Heavenly Cake Walk

Nut-Crusted Chocolate-Banana Swirl Cake

2012-01-25T20:12:00.000-08:00

This cake was easy to make. Everyone who had a slice liked it. What surprised me is that it isn't a terribly sweet cake. The banana flavor was even better the next day.

Rose's Fruitcake

2012-01-10T07:31:00.000-08:00

This is the third year I've made Rose's Fruitcake. It is the first thing requested when the holidays roll around.
I felt a teeny bit smug getting the candied rind, cherries and raisins into the rum for a good long soak back in November. Christmas came and went and the fruit continued to happily slosh about in the rum. This past weekend I finally got around to mixing it up. Once again, Rose's fruitcake was a hit! It never ceases to amaze me how people who profess to detest fruitcake like Rose's version.

Eggnog Pound Cake with Crystal Rum Glaze

2011-12-31T19:55:00.000-08:00

Eggnog Pound Cake with Crystal Rum Sauce is another outstanding Flo Braker cake. It is perfect for the holidays and is sure to be requested next year. I made this cake twice. It's incredibly easy. The first time was a for my daughter's horse trainer who gave me a leopard print high heel cake slicer for Christmas. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't believe such a thing existed! I completely forgot to take any pictures before boxing it up and thus a second cake was made. The family was quite annoyed they hadn't so much as a crumb form the first one. The aroma filled the house with a wonderful Christmasy fragrance.

The first cake was brushed with the Crystal Rum Glaze. It was fairly heady stuff so for the second, I opted to forego the sauce in favor of powdered sugar since children would be about. The remaining eggnog beckoned to be turned into custard for ladling over each slice. It was ridiculously simple and required just a smidgen of cornstarch for it to thicken nicely. Heating the eggnog toned down the flavor resulting in a mellow eggnog custard. Adults and children both liked the flavor of this cake.

Tropical Wedding Cake

2011-12-07T16:17:00.000-08:00

I fully intended to make the Groom's Cake for our finale, but then Evil Cake Lady posted a Wedding Cake Roundup. It was inspiring and I took another look at Rose's chapter on wedding cakes. The Tropical Wedding Cake beckoned. Maybe it's the shock of freezing temperatures that settled in California. Besides, my daughter is now engaged and it seems fitting to wait to make the Groom's Cake for the future groom. Whatever the siren call, I unearthed frozen, blackened bananas from the depths of my freezer and stirred up this delectable cake. It's quite a simple recipe really. The hint of lemon from the zest lingers behind that of the banana. Cashews were substituted for macadamia nuts only because the grocery store did not have any at the moment. There was also a batch of leftover buttercream frosting from a recent cupcake marathon and I used that as well. It's a lovely, light banana cake that I will make again with Rose's use of passion fruit and mousseline frosting.

When I announced this was the last dessert there was dismay and cries of woe. The next question was "Isn't Rose doing another book of cakes that you can bake with again? You've gotten to be such a good baker. You can't stop now!" And really, that is high praise for Rose Levy Berenbaum. Without one lesson in person, she took a very inept, amateur baker, and allowed me to make unbelievable cakes. It was the best course in baking. Weighing ingredients, cake strips, accurate oven temperature and an instant read thermometer have permanently changed my errant baking ways.

It's been more fun than I could ever imagine baking along with the Heavenly Cake Bakers. I've looked forward to everyone's cakes. more than I have my own, and loved hearing about your lives. We are such a varied group geographically and culturally yet Rose cut through the barriers with sugar, butter and flour. I thank all of you for your encouragement and comments.

Top of my Christmas List is a new Rose's Heavenly Cakes book.

A fresh packet of cake strips.

And maybe an elf to wash a dish or two.

Tiramisu

2011-07-20T08:34:00.000-07:00

My son turned thirty and for his birthday celebration I made Rose's Tiramisu. It was easier than I thought.

Tiramisu is top on my list of desserts to try at Italian restaurants. I have only attempted to make it once and it was a dismal failure. It resembled more of a brick than a light dessert. Rose's recipe surprised me with the addition of Marsala instead of rum but I liked the flavor very much. I also like how it's added to the egg yolks while cooking so the alcohol cooks out.

I did not bake the Ladyfingers, although I still plan on giving them a try. I was short on time and knew it was either the packaged version or it was not going to make the party. As it was it didn't get the full six hours chill time but it was still very good. It's even better setting over night.

Butterscotch Spiral Coffee Cake

2011-07-11T19:18:00.000-07:00

I cheated. This is Whole Foods pizza dough. Whole Foods makes the best ready made pizza dough for under $2.00. I didn't even hesitate when I spied it on the shelf. It took me a nano second to rationalize that it could be turned into the dough for Flo Braker's Butterscotch Spiral Coffee Cake. And it worked! I fully intend to use this dough for a great many more things other than pizza.

The cinnamon and cardamom kneaded into the dough easily. I doubled the Butterscotch glaze and it bubbled out of the pan all over my oven so I wouldn't advise doing that again. Perhaps increasing it by half would be better. It's definitely a decadent cinnamon roll. Everyone loved it.

White Gold Passion Genoise

2011-07-05T15:14:00.000-07:00

This is the last genoise in Rose's Heavenly Cakes on my To Do List. I'm two for two in requisite height and lack of flour balls. It took the entire book but finally I no longer fear genoise.

The only source of frozen passion fruit puree in this town was at Whole Foods. I neglected to notice it was in the form of a concentrate. The curd and syrup came out way too strong because I did not realize I needed to follow Rose's special instructions for concentrate. The only way to tone it down was to turn the entire thing into a fruit basket cake with bananas, peaches, nectarines,strawberries and mango sorbet, cutting the highly acidic flavor of the passion fruit. With the hot hot hot weather we've been having I opted for a simple whipped cream topping instead of the heavier buttercream. It turned out to be the best fruit basket cake any of us have ever had. In the future, I'll pare down the concentrate but still add bananas, mango and strawberries. The combined flavors were just spectacular.

Red Fruit Shortcake

2011-06-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

At last, a genoise that rose to the requisite height and was completely flour ball free. It's got to be the Wondra flour. I have better luck with it so might as well face the fact any genoise I try to make will have to be made with Wondra. I wasn't looking forward to making this Red Fruit Shortcake and nearly cried when I realized I overlooked the fact that I had yet to make it. It does give me courage to face the Gold Passion Genoise left on my bake list.

I sliced it in half, brushed on the Chambourd syrup, loaded it with berries and then put the top back on. More syrup brushing just because it was so pretty, a bit of squiggly whipping cream and a final bit of berries. Very light and scrumptious dessert.

Bostini

2011-06-20T17:46:00.000-07:00

Finally! The infamous Bostini. I have been reminded many times over that I have not made the Bostinis. Today was the day and it took all day. It really shouldn't have. These aren't difficult. I made the custard first so it would be cooled and ready once the cupcakes were baked. There was leftover chocolate lacquer glaze in the freezer from La Bomba so I pulled that out to thaw. My silicone cupcake holders must be a smaller size because they certainly did not fill the top of the larger glasses but fit perfectly in the smaller size.
I thought the granddaughters would find it cute having their own tea party size Bostinis but I was wrong. Rose's custard has become legend in this house and the idea of getting shortchanged was more than they could fathom. Let's just say the Bostini Happy Dance was most entertaining. The adults have given it double thumbs up as well. The chocolate lacquer goes great with the cake and custard. And littlest Baby Granddaughter, the one who went crazy over the orange cake months ago? She's been through two mini cupcakes and would go for a third.

Ginger Cheesecake

2011-06-19T05:27:00.000-07:00

Rose's Ginger Cheesecake is a refreshing variation on the usual plain flavored cheesecake. The most "difficult" thing about it was grating the ginger and squeezing the juice. It didn't seem possible that a piece of
ginger could produce enough juice but it did. It's potent stuff. The only time I've grated ginger is for homemade chai, but all of it is thrown in the brewing tea. Next time I think I'll use this trick.

I love gingersnap crust so increased the recipe by half to up the ratio of crust to cheesecake. And then added a few blueberries. When I make this again, I'll try another fruit and make a sauce, maybe mango. It's been a big hit, especially since hot weather has arrived full force.

Rose's Pinkalicous Red Velvet Cake

2011-06-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

Rose's Red Velvet Cake should be on the Quick and Easy List, but since I opted for making it with beets instead of red food coloring, it changed the game a bit and I was not looking forward to baking it. Still, this was an easy cake to put together considering the lack of cooperation from the beets. After baking, Rose says to pour out the beet juice as a substitute for the red food coloring. Two tablespoons are required and my four beets produced approximately an eighth of a teaspoon. Well, that just wouldn't do! I've learned nothing if I haven't learned anything about pureeing and smashing fruit/vegetables through a fine meshed sieve which is exactly what I did.

I had no idea if the calculations for beet puree vs beet juice would ruin the cake crumb, making for a dense texture. Luckily and surprisingly, it didn't. What it did do was make the batter a gorgeous glorious color of magenta You can imagine the excitement this brought in a house full of little girls! They ate them plain and with frosting. Rose's Dreamy Creamy Frosting is amazing. Lindt white chocolate has coconut in it and it gave the cupcakes a little something extra. The recipe made for one dozen cupcakes and a small tea party size cake. Now that I don't fear beets, this will definitely go on The Make Again List. It's a big hit among the under ten and over ten crowd.

Chocolate Financiers

2011-06-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

This is the last of Rose's financiers that I had yet to bake. The caramelized cocoa nibs deterred me. I kept stalling because having to drive downtown to find them was not appealing. Somewhere along the line I lost the thrill of the hunt for unusual ingredients. I feel like one of those marathon runners who's legs have gone all wobbly as they're trying to cross the finish line. I've calculated and re calculated to see how many cakes are left to bake and I think five. I forgot about the Bostini's Of course they would not be five on the quick and easy list. I've already exhausted The Q&E List!

These little financiers should have been quick and easy but my scatter brain turned them into quite a fiasco. I didn't add the ingredients in the correct order. Instead of cocoa nibs I pulled out the jar of dried Italian espresso we used for another one or two of Rose's cakes and threw a bit in. And then discovered I didn't add the flour at all. So that was quickly added right as the dough was being poured into the pans.

So proud of my weighing skills, I followed Rose's one ounce recommendation to the dot. They burned.

Evidently my little pans are bigger than a true financier mold which I have yet to find in this town. Financier success seems to be all about the ratio of dough to pan.

They also were incredibly light in color. It seems I forgot to add the chocolate as well. Into the chilling baggy of dough went the cocoa powder and was squished around to incorporate it. There was just enough dough to fill three pans with two ounces each. Much better.

These little gems are not too sweet and the espresso powder gave them both a lovely flavor, burned and all. The family nibbled them up quite quickly. They are definitely on the Make Again List.

Favorite Buttermilk Cake

2011-06-08T20:57:00.000-07:00

This Buttermilk Cake from Flo Braker is excellent. Simple and easy, it takes just a few minutes to make a basic cake that is packed with flavor. It is a perfect summer cake, covered in berries or any fruit of the upcoming months. This will definitely go in my make again file. Thanks to Hanaa and ABC bake along.

Zach's La Bomba

2011-06-07T13:23:00.000-07:00

Zach's La Bomba is a chocolate extravaganza. At first glance the flourless chocolate cake base layer didn't look very appealing. Since I don't generally have much luck depending on eggs solely for leavening, I was more than mildly surprised to discover the delicate cake was packed with flavor. My daughter pointed out it would be perfectly acceptable to stop right there but I forged on. I had my doubts about the custard but finally it snapped to attention, reached the required degree on the instant read and left the tell tale clue of falling in a little puddle. I really love when Rose says to watch for that sign in curds and custards. Mixing together the berries, chocolate, custard and cream was the easy part. Waiting eight hours to unmold it was the difficult part. I was not looking forward to mixing up the chocolate lacquer. I always think it is going to be more difficult than it is, maybe because it packs such a wow! factor when applied. The only sticking point was La Bomba refusing to come out of the warmed glass bowl. It took twenty minutes and many dips in hot water for it to finally release. To complement the blackberry undertone, I made a blackberry sauce to spoon over it.
I don't know what I was expecting but this La Bomba deceptive. It's a light textured dessert very rich in flavor. The kids as well as adults like it.

Chocolate Raspberry Trifle

2011-05-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

The day Rose's Heavenly Cakes arrived, this Chocolate Raspberry Trifle is the very first page I saw. It stunned me. I have dreaded making this recipe because of my nemesis, namely genoise. Surprisingly enough, today there were no hidden flour balls and it rose to the required height. The rest was, as they say, a piece of cake. The remaining components took quite a bit of time and loads of stirring, but they were not difficult steps. The custard alone would make this recipe worthwhile. Eldest granddaughter not only did a happy cake dance over the trimmed bits of cake, but declared she'd like to jump into a swimming pool of custard.

Marble Velvet Cake

2011-05-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

Marble cake has always been a favorite of mine. Rose's Marble Velvet Cake does not disappoint. Very easy to make, it has a lovely crumb and flavor. The recipe calls for a chocolate ganache topping but everyone wanted it left plain. Fair enough!

Black Party Chocolate Cake

2011-05-11T23:35:00.000-07:00

Black Party Chocolate Cake is going straight onto the Make Again List. It is a simple , chocolate-y cake with a bit of texture from ground toasted walnuts. The chocolate Kalua syrup is brushed on while warm which adds another dimension of flavor. This little Bundt won rave reviews. Eldest granddaughter did the Happy Cake Dance around the kitchen. What more can I say? Which of course brings us this rational for breakfast http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZlCPQur4hc

Needless to say it's being wrapped up and sent downtown to the office.

