Luv

Yes, I'm alive. I have been really busy with some other projects lately and that unfortunately has dipped into my time to bake. I promise I will be back with some goodies this weekend.

I had to come on and give a big Happy Anniversary to my husband. Today we have been married 9 years. I love him more and more every day if that is even possible. We call each other "Luv". It originally was a joke that ended up sticking, and now means the world to the two of us.

Happy Anniversary Luv!

Not my wedding cake, but the cake of a close friend of mine. Isn't it pretty!

Puppy Love

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge animal lover. My parents have had pets since before I was born. Growing up our house was a menagerie of dogs, birds, hampsters and fish. I basically bought my house so I could adopt my own family of pets. I am presently the proud furmom of 6 cats and 1 dog, all adopted or strays.

I have volunteered on and off at one of my local animal shelters when I can. For a few years a friend of mine and I participated in dog transports and fostering. And every year my best pal, my dog Zamboni and I, walk in my shelter's annual dog walkathon. Supporting your local animal shelters and rescues is such a cause close to my heart, and adopting a pet to brighten your life is something I cannot recommend enough and saves a life.

Just recently my brother adopted a beautiful beagle, coonhound puppy mix named Bailey. They both live in Chicago. So I haven't met my new nephew yet, but I hope to do so soon. Also a couple who are extremely close friends to my husband and I, adopted their first pets. They adopted two beautiful adult beagle boys, who are now named Wrigley and Fenway. They were going to adopt just one. Then they saw another other beagle down on the end of the aisle all by himself and looking so lonely. The woman from the shelter said no one ever comes down to look at him and he has been here for weeks and may not have much longer. That was all it took. The threesome became a foursome. I can't tell you how proud to see my friends and family continuing the loving gesture of adopting. I am truly touched by this.

If you are interested in adopting a pet please check out Petfinder. Not only can you find any breed or type of pet you want from shelters or rescues here, but there is also helpful pet information and fun things to do there too.

Petfinder

I came across a Mud Slide cake in one of those Betty Crocker books you find in the grocery stores. I have always wanted to make an ice cream cake, so I decided to take this creation and instead of the shortcuts, I would make the cake and frosting from scratch. I wasn't able to make the ice cream from scratch as my ice cream maker is still stored in my garage from when we thought we were moving, so I had to go with the store bought for now.

The result was surprisingly good. I was real apprehensive as to how frosting over ice cream would taste, but both hardened nicely. It was rich, yet creamy and filling, of course. This would make a great recipe in the dog days of summer, when the sound of my air conditioner is the sweetest thing to my ears. Can you tell I'm a cold weather person?

So in honor of all these puppies and doggies I made a mud cake, since dogs do sometimes like to play in the mud, what a life.

Mud Slide Ice Cream Cake

Cake:

3 sq unsweetened chocolate

2 1/4 cup sifted cake flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

2 1/2 cups light brown sugar

3 eggs

1 1/4 tsp vanilla

1 cup sour cream

2/3 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt chocolate and let cool. Sift flour, baking soda and salt into separate bowl. In mixer beat butter until soft, and light in color, add brown sugar and eggs and then beat at high speed until fluffy around 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla and the cooled chocolate.

Stir in the dry ingredients alternatively with sour cream, and then stir in boiling water. Pour into 13 X 9 greased and floured pan. Bake for 19-25 minutes until toothpick in center comes out clean. Let cool completely in pan.

Once cake is cool, layer softened vanilla ice cream over top of cake. Using about 4 to 5 cups of ice cream making at least a one inch layer. Cover with plastic wrap and put in freezer to set for 3 hours.

Frosting:

6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

6 tbsp butter softened

3 tbsp evaporated milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp strongly brewed coffee

Sift powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a medium bowl and set aside. In mixer cream butter until light and fluffy, beat in sugar mixture alternatively with milk and coffee. Blend in vanilla. Beat until consistency desired is reached, if needed add more sugar or milk.

Remove cake from freezer and remove plastic wrap. Spread frosting generously over hardened ice cream. Put back in freezer for one hour. Keep it stored covered in freezer when not serving.

