A Happy Day to Remember

Today is my birthday.  It's my half-way mark to 90 and my half-way mark to 50.  It's also Memorial Day.

As a kid I hated that my birthday always fell on or around Memorial Day.  Friends left on weekend get-aways, camping trips or picnics making birthday parties difficult to plan.  I grew up thinking it was a pretty sad and lonely time to have a birthday.

Crazy for Hot Milk Cake & Caramel Frosting

Our family has discovered Hot Milk Cake and boy oh boy, has it become a cake of choice around here!  Apparently, it has a LONG history of being an old-fashioned favorite.  So glad we've discovered this classic!

Ari's 9th Birthday Continued

After our morning of French toast, we headed out on the town to continue to celebrate our girlie.

One outing that's become part of our annual birthday celebration for our girlie is a stop at Starbucks for a Venti 2% Decaf Caramel Frappacino with Whip.  Why, you may ask?  Well, we'd have to thank her great-grandma, a.k.a. Gommer P.  Gommer P. loves Caramel Frappacino's with extra caramel.  On one of her visiting trips she purchased one and gave a sip to the kids.  That was the end!  The kids LOVED it!!! BUT...they're about $5 each and $5 times 3 kids...is a spendy outing reserved for only for Birthday's.

And since Starbuck's is in our local Barne's and Noble store and I love to buy them books, it's one of our favorite celebration stops.

Professional Shopper

Happy 9th Birthday to Our Ari Girlie!

For weeks, our girl has dreamed of spending her special day at Disneyland.  Last night, as we were making plans we checked the Disney website and found her birthday (today) is BLOCKED OUT!  How sad!  It was heartbreaking to give her the news.  Her little face drooped and she slowly walked away.

Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting: Gluten Free, Vegan and Paleo-ish

Everyone has a birthday and most likely, even if you're on a very regimented eating program you still want to celebrate your special day with a little treat.  Today one of our fellow Crossfiters celebrated her special day.  She's gluten-free and many of us try to eat a paleo diet so I found a recipe that would fit the bill.  Note this isn't completely sweetener free as it has agave, but as far as birthday sweets go, I think it is a keeper.

I found the recipe on nourishing meals.com

Gluten-Free Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting

Ingredients

3 cups blanched almond flour (Almond flour can be very expensive, but I have found the finely ground almond meal works well and is and economical alternative).
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 cup canned coconut milk (full fat)
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line one 12-cup muffin tin with paper muffin cups.

In a medium-size mixing bowl sift together the almond flour, cocoa powder, arrowroot, baking powder, sea salt, and xanthan gum.

In a separate bowl whisk together the remaining wet ingredients.  Add the wet to the dry and whisk together well.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.  Bake for about 25 minutes.  Let cool in the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Chocolate Ganache Frosting

1/2 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate (about 3 ounces)
1/4 cup canned coconut milk
2-3 tablespoons agave nectar

Place all ingredients in a small saucepan.  Heat over low heat melting chocolate. Stir continuously until melted and thickened, about 2 minutes.  If frosting is a bit too thick, add a additional tablespoon of coconut milk.  Taste to make sure it is a suitable sweetness.  Remove from heat and let cool about 5 minutes then spoon over cupcakes.

So shiny!  Almost like a chocolate mirror!

A delicious, rich, paleo-ish, sugar-free, vegan, gluten-free dessert option!
Enjoy!

Apple Cake w/ Brown Sugar Glaze

September 26th is a day for celebration.  It happens to be Johnny Appleseed's (a.k.a. John Chapman) birthday!  We always love a reason to celebrate and what else would Johnny want for his birthday but an Apple Cake?

I found a GREAT recipe for a scrumptious apple cake at http://www.lickthebowlgood.blogspot.com/  Just a couple glances at this website and you'll definitely be drooling uncontrollably.

In addition to it being Johnny's happy day, we're also baking this cake to compliment some of the book studies we're currently doing, namely Out of the Dust and Ox Cart Man.

Without further ado...

Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze
Makes 9 X 13 Cake

Apple Cake Ingredients:


3 cups all purpose flour
2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 eggs
1 cup canola oil
2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups finely chopped apples
1/2-1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional)

Brown Sugar Glaze:

1 cup packed light brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoon heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease an 9 X 13 rectangular pan  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Stir with a whisk to mix everything together.

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs until light in color and foamy.  Add the oil and vanilla and mix well.

Add egg mixture to dry ingredients and stir until flour disappears.  Do not over mix.  Add apples and nuts (if using).

Pour batter into prepared pan.  Bake 40-45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.

After removing cake from oven, make glaze.

Cake fresh from the oven.  Time to make the glaze

Ready for Glaze

See those apples?

Brown Sugar Glaze

Combine brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and heavy cream in saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the mixture comes to a gentle boil. Cook 3-5 minutes.

Glaze bubbling

Spoon hot glaze over the hot-from-the-oven cake.  Let the glazed cake cool completely before serving.

So incredibly moist and yummy!

A Fall Beauty!  Enjoy!

Birthday Idea: Krispie Treats Tower

This week we celebrated the last of our immediate family birthdays.  As I've mentioned before, on birthday days each kid chooses his/her special cake.  Sometimes there are two celebrations as the birthday occurs close to another function, so there may be two choices.  This was the situation today.  The birthday fell on the same day as a baseball get-together.  We'll be making the Chocolate on Chocolate cake for the party, but something special, that would feed a crowd was in order for the baseball gathering.

