Sunday March 28, 2010 Week # 45

Dumb Bunny Cake

This was a recipe from the SECU people helping people cookbook lent to me by my good friend Linda Carmichael.

1 large can sliced peaches

1 package butter pecan cake mix

1 cup coconut

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 stick butter melted

whipped cream (optional)

vanilla ice cream (optional)

Spread peaches and juice in the bottom of a 13 X 9 inch pan. Cut peaches into small pieces. Sprinkle cake mix on top. Spread coconut and pecans on top of cake mix. Drizzle melted butter over the cake. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Sunday, March 21, 2010 Week #44

Carrot Cake

Carrot cake is one of my families favorites. I found this on the web as one of of the best.

4 eggs

1 1/4 vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

2 t vanilla extract

2 t baking soda

2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

2 t ground cinnamon

3 cups grated carrots

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

1 cup raisins

Icing:

1/2 cup ( one stick) butter, softened

1 8 oz package cream cheese softened

3 cups confectioners sugar

1 t vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 9X13 inch pan.

2. in a large bowl beat all the cake ingredients until smooth. Pour into prepared cake pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted int eh center comes out clean. Let cool completely before icing.

4. Combine all ingredients for icing beat til smooth. Ice cake.

Here is the web sitehttp://allrecipes.com/recipe/carrot-cake-iii/detail.aspx. ( I changed it a little!!!)

This cake lasted 4 days at my house before it was all gone! That means it was good!

Sunday March 14, 2010 Week 43

Pink Lemonade Cake

1 1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup pink lemonade drink mix

4 large eggs

1/2 tsp lemon extract

4 cups cake flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups milk

Lemonade buttercream ( follows)

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 3 9 inch round cake pans with baking spray and then lightly flour.

2. in a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, and lemonade drink mix at medium speed with an electric beater until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in Lemon extract.

3. In a medium bowl, combine cake flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternating with milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

4.Spoon batter into prepared pans. Bake for 24 - 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Lt cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool completely on wire racks.

Lemonade Buttercream

1 1/2 cups butter

6 tablespoons frozen lemonade concentrate thawed

1 tsp lemon zest

6 cups confectioners sugar

1 in a large bowl beat butter, lemonade concentrate and lemon zest at medium speed with an electric mixer until combined. Gradually add confectioners sugar, beating until smooth.

Sunday March 7, 2010 week 42

Zebra Cake

easy and the kids loved it. You have to remember to do this the day before you want to serve it!

2 small packages thin chocolate cookies. ( about 36)

2 cups whipping cream

1/4 cup sugar

1 t vanilla

Whip the cream and add sugar and vanilla. Spread about 1 tsp of whipped cream on the cookie. Repeat with about 5 cookies. Very carefully lay them down on their side. Repeat until you have about ten inches of cookie and cream. Repeat making a row next to the first. When you are done ice the entire "cake and put it in the fridge for at least 3 hours to overnight. The cookies turn cakey as the whipped cream sinks in to them. This did not last long at our house!

Sunday February 28, 2010 week 41

With another nod to the French, this week's cake is from Julia Child's Mastering The Art of French Cooking

Gateau a l'Orange

Orange Spongecake

For a 9 inch cake serving 8 people

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

A round cake pan 9 by 1 1/2 inches butter and flour the cake pan

2/3 cup sugar

4 egg yolks

grated rind o f one orange

1/3 cup orange juice

pinch of salt

3/4 cup cake flour

With an electric mixer gradually add the sugar to the egg yolks beating until the mixture thickens to form the ribbon. Add the grated orange peel, orange juice and salt. Beat for a minute or two until the mixture is light and fluffy. Then beat in the flour. Set aside.

4 egg whites

pinch of salt

1 T sugar

In a separate bowl, beat the salt and egg whites together until soft peaks are formed. Sprinkle sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed. Stir in one fourth of the egg whites into the batter, delicately fold in the rest.

Immediately turn into the prepared cake pan and run the batter up to the rim all around. Bake in the middle of preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. Cake is done when it has puffed and browned, and shows a faint line of shrinkage from the edge of the mold.

