BRUNCH: Red Velvet Donuts

My friend Chrissy always ends a week on her blog with at + / -.  The ups and downs of her week. So I figured I’d list a few…

+ I began planning a birthday cake due for Friday.  The design would be all purple and black with a tiara on top

+  My long awaited appointment to have my braces removed is set for Thursday

– Being a night owl and working long days at work caused me to be pretty exhausted throughout the week.

–  I finish a beautiful birthday cake…and then I knock the tiara off the table where it was drying…Another all nighter with no sleep to fix it, and up for work the next day.

– 19″ of snow hits the city and my dentist appointment gets cancelled.  Another week of braces.

+ Finish all my work and get to leave early just in time to make it home for the birthday cake to be picked up.

– Girl who order the cake never shows…or calls, or responds to my text/ calls.  I’m out the (be it small) amount we agreed upon for the price…NOT OKAY!!

I’d definetely say the minuses out weighed the positives….Except for one little detail of this week.  Wednesday as you well know was my dad’s birthday.  A man who doesn’t always love the spot light on him, especially when it comes to birthday celebrations or getting gifts, got the best gift, from me.

+ I put my name in at work to receive tickets to a highly anticipated show to come in April, Eric Clapton and Wynton Marsalis…and I won them!!  Strangely enough I found out I got the tickets on Wednesday so instead of just placing a quick “Happy Birthday” phone call, I got to let my dad know he’d be going to see 2 of the greatest this spring.  A great highlight for the week.

On to breakfast!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got this recipe via email from my boyfriend’s aunt, Aunt Penny a seasoned baking and candy making pro.

Red Velvet Donuts with Buttermilk Icing

2 cups all purpose unbleached flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp NATURAL cocoa

6 tbsp unsalted butter

3/4 c buttermilk or 3/4 c milk w 1 tsp vinegar and set it aside for a few minutes

2 eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 tbsp red food coloring

combine dry ingredients (flour, soda, salt, powder, and cocoa…no sugar is rarely considered “dry”) set aside.

I should mention that your cocoa should be natural, dutch processed is too dark and you won’t have a red cake.

With a hand mixer or upright cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, then buttermilk,

then vanilla, then food coloring.

Add dry ingredients.

Now to make “cake” donuts, and as you can see by the recipe this is really just  cake batter, you need either a donut pan–like a cupcake pan, OR you can get your hands on one of these spiffy new donut makers made by sunbeam.

I got a donut maker for Christmas, a rad present from my boyfriend.  I also received a deep fryer so traditional donuts are to come.  For about $30 you can have a specialty donut maker, that works alot like a waffle iron.

Plug in you donut maker and spray the cavities with nonstick cooking spray.  Close the lid and wait for the “ready” light to blink.  The easiest way to evenly distribute the batter is to use a piping bag.  I used a plastic disposable, because frankly I couldn’t begin to tell you where any of my cloth reusable ones are. Using plastic is not a great idea since it can melt if it touches the hot metal, but if your careful it will make do.

Squeeze a circular tube of batter into the donut trays. Shut the lid. About 5 minutes later you have perfect little donuts. They don’t get prettier than this.

For the icing mix 2  1/4 c powdered sugar with 1/4 cup buttermilk and 1 tsp apple cider vinegar.  I drizzled using a plastic sandwich bag with a tiny hole cut in the corner, or you could just dip the donuts.  Next time I do these I’m going to add a little softened cream cheese to the glaze for that extra tangy zip.

6 comments January 30, 2011

Dad’s Birthday Cake

Today is my dad’s birthday!!!! Happy Birthday DAD!!!!  My father is an artist of many mediums.  When he first saw some of my work (the Monet cake specifically) he told me “I paint with frosting.”  Its a big compliment coming from my dad, who can actually paint . I actually employed him on one particular occasion to start piping on cakes when I was running behind on a project, and though my great aunt on my mom’s side was once a wedding cake decorator, I’m fairly certain most of my artist edible endeavours comes from my dad’s side.

My dad doesn’t have a big sweet tooth, but he’ll indulge on a slice of his favorite find of cake.  Yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  Seems simple enough.  It was a signature cake of my great grandmother.  I however do not have my hands on her famous recipe, mostly because she kept it in her head rather than recording it.  Instead of posting another scratch yellow cake I’m going to go through a little short cut.

