Make Buttercream Icing look like Fondant - Win

It's birthday season in our house! Birthday #1 went off without a hitch, but the chalkboard sadly never recovered and will probably need to be repainted.
On to Birthday #2!
My son is turning 5 and had requested a Spiderman birthday. Easy enough! This time instead of cupcakes, I chose a traditional cake since it's a smaller crowd. When it comes to cakes I tend to half-cheat. The cake comes from a box but the icing I make myself from an awesome recipe I got from a cake decorator friend of mine. I've used it for years and it hasn't failed yet.

I searched all over Pinterest for inspiration for the cake. I wanted to do blue instead of red, and would need a very smooth surface for the decorating. Now I could have gone off and used fondant. However a) I've never used fondant before and b) most people I talk to really dislike the taste or texture of fondant. And I really didn't want to venture into an entirely new icing medium without a little practice.

I had come across this method a while ago when looking for icing techniques for my baby girls birthday. I searched around a little more and found that the method was very similar across the board and the effect was lovely. I won't include a link since there are lots of tutorials and videos.
So I thought "what the heck". If it didn't work, I'd have a bumpy spiderman cake!

I baked two 9" round cakes and made a double batch of buttercream icing. I iced between the cakes, lopped off the top to make it flatter, and did a crumb coat. Then I used almost an entire container of blue food colouring to get the right 'Spiderman blue'. Next time I'd use the gels.

When using buttercream you need to make sure it's at the right temperature to manipulate. Too hot and it'll melt, too cold and it won't spread. Keep this in mind.

Sorry - no in progress pics. Between the icing and the food colouring, my hands and kitchen looked like I beat up a Smurf. 

After my crumb coat had set in the fridge, I did a rough icing around the cake. Use more icing then you think you'll need, you can always work it off later. I used a metal icing spatula to get the cake covered.

Now for the smooth finish. 
Keep very hot water and a clean paper towel near by your cake and icing bowl. The method I tried worked mostly like this:

- Run spatula under hot water for about 10 seconds (until metal becomes hot)
- Quickly wipe with clean paper towel to remove water
- Sweep the spatula over the icing. No need to push or dig the icing, your just smoothing it out, not pushing it around.
- Scrape excess icing off the spatula onto the bowl
- Repeat and continue working around your cake

It's a LOT of steps and extra work, and I found I had to reheat my spatula for every pass on the cake (I had to redo the spot on the right in the pic above) or it would mess it up. So keep your hot water tap running. But I think it turned out pretty well for the first time and it definitely worth the extra work if you want a smooth finish on your cake but don't want to use fondant. 

There is an additional step where you use a Viva paper towel and smooth the icing even further which I skipped. Because it HAS to be this specific brand and no other, and I had just bought a bunch of our regular kind, I passed on this step. But if I really wanted the 'fondant finish', I'd plan ahead and get some. 
I'm pretty impressed with myself and this method.

With the amount of work aside, this is a definite win!

Blueberry Orange Oatmeal Muffins - Win

I do love my muffins!

Now that I'm back to shift work and the kiddos are in daycare, I actually get a bit of time to do some large batch cooking. This time was some home made granola bars and muffins. Instead of going to my usual apple muffins, I decided to try something new. Plus I had an orange sitting around that needed to be used.

This is yet another solid recipe from Damn Delicious. I only made two variations, - using vanilla greek yogurt instead of plain, and I omitted the vanilla extract (mostly cause I didn't have any) and using just regular sugar instead of Turbinado. Just as described these are a hearty and tasty muffin, and the smell simply delicious. I mean who doesn't love the smell of orange zest?

The batch whipped up quickly and the keep very well. The only difference is that the recipe states that it makes 11 muffins but I came out with 14. Maybe I just make mine a bit smaller, but keep that in mind when trying this one out.

These muffins are perfect for breakfast or snacks, and will definitely end up in our lunch bags as a tasty and healthy treat.

Enjoy!

Easy Strawberry Shortcake - Win

It's Father's Day!

And what better gift to give the father of your kids then baked goods. A way to a man is through his stomach, right?
We're heading off to dinner with the inlaws this afternoon and each of the dad's got to pick a course. My husband got to pick desert (yippie!). And one of his all time favs is Strawberry Shortcake.

The timing is perfect for this recipe. Ontario strawberries are coming out and look fantastic, plus this gave me an excuse to pull out my big stand up mixer. I seriously debated pulling out my old recipe using bisquick and cool whip, but decided that a) an entire cake isn't that portable and b) after a recent family health scare, a slightly healthier version might be in order.

A quick search of Pinterest lead to this recipe from Just a Taste. Simple and easy, but looking tasty. Now for the waist-watchers, this recipe does call for heavy cream for the cakes. This could probably be replaces with milk, but I'm not too sure how it would turn out. Also this recipe is egg free, and can easily be made sugar free as well.

