holiday cake pops

Last Saturday, I woke up and immediately made a chocolate sheet cake. It's been raining steadily for a week here in southern California, so it was wonderful to smell the heavenly warmth coming out of the oven... and it makes the idea of baking cakes for breakfast very tempting.

This cake was baked for a specific purpose, though...I wanted to make cake pops! I've been wanting to try these for some time, and since we were going to a Christmas party thrown by some friends, it was a good excuse to finally do it. It was fun to discover that they're very easy to make--just rather time-consuming, so they're really mostly for special occasions. I'd actually initially wanted to make cupcake pops but had the wrong cookie cutter on hand. It was just as well, however, since it's good to get the hang of what you're doing with a more simple project the first time out.

I was worried the pops would be too sweet with the candy coating or that there would be cake pop disasters, but everything turned out just fine. I only had a couple of really wonky pops (which, believe me, were not wasted by the pop-maker) and they all tasted great. I'll be posting a fuller review of the fabulous new book Cake Pops  in the new year, and I can't wait to try making pops with more shapes and colors.

carrot cake cookies

We're having a friend for dinner this evening ("Dr. Lecter? Hello? Hello?" hee hee), so I've pre-made dessert: inside out carrot cake cookies! The recipe is from the In Praise of Leftovers food blog, an adaptation of an Epicurious recipe from a few years ago.

I followed Sarah's instructions pretty exactly, except that I skipped the candied ginger and went back to walnuts instead of pecans. The cream cheese frosting with cardamom and honey is insanely delicious--I was so enthused as I spread it on that I somehow ended up running out of frosting for two of the remaining cookies. Oh, well, they'll be good with ice cream, too.

root beer float cake experiment

I came across something that sounded amazing recently--root beer float CAKE! The recipe I planned to use was based on the one from this book. All the comments and reactions to this recipe I'd read on blogs were very encouraging, too, and when I tweeted about the find a few weeks ago, the reaction was just phenomenal.

I baked the cake for my husband's birthday yesterday, using Barq's root beer, which I felt was nice and dark and appropriately bite-y. (I really miss my favorite root beer, which is Old Dominion, but unfortunately it's not a brand we have access to on the west coast.) I made very few changes to the recipe and used our fun little castle Bundt cake pan.

And so, after all that...I'm disappointed to say that the recipe wasn't what I hoped it would be. The cake itself is very moist and has great texture, but the flavor of the root beer is very subtle, almost more like an after taste. I've heard that if you use root beer schnapps (or perhaps extract, as recommended on other sites?) the flavor might be stronger. Overall, the cake was nice and sponge-y, but the flavor wasn't very distinct in either the root beer or the chocolate.

The frosting, though was a complete disaster. The butter and cocoa came together just fine, but once the soda went in the whole thing went a little crazy. I had to add a bit more than the 1/4 cup of root beer recommended just to get it smoother, but even so the texture was just unpleasant and much too sweet. It also melted within minutes, leaving behind a soggy, syrupy mess.

If you're interested in trying out the recipe, I'd recommend trying out root beer schnapps or extract, and perhaps use more chocolate, too, for stronger flavor. As for the frosting, I'd recommend using a very good vanilla buttercream, or perhaps a cream cheese or a dollop of Bailey's flavored whipped cream.

I'm not sure I'd venture to try this again, though...I'm now craving deep, rich chocolate cake to make up for this one. Oh well, sometimes these experiments don't work out to your liking. It's just a bigger deal when it's something as crucial as dessert!

happy easter!

Our household is a little chaotic right now since we're in the middle of packing up for a move. We considered not doing Easter-y things this year because it's a little nutty, but we just couldn't resist the call of the bunny.

My husband and I somehow always manage to stay up realllly late decorating sugar cookies, although this year we finally found very small squeeze bottles that made the adornments much easier. They were also surprisingly easy to fill and clean, just so long as you do it while the royal icing is still liquid.

I also whipped together a pom pom bunny walking her pet Easter chick for our neighbor this year. I made the poms out of baby alpaca wool, used hand-dyed pink felt for the ears and nose, green dotted Bake it Pretty cupcake liners for the dress, a Skippy peanut butter jar lid for the base, and sewed on little beads for the bejeweled leash.

Hope that wherever you are, whatever you're celebrating, you're surrounded by great friends, a loving family, and perhaps even a bunny or two.

candied orange and almond cake

We had friends over for dinner recently, and though I don't normally like to try out new dishes on company, I'd been wanting to make an orange cake for so long I couldn't resist. Fortunately, the candied orange and almond cake I fiddled with turned out to be very tasty, and with plenty of leftovers to have with a cup of tea.

I decided to do a yellow cake recipe with orange zest, and to make candied orange slices to put on top. I'd never candied oranges before, and was surprised at how easy this was to do. I would definitely do this again, just with regular old peels. And perhaps dipped in chocolate.

The recipe below is exactly what I used for the cake, although since I used candied oranges I might cut down a wee bit on the sugar inside the cake next time. The texture will turn out on the lighter, fluffier side, though you could certainly make this with butter instead of oil for a denser cake. The zest makes the batter very orangey, and the cake all by itself with buttercream or a layer of jam in the middle would be perfectly lovely, too.

