Happy July 4th! I hope everyone had a safe and fun day with friends and family (and with plenty of delicious food, of course!). This cake is from Better Homes and Gardens Festive Fourth of July Desserts. I didn’t put the jam on it; however, I think it still turned out well. Just a simple cake with plenty of fresh berries and frosting!
What did you make for July 4th?
Cheers!
Filed under Adventures, Bake
A few weeks ago, I went with a few friends to a promotional event that was hosted by Google Places and had the pleasure of trying (for the first time!) an infamous cupcake from Trophy Cupcakes. Although I did not finish the entire cupcake due to an enormous amount of frosting, the salted caramel cupcake I chose was unique and absolutely delicious. Based on taste and presentation alone, I will definitely look to Trophy Cupcakes again when in the mood for a cupcake!
Filed under Uncategorized
So, continuing with this past weekend’s trend of using almonds, I found a recipe for a Strawberry-Almond Cream Tart during a recent shopping excursion at the local grocery store. After looking through recipe after recipe in the grocery store magazine aisle, I finally settled upon this one. But, I’m not going to lie, at first glance, I solely wanted to try this recipe because it looked “pretty” and it contained almonds. It wasn’t until after my impulse buy and I was in the car already on the way home that I realized that this would be a perfect dessert for a dinner party: light, summery, and the strawberries I had chosen were actually ripe!
Step 1: Crush Graham Crackers (You
Can Use a Food Processor — I Just Chose
to Smash Them in Bags!)
Step 2: Combine Crushed Graham Cracker
Crumbs With Butter and Sugar
Step 3: Spray Pan With Cooking Spray;
Press Graham Cracker Crumbs Into Pan
Step 4: Mix Cream Cheese With Almond
and Vanilla Extracts Plus Sugar
Step 5: Cut Fresh Strawberries
Step 6: Add Strawberries and
Almonds to Top; Bake and Enjoy!
Although I altered a few things from the original recipe, I’m happy with how it turned out. I really liked implementing nuts into this dessert because I often don’t ever think to add them to desserts. The key for the best flavor is to toast the almonds and the key to the best construction of this dessert is to use enough cooking spray (I didn’t and had some architectural failure when taking it out of the spring form pan). Anyway, all in all, this is a flavorful dessert that is light and doesn’t leave you feeling too full which is just perfect for summertime!
Cheers!
Cupcakes are absolutely one of my favorite desserts. Although it may seem strange, the actual ingredients and tastes of cupcakes are not the reasons why I love them. My love of cupcakes stems from the endless possibilities of intricate designs, colors, and presentation features available to put on these quaint little cakes. For example, in the past, I’ve experimented with different icing lettering, vibrant frostings, and cookies/candies galore to add onto the top. Simply, cupcakes are a fun dessert.
One of my favorite cupcake recipe books is titled Hello, Cupcake. Although I did not follow a recipe from this clever book for this blog post, I highly recommend to either buy, peruse the book, or check out their website for fun ideas (in the past year, I made the Snowman and Penguin cupcakes — they seemed daunting, but they turned out really well!).
Anyway, I hadn’t made a “creative” dessert in quite some time. I first became inspired to make cupcakes after a friend bought me a “Cupcake Kit” (from Chronicle Books/Elinor Klivans and seen here).
This kit contains a reusable pastry bag, assorted piping tips, and cupcake baking liners. With this added inspiration, I began to scan the Food Network website for potential cupcake ideas. I finally found a recipe for Chick and Egg Cupcakes and decided to make a version of these to put me into the Easter spirit. I didn’t follow the recipe 100% (I cheated and used boxed cupcake mix to save some time), but I really enjoyed the results!
Step 1: Bake Cupcakes and Let Cool
Step 2: Add Green Dye to Frosting and Coconut
Step 3: Frost; Layer Coconut, Eggs, and Peeps on Top;
Use Pastry Tips to Make Intricate Designs
That last picture of a cupcake looks a bit haphazard; however, it was fun to experiment with different pipping techniques. I definitely need to improve with cupcake decorating — my next quest will be to find tips on how to best use the pipping utensil in order to produce the best results.
Until then…
[as seen from "The Cupcake Kit"]
Cheers!
Filed under Bake
One night, I was definitely in the mood for an easy dinner. As I pondered ideas, pasta popped into my mind as an easy, go-to dinner dish. Luckily for me, I stumbled upon a Pasta with Spicy Sun Dried Tomato Cream Sauce from Epicurious. Two specific things drew me to this recipe:
1. Abundance of Fresh & Flavorful Ingredients — Basil, Sun Dried Tomatoes, Roasted Red Peppers, and lots & lots of Garlic!!
2. Description, Comments, and Rating — The creator of this recipe made this to impress a date (a blind date!) and subsequently, quite a number of the 169 people who wrote reviews noted that they used this recipe to impress boyfriends, husbands, and family members. Plus, a 4-Star Rating and 95% approval rate couldn’t hurt!
Step 1: Finely Chop Basil, Sun Dried Tomatoes,
Roasted Red Peppers, and Garlic
Step 2: Saute Garlic, Add Cream, Red Pepper
Chili Flakes, Simmer Rest of Ingredients
Step 3: Toss Pasta Sauce with Pasta and Cheese
(add reserved pasta liquid if too thick)
Secondly, I chose to make a Vermont Maple Bread Pudding. Prior to this experience, I had never tried bread pudding or seen the ingredients for it. Needless to say, I almost had a heart attack after I saw the copious amounts of cream, sugar, eggs, maple syrup, and bread needed to make this dessert. But, I convinced myself to forget about that for the night and instead focus on making a perfect dessert!
Step 1: Tear Apart Brioche or Egg
Bread into Bite-Sized Pieces
Step 2: Mix Cream, Sugar, Maple
Syrup, Eggs, and Vanilla Extract; Toss
Bread into Mixture; Let Sit 1 Hour
Step 3: Bake at 375 Degrees
for 40 Minutes
Step 4: Cut, Scoop, Serve!
All in all, a very simple dinner and I’m sure that I’ll make it again!
Cheers!
