Perfect Party Cake

About a week ago, on Sunday, I woke up with a strange urge to bake a fancy celebration cake. I have no idea where this longing came from. I mean, it wasn't like there was event or holiday coming up for which I would need such an impressive cake. Nope, I just felt like making a really nice cake for no particular reason at all. Aren't I silly? :)

So, following the call of my unprovoked culinary yearnings, I went over to my bookshelf, grabbed some cookbooks, and looked for a recipe for a fancy cake. After a bit of searching, I settled on this perfect party cake recipe, though I did make a few tweaks to the original recipe by substituting vanilla for lemon and strawberry for raspberry.

The resulting cake was nothing short of awesome. The cake itself was light and fluffy, though not at all dry, and was delicately sweet and lightly scented with vanilla. It was frosted with a beautiful meringue buttercream that, despite being airy and light on the tongue, was wonderfully rich and buttery and sweet. Between each layer of the cake there was a thin smear of strawberry preserves, which gave the cake just the right amount of luscious berry flavor. Add to all of this a generous sprinkling of a sweetened shredded coconut, and you have about the best cake ever. Which, for me at least, was the perfect cake to make for no reason at all.

This recipe is adapted from the perfect party cake recipe found in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From my home to yours:

Perfect Party Cake

Cake:
2 1/4 c (293 g) cake flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 c buttermilk
4 egg whites (room temperature)
1 1/2 c sugar
1/2 c butter (room temperature)
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Frosting:
1 c sugar
4 egg whites
1 1/2 c butter (room temperature)
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Garnishes:
2/3 c strawberry preserves
1 1/2 c sweetened shredded coconut

To make the cake:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg whites until well combined. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract.

5. In three additions, alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture to the butter mixture, beating well between each addition. (i.e. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, beat well, add 1/3 of the buttermilk mixture, beat well, etc.) After you add the last of the buttermilk, beat the batter for an additional 2 minutes to make sure that everything is well combined.

6. Pour the batter into two well-greased 9" round cake pans, diving the batter among the two pans as evenly as possible. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean.

7. Allow the cakes to cool in their pans for 5 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting:

1. Place the sugar and egg whites into a heatproof metal bowl and place the bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisking constantly, heat the mixture until it registers 160° on a food thermometer, which will take about 3 minutes.

2. Using the whisk attachment of an electric mixer, beat the egg and sugar mixture on medium speed until it cools, which will take about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment and add the butter one stick at a time, beating well between each addition.

3. After the last of the butter has been added, beat the frosting on medium-high speed for another 6-10 minutes, or until the frosting is white, shiny, and smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract.

To assemble the cake:

1. Using a gentle sawing motion, carefully cut each of the two cakes in half horizontally to create four layers of cake.

2. Place the first layer of cake on a cake stand. Spread 1/3rd of the strawberry preserves on top of this cake layer and then top the preserves with 1/4th of the frosting. Repeat this step for the next two layers.

3. Place the final layer of cake on top of the first three layers and use the remaining frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake. Gently press the coconut into the sides and top of the cake.

This cake is definitely best on the day that it is made, but it will keep for four or five days if you cover it up and store it in the fridge. Also, as you can see from the large number of steps in the recipe, this cake is a bit time consuming to put together. It's not really that hard to make; it just takes awhile. But trust me, with a cake this good, the effort is very much worth the reward.

Amish Friendship Bread

In case you've never heard of it, Amish friendship bread is a delicious cinnamon-flavored quick bread that is made using a yeast starter. Generally, this yeast starter is passed among friends as if it were some sort of delicious chain letter. It works something like this: A friend gives you a ziploc bag filled with the yeast starter. Over the next ten days, you are expected to take good care of your little yeasties by squishing their bag daily and occasionally feeding them some flour, milk, and sugar. As you tend to it, your starter grows larger and larger and by the last day it is big enough to split into four new bags of starter. You are then supposed to keep one bag of starter and use it to make the bread and give the other three bags of starter away to your friends, thus continuing the delicious cycle.

One of my fiance's co-workers was giving away bags of starter a few weeks ago, and my fiance, knowing that I'm always up for a baking adventure, picked one up for me. Watching my yeast grow and multiply was actually kind of cool. I could tell how active the yeast were by how many little air bubbles they made in the starter, and they really went crazy right after I feed them for the first time. I have to admit, as I tended to my yeast and watched them grow, I kind of got attached to the little guys. It kind of felt like I had a low-maintenance, microscopic pet. Which I then baked into bread.... Oh dear...

