Cupcake Anyone?

My dear friend Nidia Corzo (of Corzos Digital Memories) had me make this GIANT cupcake for her granddaughter's 1 year old photo shoot.

Nidia is our wedding photographer and she is AHH-MAZING!!!

If you live in Utah, Corzos Digital Memories is the BEST!!!

Red Lobster Biscuit Bread

See what we had for dinner Sunday?

It was SOOO good!

(I don't remember what recipe I used :(  

Just Google "Red Lobster Biscuit Bread" and you'll get all kinds of hits :))

The Groom's Cake of Doom ;)

This is one of my ALL time favorite cakes.  This recipe is a twist and turn from my bff, Kim's black forest cake (THAT IS AWESOME!!!).  My other bff, Michelle, wanted the black forest cake with out the fruit and whipping cream for her birthday, so I devised this bad boy ;)  It turns out it makes a pretty tasty Groom's Cake too!

Here is the recipe for the original black forest cake :)  Keep on scrolling down for the Groom's Cake

Black Forest Cake     by Kim Robison
Cake-
Add in order
½ C shortening
2/3 C cocoa
2 C Sugar
1 C hot water
1 C buttermilk
2 C flour
2 t baking soda
½ t salt
1 t vanilla
2 lg eggs
Bake in 2- 8” round cake pans at 350 for 30-35 min.  Let cakes cool for 5 min and remove from pans.  Let cool 10 min and then wrap in plastic wrap.  Let cool then refrigerate or freeze.

Cherry Filling
2- 15oz Bing cherries (NOT pie filling)
1 t almond extract
2 T cornstarch
Simmer until thick, let cool

Chocolate Cream filling
1 C cream
1 C Semi sweet chocolate chips

Warm on stove, do not boil.  Remove from heat and stir until chocolate is all melted.  Refrigerate until chilled and then whip until thick.

Whipping cream:
Whip 3 C cream and sweeten to taste (¾ C Sugar)

Assembly:
Slice cakes in two.  Place the first half down
¼  of the plain whipped cream & ½ of the cherries
2nd ½  of cake (you should probably insert a few toothpicks at this point)
Chocolate whipped cream
3rd ½ of cake
¼ of the plain whipped cream and ½ of cherries
4th of the cake (you should probably insert a few toothpicks at this point)
Frost with remaining whipping cream
Sprinkle with chocolate shaved rolls.  Refrigerate!

Mike's Groom's Cake of Doom     By Marion McClellan

Make a chocolate cake of your choice.  I use Kim's black forest cake recipe(above).

Bake cake in 8 or 9" round's or square pans.  Let cool.  Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze over night.  Put in the fridge the day you are going to assemble the cake to defrost.  I have made this cake with out the freezing process and I have done it without defrosting the cakes.  It works, but my favorite is to freeze the cake layers and then frost them frozen. *the wrapping and freezing makes the cake more dense, moist and smooth.  It's worth the extra effort ;)

Chocolate Mousse Frosting-

Bring 1 quart (4 Cups) of heavy whipping cream to a boil in a heavy sauce pan.  Pour immediately over 4 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips.  Let stand for about 10-15 minutes on the counter.  Using a whisk, gently stir until all of the chocolate is melted and VERY smooth :)  Cover and refrigerate.  This can be done the night before and refrigerated until you are ready to frost the cake.  Just before cake assembly, using an electric mixer, whip up the cooled chocolate and cream into a thick mousse. ...try not to whip it into butter ;)

Cake assembly:

Put one of the cake layers onto your cake platter. (You may split the cake layers at this point if you prefer to have 4 layers in your cake.  There is plenty of mousse to do this... I prefer the split layers ;)  Scoop a very thick layer of chocolate mousse on.  Spread.  Add second cake layer and frost the entire cake with the remaining mouse.  At this point, put the frosted cake into the refrigerator or freezer.  You want this bad boy to be VERY cold for the next part :)

Ganache-

Bring to a boil, 2 C heavy whipping cream.  Pour over 4 Cups of semi sweet chocolate chips.  Let stand for 10-15 minutes.  Gently stir with a whisk until the mixture is perfectly smooth and BEAUTIFUL!  It should be glossy and pretty thick, but still pourable.  

Now, take your REALLY cold frosted cake out of the fridge or freezer and drizzle the ganache over the top.  Be sure to get some to drizzle over the sides.  This amount of ganache will totally cover the cake and puddle on the cake platter.  If you prefer less ganache, cut the ganache recipe in half.  Once you have all of the ganache on the cake, put the cake back in the fridge.  It will be ready to serve in a few hours.  The cake is best served SEVERAL hours later (like 6 or more).  It is AMAZING the second day!

