June Daring Baker's Danish Braid - Preactivation Required.

Oh my great expectations. Ohhhhhh my great expectations. This was my inaugural baking experience with the Daring Bakers. It was one of the deciding factors in the purchase of my beautiful mixer.

This was to be my baking coming-out party.

If this had been a party, it would have warranted a tropical storm or avalanche theme :)

Here's the thing. As a baker and cupcaker, I rarely have to work with yeast. I'm more used to baking powder and baking soda. Still, I wasn't too worried, because one medium can't be that far from another...right? I mean, it's similar...right? I mean, shit yo, people have been working with yeast for hundreds of years...I can do this...right?

Wrong.

Saturday morning dawned grey with a low ceiling of clouds and a damp feel in the air. It wasn't great baking weather, but with the persistence of wet, cool weather in the area as of late, it didn't seem to make sense to wait for another day. I was so excited! I laid all of my ingredients out on the counter and began with great solemnity. I had read the instructions through three times. I had debated my ingredient choices with purpose. I had bought my mixer.

I knew it was meant to be a challenge, but I felt prepared. Like a student sitting an exam, I had studied and I was ready to write.

After following all of the directions, even waiting the full hour to patiently chill my dough, I turned it onto the counter and waited for the proofing time (the time you spend allowing the dough to rise before baking it). There it sat on the counter - it wasn't very pretty, but it was good, it was mine, and I was proud.

However, as I waited, I noticed something. Actually, I noticed a lack of something. My dough wasn't moving. There was not elegant rise. No puffing. Nothing danish-y at all. Just the same, poorly braided loaf.

I was confused. I called my Mother. We sat and stared. And sat and stared. This was worse than watching the grass grow, or paint dry. There was nothing. We sat. And stared.

Finally she asked me - hesitantly, cautiously - "Did you activate the yeast?"

I turned slowly away from the loaf and looked at her like she had two heads. "What do you mean?" I scoffed "I followed the whole recipe from start to finish. I swear I followed every single, instruction!" (I was rather offended, really, that she would suggest I had missed a step. I knew these instructions inside out). She asked to see this recipe, and as she looked at it, a look slowly crossed her face that merged sadness and pity. It was a pained look, and I felt my stomach sink like a stone.

"Maria," she said slowly, "when they say to add a tablespoon of yeast, you have to activate it".

Here's the thing. It turns out that in the world of baking, there are some things you are just supposed to know. A simple instruction like "don't forget to activate the yeast" wouldn't even cross their minds as a mandatory sentence to a group of good bakers. I mean, it turns out that to some it is common sense. To some, the idea of activating yeast, is second nature.

To the rest of us unlucky bakers, the yeast gene is not as strong. Some, like me, thought it came preactivated. I mean, like baking powder...or baking soda. They asked for a tablespoon so I poured one in there!

Heartbroken, I slammed it into the oven anyway. My mother slunk out of the room to verify her queries with an old friend, and bread baker. She confirmed that the yeast was indeed not preactivated, and also cautioned my mother that eating baked goods with unactivated yeast would result in nothing but sore stomachs.

When my flat, hard, danish left the oven...it went straight to the trash.

What a waste. Mom suggested I just take pictures and submit them and pretend it all went well, but I was not about to give up and I sure as shit wasn't going to pretend that my danish had been a success when I hadn't even had the chance to try it. As soon as the first danishes were out of the oven, I plugged in the mixer.

Determined. Maybe stupid, proud, and stubborn are also apt descriptors - but I'm going to just say "determined".

This time the ingredients were not laid out in an arc on the counter, they were grabbed from all corners of the kitchen. However, this time I activated the yeast. That includes mixing the yeast into some warm water and letting it double in size. Then the whole mess gets poured into the batter. Ta-da!

I also had used all my cardamom so I switched to some chai tea powder I have. It is a combination of cardamom, cinnamon, all spice, cloves, ginger, nutmeg...etc. and was a dreamy substitute.

As for my filling, the first time through I had filled the braid with Vanilla Custard (from a can) and Orange Marmalade (from a jar) to offset the spicy, orange-y seasoning in the braid (it was soooooooo good - it tasted like a warm orange creamsicle danish!). The second time through I also tried some blackberry syrup in one of the braids (also good, but the orange really was divine). Then I chilled them overnight (just to be safe) and greeted them Sunday morning.

