Jack Skellington and Cow Cakes!

This past week or so, there have been a LOT of birthdays, including mine! I had a joint birthday party with my good friend, Jessica, and I made us a cake (of course). We are huge fans of Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, so I decided to make a simple little cake that pays homage to the film.

The cake was strawberry cake with cream cheese filling on the bottom tier and vanilla buttercream filling on the top tier. It tasted great, and Jessica liked it, so my mission was accomplished. :) And based on the amount of cell phone cameras that snapped my cake as well as the amount of empty plates, I think the partygoers liked my cake inside and out!

The next cake was for one of my oldest friends, Ainsley. We go way back to 7th grade! And her love for cows hadn't changed, so I decided to make her a cute cow cake. She is also a fan of almond pound cake, so I found a recipe from Paula Deen for Almond Sour Cream Pound Cake. Yum!

In order to make two 6" layers and two 8' layers, I multiplied the recipe by 1.5

• 3/4 pound butter (3 sticks)
• 4 cups sugar (** I changed this from 4.5 because I didn't want the cake overwhelmingly sweet)
• 1 1/2 c sour cream
• 4 1/2 c AP flour, plus more for pans
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 9 eggs (I made sure they were room temp)
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract (I changed this from the orange in the original recipe)
• 1 tsp almond emulsion (I liked the almond flavor from the emulsion rather than extract)

Preheat the oven to 325, and butter (or shortening) the pans then flour them.

In the mixer, cream together the sugar and butter then add sour cream.

Sift the flour and baking soda together in a separate bowl then add alternately, 1 at a time, with the eggs (yes all 9 of them!)

Add extracts then stir to combine them. Pour the batter evenly into the pans then bake! For me, the 6" cakes took about 50 minutes, and the 8" cakes took 1 hour. But ovens vary, so check your cakes!

Cool the cakes in their pans for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto cooling racks.

As for the buttercream, I used my usual vanilla buttercream recipe and added almond emulsion to it (I added enough to taste). I wanted to accentuate the almond-y-ness, since it seems the flavor got a bit lost in the baking of the cakes. But then again, I love almond cake, so add almond flavor to where you can stand it.

I filled and covered the cakes in the white buttercream, then cut out thin asymmetrical shapes out of black fondant to represent cow spots.

I then made a little cow to go on top. *Note: I have no clue what the specifics of a dairy cow are, so I ended up making a male-female  hybrid. It had horns and an udder!

Still cute though, right?

I added some blue borders and writing (Ainsley's favorite color is blue--that had not changed, either)

Then lastly, I added white chocolate numbers that I spotted with black buttercream. There was no doubt this was a definite cow cake!

Unfortunately, the numbers didn't make the ride over to her house because of the horrible heat, but the cake was still loved. :) And it tasted awesome! Yay for scratch baking!

Gingerbread Men and Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

I wanted to squeeze in a couple of cookies before Christmas, so I wanted to make a classic gingerbread cookie and Paula Deen's Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies!

First off, I must say that this year has flown by! I can't believe it's Christmas Eve and there is a week left in 2011! Where has the time gone!? Hopefully next year won't fly by so quickly...

So this holiday season, I have decided not to do gifts in order to get my bills paid. As Mrs. Lovett said: "Times is hard." So instead of making meat pies out of alley cats, I'm making cookies!

For the Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies, I used Paula Deen's recipe. This was quick and easy since the base was chocolate cake mix.

• 1 8-oz brick cream cheese, room temp
• 1 stick butter, room temp
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 18-oz box moist chocolate cake mix
• confectioner's sugar, for dusting

1) Cream the butter and the cream cheese until smooth.

2) Beat in the egg, then the vanilla, then the cake mix.

3) Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours so the dough is easy to roll.
4) Once chilled, preheat the oven to 350. Roll the dough into tablespoon-sized balls.

Then roll the balls into some powdered sugar...

And place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.

5) Bake for 12 minutes and dust with additional sugar after completely cooled, if you want.

And these little guys will be eaten up in no time! They have a brownie- cakey- cookie- type of quality, and they are so good! Using exact tablespoons, I got about 4 dozen instead of the 2 dozen the recipe said it would make! :)

Chocolatey goodness!

Next up is a classic gingerbread cookie recipe. Instead of a teaspoon of lemon zest, I put in about a teaspoon and a half of orange zest (I think orange tastes much better with ginger).

• 3 c all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp ginger
• 1 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cloves (I substituted nutmeg)
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
• 3/4 c dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 c molasses
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp lemon zest (or orange)

1) In a bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together until blended.
2) In a mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until blended.

3) Add molasses, vanilla, and zest. Mix well.

4) Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth

Yum!

5) Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic. Then let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours.
6) Preheat oven to 375. Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
7) Place one portion of the dough on a floured surface and roll out to 1/4" thick.

*The dough will look dry, but keep working at it, and it will come together!*
Cut cookies into whatever shapes you choose.

8) Space cookies 1 1/2" apart  and bake for 7-10 minutes.

I had some royal icing left over from the gingerbread house party, so I mixed that up and added some color. That was not a good time to find out I was out of red! Grrr! Green and blue worked fine, though! I had some basic gingerbread men...

Then some clothed ones...

Then some stars...

And some decorated circle shapes...