Let cool for 6-8 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and reverse cake on a rack. If not to be iced, immediately reverse again, with puffed side up. Allow to cool for an hour or two. When cake is cold, sprinkle with powdered sugar of fill and ice the cake as desired. We put whipped cream on it and it was light and delicious. (We ate the entire cake at one sitting!!!)

Sunday February 21, 2010 Week 40

Napoleon Cake In keeping with the French Puff Pastry Cakes: For the dough:
2	10’’x10’’ (25cm x 25cm) Puff pastry sheets
	For the Cream
1	cup Sugar
1	cup Flour
	4 cups milk
3	large Eggs

Preparation

Step 1	First prepare the dough. Depending on the manufacturer of the puff pastry, you might need to defrost the dough, and either roll out or cut the sheets to the desired size.
Step 2	preheat the oven to 400F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.Bake each puff pastry sheet for 20 minutes on the middle rack. After 10 minutes you might want to rotate the cookie sheet 180 degrees to ensure equal baking When the pastry is puffed and light golden brown it is ready.
Step 3	Let cool. Cut the two puff pastry sheets in half. Three are for the layers and one is to crumble for the topping you can easily make with your fingers.
Step 4	Now for the cream: beat the eggs with the sugar and flour. Boil the milk. While the milk is warming, pour about 1/2 cup into the egg mix and stir well to gradually increase its temperature. This way the eggs won’t curdle when you add them to boiling milk. Repeat this step 2-3 more times as the milk approaches boiling temperature.
Step 5	Once the milk boils, pour the warm egg mix into the boiling milk, constantly stirring, to prevent lumps from forming. Keep on the stove for several 3 more minutes, continue stirring. It’s best to use hand held mixer in this stage.
Step 6	Remove the cream from heat, let cool, and spread on the puff pastry sheets, creating alternating layers of puff pastry and cream (3 layers of each type, 6 total).
Step 7	Spread the pastry puff crumbs on top of the upper cream layer.
Step 8	Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or overnight before serving.

Sunday February 14, Valentines Day, Week 39

Le Moelleux au Chocolat

Yes, it's French, and it is a staple in French Restaurants. In the U.S. we call it Lava Cake and it is made in individual ramekins. This particular recipe is from David Leibovitz and does not use flour. Makes 6.

10 Ounces bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate

4 T butter

2 T sugar

4 egg yolks

4 Egg whites beaten

2 T sugar.

Butter and sugar for the ramekins.

In a double boiler, melt chocolate and butter. Add sugar and egg yolks.

In a clean dry bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks add sugar and beat more. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it then fold in the rest. Butter and sugar the ramekins. Divide the batter into the 6 ramekins and bake at 400 for 12 minutes.

let stand for a minute then un mold. Serve with whipped cream or raspberries or nothing! below is a Quote I fould in an article about this particular dessert, I thought it was funny:

Parisian women are known to be relentless Moelleux eaters. On a date, an observant Parisian can easily anticipate the outcome of this forming relationship. If the girl opts for Le Moelleux, sexual misery will ensue. Parisian women are known not to indulge twice the same night. It will come as no surprise that ever since the introduction of Le Moelleux in Parisian restaurants, sexual activity in Paris has plummeted.

Sunday February 7, 2010 Week 38

Galette des Rois

Yup, King Cake!!! You know those dry cream cheese-filled cakes you buy at the store with a ton of yellow, purple and green sugar all over the top of it??? Purge that from your palette!!! This is the french version of King cake. Traditionally this is eaten in France just after the Bouche de Noel is finished! This is truly the "Kings' cake" in honor of the Three Kings or the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th. This is wonderful!!!

