Headin' Down South...where the peaches are fresh and the tea is sweet

What an amazing long weekend!  It all started with a little spying on the competition.  Then the southern spy names...Tabatha Tea...Grit Griffin...Samantha Seer...were developed over these amazing muddled cucumber, gin, St. Germain, Agavero Orange with a splash of soda and cranberry cocktails that flowed as easily as the rivers of Charleston.  We saw some magic tricks and even made a few friends.  If you are ever in Charleston go say hey to Matt at Muse; he will not disappoint. 

Then there was food, lots and lots of good ole' southern food...ham biscuits, grits, mac n' cheese with pimento cheese, fried pork chops and fried green tomatoes.  Add in a trip to the Firefly distillery and it was the perfect slow paced southern weekend a girl just south of the Mason-Dixon line needs.  I might have even said my personal sound track for the weekend was peppy, cheesy, summer country music; bring it on Zac Brown band with a little "Knee Deep".  Oh the South.

So when I did arrive back home, I thought it was time to bake and what was in order but a blueberry coffee cake to round out the weekend.  The blueberries plump then burst and along with the yogurt make this cake moist and delicious.

Yummy walnuts chopped to about 1/4 inch pieces, then toasted to really bring out their flavor.

Dry ingredients prepped: flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt

The cake fresh out of the oven.

Blueberry Yogurt Cake (or Blueberry Coffee Cake): (adapted from Shutterbean)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup plain nonfat greek yogurt

1 1/2 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray an 8 inch square baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until well combined

3.  Whisk the vanilla and eggs into the butter and sugar until well combined.

4.  In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

5.  In a small mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and walnuts.

6.  Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, just until combined.  Mix in the yogurt, just until combined.  Gently fold the blueberries into the batter.

7.  Pour one half of the batter into the prepared baking pan.  Then spread 1/2 of the streusel on top of the batter.  Top with the remaining batter, then cover the top of the cake with the rest of the streusel.

8.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Best served warm.  Enjoy!

July Birthday 4 & 5 of 5: Chocolate-Vanilla Strawberry Shortcake

What do you day dream about when baking/cooking?  Maybe its about...

...work, and how you officially need larger cake pans because a 9" cake no longer feeds your entire office.  Do you get round or square pans now?

...potentially moving, when you don't want to deal with the stress of it all.

...wishing for the weekend, for trips to the beach and good times with great friends.

...last hurrahs with best friends, with ridiculous pictures, so you can always remember.

...life's strange surprises.

...hmmm

Well on to the cake.  This cake had to make a statement, because it was not for one but two people's birthdays.  The request..."something easy to make that has chocolate and strawberries. Chocolate covered strawberries?"  The result...two layers of devils food cake with a layer of vanilla cake in the middle.  Between the layers are strawberries and whipped cream.  Then the cake is topped with vanilla butter cream and decorated with chocolate covered strawberries.  I diagrammed the cake I had in my head and emailed it to the birthday girls; it looked a little like this.  The layers turned out light and moist and the strawberries and whipped cream helped to lighten the cake. 

Devils Food Cake Layers....

Dry ingredients: all purpose flour, corn starch, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder.

Butter and sugar....

...add the eggs and vanilla.



Its starting to come together...alternating between adding the dry ingredients and milk-coffee mixture to the wet ingredients.

Ready for the oven...

And now the vanilla cake layer...

Wet and dry ingredients combined; ready to be poured into cake pan.

So pretty.

Bottom layer with whipped cream and strawberries arranged.

Cake assembled awaiting frosting.

Devil's Food Cake: (adapted from David Lebovitz devil's food cake recipe)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

9 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups cake flour (1 1/8 cup all purpose flour + 3 tablespoons cornstarch)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup strong coffee, at room temperature

1/2 cup milk

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray two 9 inch cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and then line with a parchment paper round in the bottom of the pan.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar.  Whisk in eggs, one at a time, until well combined.  Whisk in vanilla extract and set aside.

3.  In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together cake flour (or all purpose flour & corn starch), cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder.

4.  Combine coffee and milk in a measuring cup.

5.  Starting and ending with the dry ingredients, alternate between adding the dry ingredients and coffee-milk mixture to the wet ingredients, mix just until combined. 

6.  Pour into prepared cake pans and bake in a 350 degrees F oven for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cakes cool in pans for 10-15 minutes.  Then gently remove the cakes from the pans and let finish cooling on a cooling rack.  Prepare vanilla cake layer while devil's food cakes are cooling.   