Wedding Cakes Galore!

Monday I baked:
3- 12" carrot cakes
2- 6" carrot cakes
2- 9" carrot cakes
and 1- 8" left over batter carrot cake :) ...to eat Monday night for dessert :)

I also made 4 and a half batches of cream cheese frosting :)  The half batch was for the 8" round for us to eat Monday :)

Here is My Mom's AWESOME Carrot Cake recipe:
2 C sugar
2 C flour
4 eggs
1/2 C oil
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
2 t cinnamon
3 C shredded carrots ( I have found that this is about 1# of fresh carrots.  I don't bother peeling them.  I just scrub them and cut the ends off and run them through the grater on my food processor.)
1-2 ripe bananas, mashed
1- 20 oz can crushed pineapple, WELL DRAINED
1 C raisins
1 c walnuts or pecan pieces
Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out clean.  I line the bottom of my pan with foil, wax paper or parchment to keep the cake from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Note- This recipe makes:
2- 9" rounds or,
1- 12" round or,
2- 6" rounds and an 8" round or
1- half sheet cake/jelly roll pan

Cream Cheese Frosting
2- 8 oz cream cheese
1 c butter (really, use butter :)
2 pounds of powdered sugar
2-3 T vanilla
Beat the butter first, then add the cream cheese.  Next add half of the powdered sugar and vanilla.  Beat well.  Then slowly add the rest of the powdered sugar.  Scrape bowl a few times.  Beat on high for a while :)  YUMM!!!

Also accomplished Monday:
Arranged to have the baling wire deliverd for hanging the lights all over the ceiling for the reception
Finalized the music for the reception
Ordered 8x10 of the happy couple for the guest book table
Arranged for the grooms cake to be made :)
AND I made dinner!!! PARTY!!!!
(ok, don't get excited about dinner being made.  My neighbor dropped off a loaf of homemade bread that we are going to eat with some yummy homemade creamy tomato basil soup)

FORTY-SEVEN Pounds of Frosting!!!

Yes, you read that correctly.  Yesterday I made FORTY-SEVEN pounds of butter cream frosting.    All this to frost 600 cupcakes for my daughters wedding!

(OH MY GOSH!!! I AM GOING TO HAVE A HEART ATTACK AND DIE!!!)

The frosting is varying shades of blue, green and white.

Take a look at my day :)

So here is how I stored them for next weeks frosting festival of terror :/

First you put out a large sheet of plastic wrap and plop a big glob of frosting in the middle :)

Then you fold up the plastic wrap over the top.

Cut the wrap from the roll and fold one side over.

Then the next side.  Now there are three sides that are totally enclosed and the top is open.

The first batch I did was a double batch... WAY TOO MUCH!!

Here is why I wrap my frosting like this.  I use pastry bags and I HATE the messiness of refilling the bag.

My hubby saw this method on TV and it has been a lifesaver!

All you do is insert the frosting packet, open side down, into the clean pastry bag.

The opening allows the frosting to leave out the end with minimal mess in the bag :)

Here is a shot of the empty frosting pouch in the pastry bag.

See, all nice a flat :)

Here is a shot of the inside of my pastry bag with just a little bit of blue in the bottom.

The pastry bag is all ready for another frosting packet :)

Here are my cupcakes.  The blue is good, but my frosting was a bit dry, well, WAY dry, so I ended up remixing the rest of the batch to get it nice and moist and pretty :)

I am freezing the frosting in their packets until next Friday.

I made 32 packets of frosting.  12 blue, 10 lime green and 10 shimmery white.

Frenzy Friday, the sequel!

Well, I was right!  I did end up forgiving DH for abandoning me on his day off for a work meeting.  He took me to see Mirror Mirror, which was pretty good.  I liked it :)
So while he was off for work, I baked bread with my 6 year old.  He grinds the wheat for me and adds the flower as the KitchenAid WORKS it's magic :D  My cousins recipe that I use is HERE.  This time I added pumpkin seeds, flax seeds and some quinoa.  YUMMY!!!