Anyway, for my first batch of friendship bread, I decided to stick closely to the recipe that was attached to my bag of starter when I received it. The recipe went something like this:

Amish Friendship Bread

Bread:
1 c Amish friendship bread starter
3 eggs
1 c oil
1/2 c milk
1 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c (280g) all-purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large box (5.1 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix
1 c raisins

Topping:
1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat your oven to 325°.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the starter, eggs, oil, milk, sugar, and vanilla extract until everything is well combined.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pudding mix. Add the starter mixture to the flour mixture and gently stir until the batter just barely comes together. Gently stir in the raisins.

3. To make the topping, whisk together the sugar and the cinnamon. Grease two loaf pans well, and then dust the greased pans using half of the cinnamon sugar mixture. Pour the batter evenly into the pans and then evenly sprinkle the remaining half of the cinnamon sugar over the top of the batter.

4. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a bread comes out clean. Allow the breads to cool in their pans for 10 minutes before turning them out on a wire rack to cool completely.

I have to warn you, the above recipe makes a lot of bread. I had to fill two mini loaf pans and a 9 x 9 cake pan to use up all my batter. I'm glad I ended up with so much though, because the resulting bread was really good! It was rich and moist and sweet and had a nice spicy cinnamon flavor. It actually reminded me a bit of cinnamon coffee cake, though it was lighter in texture. And, get this, the bread improved in both texture and flavor after it had sat out for a few days. Seriously, it was even better on day two than it was straight out of the oven!



Now I just have to figure out what to do with the rest of those starters...

Madeleines

For a long time now, I've known that while baking by myself is fun, baking with someone else is even more fun. But it is only recently that I learned that this truth still holds even if you and that someone else are baking in two separate kitchens that are hundreds of miles apart!

You see, for today's post, I've teamed up with Allison over at Bake your heart out. (Allison's blog is awesome by the way, so go check it out!) Allison and I were talking a little while ago and we discovered that both of us had been wanting to make madeleines for some time, but neither of us had ever gotten around to it. So then we thought, why not try making madeleines around the same time and blog about it together!

And so we did!

Madeleines, for those who don't know, are delicate little shell-shaped cookies that are popular in many parts of France. The unique shape of the madeleine makes them perfect for dipping and dunking in coffee and tea, as does their soft, cake-like texture.

Unfortunately, as you can see from my photo, the madeleines that I made over-browned a bit. This was my fault. I was using non-stick pans, which tend to brown things faster than regular pans, and I didn't keep a close eye on my oven. Oh well. I suppose if something tastes good, it doesn't matter what it looks like, right?

And boy did these taste good! They had a lovely honey and vanilla flavor and wonderful soft texture. They were at their best straight out of the oven, eaten while they were still moist and warm. They dried out a bit on the second day, but they were still really tasty when dunked in a glass of ice cold milk.

This recipe is adapted from the madeleine recipe from Field Guide to Cookies: How to Identify and Bake Virtually Every Cookie Imaginable:

Madeleines

4 eggs
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c (210 g) all purpose-flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
12 tbsp butter (melted and cooled)

1. Using a stand mixer fixed with the whisk attachment, whisk together the eggs, sugar, honey and vanilla until they are thick and foamy.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt over the egg mixture and gently fold until everything is well combined. Gently fold in the melted butter.

3. Cover the finished batter and refrigerate it for at least eight hours.

4. Preheat your oven to 400° and grease your madeleine pans well.

5. Fill each cup of the madeleine pan 3/4ths of the way full with the batter. Bake 5-7 minutes or until the madelines are golden.

6. Allow the madelienes to cool in their pan for 2 minutes before you turn them out.

Before you go, be sure to check out Allison's madeleines! Thanks for the great choice Allison!

Corn Muffins

During my middle and high school years, I was frequent maker of Jiffy Mix muffins. I was always so happy when I opened one of those cute little blue and white boxes of muffin mix, because I knew that after a little bit of mixing, and a little bit of baking, I would have warm, sweet muffins to munch upon. Back in those days, I tried out just about every flavor of Jiffy muffin mix, but the corn muffin mix was always my favorite. It always baked up so nice and golden brown and had a wonderful sweet corn flavor.