Well when these puppies proofed, they proofed. They proofed so hard that they squeezed filling out of their edges. They proofed so hard they expanded right off the edges of the board. They proofed so hard that I was fearful of the yeast's potential and quickly shoved them into the oven - worried about their franken-danish properties I did not feel in control of!

But the smell. The heavenly aroma. They came out of the oven and I made an orange glaze (with orange extract, water, and icing sugar) with pecans and drizzled it over the top. It wasn't the beautiful braid I had seen in the instructions from the DB Kitchen. It wasn't elegant at all - but I had done it.

Now I have read a lot of people's rave reviews about the dough being flaky and light. I've read that it was beautiful even after beating the crap out of it.

So I don't know...maybe I jinxed it with my angst. Perhaps I'm still fending off some bad karma from resorting to a cake mix instead of baking from scratch a few weeks ago. Chances are I am jut a novice and such is life. But the braid wasn't really as lovely and flaky as I hoped it was. The best laid plans of mice and men, you know?

But I did it. And I seriously thank Kelly and Ben, this month's hosts, because without them I would never have tried a recipe like this. And frankly, although it will probably take another month's challenge to rouse the desire to work with yeast again, I'm glad to say I've done it. Check out Kelly's site or Ben's site for the recipe (should you be a Daring Baker in the making yourself) and don't miss the blogroll where some very talented bakers have done much more appealing braids than I.

You know what, forget this self-defacement. I made a Danish Braid. Lumps and all, it was mine. And although I might not yet be a great baker, I'm a daring baker - and that's a pretty darn good first step.

Summery Strawberry Almond Cupcakes with Whipped Cream Frosting

Oh June. There is a reason brides are married in June, for it is truly a romantic month. June is the month (in Ontario at least) that you really feel that warm weather is here to stay. All flannel pyjamas can be safely stored and replaced by white cottons, dark coloured pants are replaced by flowing patterned skirts, and difficult, sensible shoes can be victoriously shunned for snappy strappy sandals.

Even this year, in the midst of this grey weather funk that has descended upon us in Southwestern Ontario, it feels like Spring. The poppies in the garden are bobbing diligently, and the roses are fighting the cool weather to bloom anyway!

June also marks the beginning of strawberry season. Well, late June, anyway. I have a lot of very dear memories of strawberry picking with loved ones. Just outside of town is a farm which has u-pick strawberries. Back in the patches it is as quiet as another world, and in the June the earth is still muddy and wet and smelling of new life. And what better way to celebrate the first hand picked fruits of the season than with cupcakes?!

I really like this cupcake recipe. It was given to me by a friend who wanted Strawberry cupcakes a while ago, and I've never really found out where she got it...so if I'm stealing from someone let me know! because I'd happily give credit where credit is due.

The only downfall to this recipe is the texture is a bit more muffin-y and less cake-y than I would prefer. I am a strong believer that there is a real difference between a cupcake and a muffin. A muffin is a cupcake charading health, while a cupcake is a cup of cake making no excuses and gung-ho for the journey, regardless of calories. In fact, most muffins and cupcakes have similar caloric statistics, and fat content. Just with a cupcake, there's no pretending.

I like honesty.

But the cupcake really is exquisite, especially when topped with this very odd recipe for whipped cream frosting. It's a real messy mix between a frosting, and a whipped cream topping. Somehow this technique just works and makes a truly phenomenal frosting - more like Cool Whip than whipped cream. You know? Anyway, it's awesome, and I always make a double batch so I can really load it on the cupcakes (it's not as sweet as traditional icing, and it makes this muffiny cupcake seem a little more decadent) and then use the rest for a bowl of berries on a hot day.

I didn't top them with strawberry slices, as I had hoped, because I ended up using them all in the batter, so I might sprinkle just a hint of red sprinkles on the top of the cupcakes tomorrow before work (I really mean just a hint - I want the visual, not the taste). Yep, that will be delicious.

Sensational Summer Strawberry Sweeties. I'll have two.

Strawberry Almond Cupcakes
makes 24 cupcakes
2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
3 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 c. slivered blanched almonds (some people prefer these toasted)
4 eggs
1 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. crushed strawberries mixed with 3 tbsp. sugar

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Paper two cupcake tins
• Mix flour, baking soda, sugar and nuts in one bowl. Set aside
• Mix eggs, almond and vanilla extract, oil in another bowl. Add strawberries and mix well, but leave chunks of strawberry visible
• Slowly add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly
• Bake 20-22 min. until cake is springy to the touch and testing with wooden skewer comes clean
• Cool completely before frosting.

