Daring Bakers - March '08 Challenge!

My first Daring Bakers challenge! I can't tell you how psyched I have been. Not only am I hooked up with this extremely cool group of people who, like me, love to bake, but this is also the beginning of a new time of personal creativity. I've been languishing for a while, and am making a new start of it. And I deserve it!

This month's challenge was hosted by Morven, who selected "Dorie's Perfect Party Cake" from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. I'd heard of Dorie but have never done any of her recipes (*gasp*); however, she is definitely a goddess in the blogging baking community. My little girl's 5th birthday was March 19th, so I knew the exact purpose of my party cake. Yay! How convenient.

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Morven allowed us a lot of leeway in size, shape, and flavor; I decided to stick close to the original the first time. I did have a little brainstorm and came up with a list of different cake flavors and complimentary jam flavors that would be really good, I think, to do - I'll be glad to share the list with you if you merely contact me at amyjdavis93 [at] gmail [dot] com. :)

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I got all of my ingredients together on a lovely weekend morning, and my daughter was all about being The Helper.

Mise en place (except for the wine bottle - Ha!)

I must say that she does a really good job for a 5-year-old and really seems to enjoy the process! I'm so proud of her - but I digress.

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Dorie's cake was a beautiful white cake flavored subtly with lemon, and I didn't deviate from that. We mixed the lemon zest and sugar together, and Lord have mercy! It was the most fragrant stuff, and I seriously did NOT want to bring my head out of the bowl! My little fat lemon yielded exactly the amount of zest I needed, and I used the microplane that my mother-in-law gave me a while back - fun! I hope you can tell by the picture below what it looked like: the grainy sugar speckled with bright golden flecks of zest, and moist with the oils dispersed throughout.... Ahh!

I mixed the butter in, and we had a lump of rich, yellow, sugary bliss.

After adding the lemon extract and alternately blending in the flour mixture and buttermilk/egg white mixtures, I came out with this heavenly-looking, perfectly white batter that was simply amazing. It looked like marshmallow fluff (but since I don't like marshmallow fluff, it was infinitely better).

Then, into the nicely buttered and papered pans we go, and into the waiting oven! The pan on the right had just a wee bit more batter in it than the other one, and I'd scooped some over to the other pan to even it up; I apparently needed to scoop a wee bit more, though. One was done after 30 minutes, but the other pan still needed a bit more time. It was funny, because when I pulled the second one out I was like, 'ga!' at the color. The first was this pretty, delicate cream color; the second was a little browner. Not overdone, though - and they were both beautiful! Like a best friend, the finished cake did not give away my little secret. Bwahahahahaha.....

Out cooling on the racks

My initial idea was to make the cakes, freeze them, and decorate a few days later. But when I asked the Birthday Girl about it, she said (to my delight), "TODAY, MAMA!" How can a mom turn that down, I ask you?! I felt compelled to oblige. =:D

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Decorating:

The recipe called for raspberry jam as the filling, but I decided to go with blueberry jam this time. I've always heard of the complimentary flavors of lemon and blueberry but have never cooked with them. Again, the feeling of compulsion arose within me. :D

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It was really fun whisking the egg whites and sugar over the simmering water. Even more fun was the resulting white fluffy goodness that ensued. How'd it do that?!

Our finished product was this dreamy light meringue buttercream that "someone" just had to dip their finger into!

Oh yeah...nobody else put their finger in...no way....

Mmmmmmm......

No...the icing on face and nose was NOT staged! HA!

I made buttercream icing last year for Kiddo's birthday (to top vanilla cupcakes), but this version was far superior. Last year's recipe was good, but had a residual greasiness that was kind of like, "eh?". This one, however, was light, fluffy, and heaven on earth, with a nice tang from the lemon juice.

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As far as constructing the cake, it wasn't too bad. I definitely need more practice in halving a cake to make layers, but considering that this was my first time to do this, I'm quite satisfied. At least I didn't have the major trauma of layers breaking on me or anything. It almost wanted to happen, but I'm cool like that. :D

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I took note of some comments from other Daring Bakers with the filling. I spread on the jam, then spread the buttercream on the bottom of the soon-to-be upper layer and put it on top of the jam side.

