Carrot Carrot Cakes

My eldest daughter saw this picture on Pinterest and wanted to make the same cake for Easter this year.  Since I had been told I was up for desserts, I agreed quickly as I thought it was a cute concept and would be fun and easy to accomplish.

I made the following with items that I had at home and put my own interpretation on the design. I was baking for more than 6-7 people and had to make one with nuts and one without.  Below is a picture of my carrot shaped carrot cakes that went to Easter dinner yesterday.

I started out with a basic carrot cake recipe and made a few alterations. No one wanted raisins, half wanted nuts, no pineapple or coconut either.  Picky group - but I love them and so the requests were honored. To keep the moistness of the recipe, I substituted in applesauce for the pineapple.  To make it a bit more nutritious I used half whole wheat flour and half unbleached all purpose flour.  To make it easy, I used pre-shredded carrots. Looking back though I do prefer to shred my own as I use a finer grate on my carrots which bake into the cake better but if you want quick and easy, pre-shredded still works.

I used the following ingredients to make the white-chocolate cream cheese frosting:

2 ounces white chocolate

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon orange extract

4 cups confectioners' sugar

2 tablespoons heavy cream

For the cake I used the recipe below. I've made the adjustments discussed above. I used Penzey's spices and flavorings as I love being able to buy them fresher when I need.  The nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, vanilla, crystallized ginger as well as the orange extract and vanilla in the frosting all came from Penzey's

Ingredients

1 C. whole wheat flour

1 C. all purpose flour

1 Tbsp. non-aluminum baking powder

11/2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp.grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

4 large eggs

11/4   c. packed dark brown sugar

1/2 c. sugar

11/2 cup veg oil

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 TBS vanilla

1TBS crystallized ginger, chopped fine

1 TBS. orange zest

3 Cups shredded carrots

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (used in half the batter only)

1 C. unsweetened applesauce

Instead of baking in the typical rounds or squares, I used my Wilton Brownie Pan which gave the perfect long shape needed when the cakes were cut in half and stacked.  Baking time was about 30 minutes at 350 F.

When the cakes were cool, I cut them in half longwise and stacked the cakes with a layer of the white-chocolate cream cheese frosting in the middle.  I then cut and trimmed the cakes to give a more carrot-like appearance followed by a crumb coating of the white-chocolate cream cheese frosting.

Then came the fun!  I love, love, LOVE Duff Goldman's fondant!  This is very easy to handle, stores well and most people who say they don't like fondant go ahead and eat it!  With another brand, I found so many people hated the taste that they left it on the plate.  With Duff's fondant, almost all will eat the fondant.  That to me is enough to keep using it but when it is so easy to use as well, you couldn't make me switch back!  I had met some of the people behind the Duff products at this year's International Home and Housewares Show. They were great and patiently listed to my rave on the product.  I would love to play with all their items but alas,time and money will have me playing when I can.  If you are afraid of fondant, this is a very forgiving and easy to use product.

I had some fondant left and so I mixed what I had of yellow and a bit of red together.  It was redder than I wanted and I knew it wouldn't be enough to cover both cakes so I had to make a trip to the store to get a large container of white. After 10-15 seconds in the microwave, the white mixed in with the red and created a lovely deep carrot color!  Quick rollout, smooth, shape and cut.  I used the back of a knive to make indents and then used brown food color on a toothpick in the creases to create depth.  I then smoothed with alcohol to even out the color and fill in. I though it really brought out depth to the carrot grooves!

The pre-made cake had buttercream leaves but I used the green fondant that I had in the pantry to create the stems and leaves.  I rolled out the strings and used pieces from my Wilton Floral Collection Flower kit
to make the leaves.  I had to stop before I was fully happy with the results but in the end cakes looked like a very good representation and the family enjoyed it.

Hope you enjoyed this and please, let me know what you thought!

Tricia



Warming up a snowy night

When the snow falls heavy and the world goes cold, white and quiet, what do you do to warm up your family?

I started by making an awesome oven roasted chicken with potatoes, carrots, and onions (a subject of a future blog). The dinner was lovely but wasn't quite right without something to finish it up. I went to my standby cookie recipe from Big Soft Chewy Cookies by Jill Van Cleave.

There is a newer edition out but I stand by the first book and if you can, I'd recommend buying a copy as they are now available for as little as $1.00 through Amazon and other web sellers. I know I found some great copies and will be buying them to give to my daughters who have several of the other recipes like Snickerdoodles in their own recipe boxes.