I’ll be honest even if it sounds snobby, I haven’t made a cake from a box in years at this point, delicious as they are.  Time saving and cost saving for sure.  You can grab a box of cake for about a dollar.  If you want to pass off that Betty Crocker confection as your own hours- spent- slaving- over- a- stove confection you might want to try this spin on that good ole stand by.

Better Betty Crocker Cake

2 boxes yellow cake, your favorite brand

1 c sour cream

8 eggs

1/2 c + 2 tbsp oil

2 tbsp mayo

3/4 c milk

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Mix milk and vinegar and set aside for 3-5 minutes, or use a comparable amount of buttermilk. Combine the rest of the ingredients with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer then add milk mixture.

Pour into 2 greased 8 inch cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes.   Cool on wracks for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and allow to cool completely.

Another little tip about baking your cakes.  If you find while you experiment with different recipes that the outside of your cake is cooling a little too fast, meanwhile the inside is still wobbly, place a cookie sheet on the rack below the cakes, or carefully place the cakes on the cookie sheet and place back in the oven.  The extra insulation slows the cooking on the outside of the cake.

Below you’ll find some tricks for assembling a picture perfect cake.

After allowing cake to cool, level layers.  That means slicing off that round hump that forms during baking.  If your cake layers are at least 2 inches thick slice in have lateral forming 2 layers, for a four layer cake.

Place the first layer on your CAKE BOARD– its time to graduate from putting your cakes on too-small dinner plates!  Do yourself a favor and get some cake boards at least 2 inches wider than the diameter of your cake.  The first layer you place down should be crumby side up– the side up that you sliced. The sealed side– the side that was against the pan should be touching the cake board.  Adhere your cake to the board with a schmere of frosting so your cake stays put as you frost.

Pipe a tube of icing, called a “dam”around the edge.  If you are using a filling spread 1/2 cup (if you are decorating a 8” cake. NOT anymore than 1/2 c or you run the risk of leakage)  If your not using a filling just use frosting.  Place you next layer on.  If this is your last layer it should be sealed side up– this way you have less crumbs to deal with when icing.  If this is only your second layer continue to build –piping a dam, adding filling.  You final layer should be sealed side up as I mentioned.

If your cake is really soft, refridgerate to settle the cake.  When your ready add your frosting.  Start with the top of the cake, “working” frosting out to the edges.  I use the word “work” here to signify that you gradually cover the cake.  Work slowly side to side.  Work with the frosting .  No large heavy swipes.  Your spatula should never touch  the actual cake. There should always be frosting between the cake and the spatula.  The frosting on the top of the cake should slightly hang over the edge.

Start to add frosting to the sides of the cake.  Bend your torso over the cake (you should always stand when icing, the cake at waist height) your elbo should be pointing up toward the ceiling, your spatula at a right angle to the cake board, parallel to the side of the cake.

Once your cake is covered you can utilize your turn table to smooth the edge of your Frosting.

2 comments January 26, 2011

Harry Harry Potter

I’m a little too obsessed with Harry Potter for a gal who is well out of grade school.  And I’ve been waiting for someone to request a Harry Potter themed cake for some time. Sure I have the ambition to make a Horcrux themed cake just for the Hell of it, but staying up all night working on a cake with no party to bring it to, is like getting all dressed up on a Saturday night with no where to go.

I’d planned a recipe to accompany this cake, but I didn’t have time to make butter beer in addition to this cake, so instead I’ll focus on technique.  I haven’t really focused on a lesson in technique in awhile.  Mostly because after teaching 500 people the basic principles of cake decorating I know its important to have a teacher demonstrating, otherwise we all would have just read a book on decorating and figured it out.

This year when my friend Peter’s daughter Madeline asked for a Harry Potter themed cake, I was obviously thrilled and seeing as I’m goingto focus on the decorating part in this post, I’ll mention a few tricks I’ve learned in the year since the last birthday Madeline celebrated.

The last birthday cake I made for Madeline was topped with a Pegasus.  Of course I refused to just pipe one on a square sheet cake which would have totally been a big hit still. Instead I choose to sculpted a winged horse, and though the party guests thought it was cool, I was a bit unsatisfied with my results. So here are a few tips on working with gum paste and fondant, when it comes to crazy cakes.