I was a little challenged with the icing, because it seemed like I didn't have enough - either that or I was just expecting to have more to work with. I had to keep pulling from places I'd already covered in order to cover the rest of the cake. It had me scared for a bit, there, but it turned out fine.

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I skipped the coconut flakes and went instead for these little decorative candies that I sprinkled all over. There were actually some white candies in the mix, but I picked them out because I wanted little pops of color. I thought that the end result, while not being a professional-level bakery looking thing *snort* still was really cute and fun.

So it's not perfectly centered on the platter - sue me! Phhhhhhtttt!

I would love to tell you that shape of the cake in the above picture is because of the camera angle or something like that; however, like George Washington (whose birthday follows mine by one day) I cannot tell a lie. Next time I will arrange the layers, dry, on top of each other and trim away parts that don't quite match up. But adding to the Fun Element of this cake, it kind of makes me think of something that would have been on the Mad Hatter's table when Alice came to his tea party. Don't you think?

Sweet Pea was really proud of her special cake.

After our munching on this lovely creation at our home, I took it the following weekend to my parents' house when we got together for Easter (it kept extremely well, by the way). Everybody adored it!! My father was REALLY into it and ate 2/3 of what I brought (curse him, he can eat like a horse and still be this tall, Cary Grant-type guy). Ha ha!

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I will SOOOO make this cake again! I might try a whole teaspoon of extract next time in the cake instead of 1/2 tsp. but I haven't totally decided on whether that might be too lemony. I would definitely make more buttercream to make sure that I had plenty (probably 1.5 X's the recipe), but as far as any "flaws" in the recipe or cake there weren't any. This is such a versatile recipe, and a lot of fun to make as well. Try it - you'll love it!

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Click here for the results of the many, many others in the Daring Bakers family! The recipe is posted all over the place, so I won't put it here since my post is already quite long.

Thank you, Morven, and thank you, Dorie!

Il neige! Nevica! Het sneeuwt! *

So the other day the weather people were saying that we were going to get some Real Winter Precipitation coming through the area. If you live in cooler climes, this is not a big deal, but for the South it's like WOW!! I still didn't totally believe that it was going to happen because, well, like I said, we live in the South. Usually if their predictions actually occur it will be an ice storm or something like that! Yecch!

I went to work yesterday and it started snowing lightly that morning. After lunchtime it was coming down big-time, and when my coworker and I left around 1:30PM it was like winter storm, man! A drive that usually takes me 20 minutes took me at least an hour this day. Poor Kid was dying to go out and play, but it snowed like crazy all afternoon.

However, as I suspected, the snowflakes weren't falling the next day, so we bundled up and took a trek around our yard. Because we don't get snow around here often, when it does come there is a magical quality that comes with it. A lot of it has to do with the silence. Because roads aren't cleared and tires aren't winterproofed, traffic is rare. Also, the acoustical quality of snow muffles or absorbs unnecessary sound. Things are peaceful, restful, and lend themselves to quiet contemplation. It reminds me that God is always giving us new beginnings, as well as desiring for us to look at the same old things in a different way.

We have a little over an acre and traipsed all around it. The dogs, giddy with excitement from the snow (as well as our being outside) played around.

Mojo is our yellow Lab, whom we have had for about 7 years now, and Maggie, the black Lab, is around 9 months old. (Our German Shepherd, Suzy, was incarcerated - she kept breaking out of the fence, so she was detained in the smaller dog pen that day!)

Nutty dogs playing around in the snow!

My little cutie loved tramping around, and we made snow piles and kicked around in what I guess to be 6" of white stuff (again, this is really a lot for where we live). We could hear plops and see snow fly as lumps of snow fell from tree branches.

It had gotten up into the high 40's by this afternoon, and by the next day the only snow in our yard was that which was in the shade of the trees. But, as always, it was fun while it lasted!

* ("It's snowing!" in French, Italian, and Dutch)

Bend Me, Twist Me, Any Way You Want Me...