White Velvet Cupcakes

2011-05-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

Making cupcakes vexes me. No matter what I do they always come out browned on the bottom. Making them equal in size is tricky as well. White Velvet Cupcakes was an easy recipe to make. I finally figured out to place the batter in the paper cups then lift them one at a time out of the pan and weigh them. Very easy to adjust the weight. So is there a trick that I don't know about to keep them from browning on the bottom?

Making the Golden Neoclassic Buttercream was probably the easiest time I've had making a buttercream. I halved the recipe which was a snap doing it by weight. Eighty three cakes later and I've finally got the hang of using a scale. I opted for flavoring it with lemon oil and it gave it a faint lemony taste. This is a lovely little recipe to have on hand when cupcakes are called for.

Free Choice #3 Spice Cake with Peanut Buttercream

2011-05-03T15:45:00.000-07:00

When my brother was in Cub Scouts, for whatever reason he made Peanut Butter Cupcakes. I was all of five years old and can still remember it plain as day for two reasons; it was the only time my brother baked anything. Secondly, peanut butter in cupcakes seemed completely odd to me. I don't remember eating them.

I like spice cake. I pretty much like spice anything so I have no idea why it's taken me so long to make this cake. It's a shame because this is really a nice spice cake, very lightly flavored. The Peanut Buttercream has such a soft texture with the butter and cream cheese. I used natural peanut butter and Jif would have been the better choice. Jif seems to impart more peanut flavor. It lacked something so I sprinkled a bit of brown sugar over the top which enhanced the flavor. If memory serves me correctly, Jif has molasses in it. These would be great made into cupcakes for kids.

Free Choice #2 Blueberry Round Ingots Fianciers aux Mirabelles

2011-05-03T15:27:00.000-07:00

Out of all the financiers we have made so far, these are my favorites. In the book Rose uses plums but offers blueberries as an alternative. Since plums aren't in season yet, I opted for blueberries. The buerre noisette really stands out in this recipe. I'm not sure if resting the dough for a minimum of six enhances the flavor but they were incredibly easy to make. They mixed up perfectly in my little mini Cuisinart. I will definitely try them again come plum season.

Free choice #1 Heavenly Seduction Coconut Junior Mint Cake

2011-05-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

I honestly thought I'd already made this cake when going over the list of remaining cakes Marie has made.
Since I had leftover coconut milk from the Manhattan Coconut Cake, it seemed like a good choice.
It's a very simple cake to make, especially if I would remember to put on my glasses for more than reading the recipe. Instead of reaching for coconut extract, I grabbed peppermint in an identical bottle. Needless to say, this cake tastes like Junior Mints, even with the coconut extract. Who doesn't love Junior Mints?

Since there are real coconut texture phobics in the family, I opted for shaved chocolate on the whipped cream which contained sweetened coconut milk in the whipped cream. They haven't noticed the pulverized coconut in the cake itself and they very much like it.

Prince William's Grooms Cake

2011-04-29T21:13:00.000-07:00

Did anyone else forfeit a night's sleep to watch Prince William and Catherine Middleton's wedding? Yes?No?
I was intrigued about his choice of Grooms cake the minute I read about it:

In March of 2011, it was announced that Prince William of Wales had chosen a groom's cake for his wedding reception, made from 17,000 McVitie's Rich Tea biscuits and 17kg of chocolate.

My Blood Hound instincts kicked into gear and I tracked down the recipe then the McVitie's, which proved more difficult than the recipe. I had forgotten about a little British tea shop that carries a small selection of British food. "Yes, luv, I just received a shipment of McVitie's." There's nothing in the world like a cheery British accent to brighten a day.

To say this is a snap to make is no exaggeration. The only change I made was tempering the egg with the melted chocolate then pouring the egg into the chocolate. I also did not have a six inch spring form pan but remembered one of the HCB'ers lined a cakepan with parchment for cheesecake. Whichever one of you that was, it's a great tip. The recipe said to drizzle white chocolate over the top but as you can see, I melted an entire Lindt white chocolate Easter Bunny and drenched the cake.

Verdict? Everyone loved this thing. I mean loved it big time. It's dense and rich, no doubt about it. I used Lindt 70% dark chocolate. My feeling is whatever chocolate is one's favorite, that is what should be used. I am wondering if Rose has a recipe for a Rich Tea Biscuit lying about. I can only imagine what it would be like with homemade cookies, err biscuits.

Free Choice Cake #2 -Golden Lemon Almond Cake

2011-04-26T20:55:00.000-07:00

In an effort to close the gap and attempt to catch up with Marie, I made a second cake for Free Choice week. Every HCB'er that has made this cake raved about it. The only thing that kept me from choosing it long ago was finding lemon oil. Come to find out the neighborhood cake supply store had all sorts of oils and extracts behind the counter.

This cake is extraordinary, not only in flavor and texture but in ease of making. The hardest thing was zesting enough lemon rind so that ought to say something! My soon to be four and half year old granddaughter pointed out there were holes in the bottom of the cake whilst being lifted to look at the cooling cake because the aroma was driving her mad. I assured her they were supposed to be there and after turning it out of the pan, gave her a pair of chopsticks to poke the topside. I then handed her a pastry brush and let her "paint" the lemon sugar syrup over the cake. Needless to say, there was no way this cake was going to get the suggested resting time for the delectable lemon flavor to meld with the almond. We brewed a pot of tea and sliced the slightly warm cake. It received resounding approval.

I then remembered the leftover raspberry sauce from yesterday's Fool. Let me say, Rose's raspberry sauce spooned over this Lemon Almond Cake knocks it into a whole other level. The raspberry compliments the flavors beautifully.

No Bake Whipped Cream Cheesecake Fool

2011-04-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

I always wondered about the Victorian dessert called a Fool. It is believed to have originated from the French word "fouler" which means "to mash" or "to press" and dates back to the sixteenth century. This classic British dessert has been in and out of fashion. It is described as lightly sweetened fruit which is then folded into sweetened whipped cream. Today I unintentionally made a Fool out of Rose's No Bake Whipped Cream Cheesecake.

For a no bake cheesecake, this recipe requires a great deal of cooking. It's definitely not easier than a regular cheesecake recipe but there's no dreaded water bath. Instead the whole thing is put in the refrigerator to set for four hours before unmolding.

I did not heed that instruction.....

And took it out after two hours. Within seconds it began to slide off the base. Like mad fools, my daughter grabbed a ladle as I found a bowl and we bailed away.

Definitely too fluffy to call it a Trifle. I was out of graham crackers anyway. So onward and upward with raspberry sauce. Voila! A lighter than a cloud Fool. It was exquisite and garnered great reviews.

Southern (Manhattan) Coconut Cake

2011-04-18T16:54:00.000-07:00

Southern (Manhattan) Coconut Cake is one spectacular cake. The crumb is light and delicate. The coconut custard Italian meringue buttercream is basically butter spun into a cloud. Since both my husband and son detest the texture of coconut, I left it out and added more coconut extract. For the rest of us coconut lovers, I toasted some and sprinkled over slices. Instead of frosting the sides of my petal shaped cake, it was easier to slice the cakes in half and slather frosting between the four layers. So far, everyone likes it very much. I don't much trust myself around this thing. It's so deceptively light. Cut into slices and tucked into the freezer, it does quite well when thawed.

ABC Zebra Cookies

2011-04-16T14:49:00.000-07:00

ABC made Flo Braker's Zebra Cookies. Her method called for stacking the dough and cutting into triangles.I've often wanted to make candy cane cookies for the holidays and figured this would be a good time to try twisting two doughs together to see what it's like. My eldest granddaughter and I had a lot of fun rolling the dough into logs. I loved Flo's suggestion of saving the tubes from plastic wrap to store the tubes in while they are chilling to retain a round shape.

After reading the other ABC bakers experience with these cookies, I decided to substitute almond extract and reduce the amount of cocoa powder. The flavors played well off each other. It is such an easy recipe to make that it will definitely be made again, next time with peppermint extract.

Miette's Birthday Baby

2011-04-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

Oh Happy Day it was the littlest granddaughter's first birthday. Rose's Miette's Tomboy made a perfect sized cake for little fingers. The frosting was an improvised Tofutti cream cheese/marionberry as she can tolerate very little dairy products. Her sister added the finishing touch of sprinkles. The baby loved it which is what mattered. In the background is her absolute favorite, the Orange chiffon cake, a great dairy free cake. I also made the Whipped Cream cake and covered it in a whipped cream/powder sugar/orange juice frosting with obligatory sprinkles and a marionberry compote. And here's the best review of Rose's cakes: the kids at the party loved them all. Kids can't be fooled.

Karmel Cake

2011-04-04T00:32:00.000-07:00

Down to the last of Rose's Heavenly Cakes and this Karmel cake is simplicity itself. That must have been why I forgot to add the vanilla. No matter, it was quite good and the next time, I'm sure it will be even better with vanilla. I was surprised the flavor was as mild as it was. If there was a way to ramp it up even more, I'd definitely go for it. Leftover chocolate caramel ganache in the freezer seemed like a good idea but the cake is probably too mild for it. The Haagen Daz Dulce de Leche on the other hand complimented it perfectly. I remember reading in one of Rose's books that ice cream is essentially custard so it can be melted and warmed for a sauce. Perfect blend as it melted over a slice of cake. Microwaved until a warm puddle, it was even better poured over a slice.

Orange Glow Chiffon Layer Cake

2011-03-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

If there was but one reason to buy Rose's Heavenly Cakes, this would be it. This cake is perfect. Lightly flavored with sweet oranges, the chiffon crumb is exquisite. It takes me back to being five years old and cajoling my mom into splurging on a Twinkie. The texture and main flavor minus the orange tone reminds me of my absolute favorite childhood treat.

Sunday is not the best day to go shopping around for a flower nail. I first went to William Sonoma but they didn't carry flower nails. So we stayed for the technique class on cooking cannellini beans in a pressure cooker with Israeli couscous. Delicious as well as informative. I always learn something in their classes, especially the unbelievable depth of flavor simple pepper has when a mix of peppercorns are pan roasted then ground. The lady sitting next to me said to try Michaels which nearly gave me a panic attack. I try to avoid Michaels at any cost because it completely overloads my nervous system. I love all the stuff but haven't a clue what to do with any of it. Plus, and this is a BIG plus, it is NOT the place to take a grandchild, which I did. Michaels has turned itself into a bigger version of the Chuckie Cheese toy counter. Still, they indeed had one; along with the cutest selection of cupcake papers I have ever seen.

A quick stop into Whole Foods unearthed Sicilian orange Marmalade, which may now be my new favorite Marmalade. Very mild and sweet. The cake mixed up quite easily and I popped it straight into the oven forgetting the flower nail. Five minutes into baking and more than five swear words later, I shoved it into the batter hoping the whole thing wouldn't deflate. It didn't seem to suffer too badly and came out of the oven nicely puffed.

I opted to leave out the grated rind in the whipped cream because I knew the grandkids would protest mightily. They preferred the whipped cream sweetened without the Marmalade or powdered sugar sprinkled over the cake. On the adult's I used a bit of the candied Marmalade rind leftover from the whipped cream. Either way, this cake is amazing. I see it as the perfect summer cake, perhaps split and layered with fresh berries. It's truly another lovely cake. Well done, Rose. And for the biggest fan of all....

The littlest granddaughter, who will turn one year old in a few weeks, positively loved this cake!

They All Love Me Now Cake

2011-03-21T20:16:00.000-07:00

Roses' She Loves Me Now cake is a winner. It is simple, light and packed with buttery vanilla flavor. It's gone straight to the top of the Make Again list. Sliced and layered with lemon curd and blueberries then topped with sweetened whipped cream, it is delightful. For fun, I turned it into mini cupcakes and had just enough left over batter to make this mini cake. The trusty Fun Gun filled the cupcakes with lemon curd. Everyone loved it and gave me loads of compliments, which is so funny as it is one of the easiest cakes in the book.

DUI Chocolate Midnight Cake

2011-03-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

This is one potent cake. The dried cherries soaked up the cognac and turned into plump little boozy things. It all works with the dark chocolate but my heavens!

I made two single layers and sliced both. On one I spread strawberry jam for the kids, the other cherry/cognac elixir. I then slathered on ganache. The frosting was over powering so I opted to frost only the tops. The cherries were too big after sitting overnight in the cognac. A spin in the mini food processor fixed that. I spooned the cherries over the top of the cake. They immediately sank into the ganache.

This cake is quite decadent. It's the kind of cake to wow dinner party guests.

I would like to say the batter before adding the chocolate was amazing. And the ganache before adding the cocoa powder and water mixture was spectacular. If it's possible to use these flavors as a cake and anyone knows how to adjust the recipe, please let me know!

Moist Chocolate Raspberry Genoise Frizzby

2011-03-08T12:31:00.000-08:00

It started out so well and twelve hours later I had to accept the dismal fact that once again, Genoise bested me. The Raspberry Ganache turned out perfectly even though I mistakenly melted the chocolate. What was I thinking? The Chocolate syrup~no problem. Mis en place for the Genoise? Measured, weighed and waiting. I read Mathew's instructions over and over. Having the desired temperatures listed filled me with confidence. The whipped eggs nearly spilled out of the KitchenAid. For the first time there was not one flour pellet to be found.

And then it happened. It was that "slide the chocolate into the egg" part and "beat for one minute". When I poured the batter into the pans unmixed chocolate made it's presence known. I tried to mix it into the batter in the cake pan but knew it was futile. Still, I didn't think it would turn the entire cake into a dense, rubbery mass. Pulled out of the oven it looked deceptively normal. Only when it was sliced in half for the syrup brushing did it begin to resemble a frizzby. I persevered. For I am nothing if not committed to chocolate.