Vanilla Cake Layer: (recipe from Magnolia Bakery's vanilla cupcakes)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup self rising flour

1/2 + 1/8 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup milk

1.  Re-prep one 9 inch cake pan with non-stick cooking spray and a parchment paper round.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. 

3.  Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined.  Whisk in the vanilla extract and set aside.

4.  In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together flours.

5.  Starting and ending with the dry ingredients, alternate between adding the dry ingredients and milk to the wet ingredients, mix just until combined. 

6.  Pour cake batter in to prepared cake pan.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cake cool in pan for 10-15 minutes.  Then gently remove from pan and let finish cooling on a cooling rack with the devil's food cake layers.  Prep strawberries for filling.

Whipped  Cream with Strawberries:

2 cups heavy cream
8 ounces (1 cup) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 pints strawberries

1.  In a medium size mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, mix together heavy cream, sugar and vanilla.  Start mixer on a lower speed and slowly increase the speed.  Mix until light peaks form.  Place whipped cream in the refrigerator until ready to be used.

2.  Slice 10-12 strawberries in 1/4 inch slices.

Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting: (recipe also from Magnolia Bakery's cookbook)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 tablespoon vanilla

3-4 cups powdered sugar

1.  In a medium mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, cream butter until light, airy and smooth. 

2.  Mix in the vanilla until well combined.

3.  Mix in the powdered sugar starting with one cup until well combined.  Continue mixing in the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until desired consistency and taste.  With this cake I wanted the frosting to be smooth and creamy but not overly sweet.  If you prefer sweeter butter cream frosting feel free to add extra powdered sugar.

To assemble:

Pick out flattest layer of devil's food cake.  My cake came out pretty even, but if either has baked up fluffier in the middle, use a serrated knife to cut off the top of the bottom layer to flatten the cake so the layers will stack more evenly. Place bottom layer of devil's food layer on cake plate.  Top with half of whipped cream and smooth out over cake, spread to within a quarter inch of the edge of the cake.  Top the whipped cream with a layer of strawberries. 

Next, cut off the top of the vanilla cake using a serrated knife to flatten the top of the cake.  Place vanilla cake layer on top of the bottom layer of cake.  Top with remaining whipped cream and sliced strawberries.  Then carefully place the last layer of devil's food cake on top of the vanilla layer.  Place cake in the refrigerator and prepare frosting.

Remove cake from the refrigerator and gently frost the cake.  Be especially careful with the top layer of devil's food cake as it is crumbly.  If you want and have the time, you can lightly frost the cake to begin with, creating a crumb layer, and place cake in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes (I used this time to finish washing the dishes). Then finish icing the cake with remaining frosting.  Top with chocolate covered strawberries or just plain strawberries cut in half and serve.  If the cake will not be eaten right away, store in refrigerator until ready to be served.  Invite some friends over and enjoy!



July Birthdays 3 of 5: Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Oh what a wonderful weekend made even better by getting to bake a carrot cake on Sunday.  This cake was a direct request for the third office birthday in the month and my response was yes I will make you a carrot cake, it is my FAVORITE!  Plus I finally have an excuse to try out the Magnolia Bakery carrot cake recipe.

Seriously though.  Do you ever have those weekends that are just great?  The ones that are close to perfect? They may involve a perfect day, drinking with friends, overlooking the water on a sunny summer day.  One of those times where even though you get a little too much sun you don't really care.  Or crazy nights that start with peach and mango infused vodkas and end with pizza being eaten straight from the box on the side of the street at 3 in the morning.  They may involve getting to finally sleep in and then eating fluffy scratch made blueberry pancakes.

The fun ingredients: carrots, crushed pineapple, raisins and coconut.

The dry ingredients: all purpose flour, baking powder, salt, pumpkin spice and cinnamon.

The wet ingredients: butter, sugar, egg substitute and vanilla.

Yum!  Carrot cake is one of those baked goods that just makes your entire house smell delicious.  Well at least my entire house cause its about the size of a shoebox.

What is it about carrot cake with cream cheese frosting? Delicious!