Lets break it down here is what you have to work with when it comes to sculpting toppers, and decorations:

FONDANT: There are lots of kinds of Fondant.  If you’ve read my Marshmallow Fondant post from last year, than perhaps you experimented with different types already.  With the popularity of cake decorating shows ready-made fondant is easy to find in craft stores, as well as on the internet.  True traditional fondant known as “European Fondant” is boiled sugar that is then cooled and folded (fondre in French means “to fold” rendering the name Fondant).  As its folded it continues to cool and become white.  There are lots of alternative recipes to making European Fondant at home.  Its actually a bit dangerous, as you run the risk of burning yourself.  You might come across some resipes for Rolled Fondant which contain gelatin, sugar, and crisco and sometimes cornsyrup.  I’m sure this is a great alternative, but I have yet to try it out.

GUM PASTE: is also a sugar dough.  It contains gum usually tagacanth gum, talose, or karaya gum to add strength.  You can make it at home without the risk of third degree burns.  At some point I’ll put a recipe up here, thats easy to make and works well– It will also save you the cost of buying ready-made.

I should also mention that Gum paste is also referred to as Pastilliage, or Sugar Paste. These are similar, recipes vary a little but really they are the same thing.

MARZIPAN Before the Ace of Cakes and Extreme Cake Challenges there was Marzipan.  This is a sugar dough used for sculpting and its made from almonds.  I’ve used it once or twice– I’m not proficient in it, but it bares mentioning. And if you are interested you can find lots of intriguing books on marzipan sculpting.

Modeling Chocolate is also an option when decorating, but lets stay focused on the sugar doughs.

FONDANT vs GUM PASTE

They can be interchanged depending on the project.  Other times you must use one and Not the other.

Fondant is used to cover cakes, NEVER Gumpaste.

If you are using Fondant to add ribbons, or a bow to a cake– or any relatively thin design that needs a little strength — more than what typical fondant can offer, you can use only gum paste or add gum paste to the fondant.  A 50 /50 ratio is good. your design will begin to take shape and dry faster with gum paste added.

Gum Paste is best for delicate designs. Its added strength means that you can roll it out very very thin, pull it, vein it, feather it, and it doesn’t tear.  Or at least it doesn’t tear and rip the way Fondant can.  Beware as gum paste fades in color while it dries, approximately 2-3 shades.

Fondant and Gum Paste will both dry hard, but fondant takes a lot longer to do so.

Sculpting: In my experience fondant is best.  I realize that there are folks who might argue, but to each their own.  The Pegasus topper I made just one year ago is a perfect example of why fondant is better for sculpted pieces.  I’m sure you can see in alot of pictures that the body of horse was smooth and sturdy– made from fondant.  The legs crumbled and continued to crumble no matter what– worsening as time when on– they were made from gum paste.

The big factors in sculpting are:

1.What are you making? A rubber duck, a shoe, a sewing machine, a rose. If its thin and delicate use gum paste, otherwise use fondant.

2. Make sure your design can adequately dry on undisturbed propped up or balanced in a way the design won’t sag or get dented.

3. what kind of fondant are you using?

Wilton Fondant is great for Sculpting. It is a bit drier than other fondants, without quite as much elasticity.  It has a reputation in the world of fondant for having one of the more unpopular flavors, but its great for sculpting.  Duff’s Fondant on the other hand is far more elastic. Its flavor is a little more vanilla infused.  And there are chocolate and lemon flavors to choose from.  I highly recommend this brand to novice for covering cakes as its stretches and stretches and stretches without tearing.

So lets get the the nitty gritty.  You can’t have a Harry Potter cake without a snitch.  So I’ll walk you through how I went about sculpting this important feature.

First I pinched off a piece of fondant and began to roll it into a ball.  About golf ball size.  The longer you roll the more the seams and wrinkles in your fondant will disappear.  Try your best to make a spherical shape.  You want to beable to view your cake from all angles so if you snitch is really lumpy on one side, your work won’t look as good.  Let the ball set.  I find the best way is to insert a toothpick in the bottom center.  Dipping the tooth pick in a little vanilla extract will ensure the snitch doesn’t slide, as it dries and it makes for an easy way to paint and insert the snitch into the cake later.

If you do your detailed work under a warm light I suggest setting the tooth pick into foam and setting in a cool place away from a hot lamp.  This allows your design to dry quicker.

Now for the wings.  I rolled out a thin sheet of fondant, though reading all my rules above– gum paste would have done the trick. Like I said Wilton fondant is a little drier and can stand in in some cases.  my small sheet of fondant was less than 1/16″ of an inch thick.  If you use a Wilton 9″ rolling pin it comes with bands that help you make proper measurements.

