Rainbow Ruffle Cake

My niece asked me to make her birthday cake, and she was interested in either a Wicked cake or a tropical fish cake. I sent her a few pictures of cakes I found online, along with this rainbow cake that I've always wanted to make. She chose the rainbow cake. It was so much fun to make, and it's a real "Wow!" cake - a showstopper. It's fairly time consuming but not difficult.

First, take two white cake mixes (quelle horreur!). Prepare them according to the package instructions, and divide the batter among six bowls. I weighed the batter to make sure they were even. Follow the Roy G. Biv rules of rainbows and tint the batter the following colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. For most vivid colors, use gel food colors. You can get some neon colors at the grocery store made by Betty Crocker that would work nicely for this cake. I used my Wilton colors.

Next, prepare two nine-inch cake pans by spraying with Pam, lining with a circle of parchment, and spraying the parchment with Pam. Bake two colors at a time, for 15 minutes. You can bake more at once if you have two ovens or more than two nine-inch pans.

Let the cakes cool and remove parchment.

Now, make the buttercream frosting in this post, but triple it. Layer and frost the cake in the Roy G. Biv pattern. Use a crumb coat to the outside of the cake. If your frosting is too thick for a thin crumb coat, add a small amount of milk to about 1/3 of the remaining frosting. Put the cake in the refrigerator until it crusts over - about 30-60 minutes.

Finally, put the remaining frosting in six bowls. Color the frosting with the six colors you used before. Put frosting into six decorating bags. Using the 103 or 104 petal tip, pipe frosting in a ruffle form. The thin end of the tip should be up. Squeeze a short line of frosting, then go back and forth to create a ruffled effect - think zig-zag. This is actually very easy and forgiving.


Here's a (slightly messy) picture of the cake once you cut into it.

And here's a slice. We had to cut them very thinly because the cake was really tall, with six layers!

Notes:

1. If you don't want to use the cake decorating tools, you can just frost the outside with white frosting. Here's a rainbow cake done that way. Think of the surprise once you cut into a pure white cake and find a rainbow!

2. I never use cake mixes, but for this cake I wanted the colors to be undiluted, and I was afraid a homemade cake wouldn't be white enough.

3. I actually used a swiss meringue buttercream for the outside. It was fun to make and less sweet than the powdered sugar buttercream I usually use. I'd like work with it a bit more, but for now I'll stick with my usual recipe.

4. The cake shifted a bit in transit, as you can see below.

Happy birthday, Kelsey!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cake

I made this cake for Ben's former preschool teacher's birthday. It's a lot like the chocolate peanut butter cake I've made before, but I used a different chocolate cake recipe from Dorie Greenspan. It was very easy to work with and came out of the pans beautifully.

This cake is very rich - you'll get a lot of servings out of it!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cake

For the cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ½ cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

For frosting:
4-5 cups confectioner's sugar
2 c. smooth peanut butter
2 t. vanilla
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) butter, room temperature
1/2 t. salt
2/3 c. milk or cream

Beat together peanut butter, butter, and salt until smooth. Add confectioner's sugar and mix well. Add vanilla and milk. Add more milk if it's too thick and more sugar if it's too soft.

For decorating:miniature Reese’s cups, halved and/or chopped

Directions:
For the cake, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°. Butter two 9×2” round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess and line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper. Place the pans on a baking sheet.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for about 2 minutes, until thoroughly blended into the butter. Add the eggs and yolks one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk; add the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the buttermilk in 2 (beginning and ending with the dry ingredients). Mix each addition only until it is blended into the batter. Scrape down the bowl and add the melted chocolate, folding it in with a spatula. Divide the batter between the prepared cake pans.

Bake for 26-30 minutes or until the cakes feel springy to the touch and start to pull away from the sides of the pans. Don't overbake. Transfer to wire racks to cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.

To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on a cardboard circle covered in foil. Spread peanut butter frosting on top of the cake layer. Sprinkle with chopped Reese’s cups. Place the second cake layer on top of the frosting. Frost the top and outside of the cake with remaining peanut butter frosting. Decorate with halved and chopped Reese’s cups as desired.

