Family's Favorite Carrot Cake

After I graduated from culinary school, I was put in charge of all family, friend and sometimes neighbor celebrations.  Never something I ever complained about!!!  I was MORE  than willing to put my education to good use, and there is nothing I enjoy more than baking, assembling and decorating cakes.

My Dad's personal favorite is Carrot Cake, and every year, I make a from scratch carrot cake, that always receives rave reviews (and usually requests from anyone within smelling range of our oven for a cake of their own!).

So here's the recipe:

Preheat your oven to 350° F For the Cake 4 large eggs 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 1 cup canola oil 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp baking soda 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 2 1/2 cups finely grated raw carrots* For the Frosting 1 1/2 sticks of butter, room temperature 12 ounces (1 1/2 packages) cream cheese, room temperature 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract Method 1. Begin by whisking the eggs with a hand held electric mixer, or a stand mixer, fit with the whisk attachment for about 2 or 3 minutes, and then gradually add in the sugar. Continue whisking until the mixture has tripled in volume, and is very light in color, about 3-4 more minutes. 2. In a steady stream, slowly add the canola oil. After the oil is incorporated, switch to the paddle (for a stand mixer) or the beaters (for a hand mixer). 3. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Whisk these  ingredients together by hand before adding to the batter.  Mix on low until just incorporated. 4. Add in the grated carrots and chopped walnuts. Mix until evenly combined. 5. Divide the batter evenly between two 9" round cake pans, greased, and lined on the bottom with parchment paper. Bake for 15- 25 minutes until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pans to body temperature, then remove from pans and allow to cool completely on cardboard cake rounds (these can be found at any craft store that sells cake decorating supplies, like Michael's, Roberts, Hobby Lobby, and Walmart) To make the frosting 1. Cream the cream cheese and butter together until completely smooth.   2. Add the vanilla extract, and half of the powdered sugar. Mix on low speed until combined 3. Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix to combine. Avoid "stringy" or "stretchy" frosting by mixing only as much as is needed to combine the ingredients.  Over mixing will result in loose frosting that doesn't hold its shape. To assemble the cake  Place the bottom layer on a cake plate. Level the top and spread with 1/3 of the frosting. Level the other cake, and place cut side down on top of the frosted layer (this provides a more level and smooth surface on which to spread the frosting). Spread with another 1/3 of the frosting. Using the remaining frosting, cover the sides of the cake.  I find it is best to chill the cake, especially in warm climates. Move the cake to room temperature 1 1/2 hours before serving. Try it out and let me know what you think! *For the carrots, you can use the pre-shredded, packaged ones, but I recommend chopping them into smaller pieces.

Churro

Churros

The best churro I ever ate was in Tijuana, driving back state side after a week long mission trip to Mexico to help a pastor and his family move into their new home.  In a 15-seater Ford, with 14 other girls, slowly creeping along with traffic, through the street vendor area just before the border, we bartered with the men and women for blankets, candy and figurines. Then we catch this amazing aroma, over the mix of exhaust, frying fish, and that “desert” smell, hot and dusty. Over all of that, we smell the sweet, spiced fragrance that only can be cinnamon and sugar, coating the crisp and chewy sweet dough, fresh out of the fryer.  We instantly pooled the rest of our pesos, and bought as many churros as we could afford. As I bit into that piping hot cinnamon sugary scepter of heavenly flavor, I fell in love. That was six years ago, I find my self, even today, craving them, and it has taken me this long to try to make them.   They aren’t the same as the ones from that street vendor, but they definitely make for a craving of their own.

I used a small piece to top a cupcake for a festive dessert for a Cinco de Mayo party.

I took a vanilla cupcake, mixed some cinnamon into the butter cream, just to taste (I rarely use measurements for flavoring anymore, the trick is to start with less, you can always add more!).  Frost the cupcake, then cut a churro on a bias (that means to cut the ends diagonally parallel) about 2” long, and stick into the top of the frosting like a straw.  SOOOOOO tasty!

           

Before making the dough, heat some vegetable oil, about 4” deep, to about 350°

1 cup milk

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup of butter (or margarine if you prefer)

-- bring these to a boil in a quart sized sauce pan, melting the butter completely.

While you wait for this to boil, go ahead and prepare your last steps: take a baking sheet, line it with paper towels, and place a cooling rack over it.

