Once, Twice, Three times a Lamb-y.

Yep, I did it again. For the third consecutive year, I’ve upheld the tradition of making the Lamb Cake for Easter, using the trusty old cast-iron pan that my aunt gave me.

where the magic happens.

I also kept up the tradition of making it a carrot cake, with cream cheese icing. The only thing I did change were the color of his eyes.

my brown-eyed lamb.

I went with the same jelly bean nose as seen on  Lamb #2; but I liked the larger ears Lamb #1 had, so I made sure to make them a little bigger this year. 

the better to hear you with.

I will say this – this year’s lamb appears to be a tad “shaggy-er” than the previous two. Some lambs are just shaggy-er than others, I suppose.

shag-a-delic.

Either way, the lamb once again survived the ride to Easter dinner at my parents house, and this year, his arrival was anticipated, and my mom had set up a special table, specifically for the guest of honor

it’s a lamb in a box. on a table.

We didn’t finish the entire lamb, and I  again took the head back home with me – which I will definitely be sharing with others (the lamb has a big head).

Until next year….the Lamb will be baaaaack!

 

The Second Annual Baking of the Irish Soda Bread.

I realized after making Irish Soda Bread for the first time last year for St. Patrick’s Day, that I was going to have to make a tradition out of it. So, last week, I dug right in and attempted to recreate the very same bread I made this time a year ago, using the same recipe as a basic guide. The only difference this year was that I had a sweet new wooden spoon that my mom gave me for Christmas that I hadn’t even used yet, and a shiny new gigantic mixing bowl that I had picked up specifically for mixing doughs.

cool new tools.

I don’t know if they made the bread any better than last year’s – I really can’t recall how last year’s tasted compared to this years! All I can say is that I do remember last year’s turning out pretty good, and this year’s was actually kinda great. So maybe it really is all in the equipment…

One thing I did remember was that I baked last year’s in a cake pan – so I did that same thing again. It keeps it from getting flat.

cake pans are not just for cake anymore.

It definitely did NOT get too flat – it rose quite nicely and retained its round-ish shape, like a good dough should when it’s baked into bread.

.

shapely bread.

I will say this – I think I let it bake just a few minutes too long. It didn’t burn, but if i were to do it again, I’d have taken it out of the oven 5 minutes earlier. It was still really tasty, and looked kinda awesome, close up.

It’s all gone now, so it must have been pretty good.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Until next year….

 

Never Too Late for Love.

Yes, I know Valentine’s Day was 4 days ago….but I was busy playing Cupid and never got the chance to post the pictures of my 2013 Valentine’s Commemorative Treats. Instead, I spent the day giving them out, and helping make others’ Valentine’s Day a little more special. I can totally get into this Cupid thing.

Cupid, draw back your bow…

Anyway,I had been having so much fun dipping cookies in chocolate, that I decided to keep the fun going with some cupcakes. So, the night before Valentine’s Day, I whipped up a batch of pound cake cupcakes, and because it was a special occasion, even added a little something extra to the batter…

liquid love.

I baked these little love gems, and allowed them to cool completely.

and it begins.

Once cooled, I dipped the tops of them in melted chocolate, dipping half of them in red…

red, the color of desire.

…and half of them in pink.

think pink.

I topped each with a conversation heart, and hand delivered them to folks the next day as my personal “Valentines.” I had really wanted to give out Valentines this year anyway, and was going to have cards made up, however converting desserts into Valentines seemed like a much better way to truly spread the love. And who doesn’t love a cupcake?

 

Ch-ch-ch-churros! (recipe included!)

Recently, I was invited to a Mexican food-themed dinner party. Everyone was bringing their favorite Mexican dish, and I, as always, volunteered to provide dessert. I really wasn’t sure what to do though. I started thinking about my favorite Mexican restaurants, and what delicious meal-ending sweets I’ve enjoyed there…

My first thought was fried ice cream. I haven’t had it in years, and it has always been near and dear to my sweet heart. But I don’t own a deep fryer, and I foresaw the giant ice creamy mess that would certainly ensue. So that was out. Then I remembered Churros. Again, the first recipe I came across called for a deep fryer, but thinking back to the only other time I made them, which was in pastry school, no deep fryer was needed. We just heated up the oil to the proper temperature (which is key in this case) in a large pan, and dipped them in. I consulted my text book to be sure, and so it was written.

churros in a pan of oil.