And this is the sad result. My daughter remarked that the Raspberry Chocolate Ganache tasted like Godiva raspberry filled seashell chocolates. In an attempt to disguise it's Mad Hatter appearance, I used the left over chocolate syrup to sweeten whipped cream, which I might add, was rather tasty. Too bad it didn't help the flubbed genoise.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

2011-03-04T18:33:00.000-08:00

Sticky Toffee Pudding, even the name sounds fun. And it was fun to make. Who ever boils beer then throws in a bit of baking soda to make it fizz? The stench was terrible. Guinness may be beloved to beer drinkers since before the Revolutionary war, but the aroma was horrific. Next time Dr Pepper is going in the pot. I truly had my doubts pouring this double, double toil and trouble concoction over the lovely dates, then pureeing them into a puddle. The batter, on the other hand, filled the kitchen with spicy aroma. Put together with the date puree, there was the faintest lingering aroma of Guinness. By the time it came out of the oven, the smell of Guinness disappeared. Dressed in the toffee sauce with vanilla ice cream and toasted pecans, this was one spectacular dessert. I had just enough light and dark brown sugar for the sauce and it turned out a little lighter than the picture in Rose's book. Everyone, including the grandchildren, loved this pudding cake. Next time I think I'll poke holes in the warm cake and pour the sauce over it. We really liked that sauce!

Yellow Butter Cupcakes with Canned Frosting

2011-02-24T09:01:00.000-08:00

I gave Rose's Yellow Butter Cupcakes a try after being asked to make ninety cupcakes for a birthday party, lost my nerve and used boxed mixes. I need a good cupcake go to recipe and this one fits the bill perfectly. The canned leftover frozen frosting from the ninety cupcakes delighted the granddaughters. They love this preservative filled artificially flavored stuff. If I ever find a recipe that approximates the flavor I'll be very happy.

Quail Free Egg Indulgence Cake

2011-02-13T12:27:00.000-08:00

I just couldn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to go hunting for quail eggs. I love quails. I adore quails. They are native to California and the state bird. It used to be a common thing to see a covey of quails, darting in single file with one parent at the lead and the other bringing up the rear. Now, because of the horrendous building boom, it is a rare occasion to see quails.

I realize it is completely hypocritical to use chicken eggs instead. In my zany defense, I do buy organic free range eggs. And I soothe my conscience even further by remembering the oodles of eggs our chicken used to lay about the yard without giving them a second look. Can you tell I have guilt issues over eggs as a non vegan vegetarian?

The recipe made five small cupcakes. We all agreed they taste rather like a sugar cookie in cake form. Three of us liked them, one didn't and the last has yet to be eaten by the final taste tester, my daughter's beau, although he did humor me and take the picture.

Mud Turtle Cake

2011-02-13T12:24:00.000-08:00

My birthday is exactly one week before Valentine's Day. Raymond's idea of making Mud Turtle Cupcakes as a whole cake seemed like a great idea.

It took a good long while to bake as a single layer; domed and cracked a bit but settled down nicely. I sliced it in half and layered with the ganache. I wish I had put the caramel between the layers as well. Good to note for next time. Instead I frosted the top, swirled the caramel via a nipped zip lock bag and dusted it with chopped toasted pecans.

The caramel took two tries. The first batch was a bit too amber, though not completely ruined. The second batch turned out better. My eldest granddaughter got the idea to sprinkle it with a bit of sea salt and it was fantastic. Sea salt really does go well with caramel. We played with the "burnt" batch, turning it into candies that tasted like a pecan version of Almond Roca.

Stuffed with candles and lit ablaze, Rose's Mud Turtle cake was delicious.

Cradle Cake with Mystery Ganache

2011-02-06T11:38:00.000-08:00

I realize this is a week late posting. Getting the pictures up is a bit tricky. I must say the Cradle Cake in Rose's Heavenly Cakes was a stunning combination; light buttermilk cake wrapped within a delicate dacquoise. The only bit of tweeking with the recipe involved a ten inch loaf pan and 70% Valrohna chocolate. Topped, while warm from the oven, with unmarked frozen chocolaty caramely ganache, this cake reserved rave reviews.

Challah!

2011-01-27T08:05:00.000-08:00

This month's Avid Bakers Challenge was Evie Lieb's Processor Challah in Flo Braker's Baking for All Occasions. It is no secret I am yeast phobic. Hanaa rightly thought this recipe would be the perfect bread recipe for a novice. And it was!

I honestly do not think I have enjoyed making anything as much as I did this bread. The recipe itself was unbelievably simple with the food processor doing nearly all the work. The dough bent a new 11 cup Cuisinart bread blade and did make the machine jump around. Perhaps the KitchenAid dough hook would work better.

The few minutes of kneading was just enough for me to understand how bread dough could become positively addicting. Tucking it to rise inside a ziplock bag proved great fun for the granddaughters. Seeing it quickly inflate was mesmerizing. I watched a few youtube clips on braiding Challah and settled on a very simple three strand braid. Next time I'll go for four. And judging by the family's enthusiasm for this Challah, there will be more loaves in the future.

Genoise Tres Cafe

2011-01-24T20:16:00.000-08:00

Surprisingly, everyone loves Rose's Genoise Tres Cafe cake. I honestly didn't think the strong trio of coffee flavors would suit the wide range of taste tester demographics but I was wrong. Even my young granddaughter loved this cake.

Genoise and I still don't see eye to eye but using Wondra flour always makes me sigh with relief. It mixed in without the dreaded flour balls that cake flour seems to produce. I've taken to heating the eggs to just the point of lukewarm in hopes it allows the flour to mix in easier since cold water dissolves flour. If anyone knows some scientific reasoning to avoid flour balls, I'm all ears. I beat it the full five minutes and the batter looked quite nice, still the cake didn't measure up to the full two inches when turned out of the pan. I even weighed the eggs. The day I get a genoise to rise two full inches will be a happy day indeed.

The aroma from the coffee flavored genoise was amazing and instantly made me want to make coffee Madeleine cookies with Rose's buerre noisette. I forgot to cut off the top of the cake but the sugar syrup went through it just fine and didn't seem to make any difference. Perhaps cutting it in half and using the full amount of coffee sugar syrup on the layers made up for it.

Paul Newman 54% chocolate was the closest I could find to the 53% called for in the recipe. I fully intended to throw in a bit of Lindt milk chocolate but got distracted and forgot to buy any. Quibbling over one per cent didn't seem important. The whipped ganache came together easily only because of the tip for watching the beater tracks.

This is a light cake but very rich. The flavors are even more enhanced the next day, as Rose says. We, however, can never wait the requisite twenty four hours!

Sprinkle Cake Won

2011-01-22T15:04:00.000-08:00

Oh, the drama! The indecision! The agony of choosing between one of Rose's Heavenly Cakes and the annual birthday "Sprinkle" Cake. It was a close race; Whoopie Pies edged ahead for a day or two, but in the end, my sequential granddaughter, who abhors change, opted for Sprinkle Cake only on the condition I promised to make Whoopie Pies in the near future. With that we all lived happily ever after.

White Velvet Cake with Milk Chocolate Ganache

2011-01-22T14:29:00.000-08:00

All I can remember about making this cake two weeks ago is that we loved it and ate every crumb.
I was a tiny bit short on Lindt Milk Chocolate so I made up the difference with Lindt 70% dark. The cake had such a nice crumb and definitely is on the make again list.

Chocolate Bull's-Eye Cake

2011-01-05T21:49:00.000-08:00

My blog is a bit touchy these days and refuses to let me load pictures. The Chocolate Bull's-Eye Cakes were a big hit! I used ramekins and they worked fine, although it only made four. Instead of cutting out the top of the cakes, I stuffed the chocolate filling inside with The Fun Gun. Eldest granddaughter now wants this for her upcoming tenth birthday which is a sort of miracle around these parts. Every single year has seen none other than a boxed "Sprinkle Cake". She said "Grandma, I know I say this after every cake you make each week, but this one is the best. It is absolutely the best one EVER. EVER. EVER. EVER."

Marionberry Crown Cheesecake

2010-12-30T13:59:00.000-08:00

Cranberry Crown Cheesecake lost out to Marionberries when I spied them in the freezer at Whole Foods.
The lure of Marionberries was too much, even though 'tis the season for all things cranberry. And figgy pudding.

I thought about making the Ladyfingers, really I did. But that would entail me ferreting through a cupboard for the proper piping tip. I wasn't up to the mental task. Christmas, I have come to accept, is for the young. I don't remember taking so long to recover from commando shopping expeditions, marathon wrapping sessions, helping Santa fill stockings in the dead of night only to be awakened by eager children who could barely wait til dawn's early light. Except there was no light at five a.m. Just deafening cheers of "Santa came! Santa came!" Yes, yes he did. Unlike the year he may have zealously slept and therefore neglected the filling of stockings. And Santa has never lived down that year.

The Salvardi Ladyfingers were good little soldiers and lined up cooperatively. The bottom of the pan was lined with the tips and for good measure, an extra layer of crushed cookies. The cheesecake mixture was probably the easiest cheesecake I've made, especially since I neglected to read the fine print to actually add the sour cream sitting in the refrigerator.

Which may account for the decidedly shallow depth of filling. Into the oven in a nice warm bain Marie and two hours later a lovely sour creamless cheesecake emerged. It's always a moment of truth, opening up the foil chanting "Please let it be dry. Please let it be dry." Could a football touchdown score more enthusiasm than dry foil? I think not.

Sorely lacking in patience, the hardest part for me is waiting for something to cool. Or set. This was no exception.

There's no way it was going to get a final 24 hour rest in the refrigerator. We bravely took our chances. And even without the sour cream, this is one fantastic cheesecake. Rose really knows cheesecakes. Every single cheesecake we've made has been fantastic. The marionberries set it off nicely. Very very nicely.

Deep Chocolate Rosebuds and Fruitcake

2010-12-21T05:08:00.000-08:00

FYI

The pictures keep half disappearing. If anyone knows how to fix this I'd be very appreciative.

These are good, really good. Even with the mistake of leaving the cream out of the ganache. I must learn to pay attention to how many servings these desserts make because it made six. Six! I would have doubled it. Suffice it to say there is much negotiating amongst the populace on who gets what.

Fruitcake has to be my most favorite cake to make. Maybe it's the cheery glaceed fruit tumbling around in rum for weeks on end. Or the toasting of the pecans and walnuts. The simple ingredients that feel more like a craft project being assembled together than a dessert. I love the crunch crunch sound the Kitchen Aid makes with the final stir up. Most surprising of all is how Rose's fruitcake recipe puts all fruitcake jokes to shame.

I opted for little mini bundt cakes with the intention of handing a few out as gifts, along with Joe Pastry's fruitcake story and a sweet little book, The Best Christmas Present in the World, which is actually based in fact. Hopes were high, especially as the amazing new Instant Read Thermometer Prize from across the pond takes this temperature business to a whole new level. I'm hooked! Leaving it set to Celsius instead of switching it to Fahrenheit is giving the girls a chance to understand measurement differences. Hopefully it will demystify it a bit so chemistry won't seem so daunting down the road.

My fruitcakes were thwarted two fold. A) I forgot to turn down the oven twenty five degrees for the dark pan. Blast! Not completely burned but a bit over done. B) The pans on the upper rack was unbeknownst to me, precariously perched. My husband, who never quite understood the odd way the racks slide in for safety, shoved it in. When I pulled the tray of individual molds out, they literally went to rack and ruin on the floor. Poor little things! A moment of silence was in order. Still, the surviving cakes are delicious, didn't over bake and there's no way they'll make it to Christmas.

I did just watch fruitcake being make on PBS in a spring form pan and it looked very promising for Rose's fruitcake next year.

Maple-Pecan Medjool Date Rugelach

2010-12-16T12:50:00.000-08:00

The Avid Bakers Challenge this month was Flo Braker's Maple-Pecan Medjool Date Rugelach. This is the second batch because the entire first batch did not last long enough to take a picture. Everyone loves these morsels. The flavor faintly reminds us of Baklava.

It began with a search for dates. Not knowing anything about dates, I managed to buy the wrong variety. Medjools, I learned, are the King of Dates. Whole Foods had some in containers and then I found these displayed in the produce section. They were twice the size, plump, beautiful color and organic. Organic? Aren't all dates organic? No, they are not, sad to say. I paid a King's Ransom for these beauties and it was worth every penny. They had just been picked a few days before.

My rolling techinque leaves a lot to be desired. I felt like one of Kramer's Cubans.

Luckily, it is not necessary to roll the Rugelach into a tight Dutch Master's Presidente to be delicious.

These cookies brought out shameless pilfering. "Just one more...just one more.....just one more..."

Financier-Style Vanilla Bean Pound Cakes

2010-12-13T22:14:00.000-08:00

We don't need no stickin' financier silicone pans. Well, actually we do, but I made due with silicone cupcake molds. It made eight with one casualty slipping off the rack whilst coming out of the oven. Does the five second rule hold? I may have cried. This was a lot of work for eight tiny cupcakes. Next time the recipe will be doubled.

I used vanilla bean paste for the first time with these little gems. Interesting stuff, not at all what I expected, quite runny. The few ingredients went together easily. Rose clarified the unusual dough texture and I'm very glad she did, otherwise I would have beaten it far too long.

Topped with a dab of marscapone and apricot jam, these were delicious. Everyone very much enjoyed them and go on the Make Again List.

Rose's Shortbread Cookies

2010-12-10T02:42:00.000-08:00

Rose's Christmas Cookies has a recipe for traditional Scottish Shortbread. After reading the charming history of mixing shortbread by hand, I told my granddaughters to scrub up. I wish I had captured the looks of utter and complete surprise mixed with unbridled joy at the prospect of getting to put their hands straight into dough!