We decided on the crispy treat tower.  Birthday boy got to choose four cereals for the treats.  He chose Rice Krispies, Cocoa Krispies, Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs, and Froot Loops.  We don't normally buy these sugar cereals so this choosing creates quite the excitement.

When making the treats, I've found melting the butter and marshmallows is much better in the microwave than on the stove.  The mess is minimal and the process seems to go much quicker.

To make, melt 1/4 cup butter and one package of Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallows in a large microwave safe bowl.  I recommend spending the couple extra cents and buying the Kraft Marshmallows.  They just seem to melt better.  Microwave butter and marshmallows for about one minute.  Remove.  Stir until smooth.  In a separate large bowl place the box of cereal.  I think the 12 oz. box is suitable for this amount of marshmallows.  Pour marshmallow mixture over cereal and stir to coat.

Line a 9 X 13 pan with parchment paper.  Pour cereal mixture in 9 X 13 pan and pat down evenly.  We find it is best to also butter your hands when patting down.  The cereal/marshmallow mixture will not stick.  When cooled it's so easy to lift the parchment paper and treats right out of the pan, no mess.  Cut treats into squares.

Finished and cooling

Rice Krispie and Froot Loops

Cocoa Krispie and Reese's

Easily lifted out of the pan

A candle, just because it's a birthday

Kids love these

Colorful Treat

Enjoy!

A Cake-A-Day Week Comes To An End. See What I Found to Celebrate The Week

This has been such a great week making and posting delicious cake recipes.  I know my family has loved it along with many friends.  I'm kind of sad to end this little venture, but it'll be back for sure.  I really enjoyed the theme week.  We'll see what we come up with next.

Here's a recap on what was made this week.

Day 1: Oatmeal Cake

Oatmeal Cake

Day 2: German Chocolate Cake

German Chocolate Cake

Day 3: Pistachio Pudding Cake

Pistachio Pudding Cake

Day 4: Angel Food Cake

Angel Food Cake

Day 5: Rich Chocolate Layer Cake

Rich Chocolate Layer Cake

Day 6:  Art Smith's Hummingbird Cake

Art Smith's Hummingbird Cake

Day 7:  Root Beer Bundt Cake

Root Beer Bundt Cake

In honor of this great week, I found a GREAT wine to celebrate the end of this theme.

Layer Cake Shiraz

Here's to layered cakes, bundt cakes, tube cakes, sheet cakes, Birthday cakes, and cake balls! 

To CAKE!!!  Cheers!

Day 7, A Cake-A-Day: Rootbeer Bundt Cake (A.K.A. Insanely Amazing Chocolate Cake!!)

The name of this cake is misleading.  The recipe was described as having a "pronounced" root beer flavor.  I was expecting something root beer-ish, like a root beer float.  I can't describe this cake as having a "pronounced" root beer taste.  In fact, I didn't really taste the root beer at all, but what I did taste was an incredibly delectable, moist, semi-dense rich chocolate cake.  If you're a fan of scrumptious chocolate cakes, this is a cake for you!

First off, I'd like to mention this cake is from a wonderful cookbook titled Baked by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  Matt and Renato own a bakery called Baked in Brooklyn, New York.  I had the opportunity to meet Matt and Renato last year.  They were delightful men with fresh ideas in baking.  One day I hope to visit their bakery for a firsthand experience.

Here I am with Matt and Renato

Baked- The freshly baked cookbook

 Root beer Bundt Cake

Cake:

2 cups root beer (do not use diet)
1 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Generously butter inside of a bundt pan, dust with flour.  Set aside.

Pan is buttered and dusted

In a small saucepan, heat the root beer, cocoa powder, and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted.  Add the sugars and whisk until dissolved.  Remove from the heat and cool.



Butter, cocoa, and root beer



Cocoa mixture with sugars- let cool

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together.

Dry ingredients, whisked

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until just beaten, then whisk them into the cooled cocoa mixture until combined.  Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture.  The batter will be slightly lumpy, do not over beat, it will give the cake a rubbery tough texture.

The eggs whisked.  Notice the cute new bowl from Crate and Barrel?  Love it!

Lumpy batter

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a small sharp knife inserted in cake comes out clean.  Note: rotate the pan halfway through the baking time.  Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.  Gently loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and turn it out onto the rack.

The cake, ready for the oven

Finished baking

You can just see how moist this cake is!

Ready for frosting

Frosting coming up...

Frosting

2 ounces dark chocolate (60% cacao) melted and slightly cooled
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (I always use unsalted butter), softened
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup root beer
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)

Put all the ingredients in a food processor.  Pulse in short bursts until the frosting is shiny and smooth.  Use a spatula to spread the fudge frosting over the crown of the bundt in a thick layer.  Let the frosting set before serving, with ice cream on the side.

I'd like to introduce you to my new Cuisinart.  My faithful Cuisinart Custom 11 has served me well for the last 18.5 years, but she needs to rest.  It's time for the younger generation to take over.

 

Tastes even better than it looks



Speechless...so good!

Serve with ice cream and a little chocolate sauce.  Enjoy!