Baking Adventure #10

In the words of Mrs. Doubtfire, "HELLOOOO!!!!!!" [Insert whipped cream face mask]

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season and had a very merry Christmas! Lots of baking has occurred over the past couple of weeks including more peppermint bark, snickerdoodles, "trash" mix, a breakfast casserole, and...

This week's baking adventure:

Red Velvet cupcakes and a Red Velvet Cake!

This particular adventure was not only requested by my baby sister (she's 18, so not really a baby) and one of my devoted readers. We shall call him "Anonymous". Anyways, I must give thanks to my sister and "Anonymous", as this cake was a lot of fun to make and soooo tasty! (Random fact: up until exactly one week before baking the cake I had NEVER tried Red Velvet cake. *GASP* I know...)

A BRIEF HISTORY LESSON on Red Velvet Cake (as told to me by my bestie): Red Velvet cake came about as a result of water reacting with the minerals in cocoa powder back in the early 1900s. The reaction turned the cake batter red. (For a more accurate history lesson, please read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_velvet_cake.)

Upon researching the best recipe to use for this adventure, I decided to reference two of them. One was from a Paula Deen recipe on FoodNetwork.com and the other (Cakeman Raven) was sent to me by a friend on Twitter, Kelle Kramer. The two recipes for the cake part were almost identical, but there was a slight difference in the frosting, so I decided to make my own while utilizing them for a reference...

PREP was a sinch. A little tip for ya: if you buy a 4-pack of food coloring, each one of those little guys equals about 1 tablespoon of food coloring.

Next it's time to separate the wet and dry ingredients and then combine. I had a bit of an accident when combining the two but most stayed in the bowl! Hand mixer + stuck = a mell of a hess!

After the cake batter is a smooth texture, divide batter into two 9" cake pans about 2/3 full. I had some extra batter so I opted to make cupcakes as well! One problem with this, I couldn't find my liners ANYWHERE (later to be found right where I put them, grrr), so I decided to just Pam (read: vegetable cooking spray) the heck out of my mini-cupcake tins and hope for the best.

While the cakes and cupcakes were baking, it was time to make the frosting. Now both recipes called for 4 cups of powdered sugar and one called for 1 tsp vanilla extract while the other called for 2 teaspoons. I tend to like to make recipes my own if possible (unless it's already amazing, then if it ain't broke, don't fix it!). For the cream cheese frosting, I used one 8 oz. package of reduced fat cream cheese and one regular 8 oz. package of cream cheese along with 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract. NOW, here's the kicker... I didn't listen to the recipe for the amount of sugar it called for. Remember that Red Velvet cupcake I tried the week prior? WELL it was still fairly fresh on my pallet, and what I loved about it was that you could actually taste the cream cheese and it wasn't overbearingly sweet. With that in mind, I ended up only adding about 2-2.5 cups of powdered sugar and it was [insert Italian accent] PERFECTO! MUAH!

While letting the cakes cool and placing some of the frosting in a piping bag (el cheapo from Publix), I decided to get creative and pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes and VOILA!

[A little secret about these cupcakes: they look better than they tasted. As a result of not having liners, the outside of the cupcakes were slightly crunchy... oopsy!]

Once the cakes cooled, it was time to frost. Here's another little hint for ya: you know how cakes are flat on the bottom and rounded on the top once out of the oven? Well, the last time I made a cake, I carve off the rounded part thinking it would make the cake more even... WRONG! After frosting it, the middle sank in, so this time I put the rounded side of one cake down, the two flat sides together, and thus the other rounded side was facing up. After frosting, there was no dip in the middle... PROBLEM SOLVED!

I put the piping bag to good use again was the cake was frosted to try my hand at decorating. (As we all know... this is NOT one of my strong points.) The piping turned out not too shabby around the edges so I decided to add a tree in the middle as well.

In order to add a little color and festiveness (is that a word?), it was back to the grocery for some green sprinkles and M&Ms!

and there you have it: Pint-Size Baker's Merry Christmas Red Velvet cake!!! Hope your mouth doesn't water too much. ;-)

Feliz Navidad

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

No post just yet as we're right in the middle of great times with the family! About to go watch "It's a Wonderful Life" and get grandpa to show me a few moves on the dance floor!

Hope you all are having an absolutely wonderful day with those near and dear to your heart!