In many ways, the corn muffins that I made using the below recipe reminded me of those boxed mix muffins that I used to love so dearly. Like their boxed mix cousins, these "from scratch" corn muffins have a pleasantly grainy texture and are lightly sweet with just a bit of butteriness. Additionally, these muffins are every bit as easy to throw together as their Jiffy Mix counterparts. Seriously, grab two bowls, measure out your ingredients, stir a few times, fill your muffin pans and throw'em in the oven, and you're done!

And as much as I love my Jiffy Mix muffins, I have to say that these "from scratch" muffins are better. Their flavor is a bit fresher, their texture is a bit lighter, and their color is a bit more beautiful. Not to mention that they give me the satisfaction of knowing that I can make corn muffins from scratch. :)

This recipe is adapted from the corniest corn muffin recipe from Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking: From my home to yours. (Which my Mom got me for Christmas. Thanks Mom!):

Corn Muffins

1 c (140 g) all-purpose flour
1 c yellow corn meal
6 tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c buttermilk
3 tbsp butter (melted and cooled)
3 tbsp corn oil
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 c corn kernels (fresh or frozen)

1. Preheat your oven to 400°.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, corn meal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, butter, corn oil, egg, and egg yolk until everything is well combined. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture and stir gently until everything just barely comes together. The batter is going to be lumpy. Gently stir in the corn kernels.

4. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 cups of a well greased muffin pan. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool the muffins in their pan for 5 minutes before turning them out on a wire rack to cool completely.

I ate these corn muffins the same way that I used to eat my Jiffy Mix muffins: Split in half, warmed, and topped with a light smear of butter and a drizzle of honey. However, if you want to go the savoury route, these muffins also pair well with a big bowl of hardy stew or spicy chili con carne. These muffins also freeze very well, so feel free to make a big batch and freeze some for later.

Maple Pecan Shortbread Cookies

Hey everyone! How's it going?

The fiance and I just got back from a three day road trip to Minnesota. We drove up to St. Paul on Thursday to see a Wings/Wild game and then spent the next few days hanging out with one of our old college buddies. (It's the same guy that we visited over Thanksgiving, by the way.)

The game was really awesome. Because both my fiance and I were born and raised in the Detroit metro area, we're both hardcore, life-long Red Wings fans, and it was such a treat to get to see them play live. The game was a real nail bitter too, with the Wings winning in a sudden death shootout.

Anyway, our trip didn't leave me any time for baking this weekend, so I'm going to pull a recipe from the "Stuff-that-I-made-and-photographed-awhile-ago-but-haven't-blogged-about-yet" pile. And thus I present to you these maple pecan shortbread cookies:

This recipe is adapted from the maple-pecan shortbread cookie recipe over at Piece of Cake:

Maple Pecan Shortbread Cookies

1 1/2 c pecan halves
1/4 c turbinado sugar
2 1/4 c (315 g) all-purpose flour
1/2 c (65 g) cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 c butter (room temperature)
3/4 c sugar
1 egg yolk
1/4 c pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg white (lightly beaten)

1. Place the pecan halves in a food processor and pulse until the pecans are finely chopped. Place 1 cup of the chopped pecans into a medium-sized bowl and set aside. Pulse the remaining pecans in the food processor a few more times until they are finely ground. (Be careful not to over-process the pecans or you will end up with pecan butter! Which, while delicious, is not very good for this recipe!)

2. In a small bowl, mix the finely ground pecans with the turbinado sugar. Set aside.

3. Add the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt to the bowl that contains the 1 cup of chopped pecans and whisk everything together to combine.

4. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk, maple syrup, and vanilla extract and beat until everything is well combined. Gradually beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture until it is well incorporated.

5. Shape the finished cookie dough into two logs that are about 8 inches long each. Wrap these logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least an hour and a half.

6. Preheat your oven to 350º. Cut 1/4 inch thick slices off of the cookie dough logs and arrange them on an ungreased baking sheet, leaving about an inch between each cookie.

7. Brush the top of each cookie with the beaten egg white and then generously sprinkle them with the pecan/sugar mixture that you set aside earlier. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the cookies are golden around the edges.