I've had this book for almost ten years and haven't had a recipe that I haven't liked out of this book. Family and friends have commented on my notes on the pages such as "Jeff says make again". I love putting in the comments of family and friends as they are the ones who I am baking for.

Growing up, I would bake for the family on Saturdays. I remember using the mixer for all the cookies. While tasty, I wasn't quite happy with the texture. Having room temperature butter and egg and not over-beating the dough solves this problem. Use a wooden or heavy spoon and a bowl instead of using the mixer. (Sorry my beloved Kitchen-Aid, you aren't needed here.) Remember, the key is that you MUST put your butter and egg on the counter and bring to room temperature. I learned this from Big Soft Chewy Cookies.

Beat with wooden spoon one stick of butter with 1/2 cup each white and dark brown sugar until smooth. Yes i t should be dark not light brown sugar. Add one egg, one teaspoon of vanilla and two tablespoons of milk. I have used heavy cream, whole milk and buttermilk all with good results as that was the liquid I had in the fridge so if you have 2%, 1%, fat free or whole, don't worry. Again beat until smooth.

Next sift together one cup of all purpose flour, one half cup of cake flour, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add flour mixture to butter and egg mixture and stir only until dry ingredients are combined. Stir in one cup of chocolate chips and 1/2 cup walnuts if you want nuts in your cookies.

I use a medium scoop for my cookies and put them on a silpat covered cookie sheet. The author recommends a 1/4 C measuring scoop or 2 oz scoop, remember, these are BIG and Chewy!

Bake in a pre-heated 375 Degree F oven for 120-15 minutes. You are looking for cookies that are browned on edges and firm to the touch.

Move cookies to a rack to cool. They tend to disappear after about five minutes.

What happens on Christmas morning when your husband receives a camera? You get lovely pictures of the latest food creations!

Aren't these pictures of the homemade Asiago Cheese Bagels amazing! His camera is a Nikon CoolPix L105 which was a very great deal at Target this year. The camera has a "Food" setting! How fun is that? I'm sure that this will be a gift for him that will be used in the future as I start up blogging again this next year.

Thanks to my daughter, Erin, I also found a site called Pinterest. It is a great way to share fashion, food, family, technology and more. It will be a way to share my pictures and blogs and recipes. Pinterest appears to be a fun way to get my geek on and share what I do, find out what others are doing and find new things to try. If you would like an invitation, please let me know and I'll be happy to send one. There are some amazing things on the site.

Here are the bagels cooling on the rack. The camera captured such great detail, you can see the fresh bacon grease on the griddle from the bacon and eggs served with the bagels.

The picture captures the crispy cheese with the golden brown and gold colors. It was hard to wait until they cooled enough to eat. The kitchen smelled yummy!

The bagels tasted better than my favorite bakery chain store. I won't mention names so as to not hurt their feelings. I know I'll still be in for soup and sandwiches even if I'm not in for bagels.

Here is another great shot of the bagels once they were cut open. They had a great texture. I think if I changed anything, I'd let them sit a bit longer to create more of a crust before dunking them in the boiling water.

We cheated a little by having the bread maker make the dough. It is a great option that we will be using again and again and again. Let the machine do most of the work, be creative with the recipe and make it fun!

We added the asiago into the mixing process and then topped with more asiago cheese after a light egg wash post water bath.

If your bread maker is sitting around gathering dust, please try bagels. Cost to make eight bagels is less than three or four at your local chain.

Perfect to keep the little luxuries and spoiling yourself a little.

Thank you Rick Bayless

Tonight's dinner as a little late to arrive on the table but oh so worth it!

You know how family members tend to like certain recipes? The ones that are tasty, comforting, remind them of a special event or are a favorite go-to dish.

These Enchiladas Especiales Tacuba Style are a special recipe for my home. We found the recipe about 18-24 months ago after watching Rick Bayless on the Top Chef Masters and heading to his website. Lo and behold! Recipes, lots and lots of recipes.

I picked this recipe off of his site first and made it for my husband. I don't know why this recipe but it is now a favorite, often requested dish. It has a lot of steps but nothing too complicated. I have charred the poblano peppers on the grill, under the broiler and even on the stove top. The best thing you can do for yourself is to pick up some disposable food preparation gloves. Be sure to seal them well in foil to steam the charred skin off!

