An Update on a Classic- Yellow Birthday Cake with Chocolate Frosting

17. May 2011 · 8 comments · Categories: Baking, Cake, cooking, Dessert, food, recipes · Tags: , , , ,

One of my dearest friends, Erica (and the one I’ve known the longest!), celebrated a special bday this past weekend- the big 3-0. Because I wasn’t able to make it to her bowling bday bash, I did what I always do and baked her a cake :)

It’s so nice to love cooking and baking, because it makes giving presents so easy, enjoyable and special (I also sometimes paint/draw/crochet my gifts). I mean who doesn’t love some homemade treats? Plus, it’s so nice to put some thought and effort into a present and give it that handmade touch rather than just picking up a random gift from the store because you’re “supposed to” give presents on bdays.

And I have to say, I think my gifts tend to be much more appreciated! So when it came time to get thinking about what type of cake Erica wanted, I went straight to the source. I like to be creative, but Erica wanted the basics: yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I suppose that IS the traditional bday cake combo.

Of course, I had to add my touch and make it a little different and more gourmet- adding white chocolate chips to the batter and making a sour cream chocolate frosting. But I also have been so busy  that I took a few shortcuts- using a boxed cake mix that I jazzed up.

Yes, Erica is wearing scrubs in those pics. She works in tv and is currently filming a show and is in the hospital all day long. I wish I could wear such comfy clothes to work!

Anyways, the cake result was nothing short of amazing…a birthday tradition from now on, to be sure.

Happy 30th Birthday, Erica!!!

I’m so happy to have you as my friend and I can’t wait to celebrate many more birthdays with you :)


Yellow Birthday Cake with White Chocolate Chips and Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
Cake recipe by me, Frosting recipe taken from Smitten Kitchen adapted from The Dessert Bible

Print this recipe!

# of Servings-who cares, it’s your birthday! (Makes one 2 layer bday cake)

Cake:

1 box Classic Yellow Cake mix
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1/2-1 cup white chocolate chips
1 recipe Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting, recipe below

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Butter two 9-inch round cake pans (or two 8-inch, depending on how high you want the cake to be) and line with circles of parchment paper, then butter parchment.

Place cake mix, water, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a bowl. Beat well. Add eggs and beat to incorporate, 2 min. Stir in 1/2-1 cup of white chocolate chips, depending on how much you like.

Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 30 min. Cool in pan on a rack 15 minutes. Invert onto rack and discard parchment, then cool completely, about 1 hour (put in fridge if you want them to cool faster. Sometimes they’re easier to frost when cold). Do not frost until cakes are completely cool.

Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting

15 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/4 teaspoons instant espresso (optional, but can be used to pick up the flavor of average chocolate)
2 1/4 cups sour cream, at room temperature
1/4 to 1/2 cup light corn syrup
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine the chocolate and espresso powder, if using, in the top of a double-boiler or in a heatproof bowl over simmering water. Stir until the chocolate is melted. (Alternately, you can melt the chocolate in a microwave for 30 seconds, stirring well, and then heating in 15 second increments, stirring between each, until the chocolate is melted.) Remove from heat and let chocolate cool until tepid.

Whisk together the sour cream, 1/4 cup of the corn syrup and vanilla extract until combined. Add the tepid chocolate slowly and stir quickly until the mixture is uniform. Taste for sweetness, and if needed, add additional corn syrup in one tablespoon increments until desired level of sweetness is achieved.

Let cool in the refrigerator until the frosting is a spreadable consistency. This should not take more than 30 minutes. Should the frosting become too thick or stiff, just leave it out until it softens again.

Potato Crusted Quiche- for when you want a good meal, fast.

13. May 2011 · 6 comments · Categories: Baking, Brunch, cooking, Dinner, food, recipes, Savory, Side dishes · Tags: , , , , ,


I’ve been so busy these days. Between deadlines at work, apartment hunting (in NYC it’s an expensive pain in the butt), trying to keep up with my blog, getting a little exercise and making dinner semi-regularly, I barely have time to think!