To Make Candied Oranges:

3 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 navel oranges, sliced crosswise 1/4 inch thick

In a medium skillet, combine the water and sugar and bring to a boil. Add the orange slices and cook over (reduced) moderate heat, turning them occasionally, until the liquid is reduced to a thin syrup and the orange slices are translucent, about 20 minutes. Be careful when you turn them, since you want to retain the shape of the slices. Also throw in any bits of orange peels from ends, removing as much of the white pith as possible.

Reduce the heat to moderately low and simmer until the syrup is thick and the slices are tender but still intact, turning occasionally, about 10 minutes. Transfer the orange slices to a cooling rack. Reserve the syrup and any leftover candied orange bits.

Cake Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
zest of 2 oranges
sliced almonds
powdered sugar


Cake Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Line two 9” round cake pans with parchment paper. Grease the paper and the sides of the pan with butter.

In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs together until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Add flour, milk, oil, baking powder, and vanilla and beat for another minute, just until the batter is smooth and creamy. Don't overbeat. Stir in the zest and pour batter into the prepared baking pans.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 - 30 minutes or until the tops are golden and a toothpick poked into the center of the layer comes out clean. Loosen the sides of the cake from the pan with a thin knife, then turn out onto a rack and peel off the paper. Let cool before evening out the layers.

Place one layer on the bottom of the serving plate. Pour the reserved orange syrup (and candied orange bits) onto the top of the first layer, making sure to cover the entire surface. (Any leftover syrup can be kept for 2 weeks, as toppings for pancakes, yogurt, etc.) Place the second layer on top of the first layer. Arrange the orange slices in a pleasing pattern on top of the cake, and scatter sliced almonds generously all over and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Enjoy...perhaps with champagne!

mini orange scones

When you have homemade curd, you must make scones.

With all the snowstorms on the east coast, the tangelo curd my friends sent me in my surprise Valentine package was sent a little later than expected and was a wee bit runny, so I decided to use it as a glaze--although really, the curd was so good I could have eaten it with a spoon. (Have you ever made curd yourself? I never have, but now I'm sorely tempted to try!)

I made some mini orange scones for them and drizzled the sunny orangey-yellow curd over each one. Each bite was meltingly tart and sweet at the same time, and the light, airy scones were just the right subtle base for them. On their own, the scones are quite good too, although I might add more orange zest to the batter if they're unglazed.

Because nothing has to be prepped ahead of time or brought to room temperature, this is a good quickie recipe whenever you want just a bit of a sweet with your afternoon tea. (They're best consumed on the same day that they're made.) Now if only there were clotted cream in the house, too...

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon sugar

zest of one large orange

5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces and returned to fridge

3 eggs

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Add flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, and zest to a food processor, pulsing a few times to combine. Add the butter and pulse until it becomes the size of peas and looks crumbly.

Beat 2 eggs, cream, and juice together, then add the mixture gradually into the dry ingredients, pulsing gradually until the dough begins to come together and form a ball.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times, but don’t overwork the dough. Shape the dough into a 3/4-inch-thick layer and use a glass or 1 inch round biscuit cutter to cut out scones. Reshape any leftover dough into another layer and cut out the remainder.

Beat the remaining egg together with a little bit of water, and brush each scone with the mixture.

Bake 10 minutes, or until a light golden brown. Allow to cool on the sheet for 5 minutes, then if you wish, drizzle them with curd or an orange glaze. (Please note: the second photo shows unglazed scones, with the curd in a little container beside them.)

Serve immediately. Makes approximately 24 mini scones.

little house books and crafts

I am tremendously fond of children's books, and read just as many of those as I do adult ones. I also have a bookcase of children's books that I re-read every year (and a full room of children's books in storage).

One of my favorites is Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series. As a little girl who was a child of immigrant parents, I thought it was great fun to read about a girl whose life experience was so different from mine. As an adult, it's a fascinating--and many ways unparalleled--account of that period of American history.

I've recently discovered that Harper Collins commissioned and printed books based on the other women in Laura's family, including fictionalized accounts of the lives of her grandmother, her Ma, and her daughter Rose. Being naturally suspicious of imitations and fiercely protective of the books I loved so much, I approached these with no small degree of hesitation--but found to my great joy that most of them are very good. It's surprising that most of them are already out of print, but they are still available in libraries and online.

The best of these so far has been the Caroline Quiner, or "Little House in Brookfield" series, which follows the life of Laura's Ma. I confess that in the original books I thought Ma was a bit of a stick in the mud, but I was surprised to find a thoughtful, sweet, and lively child whose life was just as full and interesting as Laura's was. I'm also enjoying the Martha books, which follows Laura's grandmother in her life as the daughter of a laird in Scotland, as well as various other biographies and offshoots of the series. It's striking to see the pioneering spirit that has marked Laura's family history throughout the generations, as well as to see how the authors present the ideals of independence, honor, kindness, and virtue in all the books.

