Got Cake?

As part of my cake decorating project for 4H, I had to show someone how to bake a cake. I chose to show my sister, who is also taking a cake decorating project, how to make a marble cake. I didn’t realize how some things just come naturally to a person who has been baking for a while, like how I know exactly where things are and how to measure them out. I really enjoyed teacher her though and had a good time doing it. Another thing that I have to do is donate cupcakes to a 4H garage sale, I think I am going to do more of an exotic flavor than vanilla this time. As for my yeast bread baking project, I am also donating bread to the garage sale, but  haven’t decided which recipe I am going to make. Today or tomorrow, I think I am going to make soft pretzels for the project. I will put some pictures of the finished decorated cake up when it gets there.

~thechildcooks

Marble Cake from the Family Fun website

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 1/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups buttermilk, at room temperature

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Lightly butter a 9- by 13- inch cake pan and dust it with flour, knocking out the excess. Heat your oven to 350º.

Combine the dry ingredients by sifting the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Set the mixture aside.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave or on the stovetop according to the package directions. (Chocolate chips retain some of their shape when melted, so be careful not to overheat or burn them.) Stir the chips until they are smooth, then cool them to lukewarm, about 9 minutes.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed, adding the sugar gradually, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, first breaking them into a separate dish to ensure that no eggshells get in the batter. Add the vanilla extract and blend briefly.

Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, beating on low speed until the batter is evenly blended. Next, beat in half of the buttermilk until it is evenly blended. Continue in this manner, adding another third of the dry ingredients, the rest of the buttermilk, then the rest of the dry ingredients, beating well after each addition.

Transfer the chocolate to a medium mixing bowl, then add 2 cups of the batter. Thoroughly fold in the chocolate.

Transfer a little more than half of the remaining plain batter to the prepared pan, spreading it evenly with the back of a spoon. Using another large spoon, make 3 wide, lengthwise rows of chocolate batter on top, as shown. Switch back to the plain batter and use what’s left to fill between the chocolate rows.

To create a swirled pattern in the batter, draw the top edge of a table knife across the rows, working from side to side. For best results, be sure not to remove the knife from the batter as you work.

Bake the cake on the center rack until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes

Crazy in the Kitchen

So far this weekend, I have been on a baking spree. Yesterday, I made homemade roti(Indian flatbread) and Rustic Pear-Apple Tarts. Today, I made Pretzel Bites and Brownies with Chocolate Frosting. As for tomorrow, I don’t know what I am going to make, but my sourdough is calling from the ‘fridge; I think that a Sunday Sourdough Pancake Dinner is in order. You may be thinking that all of the goodies that I made are completely random, but they all have reasons for why I made them. The roti is because on thursday, I went to a great Indian place and had bread there. After eating, we stopped and bought some curry and tandoori spices. Then, Friday night we had curry-seasoned turkey cutlets with roti and rice. later that night, I was mooching around the internet, looking at various food blogs and was inspired to go into the kitchen and bake. I saw a slightly too-squishy pear and remembered some granny smith apples in the cellar and a tart was born. Today, once again, I was looking at a multitude of food blogs(seems to be a reoccurring theme, huh?)and was inspired to bake. I wanted to do something with my sourdough, but was short on time, so I made a fast rising pretzel recipe instead. As for the brownies and frosting, my dad teaches a Sunday School class full of hungry children, nuff said. Last Saturday, I made an angel food cake for my grandmother’s birthday, I will add the recipe below. Feel free to add a comment as to what you have been baking lately, I alway could use an inspiration.

~thechildcooks

Roti(Indian Flatbread)

My Version

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

water

Melted butter, optional

Mix flour and just enough water to make a kneadable dough. Mix the water in slowly and stir with your hands as to feel when the dough is ready. Knead for 4-5 minutes or until all flour is absorbed. Let rest for 10 minutes to soften the dough. Knead a few times to further soften the dough. Portion the dough and roll into flat, thin circles. Fry on a ungreased skillet until cooked through. Flip once. Serve with a sauce or use as a tortilla-like wrap.

Soft Pretzels

 

Based of the CDKitchen Recipe

 

1 1/2 cup warm water

1 1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup bread flour

3 cups regular flour

2 cups Warm water

2 tablespoons baking soda

coarse salt, cinnamon sugar or other topping

Sprinkle yeast on lukewarm water in mixing bowl; stir to dissolve. Add sugar, salt and stir to dissolve; add flour and knead dough until smooth and elastic. Let rise at least 1/2 hour.

While dough is rising, prepare a baking soda water bath with 2 cups warm water and 2 Tbsp baking soda. Be certain to stir often. After dough has risen, pinch off bits of dough and roll into a long rope(about 1/2 inch or less thick) and shape or cut into bites like I did. Dip pretzel in soda solution and place on greased baking sheet. Allow pretzels to rise again. Sprinkle with topping. Bake in 450 oven for about 10 minutes or until golden.