And I got a little snacky, so I got creative...

Following the recipe, I got a little under 4 dozen with this recipe as well! Nice! The cookies were a bit soft because I baked them for exactly 7 minutes. If you want crispier cookies, roll them thinner or bake them a bit longer.
These cookies are going to go in cute little Christmas Chinese food boxes for gift-giving!

I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season! Be safe, and have fun!

Made with Love

 In recent news, my Beloved has now become my Betrothed! :) I'm very excited and I wanted to celebrate the occasion with a special little cake. One of his favorite things to eat is sour cream (he could probably eat a whole tub in five seconds flat), so I found Paula Deen's Almond Sour Cream Pound Cake. I cut the recipe in half because I wanted to make a small cake:

• 1/4 pound (1 stick) butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 tsp orange extract ( I used vanilla)
• 1/4 tsp almond extract

1) Preheat oven to 350. Then grease two 6-inch round pans
2) Cream butter and sugar together then add sour cream.

3) Sift flour and baking soda together. Add to creamed mixture, alternately with the eggs, one at a time.
4) Add extracts and stir to combine.
5) Pour into pans and bake for 45 to 50 minutes.

Cool the cakes in the pans for 10 minutes then turn them out into cooling racks.

"But wait!" you might interject, "why is there a square cake up there?" Well, during the turning-out step, I lost some cake, so I had to ice between the layers and cut them down (the cake waste was still tasty!) It's all good-- no shame in it. Hmph.

So after the sides were cut down, I iced the cake, smoothed it a bit, then chilled it in the freezer to set the buttercream. Then I used a handy-dandy Wilton spatula to get really straight edges.

The hardened icing made it really easy to shave down any bumpy parts.

ooooh ahhhh

I wanted to keep things simple, so I used some black icing to make a little swirl pattern and a snail trail border. And voila!

My betrothed loved it! The cake was quite moist and I loved how it paired with my Butter-Almond buttercream. Yum!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Honey Peanut Butter Filling and Peanut Butter Buttercream

Wow! That title is a mouthful-- just like these delicious cupcakes I made for my beloved for our seven year anniversary! And of course, I had to go for the chocolate and peanut butter flavor combo, since it's his favorite (and hey, it's scrumptious!)

So I had been bargain shopping a little bit ago, and I came across a Paula Deen brand of chocolate cupcake mix.

It was for 12 cupcakes, so I figured it was the perfect number for two people to enjoy (right..?) I started by following the box directions then popped the cupcakes in the oven.

I had used cute little heart cupcake cups, but of course the design disappeared because they were included in my bargain shopping as well. I have yet to try those Reynold's cups... Anyhoo!

Meanwhile, I mixed up some peanut butter buttercream. This recipe is enough to cover these twelve cupcakes with a low swirl. For a high over-the-top swirl, try doubling it.

• 1/4 cup (half stick) of butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, room temperature
• 1 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons milk or cream

1.) Cream the butter and the peanut butter together. Then add about half of the confectioner's sugar.
2.) Stop the mixer to add the milk, then add the rest of the confectioner's sugar.
3.) Mix until smooth and remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl! :)

After the cupcakes were cooled, I cut a little hole into the center of each cupcake...

And I filled them with honey peanut butter (sooo good!)

A swirl of buttercream and some little heart picks, and our anniversary cupcakes were a go! They were very moist, and that burst of peanut butter tasted perfect!

Ohh yeeeah!

Oh, yeah... he doesn't like his picture taken. Tee hee!

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

Since there's a definite snow-blivion going on outside (yes, in Virginia Beach, VA), I'm in the mood for baking. What to bake? Well, I just have this cream cheese getting to room temp on the counter, a couple of sticks of butter that are begging to be melted, and a yummy can of pumpkin puree. Hmmm.... Paula Deen's Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake! A couple of people I know that have made this cake and they LOVED it, even non-pumpkin-lovers. So of course, I just had to try it! Be forewarned: this recipe involves 2 sticks of butter! This is not for the health-conscious! The recipe goes a little like this:

Cake Bottom:

• 1 (18 1/4 oz) package yellow cake mix (I used butter recipe golden)
• 1 egg
• 8 tbsp (1 stick) butter, melted

Filling:

• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (15 oz)n can pumpkin puree
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 8 tbsp (1 stick) butter, melted
• 16 oz of powdered sugar (about 2 cups)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 13 x 9 baking dish (I used an 8 x 8 Pyrex dish)
2. Combine cake mix, egg, and 1 stick melted butter into a bowl and mix with electric mixer (you can use an old-fashioned wooden spoon). Pat the mixture into the bottom of the baking dish.

3. For the filling: In a large bowl (this part I used the Kitchenaid for), beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the 3 eggs, the melted butter, and the vanilla.

 4. Add the powdered sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, and mix well (don't forget to scrape down those sides!)

5. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake bottom and bake for 40-50 minutes for the 13 x  9 and about 55-65 minutes for the 8 x 8. The center should be a little gooey-- set, but gooey.

Gooey success!

For best results, serve with whipped cream (as seen above).

Some variations I found were a chocolate peanut butter flavor (with chocolate cake mix and 1 cup peanut butter used instead of pumpkin) and a pineapple flavor (with 1 cup crushed pineapple instead of pumpkin).