"Really? We really get to put out hands into the bowl?" Yes you do! An afternoon of fun with a few simple ingredients; flour, butter, sugar and powdered sugar.

"Look grandma, we have an assembly line!" One rolled and flattened, just as Rose instructed, the other then rolled them into balls. Ah, but wait girls, there's more fun to be had.

Dipping forks in water to press the dough was quite the adventure. "They're waffled!"

If you have purchased Walker's Shortbread, these are very similar in texture and crumb, nice and light, not overly sweet. Perfect with a hot cup of tea.

Chocolate Velvet Fudge Cake

2010-12-05T20:55:00.000-08:00

Rose's Chocolate Velvet Fudge Cake is an incredibly light crumbed bundt cake. It was very easy to make. The hardest part was waiting an hour for it to cool. I wish I had pulled it out of the oven a few minutes early. It didn't burn but the top, which became the bottom, was a bit too done. No one complained and I was probably the only one that noticed.

The cocoa powder was a mix of Green & Blacks and Valrohna. It was interesting to see how much darker the Valrohna was compared to the Green &Blacks. This is definitely one of those quick go to cakes, perfect for any occasion.

Butter

2010-12-05T08:23:00.000-08:00

I happened upon an informative article on butter and baking cookies. Now I understand why Rose emphasizes the temperature of butter in cake recipes.

Here is an amazing wedding cookie table video.

Plus a delightful print of NY Times 1908 cookie recipes.

And for the final bit of cookie fun, Jacques Torres' chocolate chip cookie recipe from the NY Times.
Ginger Elizabeth interned under Mr. Torres which explains her preference for Valrhona chocolate disks.

I'll finally brave the cold and trek to the market for eggs to bake this week's Chocolate Velvet Fudge Cake. I really miss having chickens.

July 9, 2008

RECIPE

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Jacques Torres

Time: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chilling

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons

(8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)

Sea salt.

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

Note: Disks are sold at Jacques Torres Chocolate; Valrhona fèves, oval-shaped chocolate pieces, are at Whole Foods.

Let the Fruit Cake Begin

2010-12-02T06:08:00.000-08:00

Who's making fruitcake this year? Last year the Heavenly Cake Bakers made Rose's Fruitcake Wreath. Honestly, I never in a million years thought anyone in my family would like this cake, let alone, love it. They
constantly snitched those wrapped and resting in rum. I'm not certain any of the fruitcakes made it to Christmas.

There was much merriment when I announced I was off to buy candied fruit. That jar doesn't look like much, most of the pretty cherries are underneath the lemon and orange peel. I have no idea why I find the daily turning of the jar fun, but I do! And if you've never read Joe Pastry's tale of his father's annual fruitcake, it's a delight.

Lemon Canadian Crown Trifle

2010-11-28T18:12:00.000-08:00

I bought the wrong kind of Ladyfingers, crispy ones from Italy. I broke most of the Italian Ladyfingers. There was only one thing to do in my lazy, post Thanksgiving foggy state.....crush the Ladyfingers and turn the luscious lemon filling into a trifle. For a bit of color, frozen blueberries were scattered between the layers. The meringue toppings were piped on parchment, browned and then transferred. Since the bowl is crystal, poor planning on my part, it was not frozen but chilled for several hours. The flavors are spectacular in Rose's Lemon Canadian Crown dessert. The lemon is such an unexpected burst of flavor. The crunchy Ladyfingers softened just enough to retain texture but provide a lovely contrast. This definitely is a show stopper dessert that was easy to make.

Rose's Lemon Poppyseeds (Cookies)

2010-11-23T11:41:00.000-08:00

Rose's Christmas Cookies is a treasured book on my shelf. Many years ago Land O' Lakes Butter had a special offer for Rose's new book and my mom sent it to me. My daughter, who was quite young at the time, immediately took to it, spending hours pouring over the pictures and reading recipes. Through the years she made several recipes, each one a winner. Yesterday I was only too happy to pick up ingredients for her and my granddaughter to take over my kitchen and mix up a batch of these delectable goodies.

Rose describes these Lemon Poppyseeds as the cookie variation of her Cake Bible Lemon Poppyseed Pound Cake. The cookies are rolled in ground almonds for a nice, crunchy coating.

I love lemon poppyseed cookies and these are by far the best I have tasted. Chosen because they are in the section designated to be especially suitable for mailing, it's going to be quite hard packing these little gems up and shipping them off. These cookies will definitely be on the annual list of requested holiday cookies. The lemon zest filled the blustery, cold rainy evening with the most amazing aroma.

We always joke that whenever something goes "missing" in my house, all we have to do is buy another one and the original turns up. That is exactly what happened with this book, only in triplicate! Somehow we double ordered on Amazon; one or two clicks too many. This worked out quite well since I have enough books for my daughter and each granddaughter to have their very own copy. If I was allowed only one cookie book, this would be the one.

Chocolate Genoise with Peanut Butter Whipped Ganache

2010-11-21T12:32:00.000-08:00

Chocolate Genoise from Rose's Heavenly Cakes is ultra light and moist. Frosted with Peanut Butter Whipped Ganache and layered with black raspberry, it is a pretty fantastic combination. The peanut butter is a slight background flavor that enhances the chocolate and raspberry. No one could define exactly what it was.

I used Lindt 70% dark chocolate mixed with Lindt Milk Chocolate for the ganache, Green & Blacks cocoa powder for the genoise and Valrohona chocolate pearls for garnish.

Rose uses Chambord to make a simple syrup for moistening the layers. I could not see spending twenty five dollars for two tablespoons worth of Chambord. If I find a smaller bottle, I'll be tempted to try it. For now, Dickinson's Seedless Black Raspberry Jam fit the bill perfectly. Thinned with a bit of hot water, it painted easily over the split cake. So excited this substitution worked, I forgot to put the ganache between the two layers! Sprinkled with a few Valrohna pearls and drizzled with black raspberry syrup, it's never going to last long enough for the requisite night's rest.

Truffle Cookies

2010-11-18T14:11:00.000-08:00

My Truffle Cookies look nothing like Ginger Elizabeth's Truffle Cookies, which isn't too surprising, but they taste pretty darn good. The thing is, the dough is supposed to rest for fifteen minutes before baking. The baby granddaughter woke up, one thing led to another and the dough didn't just rest, it took a good long nap, a very long nap, which made the dough quite stiff.

I called Ginger Elizabeth's Chocolates and spoke to her husband. He said it was alright to share this recipe with family and friends but Ginger asked that it not be posted online via Facebook, blogs, etc. If any of you would like the recipe, please email and I'll send it along.

Apple-Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake

2010-11-15T10:28:00.000-08:00

So many cakes, so little time, in Rose's Heavenly Cakes. Each free choice week with the Heavenly Cake Bakers leaves me in such a quandary. Reading from the list of cakes I've yet to make, it is difficult to choose. Each one sounds as good as the next. The family is still clamoring for the infamous Bostini but I was on chocolate overload after attending an incredible seminar given by Ginger Elizabeth, Dark vs Dark Chocolate Tasting. Not only was it educational in all things chocolate, but if there is such a thing as chocolate nirvana, that was it. Ginger just won a very prestigious top ten chocolate ranking but I can't read my own note writing, so enraptured with tasting her Creme Fraiche truffle. For a finale, she passed around her Truffle Cookies, then generously gave out the recipe.

This simple apple cake was the perfect counterbalance for a day of chocolate nibbling.

I made more mistakes with this easy little cake than I have in quite awhile. I divided the batter into the pan wrong. I found a leftover half cup of crumb topping. And literally, to top it off, I put the crumb topping on too soon. No matter. It turned out deliciously. Lovely cake for this time of year.

Swedish Pear and Almond Cake

2010-11-07T18:29:00.000-08:00

This is an amazing cake, so simple and yet utterly sophisticated. The delicate crumb is perfectly paired with almond and pear. Very easy to put together, I couldn't have asked for an easier cake to jump back on the baking wagon.

Happily surprised to find the pears dutifully disappeared into the batter whilst baking. It is possible to make almond paste and Joe Pastry says quite easy. Next time I need marzipan or almond paste I'm going to give it a try.

This cake could go anywhere or stay at home with a hot cup of tea. The family is raving about it. It must be quite good; they've momentarily forgotten about the Bostini which fell to the wayside and has yet to be made.

Draw the Dog

2010-11-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

Y'all may remember a few short months ago my life was relatively drama free. Not chaos free, but drama free.

That was before Daisy the Alpha Chihuahua Mare came into our home. Don't let this little darling fool you for one second. She has taken over. Rules the roost. Wears a Snuggie. Bosses around the cats. Shatters wine glasses with a single bark. Sprouted wings. Nothing is too high or off limits. She has a tenacity and cunning that makes her a perfect candidate for the CIA doggie core. Does the CIA have a doggie core?

As I type, Her Majesty is taking a regularly scheduled morning nap perched on my lap. I could set the clock by this nap. I fear when the clocks go back for daylight savings time. She must be dreaming about having the lead in Swan Lake because her tiny paws jete mightily.

Be that as it may, I want to introduce Draw the Dog. This is a fun site co-hosted by a former Disney illustrator. He takes dog photos then illustrates them into a cartoon with Bruce Kasanoff. This alone would be entertaining but the real kicker is being able to watch as the cartoon draws itself. Sign up for their daily email and start the morning with a hearty laugh. They are having a contest. You can read about it on their site. It's for a good cause. The winners get to choose a favorite dog rescue group to receive a fundraising cartoon. You might know a nice blog to submit.

On another note, the Bostini has been pre-empted by a very nasty virus which has thrown me under a bus.

The most I can manage is lemon ginger tea with a side of aspirin. Much grumbling amongst the natives who have eagerly anticipated the Bostini . They suffer. They suffer much. There is no mercy once one is found out to bake weekly from Rose's Heavenly Cakes.

Marie Helene's Apple Cake

2010-10-31T03:36:00.000-07:00

French Fridays with Dorie made her fabulous recipe for Marie Helene's Apple Cake. It couldn't have been simpler. Basically a thin, buttery batter is folded around apple chunks. There is no flavoring other than rum. It is essential for the cake to rest several hours for the flavors to mellow together. It was worth the wait.

This was an instant favorite.

Gutsy Cooks tarts and custard

2010-10-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

If y'all want a peek at my little tart, head on over to Almond Cream Pie where I chronicle my ventures into cooking. These are from SweetBites Gutsy Cooks group.

Angel Food Cake Anyway You Want

2010-10-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

Pretend I am Mrs. Bale from As Time Goes By and check the weather forecast.

Quickly ascertain small window of opportunity before rain arrives and foils

Angel Food Cake making.

Set out ingredients according to Rose's Heavenly Cakes Basic Angel Food Cake recipe. Scratch head and mutter 0.22 ounces of flour doesn't seem like enough but Rose knows best. Continue measuring out minuscule mis en place before light bulb goes off. Marie. Math. Toss mis en place and start again or get out the Easy Bake Oven.

Deduct points.

Ancient angel food cake pan

Relic from the 1950's-angel food cake batter folder

Antique beer bottle

Ask hubby if he would mind going to the store, yet again, for lemons?

Every frozen egg white in the freezer

Angel Food Cake Mantra

Please don't fall out of the pan. Please don't fall out of the pan. Please don't fall out of the pan.

Have parchment paper ready for Plan B Trifle if it falls out of the pan.

Do a happy dance of joy it didn't fall out of the pan PLUS came out in one piece.

Five bonus points.

Take serrated knife and slice into something resembling three layers.

Try not to notice air bubbles.

Exercise a modicum amount of willpower and refrain from devouring lemon filling. Slather onto two layers with finger pointing silicone spatula.

Pretend the layers match up.

Spackle whipping cream over entire cake.

No such thing as too much whipping cream.

The most amazing angel food cake ever. EVER. I am humbled by the awesomeness of Rose's Basic Angel Food Cake recipe. Exquisite. It has gone straight to the top of the favorite list, even by those who professed not to like Angel Food Cake.

--------------------------

Lemon Cream Filling from Heaven Only Knows Where ie Mom's Recipe Box
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup boiling water
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 Tablespoon butter
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon salt

Combine sugar and cornstarch in small pan. Gradually stir in water; cook and stir over medium heat until thick and smooth. Remove from heat. Add egg yolks and blend well. Add butter, lemon juice, zest and salt. Cook and stir one minute or until thickened and smooth. Chill and stir before spreading on cake.

Pick Your Own Farms

2010-10-22T06:50:00.000-07:00

With fall upon us I thought you might enjoy this web site for locating farms via zip codes. And wouldn't you know it? I popped mine in and lo and behold, a farm which grows MARIONBERRIES! Y'all remember those elusive marionberries, right?

http://www.pickyourown.org/

One Year of Heavenly Cake Baking

2010-10-20T12:09:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe an entire year has gone by since baking my first cake from Rose's Heavenly Cakes a la the Heavenly Cake Bakers. The reason for my wanting to join Marie's group was my terrible habit of never being able to resist a cookbook only to read them like fiction. My cookbooks are in pristine condition, except one, which my then young children's puppy chewed while on the bookshelf. Martha Stewart was not amused; seriously not amused autographing it at a book signing lecture. She would be absolutely mortified at Rose's poor book. It's falling apart. I haven't seen hide nor tattered piece of the outer cover in months. And yet Rose couldn't have been kinder when she signed the book in San Francisco.

"Oh, this book has been used!" she happily exclaimed, cocoa powder dust and all.

That was a few cakes ago.

