The Mad Cake Experiement! Take one

Today, I'm taking a break from my usual "how-to" posts and just writing about my recent adventure in fondant rolling. I've been sharpening begrudgingly working on my fondant skills lately.  Sure it looks pretty, but it is a pain in my um... hands :) See that, you thought I was going to say something else, but I didn't! Anyhow, back on target...fondant. Rolling it out is the easy part.  Throw down some confectioner's sugar (like you would flour if you were rolling out dough) and you are on your way. The hard part is getting it on the cake and getting it to look like this:

Now granted, it certainly is not perfect, but I am proud of my little cake. Oh and p.s. for all of you feeling the urge to dive in and eat this cake, you're only going to get a mouth of styrofoam.  Well what did you expect, real cake? Psshhhh! Ok, so maybe I am one of those impulsive types who didn't want to wait around all day baking a cake, waiting for it to cool and then frosting it. I took the quick route and it keeps me from gaining a boat load of weight. It still looks pretty enough to eat... that's all that matter's!

On a side note, notice the pretty brown bow? Well, I've found that when the best way to hide blemishes in your fondant is to cover that sucker right us! You know, kind of like when you are wrapping Christmas presents and you get a tear? What do you do...slap a bow on it. Now that I started doing that, it makes me wonder whenever I see other cakes with a bow on it...hmmmmm.

Well Butter Me Crazy

Ok, so the title makes absolutely no sense, but it's fun to say.  Go ahead, I'll give you a second...told you it was fun to say, especially if you add a southern twang to it. Anyhow, back on task!

I am sure I am not the only one who has noticed growing skyrocketing prices in the grocery store.  This last trip to the store finally put me over the top.  I went to purchase the standard ol' brick o butter and it was $4.00! I knew you could make butter but I always pictured some granny sitting on her front porch with a gingham apron churning that butter. Throwing my pride back into my wallet, I took a stand. (This is where you picture an American flag waving in the background and a Bald Eagle soaring in the wind) I stood up on the dairy case and announced, "No more will this hard-working cheap American throw her money down the drain. No sir! It was time to roll up my sleeves and make my own butter!" Mothers wept, children left for joy.  I kissed a few babies.  People hoisted me on their shoulders. Ok, so maybe the truth is a little stretched, but that is EXACTLY how it went in my head.  Instead, I snagged a quart of heavy cream, some cheese cloth and was on my way.

As soon as I got home, I grabbed my trusted stand mixer and my quart of cream.  For this, you'll want to use a plastic guard for your mixing bowl.  If you don't have one, try getting a plastic frisby and cutting a softball size hole in the center (weird, I know, but it works) or you can just drape a towel over the top of the mixer and bowl.

Take your cream and dump it all into the mixing bowl. Turn the mixer on high, like so:

That's pretty much all you have to do.  The mixer does everything for you.  Just keep letting it run for about 10 minutes.  You'll know the butter is ready when the solid milk fat separates from the liquid.  It will look something like this:

At this point, you can add some salt if you want (mix it for a few seconds just to incorporate the salt).  I used Kosher salt, but you can use whatever you have on hand. Just a pinch will do ya.

From here you are going to drape a few layers of cheese cloth over a bowl and place the butter mixture on top of the cheese cloth.

Take the cheese cloth and twist the top closed so you make a ball out of the butter like this:

Squeeze the cheese cloth until the butter just slightly begins to come through the cloth.  This is to get the rest of the liquid out of the butter.  Transfer into a small container and enjoy!

This fresh homemade butter is perfectly partnered with the dried fruit scones I showed you how to do here.  Happy churning!

Scones, They're Better Than Good They're Great

For years, I wasn't the biggest fan of scones. They were either too dry or crust, but I always thought they were too pretty to pass up.  So you know what they say, try try again. Finally, I stumbled across the perfect melody of  sweet awesome.

You start out with:

1 3/4 cup of flour

3 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1 cup cream

1/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp melted butter for brushing the top

1/4 cup dried cherries

1 tsp vanilla extract

thick crystal sugar for sprinkling on the top (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Mix all of your ingredients (minus the melted butter) in a bowl. Don't over mix. 

Now, you can get all fancy and take the time to roll out the dough and cut it into those perfect little triangles. I started that, being the ambitious person that I am....

And then I got frustrated, and started back over with this...

I found it much easier and less troublesome annoying to just take even gobs of the dough and form semi triangle pieces. Place your perfectly cut triangles or in my case, triangle like globs, on to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Brush the tops with the melted butter and throw them in the oven.