Carrot Cake: (adapted from Magnolia Bakery's carrot cake recipe)

1 cup canola oil

1 3/4 cups sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature or 3/4 cup egg substitute

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups shredded carrots

One 8-ounce can crushed pineapple in its own juice, with juice

3/4 cup coconut

1 cup raisins

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray two 9 inch cakes pans with non-stick cooking spray and then line with a parchment paper round in the bottom.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, cream together sugar and canola oil.

3.  Whisk in eggs and vanilla extract until well combined.

4.  In another mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin spice and salt.

5.  In another smaller mixing bowl, combine carrots, pineapple, coconut and raisins.

6.  Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, just until combined.  Then gently fold the carrot-pineapple mixture into the batter.

7.  Pour batter into prepared cake pans.  Bake for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cakes cool in pans for 8-10 minutes.  Then carefully remove cakes from pans and let cool completely on a cooling rack.  While cakes cool, prepare cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 ounces (1 package) 1/3 fat cream cheese, softened

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

3/4 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 1/2 - 4 cups powdered sugar

1.  In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth.

2.  Mix in the vanilla extract until well combined.

3.  Mix in the powdered sugar starting with one cup until well combined.  Continue mixing in the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until desired consistency and taste.  I generally like my cream cheese frosting to be slightly sweet with a strong cream cheese flavor.  

4.  Assemble cakes.  For this particular cake, I did not frost the outside.  If you would like to frost the outside, the frosting recipe will need to be doubled.  Frost the cakes and enjoy! 

July Birthday 2 of 5: Apple Pie Cupcakes

Okay, so I made UGLY cupcakes.  They spread out all over my cupcake pan, they fell in and then when I was icing them, they just started to fall apart.  It was a disaster.  I almost threw them in the trash...really I did. 

Problem was I really did not have the time to make another batch, and I couldn't show up with out a homemade delicious apple cupcake for this particular person's birthday.  So I tried jazzing these up, I gave them a taste and decided maybe this time it doesn't matter how bad they look.  Hopefully people will overlook how they look this time, maybe just maybe they will taste good enough for this to happen. 

We all have bad baking days, not everything turns out how we always hope and imagine it will, but then we move on and say bake another cake or two next week.  Then you look outside, the sun is shinning, its summer, there may or may not be peach infused vodka in your future (thank you for the inspiration http://www.shutterbean.com/) and then you start to forgot about the ugly cupcakes and just start looking forward to the weekend.

Wet ingredients prepped and ready.

Apples, Apples, Apples

Wet and dry ingredients combined with canola oil.

Yum, crumble topping.  Really who doesn't like flour, sugar and butter combined?

Prepping the pie crust to make these cupcakes just a bit more fancy and not so ugly.

Cinnamon-sugar topped pie crust pieces.

Soo ugly. Just wait they will be look better, don't give up on me just yet.

Yay prettier!  Look, its like the outside is the crust of a pie and the middle is moist and appley.  These should really just be eaten with a fork though.

Apple Pie Cupcakes: makes approximately 24 cupcakes (adapted from Hoosier Homemade)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup + 4 tablespoons brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups + 4 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1 cup canola oil

1 1/2 granny smith apple, peeled and chopped

Steusel Topping:

1/2 cup flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a cupcake pan with liners and lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars until well combined.

3.  Whisk in the eggs, one at a time until well combined, then mix in the vanilla extract.

4.  In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

5.  Starting and ending with flours, alternate between adding the flour and oil to the wet ingredients, mix just until combined.  Do not over mix. Fold in the chopped apples.

6.  Prepare streusel topping by combining all three ingredients using a fork.

7.  Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full with batter.  Top with streusel and bake for 15-20 minutes or until tester comes out clean.  Let cupcakes cool for two minutes then remove to cooling rack until cooled through.  Prepare frosting and pie crust pieces.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting: (Magnolia Bakery's vanilla buttercream frosting)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

6 - 8 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1.  Place the butter in a large mixing bowl.  Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla.  On medium speed using an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.

2.  Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of a good spreading consistency.

Cinnamon-sugar Pie Crust Pieces:
1 store bought rolled pie crust from the refrigerator section
2 1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1.  Preheat oven or toaster oven to 450 degrees F.

2.  Unroll pie crust onto a cutting board.  Using a pizza cutter, slice the pie crust into strips (see picture above).  Lay pie crust pieces onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

3.  Combine sugar and cinnamon.  Spray the top of the pie crust pieces with non-stick cooking spray.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. 