Italian Cream Cake

Italian cream cake! It has been a favorite of mine for years and years, but I haven't made it in a while. It's great for Christmas because it's all white. You could garnish it with sugared cranberries to make it look more festive.

It's a three-layer coconut cake with cream cheese/coconut/pecan frosting - not sure where the Italian part comes in, but it's absolutely delicious! I've adapted the technique of the original recipe quite a bit to make it lighter and fluffier. Note that the layers will be fairly thin.

Italian Cream Cake

1 cup buttermilk 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup shortening 2 cups white sugar 5 eggs, yolks and whites separated 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup flaked coconut 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 cups flour Frosting 8 ounces cream cheese 1/2 cup butter 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 4 cups confectioners' sugar 2 tablespoons cream or milk 1/2 cup chopped pecans 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease three 9-inch round cake pans; put a parchment round in the bottom; and grease again. In a small bowl, dissolve the baking soda in the buttermilk; set aside.
2.	In a large bowl, cream together 1/2 cup butter, shortening and white sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the yolks and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix flour with salt and alternate adding it to batter with buttermilk mixture. Add coconut and stir until just combined. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form and stir gently into batter. Pour batter into the prepared pans.
3.	Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.
4.	To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, 1/2 cup butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla and confectioners' sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Mix in a small amount of cream to attain the desired consistency. Stir in chopped nuts and remaining flaked coconut. Spread between layers and on top and sides of cooled cake.

Ben's Birthday Cake

I never posted a picture of Ben's dragon cake, and I've had a request - so here it is!

Fenway Park Cake

Here is Jack's 8th birthday cake! It's by far the biggest cake I've ever made, with 7 1/2 recipes of cake (four and 1/2 yellow cake; three chocolate). I used a 5-lb. box of fondant (though not all of it made it on the cake), and in the past couple of weeks I've gone through (gulp) 14 pounds of confectioner's sugar. Not all of it was for this cake, but still.

I learned a few things in the process of making this cake, some of which should have been obvious.

1. I should have made the fondant pieces days ahead of time rather than the night before to give them time to dry. The humidity of the day made the wall/green monster droop.

2. I should not freeze my yellow cake - I forgot this lesson from Jack's 4th birthday. The chocolate cake was in perfect condition, but whether it's the beaten egg whites or the pudding in the yellow cake, it deflates in the freezer.

3. Hershey's Black Magic Cake is fabulous! It's almost the same as the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake that I make with my changes, but it does use buttermilk instead of milk. Delicious, and comes out of the pan like a dream.

4. Homemade cake release rocks! Mix equal parts of vegetable oil, Crisco, and flour and keep in the pantry. I like to spray the cake pan first with Pam, then cover thoroughly with the cake release.

5. Here is my latest favorite buttercream. It's remarkably good, and it comes from the Magnolia Bakery:

Vanilla Buttercream

Makes enough for one 2-layer 9-inch cake or 2 dozen cupcakes

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup milk (whole is best; cream is fine but will thicken the frosting)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. (Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.) Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Pineapple Carrot Cupcakes

These are simple carrot cake cupcakes with pineapple and cream cheese frosting. They are topped with pineapple "flowers" - thin slices of fresh pineapple dried in the oven. It takes a while to dry the flowers, and they need to be sliced very thinly. But they look lovely, and the dried pineapple is delicious!

Pineapple Carrot Cupcakes

Pineapple Carrot Cake

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs, beaten lightly

1 1/2 c. self-rising flour

3/4 c. sugar

1/2 t. ground cinnamon

2 cups firmly packed grated carrot

3/4 cup drained crushed pineapple

Pineapple Flowers

2 T. sugar

2 T. water

12 wafer thin slices of fresh pineapple

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

4 T. butter, softened

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 t. finely grated lemon peel

3 c. powdered sugar

1. Make pineapple flowers. Heat water and sugar in a microwavable cup for 1 minute, until sugar dissolves. Brush syrup onto both sides of the pineapple.