So here I am, still struggling along with my non-sequential right brained ineptness, yet I love it! I eagerly look forward with anticipation each week to see which cake is up and how big of a headache am I going to get? Sometimes I have to call in for back up. My daughter will patiently read the instructions while I pull my hair out, drop whisks and spatulas, set off a smoke alarm or two with burnt caramel and/or turn cooked syrups into rock candy science experiments. My cursing vocabulary has increased by leaps and bounds.

Other times I plot and plan out a recipe worthy of troop maneuvers. Diagrams take on crazy illustrations with arrows pointing here and there and circling back around in dizzying configurations that any high school football coach would be happy to have in his play book.

Miracles do happen and occasionally I sail through a recipe, victorious and triumphant with all ingredients added in the correct order. It doesn't happen often.

My daughter has asked me on more than one occasion "Is this really worth it? Would an average baker do this?" The most cutting question of all "Would grandma bother with this book?"

My answer is yes. Yes it is worth it. It is worth using every pot, pan, bowl, whisk and spatula I own and then having to wash them again before the cake can be finished. It's worth it to me and not just for the resounding applauds and compliments that come my way. I still can't quite accept those. But they still keep coming and apparently the week's baking project is hugely anticipated by those with whom I share the calories. Baking from this book has been better than a college course.

Would my mom, an amazing home baker, bother with this book? Oh, yes, I think she definitely would. I think she would have loved nothing more than to knock the socks off the ladies in her bridge groups with one or two or more of these cakes. More importantly, she would have taken on Rose's precision baking practices and embraced them, once she got the hang of a scale. She was a great baker because of her precision and perfectionism. There wasn't an ounce of devil may care rebellion when it came to baking. Or anything else really. Clearly that trait did not come down the DNA.

Why do I muddle on each week, never sure if a cake is going to be the final straw which contributes to a complete emotional breakdown after babysitting three granddaughters under the age of nine, two puppies under the age of six months, with the baby needing to be driven to her mother's office twice a day? Because baking along with everyone around the world truly is a joy. Reading each baker's post is a treat. I get inspired, entertained and awed by the dazzling accomplishments. I'm uplifted with some sort of group energy when I don't think I can possibly make a seven page cake. And when the little granddaughters elbow their way in and commandeer the pastry brush, I am delighted. They will never find weighing flour on a scale mentally taxing because they find it so fun now.

Puppy teething on Rose's Heavenly Cakes

What have I gained from baking out of a book which raises the bar on baking methods? I would never bake any cake without cake strips encircling the pan. I cringe when I now attempt to bake something and the weights aren't given. My wish list for Christmas this year? A new instant read thermometer. I pay attention to my ancient oven's temperature, know more about the various types of sugar than anyone should and spend more on chocolate than I do on vegetables.

I can't say baking with HCB has given me confidence, per se, but I am no longer intimidated. Now, if the same could be said for yeast and pie dough, I will consider it a life well lived.

Thank you Rose. Thank you Woody. Thank you Marie. And a special heartfelt thanks to my fellow HCB'ers.

Gutsy Cooks

2010-10-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

Click here for the empanadas and white bean soup I made with the Gutsy Cooks.

Many-Splendored Quick Bread

2010-10-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

This tea bread from Rose's Heavenly Cakes is a unique variation of the many zucchini breads which became quite popular. Every Christmas zucchini bread was on my grandmother's plates of holiday cookie trays she gave away. I was quite spoiled by that simple gesture and never bothered to make it on my own. I'm very glad Rose created this recipe.

Combining zucchini with carrots, banana and lemon zest gave the bread a completely different flavor than ordinary zucchini bread. I baked these in three paper pans, leftover from the Vanilla Bean Pound Cakes the HCB'ers made. It is a lovely recipe and from the positive reaction, I'm quite certain it will be requested many times.

Gutsy Cooks

2010-10-11T21:51:00.000-07:00

Look Ma, I cooked!

Molten Chocolate Souffle and Lava Cakes

2010-10-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

Molten Chocolate Souffle and Lava Cakes sounded like desserts I've often seen listed on restaurant menus but never ordered. I really did not know what to expect.

The recipe was simple enough. First a ganache was made with cream and chocolate. Poured into a plastic lined egg carton was not as easy as it sounded, though. The plastic wrap got fiddly. Still, it worked and into the frig they went for cooling.

The cake batter consisted of few ingredients; chocolate, cocoa powder, butter. eggs and sugar. Folded together into a fluffy batter, it was poured into silicone cupcake molds. Rose said to only use Baker's Joy. Oh, joy......No grocery store in my town stocks Baker's Joy! I finally found some at Michael's craft store but was too lazy to drive to the mall. I opted instead for the clarified butter and flour dusting method she suggested.

They baked fourteen minutes, as directed. In my oven, it was a bit too long. The house smelled incredible. If I was staging an open house for sale, this is what I'd have baking in the oven!

After they shrank away from the sides, they easily popped out of the molds to finish cooling.

I've never heard of non-stick aluminum foil, don't own a non-stick pan but it was unnecessary. Placed in the frig on a regular plate, they didn't stick at all. Maybe this was not a good sign. Maybe it was an indication they cooked too long.

I was not fond of the coating left by the butter and flour. I should have followed my own instinct and dusted it with cocoa powder instead. Everyone kept asking if there was paper on the bottom that should be pulled off.

I finally took a knife and scraped the "crusty" bottoms.

These are a nice little bite of chocolate but a bit too chocolaty for me, which is ironic since I'm the Queen of Dark Chocolate. Next time I'll go down to 50% chocolate for the batter and lighten the ganache with milk chocolate. I started referring to these as Two Bite Brownies and let me tell you, everyone else loved these things. Go figure.

Gerard's Mustard Tart

2010-10-09T14:21:00.000-07:00

I actually managed to make my first ever tart, complete with REAL dough and not store bought. This was a big day for me, for I am on my way to conquering dreaded pie dough phobia. It is why I named the blog which houses my cooking adventures, Almond Cream Pie.

Let me explain. In the oldest Betty Crocker Cookbook known to man, the one which fed me many wonderful things growing up courtesy of my mom, contains our family favorite; Almond Cream Pie. No one has made it since, with success anyway. We reminisce about Almond Cream Pie now and then. I always figured if one day I could overcome dough phobia, as well as, custard cooked on the stove stirred for hours phobia, perhaps I could make this pie. A mission was born.

If you care to see my tart ventures along with future cooking escapades, please feel free to click on over. It's bound to be fraught with mishaps which may or may not involve smoke detectors and paramedics. I make no promises but as one who's cooking is often referred to as blackened Cajun flavored, there's a good chance it will. Come on down!

Orange Chiffon Tweed Cake with Milk ‘n’ Honey Sabayon Ice Cream

2010-10-07T04:09:00.000-07:00

New ABC baking adventure! Let's make a chiffon cake. Flo Braker made it easy with her Orange Chiffon Tweed Cake with Milk 'n' Honey Sabayon.

Well, would you look at that? This little inexpensive gizmo actually worked. Orange peels were pulverized with sugar.

Fresh orange juice for the cake and a glass for me. It was five a.m.

Sweet orange juice; such a treat.

The star of the show was an old hand crank beater. I always use it for whipped cream. Today, it beat together eggs and honey.

Orange Sugar added and hand cranked again.

Flour and grated chocolate folded into the billowing orange eggs with stiffly beaten egg whites. The batter was then poured into an angel food cake pan and popped into the oven. Clearly I was so overcome with excitement about finding this that I forgot to take pictures.

What is this thing lurking at the back of the stove under a garlic basket? Well, I'll be darned! Sugar ribbons from the Pineapple Puddings. Maybe I could send it to Rose and Woody for analysis? Or a crime lab? That sugar episode made me want to learn to pull Taffy.

Hand crank beater met heavy cream which was then chilled while eggs and honey were beat into a puffy concoction.

Oh, heavens, now they must be whipped further over simmering water. Was a trip to the ER in the forecast? More importantly, did it really triple in volume?

Yes it did! Quick Jeeves, the ice water bath to stop the cooking. Phew, no honey scrambled eggs after all. Chilling the mixture gave me a hair brained idea. What if I froze it instead into ice cream a la David Lebovitz?

Is it done? Is it done? Is it done? Finally.

The moment of truth....an Orange Chiffon Tweed Cake or an Orange Chiffon Tweed Trifle? A cake after all. It didn't fall out of the pan. Note to self. Find a glass long necked bottle before it comes out of the oven.

Three hours was a long time to wait for this cake to cool. Non-nap-taking-teething-six-month-old littlest granddaughter helped me do dishes. I needed an extra set of arms.

And it actually came out of the pan in one piece! Another Will It Be Trifle moment averted. Half my angel food cake pan with the removable bottom has gone missing. I seem to remember it being absconded and filled with rocks. Three year olds are inventive creatures.

Three very long hours later, I mean who can stand to wait for this thing to cool? The aroma was maddening!

Lining the bottom of the angel food cake pan with parchmont helped it come out in tack.

This is a fantastic and easy chiffon cake. A little doubtful about the Milk 'n' Honey Sabayon, because I don't like honey in baked goodies, the ice cream surprised me. It is as good as Haagen-Daz. Both are sure to be requested many times. Everyone loved this delectable orange chocolate combination.

Caramelized Pineapple Pudding Cakes with Store Bought Brioche

2010-10-03T08:36:00.000-07:00

Caramelized Pineapple Pudding Cake with caramel which turned itself into a spun sugar art exhibit

Rose's Caramelized Pineapple Pudding Cakes is an incredibly rich dessert. Rose includes a brioche recipe for the bread pudding base. It sounded easy enough for someone not intimidated by yeast. That would not be me. Luckily Whole Foods had a lovely little loaf of brioche.

The brioche was trimmed, cut into cubes and dried in the oven, filling the kitchen with an amazing aroma.

Next caramel is made to line the ramekins. Having a pastry brush dipped in water to wipe down any sugar crystals clinging to the inside of the pan helped prevent rock candy forming. Sugar molecules are clever things.

Mixing the Creme Anglaise was very easy, except for frantic stirring ensuring the pot didn't turn into nutmeg flavored scrambled eggs. Poured over the brioche, it was left for a bit in the frig to soak up all the nutmeg goodness.

I am a Baby Boomer which means I grew up on canned pineapples, not freshly roasted ones. I've never roasted any fruit before so this was a first and quite fun. I mumbled quite a bit for not buying a pineapple corer at William Sonoma.and hacked away at the unsuspecting thing. Caramelized sugar and pineapple juice basted the pineapple in my beloved cast iron skillet.

Once the pineapple cooled, I sliced as directed, although not managing terribly thin slices. The soaked and drained bread batter was divided among ramekins then submerged into a ~~am I going to the ER today~~ bain marie, and tented with foil. Forty minutes later we had lovely little puddings.

However, the caramel didn't quite cooperate with the puds. It stuck to the bottom of the ramekins and was rock hard. As I pulled the pineapple and sugar out, the caramel pulled into long ribbons! It also turned itself into spun sugar without benefit of being swung across the kitchen with a lopped off whisk. It made me feel very creative and quite avant-garde, turning out hip and modern sugar garnish.

The loads of leftover pineapple sauce was mixed with the minuscule Creme Anglaise and spooned onto the plate. The very delicious Julie's Organic Caramel ice cream, possibly the creamiest ice cream in existence, was scooped on top.

The consensus was mixed. Too much sugary flavored pineapple for the grandkids and myself. Not enough for the grown kids, husband or Gena, our horse trainer. Or Daisy, the five month old Chihuahua quality inspector who figured out how to jump onto the computer desk via the chair.

We all, however, LOVED the brioche bread pudding. Taking leftover soaked bread cubes, I made them into caramel free versions. I seriously see this as being requested quite often, as in "Grandma, can you make that creamy bread pudding stuff only without the pineapple?"

Chocolate Tomato Cake with Mystery Ganache and Campbell's Soup Contest

2010-09-27T11:52:00.000-07:00

What a coincidence! Heavenly Cake Bakers made Rose's Chocolate Tomato Cake with Mystery Ganache containing Campbell's soup and this was on Cake Wrecks. Considering Campbell's makes 237 kinds of soups, it got me to thinking. Which soup would I choose to put in a cake for a corporate commission? It could only be tomato

.

But wait! Campbell's Soup is having a big contest.

Rose's cake reminded me of Playmobil's toy fort. It would be fun to replicate this for a little boy's birthday.

It also brought back fond childhood.memories when my mother got wind of the latest cake fad. Naturally, she and the other neighborhood ladies had a go at it. We kids were aghast. Tomatoes or no tomatoes, we couldn't let chocolate cake pass us by and to our amazement, there wasn't any tomato flavor at all. One of my all time favorite cook books, White Trash Cooking, lists Mater Cake which is, I suppose, code for tomato-soup-in-cake-but-no one-will-suspect-a-thing.

My daughter remembered her American Girl Cookbook explained the use of tomato soup in baked goods. Molly, the doll representing World War II era, had a recipe using tomato soup in brown bread with the explanation bakers added it for extra nutrients. Rose's cake gives new definition to Healthy Request!

Campbell's has a manufacturing plant in my hometown. When the delta breeze kicks in, we can tell which soup is being stirred up.

This was without a doubt, one of the easier cakes to make in Rose's Heavenly Cakes. The hardest part was fending off the grandkids from wanting "just one more" Piroette cookie. I haven't bought any in years and the price increase gave me a bit of sticker shock.

The batter is the fluffiest to date. I weighed half into a cake pan and turned the rest into cupcakes.

The ganache was made with Ghirardelli 60% chocolate chips and Raymond's One Bowl Method. It worked perfectly. I could not add the tomato soup. I rationalized, reasoned and generally chastised myself then compromised with a tablespoon. I think Nancy B was a guardian angel.