Last year on Fat Tuesday, Roger ( our choir director) had king cake for the choir. As is the tradition, the person who finds the baby in the cake has to bake the cake the following year. Well, I found the little, naked, plastic, baby! I was afraid I would forget that I was to bake the cake so I've carried the little, naked, plastic baby around with me in my purse all year...even when I switched purses...even when I went to Paris!! (This has been the source of many an interesting conversation, but I digress!) I've been dreading the cake baking because I don't like King cake. I don't like cream cheese filling and I don't like all the colored sugar on the top. When Roger e-mailed me about a conversation he had with Melanie, a fellow singer and French officianado , about French "Kings' Cake" I snatched at the life-line, fairly certain that the French would have a better solution than cream cheese and sugar and they did!!! I Googled French Kings' Cake and found this recipe. So glad my fellow choristers enjoyed it!! Oh yes, I didn't actually add the baby to the cake but used a bean instead. I was afraid the small naked plastic baby would melt!

1 package of puff pastry, thawed.

For the frangipane:

1 stick of butter softened

2/3 cup sugar

1 cup almond flour (or hazel nut flour or any nut, really) grind enough nuts in a food processor until it yields 1 cup of "flour"

2 eggs

1 T rum if you like

1 egg extra for egg wash

1 dried bean or charm to hide in the cake.

Blend the butter and sugar, add the nut flour and each egg, one at a time. Add rum.

Open the puff pastry and unfold. You should have two squares per package. Round off the corners of the bottom pastry and brush an egg wash around 1/2 inch of the edge.

Spread frangipane on the bottom and put the bean or charm in the cake near an edge. Place the top crust (with corners also cut). Take a fork and crimp the edges. (Make sure they are crimped well, as you don't want the insides flowing out into your oven...trust me on this!!!) Egg wash the entire top and put into the fridge for 1/2 hour.

Put Galette into preheated 400 degree oven. Bake for 30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. (mine took 20 in a convection oven)

Don't forget to warn your eaters about the bean. The person who finds the bean ( or baby) in the cake is King for the Day (and also has to bake the Kings' Cake next year!!!

Sunday, January 31, 2010, Week 37

So we are snowed in!!!!!!! 6 inches of snow and a lot of ice on the roads. So no shopping just making do with what is in the pantry. The cake for this week is a pineapple angel food cake. Literally. That's it: 1 box of angel food cake and a 20 oz can of pineapple and juice. Stir together and bake for 1/2 hour at 350.

Just took it out of the oven. Looks funny, I'll let you know how it tastes!!

Sunday January 24, 2010 Week 36

Irish Coffee Cake

This recipe came from Leslie Lotina, who got it from a friend of hers. In spite of some odd sounding directions, this cake was good and was not too "alcoholly." (Is that a word?)

Take one box of chocolate cake. make according to package directions but substitute strong black coffee for the water. Bake according to package directions.

when the cake comes out of the oven, poke holes in it with a fork. Then pour whiskey over the cake to soak in. I used about an ounce and 1/2 - 2 ounces. I put it in a turkey baster and sprinkled it all over the cake. (It took about two turkey basters.)

Then I whipped some cream, plopped it on each piece then sprinkled about 1 teaspoon of Creme de Menthe over the whipped cream. It was good. You can only buy big bottles of Creme de Menthe at the ABC store in North Carolina, so if you want to bake this ask to borrow my bottle!!! Also, ignore the kid's cries of dismay at the bright green "cough syrup" poured over their cake. They get over it.

Sunday January 17, 2010 week 35

Applesauce Cake

This recipe comes from the wonderful organist at St Thomas More church, Marianne Kremmer

Steam 2 small apples, cored and quartered, adding sugar and cinnamon to taste, until soft. Press the apples through a mill to remove the skins. Allow to cool.

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 stick butter, softened

1 cup applesauce

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves, ground

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup chopped dates

Mix sugar, butter, spices, salt, baking soda and applesauce. Beat for 2 minutes

Add eggs and flour. Beat for 1 minute.

Stir in dates and walnuts

Pour into a greased 8 or 9 inch greased and floured square pan.

Bake 350 for 50 minutes. (I used my convection oven and it took 35 minutes.)

Whip cream!

OOOOPS!!! I'm 6 weeks behind! So I may have to do double time to catch up! Stay tuned for continuing cake!!!