30 Years of Marital Bliss!

Today is a day to celebrate! Its the celebration of two of my most favorite people in the entire world. The two people who have made me what I am today! On this Gorgeous 30th of January my sweet, adorable parents celebrate their 30th Wedding Anniversary

Were they not the most adorable little hippies you've ever seen? 

In honor of their 30 years of marital bliss I decided they deserved a treat! My dad has an obsession with German Chocolate cake, and my mother is just a lover of all things cake. So German chocolate was exactly what I was going to bake for them. Although I knew this certainly was not going to be an easy task, but I was up for the challenge!

The German Chocolate Cake has many different pieces that have to go into creating the batter. Its not your average flour, sugar, eggs, and milk. There are many different steps and you have to take each one carefully and slowly.

I found the recipe for this German Chocolate cake on All Recipes website 

Music: No music today, just enjoying the silence in the kitchen.

I started off by melting one bar of Bakers chocolate with about a 1/2 cup of boiling water. I then set it aside to allow it to cool.

In the Kitchenaid I started the base for my batter with a stick of Butter and sugar. Mixed it together until it was nice and fluffy then added in my egg yolks.

Once the yolks were completely mixed in, I added my completely cooled chocolate mixture.

It looked like the most perfect chocolate mouse. I would have probably eaten it just like this!

Once the chocolate was completely mixed in I had to start to sift my cake flour, baking soda and salt together. Sifting flour and dry ingredients is a task that I loath...

This is why! Sifting 2 1/2 cups cake flour and baking soda through a hand held strainer is not an easy task! I guess its time to upgrade to an actual sifter! 

It was then time to add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the batter alternating flour and milk. After that was mixed in, I removed the batter bowl from the mixer and switched out for a clean bowl to beat the egg whites until they formed stiff peaks! Once the egg whites were peaks I carefully folded them into the batter. This was a nerve racking task. If you stir them in to fast it can completely ruin your cake. I made sure to take nice slow folds around the bowl until I could no longer see the whites of the eggs.

Half way through and I was feeling good! 

The next step was to add the delicious looking batter to three 9 inch cake pans that have been floured and have parchment paper lining the bottom.

And into the oven they go! I was excited and nervous all at the same time! I was hoping for the best with these little babies!

While the cakes were baking I started on the frosting! The frosting seemed pretty simple, you just have to make sure you get it to be the right consistency. I needed the pecans to be nice and toasty, so I put them in the oven on a baking sheet for about 8 minutes to get the full flavor out of them.

While those were toasting I started to cook the butter, sugar, evaporated milk, egg yolks and vanilla over medium heat until it was all melted together.

Once that is all melted down to a buttery liquid, I added the toasted pecans and yummy coconut flakes.

YUM!!!! It was time to let the frosting sit until it was cooled completely so it would get that delicious gooey consistence

Out of the oven came the cakes and they looked fabulous! I could not have been more proud of myself! The real test of course would be the taste test!

I had to wait patiently for all 3 cakes and the frosting to cool! My excitement grew just waiting to assemble it! Once it was finally time I carefully assembled the triple layer cake with just the right amount of frosting under each layer

TA-DAAAAAA!!!!

How gorgeous is that! I could not wait to take it over to my parents for their anniversary treat! The transport was interesting. Thankfully Jake fashioned a little cake carrier out of an old box and it sat safely on the car floor while I slowly drove to deliver it.

Adorably cutting their anniversary cake with same cake knife they used 30 years ago at their wedding. It does not get much cuter then that!

It was a hit! I believe that was what my parents decided to have for dinner last night and my dad indulged in a piece for breakfast this morning!