I cut 4 wing shapes with a flower petal cuter.  Always make extra for the delicate pieces to save from breakage. On a thin piece of shaping foam I “balled” the edges of each wing.  Using a balling tool press slightly into the edge of the wing as you move around the edge of the shape.  This is important: the balling tool should be half on the wing’s edge, half on the foam.  As you trace the shape you’ll notice the edge thins and rises off the foam.  (Use a little powdered sugar on the foam and balling tool to save the sugar dough from sticking.)

I left the center and one of the pointed ends of the wing alone, so that it  remained thick enough to insert a short piece of floral wire.  2-3″ inches of thin floral wire dipped in clear vanilla will remain relatively hidden inside the wing and will allow you to assemble your snitch when you are finished. Weave it through and try to keep it from poking through.

I then used a veining tool (the larger end) to create a ruffle.  Hold the veining tool like a pencil. Press down on edge of the wing and pull away from the wing and in toward your chest. Continue to make indentations consecutively around the under side of the wing.  You are using the heel of the vein tool, to press on the edge. Don’t curl your wrist as you do it, else the point of the veiner will pierce the dough.

I then used the viening tool to make impressions laterally across the wing. to create a texture.

Allow the wings to rest on a flower former or the corner of a cookie sheet.  This allows a natural shape to set.

When your ball and wings are relatively dry, paint with color food paint.  I used my Americolor air brush paint.  My airbrushes (Both of them!!) are not working else I would have just sprayed the pieces. A soft paint brush does a great job as well.  Paint one side of the leaves and allow to dry, (15 minutes should be good), then paint the other side.  Hold the ball by the tooth pick to paint all sides.  Allow your pieces to set completely.– Using fondant for the ball piece ensures that the piece will still be soft enough to assemble hours later.

Insert the wings into the sides of the ball.  Make any touch ups needed after adhering to your cake.

2 comments January 25, 2011

Serendipity 3, Part 3 Frozen Hot Chocolate

We can’t talk about Serendipity 3 without discussing Frozen Hot Chocolate.  Its similar to a milk shake, but it doesn’t contain ice cream.  More of a combination of high quality chocolates, blended with milk and ice.  Served overflowing in a old fashioned sundea dish with whip cream and chocolate shavings.  Serendipity uses a combination of fancy chocolates, and though they have a frozen Hot Chocolate mix you can buy and make at home, they’ve managed to keep their lips sealed in terms of what exactly is in the drink they’ve made famous.  Rumor has it they wouldn’t even share the recipe with Ms. Jackie Kennedy Onasis.

So Paula Deen has a recipe, and so does Oprah, both pretty similar.  So I’m going to take these and then add a little something extra: Godiva Liquor.

From Oprah.com Start with:

3 oz of high quality chocolate chopped into little pieces

2 teaspoons hot chocolate– I used dark hot chocolate by Land o Lakes

2 1/2 Tbsp Sugar

1 1/2 c milk

3 c ice

1 shot Godiva liquor (optional)

Melt Chocolate in a double boiler.  Add Cocoa and Sugar.  Remove from heat and add 1/2 c milk stirring until smooth.  Set aside to cool to room temperature.

In a blender pour 1 c milk, 3 cups ice, Godiva liquor and cool chocolate mixture.  Blend until smooth.  To serve Serendipity style, pour into a shallow sundae dish or goblet.  Place Saucer underneath to catch slip over.  Add whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

1 comment January 20, 2011

Serendipity 3, Part 2 Homemade Ice Cream

So I’ve been looking around for Homemade ice cream recipes. One of my fondess foodie memories was when I was 10 years old.  I was at a girl scout camping sleep over and we made our own homemade vanilla ice cream.  I think I can safely say this was before the days of readily available home ice cream makers.

We poured a concoction of cream and sugar into small coffee cans. Carefully sealed the lid shut.  Put the small can into a large coffee canister (one of our leaders must have drank coffee by the gallon considering there were 12 pairs of us.) Added ice and rock salt.  Then each pair of girls rolled a can between each other on the floor.  20 minutes later each of us had made our very own vanilla ice cream (or chocolate if we chose to add the syrup.)

I got this fun little cooking timer at the gift shop at Serendipity 3. Fitting for this post no?

To add to the recipes inspired by my and my boyfriend’s adventures at Serendipity 3 I found myself craving ice cream and feeling a little nostalgic for my girl scouting DIY days.  Sans ice cream maker and large coffee canisters I searched around the internet and found some interesting recipes.

