Friday, April 30, 2010

Tres Leches Cake Recipe

Cinco de mayo is next week and revelers everywhere will be enjoying traditional Mexican food and drinks. My favorite Mexican dessert is Tres Leches Cake which is, as the name implies, made with 3 different kinds of milks and often served with whipped cream and fresh fruit (and I've even seen it served with meringue).

The best part of this cake is the milk mixture that you pour over the cake once you've baked it and allowed it to cool. You can pour this mixture over any yellow or vanilla cake but I included a recipe for the vanilla cake I used.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 13 x 9 inch pan. Bake for 30-40 min or until it springs back when you touch the center. Don't be afraid to let the cake take on a golden hue!


Vanilla Cake


Ingredients

butter (very soft) 12 oz (3 sticks)

sour cream 12 oz

eggs 4

vanilla 2 tsp

cake flour 14 oz

sugar 1 lb

baking powder 1 tsp

baking soda 1 tsp

salt 1/2 tsp

Directions

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in your KitchenAid

2. Add the softened butter and mix thoroughly

3. Add the milk and vanilla



Tres Leches Mixture

Ingredients

condensed milk 1 (14 oz) can

evaporated milk 1(12 oz) can

whole milk 1 c

Directions

1. Whisk all of the milks together in a bowl.

2. Poke holes all over the cake with a toothpick (this will help the milk absorb). Pour over the cake and allow the cake to absorb the milks. You may have to pause after each pour to allow the milks to fully absorb.

3. Cover the cake with plastic wrap and leave it in the fridge for 4-6 hours (or overnight).

4. Cut into squares, serve and enjoy!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

New Wilton Candles

I love trying new birthday candles - trick ones that never blow out, sparklers, long and tapered - and matching them to the cake. For fancy cakes, I like long skinny candles and for homemade looking cakes anything goes.

When I made my aunt's mascarpone cake for her birthday, I tried Wilton's new Color Flame candles, which I found at Michael's. The flame color matches the color of the candle and my aunt loved it!

This picture is from Wilton.com because it was difficult to capture the flame on film.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Tuesday Top 5 - Television Dessert Moments

Have you ever been vegging in front of your TV and seen your favorite characters eating a delicious dessert that made you crave whatever they were having? The power of suggestion seems particularly intense when food is involved and so this week we counted down our Top 5 TV Dessert Moments:

5. Cupcakes on Sex and the City - When the ladies pay a visit to the now famous Magnolia Bakery in Greenwich Village, they single handedly started the cupcake craze and the lines that continue to snake around the tiny shop. I can taste sugary frosting just typing this.

4. The cheesecake episode on Friends - There are a few classic dessert episodes from Friends, but one of my favorites is when Rachel and Chandler steal a neighbor's cheesecake and even wind up eating some off of the floor. Has cheesecake ever looked so delicious?!

3. Lover's Delight on 30 Rock - Jack Donaghey takes Salma Hayek's character to dinner at fancy restaurant, Plunder, and they order an uber sundae known as Lover's Delight. The dessert sounds amazing and includes 25 karat gold(!)

2. Chocolate babka on Seinfeld - The gang is invited to a friend's for dinner so they stop at their local bakery to pick up a chocolate babka. A couple winds up snagging the last one, so Jerry and Elaine have to settle for a cinnamon babka. This episode does double dessert duty when Jerry launches into a speech about his admiration for the black and white cookie.

1. Dessert trifle on Friends - Who can forget that hilarious Thanksgiving episode of Friends when Rachel is responsible for preparing the only dessert, but misreads the trifle recipe and includes a "layer of meat sauteed with peas and onions" from a Shepherd's Pie recipe. Somehow we come away from that episode wanting trifle! "Custard? Good. Jam? Good. Meat? Goooood."

Monday, April 26, 2010

Baltimore Sundaes

After watching Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate (dessert edition) I just had to try the CMP that Duff (Ace of Cakes) raved about. So this weekend I headed to Baltimore and sampled some of the city's finest sweets.