The cake took about 3 hours all in all to create, but it was well worth it! It came out perfect and my parents loved it! So Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad. I hope to have as happy and healthy of a marriage as you've had! I love you both more then you'll ever know.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup water
• 4 (1 ounce) squares German sweet chocolate
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 egg whites
•  
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 3 - 9 inch round pans. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a small saucepan, heat water and 4 ounces chocolate until melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
2. In a large bowl, cream 1 cup butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in 4 egg yolks one at a time. Blend in the melted chocolate mixture and vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, mixing just until incorporated.
3. In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter, then quickly fold in remaining whites until no streaks remain.
4. Pour into 3 - 9 inch pans Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto wire rack.
5. To make the Filling: In a saucepan combine 1 cup sugar, evaporated milk, 1/2 cup butter, and 3 egg yolks. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in coconut, pecans and vanilla. Cool until thick enough to spread.
6. Spread filling between layers and on top of cake. In a small saucepan, melt shortening and 1 ounce of chocolate. Stir until smooth and drizzle down the sides

(Recipe adapted from All Recipes.com)

Homemade Pop-Tarts? Who knew!

If you're not familiar with Pinterest you should be! Its an inspiring website full of fashion, home decor, recipes, and so much more! This is where I get most all of my recipes and then I get linked to all the other amazing baking blogs out there. Through Pinterest I found the adorable blog The Brown Eyed Baker, and on this blog I found this really fun recipe for Homemade Pop-Tarts!! Being a lover of all Pop-tarts I could not even stand it, I had to try this recipe immediately!

Music: John Mayer Room For Squares album

I really, really enjoyed creating these little tarts, I found myself smiling through out most of the creation.
You can make these Pop-tarts with really any type of filling, but strawberry is my favorite so I chose to go with that. I also wanted to do a few with a Cinnamon Brown sugar filling as well.

I started by creating my fillings. The Cinnamon filling was really simple. A little bit of flour, some ground cinnamon and Brown Sugar. Whisk it all together and set it aside until you're ready to fill your tarts. 

For my strawberry filling I wanted to use my very, very favorite jam. Smuckers Strawberry preserves. YUM, I could eat this stuff right out of the jar. DELISH

To make the strawberry filling in a small saucepan you combine some water, cornstarch and then your strawberry jam and allow that to boil once its boiling leave it to simmer for a few minutes. You can only imagine how delightful this smelled!

My shadow, who follows me around the kitchen just hoping something will drop off my counter top.

Making the crust for these made me a little nervous. I make a homemade crust for my pies, but this was a little bit of a different recipe. Crusts can be tricky if you do not get the exact ingredient amounts just right! To little or to much can completely throw off your crust. This crust recipe called for flour, butter, salt, eggs, and milk. 

As you can see it came out just as I had hoped! The next step was to flour up your surface and roll out the dough so that you can cut your squares.

As you can see my squares weren't exactly perfect, but I kind of enjoyed them to be a little off.

I put them on my parchment lined baking sheet and added the sweet strawberry filling! They looked delightful without even having the tops on yet!

I also made a few with the brown sugar filling to mix it up a little bit!

I added the tops, and made sure they were fully sealed around the edges with a fork. I poked some holes in the tops, and let them sit in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. Then they were ready to be put into the oven! They smelled amazing, I was dying of excitement while they were in there.

How delicious do these look! They came out just like I had hoped. The crust was perfectly flakey, and the strawberry filling tasted just like it came out of an actual Pop-tart box! I would love to have one of these delights every morning!

 

I'm enjoying a strawberry tart as we speak! Its a good day. 