Take a second baking sheet and put 2 cups of sugar, and 1/4 cup of cinnamon and mix together.

Once the butter is melted, and the mixture is boiling, pour in all at once:

1 cup AP flour

-- Remove from heat, and stir to incorporate the flour, place back over medium heat, and cook stirring constantly for about 5 minutes. This cooks out the “floury” flavor from the dough. Put this mixture in a bowl and beat on high speed until cool.

Then add one at a time:

3 eggs.

--mix this for  2 more minutes after incorporated. Place this mixture into a pastry bag fit with a large star tip.

Once the oil has reached 350°, use your left hand to squeeze the dough into the oil, and with your right hand, use a pair of scissors to snip off the dough from the bag. Hold the tip of the bag close to the surface so you don’t splash yourself with the hot oil. Do about 4 at a time so the oil doesn’t cool off too much.

Give these several minutes to do their magic.  Once they rise to the surface, give them about 3 minutes before rolling them over.   They should be a rich brown color when you pull them from the oil, about five minutes total. From the oil place them on the cooling rack to drip some of the oil, then roll them in the sugar mixture.

Serve as is, or with vanilla ice cream!

Happy eating!

First Wedding Cake Delivery

I am still very young in my profession, I've only been graduated for 2 years this May, so I haven't delivered many wedding cakes. I planned well, and was prepared for everything.  So I thought...

The event coordinator at the restaurant, Jen, and I loaded up the van, we even commandeered the kitchen cart to wheel the cake into the venue, and with our map/driving directions in hand, began our trek across the valley to deliver the wedding cake.  Getting to the parking lot was a piece of cake (cake puns are ALWAYS intended when talking to a cake decorator, I don't care what they say!).  Once we found a resort employee, and discovered that there was NO way we could wheel anything up to the building, we were in the least, frightened, and realistically I was scared stiff!  How are we supposed to CARRY 75+ pounds of cake up a snowy mountain, with snowboarders whizzing past us?!

So we begin our assessment hike up the slope. We leave the cake, unassembled, in the van, and walk/climb up the mountain, and then are nearly mowed over by a mob of snow boarders/skiiers.  Our instructions were, to follow the paper lanterns through the trees, to the cabin, as we locate said lanterns, my hopes for an easy delivery drop more and more with each lantern we find.  These lanterns are each at a slightly higher elevation than the first, and the path is wedged between the trees.

Luckily, we were intercepted by the bride, who was following a sled down the hill. She came back down to the van with us, and carried half the cake back up the mountain, and actually met us on her way back down, and we were only half way up!  After hiking, tripping, slipping, falling, laughing our way up the slope, we finally get to the cabin, and set up the cake, pipe the borders, and place the topper.  It's perfect!  It fits right into the setting, the bride and groom love it, and with no damage done on its journey from van to cabin to table, everyone's happy!!

For having so many hurdles to clear during the delivery, the entire thing went incredibly smoothly. I still am not looking forward to another winter resort wedding delivery though!

Review? Ok... Cupcake Chic

I'm not sure where I should begin... so I suppose the beginning makes as much sense as anything else.

I first saw this place by the University Mall when a friend and I went to Olive Garden for my birthday last month, but I refused to go inside for fear the pastry chef mentality would make itself known, and would refuse to let me rest for the remainder of the day.  So, on my next visit to that area, I decided that my curiosity was stronger than my desire to not work on my only day off.

As I parked in front of the shop, my first sight was of the logo, cute, but more "bad *ss" than "chic".  The inside held nothing exciting, not even the cashier seemed so happy to be there, and then continued to take it out on me.

I always thought it was common practice for cashiers in ANY establishment, but especially a "hospitality" business to greet their customers with a smile and a "Hello, what can I get for you today?" or at least a "Hi, welcome to..." but this girl just asked what I wanted, then rang me up and waited for my payment.

But now to the cupcakes! Ahhhh the cupcakes, maybe my expectations are too high, or maybe my palette died, and no longer tastes ANYTHING (which I know, is not my problem, because the minestrone today was INCREDIBLE!), but the Key Lime Pie cupcake, described on their menu board, which says graham cracker crust, key lime cake [but not] with key lime cream cheese frosting, was dry, and not "lime-y". The only "lime" flavor was presented with the miniscule amount of lime zest... Now I'm not expecting a Key Lime Pie cupcake to be so "lime-y" that it puckers your pucker, but this didn't even have any flavor. It wasn't even green!  I can't even start on the irish creme cupcake!