The cupcakes were done in thirty minutes. The cake took a long time to bake.

Frosting with the ganache and spackling the cookies to the side was a breeze. I cut the cookies in half and got away with just one can. Waste not want not, or in my case eat the left overs, I scattered the bits and pieces over the top.

There is absolutely no trace of tomato flavor in this cake or ganache. It's moist and light. The Piroettes are ultra flaky and to my surprise, doesn't compete with the texture. So far everyone likes it. No one guessed correctly the "mystery" ingredient.

"This is wonderful!"

Even a new generation of kids think it's a really good chocolate cake.

Apple Caramel Charlotte

2010-09-19T07:32:00.000-07:00

Apple Caramel Charlotte from Rose's Heavenly Cakes is an amazing dessert. Light, creamy with caramel undertones and apples to offset too much sweetness.
.

Pink Pearl apples.

Apples poaching in sugar syrup with vanilla bean.

Which turned into magenta applesauce.

Re-poaching Granny Smiths with Pink Pearl skin added for color.

What to do with leftover poaching liquid? Any ideas ?

Rolling the parchment from underneath the sponge cake was much easier than flipping the cake.

Measuring the cake into strips.

Blast! How did this one get left behind? It was supposed to be brushed with apricot jam and layered with the others in the freezer.

Cooling caramel custard over ice cubes. I used agar instead of gelatin, which made for a less dense texture.

Mixing together whipped cream, caramel custard and the Italian meringue.

At this point I thought about chucking the whole lot. I had a terrible time getting the sliced cake pieces to stand upright against the side of the spring form pan.

Since the Pink Pearl apples made gorgeous apple sauce, I took a bit of liberty and spread it over the finished custard then sparingly arranged the apple slices. The center rose is poached apple skin. Painting the apple slices with arrowroot and poaching syrup was a bit of welcome fun.

This definitely is not the type of dessert we typically have in our house. I wasn't sure if any of us would like it. I am pleased to say it received high marks which is nice because it is going to take me a week to recover. This innocent dessert took two days to make and loads of dish washing. I could have used a pair of nurses shoes to help with the hours of standing. When it was finally finished and chilling in the frig, I have to admit it gave me an enormous sense of accomplishment.

Apple Dipping and Salty Caramel Video

2010-09-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

I always thought McDonald's had gone round the bend offering Apple Dippers in kids Happy Meals, but they were spot on. Simply Recipes caramel sauce is exquisite with Honey Crisp Apples.

Three ingredients, sugar, butter and heavy whipping cream mix together easily. The instructions offered the choice of adding water, which I did, because liquid sugar sounded just plain scary and fraught with the possibility of smoke inhalation.

Evidently Elise, the creator of Simply Recipes, is also a fan of Ginger Elizabeth's chocolate and linked this great video of Ginger making her very popular Salty Caramels. This of course, i~~nstigated~~ encouraged me to pilfer through the Dove baking chocolate stash in the cupboard, drizzle this golden deliciousness over a square or two or five, and faintly sprinkle sea salt. Okay, they may have made their way onto a pumpkin pancake as well.

Barcelona Brownie Bars

2010-09-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

Barcelona Brownie Bars was the only recipe left to get me in the starting gate lineup when Heavenly Cake Bakers officially started. I'm happy to say last night the Barcelona Brownies brought me up to speed. That still leaves 18 free choice cakes.

When I read Rose's instructions that these brownies could be made in a Madeleine pan, I ran to the store for MORE CHOCOLATE. Madeliene cookies are my favorite. I bought a Madeleine pan years and years ago. It's among my most treasured possessions.

This brownie is full of chocolate, roasted pecans and more chocolate in the form of ganache. It's a simple recipe and judging how quickly they disappeared, will go on the Please Make Again list.

The recipe had enough batter to fill five mini tart pans as well. Mini tart pans make everything cuter.

Hungarian Jancsi Sorta Torta Trifle

2010-09-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

Free bake list week + birthday= Birthday hubby's choice
After much deliberation he chose the Hungarian Jancsi Torta.

When I received Rose's Heavenly Cakes in the mail nearly a year ago, I was relieved it didn't arrive in time to bake this cake with the HCB'ers. The name alone sounded complicated. I felt lucky to jump on board with the Apple Upside Down Cake.

Amazing the difference one year can make baking from Rose's book. Mixing together the batter of roasted walnuts, chocolate, egg whites and sugar was really easy. The Janci went into the oven. I left to run an errand with directions to remove and let it cool.

The Janci mistakenly burned during a telephone call. When it was rescued, Hubby tried to free it from the spring form pan not realizing it was too delicate. It was just one of those crazy chaotic days.

This was the perfect opportunity to try out my trifle theory. The inside was salvaged then layered with apricot jam and whipped cream, following Rose's decor suggestions.

It turned out well after all. Everyone enjoyed the Sorta Torta Trifle, especially the birthday boy.

All American Chocolate Cake with Divinity Frosting and Milk Chocolate Paint

2010-09-06T20:24:00.000-07:00

Flo Braker is one talented lady to come up with this incredible cake. The cake crumb is the perfect combination of light and moist. The divinity frosting a total surprise. And painting with milk chocolate? Well, that was just plain fun! Joining the ABC bakers has expanded my horizon.

My quality control inspector made a surprise visit, just in time to commandeer the spatula. Both girls pleaded for mercy for the chocolate cake.

"Pleeeeease don't put that meringue stuff on it."

I compromised and frosted half with frozen canned vanilla frosting left over from a Betty Crocker's Rainbow Chip Cake. Of course it simply had to have a dose of sprinkles. And let me say, this chocolate cake is so yummy it made the canned frosting taste good.

I was dreading the divinity frosting. It sounded too meringue-y for my taste and cooked sugar syrups fill me with apprehension. I'm learning not to give them any special attention and they seem to behave better. Flo has a neat trick of keeping a pastry brush and cold water close by to remove any crystals forming inside the pan. It worked!

The frosting floored me. Pouring the hot syrup into the beaten egg white and watching the Kitchen Aid turn them into puffy marshmallow bliss caught me off guard. The fact that it tasted good was an even bigger surprise.

Since it was only half a cake, I opted to frost the top, leaving the sides exposed, making for a greater cake to frosting ratio. It was a hot day and cranking up the air conditioning didn't help it set enough. I crossed my fingers and put it in the freezer while melting the chocolate and butter for the "paint". After painting on the chocolate it had another quick turn in the freezer to set the chocolate wash.

And then we couldn't wait any longer! Rave reviews! For a cake that seemed very complicated it turned out to be easy. Most of all, it's simply delicious.

Gold Ingots Financiers Classiques

2010-09-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

A specialty of France, financiers are not well known in the U.S. which is a shame. Made with a few simple ingredients; ground almonds, sugar, vanilla, egg whites, beurre noissette and ultra light flour, the flavor is wonderful. These little Gold Ingots from Rose's Heavenly Cakes didn't last long in my house.

I had unexpected helping hands in the kitchen with me. After spraying the pans with bakers Pam, we used the pastry brush to "paint" every nook and cranny of the miniature tart pans. The girls each took a turn piping in batter. This was great fun! I just love when simple baking steps provide a chance for them to genuinely help and learn a helpful skill along the way.

Financiers are traditionally oblong. The baking store carried only round pans in miniature size which worked perfectly.

I was afraid the beurre noisette (that's it in the cup) passed the proper browning point. The aroma and flavor were surprisingly wonderful and most importantly, the smoke alarm didn't go off. I pulled them out slightly underbaked. Cooled for five minutes in the pans, they finished baking and turned out easily. The texture was lovely. I have better luck using plain aluminum pans.

We had a little impromptu outdoor tea party with these gems. I can safely say they will be on the make again and again and again list.

Chocolate Layer Cake with Caramel Ganache

2010-08-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

Chocolate Layer Cake with Caramel Ganache is a light cake with a deliciously rich topping. This was an easy cake to make from Rose's Heavenly Cakes. The ganache sounded tricky but it really wasn't difficult. The moment the hot cream sputtered furiously when poured into the boiling sugar mixture made me very happy. I was delirious to be in the ganache zone instead of a rock candy science experiment gone bad.

This inadvertently became a Green & Blacks chocolate cake. I haven't a clue how the math works out combining the 70% and 85% but it tasted great, which is what counts. I turned it out of the pan immediately to cool rather than leave it in the pan. This seems to help me keep chocolate cakes from being dry.

I used less than half the ganache, leaving the sides unfrosted and paired the cake with creme brulee ice cream. The chocolate is exquisite with the faint caramel undertone. Everyone liked it. Next time, however, I'm pouring the caramel cream over the cake without adding chocolate. It was tasty stuff!

Apricot Almond Berry Buckle

2010-08-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

This is my first recipe with the ABC group baking from Flo Braker's book, Baking for All Occasions. It was this recipe which made me want to join Hanaa's bake along. Flo's book is chokablock full of delightful recipes.

The local apricot season already ended and those in the store looked pretty dismal. Hanaa suggested using canned apricots which were surprisingly tasty. For the berries I used a mix of marionberries, blackberries and raspberries. The almond topping was reminiscent of a chewy Italian cookie. It was such an easy recipe to mix up and a big hit with the family.

Marionberry Shortcakes

2010-08-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

Marionberries were nearly impossible to find. The season is officially over but I was told by a grocer to meet The Berry Man under the freeway at the Sunday farmer's market. I was also told by another grocer "They are just blackberries" and more often than not, asked "What kind of berries?" One last call to the local Natural Foods Co-Op and a cheery voice non challanty said "Oh, yes, we have frozen Marionberries." Sputtering, I asked her more than once if she was absolutely certain they were Marionberries? Indeed they were. I felt like I won the Marionberry lottery. Stahlbush Island Farms has a store locator on their web site. Pop in your zip code to see if stores in your area carry them.

The genoise batter for these shortcakes used Wondra flour which I always have better luck mixing in than cake flour. The beurre noisette with vanilla gave it a wonderful flavor.

After two hours the berries barely thawed and were not releasing their highly prized juice. Placed in a double boiler over simmering water for just a few minutes worked like a charm.

The berries released the requisite amount of juice for painting the cakes. I didn't use any liqueur and the flavor was amazingly intense reduced on its own.

The dilemma of choosing between creme fraiche or whipped cream was solved by making both and coloring the whipped cream with the gorgeous juice. Not surprisingly, kids preferred the whipped cream and adults the creme fraiche. Mine was topped with both. This is a nice light dessert and perfect for any berry in season.

Chocolate Feather Bed

2010-08-16T21:48:00.000-07:00

Flourless cakes are intriguing. Mix chocolate, eggs, sugar and vanilla together and magic happens. Top with whipped chocolate ganache and the combination is sublime. Rose dreamt up chocolate heaven with this Chocolate Feather Bed.

The recipe called for dark chocolate which sounded perfect for my favorite Lindt 50%. As luck would have it, there was none to be found. Lindt 70% and Creamy Milk were substituted in even amounts. There must be an easy way to calculate dark chocolate percentage, but the more I read, the more confused I became.
But it's just not possible to go wrong with Lindt chocolate.

Mixing up the batter was surprisingly easy. Since I made half the recipe, I didn't split the cake but instead cut it into four equal parts. There were plenty of hands to help with this delicate procedure. Eldest granddaughter was quite adept at scraping crumbs off the parchment and taste testing the trimmed bits.

The mini Cuisinart is still standing in for The Beast and could not hold all the ganache ingredients. The chocolate and half the heated whipping cream were pulsed, then the remainder added and mixed in the Kitchen Aid. It worked.

The magical part was watching the cooled chocolate mixture transform into a billowy topping. My quality control inspector stayed on task. Rose's whipped ganache passed muster with middle granddaughter.

Lindt white chocolate lightly grated over the top and then garnished with fresh picked blackberries lined up by little fingers completed this lighter than air cake. Everyone loved it. So much so that I'm off for more chocolate to bake the other half.

Plum and Blueberry Upside-Down Torte

2010-08-09T18:37:00.000-07:00

Plum and Blueberry Upside-Down Torte baked in a cast iron pan-what fun! So delicious and simple to make except for finding Greengage plums. This was the chosen recipe from Rose's Heavenly Cakes for this week's HCB baking.

The Greengage plum is an elusive fruit. Finding any required a dragnet telephone sweep covering 77 miles/124km north to south and 77 miles/124 km east to west. Finally some were located at the very last place on my call list, near the stables in a small produce stand. The one we drive by once or twice a week. They saved me the last pound of Kelsey Greengages except now I'm not so certain Kelsey actually
are Greengage.
Even produce people are confused by Greengage's identity hearing green and plum in the same sentence and they didn't look like these or the above picture.

Along the way I learned quite a bit about Greengage plums and why, delicious and coveted as they are among jam makers and bakers, they've become scarce. California farmers have pulled their Greengage orchards because they do not sell in super markets.

The flavor is different than the more popular purple and red varieties, less sweet, but I honestly don't know if these were as ripe as they should be.

This is the first time for me baking a cake in a cast iron skillet, which I have wanted to do for a long time. The caramel syrup was stirred up in a heavy sauce pan then poured into the skillet with the cut up plums and blueberries arranged.

I tossed the dry ingredients into the Big Beast Cuisinart which refused to start. The trusty little mini Cuisinart was pressed into service, mixing the dry ingredients with butter in two batches, dumping the tasty dough into a bowl and then pouring in mixed eggs and vanilla. They stirred in easily with a fork.

It baked forty minutes at 325 instead of 350 taking into account the dark skillet, cooled a few minutes then flipped out of the skillet intact.

