilla extract but i am a real nielson massey madagascar bourbon vanilla extract snob, so for my first time around i just had to use bourbon. i would like to try the vodka-mexican vanilla bean combo in the future though.

so look forward to rosy girl baked goods using her own exclusive vanilla extract in 2 months! also if you are lucky enough to be my close friend, you might be getting some vanilla this christmas ;)

farmers market 9/18

2010-09-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

this week at market i couldn't have asked for nicer weather. the sun was out and after a rough friday i was really hoping for a successful day. i had a batch of cupcakes fail on me for some reason, although i suspect the butter wasn't quite room temperature and my raspberries were just not what i needed them to be. baking just took a lot longer than it normally does. lucky for me i have a great mom and boyfriend who were ready to help :) i made pumpkin cupcakes with maple syrup cream cheese frosting, chocolate raspberry balsamic cupcakes, black pearl cupcakes, which are chocolate ginger and wasabi infused cupcakes, and chocolate espresso shortbread cookies. it was my first time making the black pearl and i was nervous about how much wasabi to put in... i think i would add a tad more next time. i ended up selling out of everything, which is always great. i have to admit i did save one chocolate raspberry balsamic cupcake to bring to michael at melt after the market was over. i thought it would be a nice treat for him on a busy melt saturday.

cupcake hero: caffeine!

2010-09-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

my favorite part of fall is the return of the pumpkin spice latte. i don't usually drink coffee or even caffeine for that matter, but i'll always make an exception for the pumpkin spice latte. after realizing that this month's cupcake hero secret ingredient was caffeine, i decided i had to make the pumpkin spice latte into a cupcake. so here's what i came up with :)

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes With Cinnamon Swiss Meringue Buttercream
makes 12 cupcakes :)
1/2 cup milk
1 1/4 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat your oven to 350 and line your standard muffin pan with (brown) liners.
2. Heat milk in small saucepan until warm and then stir in espresso powder until it is dissolve. Set aside to cool.
3. In a medium to large bowl, whisk(by hand) together the oil, vanilla, pumpkin and espresso milk.
4. In a smaller bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and whisk(by hand) together. Be careful not to overmix.
5. Fill liners about 2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack completely before frosting.

Cinnamon Swiss Meringue Buttercream
from love and olive oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 large egg whites
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Put the sugar and eggwhites in a large heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like marshmallow cream.
2. Pour the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and beat on medium speed until it cools and forms a thick and shiny meringue, about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment and add the butter, one tablespoon at a time, beating until smooth. Once all the butter is in, beat the buttercream on medium-high speed until is is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes. Add the vanilla and cinnamon and whip for another 30 seconds until incorporated. Spread or pipe on cooled cupcakes.

my pumpkin carriage

2010-09-13T19:07:00.000-07:00

for this past week's market i made some peach blueberry and thyme cupcakes, spiced chai latte cupcakes, mexican hot chocolate cupcakes and salted chocolate and vanilla bean cookies. besides being busy friday baking, michael had won a happy hour party at reddstone so i had to get everything done by 5 in order to be able to go. that being said, i forgot to take pictures of the spiced chai latte cupcake. i was hoping to take pictures of them at the market on saturday but with the strong winds blowing ragweed all around and my lack of allergy medicine, i was pretty out of it and forgot again. luckily after a nap i realized that my best friends ned and ali had bought a dozen cupcakes so they were able to take the pictures for me. so now you know why the last batch of photos looks a bit different than the rest ;) oops! promise to be more on top of things next week.

speaking of next week, i am planning to make some delicious pumpkin cupcakes, chocolate balsamic raspberry cupcakes and black pearl cupcakes. the cookie is yet to be determined. did you know there is a pumpkin shortage this year? it was an extremely frustrating day driving all over the west side of cleveland looking for some canned pumpkin. i finally gave up on the search and was ready to change the menu for this weekend and forget the cupcake hero contest when my mom called and told me whole foods had some!!!!!! woooooooo. while driving to the east side is not favorable, i was just so happy to have found some canned pumpkin. so come this saturday and enjoy the great pumpkin cupcake that almost didn't happen.