Over all my visit to Cupcake Chic was very disappointing. I'm sure my travels will not take me back to this particular "cupcakery".

My favorite cashiers, runners, supervisors and event coordinator

These people know who they are, and I have to say that I love them all. They always willingly eat whatever experimental dessert I put in front of them, and devour whatever damaged, and day old treats end up in the bistro. So here's a shout out to all of my friends in the restaurant, saving the brownie edges for bakery visitors, trips to Iggy's with 45 minute waits, brainstorming and decorating cookies until 2 am.  The bakery couldn't be as successful as it is with out all of you.  See you in the morning!!

Black & Whites

These "cake-ish" cookies are big in New York, so I'm told. I personally have never seen/heard of them before the owner of the restaurant came to me and asked me to develop a good recipe for this unique treat.

The flavor of the cookie is mild, the texture is "cake-ish" and most of the sweet sugariness we all associate with cookies comes in the form of the icing fondant.

Since icing fondant isn't something found in your local market, feel free to use a confectioner's glaze:

Start with powdered sugar (approximately 1 1/2 cups for this recipe), thin to a good spreading consistency with milk, and flavor however you like (I personally love almond extract, especially with the chocolate glaze).
You could use cinnamon, or any flavored extract you like.  For a chocolate glaze, use a combination of powdered sugar and cocoa powder (I prefer Hershey's Special Dark, it's so much more chocolaty! (approximately 1/4 cup), and add cocoa powder until it reaches the color/flavor you desire. Beware though, if you use too much it will taste like cocoa powder, and no longer like icing.

If the glaze becomes too thin, add more powdered sugar, too thick, add more milk a tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency.

These are delicious! The restaurant sells out of these cookies everyday!  I hope you enjoy them as much as my customers do.

Black and White Cookies

1 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/3 cup Buttermilk
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
(I prefer vanilla paste)
5 Tbs Unsalted Butter, soft
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
1 Large Egg

Preheat oven to 350 F.
1. Whisk together dry ingredients: flour, baking soda and salt.  Stir together buttermilk and vanilla.

2. Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl and add the egg, beating until combined.

3. Alternating between the dry and wet ingredients, mix until combined, scraping the bowl occasionally. Mix until smooth.

4. Spoon 1/4 cups of batter about 2" apart onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and bake about 8-10 minutes until the tops are lightly browned, and puffy, and the cookies spring back when touched in the middle. Allow to cool before glazing. To cool them faster, place cookie sheet on top of cooling rack, or transfer cookies with a metal spatula.

To glaze the cookies, turn flat side up, and spread half with white icing, and half with chocolate.

To read more about these cookies check out:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Black-and-White-Cookies-106171

Woooops ... and Chocolate Raspberry Cake

I must apologize! I am so oblivious and forgetful sometimes. I said before that the chocolate raspberry cake is flour-less. Unfortunately, for myself... it is not flour-less. It is indeed a regular chocolate cake, with regular chocolate mousse, just like most chocolate cakes with chocolate mousse, the difference, however, is that not only is there a layer of mousse between the layers of cake, or sponge, but it is also surrounding the exterior.  This recipe uses a fairly dry cake, called a genoise, but what the cake itself lacks in moisture,  it makes up for in stability.  To compensate, when assembling the cake, brush on a mixture of equal parts water and sugar, referred to as "simple syrup" and flavor to taste with some kind of liqueur.  Since this is a raspberry cake, I'll be using framboise , which is a raspberry flavored liqueur.

One more note before the recipe. I rarely use volume measures. They are not nearly as accurate as weights. The only exception is for small measurements, teaspoons and tablespoons. Even the slightest variance in routine or method can change the weight of one cup of all purpose flour. Scooping and leveling a cup of flour can compact it, while pouring it from one scoop into the cup will aerate the flour, however slightly.  It can mean a difference of a few ounces, resulting in a dryer or more "doughy" product, respectively.  Digital scales are accurate, and easy to use, and well worth the investment.

Sorry! One more side note... my side notes will be written in italics, they are just informative, they offer some background, insight, experience etc...