Whipped Cream Frosting
I always double this recipe - but here is the original (undoubled) version
Also, I know this recipe looks weird. Try it anyway. It's actually amazing. Seriously.
1 c. whipping cream
1/8 tsp. salt
1/3 c. flour
1 c. unsalted butter, softened
2 c. icing sugar
2. tsp vanilla

• Mix cream, flour and salt together into a saucepan on low heat
• Whisk gently to remove lumps, then mix with wooden spoon until it forms a paste that pulls easily away from the side of the pot (like play doh). Allow to cool completely
• Once cool, beat. Add butter and beat until fluffy. Add sugar and continue whipping. Finally add vanilla and mix well.

*note: this icing especially should be refrigerated because of the whipping cream.

Cakemess Revisited, or Wilton Cake Decorating Class 4...Almost

Sweet heavens. If there has ever been a cursed cake-ing experience, it has been the relationship I have struck up with my dear friend, Wilton.

This isn't Wilton's fault. In fact, Wilton has been nothing but a gentleman. He arrived with detailed diagrams, concise to-do lists, and glossy photos. He came politely, without fuss, neatly boxed. He was nothing but proper on all fronts.

I, however, am a constant mess, moving from one catastrophe to another in true Maria form. They say that baking a science...I make it look more like a bad science project. No level of boxing or diagramming is going to work to effectively contain my mess. And poor Wilton has born the brunt of my recent kitchen anxieties.

This past weekend, bad weather and all, I did a colossal amount of baking. So much so that I did what I never do: I delegated. I'm a control freak (as ironic as that sounds coming from a certified self-proclaimed klutz), and "letting go" has never been one of my strong points; however, on Saturday afternoon, covered in flour, I turned to my brother (and co-cake-decorator in crime) and said I was too tired to make this week's cakes and icing. All we needed was two round cakes, iced, and the icing as laid out in Wilton's polite handbook.

He accepted. I sighed. I delegated completely and left it in his capable hands.

His capable, yet disorganized hands.

Sunday morning my brother started baking our cakes at 12:30 for a 2 pm class. When I walked into the kitchen at 1:15 and he was lifting a cake out of the oven, and the second sitting on the counter still in liquid form, I gasped. Not only at the time, but also at the fact that Simon's lack of planning had poured one mix into a square pan that was headed for the oven. Still, I decided to let go. We had one round cake, totally useable. We could decorate together.

Except he hadn't actually checked the cake. It looked done, but as you and I know, a cake is not a cake until a testing poke has been done into the centre of the cake to ensure a thorough bake.

This cake wiggled like jell-o when you merely touched the surface of the cake.

I felt my heartbeat rising.

My Mom assured me it would be OK. Simon went to work on the icing. Now that he was flustered, though, he misread the instructions for the icing. Really misread the instructions. Instead of two cups of shortening he thought he read two cubes of shortening. That's right, he put two freakin' packages of shortening into the mixer (my beautiful, cherished mixer). At that moment I asked what he was doing and was met with a very curt "do you want me to do this or not?" which had me turning on my heel and leaving the kitchen, heartbeat only slightly accelerated.

Ten minutes later I came back into the kitchen. There was Simon, quietly scraping the mixing bowl directly into the garbage. As I stood and watched him, I caught my Mom out of the corner of my eye attempting to flip the uncooked cake onto a tray. She lifted the pan tentatively, took one look at the cakemess, and gently replaced the lid.

There was no fodder for this fire needed. By now I was hopping mad and barely able to contain myself. I mean, really, it was an innocent enough mistake, but the situation was infuriating and if my Mom said "oh don't worry, icing a warm cake will make the icing just glide on" one more time I was going to go ballistic.

It was now after 2:30. We had no cake, except the hot square cake just out of the oven, no icing, and no time. There was nothing polite or well behaved about our kitchen. My mother attempted to assuage our anxieties by suggesting we go and buy a cake from the local grocery store, but we were still icing less.

Still, we pressed on. Simon made our icing, while Mom attempted to flip the square cake. Unfortunately, Simon had forgotten to flour the bottom of the pan, so what flipped out was another jumbled mess.

It was at this moment that I surveyed the kitchen. I saw my Mother frantically piecing a shitty cake back together again and my brother nervously filling icing bags with shitty icing. It was ten minutes to class and an executive decision needed to be made.

"Why don't we just skip it," I said unexpectedly. "Because it is the last class, and you'll learn how to finish your rose!" my Mom replied adamantly. I shook my head "Mom, I don't care if I never learn how to make a rose, and frankly none of our icing is good and stiff enough to really make a rose anyway", I countered. Simon stopped and looked at me "yeah," he added, "lets stay home".