I wound up combining two recipes into one, and added my own cinnamon sugar topping. The results? Perfecto!

delicioso postre.

My homemade Churros were a huge hit at the dinner party, and will definitely be called upon again for future dessert needs, whether it be a Mexican-themed party, or any event where a sweet treat is required (which is pretty much any event, in my book).

three cheers for churros!

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Cinnamon Sugar Churros.

What you’ll need:

1 cup water

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

additional vegetable oil (for frying)

1 cup sugar + 1 tblsp cinnamon (combined)

What you’ll do:

Depending on how big you want your churros, fill a saucepan or deep frying pan with oil, at least two inches high (enough to completely cover the churros). In a separate saucepan, combine water, oil, salt and sugar, and bring to a boil. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Once the water mixture boils, remove from heat and pour into the flour/baking powder, stirring vigorously until it pulls away from the sides of the bowl and forms a solid ball – it should form a thick dough. At this time, begin heating the oil until it is between 350 and 375. Fit a pastry bag with a large star tip, and pipe logs of dough directly into the oil. You can make them as long or as short as you like. Fry them until they are golden brown. Remove them from the oil, and place on a paper towel. While still warm, coat in cinnamon sugar. Churros are best when served right away – they start to get “chewy” if kept for any longer than a day.

 

Recipe Saturday: Storm Cakes.

What do you do when the thing you’ve feared more than anything since you were about 5 years old is finally about to happen in the form of a superfreak ”frankenstorm” with a path that appears to have curved intentionally to slam dead smack into your house? Bake, of course.

Enter: The Storm Cake.

I figured maybe by making a cake in honor of the storm, it would ease the blow – you know, the old “offerings to the angry gods to keep them from unleashing their wrath” kinda thing. Anyway, I began thinking, what kind of cake could live up to such a great task? What goes into a “storm cake?”  More importanly, what doesn’t? I couldn’t just frivolously use up my storm-essentials like eggs and milk. Not at a time like this. No, this cake must be egg and milk-free. But what to add? Chocolate chips seemed like a good choice. And coconut. Oh, and oats. And how ’bout some crushed oreos? So far so good. But a storm has clouds, and lots of them. Marshmallows seemed like a good cloud-representation, however, I had absolutely zero marshmallows in the house, and I was not about to go to the supermarket in the midst of the storm-preparation frenzy for mere marshmallows. So, I improvised.

peep no more.

I mixed it all together, and the batter looked like a jumbled mess – which was rather storm-like.

the wrath of cake.

I opted for cupcakes, and baked them up. When I took them out of the oven, they were bumpy, with things sticking out here and there - yet they rose to life as any normal cupcake should. These were truly Frankencupcakes.

it’s alive!

I topped them with a swirling cloud of cinnamon whipped cream, of which I originally made as topping for the Pumpkin Rosemary Pie, but still had a ton left over.

here comes the twister.

I had to eat one, to see if they lived up to the hype. And unlike I hope the real storm does, they did. The Storm Cake of the Century, I’d say. Give it a try and see for yourself. And if you don’t have all the ingredients, that’s ok – use what you’ve got. No two storms are exactly alike.

———————————————————————————–

Storm Cakes.

What you’ll need:

2 cups warm water

3/4 cup canola oil

2 tablespoons white vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 1/2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup coconut

1 cup oats

4 crushed oreos

3 ghost-shaped marshmallow peeps (cut up)

What you’ll do:

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet, and mix until well combined and smooth. Fold in the chocolate chips, coconut, oats, Oreos, and cut-up Peeps. Scoop into lined muffin tins, filling each cup about 2/3 full. Should make about 2 1/2 dozen cupcakes. Bake for 15 – 18 minutes. Cool, ice, and enjoy.

 

Be My Baby.

Over the past weekend, I was asked to make a baby shower cake, for a baby girl, in the shape of a onesie. It was something I’d never done before, so I was totally stoked, and couldn’t wait to start working on it! The cake itself was to be red velvet, iced with buttercream, and few fondant adornments. I don’t own a onsie-shaped pan, so I had to first draw the pattern on a piece of cardboard. Once I had that done, I laid the pattern on top of the sheet cake, and carved it out.

I then iced it with pink buttercream.

ice, ice, baby.

I then grabbed some fondant (I swear by Satin Ice), colored some dark pink, some yellow, and left the rest white, and crafted the accoutrements.

we’ll make them turn their heads, every place we go.