a rainy day at the market

2010-09-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

last week at the market, mother nature decided to keep us honest here in northeast ohio with some serious rain. it was a cold morning and i was not dressed for the weather. luckily my mom was nice enough to bring me some blankets, so with my hood up and two blankets wrapped around me, i manned my tent at the market. there were a couple points where the sun peaked out, only to retreat minutes later and downpour again. i decided to pack up around 12 because i was just too cold and the wind was threatening to blow away my baked goodies. i had made the blackberry cupcakes along with the earl grey cupcakes, and then tried out some chocolate tarragon cupcakes. i also made some DELICIOUS, but rich, apricot, almond and chocolate chip cookies. those definitely didn't disappoint. overall, i managed to sell a good amount of cupcakes and then ventured over to The Eclectic Mixx, where my wonderful boss helped me sell the remaining lot of cupcakes. there was only a couple left after that and i brought them to michael's bike polo tournament sunday, but it just wasn't meant to be because they were knocked over and ruined almost immediately after they got there. i guess the cupcakes decided they had been through enough already. so thank you to everyone who did come out saturday, i hope to see you next week with some chai latte cupcakes, peach blueberry and thyme cupcakes, mexican hot chocolate cupcakes and some salted chocolate vanilla bean cookies :)

first lakewood market

2010-08-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

here is all my rosy girl stuff... ready for the first day at the market. ned did a really great job on the logo!

the weather was great for my first market :) here is what my table looked like, all ready to go!

i made caramel banana cupcakes, zucchini spice cupcakes, dark chocolate and cardamom cupcakes, peanut butter dog treats and blueberry scones. by the end of the day i had sold out of everything except a couple dog treats! and i was lucky enough to have a bunch of friends come visit too.

Chocolate Banana Bread

2010-08-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

i usually don't like making breads but i just got this clay bread pan from a patton & breznai estate sale and i was dying to try it. i have nothing against breads, i just prefer a grab and go muffin. i'd been wanting to try dorie greenspan's cocoa-nana bread recipe for a while now and when my bananas were looking less than ideal for eating, this seemed like a perfect opportunity. if you haven't checked out baking: from my home to yours you really should. dorie's recipes are always so delicious and relatively easy to make. if you buy one baking book this year, let it be dorie's!

Cocoa-Nana Bread

Copied from eat me, delicious
2 cups all purpose flour (I used 272 g)
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (or 1/2 cup store bought chocolate chips)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Butter a 9x5 inch loaf pan and placed it on an insulated baking sheet or on two regular baking sheets stacked on top of the other. (This extra insulation will keep the bottom of the bread from overbaking.)

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and baking soda.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed for about a minute, until softened. Add the sugars and beat for 2 minutes more. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for a minute after each addition. At this point, the batter may look a little curdled - it's okay. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the mashed bananas. Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, mixing only unilt they disappear into the batter. Still on low speed, add the buttermilk, mixing until it is incorporated. Stir in the chopped chocolate. Scrape the batter into the pan.

Bake for 30 minutes. Cover the bread loosely with a foil tent to keep the top from getting too dark, and continue to bake for another 40 to 45 minutes (total baking time is between 70 to 75 minutes), or until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for at least 20 minutes before running a knife around the edges of the brad and unmolding it. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.

a surplus of blackberries

2010-08-17T11:36:00.000-07:00

these blackberry cupcakes were a new recipe i tried last week. my boyfriend michael's next door neighbor has a surplus of blackberries growing in her backyard and because she just had her teeth whitened is not able to eat them! this has resulted in michael, his mom and myself making as many blackberry items as possible... tarts, jam, pies, cobblers, etc. eventually we decided to stop fighting a losing battle and michael has just been freezing them in bunches instead. but back to the cupcakes, i used the lovely tastespotting and found this tasty recipe and got to try it out just in time for alex and emilio's going away party. the cupcakes were a hit and i gave one to my boss, bill, who ended up buying a dozen to auction off at his family reunion. anyways, i highly recommend these cupcakes.

Blackberry Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream Icing
Adapted from berry delicious. Makes 24 cupcakes.
3 6oz packs blackberries (+24 individual blackberries kept aside for garnish if you desire)
1/3 cup milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites, room temperature
2 tsp lemon juice
2 1/4 cup cake flour, sifted ***
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
12 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
1 recipe Blackberry Buttercream Frosting, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and fill two muffin pans with liners.
Puree blackberries in a food processor or blender. Scrape into a fine mesh sieve set over a bowl. With a rubber spatula or spoon, work the blackberries through the sieve, leaving seeds behind. Remove 1/4 cup of puree for the frosting.
In small bowl, combine 2/3 c. puree, milk, egg, lemon juice, and mix with fork or whisk until well blended. In the bowl of stand mixer, add sifted flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix to combine. Continue beating at slow speed and add butter. Mix until combined and resembling moist crumbs. This may get a little messy so use your guard for your stand mixer bowl if you have one.
Add liquids and beat at medium speed for about 1 minute or until full and evenly combined. Stop mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for 30 more seconds. This is very important! This is a lot of batter so you need to make sure you are scraping down the sides in order for everything to get properly incorporated. Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center cupcake in each pan comes out clean. Cool cupcakes on cooling rack and frost when completely cool.

