Long Time No Bake

So I haven't updated in ages and ages and ages. I'm sorry. But I like to think I have a good excuse - I MOVED TO NEW YORK CITY!! Currently I'm living on the Upper West Side at my uncles apartment while working at Godiva in Grand Central Station. Needless to say, I haven't baked that much recently, although I have been to many many cupcake shops. After I move into my dorm next week - YAYAY - I'm hoping that I will be able to bake more. I have a kitchen in my dorm and it would appear that many of my suite mates - there are 5 more - enjoy baking and cooking too. So right now, I'm just going to put up some pictures of my baking and cooking expeditions from this past summer.

Dad's birthday cake Vanilla oreo cookies with pink frosting (it was going to raspberry, but that didn't work out so well) Super puffy homemade oreos.

Butter Lane cupcakes - my new favorite shop in NYC. Cupcake display at Whole Foods on Houston. Cupcake from Sweet Revenge on Carmine Street right above Houston.

Crumbs mint chip cupcake.

Grilled Salmon I made for dinner and burned my hand while making - still delicious though.

Mini Cakies

So my dad and step-mom left for Lithuania yesterday. Apparently Wendee has to give a speech and my father decided to tag along so that he could explore Vilnius. They seem to go to some of the most random places in the world. They sent me an email saying there are malls everywhere, so I guess it's really not that different than America - HA! So anyway, I'm home all alone until next Saturday. Well I guess I still have two 100 pound dogs, a mad cat, and some fish to protect me, so I'm not really that worried. But since they aren't home - I CAN BAKE WITH NO ONE YELLING AT ME!! YAYAY! To start my week of what will hopefully be lots and lots of baking - coniciding with lots and lots of posts - I decided to make oreo/whoopie pies. I've renamed them mini cakies beacuse that's what they are - mini cakes in cookie form! Basically, they're baby cakes with buttercream icing in the center that I decided to tint pink because white just seemed boring. They were so easy to make. Icing each one and finding matching sides was slightly tedious, but they looked so cool once I was done and they were quite delicious. As I said, they basiclly tasted like tiny cakes, but somehow, since they were in cookie form, they just tasted better. I put them on a plate, but when I went to pick one up a few hours later to eat, it was sticking to the plate. I quickly transfered them to plate covered in wax paper so they wouldn't stick anymore. When my step-nephew came over, he ate one and gave it a grade of A++. Thanks Skylar!!

ADAPTED FROM FOODISLUV.BLOGSPOT.COM

• INGREDIENTS:
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk (or milk)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter , room temperature
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg

• vanilla buttercream
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk together until well combined and set aside.
3. In a small bowl, stir together the buttermilk and vanilla and set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and the brown sugar until creamy and fluffy - about 3 mins.
5. Add the egg and beat until well combined.
6. Add the flour mixture and buttermilk in batches, starting and ending with the flour. scrape down the bowl several times, ensuring that everything is well combined. mix just until all the ingredients are combined, do not over mix.
7. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large circle tip, pipe out the batter in 1 1/2 inch circles on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving at least 1 inch between each. dip your finger in water and shake off excess. With your wet finger, gentley press down the top of each cookie.
8. Bake in for 8-10 minutes. Using a metal spatula, transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
9. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar. Start on low speed until combined and then increase speed to medium and beat for approximately 3 minutes.
10. Add vanilla and cream and beat again. About 1 min more.
11. Match up cookies in like sized pairs. Spoon buttercream on one side and sandwich with the other.

Best Cake Ever

So all week I been on a mission to make a cake. Everyday at school I was on the look out for the best looking cake recipe I could find, and after hours of contemplation, I finally found a recipe in my already bookmarked pages folder. So Saturday morning, I woke up with a mission. After running to the store to gather some last minute ingredients - somehow eggs never seem to last very long in my house - I was off and running. The batter itself was quite easy to make. I found it strange to add the butter to the dry ingredients, but it worked. I started out with the whisk attachment to my stand mixer, but as soon as I added the butter, it all just got stuck inside the whisk, so I switched it to the beater. It work out much better. I ended up with a very light and airy batter. I did my best to divide evenly between my three pans - 2 silicone and 1 metal - but given my inability to guesstimate, I eneded up with two that were about the same and 1 that was a tad bit more puffy. No matter though, because I just sawed off the tops of them anyway to make them all even. I had never heard of making icing in a blender before, but I have to say, I might be convert. It came out so soft and delicious; by far some of the best icing I have ever had. I would highly recommend cutting the butter up and putting it in first with the remaining sugar and vanilla on top. I put the butter in last and had a difficult time getting it all mixed up. After I'd iced the cake, I added about another 3 ounces of chocolate to the remaining batter to get a little darker to add the accent icing around the edge and in the middle. All in all, this was by far one of the most amazing cakes I have ever eaten. I brought it in to Hebrew School today and the kids just gobbled it up, which is saying something. Usually when I give them treats they eat half and then throw the rest away. Of course, my father once again said the icing was too sweet, but I saw him sneaking bites of the peices that I had sliced off. ;)

Cake:

From: stickygooeycreamychewy.blogspot.com/

• 4 whole large eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups of buttermilk
• 3 cups cake flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter at room temperature

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of three 9-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper and grease the paper.
2. Place the eggs and the yolks in a medium bowl. Add the vanilla and 1/4 cup of buttermilk. Whisk to blend well.
3. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl and whisk to blend. Add the remaining buttermilk and butter to the dry ingredients and with the mixer on low speed, blend together. Raise the mixer to medium speed and beat until light fluffy, about 2 minutes.
4. Add the egg mixture in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Mix only until thoroughly incorporated. Divide the batter among the prepared pans.
5. Bake the cake layers for 28-32 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake layers cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully turn out the cakes onto a wire rack and peel off the paper liners. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:

• 6 ounces of unsweetened chocolate melted and cooled (Plus a few more ounces if you want a darker shade)
• 4 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar
• 3 sticks butter at room temperature
• 6 tablespoons of half and half
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to incorporate. Then, process until frosting is smooth. If you want a darker shade, frost cake and leave about a cup left – add more chocolate, blend until darker color is achieved.

To assemble:

After cakes are completely cooled, place 1 cake on cake plate. Frost center. Add cake on top and repeat frosting with second and third layers. Frost sides of cake. If you want, put darker color frosting into a pastry bag using any star tip and add borders as you want.