It is easy to use per Rick's suggestion a deli chicken but I have great results by boiling the chicken breasts in water with a bit of hot sauce sprinkled in. The chicken stays moist, shreds well and the hot sauce adds a bit of a kick.

I like to take my time and shred the queso but in a pinch I like to use the Kraft Natural Shredded Mexican Style Four Cheese.

Hope you enjoy this recipe's challenge and taste as much as I did.

Tricia

Getting my ducks in a row

So what have I been doing this year? I've been trying to get my ducks in a row.

The picture is from the duckie cookies that I made for a joint baby shower for my sister-in-law Joan and my daughter Erin. Since both babies were born in December, I'm running a bit behind, but life sometimes throws us a curve ball or two.

I wanted to make it up to this month's Iron Cupcake Milwaukee. Their challenge was bacon and thanks to our good friends Matt & Michelle, I had come up with a Crispy Cheesy Waffle Cupcake with Herbed Buttercream Icing. Guess that recipe now waits for another appropriate challenge.

The ladies that do Iron Cupcake challenges are just amazing! The amount of time, energy, creative abilities not to mention baking skills are amazing. Each time I go or review on their web, I am blown away by what they will come up with next.

March's challenge is Curry. Unfortunately I don't think my calendar will allow me to go. Will have to see what the Iron Cupcake Chicago challenge is, maybe I can make that one instead.

Keeping it Tasty,
Tricia

Iron Cupcaker Challenge Cause

Hey, if you didn't know it, our queen of the cupcakes at Iron Cupcake Milwaukee was in a cake challenge to raise funds for Ovarian Cancer Research.

Go to http://www.kelly-confidential.com/cake_off.html to vote for our team, Fall For Me is their entry.

A pie so good....

So, the other night we had friends over after a picnic. Dinner was leftovers of antipasta pasta salad, fresh veggie garden salad, brats and chops on the grill. But having been out all day, I hadn't even thought about dessert. What to do, what to do....

Was pondering when my eyes caught the bottle of Mozart Chocolate Creme Liquor. The reason I had the Mozart Chocolate Creme was because a friend of ours introduced me to drinking it with some di Amore Raspberry. Together the two make a lovely cordial that you want to enjoy as a private moment. We had nicknamed it "Liquid Sex".

So having made a white chocolate cake with raspberry filling for the party the day prior, I had a half a can of raspberry cake filling. These pieces combined with some whole milk, half and half and chocolate chips made a whipped ganache topping that I put over some white chocolate instant pudding. It was delicious for a quick afterthought.

While at a friend's house to celebrate a soon to come home new puppy, we were at the store and she was wondering about dessert. I told her about how the drink had inspired a dessert and we then took it further into making it into a pie.

So at the store we bought a pre-made chocolate pie shell, Ghiradelli Milk and Semi-Sweet chocolate chips and a quart of heavy whipping cream along with a package of fresh raspberries (they didn't have the cake filling but fresh was better).

We started with 2 cups of heavy cream in a sauce pan and melted in 2 cups of chocolate chips, we did one cup each of milk and semi-sweet. Making a basic ganache. Then we get to add the the good stuff. Added in two ounces each of the Mozart Chocolate Cream and di Amore Raspberry Liquor to the chocolate mix. Making sure it was smooth and glossy, it was then moved into a mixing bowl and popped in the fridge for about an hour. In the meantime, we washed and dried the raspberries and put them in the bottom of the pie crust so that it was a lot of berry peaks. Of course several berries disappeared while we were waiting for the ganache to chill.

When the ganache was cool enough, an electric mixer provided all the oomph we needed to whip up the ganache to a rich creamy mousse like texture. This was then scooped into the pie crust on top of the raspberries and went back into the fridge.

Just before we were ready for dessert, we put the last two cups of whipping cream into a bowl, added just a hint of sugar (about 1/8 Cup) and a good tablespoon of pure Mexican Vanilla Extract and whipped it to fluffy white peaks. This was then put on top of the pie and it was ready for dessert.

One of the people sampling this was eating it so fast, we wondered if she was savoring it. She said it was just so good she couldn't stop! My friend and I wondered what to name it. Since we had dubbed the drink liquid sex, what follows that? Considering it was smooth, creamy and just gave you a sense of well being, it had to be named "Afterglow".

So hope you try and enjoy our Chocolate Raspberry Afterglow.