Put a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet, and place pineapple slices in a single layer on the rack. Bake at 250 for two hours, flipping pineapple after one hour. If your slices are very thin, they will dry more quickly.

As soon as the edges are brown and they look like a flower, remove them from the drying rack. Carefully shape them into flowers and dry over an inverted egg carton.

2. Turn oven temperature to 350. Line a 12-hole muffin pan with paper baking cups.

3. Combine oil, eggs, flour, sugar, and cinnamon in medium bowl; stir until combined. Stir in carrot and pineapple.

4. Divide mixture among baking cups.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Turn out onto racks to cool.

5. Make lemon cream cheese frosting. Spread on top of cakes and decorate with pineapple flowers.

Popcorn Cupcakes

I took this picture with my iPhone, so it's not super clear, but these are the cupcakes I made for Jack's and Ben's last day of school parties. They are a white cupcake with buttercream frosting. To make the "popcorn," you cut X's into mini marshmallows with kitchen shears. Then you use Wilton color mist spray in yellow to make them look buttery. To create a popcorn box look, I used Wilton standard sized nut and party cups with red stripes colored on the sides.
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Since Ben's room had a circus theme this year and Jack had a carnival-themed party, popcorn cupcakes worked for both boys. I'll be honest - it took a looooong time to color the red stripes and cut up the marshmallows to make 50 or so cupcakes. But I was very happy with the result!
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Here's a tip if you take cupcakes into work or the classroom - buy a plastic sweater box from Target to carry them in. They have lids, and 20-24 cupcakes fit perfectly. They're deep enough to accommodate any decorations as well.

Football Field Cake

I made this giant cookie cake for the sweet son of a dear friend. He wanted a sugar cookie cake, so I used this recipe. I lined the rimmed cookie sheet with quick-release foil and pressed the dough in it evenly. I baked it at 350 for 22 minutes - until golden brown. I let it cool in the pan until I could move it to a cutting board.

You can substitute any sugar cookie dough you like - just be sure you have enough for 7 dozen cookies (that's what the recipe I used yields, and it filled the cookie sheet perfectly). I used this buttercream recipe and made a double batch. I colored one batch with leaf green color and frosted the whole cookie (I star tipped the sides in white, but you could just use the green for the whole thing). I also pressed sparkling sugar into the frosting to give it that shiny turf look.

Then I used a skewer to make 11 lines in the frosting and filled them in with white lines, writing the yard lines on using a very small writing tip.

I piped the football freehand in black, and filled it with brown frosting, using the smallest star tip to mimic football dimples (that's what they're called, right?). The birthday boy's initials became the football laces. "Laces OUT!" (what movie?). Tip: Use cocoa powder to make brown frosting - it tastes better and makes a nice dark brown.

I should have made fondant goalposts, but I cheated with pipe cleaners in Vanderbilt's colors. This cake would be great for college football season or the Super Bowl - you could make the end zones bigger and write the team names in them. If you wanted a cake, you could just use a 9X13 pan for the cake. I'd probably stack two cakes with frosting in the middle.

Beach Umbrella Cupcakes

I have so many good recipes to share, but I have been busy grading papers! I'm hoping to get some updates done this weekend.


Ben's preschool had their "water day" yesterday - they wore swimsuits and played with squirt guns. At least, that was Ben's description - I'm sure there was more involved! The parents provided hotdogs, etc. for lunch, and I brought these beach umbrella cupcakes. They are a great choice if you need something for an end-of-the-school-year/welcome-to-summer party. And they're easy, too!


Items Needed

1. Cupcakes and white frosting (I used a great new chocolate recipe that I'll share soon, and no-shortening buttercream)


2. Graham cracker crumbs (process graham crackers in a food processor, or whack them with a rolling pin in a plastic bag until they look like sand)


3. Cocktail drink umbrellas (I got mine at Party City - they were a little big, but I think the kids liked them because they were shiny. I snipped the sharp tip off the bottom.)


4. Fruit gummi tape (I bought this at Fuzziwig's, a candy store. I cut it up to look like beach towels. You could also use Fruit-by-the-Foot, but the stripes on the gummi tape are very cute.)