We were beat, and frustrated. I had already exhausted myself with a private cry in the living room (rule of thumb: Maria and stress almost always equals a little cry), the kitchen was a disaster, and the cake we had looked like this.

The deed was done.

After the kitchen was (silently) cleaned, and the tempers had cooled, the icing bags were filled and waiting on the counter to go into the fridge. I pulled open my Wilton box, fetched the Wilton book with the diagrams, flipped a flat bottomed round bowl over and said "Come here, Simon, we're going to ice a cake".

Week four was supposed to be decorating our "graduation cakes", showing off all the techniques we had learned, and Simon and I did just that. In our case, we have an Uncle Jack who is having a birthday soon. He lives in Nova Scotia, so we won't get to see him. This also means that although we might decorate a cake for him, he won't get to eat it...so it doesn't matter that his cake was actually a flat-bottomed round bowl with icing!

We practiced all our techniques - the writing and drop flowers, the shell border and stars, dots and squiggles. No roses, but everything else. The finished product was actually a pretty cute little cake, if I do say myself!

As for the weird square cake, my Mom took the remnants of our icing and tapped into her artistic vein, creating an oddly pretty cake reminiscent of impressionist painters. It was a mess, really, but fun and silly, and made the cake look worth eating again.



And that's exactly what we did. Mom made a pot of tea and we sat by the big window in our kitchen where the threatening sky finally peeled open and rained harder than it has in ages. It rained so hard that hail came out of the sky, adding the most oddly perfect symphony to the craziness of our day.

As we watched all of our annuals await their certain death my Mother smiled, sighed and said "at least there's cake. If you need solace in a constant - there's still cake".

I'll eat to that.

Hummingbird Cupcakes with Pineapple Cream Cheese Icing

My first cookbook dedicated solely to cakes was Cakewalk: Loving Spoonfuls from a Southern Kitchen by Robbin Gourley. It was an unexpected Christmas gift from my mother in 1997 when I was thirteen years old and highly impressionable. I have no idea where she found it, but I know it was more the beautiful illustrations that Robbin paints to accompany her recipes that lured my mother towards to purchase (my Mom is also an artist, after all), rather than the recipes. The illustrations are exquisite, complete with vignettes about Robbin's childhood and the family history behind each cake.

But the real artistic tour-de-force in this book is still the cakes. This is the book that first introduced me to scrumptious Red Velvet Cake, cheerful Pineapple Upside down Cake, and the ever-classic, decadent Bete Noire. Every recipe I have tried in this book has yielded amazing results - so while the book is not easy to find, if you ever happen across it...don't miss it!

I knew it was time to translate one of her cake recipes into cupcakes. Although I've tried almost every recipe in her book, I've never turned them into cupcakes - but I could hardly exclude Robbin from my cupcake quest.

You see, I've been feeling a bit of a funk these days. The weather in my hometown has been downright dreary these past few weeks, constantly drizzling out of the East in mournful shades of grey. The only days it seems to shine I am encased in my cubicle, far from the light. This is the first year with no "summer vacation" and I am feeling almost sick with lack of fresh air and vitamin D. I think my sense of disassociation with the seasons has caused me to veer towards more wintery, spicy, cupcakes, and I knew the time had arrived to seize Spring by the tastebuds and give it a shake.

Hence, Hummingbird Cupcakes. Hummingbird cupcakes are one of my most favourite recipes in Robbin's book. She writes "A long-standing favourite in the South, this cake is as delicate as the bird for which it is named". Indeed, these sweetooth pleasers are a gorgeous treat, full of sweet fruit and nuts. They have only a teaspoon of baking soda, and yet they rise gracefully and dome like a muffin. But their texture is definitely cake.

At work they were such a hit. I've recently moved to a new workstation - moving away from the front desk to my little corner just around the corner. The number one question I got when my coworkers were informed about the move was "where will the cupcakes be when you move?", which made me smile. Having the cupcakes on my desk is a nice way to have a little company throughout the day, as people come to pick up a cupcake or tell me their reviews.

Hummingbird cupcakes were the perfect salute to Spring. Fruity and sweet without the sickly taste of too much sugar, and my adapted cream cheese icing offered a nice balancing taste. Give these ones a try when the weather looks dull - they might not have much vitamin D, but they are still full of sunshine!