***sometimes i run out of cake flour and because it can be a pain in the butt to find, you can always this substitute: 1 c. all purpose flour - 2 tbsp, then replace 2 tbsp with 2 tbsp cornstarch. some people choose to just leave the cornstarch out all together making it 1 c. cake flour = 1 c. minus 2 tbsp. all purpose, but i prefer to add the cornstarch. it's up to you!

Blackberry Buttercream Frosting
2 sticks butter unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
pinch of salt
1/4 cup blackberry puree

Cream butter and extracts until smooth. Mix in confectioner’s sugar and salt and beat 2-3 minutes on high. Add blackberry puree and beat for an additional minute. Adjust consistency, if desired, with additional confectioner’s sugar or water. I used a 1M cupcake tip to frost my cupcakes.

an earl grey kitty bobcats evening

2010-08-16T13:26:00.000-07:00

i was invited to a lovely evening of kitty bobcats fun a few weeks ago and decided to make these earl grey cupcakes to bring. bridge was planned for the evening, even though we never got to it, and tea and bridge seem to go well together to me so these cupcakes were an obvious fit. i really loved these cupcakes and to be honest, a lot of the stuff i bake i only end up sampling and not eating just because i'm not a big sugar person, but i loved these and actually ate two of them. the pan of 6 is what i brought over to the kitty bobcats evening, the other 6 got eaten before then :)

Earl Grey Cupcakes with Earl Grey Lemon Buttercream Frosting
adapted from patent and the pantry and honey and jam. yields 12 cupcakes.
1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. milk
1 tbsp. Earl Grey tea ***

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and fill 1 muffin pan with liners. Beat the butter and sugar together until it is light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each egg is added. Make sure they are thoroughly combined before adding the next one by scraping down the edges of the bowl. Whisk together the dry ingredients, including the tea in a medium bowl. Beat in half of the dry mixture with the wet, then add the milk and the rest of the dry mixture, stirring until just combined. Again, make sure to scrape down the edges during this process. Fill liners about two-thirds full. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool thoroughly before frosting.

***i didn't use a bagged earl grey tea so i'm not sure how many bags would be needed in this recipe. i'm out right now, but later when i find out i will post the brand i used.

Earl Grey Lemon Buttercream Frosting
1/2 c. unsalted butter
1 1/2 - 2 c. of powdered sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
1-2 teaspoons of earl grey tea leaves

Cream the butter until nice and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Gradually add the powdered sugar, making sure to scrape the edges of the bowl. Next, add the lemon zest, lemon juice and tea, making sure it is well mixed. Frost with your favorite tip and eat :)

craving key lime pie?

2010-08-14T12:44:00.000-07:00

a few weeks ago i went to a pig roast and struggled over what to bring. i eventually for some reason or another decided on these graham cracker cupcakes with a key lime cream cheese frosting. i don't really see the connection between these and a pig roast, but i liked the idea of a citrus flavor at a summer party. plus they are really beautiful and people seemed to really respond to them! mostly, i just had a lot of fun decorating these guys :)

Graham Cracker Cupcakes with Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from ming makes cupcakes
1 c. flour
1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs ***
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick butter, room temperature
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and fill 1 muffin pan with liners. Mix flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Gradually beat in the butter on a low-medium speed. Add sugar gradually, beating at a medium speed until mixed thoroughly. This does get a little messy so I do suggest using the guard for the bowl if you have one.
Beat in eggs, one at a time and then add the vanilla and milk and beat until just mixed. Pour into lined muffin pan. Bake for 18 minutes or until toothpick comes out almost clean.

*** I used about 4 graham crackers and smashed them up with my hands as much as possible and then used a fork to break it down finer. I'm sure you could just use the fork, but i am a hands on kind of gal.

Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 stick butter, room temperature
2 c. confectioners' sugar
2 tbsp. key lime juice ***

Beat together cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed about 2 minutes until well mixed. Beat in key lime juice. Gradually add confectioners' sugar and beat until desired consistency. Frost cupcakes and top with a lime slice and sprinkle of graham cracker crumbs.