A Cake With "Flair"

Tonight is a special night for my husband and his friends. They are big wrestling fans, as you may have heard here before. Tonight is the last match of one of their all-time favorite wrestlers and who everyone in the business considers as "The Man. Rick "Nature Boy" Flair retires after 35 years in the business. His over the top bleach blond mullet, his feathered and sequined, beautiful (did I just say that) coats, his entrance to the ring to 2001 Space Odyssey, and the most famous of all, his "WHOOOOOOOOO".

I have to admit even if I have done the "whooo" many times. Its hard not too being married to a man who has loved wrestling since he was a little kid. Its impossible not to have some of that rub off on you. So in honor of Mr. Flair's last match, we are having a little gathering of seven people over our house for some traditional wrestling food, pizza, wings chips, beer, etc. But I couldn't let the Nature Boy go into retirement without a little party cake.

Morven of Food Art and Random Thoughts has chosen as this months Daring Baker's Challenge, Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party Cake. I have to admit that I have never made a Dorie recipe in my life (runs and hides in embarrassment). Please don't hit me. I have put every book of Dorie's on my Amazon wish list but nobody has still bought one for me. I know I have to give in and get one of her book's for myself. And after making this cake, I really know what all the fuss is about.

The cake portion was super easy to put together. My cakes rose perfectly in the oven and were the perfect size, texture, and color. This will definitely be base cake of choice for me from now on. I omitted the lemon and just stuck with a basic vanilla flavor, as to the request of the Flair fans for the night.

I had absolutely no problems with the frosting coming together. It was the first time I have ever made frosting that way and loved the end results in both the texture and the taste. In the frosting we also skipped the lemon and added coconut milk and coconut extract in place, another request of the husband, shocking.

The middle layer of the cake is composed of sliced bananas drizzled with caramel and the upper and lower layers I brushed with coconut milk and sprinkled coconut on top. The outside is sprinkled with chopped pistachios. Even though the party doesn't start for an hour and half my husband just had to have a slice, and I needed a picture. We work well together.

Thanks Morven for getting me to finally make a Dorie cake. I am sold, I am a fan.

Whoooo!.


For the recipe please check out Morven's great site, Food, Art and Random Thoughts.

And also don't forget to check out the Perfect Party Cakes made by my fellow Daring Bakers.

My Name is Cheryl and I Have An Addiction

Yes, I have an admission, I have an addiction. In the past week I have become addicted to couponing. Some of you may be very aware of this habit and have been doing it for years, and some of you may have been in the dark like me. You basically learn how to become a thrifty shopper by collecting manufacturer coupons, keeping them in an organized fashion and learning how to use them along with in store sales, store related coupons, store rewards, etc. to get the products you need for little and sometimes no cost.

If this sounds confusing to you just look up "couponing" in google or if you happen to have CVS Pharmacies in your area look up CVS couponing and you can save tons as CVS gives you reward credit, called "ExtraCare Bucks" that you can use in future purchases. My last trip to CVS, I got about $20 of product for 40 cents. Not bad for my 2nd trip there and my first time trying it out.

I have always been a cheap person with myself, buying things on clearance and in the as is bins. But I never would think of clipping coupons and comparing sales. I didn't think my head could handle the math, never my strong suit. My close friend recently turned me on to this when I ran into her at our local grocery store and she had this binder full of coupons in her cart. When I heard how much she saved in her trips to the store, a bell lit up. Next year will be our 10th wedding anniversary and we want to take our dream trip to Las Vegas. So saving money will be a must.

I threw myself head first into it, and after a few hours of reading about it on the internet, my head was spinning. But after a few days things started to make sense and now I am addicted, in a fun way. A little bit of a nerdy hobby but I will take the hits if it gets me the money I need to shake my booty on the Vegas strip, with my clothes on of course :)

My first trip to the grocery store after taking on this hobby was this morning and I knew I wasn't going to save a ton at the grocery store, as they are a little harder than CVS, and I still don't have the collection of coupons that others do. But you gotta start somewhere.