Hummingbird Cupcakes
From Cakewalk: Loving Spoonfuls from a Southern Kitchen, by Robbin Gourley
makes 24 cupcakes

3 c. all purpose flour
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 large eggs
1 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
one 8 oz can crushed pineapple with juice
1 c. chopped pecans
2 c. well mashed bananas

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees; paper 2 cupcake tins
• In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon
• Add the eggs and oil and stir until all the ingredients are moist (Do NOT Beat!)
• Stir in the vanilla, pineapple with juice, pecans and bananas (Do NOT Beat!)
• I saved three tablespoons of pineapple and juices for the icing
  
• Spoon the batter 3/4 into tins and bake for 22-25 minutes until springy to the touch

Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting
pineapple and cream cheese is one of my favourite taste combinations, and here it was a perfect marriage of tastes
one 8 oz. package of softened cream cheese
1/2 c. (one stick) unsalted butter, softened
5 c. icing sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tbsp. crushed pineapple and juices

• Cream together cream cheese and butter until smooth
• Add first three cups of icing sugar one cup at a time
• Add vanilla and pineapple
• Add last two cups of icing sugar one cup at a time until smooth
• Spread generously!

You might consider sprinkling some pecans on the top of cupcakes for a cute effect, I topped mine with a tidbit of pineapple.

Enjoy!

Standard Chocolate Poodle Cake

Last Friday was the 20th anniversary for one of my co-workers, Linda. In commemoration we decided to make a fuss about her (she deserves it), and in our discussions together as a team (covert, secretive, discussions) we decided there should also be a cake. I volunteered to make it and immediately regretted it.

I didn't regret the offer, per say, I was just worried about what I could possibly come up with that would do the cake justice. I didn't want to do just another slab cake, because then it would have just been smarter to buy one, especially since my standard decorating skills aren't that hot (God bless you Wilton, I'm just a slow learner).

So there was the challenge. I knew Linda liked golf, and gardening, yadda, yadda, yadda - but I also knew that she had a standard chocolate poodle. I knew this because of the high number of pictures plastered all over the cubicle of this beautiful dog doing the silliest things.

Once I put the two together, there was no other way about it. I searched on the internet and I found a picture of a pink and white poodle of the same design (I can't seem to find the link now, but I literally did a google search for "poodle cake"). It looked easy enough and heck, I have a mixer ;) What could go wrong?

Eager and excited with my plan of attack, I greeted Thursday night with enthusiasm. I had found out that Linda's favourite cake was vanilla chocolate chip, and as Thursday was already cupcake day, I decided to cut corners by making a vanilla cake mix and just mixing some chocolate chips in.

Bad idea. Baaaaaaaad idea. Turns out that chocolate chips are just a little too heavy for a vanilla cake batter and they sunk like stones. But that wasn't the worst part. The real problem was that when tipping the cake over, I realized just how far they had sunk.

!!!!!!!!! Shoot !!!!!!!!!!!

It was a moment for pause. For contemplation. For re-evaluation.

For fear.

I looked at this horrifically ugly cake and thought oh God I've ruined Linda's day. I thought of a million ways I could just buy a cake and get it over with, but it was already 10 pm and the time for cake buying was long gone (unless you counted WalMart. And I hate WalMart).

So I soldiered on. I made some chocolate buttercream and tried my hardest to use the techniques dear old Wilton has tried to teach me - weilding my angled spatula like a crazed woman I gently patted globs of icing all over the cake, spreading gently to avoid the (unavoidalble) crumbs.

Thank God for the marshmallows. I rolled them in cocoa powder to make them chocolate-y and snipped the bigger ones (for the head an tail) in half to make them sit better on the poodle. There was black licorice for the legs, tailand one ear and a chocolate chip for the eye.

Cutting the shapes out of the cake seriously depleted the cake size...and I work with a crew of about 30, so that just wasn't enough. I had made a double-batch of cake mix and had made cupcakes as well (the chocolate chips sunk there too, but luckily the papers kept them in tact). I iced 22 of them with blue icing to read "Congratulations Linda! 20" which were artistically placed the next morning ;) along with a piece of the remaining cake iced as a water bowl reading "wow" (someone joked it was a good thing I hadn't placed the "water bowl" on the other side of the dog)

When I was finished I couldn't recognize the ugly broken cake. Instead all I saw was chocolate standard poodle - and thank heavens that's all Linda saw too! She loved it so much she called her husband and had him come in to take a look before we cut the cake. Which made the cupcakes a hit, too.

