My daughter's birthday will be coming up soon and I was thinking about what kind of birthday cake to make for her, taking in her suggestions. I then realized that I didn't post the last birthday cake I made.
Some months ago, my youngest celebrated his birthday. I tend to make my kids birthday cakes (that is until they prefer me not to anymore). I'm not the greatest baker or cake decorater but I give it my best shot.
Last year, he started his love for construction and that his why I made the
dump truck cake. I thought as the year went on, he'd be into something else but that didn't happen. He loves construction even more.
So I came up with this idea. This was easy and he was pretty excited to see it. What spoiled kids I have. But I love doing it for them.
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chocolate layer cake
makes 12 servings
1 cup butter, softened
1.5 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp each baking soda & baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1.5 cups buttermilk
In large bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time: beat in vanilla. In separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in butter misture alternately with buttermilk, making 3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of buttermilk.
Spoon into prepared pans. Either 2 greased springforms pans or 2 round metal cake pans prepared with parchment or waxed paper. **
Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes.** Cool on racks for 20 minutes. Remove and let cool completely on rack.
Cut cake horizontally into 2 layers.
** I used a 9x13 cake pan instead. You will have to adjust your baking time for longer, at least another 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Recipe from: Chocolate layer Cake, The Complete Canadian Living Cookbook.
chocolate buttercream icing:
yields 3 cups
1 cup margarine or butter
4 cups confectioners sugar
3/4 cup cocoa OR 3 - 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate squares, melted
3-4 Tbsp tbsp milk
Cream margarine. Add sugar gradually beating on medium speed. Icing should appear dry. Add milk & chocolate and beat until fluffy.
Chocolate Buttercream from Wilton's Decorating Guide Yearbook
(from front to back: Dark roast, light roast, unroasted (green) beans)
My husband had a conversation with some of his friends about getting a perfect cup of coffee. Of course, they talked on length on water temperature of your coffeemaker, the type of water one must use and to filter or not to filter.
Let's not forget about the coffee beans. These wannabe purists came to the conclusion that they must roast their own beans. That's when my hubby came home with some beans from
Transcend Coffee, all excited to roast his own.
It started out ok as the smell of roasting coffee beans reached my nose. Then it quickly went to overwhelming as the hubby kept opening and closing the oven door, allowing huge clouds of smoke to billow out. The oils from the coffee beans produce quite a bit of smoke. Who knew that the smoke would permeate my home furnishings and remain there for days to come.
Lesson: The hubby is no longer allowed to bring home unroasted coffee beans.
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roasting your own coffee beans
Heat oven to 475 degrees
Spread the beans onto the baking sheet and into the oven for 8-10 minutes. The beans will begin to pop and start shedding the chaff. Roast the beans for a few more minutes until the desired level of roast is reached.
Remove the the baking sheet from the oven. Shake the beans to remove chaff (preferably outside) or pour into a colander to cool & remove chaff.
Store cooled beans in a sealed container.
I have to admit, I've sorta lost my mojo in the kitchen. That's why the lack of blogging. I think it has something to do with my husband moving into the kitchen. He found a new hobby and now the kitchen is no longer
my place so much. Plus, he never leaves the kitchen as tidy as I like it.
sigh.
I was looking through my photo archives and spotted this photo. It made me wish I had some bananas sitting on the counter begging to be used.
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bananas with caramel sauce and peanuts
sorry, it's been a while so I can't tell you exact quantities.
bananas
caramels
whipping cream
peanuts, crushed (I like the salted version, gives a nice taste to the sweet)
Place about 30 caramels in a pot, with low heat. Add enough whipping cream to dilute it so that it can be drizzled over your bananas.
Top with peanuts.
Soooo, I haven't posted in like
forever?!? hmmmmm.
Why? I have no idea. Why am I posting now? I have no idea. There's no rhyme or reason. It is what it is.
One thing I noticed on my long hiatus is that I kept refering back to my blog for recipes. It's a nice recipe "box" and though I haven't had much traffic around this little blog, I've been visiting it a lot. Plus, I miss taking pictures of my food. Doesn't that sound weird? Yeah, you sure don't hear THAT often.
So, I probably won't be posting as often as I used to but I will when I can.
And this chocolate chip mint ice cream? Too
die for. A sweet minty delicous flavor and I'd lick my bowl to get every little flake of chocolate stuck to the side.
I've had a few people ask "why isn't it green!". I just don't see the need. But for those of you who prefer the green color when eating this ice cream, you may add a drop or two of green color dye when mixing.
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chocolate chip mint ice cream
about 1 quart (1 liter)
1 cup (250 ml) 2% milk
3/4 cup (150 g) sugar
2 cups (500 ml) 18% milk fat cream
Pinch of salt
2 cups (80 g) lightly packed fresh mint leaves
5 large egg yolks
2 - 1 oz (225 g) semi-sweet chocolate squares, grated into flakes (I used a cheese grater)
Warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup (250 ml) of the cream, and salt in a small saucepan. Add the mint leaves and stir until they're immersed in the liquid. Cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.
Strain the mint-infused mixture through a mesh strainer into a medium saucepan. Press the mint leaves to extract as much of the flavor as possible, then discard the mint leaves. Pour the remaining 1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream into the saucepan.
Rewarm (if needed) the mint-infused mixture. In a separate saucepan, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mint liquid into the egg yolks, whisking constantly.
Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens a bit. Remove from heat. Stir periodically until cool. Strain a second time.
Cover and chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator. Then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Add the chocolate flake to the ice cream maker in the last 5-10 minutes of freezing.
Adapted from: Fresh Mint Ice Cream>