Edit April 1, 2008: No, it's no April Fool's joke - my new Daring Bakers friend Chriesi, of Almond Corner, and I have decided to undertake a different kind of challenge! Since we just joined the DB's in March, we are going to go back and do all of the challenges that we missed - only then will we be TRUE Daring Bakers! See Chriesi's lovely, yummy post here!

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OK, so I tend to think of song lyrics &/or titles that are appropriate for most situations. I'll just tell you that right now.

In my last blog, I mentioned the Daring Bakers group. I'm like out-of-this-world excited to be joining them in their baking endeavours, but was saddened when I learned that I won't be able to officially START till the March challenge. But that's OK; totally respect that. I also thought of a great way to feel like I was doing something "with" them anyway. I don't want my excitement to die down while I'm waiting, dammit!

To that end, I decided to make something that the Daring Bakers have done in the past. Whoohoo! But...WHAT, I wondered? Since their inception in Nov. '06 they have made some beautiful, challenging, and (yes, I'm saying it) DARING recipes come to life in the pages of their blogs. The participants run the gamut, from novices to people who like to cook/bake to professionals. I'm not a novice, but I'm sure as hell not a professional; I didn't want to do something so freaking showy that I had no option but to fail.

I contemplated; I perused the blogs of both Lis and Ivonne, the illustrious founders. After much of both, I thought, 'What better recipe for ME to start off with than the one that started the group in the first place?!' Thus, I chose Hot Buttered Pretzels as my pseudo-DB challenge. It was easy to do since I already had the ingredients at home (yeah, even the yeast)!

I knew that this recipe would be a challenge, in that I used the aforementioned yeast to attempt to make a nice, yeasty bread around Christmastime. However...with much chagrin - and little surprise - it just didn't turn out for me. I don't know if it was just my inexperience with yeast, the fact that I put my lump of dough into a slightly warmed oven and forgot about it until I pulled a beige briquette out the next morning, or what. I'm still trying to figure that one out....but I digress. Making these pretzels was only the second time in my life that I've made something with yeast. I wondered what I was in store for, but took a deep breath and jumped on in.

When I started pulling out ingredients, I noticed that the yeast I had wasn't the instant the recipe called for - but after looking online I decided it shouldn't matter too much. I proofed it in the warm water before mixing it with the flour, and it seemed to do well. Being the parent to a 4-year-old, I was naturally going to have some help doing this...so when it got to the kneading stage I let her have a little pinch of dough to do her thing with (this helped me immensely, by the way).

I really liked kneading, and started right-handed even though I'm a lefty (I don't know why; it just felt like the right thing to do - pardon the pun). When I changed hands I realized that I'm definitely a left-handed kneader. You get a little system/rhythm going on - I see why people say it is great to knead when stressed! After going for the instructed 8 minutes, I let it rise for a little over an hour, maybe 1:20 - I wasn't sure if it needed to sit longer since it wasn't the instant yeast, but really, it seemed to quit rising after the hour was up.

The dough was very elastic when first working with it. It'd spring back a good 2-3 inches when I rolled it into a rope. As I went along, however, it became easier, and although they didn't look like I'd been working in a bakery all my freaking life, they did look all right.

Just resting a bit before going into the oven - Hawaiian sea salt sprinkled liberally upon each

Finally - after letting them go an additional 3.5 minutes - they were ready! 'If these suckers taste anywhere near how good the dough tasted,' I thought, 'then I feel an addiction coming on.'

Let's just set up the IV right now, eh?

These little jewels definitely did NOT disappoint! And oh. ma. ga. they tasted like big ol' soft pretzels! Sweet mother of God, I had to stop myself from eating a 2nd one (this WAS after supper, mind you). Hubby's been sick so I didn't offer him one, but the Small One - who had been chomping at the bit - was quite pleased.

I love this precious face (and the person who goes with it) a gajillion times more than these pretzels - and that's a lot.

I would absolutely make this again. It was SO much easier than I anticipated - and so much more fun, too! Now I'm really looking forward to officially becoming a Daring Baker (maybe I'll learn how to trim down the length of a flippin' blog while I'm at it). Lis and Ivonne, I hope you are proud - I sure am!

Yomp, yomp! Slowwwwwly disappearing....