Linda got a chance to tell us all about her dog, and we all had the fun of selectively removing cupcakes for maximum spelling hilarity (at one point it read "Rats, Lindo")

I'm really happy with how this worked out. I don't do shaped cakes, really, so it was a great experiment, and a great chance to practice my icing skills around all those curvy corners. I still love cupcakes, but this was a lot of fun!

Chocolate Chai Spice Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing

Armed with my new mixer...I am invincible.

No really, the mixer is phenomenal. It's like the instrument to a set of baking super powers I never knew existed, and now that I do I'm kicking myself for waiting so long. Seriously, it's like becoming a baking superhero.

It's the batmobile of baking utensils.

With that in mind, I was ready to try anything - and I was definitely ready to try something new. I'd been asked a couple of weeks back to make chocolate cupcakes, and this seemed to be a great week to try them; however, I needed a bit more kick than that. I found exactly what I was looking for on chockylit's blog Cupcake Bakeshop, one of my most-favorite-of-all-times cupcake blogs. This is a woman who is not afraid of her ingrediants, and armed with my mixer I was suddenly eager to jump into the fray.

I was so sorry to see that her blog is now closed. On her last entry she spoke about going new places (she has had a child, and is a career woman to boot), so I couldn't help but understand - yet selfishly, I wish she had continued! :) So this recipe seemed to be an even better choice, a tipping of the cap to chockylit.

What I found was a recipe for Chocolate Chai Spice Cupcakes that looked wicked good. The recipe also called for eight eggs. Eight Eggs! However, I was not worried - I have a mixer after all!

So I jumped to it, and I must say they were pretty darn delicious. I was surprised that the batter rose as much as it did (it had a bit of a dome) and they were a nice texture - but I am still searching for the perfect chocolate cake recipe - one that is more a bit more moist. That is my only complaint.

As for the icing, chockylit tried a chai buttercream, but I was in the mood for something with a bit more punch....so I invented my own! I must say, the icing is a real winner. I will definitely use it again. I've thought about what it would taste like on a vanilla chai cupcake, which I think is worth looking in to. Finally, the raspberries (my afterthought decoration) were the perfect pairing - adding a little sharp sweet to the cupcake. My co workers loved them, a few actually said it was their favourite one yet!

However, when I brought the cupcakes to work, one of my more carb-conscious co workers took to nipping the raspberries without the cupcake...which soon lead to an angry note taped to my desk outlining proper raspberry-cupcake etiquette!

For the chai spice, chockylit gives a great recipe for do-it-yourself; however I am really committed to the chai masala spice I hunted at the Toronto International Food Show made by Arvinda's,

a company that makes authentic masala spices for gourmet Indian cuisine. Personally, I'm so much in love I cannot imagine using any other chai spice (plus cardamom is a pain in neck to grind)

So, anyway, check out the recipe on chockylit's site, and the to-die-for icing is below!

Chocolate Chai Spice Cream Cheese Icing

try saying that five times fast - it's not a tongue twister, it's just fun

8 oz. softened cream cheese

1/2 c. (1 stick) softened unsalted butter

4 c. icing sugar

2 tsp. milk

2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp. chai spice

• sift cocoa, chai spice, and icing sugar together (or dump it all together and use a wire whisk for 20 seconds to break up chunks, and blend together)
• beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy
• add icing sugar mixture one cup at a time for the first two cups
• add milk
• add last two cups of icing sugar mix
• pipe with large, round tip; top with raspberries!

Again, eyeball your icing. Icing consistency changes a lot, especially as the days get hotter you may find you need more icing sugar to get a good consistency. This icing is rich and creamy!

May the mixer be with you.

The Mixer Has Arrived

Enough said.

THE MIXER IS COMING! THE MIXER IS COMING!

CONFIRMATION: One Apple Green KitchenAid Mixer has arrived and is ready for pick-up in Michigan. My boyfriend and I are making a quick international trip tonight to pick it up and cart it back to Canada!

Passport? Check
Receipt? Check
Excitement Steaming Out My Ears? Check!!!

:D

The mixer is coming!

The Coping Diet

We're all looking for ways to cope. And most of us are looking for ways to diet.
Today I received this email from a co-worker and fell of my chair laughing - I think that's the best way of coping of all!

THE COPING DIET
Only girlfriends can understand this one.
This diet is specially formulated, designed to help women cope with the stress that builds during the day.