The dough is super simple, but REALLY sticky. I have no pictures of the pre-baked dough because it was everywhere! I tried not to over work it, but ended up having to put it all back in the bowl and re-flour my work board and rolling pin. And my rolling pin did jack all. It just kept sticking to the dough. SO learn from my mistakes! Be generous with the flour on your working surface, and butter your hands. I also just used my hands to flatten out the dough instead of my rolling pin, it was much faster. 
After baking the cakes for 15 minutes they came out light and brown and lovely.

I eliminated most of the sugar in the entire recipe, opting for a tiny bit of regular on the scones, in the strawberries, and in the whipped cream. You could really do this to taste, but for health reasons I decided to heavily reduce it. 

One of the best things is I could pre-make everything and assemble it later. It's really easy to transport this way as well.

Don't they look lovely??

Now because I eliminated the sugar they were not sweet at all, which is something that might not be everyones taste. The shortcakes were a bit heavy, but it worked perfectly with a lot of strawberries and fresh whipped cream.

Overall, a perfectly easy summer desert!

Flourless Chocolate Muffins - Win and Update!

Update Below!

Ah, bananas. Always something I have around. But either we eat so many I can barely stay stocked or they sit around for a week until they're all brown and mushy. There is rarely an in-between. Last week I ended up with two lone ripe bananas. So not enough for banana bread. I could freeze them but since we're moving I'm trying to DECREASE my freezer stock, not increase it. So I looked through my pin boards and came across a recipe that just might work.

Flourless Chocolate Muffins.

A perfect excuse to procrastinate on a rainy Tuesday.

Now I'm going to be honest, I totally thought these were going to fail in some way. Nearly no dry ingredients involved, no flour, no sugar, no egg. I thought they were going to be a gooey mess post-baking.

Boy was I wrong!

These muffins are super simple to make and just require four ingredients. FOUR! And nothing nuts that you'd need to run to a health food store for. Yes the batter is sticky as the instructions state. I was unable to find too lazy to use muffin liners, so I was very generous with the cooking spray and the muffins popped out without a problem. And be prepared for a bit of a mess when scooping the batter from your blender/mixer. But it's still tasty raw!


This recipe made about 9 muffins using a regular muffin pan. Since they don't rise, you don't have to follow the usual rule of filling the muffin cups 2/3 full. You can go most of the way up and they won't bake over. And adding a few chocolate chips on top adds a nice touch.

The taste is great, a nice balance between banana, chocolate, and peanut butter. The texture is like a dense cake, very moist, but not overly heavy like a brownie.







As I said, I was pleasantly surprised by this recipe. These are perfect for a healthy chocolate fix, and I don't feel TOO horrible giving my son a chocolate muffin. And these muffins can be gluten free or even vegan with the right ingredients. 
These are a definite win in my book and I'll be making them again.

Happy Baking!



UPDATE
So I made these a second time. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I have a good idea, however they didn't turn out the same. This time I was SLIGHTLY under the amount of coco powder, and used REALLY ripe bananas when before they were sorta ripe. I may have also over-blended. They still taste fantastic, but after baking for nearly 30 minutes they still are very mushy and aren't holding together.
So learn from my experience! Be precise with your measurements, don't over mix, and use slightly ripe bananas. If I do this again with really ripe ones I would probably increase the coco powder to offset the moisture content.
Good luck!

No Egg Oatmeal Cookies - Win!

What do you do when you're craving cookies but don't have eggs?

No Egg Oatmeal Cookies!

When I was pregnant with Baby Girl I baked... a lot. So during one of my fresh baked cookie cravings I was very disappointed to realize we'd run out of eggs. So off to Pinterest I went to see if a No Egg Cookie recipe existed, and I was pleasantly surprised!

The recipe from Spark People worked out beautifully. The cookies were a bit crunchy but still chewy, and there was no compromise on taste with the lack of egg. 

The cookies baked up perfectly. And I was really excited that there were no 'weird' ingredients in the recipe. As long as you have Quick Oats, you can make these cookies. So a definite win if you have an Egg Allergy or just don't have eggs in the house, but REALLY want cookies!

Happy Baking!

One Minute Mug Cake - Win

I have a problem, and it's name is chocolate. Sometimes I get the craving for something chocolate, but don't want to spend an hour baking. You know what I mean?
I've tried a few mug cakes with varying success. Some are super dry, some barely cook, and some require a portion of an egg and I don't like wasting egg if I can. This recipe is the best I've found so far, especially since it includes another of my top favourite foods, peanut butter. mmm....warm cake with a gooey peanut butter filing. Toss a few chocolate chips in there...Heaven. 

This mug cake takes a few minutes to whip up, and only one minute to cook as it states. My husband (not the biggest PB fan like I am) has tried other versions like adding strawberry jam in the centre instead and really enjoys the results. There is no egg in this recipe as well.

