TWiB – Birthday edition

Over the past month or so, a couple of my friends have celebrated their birthdays. Each of them requested a special cake, both of which turned out fantastically.

First, I made an ice cream cake shaped like the character Boo.

I used this picture as a guide, so I think it’s pretty accurate. The only thing I changed was the throat for simplicity’s sake. The cake itself was devils food with a cookies and cream ice cream layer in between.

The other birthday person was KC, whom you might know from this post. As such, she requested a cake shaped like a giant Hostess cupcake.

I used this post as inspiration. The only suggestions I have are to definitely use shortening for the white frosting otherwise it won’t be as white, and to add a little more powdered sugar to the chocolate frosting to make it easier to spread.

It tasted just like a real Hostess cupcake, except much less artificial. And of course, the birthday girl loved it.

TWiB #21 – Key Lime Pie

My husband GiR loves key lime pie, but I hate the artificial taste of the sweetened condensed milk that is often a staple in such pies. I searched high and low for a key lime pie recipe that did not have sweetened condensed milk, and here’s what I came up with.

Key Lime Pie

Recipe
Key Lime Pie with a Plain Shortbread Crust from Cooking: A Commonsense Guide

Modifications
Because of how things worked out, I ended up with an extra egg white, so I have 4 egg whites in the meringue instead of 3. I also did not have real key limes, so I just used regular limes.

Rating
This tastes sooo much better than traditional key lime pies. The crust I chose was not quite the right type of crust for this pie, but it was still good. 4 stars out of 5.

TWiB #20 – Lemon Yogurt Cake (with Splenda)

We needed to get rid of some plain yogurt, so when I came across this recipe, I knew I had to make it. Also, I’ve been meaning to bake more with Splenda, so I decided to try it this week.

Lemon Yogurt Cake

Recipe
Lemon Yogurt Cake

Modifications
I used Splenda 1-for-1 in place of the sugar; both in the cake itself and in the syrup topping. I did not make the glaze, as I felt it didn’t really need it. For a little treat, we served it with a 1/2 cup chopped strawberries.

Rating
2.5 stars out of 5. It tastes too much of Splenda, and the rise was horrible. However, it was fairly easy to make, so I’d like to try this again with real sugar.

All things strawberry cake

My grandma looooves strawberries, so I made her this cake for Mother’s Day.

I used a from-the-box French Vanilla cake, baked in 2 layers then cut into 4 layers. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of a slice so you could see the wonderful ayers.

For the icing, I used Jen’s strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream. Her strawberry buttercream vanilla chiffon cake was my inspiration.

And…. one more pic for good measure. =)

This cake gets a 5 for presentation, but only about a 4 for quality. The French vanilla cake was too generic, and some people didn’t like the taste of the buttercream. Overall, a huge success though.

TWiB # 19 – Galaktoboureko

This is a traditional Greek custard that uses phyllo dough.

Galaktoboureko

Recipe
Galaktoboureko

Modifications
I added a few more layers of phyllo dough to both the bottom and top. Also, I used lactose-free whole milk.

Rating
Good, but a little tricky to make. 3.5 stars out of 5.

TWiB – First trimester round-up

Here’s a round-up of all the recipes I’ve made for This Week in Baking during the first 4 months of 2008.

1. Apple Coffee Cake – 3 stars
2. Cheddar Basil Scones – 3.5 stars
3. Cappuccino Biscotti – 1 star
4. Sachertorte – 3.5 stars
5. Napoleons – 4 stars
6. Eclairs – 4.5 stars
7. Bananas Foster – 3.5 stars
8. Quiche – 3.5 stars
9. Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pie – 3 stars
10. Gooey Butter Cake – 3.5-4 stars
11. German Apple Cake – 3.5 stars
12. Raspberry Bars – 4-4.5 stars
13. Cinnamon Pie – 4 stars
14. Lemon Creme Sandwich Cookies – 3.5 stars
15. Chocolate Creme Brulee – 4.5 stars
16. Lemon Tarts – 4 stars
17. Brownie Tart – 5 stars
18. English Tea Scones – 3 stars

TWiB Bonus Edition – Goleem

Here are my top 5 recipes so far:

1. Brownie Tart – 5 stars
2. Cinnamon Pie – 4 stars (note: further permutations of this recipe yielded 4.5-5 stars)
3. Chocolate Creme Brulee – 4.5 stars
4. Eclairs – 4.5 stars
5. Raspberry Bars – 4-4.5 stars

Food processor questions

I keep reading/hearing that a food processor is a great kitchen tool. Alton Brown uses his constantly. However, I just don’t understand why they’re so great. I have a very small food processor that I have used on occasion, and it just seems more trouble than it’s worth.

Putting food in the food processor is easy enough. Pushing the pulse button a few times is easy and quick. HOWEVER, removing the food and then the resulting cleanup is a real bitch. It takes easily 10 times as long as the food processing itself. I can’t scrape the blades easily. I hate trying to get stuff off the center column of plastic. Washing all those parts takes forever.

What is the point of having an appliance that takes 2 seconds to use, but then takes 2 minutes to clean up? Wouldn’t it just be easier to chop those nuts the long way? Sure the chopping takes 2 minutes, but then the cleanup takes 2 seconds (wash knife and board). Please, someone enlighten me.