4.  Bake for 7-10 minutes or until pie pieces are golden brown.

5.  Assemble cupcakes and enjoy!

A Child Like Cake with a Twist: Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

So July is a particularly busy birthday month in my office, literally 5 within 2 1/2 weeks, which is a good thing cause I need to bake to take my mind off of all the life changes occuring. 

 Lots of big girl changes this week!  It's crazy to be at the point in life where your are having to make serious, life changing decisions.  Work is just crazy, but awesome at the same time. Do you know those times where things just keep spinning and nothing is really certain until its actually happening?  Strange, I know, but that's what is happening. 

Then, the bomb dropped this week and my bestie, who I have worked with for the past two years, is moving to Birmingham of all places.  Thing is, I couldn't be happier for her.  Yes, I will miss her lots, really tons, but this is an amazing opportunity and now I have someone to visit in Alabama!  Seriously though, I go from sad to happy all in the same minute when I think about her moving for this new position.  (I know there are a lot of run-on sentences right here and I don't care.)

Okay then, back to the cake.  The first birthday cake request for July was as follows:

--some kind of chocolate icing or else a light & not too sweet icing

--strawberries or blueberries

--layers!

This is what I came up with...two layers of  vanilla chocolate chip cake, with a whipped cream, strawberry and blueberry filling, then covered with a light and fluffy chocolate buttercream frosting.  I hope this cake fits the bill, because I had a great time making it.

Starting at the top going clockwise:  chopped chocolate chips tossed with flour, dry ingredients and wet ingredients

Dry and wet ingredients combined.

Cakes waiting to go in to the oven to bake up in to deliciousness.

Yum!

Bottom layer, with top cut off, so the top layer will lay flat and make frosting the cake easier.

Bottom layer topped with whipped cream.

Berries, berries and more berries!

Light, fluffy chocolate buttercream frosting.

The cake ready to be eaten, but for now into the refrigerator.

Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cake:  (adapted from Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Cupcake Recipe)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs at room temperature

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips, chopped or 1/2 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips

1.  Pre-heat oven to 350 degree F.  Spray two 9 inch cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and lightly flour.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, with a whisk, cream butter until well beaten and fluffy.  Whisk in sugar until well combined.

3.  Whisk eggs in one at a time in to the creamed butter and sugar.

4.  In a separate mixing bowl, combine flours.

5.  Measure out milk and vanilla.

6.  Starting and ending with flours, alternate adding the flour and milk mixture to the wet ingredients, mix just until combined. Do not over mix.

7.  In another small bowl, lightly coat the chocolate chips with flour.  This will help them to not fall to the bottom of the cake while baking.  Then gently fold the chocolate chips in to the cake batter.

8.  Pour batter in to prepped cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.  Let cakes cool for 20 minutes, then carefully remove the cakes to a cooling rack, to cool all the way before frosting.

9.  Once cakes have cooled, pick out the one that is the flattest and using a serrated knife cut off the top to make it flat.  This will be the bottom layer of cake.

Filling: Whipped Cream and Berries:

1 cup heavy cream, cold

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 medium strawberries

2 handfuls of blueberries

1.  In a medium mixing bowl, using an electric mixer on high, beat the first three ingredients together until peaks form.

2.  Slice strawberries and lay on a paper towel to dry, wash and let blue berries dry on a paper towel.

3.  Place bottom layer of cake, that has been "flattened" on cake stand.  Spread whipped cream evenly over cake and then top with the strawberries and blue berries. 

4.  Place top layer of cake on and then place the cake in the refrigerator while making frosting.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting: (from Magnolia Bakery)

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 tablespoons milk

9 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled to lukewarm

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar

1.  Using a double boiler(I use a metal mixing bowl over a medium sauce pan filled 1/3 full of water) over medium-low heat, melt semi sweet chocolate.  Remove from heat and let cool to lukewarm or room temperature.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy, approximately 1-2 minutes.

3.  Add in the milk and beat until well incorporated and smooth.

4.  Add the melted chocolate and beat for another 1-2 minutes.  Then add in the vanilla and beat until well combined. 

5.  On a lower speed, one cup at a time, beat in the powdered sugar until desired consistency.  This should turn out to be very light and fluffy and not too chocolaty.

6.  Remove cake from the refrigerator and carefully frost.  I place parchment paper under the edges of the cake to keep the cake stand surface clean.  Just gently pull these out when done frosting.  If you will not be eating the cake right away place in the refrigerator until 10 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!