It’s times like these that it’s good to have a collection of recipes on hand that are quick, don’t take many ingredients, are fairly healthy and taste really good. Among my hoard of recipes, I found one for a Potato Crusted Sausage Quiche.

The crust on quiche is usually the most fattening part, so I liked the fact that this used potatoes instead. Potatoes are fairly high calorie for a vegetable (because they’re a starch), but in comparison to a butter-filled pastry dough, I knew it would result in a fraction of the calories that the typical crust would be. Plus, the idea of a crispy potato crust sounded pretty yummy.

The potatoes on the sides came out looking really pretty, and they got nice and brown and crispy. The ones on the bottom of the quiche tasted really good as well, but they don’t crisp up like the sides. It was definitely a nice variation on a typical quiche.

I put sausage, scallions and cheese in mine, but other meats/veggies would work just as well! I used precooked chicken sausage so all I had to do was chop it up. Easy peasy.

Make this for dinner this week and you can thank me later for the extra time you save to catch up on your DVR ;)


Potato-Crusted Sausage Quiche

Adapted from a recipe I found in my collection, but I don’t know where it’s from

Print this recipe!

Serves 4-6

5 large eggs (or 1 cup egg substitute)
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 Tbsp flour
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp tabasco
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or more if desired)
2 precooked turkey/chicken sausage links (about 6 oz),diced (I used Italian flavor but any would be delicious)
2 scallions, finely chopped
2 medium potatoes, or enough to cover bottom and sides of dish

Preheat oven to 375°.

Combine eggs, ricotta, flour, pepper and tabasco in a large bowl. Whisp to mix well.
Stir in cheese, sausage, and scallions. Set aside.
Coat a 9″ deep dish pie pan with cookin spray.
Slice unpeeled potatoes 1/4″ thick.
Arrange potato slices in single layer over bottom and sides of pan. You don’t have to cover every inch of the bottom but I actually cut some slices into pieces to have more full coverage on the bottom.
Pour egg mixture into crust.
Bake uncovered for 45 min or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.
Allow to cool for 5 min before cutting. This step is important! It will be firmer and easier to slice cleanly after cooling.

Celebrating Cinqo(x2) de Mayo: Chicken Tamale Casserole

10. May 2011 · 7 comments · Categories: Baking, cooking, Dinner, food, recipes, Savory · Tags: , , ,

Yeah, that’s right, I’m celebrating the 10th of May…whatcha gonna do about it?!

So once again, I’m posting a holiday recipe post late. But it’s not my fault. Also, how appropriate that today is the 10th of May, i.e. Cinqo( x 2) de Mayo :)

Plus, Mexican food is enjoyable every day of the week. This recipe is no exception.

The other night I bought a rotisserie chicken. I wanted to make a quick bbq chicken pizza for dinner using my favorite new quickie, healthy crust: socca. I’ll explain more about that in another post.

Anyway, I was in no mood for cooking up chicken (plus touching raw chicken is disgusting and germy…right Nicole? ;) ), so I got lazy and bought the cooked rotisserie chicken they have at the supermarket.

It may be expensive, but let me tell you, it’s worth every penny for the time, hassle and degree of gross-ness you save! I only used about 1 cup of it on the pizza so I shredded up the rest and stored it in the freezer for another recipe.

Most casserole recipes that I have come across in my searches involve cooked chicken. I find this soooo annoying as you have to either boil up a chicken breast just for the recipe, or have leftover chicken lying around, which I never do. But this time I was prepared!

I went into my recipe collection and pulled out the one for a Chicken Tamale Casserole from Cooking Light that I had been putting off making because it called for cooked chicken. I knew Nate would love it because it has a cornbread base.

It was incredibly easy to make. It took one bowl and only 30 minutes in the oven. It was perfect for a quick weeknight meal if you’ve got some pre-cooked chicken sitting in your fridge or freezer. And it was totally delicious.

I had some black beans leftover from a Black Bean Brownie disaster (don’t even ask) so I threw them in too. Tasty.


Chicken Tamale Casserole

Adapted from Cooking Light
Serves 8 

Print this recipe!