 Homemade Pop-Tarts
Yield: 9 pop-tarts
Prep Time: 1 hour | Bake Time: 25 minutes
For the pastry crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks, or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
For the cinnamon sugar filling:
½ cup light brown sugar
1½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
For the strawberry filling:
¾ cup strawberry jam (or whatever flavor you’d like)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
1 egg, lightly beaten (to brush on pastry)
1. Prepare the cinnamon sugar filling by whisking the ingredients together.
2. If using the strawberry filling, prepare by whisking together the cornstarch and water, and then combine with the jam in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and let cool.
3. To make the crust, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Using your fingers or a pastry blender, work in the butter until it is the size of peas and the mixture holds together when you squeeze it. Whisk together the egg and milk and add to the dough. Mix together with a fork until everything is evenly moistened. Knead briefly on a floured surface, if necessary, until the dough comes together.
4. Divide the dough in half. (At this point you can wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days.) If you refrigerate the dough, let it come to room temperature for about 15 minutes before rolling out. Roll out one piece of dough to about 1/8-inch thick, in a 9½ by 12½ rectangle. Using a sharp knife, pastry wheel or bench scraper, trim the rectangle to 9×12 inches. Cut the sheet of dough into nine 3×4 rectangles. Using a spatula, transfer the rectangles to a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Brush the lightly beaten egg on each of the rectangles. Spoon a tablespoon of filling into the center of each rectangle, leaving a ½-inch of space around the edges.
6. Refrigerate the pan with the pastries (you don’t need to cover them) for about 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool slightly before serving. Store pastries in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.

(Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker)

Lemon Love

I find myself on a bit of a lemon binge lately. Every recipe I am intrigued by contains Lemon! I guess it is a secret wish for spring! I recently came across a sweet looking recipe from The Bakery Spot blog for a Glazed Lemon Bread. One of my most favorite recipes to make is Banana bread, so I was very excited to try this!

The recipe was fairly simple. First you needed to mix your flour, baking powder, and salt separately and set it aside.

In the mixer I added the sugar and butter and mixed them together until it became fluffy and the most beautiful shade of yellow. There is nothing better then Butter and Sugar if you ask me!

Once you get the butter and sugar nice and fluffy, I added the eggs one at a time, the zest of one lemon, some lemon extract and some whole milk. It formed a gorgeous batter ready to go into a loaf pan and into the oven! This recipe reminded me that I need to invest in a loaf pan!

While the loaf was in the oven I worked on the lemon glaze. The lemon glaze only consisted of Lemon extract and Sugar. It was very simple, just required constant stirring while the sugar dissolved.

60 minutes later, out of the oven came this gorgeous, sweet smelling loaf of bread that I could not wait to sink my teeth into! How delightful does that look?

While the bread was cooling I added a little of the lemon glaze to melt on top.

This was such a treat! It was the perfect burst of lemon. The bread was so moist and warm, I was in love. The lemon glaze on top melts in your mouth. This may just top my banana bread recipe! This bread would be delicious with just a light layer of cream cheese on top with your morning coffee. I absolutely recommend this delight!

Glazed Lemon Bread Recipe

INGREDIENTS
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
3 teaspoons (packed) grated lemon peel
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter 8 1/2×4 1/2×2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Stir flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat 1 cup sugar and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Add grated lemon peel. Mix in dry ingredients alternately with milk. Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to batter and stir. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake until tester inserted into center of bread comes out clean, about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, combine remaining 1/2 cup sugar and rest of fresh lemon juice in small heavy saucepan and stir over low heat until sugar dissolves.
Transfer lemon bread to rack. Gradually spoon lemon glaze over hot bread, adding more as glaze is absorbed. Cool lemon bread completely in pan on rack. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Turn bread out onto rack. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature.)

Krispy Kreme Dreams!

One of the things I miss about living in Florida (besides my sister and my brother in law) would have to be the Krispy Kreme doughnuts. There is nothing like pulling up to a Krispy Kreme drive through when the "Hot Doughnuts Now" sign has just come on and ordering a warm, gooey, tasty, doughnut! It's a heavenly experience! When I found the recipe for Glazed Doughnut Muffins on the My Baking Addiction blog I was immediately excited and knew that I was going to make these little sweet treats for breakfast this morning!

Music: Michael Buble Pandora

The recipe was very simple and enjoyable to make! The muffin batter was your traditional ingredients with some added spices like Nutmeg and Cinnamon.