At Woodberry Kitchen, I had the CMP (malt ice cream, vanilla marshmallow and peanut caramel wonder). Since the show's air date the restaurant has replaced the CMP 1.0 with the CMP 2.0 (it was described as smaller and more refined). I asked if I could have the original because I had been dreaming about it for months. The sundae is served in a cup and has a thin layer of sugar that covers the top of the cup.


Just like Duff suggested, I broke the sugar barrier to get to the delicious ooey gooeyness and devoured the entire thing. Definitely worth the trip.




I also sampled the Apple Pie Sundae, which is a cup of vanilla ice cream underneath a deconstructed piece of pie (filling, crust and streusel topping included). I have very high standards for pie and this was exceptional.


I also took a drive past Charm City Cakes for an up close look at my favorite cake reality show! I didn't see much action except for a young woman carrying boxes in and out. Here's a shot I took of the building:


Thursday, April 22, 2010

Mascarpone Frosting


This past weekend was my Aunt Kathy's birthday and I made her the same cake she's been requesting for three years in a row. Rich chocolate cake with alternating layers of raspberry preserves and ganache. The cake is covered with a mascarpone frosting that I got from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook.

Mascarpone is a delicious, soft dessert cheese that is often paired with fruit or chocolate. If you can't find it in your regular supermarket, try a specialty market or Whole Foods and look for it in the refrigerated section. I love using the cheese in a frosting because it's not too sweet and it allows the complementary flavors to shine. Here's the recipe I used:

Mascarpone Frosting

Ingredients

heavy cream 1 1/4 cup
confectioner's sugar 1/2 cup
mascarpone cheese 1 lb

Directions

Combine all of the ingredients in your KitchenAid and whip until it comes to a spreadable consistency. Use immediately!


My notes:


- Martha suggests using the paddle attachment but I found the whisk attachment whipped the frosting quicker and produced a more desirable consistency.

- Martha also says to be careful not to overwhip but I have found that overwhipping can actually help make the frosting more spreadable (as opposed to being too soupy).

- I have made this frosting several times now and have used it underwhipped and slightly overerwhipped. If you're traveling with the cake I suggest overwhipping (until it looks like whipped cream) otherwise you'll have a mess.

- The frosting doesn't spread as easily as buttercream so I recommend crumb coating with vanilla buttercream before applying the frosting to ensure you don't have visible crumbs.






Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Tuesday Top Five - Guilt Free Desserts

I am not known for making health conscious desserts, but with summer fast approaching it's important to keep some bikini friendly snacks on hand to get you from one delicious piece of cake to the next!

Here are my top 5 favorite light desserts that I've collected from magazines, online articles and friends over the years:

5. Baked apple with jelly - place a baking apple in an oven safe dish (glass pie pan or any pan with sides) and put a dot of jelly in the center. Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes or until the apple is soft. Eat with a spoon, like hot homemade applesauce.

4. Graham cracker cool whip froze bar - spread cool whip in between two graham crackers and leave it in the freezer for a couple of hours. When you take it out you'll have a mock ice cream sandwich. You can make a few ahead of time and take them out of the freezer as cravings occur.

3. Chocolate covered strawberries - simply melt chocolate and dip strawberries in. Put the dipped berries on a baking sheet (with a silpat or aluminum foil) and leave in the fridge until they set up.

2. Bananas with cocoa and coconut - halve a banana and dip it in cococa powder. Roll the cocoa covered banana in sweetened, shredded coconut and you have yourself a chocolate pina colada!

1. Blueberry Almond Turtles - Place dried blueberries and slice almonds in a bowl. Melt chocolate over a double boiler and drizzle chocolate over the berries and nuts. Use your hands or a cookie scoop to make small clusters and leave in the fridge until they set up. YUM!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Slot Machine Cake


This weekend we delivered a slot machine cake to Rare 650 in Syosset, Long Island for an 80th birthday party. We used edible imaging to produce a picture of the birthday girl and sugar paste for the buttons and lever. Three birthday girls in a row hits the jackpot! The cake is red velvet with cream cheese frosting.

