Boca and Birthdays

It's official--my final grades are in (straight As) and my degree status is certified (Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude). I've moved in with my father, and I'm already working my tail off to get ready for teaching drama next year.

Despite the chaos of moving and working, I've managed to get a little baking in--specifically, a custom birthday cake for my cousin. I spent all morning in the kitchen yesterday, making a four-layer cinnamon buttercream cake with marshmallow fondant, and it was completely worth dyeing my fingers purple. With help from my amazing cake decorating book and advice culled from the brilliant minds of the Daring Bakers who have left me feedback, my cake turned out beautifully. I know I'm no Ace of Cakes, but I'm pretty happy with how the cake turned out--as was my cousin! I'm so happy I could help her celebrate her sweet 16 with a fun and tasty cake. I really hope that I'll be able to bake in this upcoming year, what with running the theatre and teaching classes all day....

Kiky's 16th Birthday Cake





le sigh,

Kay

Cheesecake and Standing O's--A Week of Insanity

It's finally over...and I'm not sure it's hit me yet. Where the Bee Sucks, or Christopher Marlowe is Dead was one of the best experiences of my life. It's so strange to see the words that I wrote on paper--words that I labored over, fretted about, changed, rhymed, and manipulated--were really brought to life in front of an audience. And not only were they brought to life, but they were brought to life convincingly--my actors did such an absolutely incredible job, and I couldn't have asked for a better director or stage manager. I can't stop gushing. I'll post a link to photographs as soon as I have them uploaded to my computer.

Now on to the reason for this post being here so early in the morning: The April Daring Bakers challenge. I have no idea how I managed to muster up the time or the energy to complete it, but here goes:

Cheesecake Pops.

I was a little apprehensive about making these, mainly because the recipe called for five 8 oz packages of cream cheese--and in today's economic climate, well...and then there was also the water bath and the incredibly long cook time (especially since I usually had about 1 hour or less between each of my comings and goings in the past month). But somehow, I managed.

These cheesecake pops are made by preparing an actual cheesecake and then scooping out 2 oz balls, putting them on lollipop sticks, and then dipping them in tempered chocolate and various toppings (which were left to our respective discretions). I went with a plain cheesecake (no fancy flavorings) and graham cracker and sprinkle toppings.

The cheesecake was a little bit difficult to make, and, like many of the other DBers, I had a very long bake time. For some reason, the middle of the cake took forever to bake, while the sides browned nicely. I had a little extra batter left over because I only have a 9" cake pan, so I poured the remaining batter into my mini muffin pan and baked it in an impromptu water bath made from one of my cookie sheets. Those minis cooked perfectly. Duly noted for next time.

While I'm sure the cheesecake pops are great for gifts or party favors, I didn't even get a chance to stand them up and make them look all pretty--they were eaten straight out of the refrigerator by my roommates and friends. Apparently, they taste incredible.

The only real problem I had with them was getting them not to melt and fall off of the lollipop sticks. Here in Florida, it's too darn humid to keep them out of the fridge for more than a couple of minutes. Fortunately, they didn't last long enough to melt.

Daring Bakers: Cheesecake Pops





Oh...and I baked my cast and crew a cake, using the amazing cake decorating book from Tartlette as inspiration:

Where Have All the Honeybees Gone Cake
(Yellow Cake with Strawberry Whipped Cream filling, Butter Cream Frosting, and Marshmallow Fondant)





I miss the theatre already.

Oh! and one last thing: I was published in the Mangrove Literary Review here at UF. It's just a poem, but I'm still excited that someone thought it was good enough to publish.

What a week!

Kay

Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes

Have you ever watched another human being actually melt? I did, this past Tuesday.

I don't know how the gods managed to align the stars the way they did, but on Monday, I decided that I wanted to make molten chocolate lava cakes and on Tuesday, the Tuesdays with Dorie group decided to make Dorie Greenspan's version. So I had a recipe sitting in front of me, taunting me not to try it.

Of course I did try the recipe, although, me being me, I had to tweak it. And, oh boy, what a tweak. I ended up with these absolutely incredibly gooey mounds of death by chocolate.

So I brought them over to my friend's house, along with a batch of freshly baked Brownie Batter Cookies. The night before, he and I had discussed the possibility of death by chocolate, and how that would be the best way to go. So we decided to test the hypothesis. He ate about 8 cookies and chased them with a glass of chocolate milk. And then the cake. His reaction after the first bite was incredible. I was tempted to call the paramedics.

So, basically what I'm saying is: I'm definitely making these cakes again.
And I'm keeping Shands on standby when I do.


Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes





Kay

(PS a direct quote after the first bite of the cake: "Oh my god. It's almost better than sex!" And that, my friends, is that.)

Daring Bakers March Challenge: Dorie's Perfect Party Cake

Ahhh, Daring Bakers, how I love thee. This month's challenge was a recipe from Dorie Greenspan, the "Perfect Party Cake." This cake is light, fluffy, and perfect for embellishment with berries and buttercream. It is made with lemon zest and a little bit of buttermilk, so there's a nice tangy undertone, which only enhances the sugary goodness of the whole cake.

I am still working on being a cake decorator. As it stands, I'm decidedly not going to be, say, featured on Ace of Cakes any time in the near future. I can decorate a mean cookie, but when it comes to cakes, I freeze up. I'm working on it though. So my cake, which was filled with raspberry preserves and swiss buttercream, and topped with buttercream, gum paste flowers, and fondant bunnies, is a little sloppy looking. I love love love the Daring Bakers, though, because I posted about my difficulties, and I got all kinds of advice and support. So the next cake is gonna be awesome:







I actually spent Spring Break planning this cake. I made the gum paste flowers on Tuesday, the bunnies on Friday, and the cake that Sunday. I brought it in to rehearsal for my actors that Monday--and it was a hit. I highly recommend checking out all of Dorie's recipes--there's group of bakers who do "Tuesdays With Dorie," where they bake a different recipe and post about their experiences with it every Tuesday. It's kind of awesome.

Anywho, I'm off to finish editing my thesis...more soon!

Kay

A Valentine's Day Sachertorte

So, I had my second order! A Sachertorte--which I had only heard of but never baked (let alone tasted.)

Let's just say that the smell that wafted off of my cake was to die for.

Apparently the torte originated at the Hotel Sacher in Austria. It's a chocolate torte with apricot preserves and rum, and it's utterly decadent. Unfortunately, the original recipe is a jealously guarded secret, and no one but the hotel can make it.

So I used an approximate recipe that I found while searching the internet, comparing various ingredients and measurements, until I found the best one. Even then I had a little difficulty with the glaze, so I made a ganache using my own recipe.

I wasn't so excited with the simple ganache, so I decided to do a little personalizing. I added flakes of semi-sweet chocolate on top of a chocolate butter cream icing. I am very happy with the result:



I also made a batch of banana walnut muffins because I had some very ripe bananas and a bulk bag of walnuts. And, of course, I miss baking them for my stepdad and watching him fight off the hordes of my siblings and their friends as they attempt to raid the muffin jar...




Anywho, I'm off to do some serious writing, rewriting, and reading...

Kay

Housekeeping...

I just realized that I had all of these (low quality) photos on my point-and-shoot that I've neglected to upload. So I'm uploading them now.
Enjoy the miscellany.
(Below: Kaitlyn's Birthday Cake, Betty Crocker Boston Cream Pie and Pancake Cookies, Mini Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Coffeecake Muffins, and a Sunflower Sugar Cookie...)











I'll post a real update later...
Kay