 

Rustic Pear-Apple Tart

 

Crust:

1 1/2 cups flour

 

1/3 cups vegetable oil

 

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

 

Pinch of salt

 

2-3 tablespoon of water

Mix flour, ginger and salt in large bowl. Add oil and stir. Gradually add water a bit at a time until the dough comes together. Gather into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes or while you prepare the filling.

 

Filling:

1 medium pear

 

2 small granny smith apples

 

A few dashes each(to your taste)cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cloves

 

1 tablespoon brown sugar

 

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

 

1/8 teaspoon almond extract

 

2 teaspoons apple juice

 

Preheat oven to 350F. Peel both the pear and apples. Cut into 1/4 inch pieces and add spices, sugars, extract and apple juice. Place fruit in fine mesh strainer over bowl to draw out some of the juices. Begin rolling out the dough into a large round as thin or thick as you like. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Once a small amount of juices have come out of the fruits, dump them in the middle of the dough circle and fold up the edges over them. Brush the crust with the fruit juice and bake for 20-30 minutes checking to make sure the crust is not too brown and that the fruit is soft. Remove from oven and cool.

 

Brownies(From Betty Crocker)

 

2 ounces of unsweetened chocolate

 

1/3 cup shortening

 

1 cup sugar

 

2 eggs

 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

 

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

 

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

1/4 cup mini-chocolate chips(I added this in place of 1/2 cup chopped nuts)

 

Preheat oven to 350F. Heat chocolate and shortening in 2-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until melted. Remove from heat. Mix in sugar, eggs and vanilla. Stir in remaining ingredients. Spread in greased 8x8x2 pan. Bake brownies until the sides begin to pull away from the pan edges, 30-35 minutes. Cool slightly and frost with chocolate frosting(do not use all of the recipe unless you enjoy a lot of chocolate).

 

Chocolate Butter Frosting(Also from Betty Crocker)

 

1/3 cu softened butter

 

2 ounces melted, unsweetened chocolate(cool)

 

2 cups powdered sugar

 

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

 

2 tablespoons milk

 

Mix butter and chocolate. Stir in sugar. Beat in vanilla and milk until frosting is to spreading consistency.

 

Angel Food Cake(Pillsbury Healthy Baking Cookbook)

 

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

 

3/4 cup sugar

 

1 1/2 cups(approximately 12) egg whites, room temperature

 

1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

 

1/4 teaspoon salt

 

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

 

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

 

3/4 cup sugar

 

Preheat oven to 375F. In small bowl combine flour and 3/4 cup sugar. In large bowl beat egg whites, cream of tartar, salt, vanilla and almond extract until mixture forms soft peaks. Gradually add 3/4 cup sugar and mix on high-speed until stiff peaks form. Spoon flour-sugar mixture 1/4 cup at a time over the egg whites; fold in gently just until blended. Pour batter into ungreased 10-inch tube pan. With knife, cut gently through batter to remove large air bubbles. Bake on lowest oven rack for 30 to 40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and cracks are very dry. immediately invert cake onto funnel or soft drink bottle; let hang until completely cool. Remove from pan. 

Chocolate Cake with Drizzle Icing

My fathers birthday was last Monday and my gift to him was this home made chocolate cake from Betty Crocker.

Decadent Chocolate Cake

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

4 eggs, separated

1/2 cup sugar

Glaze

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons corn syrup

Heat oven to 325F. Grease round cake pan 9×1 1/2 inches. Heat 1 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup butter in 2-quart saucepan over medium heat until chocolate is melted;cool five minutes. Stir in flour until smooth. Add egg yolks until well blended.

Beat egg whites in large bowl on high speed until foamy. Beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until soft peaks form. Fold chocolate mixture into egg whites. Spread in pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until top is dry and cracked. Cool for 10 minutes then remove from pan.

For glaze, heat 1/2 cup chocolate chips, 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoon corn syrup over medium heat until melted. Drizzle over cake and garnish as desired with berries or whipped cream. Serves 12.

Cookies:Chocolate-Oatmeal Chewies

I made cookies tonight and the lucky recipe was chocolate-oatmeal chewies. They are supposedly very good, but I would not know as I sadly do not enjoy chocolate. As I had to get ready for school, my mother got the last batch out of the oven and was freaked out. I forgot to tell her that I put some of the marshmallow scraps in; they had turned the cookies black(Halloween marshmallows) and oozed all over. They looked like someone had doused them in lighter fluid and then light a match. They still tasted good despite their roadkill apperearance. I will try to get pictures on later.The recipe is from the Betty Crocker Cookie Book.

Chocolate-Oatmeal Chewies

Makes App. 4 Dozen Cookies

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup milk

1 egg

2 2/3 cup quick cooking or old-fashioned oats

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Heat oven to 350F. Beat sugar, butter, milk and egg in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed or a spoon. Stir in remaining ingredients.

Drop by rounded teaspoonful about 2 s apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12(more like 13 or 14 for me, but it could be my oven) or until no indentation remains when touched in center. Cool 1-2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Enjoy!