1 cup (4 ounces) preshredded 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese, divided
1/3 cup fat-free milk
1/4 cup egg substitute, or 1 egg
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn
1 (8.5-ounce) box corn muffin mix (such as Martha White)
1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
Cooking spray
1 (10-ounce) can red enchilada sauce (such as Old El Paso)
1 cup black beans
2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
Preheat oven to 400°.
Combine 1/4 cup cheese and next 7 ingredients (through chiles) in a large bowl, stirring just until moist. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 15 min.
Remove from oven. Pierce entire surface liberally with a fork; pour enchilada sauce over top. Top with beans and chicken; sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheese. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until cheese melts.
Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes.
Cut into 8 pieces; top each serving with 1 tablespoon sour cream.


Peanut Butter Tagalong-Wannabe Brownies

05. May 2011 · 11 comments · Categories: Baking, cooking, Dessert, food, recipes · Tags: , ,


Well, this was supposed to be a Cinqo de Mayo post, but Nate took the pictures I needed off of his camera and put them on his computer before I had a chance to get them. I was excited about being so blog-conscious, doing a mexican-inspired meal on Cinqo de Mayo, but he screwed it up :( (don’t worry, Nate, I forgive you, but you better not do it again) …so instead, I bring you dessert.

I decided on a whim the other day to reward Nate with some homemade brownies. I rarely make them from scratch, as I find the boxed ones to usually be superior. However, i thought I’d give them a shot.

Nate loves chocolate-mint, so my first inclination was to make an andes mint brownie. Sounds tasty, right? But then I remembered that we had tons of leftover, stale cookies that are basicaly the TJ’s version of Tagalongs. They were ok, but I thought that in a brownie, they’d taste much better :) To amp up the peanut butter flavor, I also decided to make a layer of pb swirl on top.

Let me tell you, these turned out totally delicious. You could definitely substitute another cookie  in here…although I happen to think that a chocolate covered cookie would work best so that it melts a little.

And you could easily omit the pb topping. But that would be stupid.

Enjoy!


Peanut Butter Tagalong-Wannabe Brownies
Recipe by Me

Print this recipe!

Makes 16

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted + 2 Tbsp, butter melted
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour + 2 Tbsp flour
1/3 cup Cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 Tagalong (or similar) cookies

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup confectioners sugar

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 8-inch square baking pan.

Whisk together 1 stick melted butter, sugar and vanilla in bowl. Add eggs; whisk well. Stir together 1/2 cup flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually add to egg mixture, beating until well blended.

In a smaller bowl, microwave peanut butter and 2 Tbsp butter for 30 sec – 1 min or until melted. Whisk in confectioners sugar and 2 Tbsp flour.

Pour 1/3 of chocolate batter into pan and spread out. Place the 12 cookies evenly over the batter and press lightly down. Put rest of chocolate batter evenly over cookies and lightly spread without disturbing the cookies.

Put blobs of the pb batter on top of the chocolate. Don’t worry about it looking nice. Using a knife, drag it through the pb and chocolate batter, creating a marbling effect. Tap pan on counter to get all air bubbles out.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until brownies are set and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack before cutting.

Tasty enough for a royal wedding brunch: Lemon Ginger Scones

01. May 2011 · 6 comments · Categories: Baking, Bread, Breakfast, Brunch, Cake, cooking, food, recipes · Tags: , ,

As I’ve mentioned before, not only is Nate a loyal Trader Joes (TJs) customer, but a creature of habit who eats the same exact items for breakfast and lunch every day of the week. I’ve tried to take him with me to the supermarket that’s nearby (TJs is a 40 min walk), but he just won’t go.

So you can imagine his distress when he discovered that TJs discontinued his beloved Lemon Ginger Scones that he used to eat each morning along with his cereal, yogurt, and giant glass of grapefruit juice (yes, this boy eats a humongous breakfast). This, of course, gave me a challenge to reproduce these delicacies that he couldn’t do without.

I had only tried my hand at making scones on a few occasions, but I figured it couldn’t be too difficult. Over the course of a couple of months I tried several recipes, but only one got the thumb’s up from Nate.