Frost cupcakes. Put graham cracker crumbs in a bowl, and dip frosted top of cupcake into crumbs. Roll edges to cover.


Attach "beach blanket" with a dot of extra frosting. Stick beach umbrella into cupcake.


I saw Martha Stewart use drink umbrellas for beach umbrellas, and she put these cupcakes on a tray interspersed with blue-frosted cupcakes with a paper shark fin sticking out. I adapted this a bit - I piped blue frosting in a wave pattern and then put a gummi shark on top (also from Fuzziwig's). Ben was more excited about the sharks then the umbrellas!

More Easter Cupcakes

I made two kinds of cupcakes for Ben's Easter party at school, since parents and siblings were invited. I got the idea for the candy carrots here. I've seen lots of Easter cupcakes with coconut nests. But I thought most children wouldn't like coconut, so I made haystacks into nests - I formed them in a mini-muffin pan and put the jelly beans inside before they hardened. The nests need to be refrigerated if you make them ahead of time.

I used Martha Stewart's Devil's Food Cupcakes recipe with buttercream. For the carrot cupcakes, I made this one, which was new to me. Both recipes were great!

Cupcake tips: fill cupcake liners to just about 1/4 inch below the rim before baking to develop a nice cupcake top. Use a decorating bag and tip to frost; your frosting will look better and you won't tear up delicate cupcakes.

Spring Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for Jack's school Easter party this week. I was inspired by this picture from Martha Stewart:

However, it's hard to find flat lollipops, and I picked up some Dum-Dums-shaped Airhead ones. I also found bright, funky nonpareils from Betty Crocker (Selects Sugar Decors) at Publix. I made three frosting colors: pink, green, and blue. Pairing the pink and orange nonpareils with the pink frosting; the green and yellow with the yellow frosting; and the blue and purple with the blue frosting made them really pop with color.

The kids went a little nuts when I brought them into the classroom. It may have been the vibrant colors, or maybe it was the prospect of (as one boy said), "It's like, cake - but with candy ON TOP!".

I used Martha Stewart's chocolate cupcake recipe and doubled it. I'm so happy with this recipe - the cupcakes are more like pound cake and are sturdy for transporting and decorating. And they taste good, too. The frosting is basic buttercream.

Spring Cupcakes (note: I doubled this recipe to make 24)

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream

12 lollipops

Green Fruit-by-the-Foot, cut into small leaf shapes

Buttercream Frosting, dyed green, blue, and pink (recipe below)

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners.
2.Into a medium bowl, sift together cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each, then beat in vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with sour cream and beginning and ending with flour.
3.Pour batter into cups, filling each just under the rim of the paper liner. Bake until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.
4.Cool in pan 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, then spread with frosting using a table knife or small offset spatula. To decorate with sprinkles, put sprinkles in a small bowl and invert frosted cupcakes into the bowl, covering the sides and then the middle.

5. Unwrap lollipops and push into the center. Attach green leaves with frosting.

Buttercream Frosting

3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream

Directions

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

Butterfinger Banana Cake with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

I was looking for something different and found this little delight. It's excellent, and quite easy to make. The layers come out of the pan beautifully (but make sure to grease and flour thoroughly), and the frosting is easy to work with. It is very sweet, so I added more peanut butter to the frosting and next time I would add more salt for a counterpoint. The recipe below comes from The Candy Bar Cookbook, but I am including it here with my changes.

Butterfinger Banana Cake with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

For the cake:
6 (2.1 ounce) butterfinger candy bars
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
4 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup buttermilk
For the frosting:
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter
To prepare the cake: Preheat oven to 350°F Grease and flour two 9" cake pans. In the food processor, coarsely chop the candy bars; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Mix in the mashed bananas and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk alternately to the egg mixture (in two to three additions each) and incorporate thoroughly. Fold in two-thirds of the chopped Butterfingers and divide the batter between the cake pans.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cakes on wire racks for 10 minutes. Invert onto a rack and cool completely before frosting.