Here are a few factoids I wasn’t aware of: Most ice cream recipes call for egg or egg yolks.  Many times its cooked into a custard before freezing. This is a custard recipe or a “french custard” recipe, hence the term “French Vanilla.” “Philadelphia” style recipes call for cream and sugar, no eggs and are not cooked.  I’ve only seen it in upstate New York, but if you are an upstater like me you are familiar with Stewart’s Shop’s brand of “Philadelphia Vanilla.”

I was looking for the easiest possible recipe, no cooking, no ice cream maker. I searched around and put together the following. You will need:

3 c heavy cream

1 c milk (I used 2%)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine ingredients in a shallow dish like a pyrex pan.  I used a bread pan since room in my freezer was limited.  Freeze for an hour then stir– you’ll find the edges frozen but the center still runny.  Continue to stir every 30 minutes until you have the consistency you’d like– soft or some people like their ice cream more firm.  Cover with plastic wrap until ready to serve. I found that after stirring once or twice it was a lot like soft serve.   If you want to try and keep it from getting icy– the milk has a higher water content- throw the ice cream in you stand mixer, then back into the freezer.

Make sure to cover with plastic wrap, and seal in a tight container to keep from getting freezer burnt.

Add a comment January 19, 2011

Sunday Brunch: Les Crepes or Serendipity 3, Part 1

Last weekend my boyfriend and I celebrated our one year anniversary.  If you’ll allow me to gush a bit let me say aside from being a huge supporter of my eccentric endeavors he also plays a role in some of my work.  I’ve put him to work cutting out pieces of fondant or gum paste and he regularly will stay up late late at night helping me finish a cake.  Thats him in the pictures from Scott’s Wedding, helping me assemble the cake.  By trade he is a talented graphic designer and actually designed this website– thats how we met.

He loves good food, especially dessert, like me so when we first started dating we hit up  all sorts of good restaurants in the Bronx’s Little Italy and all over New York testing out stuff, coming up with ideas and brainstorming.

Last weekend after a delicious Indian dinner, I was craving dessert big time.  Unfortunately I’m not a big fan of Indian desserts so I suggested we go to Magnolia, though I’ve heard less than great things about their cupcakes. Its one of those New York things you should say you’ve done. I do have respect for Magnolia considering they are very much responsible for the trend in cupcakes these days.  We opted quickly from finding the original Magnolia store downtown when I had the bright idea that we go to Serendipity 3.

Serendipity 3 is a restaurant known for large servings, a long line, and extravagent desserts, especially the Frozen Hot Chocolate.   I’ve got a version of it to come later, but for now I’m focusing on Crepes.

Phil, ordered the Ice Cream Crepe– which I indulged in of course.  He is a huge fan of crepes.  There is a restaurant in his home town called Ravenous that serves nothing but crepes, both savory and sweet. So its safe to say he grew up on them.  What Serendipity serves is a huge crepe with bananas, strawberries, and raspberry syrup.  Topped with 3 huge scoops of ice cream. It could be dessert or breakfast and simpy talking about it now makes me so hungry my mouth is watering. I can safely say it was one of the first desserts I can remember eating when I wasn’t jonesing for more ice cream.  You know when you order dessert and the ice cream has melted by the time you get your dish or the serving was to stingy to begin with.  This dessert was so good it got me off the hook for making him wait in the long New York City tourist line in the cold.

So here is a great crepe recipe from Good Eats.  Serve it for breakfast, or dessert and fill with just about anything sweet.

Crepes from Alton Brown’s Good Eats:

2 1/2 tsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

3/4 c milk

1/2 c water

1 c flour

3 tsp melted butter

Blend all ingredients for 7-10 seconds only! Store in fridge for at least an hour.  Will store for up to 3 days.

Seriously only 7-10 seconds, otherwise you will have pancakes, not crepes. Heat and butter pan.  Pour in crepe batter– the first one always sucks, kind of like pancakes.  Swirl batter around the pan until it looks dry at the edges.

Fill with fruit, chocolate, nutella or any combination.  I opted for strawberries and mangos.  Fresh frozen fruit is great when your favorite fruits are out of season.  Just throw in to a hot pan to flash thaw.  Set aside while making the crepe.

Fold over.  A few golden brown spot are good, but don’t over cook.

