Birthday cake for a friend!
Traditional yellow cake with instant fudge frosting. The frosting for this particular recipe can be made quickly in a food processor, making it easy to make fast and easy clean up
Recipe from: Sky High Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntman and Peter Wynne
This is a great book with well-written recipes for any occasion cake.
Magic Custard Cake
One very loose batter gets transformed into three distinct layers during the baking process. I have to admit, I agree with various bloggers and commenters that this loose batter can be a bit nerve wracking, in the sense that you don’t really believe that this watery batter will turn out into this finished product, but it does! And it’s delicious with great texturally-distinct layers. The middle is like a pudding custard, with the top a fluffy cake.
I did use the 4 drops of vinegar added during the egg white whipping method. I also used the whisk to gently fold and mix the stiff egg whites and wet batter together. I used parchment paper for easy cake release from the baking pan.
Pictures aren’t the best and I was too lazy to find my sifter for the powdered sugar top, but at 4 AM in the morning. Not too shabby pictures.
Recipe: http://whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/magic-custard-cake/
Mini Palmiers!
I had a little bit of puff pastry leftover from the chicken sausage and bacon rolls and thought that making palmiers would be a quick fix to use up the scrap pieces of puff. I followed Anne Burrell’s recipe for palmiers, which calls for a mix of sugar, orange zest, and cinnamon, a slightly different mix from the just white sugar filling.
Recipe adapted from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/anne-burrell/palmiers-recipe/index.html
Mini Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies!
For my birthday, my friends got me a bunch of cool stuff including a trio of mini hand pie presses/cutters from Williams-Sonoma. I finally had the chance to whip it out and put them to good use. While it is not necessary to have these empanada press-like mini pie presses/crimpers, it’s a cute kitchen accessory. Using a pastry cutter, a small glass/bowl, and a fork will achieve the same effect. Just don’t forget to use a knife to make a few vent slits/holes.
Follow your favorite apple pie recipe. During pie assembly, add in chopped pieces of caramels and add a sprinkle of sea salt. Continue on as normal and bake. That’s how simple it is to add a salted caramel twist to a traditional apple pie! I would probably only recommend this technique for small hand pies or mini hand pie sizes. For larger pies, I would recommend using a dulce de leche-type caramel.
Prior to eating, serve the hand pie warm to soften the caramel. A few secs in the microwave or a quick toasting in the toaster oven should do the trick. Otherwise, you may lose a tooth trying to eat the caramel, depending on how much you generously shoved into the hand pie.
Recipe: http://www.justataste.com/2012/09/salted-caramel-apple-hand-pies-recipe/
Mango Pudding
Need a study break? A cup o’ mango pudding would definitely assist you in taking your mind off of whatever you may be cram studying away for.
The only issue I had with this recipe is that I didn’t quite follow the correct ratio of ingredients, which may have led me to have a “tougher” pudding (aka: seemed more of a jello texture than pudding). So if you do decide to increase the recipe, please do your math correctly… if you don’t, someone might take your Asian card away :( But, at least you’ll be left with yummy mango pudding or jello!
Recipe: http://food-4tots.com/2011/04/06/fresh-mango-pudding/2/
Green Tea White Chocolate Swirled Almond Blondies
Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of the sliced bars. When sliced, you can see the distinct swirls of creamy green matcha batter against the almond, white chocolate chip batter. Very simple recipe that is easy to throw together. I didn’t have almond flour, so I substituted with almond meal (not as fine as flour and, in my case, unblanched). In addition, I increased the amount of matcha powder by 1 tablespoon because I really like that flavor to hit you front on in the face. These have a the texture of cheesecake brownies, which has a nice balance of chew and transport well.
Recipe: http://hungryrabbitnyc.com/2011/05/whatmatchacallit/
Salted Chocolate Nutella Cookies!
My cookies didn’t come out as pretty as the blog I found the recipe on, but still very tasty regardless. I did like how there’s some extra texture in the cookie due to the quickly pulsed oats; gave me another opportunity to use my snazzy food processor!
Recipe found here: http://thefauxmartha.com/2012/03/07/salted-dark-chocolate-nutella-cookies/
Homemade mango ice cream, made by hand without the need of an ice cream maker!
I used this recipe as the basis for my ice cream and made a few changes here and there: http://www.spicyicecream.com.au/2012/02/mango-and-saffron-swirl-ice-cream.html. My ice cream was just vanilla bean mango ice cream. In retrospect, I probably used have used more mangoes to get that rich color, but the flavor is quite nice. I was a bit skeptical since there was no need to churn it by hand or use a machine, but it was super easy to make.
yay!!!
Mardi Gras King Cake!
My first time making brioche bread to use as the base for the king cake. I didn’t have any colored sugar, so I decided to color the glaze instead in the traditional colors (purple, yellow/gold, and green).
Gooey Chocolate Mini Cakes with Raspberries and Nutella!
Recipe: http://eatlittlebird.com/2012/02/19/gooey-chocolate-cakes-with-raspberries-nutella/
A little thing about the things I like to do in my spare time :D
