A foolish mess...

Let me say that I think we should appreciate our Mom's on more than just one day a year...  It is an incredibly important job that is sometimes thankless.
Through terrible two's and rebellious teenage years, through laughter and tears, joy and fear... you are there for it all.
So, to every Mom out there:  Happy Mother's Day today and everyday for all that you do!
Now that I've earned my birthday and Christmas presents for next year, let's get to it.  

This weekend is Mother's Day and the Internet, food magazines, morning shows, cooking shows, even the evening news is filling the space between our ears with recipes to make for Mom...
Most of them even look really good!  But here's the problem:  MOM isn't the one making them!
(I hope!)  

More than a few of the recipes featured have ingredient lists long enough to make even the average home cook sweat under the collar, much less someone who rarely ventures into that mystical space from where food magically appears.

Blushing Valentine

I know it may seem a bit early to start thinking of Valentine's Day, but it's only a few short weeks away.   If you like to make a special treat on Valentine's Day, this is the cake.  
It is a towering 4 layers high and lovingly encased in the most delicate rose-scented buttercream.  It is outrageously good and worth every. single. calorie.  

This is also the type of cake that could easily become adorned with say a few candles for a little celebratory birthday party?   The colors could be swapped out for any, the flavor of the buttercream could be adapted to whatever you'd like it to be.  Using a vanilla base for both cake and buttercream allows you the flexibility to change colors and flavors to suit the occasion or intended recipient.

Typically, when we think of Valentine's Day desserts we usually think of chocolate.  I won't even pretend that I'm not one of them, but sometimes the "molten lava cake" or "ganache-covered devils's food" is well... a bit played out.

This cake is a show-stopper and you might not even miss the chocolate.

For the cake:

3 sticks unsalted butter, room temp

3 ½ cups sugar

4 cups King Arthur AP flour

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp salt

12 egg whites-Pete & Gerry’s Heirloom Eggs, room temp

2 cups whole milk, room temp

4 tsp vanilla

Deep pink gel food coloring

Place racks in middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour 4 cake pans.  I used 6", but 8 inch will work as well (the cakes will not be as tall).

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together for 5 minutes until light & fluffy.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside.
Combine egg whites, milk & vanilla together and set aside.

Add roughly 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter and sugar, followed by half of the milk mixture.  Scrape down bowl, and then add another 1/3 of the flour mixture and the rest of the milk.  Scrape down again and add the last of the flour.

Divide batter into 4 equal portions.

      One portion will remain white.  In the remaining 3, mix in food coloring.  Add 3-4 drops to the first layer, 6-7 drops for the second and 9-10 drops for the last layer.  Mix thoroughly until color is uniform. 

      Pour into cake pans and bake for 25 – 30 minutes, rotating cakes halfway through baking time.  Cake is done when knife inserted comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then carefully remove from pan and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Wrap in parchment paper and plastic wrap and chill at least 3 hours.  Using a long serrated knife, trim off the domed top of cake to make it even and flat.   Once all cakes have been trimmed, set aside.

For the Rosewater Buttercream

4 egg whites: Pete & Gerry’s Heirloom Eggs

1 cup sugar

3 sticks unsalted butter at room temp, cut into tablespoons

½ -1 tsp rosewater

      Set a bowl inside of a pot of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Combine egg whites and sugar, whisking frequently until sugar has dissolved. 

 You can test this by carefully running your finger through a stream of egg white falling from whisk, then rub your thumb and finger together.  If you feel any grains of sugar, it is not ready.

      Once sugar is completely dissolved, transfer mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.

      Beat egg white mixture on high speed until it holds stiff peaks and mixture is cooled, about 5-6 minutes.
  

      Turn mixer down to medium low speed and begin adding butter, a few tablespoons at a time, let butter incorporate before adding more.

      After all the butter has been added, add rosewater and beat for another 30 seconds.

      Set darkest layer of cake on cake plate and apply a layer of buttercream to top.  Following with remaining layers, ending with white layer on top. 