My creation below is from the latest issue of Good Housekeeping, which I picked up in my shopping trip this morning. It was such beautiful weather today for Easter Sunday and this looked so beautiful when I thumbed through the pages. There were some issues with the creation however. I don't think the cake batter was enough, I would have preferred the layers thicker, and it was quite thick so it was hard to spread evening in the pan before baking. The cream mixture was super easy to make but just didn't make enough. I barely had enough to get to the edges of the cake and couldn't make them even in thickness. And of course I had no more whipping cream, so I did with what I had. I made some adjustments to the recipe below to help even out the layers with the cream.

It was delicious though as I am a huge fan of chocolate and mint. And it would have made a great dessert for Easter Sunday, although we just stayed home all day and watched tv.

Grasshopper Cake
Adapted from Good Housekeeping April 2008

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/ tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
3 large eggs
20 chocolate thin mints (I used Andes)
2 cup whipping cream

Preheat oven to 360. Grease jelly roll pan and line with waxed paper. In a bowl combine flour, cocoa and salt. In mixer beat butter and 1 1/4 cups sugar on low just until blended, increase speed to high and beat for 3 minutes until light and creamy. Reduce speed to low and add eggs one at a time. Add flour mixture and beat just until combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake 15 minutes. Cool completely in baking pan on wire rack.

With vegetable peeler shaved each mint on the long side making curls. Leftover pieces of mint should be chopped up to go in cream. You should have around 1/2 cup of curls and 1/3 cup of chopped mints.

Loosen cake from pan and cut cake crosswise into 3 equal sections.

In mixer on medium, beat cream and 2 tbsp of sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold in chopped mints. Assemble cake placing one layer of cake, and spreading top evening with whipped cream mixture. Repeat two more times and then top with chocolate curls. Refrigerate if not serving right away.

Anyone Need A $19.00 Dress?

If you read my blog you know that I scored big time a few weeks ago and got a $100 dress for a friend's wedding for only $19.00. Well that blessed event was on March 1st. Three days before the wedding I came down with a lovely head cold. The day before the wedding, the cold hit its peak, sore throat, constantly blowing my nose, sneezing, fever, etc. I took a ton of Nyquil and passed out on my bed at 6pm while talking to my husband. I slept through the entire night. You would think the next morning I would be ready to go. Oh no. I woke up dry as a bone, nose sore as can be and peeling, and feel oh so not attractive.

I pulled my dress out to try on I knew I was in trouble. Because I had been sick I had not been able to exercise all week, but unfortunately didn't lose my appetite, so I think I put on a few pounds. So when I sneezed I had to hold the back of the dress together so it wouldn't bust. I just wasn't going to be able to survive in this all day feeling the way I did. I rifled through my basement closet and finally decided upon an old black halter dress I had had from a cruise 5 years old. It was just a bit loose, very comfortable and just what would get me through the day.

So all the hunting for the dress and the money I had spent on the shoes, purse, etc, went to waste for now. I will hang onto it for hopefully some special occasion in the future. Oh and the wedding was amazing. The couple is one of our closest friends and the groom is my husband's best friend, so it was a special day. The couple are huge baseball fans and held it in the ballroom of a professional baseball stadium. The Philly Phanatic, the Phillies mascot, came for an hour dressed in a tux. So I got to fulfill a lifelong dream of getting my picture taken with him. So that made my cold feel better.

These bites below were the result of what was supposed to petit fours. The cake didn't cut as well as I would have liked it and the icing didn't spread down to the sides as I wanted, so I renamed them bites. But the taste was amazing. And the longer you let the cake sit the better, the nectar and almond flavor really gets into the cake and it is so moist it will make your $19.00 dress not fit either.


Apricot Almond Bites

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 cup apricot nectar
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons of orange flavored liquor
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract

Icing:

9 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup apricot nectar
1 tsp almond extract

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour bottoms and sides of 13 X 9 baking pan.

Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Cream sugar and butter in mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add half of the flour mixture and then half the nectar. Add almond extract and orange peel, and then add remaining flour and nectar and beat until smooth.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Brush liquor over top of cake and let cool completely. Freeze cake one hour before cutting to avoid crumbs.

In mixer, beat icing ingredients on low speed until desired consistency is reached. Add more nectar or powdered sugar if needed. Icing should be pourable.

Place cooling rack on cookie sheet. Cut cake into 9 by 6 rows, and space out each piece. Spoon icing evenly over top and sides of cake pieces. Let stand until icing is set, about 2 hrs. Decorate with sugared orange peel and almonds.

When Your Luv Goes Away

My husband has gone away on trips before. Years ago when he was in sales he went on a few trips for training and conferences. In the last few years he has gone away once a year for the all star game and maybe a one or two night trip for something else hockey related.

But its been a very long time since he went away for work more than 3 or 4 days. Just today he left for a 5 day trip to Minnesota for training for his regular "boring" job as we would call it. He did not want to go. He will be stuck at a corporate office sitting in training classes all day. Spending his evenings in a boring old hotel with the only view being an old restaurant and a Target.

So to help with the start of my 5 days of loneliness I made this cake. Spice cakes are one of my all time favorite cake flavors. I so love the taste of them and I think so many other flavors of frostings and fillings go so great with them.

My husband and I both have webcams on our laptops so we will be chatting every night and before I know it, it will be time to pick him up on Friday night. And even after 9 years of marriage and over 13 years together I will still be excited like a school girl for it. We are one of those crazy couples who really generally love to hang out with each other. See you soon Luv.



Strawberry And Red Currant Jelly Spice Cake

2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanila
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/3 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 package softened cream cheese
1/2 cup softened butter
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups fresh strawberries
1/4 cup red currant jelly

In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger and set aside.

In a mixer beat butter and oil until combined. Add sugar and vanilla and beat again. Add eggs one at a time until each is combined. Add spice mixture and buttermilk alternatively to wet mixture also until combined.

Pour into greased and floured 9 inch round baking pans. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let cakes cool for an hour.

In a mixer beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla.

Combine in a small bowl strawberries and red currant jelly. Fill first layer of cake with frosting and then layer with strawberry jelly mixture. Place second layer of cake on top and frost completely with cream cheese frosting and then top with strawberries.


Oh and by the way your fuzzy daughter misses you but didn't mind hogging your side of the bed.

She Ain't Pretty, She's My French Bread

Its that time again for the monthly Daring Bakers Challenge. And we are back in the world of yeast, flour, rising and kneading. A world I thought I was getting used to, one that was starting to accept me. Oh I found out that the little world of bread making needs me to pay my dues alot more before it is going to embrace me fully.

Our beautiful hostesses this month are Breadchick Mary of The Sour Dough and Sara of I Like To Cook. Their choice was a classic, Julia Child's French Bread, or as I call it The World's Longest Recipe. When I printed out the recipe it was 14 pages long, and that was with setting the font at 10. What I found out after reading it is that it is not the longest recipe. But actually a pretty simple recipe with alot of tips in it on making it different ways (with a mixer, by hand, on the different types of shapes you can make the bread, etc.) It does take a long time to make as it requires quite a bit of resting and rising. But the overall work you have to do is, in my opinion, is actually minimal.

Unfortunately that didn't help me in my efforts. I don't think I let it rise long enough at the end and I definitely didn't let it bake long enough. I did spritz it several times with water in the beginning of its baking and in my eyes it was starting to turn brown. But it never went very far beyond there. It came out a very pasty beige and never looked quite appetizing to me. I did try and eat a piece the next day and it wasn't horrible but it didn't have that crunchy crust or the flavor I think it should have.

I know Julia doesn't come up with a crappy recipe, so this is definitely the result of a person who rushed through something she should have taken more time with. I hope to one day come back to this recipe and give it the umph that would make Julia Child proud.

The complete recipe is on Mary's site. . And also check out my fellow Daring Bakers for some creations that actually look like french bread.