These delightful cookies are nutty and crunchy and perfectly sweet. The maple flavor in these cookies is mild but noticeable and adds some nice depth to these buttery treats. These cookies also keep for more than a week in an airtight container, so they are ideal if you are looking for a cookie to ship to loved ones that live far away.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

If there's one thing that I've discovered since starting this baking hobby of mine, it's that I love adding fresh and local fruits and vegetables to my culinary creations. Whether it's sweet, juicy blueberries in my coffee cake, or spicy, crunchy jalapeños in my cornbread, I've found that nothing improves the flavor and texture of my baked good more than the addition of some seasonal, local produce.

Living in Wisconsin, I'm lucky enough to have access to a wide variety of locally grown fruits and veggies all throughout the spring, summer, and fall. During the winter however, things get a little rough on the local produce front. This time of the year, if I want fresh and local produce I'm pretty much limited to root vegetables. Ya know. Things like onions, and shallots, and sweet potatoes.

So you'll have to forgive me if I make a lot of sweet potato recipes this month. Fresh, pureed sweet potato is an excellent addition to a wide array of baked goods, and sweet potato is the only thing that's "in season" right now. Give me a month or two and I'll be back to strawberries and spinach, I swear. :)

Anyway, this was my first time ever making biscuits, and I think I did a really good job. My biscuits rose nicely and they were really soft and fluffy. The whole biscuit making process was a little tricky, but it came very naturally to me. I promise that I'll put up a biscuit making photo tutorial sometime in the future.

This recipes is adapted from Paula Deen's sweet potato biscuit recipe:

Sweet Potato Biscuits

1 1/4 c (175 g) all-purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c cold butter (cut into small pieces)
3/4 c sweet potato puree (fresh or canned)
2 to 4 tbsp milk
1 tbsp butter (melted)

1. Preheat your oven to 450°. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

2. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles a course meal and no pieces of butter larger than a pea remain.

3. In a small bowl, mix the sweet potato and 2 tbsp of milk together until smooth. Gently stir the sweet potato mixture into the flour mixture until the dough just barely comes together. If you find that the dough is too dry to work with, gently stir in another tablespoon or two of milk.

4. Turn out the biscuit dough onto a well floured surface. Gently knead the dough once or twice to finish the mixing process. Be careful not to overwork the dough or your biscuit will come out tough. Pat the dough to a 1/2 inch thickness and use a biscuit cutter to cut out the biscuits.

5. Carefully place your biscuits onto a well greased baking sheet. Brush the top of each biscuit with the melted butter. Bake for 15 minutes or until the biscuits have risen and browned slightly.

With their lovely texture and mild sweet potato flavor, these biscuits are tasty and versatile. Drizzled them with a little honey and they make a great breakfast. Split them in half and add a little store bought pulled pork and some thinly sliced red onion and you have an amazing lunch: Yum!

Red Onion, Broccoli, and Mozzarella Quiche

With all the sweets and desserts that I've featured on this blog lately, I figured that it was about time I write about something savoury! And what better savoury dish to feature than quiche!

Quiche is one of my favorite breakfast foods. Consisting of a silky egg and cream filling that is nestled in a flaky, buttery pie crust, quiche is a rich, hardy, and satisfying food, making it the perfect way to start the day.

What's even better is that quiche is practically a magnet for left-overs. Seriously, you can mix in just about anything into a quiche and it will be delicious. Got some left over ham? Throw it in a quiche. Need to use up those green onions before they go bad? Throw them in a quiche. Need something to do with the last of those red peppers you bought on sale last week? Throw them in a quiche. You get the picture.

For the below quiche I decided to use broccoli, red onion, and aged mozzarella cheese for my mix-ins. I did this partially because I happen to have all three ingredients on hand, and partially because I love how the fresh crunch of the broccoli pairs with the spicy bite of the red onions and the milky flavor of the mozzarella.

This recipe is a Daydreams of Baking original, but it was inspired by the instructions for making a basic quiche that I found here:

Red Onion, Broccoli, and Mozzarella Quiche

1 unbaked all butter pie crust or a unbaked store bought crust
3 eggs (beaten)
1 1/2 c heavy cream
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 c broccoli florets (cut into bite sized pieces)
1/2 c red onion (chopped)
3/4 c mozzarella cheese (shredded)


1. Preheat your oven to 425°. Place the pie crust in the oven and pre-bake it for about 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 325°.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, paprika, salt, and pepper until well combined. Add the broccoli, red onion, and mozzarella and stir to coat. Pour the egg mixture into the pie crust.

3. Bake the quiche for 40-45 minutes or until the filling has puffed up and browned slightly.