Apply a thin crumb coat of buttercream to entire cake and chill for 30 minutes.

When crumb coat has hardened, apply buttercream and smooth with an off-set spatula.
Cut with a very sharp knife and serve!

 

 

 

 

www.foodiefriendsfriday.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pour Some Sugar on Me!

It's Christmas cookie time again and that means the cookie exchange!  However, if you are buying jar after jar of colored sanding sugars to sprinkle on your creations it can get very costly rather quickly.

Working in this business has made me acutely aware of what things REALLY cost.   Walking through stores and seeing someone pay $4.50 for a tiny 3 ounce bottle of colored sanding sugar for example...   I know that they could make huge bags of it for $4.50.

I have a drawer full of them, I'm not immune to be sucked in by all the pretty colors... but no more!

It's not that I'm cheap;  I prefer to think of it as frugal, but what gets under my skin is paying an exorbitant amount of money for what I'm getting.
It's all about getting a decent value for your money. 
So, with that said:  We are going to make our own sanding sugars this year for a fraction of what we would pay at the grocery store.



DIY Sanding Sugars

clear sanding sugar, can be purchased here
gel food coloring  (I don't recommend liquid)
pinch of cornstarch (optional)
wax or parchment paper lined sheet pan

gel color in squeeze bottles

 

 

The easiest way to do this is in a zip-top quart or gallon bag.  You can smoosh (yes, that's the technical term) it around inside the bag with your hands and there is virtually no mess to clean up.

 

gel colors in little pots

 

I tend to make it in large batches, so I usually use a bowl and a whisk to get started and then mix with my hands.  Unless you are making a few pounds at a time, the zip-top bag would be the way to go...

For a normal batch of cookies or cupcakes, start with 1/2 - 3/4 cup of sugar.

Pour sugar into bag and add 1 drop at a time of gel food coloring.

Starting to look like sea glass!

Mix it around in the bag until color is consistent throughout.  If color isn't dark enough, add another drop and repeat until you reach desired shade.

IF you find your sugar is a bit clumpy or sticky from the food coloring, add a pinch of cornstarch and mix thoroughly.  I only do this when I have added quite a bit of color.   
The cornstarch helps to keep the sugar from clumping together, but it also makes it less shiny. 

Once you have reached your desired color, pour the sugar out onto your lined sheet pan and spread it out into a thin even layer so it can dry out a bit.   When sugar is no longer "tacky", store in airtight jars.   It will keep for months!

(Re) Union

A few days ago I had the good fortune to spend time with family members I haven't seen in awhile and met some new ones for the first time.  Those of us that live far away from the rest of our clans aren't able to be a part of each others daily life, so the chance to gather in one place for a few hours is extra special.

We had a lovely afternoon sharing food and stories, laughing and catching up with each other.  At times we are all so busy in the day-to-day that we fail to take a few minutes to just say "hi" to people we care about.
It was a chance for all of us to do just that and make a few more connections on Facebook, of course!

Connecting over food is a common experience for everyone on every continent, of every color and every religion.  It is good for us to acknowledge the commonality that ties us all together instead of focusing on the differences that fracture us.   Food is definitely one of those common denominators   It is an integral part of almost every celebration from birthdays to weddings, holidays, family gatherings, get-togethers with friends, etc.

And if you happen to be like most of us, where there's food, there's drink!  One thing I leaned about the guys in my family this weekend is their shared feelings toward bourbon.  They like it.  So, combining fall flavors with a little bourbon was the goal and I think I may have become a convert.


Hard-Pressed

• 1 1/2 ozs bourbon (I used Bulleit)
• 3 ozs fresh-pressed apple cider (or best quality store bought)
• dash fresh nutmeg
• ice 

• 1 tbsp light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• dash cinnamon
• dash nutmeg

Mix last 4 ingredients together, place on a small saucer and set aside.
Wet the outside rim of a glass and dip into sugar mixture to coat.
Combine the rest of the ingredients in a shaker and shake for 30 seconds, pour into prepared glass. Imbibe.