***I live in ohio and found it nearly impossible to find key lime juice, plus that stuff is mostly a sugary mix of ingredients anyways so I found this substitute worked better. I combined 1/4 c. of fresh squeezed lime juice with 1/4 c. of fresh squeeze lime juice and just got the 2 tbsp from that. I used the remaining juice to make myself a refreshing lemon lime water drink :)

a light birthday cake

2010-08-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

about a month ago, it was one of my favorite yoga teacher's, denys morgan's birthday. she teaches at studio 11 in tremont, which is a great studio and comes highly recommended. since it had been so hot out i wanted to make her a lighter cake that could be enjoyed even in the 90 degree weather. i found this recipe at smitten kitchen which has to be one of my all time favorite food blogs out there. all of her food pictures are beautiful and every recipe i have tried from that blog has come out perfect. she is so organized, i guarantee if you went there now you could find something you liked right away! this cake was ridiculously easy to make and so pretty too! the day i made this cake for denys my mom was drooling a little so i ended up making her one as well the following week. this is a really a great cake to bring to your summer parties.

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake
from smitten kitchen

Makes 1 thin 9" round cake.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1 large egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk ***
1 cup fresh raspberries (about 5 oz)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside in a medium bowl. In the bowl of your stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand-held electric mixer, beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about two-three minutes, then beat in vanilla and zest. Add egg and beat for an additional minute.
At low speed, mix in flour mixture in three batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined. Make sure to scrape down the edges in between the steps as well. Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Arrange raspberries evenly over top, in whatever way you think looks nice and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar.
Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more Invert on your serving plate of choice!

***For the first time last week I made my own buttermilk and it was SO EASY. Get our your 1 c. measuring cup and put 2 tbsp of lemon juice in it, then fill the rest up with milk. Let stand for 5 minutes and bam! you have buttermilk. You simply must try it!

peanut buttercream for the win

2010-08-10T12:53:00.000-07:00

i made this cake for dinner right after my friend jessi moved into town. the picture was an afterthought because i forgot to take one at home so i was left to take a quick picture right before everyone was ready to eat. this is the only recipe i've made from rose's heavenly cakes but this cake alone is enough to check the book out from the library. it also made npr's best new cookbook list, which is how i found out about it originally. the cake was super easy to make and was surprisingly not as heavy as i expected it to be. really though, only one pan and no strange ingredients. the recipe calls for the frosting to be made in a food processor but i just used a normal mixer to beat it all together. i plan on making this again soon once i find the time!

Spice Cake with Peanut Buttercream Frosting recipe can be found here :)

choco-nilla cake with marshmallow frosting

2010-08-05T12:58:00.000-07:00

last fall my boyfriend and i had a small dinner party with some of his closest friends and i used this as an excuse to try out this cake. i saw it posted and i had just been waiting for an occasion to try it. unfortunately for me, i ate too much dinner and appetizers that i was pretty full by the time we got to this gorgeous cake, BUT i did eat plenty for leftovers :) it was relatively easy to make, but the frosting is a little involved. worth the effort though, i promise! i just cut my chocolate cake in half to make it 3 layers, but you could always choose to leave it 2 layers if you feel like making your life easier. and if you have the wilton bake even strips, use them!! i hadn't gotten mine yet when i made this cake, but they are worth the investment.

Choco-Nilla Cake with Marshmallow Frosting
copied from my baking adventures

Vanilla Cake
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 ¾ teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour

Chocolate Cake
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbs. cornstarch
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup water
2 greased and floured 9 inch cake pans

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Make the vanilla cake: Whisk together the yogurt or sour cream, eggs, sugar, salt, baking powder, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Stir in the flour, mixing till smooth. Pour the batter into one of the prepared pans. Bake the cake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the cake is beginning to brown on top. Remove the cake from the oven, and after 10 minutes turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool.
Make the chocolate cake: Whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the eggs, oil, and vanilla, beating until smooth. Gradually add the water, beating until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake for about 35 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven, and after 10 minutes turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool.

Marshmallow Icing - adapted from Dorie Greenspan
1/2 cup egg whites (about 4 large)
1 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Put the egg whites in a clean, dry mixer bowl or in another large bowl. Have a candy thermometer at hand.
Put the sugar, cream of tartar and water in a small saucepan and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, cover the pan and boil for 3 minutes. Uncover and allow the syrup to boil until it reaches 242 degrees F on the candy thermometer. While the syrup is cooking, start beating the egg whites.
When the syrup is at about 235 degrees F, begin beating the egg whites on medium speed with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer. If the whites form firm, shiny peaks before the syrup reaches temperature, reduce the mixer speed to low and keep mixing the whites until the syrup catches up. With the mixer at medium speed, and standing back slightly, carefully pour in the hot syrup, pouring it between the beater(s) and the side of the bowl. Splatters are inevitable — don’t try to scrape them into the whites, just carry on. Add the vanilla extract and keep beating the whites at medium speed until they reach room temperature, about 5 minutes. You should have a smooth, shiny, marshmallowy frosting.