Scones are kind of touchy when it comes to baking.  You turn you back on them for a second and they're burnt.  I baked them for about 10-12 minutes, but depending on your oven, you may need to keep them in for up to 15 to 20 minutes.  You are looking for a light golden color on the top. When you take the scones out, sprinkle with the thick crystal sugar and you'll get something roughly like this:

Take it from me, these are best warm with a little butter.  These little yummies are the perfect end to a meal or mid-day indulgence.  

The great thing about these scones, is that you can use any dried fruit, nut or even chocolate that you like, so experiment and have fun!

You Had Me At Macaroons

As promised from my previous post, I am going to regale you of my adventures in macaroon-ing. In all reality, making french macaroons are not all that difficult. The gorgeous little beauts (insert Australian crocodile hunter voice) only take a little time and tlc.

Your basic french macaroon only consists of 5 main ingredients:

1 cup powdered sugar

3/4 cup almond flour (see recipe here)

2 egg whites

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Mix together almond flour and powdered sugar.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Whisk egg whites until light and frothy.

Add in cream of tartar and blend until soft peaks form.

Mix in sugar and mix until stiff peaks form.

Fold in flour mixture.

In a zip top bag with a small tip cut off, pipe small round dots (about an inch) on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Drop the oven temperature down to 325 degrees and allow the cookies to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before putting them in the oven.

You can take this time to tap down the tops and smooth them over.

Bake them for 10 minutes.

Repeat the same process of raising the oven temperature to 375 degrees then dropping down to 325 degrees and allowing the cookies to sit for 15 minutes before putting into the oven.

That the basic recipe.  Now from here, the possibilities are endless.  You can substitute pistachio flour, cocoa powder, etc to make different flavors. The filling for these little sandwich cookies are equally as endless.  Since I always seem to have a little vanilla buttercream on hand, I usually fill them with that but you can fill them with jams, gnashes or whatever tickles your fancy that day.

Once you've filled your cookies with whatever weapon of choice, top it with another macaroon and revel in your creation!

 

So now that you know that macaroons aren't ask scary as you once thought, get out there and show off your french baking skills.

 

Oh My Almond Flour!

Recently, I have discovered almond flour and almond meal. I absolutely love french macaroons...those delicate little sandwich cookies that are light and fluffy. The key ingredient to a good french macaroon is none other than almond flour.

When I first set out to make this delectable little cookie, I scoured the aisles looking for almond flour. It dawned on me to look in the organic section. I saw rice flour, organic cornbread mix and then (insert angel's singing) almond flour! Then I saw the price (insert record scratch noise)...$12.00! Are you kidding me? $12.00 dollars for almond flour. I know almonds aren't the cheapest thing, but really there must be a cheaper solution. Me being the stubborn cheap person that I am, I began researching making almond flour. Astonishingly enough, making almond flour couldn't be easier.

Step 1: Purchase a bag of plain unsalted almonds. Blanched almonds would be ideal, but just the plain old almonds will do.

Step 2: Insert said almonds into a blender.

Step 3: Blend the living daylights out of almonds.

Step 4: Admire your creation.

Easy huh? I thought the same thing. Granted, the average home blender can't mix the almonds as fine as what you can buy in the store, so it's more of an almond meal, but it works just fine in baking. Check back later to see how I used my little experiment in making those yummy macaroons.

The Epic Beginning..dun, dun dun!

Okay, so not so epic, but it was fun to say. My Name is Rebecca and I am the owner of "My Darling Cupcakes." I have no formal experience in the fine arts that is baking.  In fact, by day, I am a graphic/web designer. Once that five o'clock bell sounds, I hand in my mouse and keyboard for and apron and whisk.

Let me rewind a step, to where this all began. One overly average night, I came home from a day of deadlines and proudly announced to my husband, "Dear, I want to sell cupcakes." He looked up from the t.v. and naturally said..."Ok!" Wait, ok? Really, really ok? My husband who is normally very reserved expressed how I love to cook and bake, and what was there to lose? So like a hound, I started sniffing out the trail of the elusive small business owner. Several licenses and tests later and my dream was on it's way to a reality.

The hard part of chasing the rainbow that is your dream, is finding the inevitable reality at the end of it. I have all these grand ideas I want to do, but when renting a kitchen, grand ideas = $$. Although I LOVE making sweet concoctions, the arts and crafts kid in me still wants to be way more creative.

One day I'll open a store and have that liberty, but for now, I want to experience the good, the bad and the disastrous world of baking...one recipe at a time. Of course I'll have plenty of pictures to share along the way.