To prepare the frosting: In a large mixing bowl, blend the cream cheese, butter and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add the powdered sugar and peanut butter and mix until smooth.

To frost the cake, place one layer on a serving plate. Spread 1/4 of the frosting over the top. Place the second layer on top. Spread the remaining frosting over top and sides of the cake. Garnish with remaining crushed Butterfingers.

Makes 12 servings.

Pumpkin Cake

I made this cake for my sweet niece Kelsey's seventh birthday. When she said she wanted a pumpkin cake for her October birthday, I thought of Martha Stewart's Great Pumpkin Cake. She makes it with two bundt cakes, one inverted on the other - isn't that clever?

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I made yellow cake for the bottom layer; frosted in between with dark chocolate frosting; and made Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake for the top layer. The orange frosting is all-butter buttercream frosting with orange food coloring, and I made the jack-o-lantern face with a small round cake decorating tip and the same dark chocolate frosting from between the layers. The stem is an ice cream cone covered with chocolate frosting. I made the grooves in the pumpkin with an off-set spatula. At the party, we put some candy corn around the bottom to finish it off.

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I've posted these recipes before, but I'll include them here because I think this is a great cake for this month. If you made a completely chocolate cake, you could make an orange-flavored buttercream (with orange zest and orange extract) for a sophisticated taste. My chocolate cake came out very soft and crumby, so I used a crumb coat - I mixed 1/2 cup of buttercream with 1 tablespoon of milk and lightly frosted it. I then left it in the refrigerator for about an hour so the crumb coat could crust over. I was able to frost the cake without catching crumbs in the frosting. If you need to transport this cake, you can also let it crust over in the refrigerator. I put a piece of aluminum foil over it loosely, and it survived an hour car ride on my lap with no problems.

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Since you are making 2 cakes, this cake should serve 20-30 people.

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Buttercream Frosting (this made enough with about a cup or so leftover)

4 sticks butter, softened

8 cups confectioner's sugar

2 t. vanilla

4 T. milk

orange food coloring (Wilton's gel/paste)

Beat butter with mixer until light. Mix in vanilla. Add sugar one cup at a time. Add milk and orange food coloring and beat until fluffy, at least 5 minutes.

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Hershey's Dark Chocolate Frosting

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Special Dark Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

Hershey's Dark Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Special Dark Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling coffee

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a bundt pan.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling coffee (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

Yellow Cake

Preheat oven to 350.

2 1/4 c. flour
3 1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 3.4 oz. pkg. vanilla pudding
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 stick butter, softened
2 c. milk
1 t. vanilla
4 egg whites

Grease and flour a bundt pan.

Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and pudding mix in a medium bowl.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla.

Alternate adding flour mixture and milk to the batter, ending with flour.

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into batter. Gently spoon into pan(s).

Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes until golden and no crumbs cling to cake tester inserted in the middle.

Peanut Butter Cup Cake

I needed to make desserts for two different events today, so I decided to come up with something crowd-pleasing and technically easy. I didn't take a picture (!), so I thought I'd show you the end result of the potluck - the cake was pretty much gone. If you want something homemade that most people will love, this is your cake.

The cake is based on the one on the back of the Hershey's box, which I've been making for years. I used Hershey's "Special Dark" cocoa, which is why it so dark; it's a partially dutch-processed cocoa. You can certainly use regular cocoa, though, and the recipe on each box is the same.

The change I make from the original recipe is using boiling coffee (I heat up coffee in the microwave to boiling) instead of hot water. *Some people* accuse me of leaving out details in my recipes so they can't be replicated, so I wanted to highlight this change. :-)

The frosting is based on Ina Garten's peanut butter frosting, and it is To.Die. Try not to eat it all with a spoon!