Breakfast
1 grapefruit
1 slice whole wheat toast
1 cup skim milk

Lunch
1 small portion lean, steamed chicken
1 cup spinach
1 cup herbal tea
1 Hershey's kiss

Afternoon Snack
The rest of the Hershey kisses in the bag
1 tub of Hagen-Daaz ice cream with chocolate chips

Dinner4 glasses of wine (red or white)
2 loaves garlic bread
1 family size supreme pizza
3 Snickers Bars

Late Night Snack
1 whole Sarah Lee cheesecake (eaten directly from the freezer)

Remember: Stressed spelled backward is desserts.

Cakemess, or Week One of Wilton Cake Decorating Course

My brother and I decided to sign up for a cake decorating course offered by Wilton through our local Bulk Barn. It was only a month, and we were really excited. It came with a workbook and a kit with a bunch of tools and everything.

We went to the first course, which was just an introduction, where the Instructor made icing a cake look as easy as...icing a cake. We learned about different consistencies of icing, where I realized that my icing was way too wimpy to ever be stiff enough to make shell borders, let alone a rose. We were instructed to bring an iced cake to class for the next week, as well as a whole whack of icing, with the ultimate goal being a round blue cake with a rainbow on the top.

We left excited.

Unfortunately, our hopes were dashed with a series of mishaps throughout the weekend (leading up to our Sunday afternoon class) making for one of the most frustrating, and yet hilarious, afternoons of my life.

It started with the cake. I decided that my cupcake agenda was already expensive enough, and that I needed to find a way to make a cake that could be cost effective. Bulk Barn sold white cake mix en masse that called for nothing to be added but a little water. So I bought enough for two cakes (as per the instructions) and didn't give it much thought.

Until Saturday. I stood in front of my cake, and stared in disbelief. My cake mix, which said was enough to make a full cake, was a wimpy little flan-looking thing a mere 2 inches high. I couldn't believe it. This was my first cake to decorate? Well alright, I thought, don't stress about a wimpy cake. It will look awesome once its covered.

Riiiight.

20 minutes later I tried flipping it out of the pan. DISASTER! It turns out that no amount of flour or cooking spray is going to make a Bulk Barn white cake unstick. Instead it crumbled out of the pan in a very unflattering way. Still, I pressed on, piecing the ugly thing back together with my fingertips.

I was determined.

However, I was now also flustered. So flustered that when I looked at the recipe for the buttercream icing (which is made at a stiff consistency, and then brought down to either a medium or thin consistency) I read it completely wrong. Backed by my new worry that my icing wasn't stiff enough, what I tried to spread on the cake was like a block of cream cheese. It wasn't going anywhere, except rolling like a snowball across the top of my cake, gathering layer after layer of crumbs.

My mother found me crying in the kitchen, and her efforts to help were met with a very ungrateful attitude. No, that's not true - I accepted her overtures of help, but the cake was just too far gone. Five minutes, six angry yelps, and countless craters of cake later, I turned my spatula on an angle and let my anger out.

Three karate chops later my cake looked like this:

Needless to say, this cutie wasn't going anywhere except in the trash.

Six mouthfuls of cake and one long glass of water later, I had mustered up enough strength to try it again. This cake had similar problems -- it was a wimpy little thing that cracked into pieces. This time, though, I resorted to more drastic forms of reconstruction. Ten minutes, three skewer sticks, and a pair of garden shears later, I had pinned it together enough to handle a coat of (this time much thinner) icing). It was crappy, flat, and lumpy, but it was going to have to do.

Well didn't my brother laugh at me. And didn't he whip up a Duncan Hines chocolate cake that rose like a balloon, sniggering the same way.

But didn't he get impatient, ice it warm, and get crumbs all the way through! :P

He was so mad. He arrived at class mad. His madness was compounded by the fact that I had duplicated the mistake with icing - making it far too thick - this time too thick to properly pipe out of the bag to even make dots and shells.

It was so horrible I could only laugh. The instructor took pity on us and let us use some of her icing, and we all tried to laugh it off. Except the brother. He was pissed. So in a last ditch effort I ad-libbed my cake decoration to read:

Unfortunately, as indicated by his response, there was no salvaging this day for Simon

What a day. We went home and ate Simon's cake. Mine was not very good (as indicated by attempt #1) and full of sticks. So that one got a full afternoon of sunshine on the counter, and then made its way to the trash can.

Next week we are decorating cupcakes (thank God, a medium I understand) and I bought some Duncan Hines mixes that ensure a better raise. I've also learned more about icing, and Simon has insisted that he try piping with it before we go to class to make sure I don't mess it up again.