The recipe came from a cookbook I’d requested at Christmas: A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, by Molly Wizenberg (the creator of the blog Orangette). I had stumbled across its title in several other blogs, touting its greatness.

I read through the whole book in a matter of days. It weaves her life story from childhood to present day, alternating with the recipes that defined those memorable times in her life. I loved every word of it and highly recommend it both for the recipes and the tales.

So you can imagine my delight when I came across her recipe for Lemon Ginger Scones! I had thought I’d have to just find a regular scone recipe and alter it for the correct flavor that Nate desired, but I didn’t have to. I followed her recipe except doubled it so the scones would last Nate a while. They had a bit too much liquid when doubling, so I added more flour. The next time I made them I added only enough liquid for one batch. although still doubling the rest of the ingredients, and it was just right.

They’re flaky, moist and delicious. These are now a staple in my kitchen…and on Nate’s breakfast plate :)

On an unrelated front…

Nicole from HeatOvento350 has nominated me, among others, for the Versatile Blogger Award! Thank you so much, Nicole :)

The rules of the award stipulate that you share seven random facts about yourself and pass the award on to 15 new found bloggers. So here we go:

1) Almost every movie makes me cry (and even commercials sometimes!)

2) My most favorite fruit is the mango, and I’m sadly allergic to them (did you know they’re in the same family as poison oak??)

3) When I was 10, I had 7 teeth pulled at once without being knocked out, but I never had to wear braces.

4) I will never sit alone in a restaurant, but go to the movies by myself all the time.

5) Much to Nate’s amusement, I trained for the Mr. & Mrs. Penn amateur bodybuilding competition when I was in college, and then couldn’t compete because I got mono a few weeks before (I wouldn’t have won anyway).

6) I completed a year of Architectural grad school, and have a Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy, have worked as a Civil Engineer, but currently work in IT in the financial field.

7) Despite #6, I really just want to be a housewife.

Ok, there ya go! I now nominate the following 15 bloggers to play along. If you’ve already done this before or just don’t feel like it, that’s perfectly ok, but here you go:

EspressoAndCream

SugarPlum

SweetPeasKitchen

Mis Pensamientos

KissMyBroccoli

MakeItNaked

Tri2cook

TheCulinaryChronicles

BackToTheCuttingBoard

SweetAsSugarCookies

AFoodLoversJourney

RufusFoodAndSpiritsGuide

InGoodTaste

GetOffYourTushAndCook

LaCaseDeSweets


Lemon Ginger Scones
Adapted from A Homemade Life

Print this recipe!

makes 16*

4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
8 Tbsp (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
6 Tbsp sugar
4 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
1/2 cup half-and-half (plus more if dough is too dry), and more for glazing
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 425.

In large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Using your hands or a pastry cutter, rub the butter into the flour mixture, squeezing and pinching with your fingertips until the mixture resembles a coarse meal and there are no butter lumps bigger than a pea. Add the sugar, lemon zest, and ginger and whisk to incorporate.

Pour 1/2 cup half-and-half into small bowl or measuring cup and add the eggs. Beat with a fork to mix well. Pour wet ingredients into the flour mixture,and stir gently to just combine. The dough will be dry and shaggy, and there may be some unincorporated flour at the bottom of the bowl. If the dough seems too dry, add more half-and-half, 1 Tbsp at a time.

Using your hands, squeeze and press the dough into a rough mass. Turn the dough, and any excess flour out onto a board or countertop, and press and gather and knead until it just comes together (sometimes I knead in the bowl so I don’t have to dirty my counter). Don’t overwork the dough. As soon as the dough holds together, divide it in two and pat each portion into a rough circle about 1 inch thick.** Cut into 8 wedges.

Place wedges on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Pour a splash of half-and-half into a small bowl. Using a pastry brush, gently brush the tops of the cones with a thin coat to glaze. Bake for 10-14 in, or until pale golden. Transfer to wire rack to cool slightly, and serve warm.

 *If you want to halve the recipe, halve all ingredient amounts, EXCEPT the half-and-half.
**If halving the recipe, pat dough into 1 circle instead of two.

 

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