Love,

Pint-Size Baker

The Decade in Food: Trends from 2000 to 2009

As you all know by now Delish.com is one of my favorite sites for recipes and general food knowledge. They even have fun quizzes once a week to test your food knowledge. Delish.com has put together a list of Food and Diet Trends over the past decade. How many trends have you been a part of?

The Decade in Food: Trends from 2000 to 2009 - Page 10

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Chocolate Thinning Tip

[BEEP BEEP BEEP]

We interrupt this week to inform you of a tip/lesson that my sister learned this evening...

When melting chocolate for dipping things in (i.e. pretzels), do NOT attempt to thin it out with milk or it will curdle.

Below are a few pointers to help you out:

1. Use a double boiler if you have one.
2. If you don't have a double boiler, then place chocolate in microwave for 35 seconds, stir, then back in for 15 seconds, stir again. Repeat this until chocolate is smooth and melted.
3. If you do not follow the above, you run a great risk of burnt chocolate.
4. When attempting to thin out the chocolate, use a small amount of oil (1-2 teaspoons). Make sure you use Canola or Vegetable oil and NOT olive oil as it will affect the taste of the chocolate.

We now return you to your regular programming!

[BEEP BEEP BEEP]

Baking Adventure #9

Buon giorno!

I know I haven't been baking much the past few weeks, but in all honesty, I'm saving up for the Christmas season. There will be quite a few new adventures: peppermint bark, red velvet cake, and cookies, just to name a few!

This week's baking adventure is inspired by the Christmas season. This is hands-down my most favorite time of year (see THIS for reiteration)! With Christmas comes the celebration of the birth of Christ our savior, in addition to parties, decorations, and wonderful times spent with family and friends. Atlanta is home to the magnificent Macy's tree, and one day I intend on getting to NYC to see the biggest one of all lit up during this season.

Before we get started, I do have a confession to make... this week's adventure involves no baking whatsoever... STOP! HOLD THE PHONE! Did she just say NO BAKING?... That I did folks. However, this little treat is so wonderful it is included by way of the "Wonderful Treat" loophole. SO, without further ado, this week's baking adventure is...

SIMPLE HOLIDAY PEPPERMINT BARK

(Brought to you courtesy of Delish.com. One of my all-time favorite recipe sites!)

This recipe is just as the title says "SIMPLE". It involves a microwave, a cookie sheet, and a refrigerator. I KNOW those of you out there who aren't particularly blessed in the baking realm would be able to handle this without a doubt! (Mom, this includes you!)

First things first: PREP! (Told you it was simple! hehe)

The recipe calls for crushed candy cane or peppermints. I went the candy cane route and chose a festive red and green peppermint candy cane to add a little more character. This recipe calls for 1/2 cup of crushed peppermint candy, which for me equated to about 6 full candy canes. Now, I don't own a mallet or any type of food beating device (otherwise known as a meat tenderizer), but I do own a rolling pin so it was time to go to town!

[Don't let the innocent face fool you. I'm full of strength and will crush a candy cane at moment's notice!]

Tip for crushing the candy cane: place in a plastic sealable bag prior to crushing (make sure you seal it), that way all crumbs and pieces are kept in one place as well as easily transferable to sprinkle on the chocolate.

After the candy canes are crushed into little bits and pieces, it's time to melt the chocolate in the microwave. Please note that while doing this, the bowl will get HOT and you will likely have a mess on your hands (literally).

I would recommend melting the semi-sweet chocolate first and then the white chocolate, as the white chocolate is a little finicky. Also, when melting the white chocolate, you might want to stir it a bit more than you did the semi-sweet chocolate as it wants to clump up... nothing a little stirring can't fix though!

After the chocolates are melted, it's time to spread the semi-sweet chocolate out on a foil lined cookie sheet and then drop tablespoons-full of white chocolate and marbleize...

This is where my lack of artistic ability comes in. To me the marbling of the chocolates looks like a big ole mess...

LUCKILY! The crushed candy cane comes in and saves the day by topping the chocolate and covering my imperfections! WOOHOO! [You're my hero! *sigh*]

After the Peppermint bark sets in the fridge for an hour, then the fun, breaking apart thing comes back to play!

And voila! There you have peppermint bark my friends! Simple, quick, and so easy, yet SO yummy! Store in an air-tight container up to a month in the fridge.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season so far! I look forward to hearing from you soon! Until the next adventure...

Yours truly,

Pint-Size Baker