The recipe called for flour and milk to be added alternatively starting and ending with the flour. Unlike the sugar in the last recipe I made, I took my time and make sure each addition of flour and milk was mixed in well.
Into the oven these little delights went! My mouth was watering waiting for them to come out. The smell of Cinnamon and Nutmeg enveloped the house!

They were perfect! A perfect round muffin shape! I immediately started on the glaze not wanting the muffins to be to cooled before I could glaze them. I knew I wanted the glaze to melt onto the muffins! A simple glaze was made out of confectioners sugar, butter, vanilla and little hot water! A quick taste test sent me right back to the south surrounded by Krispy Kreme's and palm trees!

What a treat the morning after a snow storm!

Reviews: "Very good, the glaze is to die for!"
"Just the perfect amount of sweetness"
"I immediately want another one!"

Glazed Doughnut Muffins

For the Batter
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 to 1 ¼ teaspoons ground nutmeg, to taste (I used ¾)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk

For the Glaze
3 tablespoons butter; melted
1 cup confectioners’ sugar; sifted
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons hot water

Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease a standard muffin tin. Or line with 12 paper muffin cups, and grease the cups with non-stick vegetable oil spray; this will ensure that they peel off the muffins nicely.
2) In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream together the butter, vegetable oil, and sugars till smooth.
3) Add the eggs, beating to combine.
4) Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla.
5) Stir the flour into the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined.
6) Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared pan, filling the cups nearly full.
7) Bake the muffins for 15 to 17 minutes, or until they’re a pale golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean.
8.) In a medium bowl, prepare the glaze by mixing together the melted butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and water. Whisk until smooth.
9.) When muffins have cooled slightly, dip the muffin crown into the glaze and allow the glaze to harden. At this point, you can leave them as is or go for the double dip. I glazed my muffins twice.
10.) Serve warm, or cool on a rack and wrap airtight. Muffins will keep at room temperature for about a day.

Recipe adapted from: King Arthur Flour

A Lemon and Blueberry Adventure!

Today is the day! My first day of blogging my baking adventures. I've always enjoyed baking sweets, but I really started to get out of boxed cake and brownies mixes a couple of years ago. What sparked my love for baking was baking pies. I always knew I baked a really great apple pie. It was really my only specialty. When I started baking for my boyfriend, Jake he was really the person who got me out of apple and into the fun stuff like, rhubarb and strawberries, banana delights, and cranberries. This year I turned 24 and with turning 24 I received a gorgeous white Kitchenaid Mixer. Since the arrival of my new friend I have really started to pour my heart into baking and branching out and trying things in the kitchen that scare me a little. I am happy to share with you successes and failures in the kitchen! Here we go....

Today. 1.18.12 Triple Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake
* Triple Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake Recipe was found on the Sweetapolita Blog (a fabulous and fun blog with the best sweet recipes!)
Music: Katy Perry pandora station. I was feeling like dancing while baking.

This recipe looked a little tough, but I certainly was up for a challenge on this really cold winter day! Buying blueberries in January felt like a little burst of spring! I am hoping this is what the cake will taste like.

We live in a tiny little house so space is limited. This is my little baking station! Its small but it does the job.


I started the process of the cake by making the lemon curd. The lemon Curd was a recipe adopted from Martha Stewart. It was a very simple and delicious recipe. You have to let it sit in the refrigerator for a while so it gave me time to do other things before I really dove into the baking.

Next came the cakes. It was a recipe for a simple white cake, but incorporated some lemon extract, and lemon zest to give it the lemony kick and of course the blueberries. The recipe called for blueberries coated in flour. Rosie of Sweetapolita says this helps the blueberries adhere to the batter. A very interesting and helpful tip, I thought! And into the oven these little sweets went..

The house started to smell of lemon blueberry muffins, never a bad thing if you ask me!
Three sweet little blueberry cakes sat to cool and waited to be frosted. While the cakes cooled I began the process of creating the frosting. I am not a huge fan of frosting and I think it probably would have been just as delicious with just the lemon curd in between the cakes. But, understanding this is a learning experience I wanted to at least attempt to make the frosting!