Now for the recipes:

For ease, please use your favorite chocolate cake recipe, just be sure to have two 8" cakes to split, collectively, into 4 layers. Do this the day before you wish to serve the cake so  the cake will be easier to split, and handle in general.  It is best to split a cake that has been chilled for a couple of hours in the least, overnight is best. Just be sure that it is well wrapped and protected from any moisture, and/or food odors.

http://www.channel4.com/4homes

The components:
Chocolate Cake (2) 8"
Chocolate Mousse
Fresh Raspberries about 2 pints
Raspberry Jam
Chocolate Sprinkles for the edges of the cake
Simple Syrup (flavored with liqueur or extract)

For the Mousse:
Bittersweet Baking Chocolate         1 lb. 6 oz
Egg Yolks                                            6 each
Egg Whites                                         8 each
Sugar                                                    5 oz

First, coarsely chop the chocolate and melt either over a double boiler on medium low heat, or in a microwave safe bowl, at 20-30 second intervals, stirring frequently for both methods.
We want the chocolate to be fully melted, but not hot. The cooler the chocolate is, the easier it will be to incorporate with the eggs. A small bit of chocolate physics: when chocolate is combined with liquid, it seizes, or tightens, resulting in lumpy chocolate.  The same thing happens when you take warm chocolate, and combine it with a cooler substance. If the temperatures are too separated, you will have chocolate chips in your mousse.

Using a stand mixer fit with a whip attachment, or a hand held electric mixer fit with a whisk attachment, whip the egg whites and sugar to a medium peak  meringue 
there should be tall peaks with rounded tips when pulled up with a spoon.  Set aside.

Whip the egg yolks as well, until tripled in volume. Combine with the melted chocolate.

Immediately, introduce some of the meringue into the egg yolk/chocolate mixture.
Making an introduction brings the two components to be mixed to a more similar consistency. Using a hand whisk for the introduction is best.


Do this by taking 1/3 of the meringue and gently whisk it into the egg yolk/chocolate mixture until mostly combined. You should still see some white streaks.  Now add another 1/3 of the meringue and gently fold it into the mixture with a rubber spatula, again until you see only a few white streaks. Repeat with the remaining 1/3 of the meringue.
The purpose of leaving the streaks in the mousse is to prevent over mixing. If over mixed, the mousse will lose some of its volume.  


Depending on your favorite cake recipe, you may or may not want to use the Japonaise. This is a nut and meringue layer that provides a contrasting texture, as well as a stable platform to support the cake while serving. The recipe follows...
For the Japonaise
Sugar                          2 oz
Ground Almonds*    1 1/4 cup
Cornstarch                1 oz
Egg Whites               5 each
Sugar                          6 oz

*Other nuts can be substituted.
Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F; Prepare a sheet pan with parchment paper, and trace 8" rings on the back side.
Combine the first amount of sugar, ground almonds and cornstarch, set aside.
Whip egg whites on low speed and gradually add the second amount of sugar. Once all the sugar is incorporated, whip on high speed until stiff peaks form.

Fold in the mixture in 1/3's, spread or pipe the meringue into the rings, keeping the edges as even as possible. To pipe them, fit a pastry bag with a 1/2" plain tip and pipe a spiral from the center out to the edges.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until a light golden color. Allow to cool on the pan. Any extra meringue can be piped into smaller spirals and served as cookies, dust with cocoa powder, or serve plain.  

http://www.cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk

While this is baking, go ahead and prepare your simple syrup.
Water 1cup
Sugar 1 cup

Bring both to a boil stirring until the sugar is fully dissolved, then flavor as desired with a raspberry liqueur, almond extract, or not at all. 

Once the Japonaise is completely cooled, You may begin to assemble the cake.

Begin by leveling the 2 cakes, then splitting them in half, ending with 4 layers.

Now taking the japonaise, spread with raspberry jam (to adhere the cake), place the first layer of chocolate cake,lightly brush with the simple syrup, spread with mousse, about 1/2 the height of the cake layer. Scatter 1/4 raspberries over the mousse.
Place a layer of cake on top of the berries and spread with mousse.  Repeat with remaining cake and mousse, reserving some of the mousse to spread on the top and sides of the cake. And lightly brushing each cake with a small amount of simple syrup.
Take care not to soak the cake, or it will be soggy.

To finish cake, spread a thin, even layer of mousse on top and sides of cake, and cover the sides with chocolate sprinkles.

Top the cake with raspberries.

Thanks for reading!