What a cakemess!

Maple Walnut Cupcakes

Mmmm, maple. I think this is one of my favourite flavours in the world. However, I need to qualify this comment - by saluting maple I am not saluting those awful maple cookies, or Aunt Jemima - because there isn't a drop of tree sap in those products anywhere.

Living in Ontario, I am blessed with an abundance of maple trees, and maple syrup. While I sometimes curse the twelve Manitoba Maples in the backyard which make growing an inch of grass next to impossible, there is is nothing better than opening a can of this Spring's maple syrup and making something decadent.

Real maple syrup is labelled in grades - the first run is like extra virgin olive oil - it comes from the very beginning of the Spring and has a very light colour. The colour will deepen as the season itself deepens, giving medium and amber grades which are just as delicious. In this batch I used a medium grade syrup from Paisley, Ontario, and I found it was a lovely deep flavour.

Nevertheless, the honest truth is that my own cupcakes were flavoured with maple extract, for the syrup was just too dense for a light, fluffy cupcake. However, I used maple syrup in the buttercream, which was amazing. At first it was sickly sweet - but the addition of the ground walnuts helped immensely.

Grinding the walnuts helps to release the woody (almost bitter) taste of the walnut oil, which infused the icing and added a nice deep taste to the lightness of the maple, and the texture of the cupcake.

What a success! They were a hit at work, barely making it to noon hour before the entire tray was devoured. My ode to spring, and my first maple recipe of the year.

Maple Walnut Cupcakes

makes 24 cupcakes

1 c. unsalted butter

2 c. white sugar

3 eggs

1 over ripe banana, mashed

2 3/4 c. cake flour

2 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla

3 tsp. maple extract

200 g. walnuts

• sift together flour and baking powder, set aside
• mix together milk, vanilla, and maple extract, set aside
• cream butter until soft and fluffy; add sugar and mix well
• add eggs one at a time, followed by banana
• alternate wet and dry ingredients until fully incorporated
• grind walnuts in food processor until meal-like, add half of the walnuts to batter and mix until full combined
• bake in 350 degree (preheated) oven for 20-22 minutes
• allow to cool fully before icing
  

Maple Walnut Buttercream

3/4 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 c. maple syrup
1/4 c. milk
5 c. icing sugar
100 g. ground walnuts (the second half of the 200 g. you just ground for the cupcakes!)

• cream together unsalted butter and maple syrup
• add 3 cups of icing sugar one cup at a time, beating to incorporate each cup
• add milk (it's ok if it looks a little "chunky" here, it will smooth out)
• add last 2 cups of icing sugar, followed by walnuts on a very low speed
• beat until smooth
  

*note! I tried to do swirls with the 1M tip on these cupcakes, but I found walnut kept clogging up the tip. So, next time I would just frost them with a knife! It's not worth ruining a tip!

Bon appetit!

Cupcake Bouquet

Oh man I can't wait to try this! Look at this technique! And it solves the riddle to two-toned icing. Mamma mia!

My Magnificent Mixer!

Oh check her out. Have you ever seen anything more lovely? Ok, ok, maybe that's a bit of an overstatment, but I must tell you how excited I am to be the proud Mama of a Kitchenaid Mixer!

I've always had a thing for the avacado green of retro kitchen appliances, and while they no longer sell fridges in that colour (believe me, I checked last fall when my Dad needed to replace his), they are now selling this puppy in "green apple" which is pretty close.

I've always wanted a mixer, they are so professional looking - I always considered them the tool of a real baker. (Although to be completely honest - since purchasing my mixer I have been shocked at the number of non-bakers who all have mixers...so perhaps my criteria was a little off). For me, I could never justify the cost of one; however, I've blown the motor out of a fair number of hand mixers this year, and in my cake decorating class the instructor told me that the icing used to make flowers and such is just too stiff for a little old hand mixer to handle on its own. So, standing mixer it is! Also, it seems like standing mixers are becoming the more frequent character in new recipes I am trying, so I decided to bite the bullet.

But that doesn't mean I have to lose my sense of style! There were eighteen colours available through JC Penney, which has them on sale right now and free shipping in the US until Father's Day (my Canadian hometown is a border city, and I've got connections that let me ship to their place across the river in the US)...how could I resist? I'm hoping that she'll be in my arms by next week, but I guess there is always the chance for delay. ::Sigh:: So it's back to the hand mixer for at least one more week -- because it's Cupcake Thursday tomorrow!