The cake comes out perfectly moist, not undercooked or dry at all. And only includes ingredients that most people have stashed in their pantry, so no last minute shopping. I followed the instructions and baked it for one minute in my microwave. This recipe is perfect for those late night chocolate cravings, but also helps keep your portions in check.
You could even bake it in some cute ramekins and serve it up for guests, or do as the original posted suggested and pop the cake out onto a plate. Personally, I just eat it right out of the mug with a huge glass of milk.

Perfection.

Apple Pie Cookies - Fail-ish

I love baking, if you haven't noticed. But when it comes to cookies, I rarely move away from my never-fail tried and true chocolate chip cookie recipe. 
But with fall here and a preschooler to entertain, I find I'm baking more. So I needed to break out of my regular (but tasty) cookie rut. 
And what better way to celebrate fall with Apple Pie Cookies! Serious! Like pie but less effort. These Apple Pie Cookies taste fantastic, but they really don't store well.

Right out of the oven, these cookies are lovely. They totally remind me of warm apple pie. However, after 24 hours they start to get super soft. After a couple days they're nearly impossible to pick up because they're almost like dough again. They still taste awesome though!

Freshly Baked

Baked on a Tuesday, soggy but still tasty on Friday

I've made these cookies twice, adding slightly more flour, increasing the cooking time, decreased the cookie size, and changing the storage method and still ended up with the same doughy results after a few days. My theory is the apple pieces leech their water into the cookie making it soft and doughy. After a few days, they are so soggy they are difficult to even pick up because they just fall apart.

These cookies still taste fantastic. They'd be perfect for a bake sale or potluck where you could bake and consume them in the same day. If I make them again I may use parchment paper for storage, and try something to keep the apples from 'leaking' so to speak. 
So these cookies are a win for taste, but a fail for long term consistency and storage. 

Strawberry Muffins - Win

I love muffins.
Seriously. Love. Muffins.
Healthy or sugar-loaded. Breakfast or snack. Muffins are almost always a winner for me.
But I've been in a muffin creativity rut lately. I usually fall back to my Apple Spiced Muffins, a recipe my mom gave me. These are muffins from my childhood and I love them. But a little variety is needed.
These Strawberry Muffins are very similar to my own Apple Spiced version, but the strawberries add a lovely sweetness/tartness to it. They're quick to whip together and definitely a tasty contender to my long standing go-to muffin.

STRAWBERRY MUFFINS

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries

For Topping
3 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl
Add egg, mix well
In separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt
Next, alternately add flour mixture and milk into butter/sugar mixture in large bowl
Add vanilla, then gently fold in strawberries
Spoon batter in to lined or greased muffin pans
Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over muffins. 
Bake for 20 min
CONSUME

 

Happy Baking!!

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies - Win!

For those who know me, I enjoy cooking and especially baking. I find baking is so much harder because you have to hope you get it right while with cooking you can alter as you go through the recipe. So I'm always looking for new recipes - especially baking treats I don't feel super guilty feeding to my kid. I'd say we eat clean-ish at home, and these cookies fall into that category.

I use plain white sugar for these cookies (gasp!) because I had regular sugar in the house and couldn't justify buying a whole thing of Sucanat for one recipe. So the cookies I made obviously weren't 'clean'. Still tasted good though! I do, however, plan to switch to Sucanat once our sugar is out. We don't use sugar often in our house and Sucanat is a better option when it comes to sugars.

This is also a great no-flour or dairy-free. No we aren't gluten/dairy free here (you saw the french toast recipe, right? YUM!) but it's nice to have something to serve to my more GI sensitive friends and family!

NOTE: The ingredients here show me using Stevia. Stevia is NOT Sugar or Sucanat, and does not have the same conversion ratio. For this batch I used 3/4 tsp of Stevia to replace the Sugar/Sucanat. No difference in taste at all!

Original recipe from http://www.cleaneatingmag.com/Recipes/Recipe/Almond-Butter-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies.aspx

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup unsalted almond butter, stirred well
• 3/4 cup Sucanat
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 3 oz dark chocolate (70% cocoa or greater), broken into small pieces

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, stir together first 5 ingredients until blended. Stir in chocolate.
2. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and let cool for 15 more minutes.

A couple of other notes...I've never use a full 3oz of chocolate, I've found about 2oz is enough for my cookies.

Another note is to use almond butter that's been in the fridge for a while. I tried these once (my 3rd time making them) with a fresh tub of almond butter and they spread out horribly and burnt to the point where I threw them out. And I never throw cookies out. The batter was too runny when using newly opened almond butter. So stick it in the fridge for a while until it becomes hard (after you mix it of course). The batter will be much thicker and you'll end up with cookies instead of a burnt mess!

The cookies will still be slightly soft when finished baking and the edges are browned, that's why they need to sit on the cookie sheet for a while.

Happy 
Baking!