Baby J's Cake

One of my book club friends had a baby this past May. Unfortunately the majority of us were not able to make it to her baby shower and with everyone's busy schedules we finally were able to get together this month. We threw her a small surprise shower during our gathering. Everyone brought something and my contribution was dessert.  I kept it simple by making a Yellow Butter Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream. To jazz it up, I melted chocolate chips over a bain-marie and drizzled them randomly over the cake. To personalize it, I used chocolate chips to monogram his name. The best thing about this book club meeting was that baby Julien was actually there. Although he couldn't have a piece, we were all too happy to eat it in his honor lol!

Another Dulce de Leche Cake

So, it looks like this is one of favorite cakes. I LOVE caramel and combined with the smooth, buttery taste of Swiss Meringue, what's not to love?!?! I made this for my friend's coworker's birthday. The caramel was so easy to make. I used 1 cup of sugar, 6 tablespoons butter and about 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream. But, I had a nasty reminder of how hot and dangerous caramel can be. I stupidly swiped my finger across the back of the wooden spoon I used! It was so HOT, the burn actually turned into a blister within a few minutes. Guess I got a little too eager trying to taste it.  Other than that, making this cake was such a pleasure and I look forward to making it again soon:)

Rosie Pound Cake

I always make this cake for my favorite aunt, Rosie. She likes simple desserts without too much fluff and fuss.  This is a recipe I clipped from a can of Carnation milk over 15 years ago and saved in a journal. I found it last year and remembered how much I had liked the cake and decided to make it my staple pound cake recipe. It's a simple pound cake recipe using a small amount of evaporated milk in place of regular milk. The batter comes out thicker than a regular yellow cake but once baked it has a rich but not heavy taste. I like to bake it in a tube pan and just top it with confectioner's sugar. It's a great after dinner treat or even a breakfast companion to a great cup of coffee.

Chocolate Chip Vanilla Birthday Cake

One of my dearest friends and biggest supporters celebrated her birthday yesterday. She has always encouraged me in the 20 years that we've known each other so I wanted to gift her a cake.  I couldn't remember if she liked chocolate or not so I went with my standard yellow cake recipe. For the frosting,this time I went with Italian Meringue because I'd had a Swiss Meringue disaster. It came out soupy. I continued whipping it, beating it, refrigerating it, rewhipping it....But, nothing worked, so I had to dump it and start all over again:(

Last year when I first started experimenting with frosting, Italian Meringue was the first one I tried. I watched this Warren Brown video and it came out great. Later on I saw a Martha Stewart recipe of Swiss Meringue and decided to try it. The ingredients and results are virtually the same, it's just a slightly different process. I personally prefer the Italian Meringue because I don't have to stand over a double boiler whisking the sugar and egg whites. It's easier to me to make the sugar syrup and pour it into the egg whites while being whisked by my KitchenAid. Today, I used a modified version of Martha Stewart's Italian Meringue recipe. I just reduced the amount of butter from 4 sticks to 2. It comes out tasting just as great with a lot less fat and calories. I decided to dust it with cocoa powder, dot it with chocolate chips and do a chocolate chip monogram of her first initial.

I'm blessed to have an abundance of great friends so I was extra excited to make this cake as a symbol of gratitude for her friendship to me. Happy Birthday Mariama! Luv u girl:)

Caramel Birthday Cake

I lost my baking mojo for a little bit but I finally got it back! My mom asked me to make a birthday cake for her friend so I went with something simple that I thought most people would like- a yellow cake which I made using buttermilk and 4 eggs. Then I made a caramel sauce for the center layer.
Lastly, I made Swiss Meringue Buttercream to frost it and piped on shells in green. Unfortunately my camera was M.I.A for a while so I had to be creative and use my web cam. I didn't realize the writing would show up backwards :-( but the cake said "Joyeux Anniversaire."  My mom's friends and guests loved the cake and the next day I went over for my piece and was very pleased. I love Meringue frosting! It's so much lighter, fluffier than regular buttercream. it reminds me of whipped cream. Thank God for the MOJO:)

Brown Sugar Oatmeal Raisin Bread

I haven't posted in a long time for a few reasons. One, I was busy with school and second, because I had made some of the same things. Didn't want to be redundant in my posts. It's like posting pics of yourself on FB with the same outfit over and over again *thumbs downs* lol!  I love making bread but it can be so time consuming.  This is a recipe I've wanted to make for a while. I had to modify quite a bit in terms of the amount of flour and I also reduced the sugar. When I first followed the recipe exactly, the dough was extremely wet and sticky.  I ended up adding about another 3 cups in order for the dough to be pliable. Thankfully I'd made bread before and knew that the dough just didn't look and feel right.  Once I had the right amount of flour, the rest was pretty simple.  For me, letting the dough rise is the most time consuming part, followed by the cleanup. Other than that having my KitchenAid makes breadmaking fairly easy.  I only got a couple of pics but hopefully soon my photographer friend will be taking more professional looking pics for me:)

S'mores Brownie Cupcakes

Although I haven't posted since last month I have definitely still been baking. I've been making mostly the flavors that I've already posted about:

Red Velvet is always the #1 request!

But, this cold winter had me thinking of campfire S'mores.  After trying a mini S'mores cupcake from a local bakery I began searching for the perfect recipe.  I adapted this one from
Homemade by Holman.  I used a little less sugar but added more cocoa powder and more marshmallows and omitted the frosting.  I left out the frosting because I've also been craving brownies and was not in a frosting kind of mood. Plus, after tasting one, it was already PERFECT!! This is now ONE of my favorite cupcakes! It tasted like a a cakey brownie with a little marshmallow sweetness and gooey-ness inside. 

The graham cracker crumb bottom gave a nice crunchy bite. So, if you're a chocolate lover, this is definitely a "must-try" recipe. It's so rich and moist. I guarantee you will not be disappointed!