No one who reads the Little House books can be unaware of the important role that food plays in the series, both the desperate want of it and the ongoing desire for it. As a child, I salivated over the rich bounty of American food, which to me seemed to represent both great comfort and luxury. I never really had home-cooked American food until my teens, and I still think of it as something of a treat.

My favorite book in the original series is Farmer Boy, which would vividly describe a long, hard day's work for little Almanzo--followed by the reward of a hot, heartening meal. There's also a great chapter that describes with giddy joy the week when Almanzo's parents go away for the weekend, and the children do nothing but eat big slices of cake with ice-cold milk, home-churned ice cream, icy watermelons cooled in the stream, and chewy, soft pulled taffy.

Reading the Little House books as an adult, particularly in today's era of packaged foods, it's impossible not to feel a deep sense of appreciation for the hard work that goes into harvesting good food by the farmers in this country, as well as in the care and making of meals are put on any table. I was also awestruck and humbled when I realized that throughout the entirety of The Long Winter, in which Laura writes about the terrible blizzards which strike the Dakotas for 7 long months, she never once speaks of being hungry, although the entire family was on the verge of starvation.

I like to keep reminders of two of my favorite scenes in Farmer Boy hanging in our kitchen--two Garth Williams illustrations carefully cut out of vintage books, backed with patterned paper, and hung in simple wooden frames. Most of the artwork in our kitchen has to do with food anyway, and these two were particularly appropriate.

During the winter when it's cold, I really like to read about people who are really cold and really hungry. And then I like to make foods that remind me of the series, including crisp salted popcorn, baked hams, warm pies, hot biscuits, and perhaps even a chicken pie now and then. After all, to this day there are still few things more comforting--or more luxurious--than a good meal.

cheddar scallion biscuits

Biscuits! We love biscuits, and this simple recipe yields the chewiest, most tender and cheesy biscuit you've ever tasted. The flavor of the scallions is amazing, subtle but distinct. Even if you've never made biscuits before, you should try making these--they are super easy and super satisfying.

After a couple of days of reprieve, it rained again all day today in southern California, so we're warming ourselves from inside out with limey chicken soup and these fantastic cheddar scallion biscuits. I've adapted the recipe slightly from a Gourmet (tears, copious tears) cookbook recipe, and combined with the soup they make for a warm, comforting meal on a cold, blustery day.

Note: I didn't have buttermilk in the house, so I just put 1 tablespoon of lemon juice in a cup of milk, stirred, and let it set for 5 minutes to substitute. Worked out beautifully. More helpful baking tips can be found here.

Save leftover biscuits--if there are any--to eat with ham for breakfast!

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

6 tablespoons cold butter, cubed and refrigerated until use

1 1/2 cups cheddar, grated

3 scallions, finely chopped

1 cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons melted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450°Fahrenheit.

In a food processor, pulse together flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add the butter and pulse 8-10 times until the mixture is coarse and the butter appears to be the size of peas. Pour mixture into a large bowl, and stir in cheddar and scallions. Add buttermilk and stir until just combined--don't overwork the batter, or the biscuits will be too tough.

Using a 1/4 cup to measure, drop dough in equal mounds 2 inches apart onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake in oven until golden, about 20 - 24 minutes, and brush with melted butter. Serve immediately while they're warm.

Makes 12 large, delicious biscuits.

peanut butter 'wichcraft cookies

When it's cold, there's nothing more comforting than a warm kitchen with cozy smells.

I've been wanting to make these peanut butter cream sandwich cookies since I first tried them in New York last fall at a 'wichcraft kiosk in Bryant Park. I have fond associations with these particular cookies, because not only were they delicious, I first tasted them while sitting in the park with my dear friend Mikey during an outdoor concert, immediately after going to see the original Pooh animals at the New York City Library--something I've wanted to do for ages and ages.

The recipe is in Tom Colicchio's 'wichcraft cookbook as well as online in a few different places. I followed the recipe pretty exactly, except I rolled out the dough a bit more thinly, cut out smaller cookies, and I omitted the sprinkling of sugar on top--I'm not a fan of the texture, and I think it's overkill for most recipes. But if you enjoy peanut butter cookies, you'll really love these. They're sort of like fancy do-si-do Girl Scout cookies, but much richer and much more buttery, with just the right balance of salty and sweet. Perfect with a cold, creamy glass of milk.

I was surprised that one of steps is to incorporate toasted oats (I'd never thought to do such a thing) but I loved the resulting depth of flavor. I might try doing this the next time I make oatmeal cookies, too. Super delicious!

I packaged a few cookies up to hand over to our neighbor as well, using the pretty yellow and white swirled baking cups from the always pretty Bake it Pretty shop. The red-coated Christmas bear ornament from my last post is also holding a silver tinsel tree from the same shop, found in the cupcake toppers section.

It continues to be cold (and rainy, off and on) here in Los Angeles, so I expect I'll be doing lots of nesting in the weeks to come. Hope your new year is off to a fantastic start!

PS--you can see a round-up of most of the presents I crafted for the holidays on my Flickr page. Cheers!