The cake was ordered by the birthday girl's daughter who sent us this:

My Mom LOVED the cake! We had also done t-shirts with Nat's 80th Jackpot on them, so the theme was a great hit! (we had taken her to the casino at Yonkers Raceway on Fri also!)

Thanks so much, you did a fantastic job! You can use
me for a reference anytime!



Thursday, April 15, 2010

WeddingWire Vintage Inspiration Board

Vintage wedding themes are all the rage right now and brides are incorporating old Hollywood glamour into their dresses, makeup and even their cake. WeddingWire blog recently used our Anemone Cake in one of their vintage inspiration boards.

We get a lot of requests for this cake as well as variations of it. I love it because it’s a simple design that works with a lot of different themes.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Tuesday Top 5 - Brooklyn's Best

Manhattan isn’t the only borough with amazing desserts. Brooklyn has so many interesting and delicious dessert spots that it was hard to narrow it down to just five. After careful deliberation here are Tuesday’s Top 5 Brooklyn sweet shops.

5. One Girl Cookies (Cobble Hill)– this adorable bakery offers seasonal flavors in bite size morsels. There are so many flavors to choose from you’ll need to go back for a second trip.

4. Joyce Bakeshop (Prospect Heights)- a super cute shop with seating that offers pastries such as fruit galettes, brioche and whoopie pies. I love that you can see the pastry chefs hard at work in the kitchen.

3. Sweet Melissa Patisserie (Park Slope)- puddings, pies, tarts and breakfast! Traditional desserts are done beautifully and now they serve homemade ice cream at their cremerie! I also highly recommend her bakebook The Sweet Melissa Baking Book.

2. The Chocolate Room (Park Slope and Cobble Hill)– chocoholics will love the chocolate layer cake that is so rich it requires several participants or a doggie bag. I dream about this cake.

1. Baked (Red Hook)– everything at Baked is homemade and worth the trip into Red Hook. Try their newest creation, the Brookie, a yummy half cookie half brownie for a modern spin on two classics.

Monday, April 12, 2010

New Cooling Rack Tool

Pastry and cooking supply store JB Prince is now carrying something called the Sklip Rack System. Anyone who has to bake in cramped quarters knows just how valuable cooling space is. The Sklip can help make extra room in your fridge or oven. Since most home bakers can't accomodate a speed rack in their kitchens the Sklip might be the next best thing.


Friday, April 9, 2010

Ask the Chef - Melting Chocolate

Recently, we got an email from a former customer who wanted to know how she could keep her melted chocolate from burning and becoming unuseable. I asked her how she melted her chocolate and she told me that she puts it in the microwave. I wanted to answer her question here so that I could share my answer with everyone who dares to put chocolate in the microwave!

The best way to melt chocolate is over a double boiler. This means putting your chocolate into a bowl (metal or glass) and placing it on top of a pot that is filled with about 2 inches of water. Turn on the burner and stir the chocolate as it melts. This is the safest way to melt chocolate and will ensure that you don't waste your delicious commodities. This method works whether you want to make chocolate covered strawberries or triple chocolate cookies!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Sour Cream Coffee Cake Recipe


Coffee cake is probably the most popular and most requested cake at bakeries all around the world. A couple of years ago, I got a super delicious recipe for a Sour Cream Coffee Cake from an issue of Fine Cooking.

The recipe comes from baking goddess Carole Walter and it's definitely the pastry that garners the most compliments when I make it! I use a different streusel topping and slightly modified version of the ripple inside the cake than what the original recipes call for.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Ingredients

cake flour 3 cups

baking powder 1 1/2 tsp

baking soda 1 tsp

salt 3/4 tsp

butter, slightly soft 10 ounces

superfine sugar 1 2/3 cups

eggs 4

vanilla 2 tsp

sour cream 16 ounces

1. Combine the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

2. Beat the butter in your Kitchen Aid until smooth.

3. Add sugar to butter gradually.

4. Add eggs and vanilla.

5. Add flour mixture and sour cream gradually, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. You should add the flour mixture four times and the sour cream three times.