For those of you with a keen eye for detail, yes, my son is wearing lederhosen.  He dressed up as Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater today for school.  They had a nursery rhyme picnic and got to act out a nursery rhyme.  He played the piano and sang the rhyme.  Yeah, we were pretty proud of him.  Our other boys wore a sign that read "Jack" and jumped over a candle stick, in their regular clothes.  My "current" 6 year old, had me help him go on line to find a picture of Peter so he could create a costume. Thank heavens he found a picture of a boy in lederhosen!  We have 4 pair of lederhosen in various sizes.  You've gotta love having a German MIL :)

Here is an old picture of my boys when they ALL fit into the lederhosen.  I am so glad we have pictures.  I tried to freeze my family right where they were about 4 years ago, but it didn't work and they just keep getting older :(
Well, lets get on with the story of the day.  While the bread was rising I hopped on the elliptical.  Now for some EXCITING news, the doctor wanted me to run a little bit today :)  He wanted me to run around my block, just under a 1/4 mile.  It felt SOOOOOO GOOD!  You may think that sounds crazy, but to make my body work that hard, even for a very short period of time, was exhilarating!  I didn't even know that I missed that feeling.  I came home hot, sweaty, totally out of breath, heart pounding out of my chest and nearly in tears because I had forgotten about the rush.  I miss that rush, I NEED that rush.   It's kind of like the exertion burns off all of the stress and "fuzz" that clouds my mind and body.  I know that you are now certain that I am bonkers, but I don't know how else to describe it.  Pretend that stress forms little strands of fine glass through out your whole body, layer upon layer, thicker and thicker :(  Running shatters it all, sending it flying out into the universe.   Ok, that does sound weird, sorry, I'll move on to the quilting now ;D
I was able to get the third batch of petal pieces sewn.  111 down, 129 to go!

They are so cute as a chain with all of the pins :)  I usually don't pin, let alone sew over my pins, but this project seems to demand it, so I am just relaxing and going with it.  I sew these pieces so slowly, that hitting a pin hasn't happened ....yet ;D  They are all pressed too :)
I also got some knitting it.  I am onto the heal of sock #2  :)

Saturday should be a relaxing day ;D  I am hoping to ellipt, run, shower, color my hair, finish off the sock for my birthday sunday and get at least one batch of petal pieces pinned, sewn and pressed!  My mom did mention that she wanted to take me shopping Saturday for my birthday.  We shall see if that happens too :)
xo to you all!  Have a WOnDERFUL weekend!
PS- I mentioned to my hubby that he should be pretty excited because he has an AWESOME wife that not only bakes and quilts, but knits now too!  ;D

Bread BREAD! Hot Bread!!!

A few weeks ago I went out to lunch with my cousin, Lynette, and bread came up.  She gave me her recipe and I LOVE it!  She even hooked me up, via amazon.com, to her favorite bread pans.  I have been on a hunt for the right size bread pan for a while now.  I found some at the $ store that were pretty near perfect.  Any hoots, the three pans on the left are the $11 ones from Amazon, and the two on the right are from the $$$ store. 
The fun part about making the bread is that you can eat it hot... wait, that is not what I meant to say.  I meant to say that the fun part about baking bread is that my 6 year old loves to help me.  He grinds the wheat and adds the flower into the mixer for me.  I feel like the story, "Who will help me grind the wheat?"... anyway, it has become a fun thing that we do together and he is very proud of his bread :)  I am too!  See the recipe below.  Please note that these are just amounts, please follow regular bread making procedures.  If you don't know how, you're gonna need to look up a good tutorial on-line ;)
 

The little loaf in the middle was formed by my 6 year old.  We are going to eat that one HOT!

Lynette's YUMMY Whole Grain Bread
I add this in order....
6 C very warm water
2/3 C oil
2/3 C sugar or honey
2 T salt
I start adding the freshly ground flour now a cup at a time.  I keep adding while mixing until it get to a consistency of a thinner mashed potatoes ;)  then add:
3 heaping tablespoons of SAF instant yeast (quick rise)
(I like to add about a 1/2 C of uncooked quinoa at this point for texture.  Pumpkin seeds are fun too)
Then change to the dough hook and slowly add flour a 1/2 cup at a time until the dough ball begins to clean the sides of the bowl.  up to 16 cups of flour total.  cover and let rise until double in size.  Divide into 5 loaves ( I use 1# loaf pans).  Let rise.  Bake at 375 for abt 35 minutes.  I bake mine at 350 in my convection oven for 35 minutes.  Remove from oven and tip out of the pans and let cool on their side.  The most important thing is to make sure you have a cube of butter ready to go.  One loaf must be eaten immediately to make sure that it is not poison :)