One Eggcellent Breakfast

So it's a nice quiet Saturday morning here in our household, and weekends being the only time that I am able to leisurely make a nice breakfast, I decided to check out the fridge and see what I could throw together this morning. The hubby usually pulls out the leftover supper grub from the night before, which he had done; and he had gone off doing who knows what that guys do on weekends, so it was just the kid and me.

At first, I decided to make an omelet. However, considering how I couldn't lay my hands on the cooking spray (which I presently suspect is outside from D grilling kabobs for supper yesterday) I used the last oh, teaspoon of olive oil I had - yeah, I need to go shopping - and just did a nice little scramble.

First, I sauteed some garlic up with some mushrooms I'd chopped that were beginning to languish in the carton, and then threw some spinach in that I had pulled out of the freezer a little earlier. Once they were sufficiently cooked (a la to my liking, with a little dollop of balsamic vinegar toward the end) I poured in the eggs.

There they are....just a-bubbling away.

After stirring gently a few times, they were ready and I tossed 'em onto a plate. Topped them with a little cheese and a sprinkle of some Hawaiian salt that I got from Dean & Deluca a while back. Ah yes, and some bacon that I cooked in my favorite way - line a cookie pan with foil and throw into the oven at about 375F. No constant babysitting, and the only cleanup is pulling the foil out after the bacon grease has solidified and tossing it into the garbage. I must say it got a little crisper than I go for - I usually like it still a little chewy - but it's not thick sliced bacon (hubby bought this) and I also was playing with the convection oven to see how they would turn out. But hey, it's breakfast.

All topped off with a nice cold glass of milk

Yum.

What really helped this along was that balsamic I put in there before I added the eggs. It wasn't much, maybe a teaspoon or so, but it gave a nice depth to everything. Parmesan would have been the best option for the cheese, but all we have in the house right now is actually that Mexican mix that Kraft makes. I know, how heathenistic! But it was still pretty darned good.

El Kiddo (that's how cooking with Mexican blend cheese makes you talk) had plain scrambled eggs with some cheese on top. She is a bacon fiend - yes! - so I'm surprised that she only ate the couple of pieces I gave her.

On another note, I found a really cool group that I'm excited about. It's called the Daring Bakers and is a group of a few hundred people who all do a common recipe once a month. It started off as two friends a little over a year ago, and has turned into this awesome little burgeoning group. I just happ'ed upon it and thought, "Cool!" I haven't actually participated yet, because I hit it right in the middle of one of their challenges (which I don't understand right now how that works, but will after I get more info). Thus, I must wait until it's time for the next challenge.

But I'm really psyched about this growing community and am looking forward to getting to know the people involved, as well as flexing my baking muscles and learning some stuff, as well. I hope it to be a really cool creative outlet - one of many that I'm cranking up.

Eyelet Love You....Eyelet Love You NOT!

The other day, I decided to go by the Tuesday Morning in our town and see what they had, since I haven't been there in quite a while. I was really excited to find a kit that I can use in scrapbooking to put eyelets on my pages. It was the whole deal - the eyelets, hole punchers, eyelet flatteners, and the hammer - so I thought, 'How can I go wrong?'

Ha!

I can't get this sucker to work for crap! The instructions are easy: Punch the appropriately sized hole with your hole punch. Fit the eyelet into the hole. Turn the paper over and use the other tool, tapping it with the hammer, to flatten the back of the eyelet, thus securing it to the paper. Use the hammer alone to gently finish tapping the back of the eyelet flat to the paper. Simple, right? WHATEVER!

All I can say is, right now I make some crappy eyelets:

Maybe I just need more practice, but I'm wondering if my intellect (or the lack thereof) is hampering my progress. I've done several searches and can't seem to find anything that really helps, so I guess I will have to contact one of my friends who is a more advanced cropper than I am. Maybe she can straighten my crazy rear out!

Meanwhile...I remain...Embellishment Challenged.

First Post

Wow! So I get to gush about how excited I am because I just set up this new blog, and how I hope it looks good and that millions of people flock to the site just to soak up the myriad musings.

OK, done with that!

Seriously, I hope something interesting happens soon so that this won't be the only pathetic posting I have on here. :>