Chocolate Ripple

semi-sweet chocolate 6 ounces

sugar 3 tbs

brown sugar 3 tbs

cocoa powder 3 tbs


Directions

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until blended.

Streusel

Ingredients

light brown sugar 1 1/8 cups
all-purpose flour 3/4 cup
cinnamon 1/2 Tbs plus 1/2 a tsp
salt 1/4 tsp
cold butter 2 1/4 oz

Directions

Combine ingredients in KitchenAid and mix until it is has the consistency of grated parmesan cheese.

How to assemble the cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease whatever pan you choose to bake in.

3. Whether you're using a regular cake pan, tube pan or anything else, you add a little bit of the batter into the pan (or wrapper), then the ripple ingredients, then more batter, more ripple and then the remaining batter.

4. Take a butter knife and put it into the cake and swirl it around in a circle so the ripple makes a pretty pattern when you cut into it.

5. Generously apply the streusel to the cake and press down.

6. Bake until the cake springs back when you touch it (the streusel will part as it bakes and you'll be able to touch the cake). This cake usually takes about 45 minutes to bake (20 if you bake them as cupcakes).

Another reason this cake is so great is because you can bake it in a number of different ways. The recipe tells you to bake it in a 10 inch tube pan with a removable bottom but I have also made it in cupcake wrappers, mini loaf pans and sheet cakes to be cut into individual squares. In the picture above, I added chocolate chips on top of the streusel before I baked it.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Top Five Sweet 16 Cakes

Cakes for teenagers can sometimes be difficult to design unless they have a specific idea in mind. We've found that these five concepts can usually be reincarnated to create a unique cake for a Sweet 16.


5. Shopping - shopping bags and logos from favorite companies have become very trendy for Sweet 16s.

4. Vegas - Vegas style themes with playing cards and over the top decorations add drama and flair.

3. Candy - bright colors either from fondant made to look like candy or actual candy are fun and age appropriate.

2. Animal Print - leopard and zebra print designs are in style in the magazines and on cakes.

1. Fashion - couture pieces are so much more affordable when they're in cake form! Purses, shoes and jewelry are always a big hit with any female age group.



Monday, April 5, 2010

Ball Park Desserts

Last night was the start of the baseball season with a game between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Even though the outcome left a bad taste in New Yorkers' mouths, the stadium snacks are always something to smile about. Here’s a look at some of the treats being offered in the New York stadiums.

At Yankee Stadium , the concession area includes New York Pretzel, Carvel Ice Cream, Otis Spunkmeyer Cookies and Turkey Hill Ice Cream.

At Citi Field, the offerings are a little tastier with cannolis from Leo’s Latticini and shakes and custard from Shake Shack.

Since I don’t care for sports and I base my all of my decisions on food, I’d probably prefer eating at Citi Field since the shakes and hand-spun custard from Shake Shack are irresistible. Here’s to a yummy season!

Cannolis with Met colored sprinkles.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Aprons

Baking can be messy work, but you can protect your clothes and look stylish at the same time.

I found these two beautiful aprons on Anthropologie’s website. (They have the cutest kitchen accessories!)



I got this pink monogrammed apron from Williams-Sonoma. I love anything with my name on it!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Coconut Macaroons


Macaroons can be found all over supermarkets this time of year, but very few actually taste good. I learned this recipe for coconut macaroons at a bakery I used to work at and it always gets rave reviews.

Ingredients

Shredded Coconut - one 14 oz bag
Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
Almond extract - 1 ½ tsp
Egg white - 1
Condensed milk - just add to moisten and help the ingredients stick together (use your judgment!)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Combine all of the ingredients, except for the condensed milk, in a bowl. Mix with your hands.

3. Add the milk until the coconut sticks together. (Don't make it too wet.)

4. We used to mold them in round cookie cutters (see picture above), but you can just bake them as small clumps if you don’t have cutters.

5. Bake until edges are lightly golden (5-10 minutes depending on your oven).

Pastry Girl Cakes Spin: dip the baked macaroon in melted chocolate and let cool before serving.