Peanut Butter Cup Cake

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling coffee
1 1/2 c. confectioner's sugar
1 c. smooth peanut butter
1 t. vanilla
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) butter, room temperature
1/4 t. salt
1/3 c. milk or cream
20 mini Reese's peanut butter cups, chopped

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9X13 pan.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling coffee (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

4. Make frosting: with a mixer, beat together butter, peanut butter, salt, and confectioner's sugar until smooth. Add vanilla and milk and beat until fluffy. If the frosting is too thin, add confectioner's sugar a tablespoon at a time; if it is too thick, add milk a teaspoon at a time to get to the desired consistency.

5. Frost cake and top with peanut butter cups. Feel free to use more candy if you like!

The Gourmet Club Returns!

It was Catherine's birthday today, and we haven't had a Gourmet Club dinner in a long time - so it was the perfect time to make a full course meal from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. We had a wonderful night! I was impressed that the four children made it through six courses. Jack, our little gourmand, ate everything - he wants the leftovers in his lunch tomorrow.

Catherine is French, so she's grown up with the long, multicourse meals. I served small portions, so we didn't leave the table overfull.


I meant to take pictures of each course, but it didn't happen. Almost everything we had is on the platter above.

Course #1 - Appetizer - Tomato stuffed with shrimp. I made mayonnaise for the first time; it was very good but thinner than I expected. This looked impressive, and unfortunately, it's the only thing not pictured.

Course #2 - Pasta - Penne with bell peppers and Italian sausage. This was a huge hit! I think each child had three servings.

Course #3 - Entree - Veal Scallopine with asparagus and Fontina. This caused the only problem of the night - when I was making the pan sauce reduction, the smoke detector went off because I had the pan too hot. Other than a slightly hazy room, everything was fine.

Course #4 - Salad - Green beans with lemon and olive oil. Delicious! Catherine's daughter had seconds - of green beans. These were very simple to make and benefitted from being cooked in salty water.

Course #5 - Fruit - Black and White marinated grapes. I liked this refreshing segue. Black and green grapes have a glaze of fresh orange juice, sugar, and lemon zest.

Course #6 - Dessert - Fourteen Layer Cake. The cake is not from the Italian cookbook; supposedly it's a Southern cake, but I've lived in Georgia for eight years and nobody's ever made me one! The greatest revelation about this cake is that there is such a thing as chocolate cream cheese frosting. And a tesseract.

Fourteen layers! The recipe is here on Bakerella's website. I baked my layers for 15 minutes in the disposable pans with a cookie sheet underneath to conduct the heat. I loosened the layers with an off-set spatula and didn't use parchment. The cake takes a while to make because I can only fit two pans at a time in the oven, but the techniques are not difficult. I loved making it - it's so pretty!

Marshmallow Fondant

Fondant is a sugar paste used in cake decorating. By itself, it makes an absolutely satin smooth finish. Mixed with gum paste, it can be molded like clay into edible 3D figures. Most people aren't crazy about the taste of fondant, so buttercream is usually spread underneath it (it also helps it adhere). Marshmallow fondant, though, is quite good - it tastes like marshmallow, unsurprisingly.

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It's also fun to make! It starts as a messy glop of melted marshmallows and confectioner's sugar, and after some kneading it becomes impeccably smooth and blindingly white.

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For Ben's 4th birthday, I made a puppy out of equal parts gum paste and marshmallow fondant. I told him he could eat the puppy at his party, and he ate almost the whole thing! You can see all the messy mistakes that reveal my amateur status - I'm no Cake Boss! But he absolutely loved the puppy that bears a passing resemblance to our dog Lucy, so I was happy.

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Marshmallow Fondant

16 oz. white mini marshmallows

2 T. water

2 lbs. confectioner's sugar

1/2 cup Crisco (put in a separate bowl)

Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave. Put the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, open microwave and stir, back in microwave for 30 seconds more, open microwave and stir again, and continue doing this until melted.

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It usually takes about 2 ½ minutes total. Place 3/4 of the powdered sugar on the top of the melted marshmallow mix.

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Now grease your hands with the Crisco - palms, backs and in between fingers, then heavily grease the counter you will be using and dump the bowl of marshmallow/sugar mixture in the middle.

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Start kneading like you would bread dough.

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Keep kneading, this stuff is sticky at this stage! Add the rest of the powdered sugar and knead some more.

