Father's Day

Since we were celebrating Father's Day at my aunts house, I thought it would be fun to make a quick cake and a way of experimenting with new flavours and getting feedback quickly from many people. The cake I decided to make was a red velvet cake (the recipe was from an amazing book I got for christmas last year called the Modern Cafe). For the inside filling I decided to make a pineapple reduction and mix it into some italian meringue buttercream. For the outside I was running low on time and just decided to skip the fondant and finish the cake with buttercream.

Bridal Shower

This is a cake I made for my soon to be sister-in-law's bridal shower. The theme was tulips. It was my first time making gumpaste tulips and I can say that they look a lot easier to make then they actually are. I wish that I had made more flowers but I ran out of time and came across the dilemma of the wire I used being too thin which is another story in itself. The cake was delicious. I decided to try something new by making a coconut cake with raspberry Italian meringue buttercream. I also saw a picture online of a cake that was covered in chocolate pieces giving it a sort of "bark" effect and I though that was quite interesting so I tried it out...it was very quick and easy to do, tempering the chocolate took a bit of time but it was worth not having to spend the money on fondant.

Cake Time Total: 3 hours

German Chocolate Cake

This is my first stab at a German chocolate cake and it was absolutely delicious! I made this cake for my boyfriend's moms birthday and it was a huge hit! When it came to decorating I didn't have much to work with since all my tools are back home so I went traditional with it; just a few rosettes, pecans, and toasted coconut.

German Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

4 oz of semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup water
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar, and 1/4 cup sugar
4 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease cakes and line bottom with parchment paper.
2. Microwave chocolate and water for about 1-1/2 to 2 minutes or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after 1 minute. Set aside to cool.
3. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt, set aside.
4. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in melted chocolate and vanilla. Add flour mixture alternatively with buttermilk, beating until just blended.
5. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites and 1/4 cup sugar on high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold egg white into chocolate mixture.
6. Pour batter equally into pans and transfer to over, baking 30-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Coconut-Pecan Filling

Ingredients

1 cup cream
1 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cup coconut
1 1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans

Directions

1. Combine sugar, milk, egg yolk, butter and salt in large saucepan and whisk until blended.
2. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil and begins to thicken.
3. Stir in coconut and pecans and remove from heat.

Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients

8 oz semi-sweet chocolate
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1 1/2 oz butter
1 cup cream, and another cup of cream

Directions

1. In a large bowl add chocolate and light corn syrup.
2. Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until just boiling.
3. Pour hot cream over chocolate and stir until chocolate melts and mixture becomes completely smooth.
4. Wisk the second up of whipping cream and combine with the chocolate mixture once it has cooled.

Easter Chicks

Yes I know it's way past Easter, but I've been busy with school and finals that are coming up so I have not been able to post recently. Since I was going to my boyfriend's grandparent's house for Easter I wanted to make something special so I got the idea from Martha Stewart's website to make these cute little chickadee cupcakes. The recipe that Martha had on her website was for vanilla cupcakes but since it was Easter I thought that carrot cupcakes would make a better substitute. I used the recipe that I have on my blog which is linked here. Then you just ice the cupcakes with your favourite icing, dunk them in toasted coconut, and then simply pipe little birds and violaaa you have birds in a nest.

Zucchini Loaf

I remember showing up one day at home and there was a zucchini loaf on our table along with a few zucchini. My dad had brought it home from someone who gave it to him at work. I took a bite and I was hooked from then on. My mom made my dad ask for the recipe because this loaf was just way too delicious not to be recreated over and over again.

Zucchini Loaf

Ingredients

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 cup of oil

2 tsp of vanilla

2 cups of zucchini, shredded

3 cups of flour

1 tsp of baking soda

1 tsp of baking powder

1 tsp of salt

1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon

1/2 tsp of nutmeg

1/2 cup of walnuts or pecans, chopped
1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Directions

1. Grease 2 loaf pans or 2 muffin tins and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together the wet ingredients in one bowl and the dry in another. Mix both wet and dry together then fold in the nuts and chocolate.
3. Bake for about 50-60 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Orange Chocolate Baklava

This recipe for baklava is by far the best that I have ever tasted. It is not super sweet but its packed with flavour from the orange glaze that the baklava gets smothered in.

Orange Chocolate Baklava

Ingredients

1 package frozen phyllo dough, thawed
1 1/4 cups butter, melted
1 pound finely chopped walnuts
1 package miniature semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon grated orange peel

Syrup:
3/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions

1.  Butter a cookie sheet. Layer eight sheets of phyllo dough in pan, brushing each layer with butter.
2. In a bowl, combine nuts, chocolate chips, sugar, cinnamon, lemon peel, and orange peel. Sprinkle 2 cups over top layer of phyllo.
3.  Layer and brush four sheets of dough with butter. Top with 2 more cups nut mixture. Layer and brush four more sheets of dough with butter; top with remaining nut mixture. Top with the remaining dough, brushing each sheet with butter. Drizzle any remaining butter over top.
4. Using a sharp knife, cut baklava into 1-1/2-in. diamonds. Bake at 325 degrees F for 50-60 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Meanwhile, combine the syrup ingredients in a saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Pour over warm baklava. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

Panda Bread

I haven't posted in awhile so I wanted to make it pretty epic when I posted again. When I came across a video on YouTube about how to make bread that had a panda face hiding inside I could not pass up the opportunity to try it out. It is just too dang adorable. Mine came out pretty good for my first try I must say. It is pretty tasty bread. For the black parts of my panda I used cocoa powder instead of food colouring so it gave the bread a little extra sweetness here and there. I will definitely make this again and maybe even perhaps with another animal hiding inside. Here is how my panda turned out...

 He's kind of peeking out to the side...

The video on how to make this adorable panda bread is by yoyomax12. The video is here:  

Here is the recipe so you don't have to play and pause the video all the time:

Panda Bread

Ingredients 

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tbsp white granulated sugar

1 cup milk

1 egg yolk

3/4 tbsp salt

1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1 tbsp green tea powder mixed with 2 tsp hot water (or green paste food colouring)

3 1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder mixed with 1 1/2 tsp hot water (or black paste food colouring)

2 1/4 tsp instant active dry yeast (1 envelope)

Directions

1. Mix milk and egg yolk together in a large bowl and place in microwave for 40 seconds until mixture feels very warm to the touch.
2. Add butter and blend
3. Add sugar, salt and yeast and mix together.
4. Blend in one cup of flour with a spoon or whisk.
5. Blend in second cup of flour with spoon, dough will pull away from sides, add a bit more flour until dough starts to come together. Knead into dough ball in bowl and then invert onto counter top and knead for at least 5-7 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic (adding a little bit of flour to counter top if sticking) You may not need the entire three cups of flour.
6. Divide dough as follows:
   
   First division: Divide white dough into three pieces two large and one small (small one about a third the size of the one of the other two large ones)
   Place one large plain dough ball in a greased bowl, turning dough to coat and cover.
   Knead in green food colouring into other large plain dough ball, this may take a while, be patient. (don't worry about over kneading bread dough, that isn't possible). Place in greased ball, turn to coat and cover.
   Knead black food colour into small dough ball. Place in greased ball, turn to coat and cover.
   Place all three covered bowls in a warm place to rise. I used my oven with just the oven light on inside. Let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
7. After the dough has risen divide the dough:
   
   Black dough : Cut into four equal pieces
   Green dough: Cut into two pieces, one piece twice as small as the large one.
   White dough: Cut into three pieces, two large, on small (one half the size of one of larger ones)
8. Assemble as per video. Place into a greased loaf pan and let rise again until doubled in size.
9. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.