The cake was a hit with both the person who ordered it, and the mom-to-be. And I was tickled pink.

 

Memories of Memorial Days Past.

As another Memorial Day weekend comes to a close, I reflect upon Memorial Day weekends past. For some reason, I’ve had a lot of very memorable Memorial Days (ha ha, get it?). It’s true though. More than any other holiday of the year, I can remember previous Memorial Days with great clarity – many of them including major life-changing events. I don’t know if it’s because at the beginning of every summer, I turn into a different  person, who we’ll call “Summer Jeanine,” or if warm weather just makes everyone a little crazier, myself included. Either way, there’s something about Memorial Day that seems to bring changes and good times.

Memorial Day has never let me down, and this year it even included a Yoda birthday cake for my nephew.

yo-yo-yo-yo-yoda…cake.

And even better, I got to present it to him in person, and see the look on his face when he first saw it. That’s the good stuff, folks.

So here’s one more Memorial Day for the books - a would-be bestseller, no doubt..

~~2012 Memorial Day memory: a joke, as told by my younger nephew:

“Why did the baby banana cry? Because his parents were zombies!”  I’ll remember it forever. 

 

Cake Babies.

I was asked over the weekend to do cupcakes for a baby shower – they were nursery rhyme-themed. I haven’t really thought about nursery rhymes in a great many years. In fact, I couldn’t even remember any of them! I had to look them up! But once I started googling, they all came rushing back. Then came the difficult decision of which ones to actually simulate in cupcake form. So, after careful consideration, I went with:

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

baby, you’re a star.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

is that a spider on your cupcake?

and The Three Little Pigs.

little pig, little pig, let me in!

In addition to these, I did some complimentary pastel colored cupcakes, complete with a little glitter (i.e., sugar crystals).

pretty in pastel.

These were fun to make! I hadn’t really been doing much of this kind of thing lately, and it was great to get back into it! But the flood gates are open now – I’ve got cupcakes for a party this weekend, and a cake for my nephew next weekend – pictures and stories to come!

 

Return of the Lamb Cake.

Right before Easter last year, my Aunt gave me a bunch of baking pans, including a stainless steel “lamb pan.” I went on to discover that the lamb-shaped cake produced by this unique piece of bakeware is actually an Easter tradition, one which my Aunt embraced many years ago. So, last year, I decided that this tradition should experience a revival. And thus, I made my very first Lamb Cake, for Easter 2011.

where the magic happens.

So, being that the definition of “tradition” is an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior, i had to make the lamb cake again this year. And make the lamb cake, I did.

Lamb Cake 2: the sequel.

Personally, I think this year’s lamb cake turned out just a tad better than last year’s. I used the same carrot cake recipe (this one, doubled and minus the cinnamon chips), and the same cream cheese icing (however I’ve tweaked that recipe over the year so it’s a little better than last year’s). I decorated the body using the same star tip, and lined the bottom with jelly beans. I used a small jelly bean for the nose this year (last year I piped it), and this year I piped the blue eyes (last year I used mini M&Ms). But the biggest difference is that this year, I gave him a tail.

a tail of two lamb cakes.

For the tail, I used this stuff called, I kid you not, Fluffy Stuff. It was similar to cotton candy. It was perfect.

Anyway, for the second year in a row, the lamb cake was the belle of the Easter ball. The tradition has now officially been revived. Thank ewe.

 

You say Potato, I say…Candy?

I didn’t realize how easy Irish Potatoes were to make. I also didn’t realize that they were pretty much just a ball of coconut icing covered in cinnamon. I didn’t realize how much I love them. Funny what you don’t realize.

Anyway, I decided to make these this year for the first time. I had imagined they were difficult – not sure why, but possibly because no one I know ever seemed to make them, or discuss making them, so that just led me to subconsciously place them in the “hard to make” category. I was completely wrong. I admit it. I’m wrong sometimes.

Anyway, I had no recipe for these anywhere in any of my books at home, so I googled it, and found this recipe –
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/irish-potato-candy/
. I thought, “Gee, that sounds too easy. Let me make sure it’s actually the real deal.” So I checked out a few other links, and the recipes were all basically the same. So, I gave it a whirl.

They looked and tasted great. Better than I remembered even the ones in the box tasting! Not only were they super simple to make, they were fun too.

Simple. like Love.

Really good things don’t have to be complicated. We just often think they need to be.