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Re-grease your hands and counter when the fondant is sticking. If the mix is tearing easily, it is to dry, so add water (about ½ tablespoon at a time then knead it in). It usually takes about 8 minutes to get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing when you apply it to the cake.

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It's best if you can let it sit, double wrapped, overnight (but you can use it right away if there are no tiny bits of dry powdered sugar). If you do see them, you will need to knead and maybe add a few more drops of water.
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Prepare the fondant for storing by coating it with a good layer of Crisco shortening, wrap in a plastic- type wrap product and then put it in a re-sealable or Ziploc bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible. Fondant will hold very well in the refrigerator for weeks.

Make an Independence Day Cake - and a Memory, Too

This cake is from Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa). Not only is it delicious, it makes a great activity for the kids at a 4th of July barbecue. You bake and frost the cake, then let the kids decorate it with blueberries, raspberries, and more frosting. So what if it doesn't look as good as Ina's? It is sooo good - white cake with cream cheese frosting and berries, and it serves 24 people. If you try it, you might just start a new tradition!

Flag Cake

Ingredients

18 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
3 cups sugar
7 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup sour cream at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

For the icing:

1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 pounds cream cheese at room temperature
1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

To assemble:

2 half-pints blueberries
3 half-pints raspberries

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter and flour an 18 by 13 by 1 1/2-inch sheet pan. (You can use an 11x15 jelly roll/rimmed cookie sheet, but don't overfill with batter - put the extra in an 8-inch square pan).

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed, until light and fluffy. On medium speed, add the eggs, 2 at a time, then add the sour cream and vanilla. Scrape down the sides and stir until smooth.

Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until just combined. Pour into the prepared pan. Smooth the top with a spatula. Bake in the center of the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool to room temperature.

For the icing, combine the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mixing just until smooth.

Spread three-fourths of the icing on the top of the cooled sheet cake. Outline the flag on the top of the cake with a toothpick. Fill the upper left corner with blueberries. Place 2 rows of raspberries across the top of the cake like a red stripe. Put the remaining icing in a pastry bag fitted with a star tip and pipe two rows of white stripes below the raspberries. Alternate rows of raspberries and icing until the flag is completed. Pipe stars on top of the blueberries.

Serve in pan.

Our Father's Day Cupcakes

Making the cupcakes with the boys was messy but fun! We couldn't find the black shoestring licorice, and twists didn't work as well. But no one complained - they tasted great!

Father's Day Cupcakes

The cupcake craze continues! I have three cupcake cookbooks, and the boys love to look at them, begging me to make the puppy ones and the werewolf ones and the basketball ones and on and on. I've seen a lot of cute ideas for Father's Day, so I thought I'd collect some of them here.

"Want Some Mower" is from Family Fun. I give it a B+ for cuteness and a B for easiness. You're going to make chocolate cupcakes and frost them with chocolate frosting; tint coconut green; and construct a lawnmower out of readily-available candy. It wouldn't be hard, but it would take a little while.









Can't you tell these "Tee-Time" cupcakes are from Martha? Spare, cute without being cutesy, colors from a Martha Stewart paint palette? I give these an A- for cuteness and a D+ for easiness. Ask yourself if you are the type of person who isn't frightened by a cupcake recipe that calls for grosgrain ribbon and a glue gun.














Wilton created this "Snack with Sizzle" grill/mini cake for two reasons: 1. maximum cuteness and 2. maximum need for Wilton products. I love it, though it's so far removed from food . . . or cupcakes . . . I just don't know. I give it an A for cuteness and an F for easiness.

Island Cake

For Jack's last day of school party, we had a luau, with sweet and sour chicken, rice, ham sandwiches on Hawaiian rolls, and fruit. For dessert I made this Island Cake. It's basically the same as the Beach Cake I made last year, but rearranged as an island.

One thing I'd do differently is double the cake. The ratio of frosting to cake was like 1:1, and it was very sweet! I got the great gummy sharks, whales, rainbow fish, etc. at Fuzziwig's.