As you can see from the picture, I am in fact an incredibly messy baker!

The frosting was an interesting process. The recipe called for "Icing Sugar" which I had never heard of, but assumed it was the same thing as powered sugar. Once googled I found it was the same thing. After finishing the frosting, now I am not so sure I should have trusted google. It called for 2 sticks of butter a few eggs, and the sugar. I put the sugar in a cup at a time, but did not really give much time in between cups. I finished off the frosting with the lemon extract, and lemon zest it called for. The frosting should have been a smooth whipped consistency, which is not what I ended up with at all! The best word I have to describe my frosting is "Gritty". It was almost as if the mixer could not mix the sugar up well enough to smooth it out. I think the problem could have been from adding to much sugar at once. Thinking back, I probably should have slowly added a cup at a time giving the mixer time to mix up the sugar. Although it was not the correct consistency it was still a burst of sugary lemon in my mouth!
It was finally time to assemble my cake! As you can see above the lemon curd sat in between the two layers. As I mentioned before I think it would have been just as delicious left this way. I added the frosting, which of course wasn't all that easy due to the way it actually came out. And now for the finished product...

Please disregard my ugly frosting job. But as you can see the inside of the cake was the perfect combination of blueberries and lemon curd. It was fabulous! Although the frosting was slightly gritty it still added a delightful sweetness to the cake.

Reviewer: My mother Irene - She gave it 4 1/2 out of 5 stars saying "It was just as moist as can be!" And believe me, she knows her cakes!

All in all I am happy with the way this cake came out. What I learned is that I need a little more work in the frosting area! Please find this fabulous Sweetapolita Recipe below.


Lemon-Blueberry Layer Cake

Ingredients

2 cups plus 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup whole milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon pure lemon extract

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened about 20 minutes out of refrigerator

1 1/2 cups white sugar

4 large eggs

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare three 8" round cake pans with parchment paper, butter and flour. Sift dry ingredients into medium bowl. Transfer 1 tablespoon flour mixture to larger bowl. Add fresh blueberries and toss to coat them with flour. Set remaining flour mixture and blueberries aside.

Stir whole milk, sour cream, vanilla extract, lemon extract and lemon zest in small bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar, until pale yellow and very fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, until well combined. Mix in flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, starting and ending with flour mixture. Stir until just combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Divide batter equally among 8" round pans.

Bake cakes until toothpick inserted into centre comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks for about 10 minutes, then invert onto racks until completely cool.

Frost with Zesty Lemon Frosting..

Zesty Lemon Frosting

1 cup soft unsalted butter

2 teaspoons lemon zest

5 cups icing sugar (or 6 cups for sweeter version)

60 ml fresh lemon juice

6 tablespoons whipping cream (35% cream)

1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

2 tablespoons water

pinch salt

drop of AmeriColor "Electric Yellow" gel color (optional)

Method

Cream butter and lemon zest in bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, about 3 minutes. Slowly add icing sugar, mixing on low speed for about 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and beat on med-high for 3-4 minutes until very fluffy. If using color gel, add a drop or two, then beat until blended. Yields enough to frost outside of three layer 8" round cake.

Pair with Lemon-Blueberry Layer Cake

Lemon Curd Ingredients

• 3 large egg yolks, strained
• Zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces

Directions

1. Combine yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice, and sugar in a small saucepan. Whisk to combine. Set over medium heat, and stir constantly with a wooden spoon, making sure to stir sides and bottom of pan. Cook until mixture is thick enough to coat back of wooden spoon, 5 to 7 minutes.
2. Remove saucepan from heat. Add butter, one piece at a time, stirring with the wooden spoon until consistency is smooth.
3. Transfer mixture to a medium bowl. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd to avoid a skin from forming; wrap tightly. Let cool; refrigerate until firm and chilled, at least 1 hour.