Sunday, June 29, 2008

Danish Braid a la Daring Bakers





I'm going to start out by saying right off that baking with yeast is not my favorite thing to do. Oh I have made bread in a bread machine with no problem. But this recipe for the June challenge, chosen by our hosts, Kelly of Sass and Veracity and Ben of What's Cooking started out scary because you do not proof the yeast. And it appears to be a recipe that requires patience, of which I have none. This recipe calls for making a dough, laminated with a butter block. No, I have not had the pleasure before.
I made my danish on a Saturday and baked it for a Sunday breakfast. I made the dough recipe as written. It gave me a chance to try my mortar and pestle that my friend Kim picked up for me during an Ikea trip. I opened the cardamon pods and tried to crush the seeds but couldn't get them fine enough so I used my coffee grinder first and then used the mortar and pestle. I didn't have an orange left in my fridge like I thought, so I used water and orange extract instead of orange juice and zest. I had a little fun incorporating the butter into the dough, because it actually seemed to come together like it was supposed to! I did sneek little unbaked bits and it seemed tasty enough.
For my filling I used 8 oz of cream cheese, 1 egg and 1/2 cup sugar. Next time if I fill with cream cheese I will double the filling as it seemed not enough for our tastes.
I think I may have voodooed the dough into not rising to my satisfaction or maybe I was hasty and baked too soon. I also think my dough could have used more flavoring, but maybe more filling would help. I have the second slab of danish dough in my freezer to try again later. I'l try to be more patient!
Daring Bakers are such a fun group. Always something to learn and stretch our cooking skills. Anyway, you can find the long recipe at the hosts' blogs.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Berry Trifle




I needed a quick dessert for a get together and had no time to bake. ACK! Well, I turned to a solution that many have done before me- a berry trifle.
I forgot I even had a trifle bowl, until I came across it recently while I was searching my cupboards for something else! It used to belong to my mother and I have never used it.
This dessert is light and fairly low in calories compared to others. Fresh berries are layered with angel food cake and sweetened whipped cream. (In my haste, I overbeat the whipped cream.) Calories can be cut further by using a low calorie whipped topping.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

My father in law is a big PUSD cake fan. So for Father's Day, I baked these cute little cupcakes for our cookout. They are great for a small taste!
My silicone cupcake pan worked great for this recipe. I used this recipe from Crazy Cupcake for the topping, but since I was also making 4 other kinds of cupcakes for the cookout, I used a boxed yellow cake for the cake part.
Sometimes I really think you can't tell it's from a box, depending on what recipe you are doing. Especially with this recipe, since the topping sinks into the cake somewhat.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

My first "Wedding" Cake


My friends, Barbara and Gary were married in a small ceremony at our church last week. We were having our Bible study tonight and it is the first one since their wedding so we had dinner at Gene's home. My contribution was the celebration cake!
I wish I would have taken a picture of the cut cake. I layered my Madagasgar Vanilla Bourbon buttercream inside with fresh strawberries, so it was very pretty. Apparently very tasty, too. All the men had 2 pieces each! :D I love it when that happens.
I used a new cake recipe that I found. It is a cake mix based recipe called White Almond Sour Cream Cake. You can find the recipe here. I used a new recipe for the buttercream icing also. All in all a perfect combination which I am certain I will use again and again. The cake is tasty and perfect in texture for a wedding cake. It can also be flavored differently if you wish. The icing is now my favorite to use for decorating- not too sweet, but just sweet enough with a light butter flavor.
Best Wishes to the newlyweds!

Monday, June 9, 2008

Golly Gee I've been Tagged!

Tag- I'm it! ;)
I have been tagged for my first meme by Renee of Cafe NayNay! Dang, it has been many years since I've actually played tag and this version means when you are tagged you answer a few questions about yourself. It's a good way to learn a little about our fellow bloggers.

The rules: Each participant answers questions about himself. At the end of the post the participant tags 5 people. Their names are posted letting them know they’ve been tagged. They then have to read the participant’s blog. The tagged let’s the tagger know when he’s posted his answers. Here we go!

What was I doing ten years ago?
Hmm 10 years ago 1998.... oldest daughter was 15 and involved in travel softball and youngest was 13 and playing rec league softball, so we were sitting at lots of softball games! We lived in our previous house in the same town and I worked in the same place I do now.

What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:
Laundry!
Call the cable company to fix my bill they screwed up.
Call my Dentist.
Plan a cake I have to make for a wedding party for some friends.
Plan our Father's Day picnic.

Five Snacks I enjoy:
Bugles
I LOVE greasy potato chips, but try not to eat them or keep them in my house.
Sour Cherry Jolly Ranchers
Heavily Buttered popcorn.
Utz Special Dark Pretzels (which, alas, I can not get where I live)

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Sell our home, move to the mountains near a lake, travel, give some money to family and charity.



Places I have lived:
Northern Ohio
Asheville, NC
Henderson, NC


Jobs I have had:
I grew up working in my dad's grocery.
First real job was folding sheets in a hotel laundry.
Bank Teller
Retail Dept Store
Police Dept Records Clerk
Respiratory Therapist (til we moved in 1983 and the only hospital was 50 miles away- now there are so many opportunities in other venues.)
Insurance Mgr/Lasik Coordinator @ Optometrist's Office

I tag:
Michelle of Cleveland Foodie
Prudence of Glass Slipper Cakery
Pei Lin from Mrs Ergül in the Kitchen
Laura of LOR in the Kitchen
Bunny from Bunny's Warm Oven