8/16/09 baking

It is hot and humid now in my part of the world, but that's the way it is usually this time of year. Here's the breakdown on all the excitement in baking this week.

It was a rough week at work, a lot of drama and of course, coming back from vacation. So Thursday night, I baked a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. Turned out pretty good.My sons came over on Saturday and ate some of the cake.

The brownies this week was the "usual" Hershey's recipe - but I browned the butter in a frying pan, than mixed the cocoa with it. It seemed to make the brownies chewier with just a slightly richer taste.

The cake this week - it's a vanilla cake that is flavored with seedless raspberry jam as well as raspberry extract. The frosting....well, that's sort of a swiss meringue type (at least that's what Martha Stewart calls it). It's a mixture between a 7 minute boiled frosting and buttercream. I added the raspberry flavoring to the frosting as well. The frosting was very runny. I don't know if it was the humidity or the heat, but it just ran off the spatula and down the counter onto the floor. I wasn't too thrilled about that, but it was easy to clean up. I put the frosted cake in the fridge so maybe the frosting will set up there. At least I hope so. I did remember to put a bigger plate under the cake so I wouldn't have to hose frosting out of my fridge. That wouldn't have made me happy.

I also made my brother a cake for his "cake of the month". It's a pineapple pound cake with pineapple glaze. I made the regular size Bundt pan as making 2 small cakes doesn't work. I end up giving one cake to the birds. So he will either have to take it to work and share it or freeze it. I will be making the traditional birthday cake for him this week - maybe. Two cakes in a week might be too much.

Poop! I forgot to get sour cream when Iwas at the grocery store. I was planning to make more puff pastry. I'll just try to remember next time I'm shopping.

Gee, I hope they make a movie of this blog;) I could use the money. I wonder is Roseanne Barr would play me?

Later

May Fourth (be with you)

Awful pun, isn't it? I just had to share it.

This week's brownies were made the "normal" way with 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce standing in for 1/2 cup butter. I used all Hershey Cocoa this time. I love the texture and the taste. Ooops, almost forgot. I grated a part of a bar of Ghiradelli's Cark Chocolate with the citrus flavoring in with the brownie batter. It turned out great. No "yums" from my son, however.
I received one of those "add beer" bread mixes. I'm not really a drinker, so I added 12 ounces of orange soda instead. It was okay, but not really outstanding. As much as those mixes go for, it should knock my socks off but I can't say it did.
And yet another "oops". I made baking powder biscuits - I put regular milk in instead of buttermilk. The biscuits still rose, still had the same texture, just a slightly different taste. What was I thinking? TOss me out of the "southern cooks class"...
My beloved's cake was the "best vanilla cake" in the recent "Woman's Day" issue, with the "best vanilla buttercream". "Woman's Day" recipe uses 1 jat of Marshmellow Fluff to give the frosting a wonderful light flavor. I kept the cake vanilla, but I made the frosting raspberry flavored. It turned out pretty good.
I also made a chocolate chip cake. That's because I was too lazy to make chocolate chip cookies. It worked out pretty well, I think. I took it into work and they loved it.
Wonder if I'll bake next weekend with it being Mother's Day and all that?