Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Perfect Party Cake


Perfect Party Cake
(from Dorie Greenspan in Baking: From My Home to Yours)
This recipe makes 24 cupcakes or a 2 layer cake (with 9 x 2" pans)


For the Cake:
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups whole milk or buttermilk, at room temperature
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract



Getting Ready: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9-x-2-inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet. If you are making cupcakes, line cupcake wells with paper liners.

To Make The Cake: Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and, working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter is well blended, then add the last of the dry ingredients.
Finally, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a toothpick inserted into the centers should come out clean. (Cupcakes will need to bake about 20-22 minutes.) Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then remove them from the pans. Cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:
This is my own simple buttercream starting point. I start with this, and then I add more/less cream or powdered sugar depending on what consistency I want the frosting to be. There is a lovely buttercream tutorial at My Baking Addiction if you would like more information.

1 cup butter (2 sticks), very soft
2-3 oz. cream cheese (you can leave this out, I just like to add it because I cuts the sweetness somewhat)
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
4-8 Tbsp cream or milk

Cream the butter and cream cheese, add the vanilla and powdered sugar 1 cup at a time and blend well. Add enough cream or milk to bring the frosting to a spreadable consistency. And then, whip it, and whip it good.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Cherry Lime-Aid Drink (like Sonic)



I found this recipe on the Little Brown House Blog - I love love love Cherry Limeaids at Sonic and thought you would love this too!

Here is all you need-

1 can frozen limeade concentrate,

1- 2 liter bottle Sprite,

Juice from 1 10 oz jar cherries

Fresh limes (optional)



Simply put it all together.. tough huh?

Add slices of limes to the pitcher and the glasses, and put cherries in the glasses only.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

CRANBERRY PISTACHIO COOKIES



I found this on the "Harwards" blog and it thought it would be a great recipe to try out and to share! Enjoy!

Take 1 pouch of Sugar Cookie Mix
1 (3.4 oz) Pistachio instant pudding mix
1/4 cup flour...stir together.

Add:
1/2 cup butter, melted
and 2 eggs

Add:
1 cup dry roasted pistachio nuts, chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped
(optional, a tiny bit of green food coloring)
I didn't add any to these though.

Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350'
take from oven and let them set on the
cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then rack to cool.

Makes two dozen delicious cookies!
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