No one wanted to wait. Everyone liked it. Baking in cast iron and mixing the dough with a fork made me think of Little House on the Prairie. Or in my case, Ma and Pa Kettle.

Lemon Meringue Cake

2010-08-02T22:43:00.000-07:00

Lemon Meringue Cake, Lemon Meringue Pie, Anything Meringue, is at the bottom of my list of desserts. Weepy meringue on the lemon pies of my childhood ruined any chance of appreciation for meringue. Why did meringue have to shove whipping cream, the stuff of my dreams, off a perfectly good pie and ruin it? That was always my question while scraping it aside. Eventually Marie Callender made a Sour Cream Apple pie with a topping from cheesecake. Inspired, my mother topped her lemon pie with her cheesecake topping and never made meringue again. We always referred to it as Sour Cream Lemon pie and moaned complaints when the bridge group ladies weren't on diets, which usually insured at least one piece to split between my brother and I.

Upon leafing through a then newly arrived copy of Rose's Heavenly Cakes several months ago, the beautiful picture of this cake sent chills down my spine. I have been dreading the eventual making of it ever since.

Sunday rolled around and I did what I always do before anything else on Sunday mornings; check in with HCB to see if Raymond, Faithy and/or Mendy have posted up cakes. Most normal people read the Sunday newspaper, do the Sunday crossword or read the Sunday comics. They don't make a blurry eyed mad dash to the computer to see how the weekly cake stacks up. When does a hobby become an obsession? I'll tell you when a hobby becomes an obsession; when panic strikes because a tried and true recipe (Abelskivers) is given in volume only without weight measurement. I've gone over to the dark side of the digital scale abyss.

I started this meringue monstrosity at 3:30 a.m. putting summer heat induced insomnia to good use. Mixing up the lemon curd and lemon syrup gave me a boost of confidence. The cake was surprisingly simple to mix up, thanks to the Wondra Flour dissolving without traces of hidden flour balls lurking in the batter. The only thing left was the Italian Meringue. So many better options kept springing to mind. What if I made a sweetened creme fraiche like Ginger Elizabeth at that soufflee class? Or what about slathering Haagen-Dazs Lemon ice cream over the top and turning it into an ice cream cake? Whipping cream! Faithful, trustworthy whipping cream with some lemon curd mixed in. But post after HCB post extolled the virtues and sang the praises of Rose's meringue. Seventeen hours later, at 8:30 p.m., the instant read thermometer and I saddled up for sugar syrup battle. An hour later the golden meringue topped cake emerged from the oven.

The meringue Rose created for this cake tastes nothing like any meringue I have ever eaten. The cake is a burst of lemon; not too sweet because I found a leftover quarter cup of sugar which was supposed to go in the batter. This cake certainly surprised me, which is a colossal understatement. I didn't even scrape off the meringue. Baked Alaska is suddenly calling my name.

Designer Chocolate Baby Grands

2010-07-26T12:14:00.000-07:00

Designer Chocolate Baby Grands are charming cupcakes made with the German Chocolate Cake recipe in Rose's Heavenly Cakes. It has become my absolute favorite cake. She makes use of it in other recipes, most notably, Chocolate Ice Cream Cake, and now these sophisticated cupcakes.

More than any other chocolate cake recipe, this one hits the spot. It reminds me of a funny anecdote in "Cooking for Madam, Recipes and Reminiscences from the Home of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis" by Marta Sgubin . Marta was forced to divulge her secret recipe to Mr. Onassis, the Greek oil shipping tycoon, who employed world class chefs around the clock. He loved chocolate cake so much there was a standing order for one to be served every day, at every meal. As a surprise Marta, then nanny for a young Caroline and John, decided to make him a chocolate cake herself.

"Having no clue how to bake a cake, so to be sure that I wasn't missing anything, I bought a Duncan Hines mix."

It was served with dinner and the butler informed Marta that Mr. Onassis wanted to speak with her, immediately.

"This is the most wonderful cake I ever ate! How did you do it? I want you to give me the recipe for my chef."

Busted! She had to fess up it was made out of a box. He didn't care. "It's so good and I love it."

From that moment on, shipping boxes of Duncan Hines chocolate cake mix were sent to homes around the world and the yacht. Mr. Onassis was never without, much to the consternation of his personal chef, who got very upset, saying it was "powder. I can't cook with powder." When Mr. Onassis heard, he simply said "I don't care. This is the chocolate cake I like."

I completely understand. I never thought any cake made from scratch could equal a Duncan Hines with its undefinable flavor and unique crumb that makes it flawless every single time. Until now. I can only imagine Rose's recipe would have delighted Ari Onassis. And his chef.

These ultra chocolate cupcakes were conjured up with Green and Blacks cocoa powder, Lindt Extra Creamy milk chocolate in the glaze and Valrohna chocolate perles for the topping, which Rose suggested as a suitable option instead of her infamous chocolate lacquer glaze.

First things first: conquering scale phobia and sifting confusion. The irony is not lost on me that I use an archaic, bowless Weight Watchers scale for making these Heavenly Cake recipes. I can't sift fast enough before it shuts itself off. I try to start out with a clean and tidy kitchen; however by the time I am finished weighing and sifting, the kitchen is a white disaster zone, myself included. Weighing filled me with dread and confusion until last week. Mendy's post clicked on a light bulb.

"Even if you were to find fanaticism in didactic measuring a fault you can't beat the ease of just pouring straight from the box into the mixing bowl."

But of course! Thumping myself on the forehead, I had a V-8 moment. Weighing flour into a bowl on the scale, then pouring the flour, etc through a fine mesh strainer suspended over the mixing bowl, effectively sifted without a flour blizzard. It worked perfectly with the cocoa powder as well. This is the beauty of baking with the HCB group; having little "aha" moments. A more lucid moment would be to go buy myself a new scale.

I still didn't understand if it was necessary to sift before and after weighing, or only before or perhaps only after. To sift or not to sift, that was the question weighing on my feeble mind. So I did what any eccentric person would do and emailed Rose. Bless her patient baking heart, she replied back.

Here, fellow bakers, is the definitive answer: Sometimes it is necessary to sift before and after measuring. If so, it will be specified in the recipe. In other words, I should read carefully, wear glasses while I'm reading and believe what I am reading, instead of transposing instructions for volume to weight.

The chocolate designer cupcakes were baked in individual silicone cupcake molds with foil liners. I've been eyeing these molds for quite sometime to use for recipes with extra batter. It was a difficult decision; these cute shapes or ones with feet.

I should have known to double the recipe. They are a definite hit with the unbelievable chocolate glaze and perles.

Chocolate Banana Stud Cake

2010-07-19T21:50:00.000-07:00

This cake is a complete surprise! Light, moist with delicate banana undertones and dark chocolate ganache garnished with chocolate chips. The name conjures up a muscle cake; dense, heavy, in your face. Instead it is light as a feather.

Red bananas have taunted me for quite some time in the grocery store. Too exotic looking for Cheerios, I impulsively bought a bunch for this cake. They are milder, creamier in taste compared to the regular bananas we have grown up on. There are more than 500 varieties of bananas in the world, yet all my local grocery stores carry only three. I can't help but think we in the U.S. are missing out on something.

The cake itself was easy to mix up, now that I've finally figured out I was doing the whole scale thing backwards. Curiosity struck with the cocoa powder. I first did the scoop and level, then weighed it on the scale. There were more than two extra tablespoons by weight. This makes me wonder if extra cocoa powder contributes to a dry cake? If I knew how to do cocoa to water ratio, I would. Nicola, spread sheet wizard, are you back from Greece?

I halved the ganache recipe; pouring half the warm mixture over the top like a glaze, let it set awhile, then poured on the rest. The thin layer of ganache let the cake shine through. The dark chocolate and white chocolate chips are fun and I tried to make a rose with them, but alas, no artistic talent. Next time, I'll melt the white chocolate and drizzle it over the ganache. This really is a lovely cake.

Mini Vanilla Bean Pound Cakes

2010-07-12T09:28:00.000-07:00

This little pound cake is amazing; buttery, tender and infused with loads of vanilla flavor. Vanilla bean really elevates this edible gem into a class all its own. There is one and only one problem with Rose's Mini Vanilla Bean Pound Cakes......next time I should quadruple the recipe. Before I knew it, everyone sliced seconds!

The neighborhood cake decorating store received a shipment of paper baking pans. They were rather excited I bought a pack. The owner gave me a sales pitch on how useful the various sizes and shapes are for taking baked goods to an event and not having to worry about bringing a pan home.

These pound cakes, however, never stood a chance of leaving my house.

Not certain how to use the wobbly things, I slid them under a half size cookie sheet. It was then I noticed a paper had fluttered to the floor. Thinking it might be a recipe, I actually ended up reading the instructions. It was a good thing since not only was the cookie sheet called for but a lower temperature and reduced baking time, as well.

I stressed myself out all week over buying a bottle of Vanilla Cognac. After learning it is brandy, it seemed like a good opportunity to use the peach brandy sitting in my cupboard from a past Heavenly Cake recipe. First off, I doubled the syrup to make certain there was enough to macerate peaches after following Raymond's suggestion of putting the remaining vanilla bean pod in the syrup. It truly enhanced the taste. I brushed it on before adding brandy since children were eagerly awaiting a slice then poured a bit of peach brandy into the remaining syrup with peaches.

My granddaughter requested ice cream alongside her slice. This cake is so spectacular it doesn't need anything else but with ice cream and boozy peaches, let me say it takes it to another level. It is definitely on the make again and again and again list, which means, I need to buy proper mini loaf pans.

Chocolate Ice Cream Cake

2010-07-05T14:31:00.000-07:00

Look out Baskin Robbins, this may be the best ice cream cake ever. Commercial ice cream cakes are generally gussied up under questionable "frosting" and decorations. The list of ingredients impossible to pronounce. And "cake" is a relative term. Rose has elevated ice cream cake to a whole new level.

It's practically health food!

Rose makes use of her amazing German Chocolate cake recipe as the base for this ice cream confection. It is my newest favorite dark chocolate cake, to date. The agonizing part was patiently waiting the requisite eight hours after the cake was split and layered with ice cream to properly freeze. Drizzled with decadent Chocolate Snowball Hot Fudge Sauce, it was well worth the wait.

I baked the cake in a 9x13. The biggest difficulty in putting this cake together is choosing which ice cream flavor to use. Strawberry won out but the thought of layering several flavors crossed my mind, as well as, buying twenty different flavors in the mini cups and turning the whole recipe into cupcakes.

Rose's recipes seem to shine, simply because she does not mask flavors. Lindt 90% and Valrhona cocoa powder went into the cake and sauce. The chocolate sauce was especially easy to make; my nine year old granddaughter made it entirely on her own. This cake is definitely a new family favorite.

Children's Cooking Party

2010-07-03T08:47:00.000-07:00

Here is a charming post on hosting a cooking themed birthday party for kids. While a great idea for a birthday,

it's perfect anytime. Children are usually so grateful to have a chance to get their hands in some flour. Even a bit of dough will keep a child entertained. A very smart waiter at Il Fornaio gave my very young granddaughter pizza dough to play with while waiting for dinner to arrive. After pummeling that bit of dough into countless shapes, she brought it home, baked and then painted it. Looped with a ribbon, that pizza dough hung on the wall for years.

http://www.simplebites.net/encourage-kids-to-cook-by-hosting-a-cooking-themed-birthday-party/

Genoise Rose

2010-06-28T22:33:00.000-07:00

Genoise Rose, a simple cake with spectacular possibilities. Rose presents a classic genoise dressed only in a flavored sugar syrup. A well made genoise is the equivalent of a basic black dress. Dress it up or dress it down.

Rose enhances the melted butter in a standard genoise by taking it a step further with buerre noisette. This go around was the best batch I've turned out. Want to know the secret? I fell asleep. Being asleep I didn't fuss with it and lo and behold, I awoke to a nutty golden brown pan of buerre noisette.

Genoise has vexed me on more than one occasion. Following a tip on youtube, I poured the fluffy beaten eggs into a glass bowl before folding in the flour. Doing this allowed a better view for making certain the flour was folded in completely.

After the mini bunt and cupcakes cooled, I brushed the Triple Sec syrup on the cakes. Strawberries sounded good in the soaring temperature but sadly lacked flavor. Spying the leftover syrup, they seemed destined for it. Macerating overnight and then pureed, they made quite a lovely sauce. Dolloped with Grand Marnier whipped cream, this cake was perfect for the sizzling summer heat wave.

Coconut Cheesecake

2010-06-21T18:07:00.000-07:00

Rose introduces her Coconut Cheesecake with the rhetorical question, "If you like coconut and you like cheesecake..." The answer is YES on both counts. This recipe alone makes her newest book "Rose's Heavenly Cakes", a gem.

My husband, on the other hand, is coconut phobic. Detests coconut. Abhors coconut. As much as beets.

Which is to say, a lot. So when he asked if I would make a pineapple upside down cake for Father's Day, I nonchalantly replied that cheesecake was next up for the Heavenly Cake Bakers. Luckily, he likes cheesecake.

I may have forgotten to mention it was a coconut cheesecake. I may have orchestrated the assembling of said cheesecake like a covert operation. I may, or may not, have outright lied when asked "Is that bag of coconut I saw somewhere in this kitchen going into that cheesecake?" Spouses are protected by law from testifying against each other, are they not?

Coconut haters seem to fall into two camps; those that hate everything about it and those that object to the texture. He falls into the latter. The delectable vanilla wafer crust called for coconut. Guilt set in so I made two versions, one with coconut and one without, even though I was fairly certain I could get away with it after pulverizing the coconut in the mini Cuisinart.

Spooned into ramekins, they baked nicely in a water bath. I am always particularly pleased to evade a trip to the ER when executing a bain marie.