Add whipped cream or ice cream if you dare. I’ll be adding a really easy homemade ice cream recipe tomorrow– featured above! This crepe is delicious with just fruit, or if you opted to go simple add only butter and a spattering of powdered sugar. I drizzled mine with blueberry infused agave nectar.  I could eat my weight in crepes like this. Truly Serendipitious…if thats even a word.

5 comments January 17, 2011

New Starts

Been awhile ay?  I’m sorry I tend to fall off the face of the earth.  The holidays swamped me its true, between a dozen gift baskets chuck full of homemade vanilla extract, cake in a jar, hot cocoa cones, and homemade dog treats for my family members that have dogs of course, add to it christmas cookies, all which equals not a lot of time to actually blog about all the blog related things I was up to.

The truth is on top of it all I was in the midst of quitting my job of 8, almost 9 years and starting an AWESOME new job at none other than Lincoln Center!!!!  I’ll be adding a post soon about leaving my old theatre and green tea cupcakes. But first a recap of my first week at JAZZ at Lincoln Center.

First, I feel like a gold fish.  You know how they say that gold fish really only have a 10 second memory, so they are probably thinking “Wow, check out that castle…Ohh cool Check out that castle!” Well when you have view of Columbus Circle and Central Park from the Atrium or even better The Allen Room from the best theater I can think of, its hard not to continually pinch myself everytime I look out the window. Wooow!

It will take a little time to get used to the subway ride verses jumping in my car but its short and sweet for the most part and I’m 10 pages from finishing a book I’ve been working on for months.  By the way the book is called Baking Cakes in Kilgari. I’m not sure if you can even get your hands on a copy of it yet. I got a copy from a librarian friend of mine, Chrissy, you remember clicking vote for her everyday from November-December.  She didn’t win by the way :(.  But she still gets her hands on editors copies and pre-releases of books and from time to time I get sent a cool little care package with cake and cooking related books!  Its a great story about a woman who makes her way in Rwanda, shortly after the war, making relationships and amends through the amazing cakes she makes for those around her.  An uplifting and inspirational tale.

Okay back to my first week.  Day one Verizon makes a huge announcement about debuting the iPhone on their network…in my new theatre.  Busy is a good way to describe the day, moreso for my coworkers. The following day the National Endownment for the Arts held their annual Jazz Masters induction ceremony.  Among others honored was the entire Marsalis Family.  I ended my second day watching Wynton Marsalis perform accompaned by his 3 brothers and 78 year old father Ellis.  Pretty amazing and considering they don’t play together often, really AMAZING.

I’m ending my week working on a Harry Potter themed birthday Cake which will go up in the gallery soon!

But lets keep it simple for now.  Yellow Cake, and my own recipe at that.  I was using different recipes, one that was great that I then misplaced and haven’t found since, then I tried one from Martha Stewart’s Wedding Cakes that was faaaar less than impressive– didn’t even look yellow.  So then I used an easy white cake recipe, that was O.K.  But I would find once in awhile that it wouldn’t always rise correctly just melt all over my cake pans.  Its truly disappointing when you’ve doubled or tripled the recipe, and are now 36 cupcakes in and forced to start over again. So I experiemented and came up with this.  Its also a great way to get rid of all those egg yolks you end up with after you’ve made Swiss Merignue Butter Cream.

Ella’s Yellow Cake

1 c butter (softened at room temp)

3 cup granulated sugar

12 egg yolks ( I used my left overs from Swiss Merignue Butter Cream)

2 eggs

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp vanilla extract

3  1/2 c milk (2%)

2  1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

5  c flour

2 tsp baking powder

2  1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4  tsp salt

Add Vinegar to Milk, whisk briefly and set aside.  Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy– remember not crumbly, fluffy.  Add an egg yolk only one or two at a time, making sure they are combined after each addition.  Add eggs. I should mention the recipe works without the extra eggs, I just prefer it with the extra strength of those 2 egg whites.  Add vanilla.

Combine dry ingredients. Alternate adding dry ingredients starting with Flour and ending with flour.  Sometimes I find I need an extra 1/2 cup of flour so use your discretion. Pour into buttered and floured pans.  Bake at 350.  about 10-12 minutes for cupcakes, and 25-30 minutes for cake pans depending on how much you fill them. Recipe makes almost 48 cupcakes.  Or 2 10″ square cakes so feel free to cut the recipe down.  I tend to need alot when I bake so…

1 comment January 15, 2011