Espresso tamper works perfectly

Toasted coconut was sprinkled on some and Miss Thompson's Dark Chocolate frosting drizzled on others in the spirit of Almond Joy candy bars. The majority of the lot are heading out the door tomorrow because I could happily eat cheesecake morning, noon and night.

His verdict, "These are too good to be believed!" I am not so certain his cardiologist would agree. Then again, coconut does have certain health benefits which must outweigh the effects of sour cream and cream cheese. Ya, that is why I poured coconut cream into the batter. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

But the really funny outcome is my husband's realization that he likes coconut flavor as well as, toasted coconut. So this lifelong coconut aversion has been reduced to only raw coconut, if it is detectable, and not masked under something delectable like vanilla wafer cookie crust. The same thing happened with other fervently avowed coconut detesters.

My daughter humored me with the following office update-

Fabian: “Please tell your mom that this is the best dessert I’ve ever had”

Paul: “This is great!”

Nikki: “And I don’t even like coconut”

Max: “Absolutely fabulous”

I walked into the breakroom and there were 10 people eating out of ramekins

Immersion blender whisk

2010-06-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

Oh heavenly days! The Pioneer Woman shared this nifty Kitchen Aid whisk attachment for the immersion blender while posting a coffee cake recipe.

Check it out for mixing egg whites while the mixer is otherwise occupied.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake

2010-06-15T22:13:00.000-07:00

This is the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake from Rose's Heavenly Cakes made into a single layer and eight large cupcakes. The white chocolate cake is filled with strawberry mousseline and strawberry butter then topped with a dark chocolate glaze frosting. These three flavors complement each other nicely. I used Lindt White Chocolate with coconut which added an extra playful element. I very much would like to say the strawberry butter was whipped up with strawberries from my little backyard patch, however this is the one lone berry.

The cupcakes were sent out the door. Much too tempting!

I've been tempted enough this week. Meet Daisy, an eight week old Chihuahua. She is for my eldest granddaughter who patiently, and not so patiently, waited five years for her very own puppy.

Chocolate Butter Cupcakes

2010-06-07T20:36:00.000-07:00

Chocolate Butter Cupcakes warm from the oven are lighter than air. If clouds could be made of Valrohna chocolate, this would be it. This recipe from Rose's Heavenly Cakes is definitely celestial.

The cake has a moist, delicate texture. Trying to outsmart my baking pans, I have taken to removing baked goods a smidgen under baked and turning them out of the pans ASAP. It has helped enormously. The extra cupcake batter went into an aluminum mini cake pan. It took quite a while to bake but turned out nicely.

Everyone preferred these dusted simply with powdered sugar. I, however, couldn't help dabbling in buttercream and mixed up an espresso version with creme fraiche. It was light enough not to compete with the cake.

German Chocolate Cake

2010-05-31T21:04:00.000-07:00

Every single year my brother requested a German Chocolate Cake for his birthday. Every single year I hoped he would chose something different. The recipe my mother used was the on the back of a bar of Baker's Chocolate. The cake always received rave reviews from everyone but me. I was completely indifferent towards it. Not any longer. The German Chocolate Cake in Rose's Heavenly Cakes is utterly fantastic.

Rose uses dark chocolate for the cake batter. Finally, a German Chocolate Cake that actually tastes like
chocolate. The deep flavor balances perfectly against the coconut pecan frosting. The frosting, I have decided, is my new breakfast cereal. I've named it "In Denial".

Rather than a two layer cake, as the recipe called for, I made a single layer and a dozen cupcakes.
I wanted to see if it made a difference baking in an aluminum cake pan verses stainless steel. I have a theory
that my heavy, commercial grade Cuisinart cake pans are holding in so much heat after coming out of the oven they are literally drying out Rose's delicate batters. This cake came out incredibly moist, as did the cupcakes. And then the most peculiar thing happened; they started disappearing. No one wanted to wait for the frosting!

Bernachon Palet d'Or

2010-05-24T19:41:00.000-07:00

Bernachon Palet d'Or is a stunning chocolate cake. Draped in ganache made with creme fraiche, it is not cloying sweet. Rather than the famed chocolate lacquer glaze, this version is drizzled with red current jelly. The combination plays well together.

I heeded Rose's advice and made the ganache first to give it sufficient time to cool. Lindt did not have a 60% dark chocolate on the shelf so I opted for half 50% and half 70%. I have no idea if that equals 60% in the world of chocolate math.

Mixing the cake batter was relatively easy. The hardest part was smoothing the light and fluffy batter into the pan evenly! The tricky part was deciding when to pull the cake out of the oven. There seems to be a very fine line with this cake between done and burned. I got this one out just in the nick of time and had to trim a few bits round the top edge. Rather than have it cook further while cooling in the pan, I flipped it out immediately. The parchment paper was still holding in a great deal of heat so I flipped it back over and removed it. The cake then cooled quickly.

The texture is not dry but next time I will remove it from the oven sooner. I had all the ingredients out for the lacquer glaze however red current jelly kept calling my name. There was not one fresh red current in this town. The fruit exchange said they are due to arrive on the twenty-fifth. The garden nurseries sold every current bush in stock. Had I not been the procrastinator I am, I could have planted one back in January and merrily picked my own red currents.

Everyone loves this cake. Eldest granddaughter has nibbled three pieces. For a kid, that is saying a lot. I think children are the best taste testers when it comes to staples like chocolate cake.

PANCAKES!

2010-05-23T08:45:00.000-07:00

I must share this amazing dad's site for pancakes ! He was on our local news show this morning.

Baby Lemon Cheesecakes

2010-05-18T12:31:00.000-07:00

These delightful miniature lemon cheesecakes in Rose's Heavenly Cakes are so light and fluffy they are very nearly a mousse. The lemon filling rests upon a sponge cake base and is then topped with lemon curd.

Is there no baker out there who will kindly stage a spongecake intervention for me? I had such high hopes with this one.

For the first time not one errant flour ball lurked in the batter. A gorgeous golden hued cake emerged majestically from the oven only to reveal this charred disaster when the parchment paper was removed. After a few surgical slices there was enough char free zone cake to cut out very thin bases.

The filling required one and half tablespoons of lemon juice. I love a burst of lemon. To accentuate the flavor three teaspoons of lemon zest plus double the amount of juice was added.

I absolutely love making any flavor curd with Rose's simple, foolproof method. It makes me feel like a jam making earth mother. My only difficulty is not stopping right then and there to slather it over toast, forgoing the dessert it was destined for.

Someone else had designs on the lemon curd as well. Every time I turned my back this little innocent thing jumped on the counter, stealthily stalking my warm bowl of curd. It was either her or the curd so I put it in the refrigerator. There was good reason Rose said to pour warm curd over the cheesecakes. Lemon curd becomes quite thick when refrigerated. I resorted to piping it over the top.

These were baked in eight ounce ramekins because I did not have enough four ounce, which would have been a better size, although no one is complaining! It took nearly twice as long to bake. This recipe is easy and now in my "go to" file when a light cheesecake is called for. Really, it is so deliciously flavored it could easily be served straight out of the ramekins, "flourless" as Rose indicated.

Gateau Breton

2010-05-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

Gateau Breton from Rose's Heavenly Cakes is a buttery treat that far exceeds the simple ingredients. Almonds, sugar, cultured butter, eggs, vanilla, flour and optional kirsch or rum (I used water) baked together transform into a cake-like shortbread pound cake, with a flavor reminiscent of Madeleines.

Our veterinarian was selling an abundance of his own chickens' fresh eggs; perfect for the Gateau.

Organic Valley offers this seasonal butter between May and September. It was on sale at Whole Foods.
Into the Gateau it went with a little Straus butter from my dream dairy.

Ginger Elizabeth coincidentally offered a Pate Breton cake for Mother's Day, similar to a Gateau Breton.
It was described as "Earl Grey Infused Chocolate Custard Cream, local orange curd on a crispy Pate Breton crust. This lovely tart features Valrhona's Tainori couverture-a wonderful 64% bittersweet chocolate from the Dominican Republic. $38.00"

For fun, I mixed up a batch of orange curd via Rose's instructions and dark chocolate custard cream lightened with whipped cream, then brewed a cup of Earl Grey. This cake needs nothing, it is simply stunning on its own. Adorned with orange curd and Lindt dark chocolate custard cream, it is out of this world plus covered the San Andreas fault that ran through my little Gateau. I brazenly thought flipping it without two cake racks would be easy and of course, it broke in half. This provided a perfect excuse to cut and trim and nibble the fault line. Rose's recipe is a definite keeper.

Here's an interesting post on how to make butter. I wonder if this could possibly qualify for European style high fat when it's hard to find or outrageously expensive?

Whipped Cream Biscuits

2010-05-08T11:07:00.000-07:00

I never make biscuits simply because my grandmother made the most incredible biscuits. She was a hard act to follow with her box of Bisquick. The secret, she said, was to add more milk than the directions called for. Those biscuits, along with strawberry freezer jam, were the stuff of dreams.

So when my eldest granddaughter asked for help making her mother a batch of "Mother's Day Eve" biscuits, I couldn't refuse and went looking for a recipe. My first stop was Smitten Kitchen, an amazing blog. She is meticulous to detail and tweaking, much like our Rose, until she gets a recipe just right. When I saw the recipe for these biscuits, I remembered the Whipped Cream Cake from Rose's Heavenly Cakes and how much we all liked it. Well, let me say, whipped cream in biscuits is it's equal.

These biscuits are incredibly light and fluffy. They nearly fall apart slashed with butter and jam. Easy to make really is an understatement. Which leads me to believe, with the option of adding sugar, these would be great for berry shortcake. The only adaption I did was sifting the flour for more accurate measuring. Rose is a good teacher!

Cream Biscuits
via http://smittenkitchen.com/

Adapted from James Beard’s American Cookery

The original recipe has you brush your baking sheet with melted butter (and increases the amount by two tablespoons) but for whatever reason, the butter not covered by biscuits just got smoky in my oven so I’m voting for you to just line your sheets with parchment. If you find dipping the biscuits in butter difficult (hard to grasp if the dough is soft), just brush them generously instead.
Made about 10 biscuits, perhaps a dozen if I had been stricter about the height and scrap-usage

3 tablespoons melted butter
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the surface
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Melt butter in a small pot or microwave dish, and set aside. Sift two cups flour, the baking powder, salt and (if using) sugar into a large bowl. Fold in 1 1/4 cups cream. If the dough is not soft or easily handled, fold in the remaining 1/4 cup cream, little by little. (I ended up using two additional tablespoons, or half the unused cream.)
Turn dough onto a floured surface, mound it into a ball and, using your hands, press it to a thickness of about 3/4 inch. Cut into rounds, 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Gather dough scraps and continue to make rounds. Dip the top of each round in melted butter and arrange on the baking sheet. Bake until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve immediately, or flash freeze for future use. [Biscuits can be baked straight from the freezer, and additional few minutes baking time will be needed, usually around 3 to 5.]

Saint-Honore Trifle

2010-05-03T18:38:00.000-07:00

Saint-Honore Trifle brings to mind Buckingham Palace, the Queen's Annual Tea Party, big hats and flowery dresses. This trifle is the essence of spring. I realize the history is French but it just seems more fitting in an English garden.

That said I'm totally exhausted! Ten hours in the making, this was. The only adaption I made was substituting agar for gelatin. Notice the final layer is strawberries. I have no idea how that happened so decided to leave off the Whipped Cream Topping.

Eldest granddaughter and I had quite a jolly time spinning sugar all over the kitchen. "Grandma, you got a bullseye in the kitty crunchy bowl!" Half the spun sugar broke off and was lost from my overlooking the vitally important step of oiling the wooden spoon handles. This is the first time I've actually made a trifle in this thirty year old trifle bowl and used a real vanilla bean. It's about time on both counts.

The different flavors complement each other very well. The Chiboust Cream could easily stand on its own; delicious with fresh berries or stewed fruit. Lo these many years ago, I was but a young college lass off on an adventure in the UK as an au pair. It was there I had my first taste of rhubarb, gently stewed and ladled over a delicate, creamy custard. I have wondered and wondered what it was. The lady who made it was French. And now I finally know!

Until I can make a decent genoise, one that doesn't conceal little criminal flour balls, I might use pound cake or Lady Fingers. I adore trifles and can't wait to try Rose's Chocolate Raspberry trifle. But the most hysterical trifle I know was mentioned in a cute television movie called "Bejeweled". The trifle? Trifle Onion Pudding....."They are trying to kill us with food!"

Risotto a la Rose

2010-04-30T20:42:00.000-07:00

The first time I was served risotto, I had no idea what it was. We were having dinner in Napa and the creamiest rice imaginable sat on my plate. It took one bite to convince me it was the best rice on the face of the earth. Still, I honestly thought it was plain rice mistakenly undercooked, yet it was soft and creamy. This was years and years ago, before risotto became the rage.

I have read many recipes for risotto but never mustered up the nerve to face a pot of rice, slowly, ladle full by ladle full, add broth and stir stir stir. Well, after mastering lemon and orange curd, sugar syrups and persnickety buttercream, I decided it was about time to overcome risotto phobia. Besides, Rose has a recipe for risotto in her Celebrations book. If anyone could walk me through it, I felt confident she could. And she did!

She offers two methods; one with a pressure cooker and the other with a heavy pot. I chose the latter lest I launch a pressure cooker like a bottle rocket through the ceiling. It took a great deal of stirring, a great deal of adding hot broth bit by bit, but eventually the arborio rice absorbed the liquid and became creamy.

The only thing that could possibly top being able to make risotto is going to Italy again and savoring risotto.