Hot Milk Cake Lemon Buttercream

This was my first attempt at a Hot Milk Cake.  It tastes a bit like angel food cake.  Very light, fluffy and sweet.  I frosted it with a lemon buttercream.  To make this I added 3 tablespoons of home made lemon curd to every one cup of vanilla buttercream.

The hot milk cake recipe I got from my newest favorite book: Miette

This cake is for my boyfriend's mom's birthday.  Happy Birthday Donna!

S'more Pie please!

I found a recipe on http://www.justataste.com/2011/07/smore-pie/ for a smore pie that looked so good I had to make it.  I have to admit the first attempt did not turn out so great.  While the chocolate part was fantastic, the marshmallow part was a bit...hate to use this word on a food blog but, snotty.  Eeeew, I know.  I didn't give up hope.  I had made marshmallows before, so I used that recipe to make the top part.  Here is my adapted recipe.  It is rich, creamy, fluffy, sweet, ooey, gooey and just summer-lovin good!  It'll have every body asking for S'more Pie please!  (I know, I'm a bit of a nerd, I can't help it)

S'More Pie

 

Ingredients:

Chocolate filling

1 nine inch pre made graham cracker crust, or make your own

1 cup bittersweet chocolate, (not more then 70% cacao) I don't have the greatest selection here, but I often use Ghiradelli's dark chocolate 60% cacao chips

1 cup heavy cream

1 large egg, room temp

Marshmallow:

1 1/2 packages unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup ice cold water, divided

 3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste

I scaled this recipe down as much as I could, you will still have some left over, store in an air tight container at room temp.  Ooh, I see some rice krispy treats in my son's future.

Directions:

Unwrap the pie shell and place it on a cookie sheet.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

First make the chocolate filling by placing the chopped chocolate in a large bowl.

Bring the heavy cream to a boil in a heavy saucepan then pour it over the chopped chocolate and let it sit for 1 minute.

Whisk together the chocolate and heavy cream until it's thoroughly incorporated and smooth.

Gently whisk in the egg and a pinch of salt until combined then pour the mixture into the prepared pie crust (it will be about half full).

Cover the exposed crust with a pie shield or foil.

Bake the pie for 20 to 25 minutes, just until the chocolate is mostly set but slightly jiggly in the center.

Allow the pie to cool on a rack for one hour while you make the marshmallow topping.

                                                     MARSHMALLOW TOPPING:

Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/4 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.

In a small saucepann combine the remaining 1/4 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt.

Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F.

Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture.

Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high.

Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm.

Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping.

Immediately pour the marshmallow topping over the pie. It will be loose enough to spread.

Refrigerate the pie for one hour, uncovered, then cover it with plastic wrap that has been coated lightly in vegetable oil and chill it for 3 more hours.

Preheat the broiler.

Place the pie on a cookie sheet, remove the plastic wrap and cover the pie edges with a pie shield or foil.

Very carefully rotate the pie under the burner, about 3 to 4 inches away from the flame, just until the top is evenly browned, about 3 minutes.

Let the pie cool for 10 minutes before slicing it with a sharp knife dipped in hot water.

Italian Buttercream

I am in LOVE with this buttercream.  I have been hesitant to try European buttercream because it seemed so technical and I'm more of a figure-it-out-as-you-go kind a gal, but holy crap it is so worth the trouble.  And really after I've made it a few times I'm sure it won't even feel like a big deal to make.  It is so far superior to any American buttercream you will never look back.

It tastes like cross between whip cream and what we know as buttercream.  It is silky and smooth and light like whip cream, but tastes rich and creamy like a buttercream.

Here is what you need:

2 cups sugar

1/3 cup water

5 large egg whites (Room temp eggs)

1 tea cream of tartar

3 cups unsalted butter- (soft)

1 tablespoon vanilla paste (or 2 tablespoon vanilla extract)

Candy thermometer

Okay, this may sound complicated but really, it's not so bad, and totally worth it.  Here's a very key tip: Make sure all your ingredients are ROOM TEMPERATURE. 

1. Small pan over med heat, combine sugar & water.  Clip candy thermometer to side.  Cook mixture until reads 248 degrees. About 5-10 min.  Keep your eye on it!

2.  Meanwhile combine egg whites (room temp) and cream of tartar in bowl of standing mixer with whisk attachment.  When sugar mixture reaches 240 degrees start whisking egg mixture at med-low speed.

3. When mixture reaches 248 degrees, reduce speed to low and very slowly pour mixture into the bowl.  Try not to splatter the very hot sugar.  Once all the sugar has been added turn the mixer to high and beat until cool to the touch (not cold-cool, just barely warm if that makes sense).  An instant read thermometer would read 65-70 degrees.  This should take about 5-10 minutes (or even up to 15 min). 

4. Once meringue cool enough (very important, if not cool enough, it will separate), begin adding butter.  Reduce speed to medium and while mixer running add butter 1 tbl at a time.  Make sure it is completely mixed in before adding more.  The mixture may deflate and begin to look curdled.  Raise the speed to high and continue adding tablespoon sized butter, making sure each one is blended in before adding more. Once all the butter is added the frosting should be smooth and thick.  Add the vanilla and mix to combine.

5. Use it immediately, or cover and refrigerate until needed.  Store in zip lock bag for one week in fridge and up to one month in freezer.  (To thaw, leave in fridge over night, not counter).  To use frosting that has been chilled, remove from fridge and bring to room temp, about one hour or microwave in 15 second intervals, mixing in between each until soft. 

The pic I took is of a raspberry buttercream. After making the frosting add 3 tablespoons raspberry juice to every 1 cup frosting.  It gives it a very pretty pink color with just a touch of berry flavor.

Raspberry Juice

2 cups raspberries

2 tbl water

1 tbl sugar

Cook over med-low heat 10-15 min, until berries liquefied

strain

Cool to room temp before adding to buttercream



Lemon Cupcakes, White Chocolate Buttercream

I got these super cute robot candy molds that I have been dying to try out.  Long story short, I ended up with some white chocolate ganache that may have resembled broken robots.  I didn't want it to go to waste so I made lemon cupcakes with a blueberry white chocolate buttercream

For the buttercream I just added the white chocolate ganache to butter, cream, and (a little) powdered sugar (be careful, white chocolate is already so sweet).  To half the frosting I added a blueberry flavoring oil.  So citrusy and creamy and sweet, yummy!

Doughnut Pops

Doughnuts are cute.  Doughnuts on a Popsicle stick are even cuter.  If I had some little bags and bows for packaging they would be so cute, I probably wouldn't be able to handle it!

HOME MADE (SEMI) DOUGHNUTS:

One can buttermilk biscuits

lots of vegetables oil or shortening

Cut biscuits to desired size, cut whole out of middle, slightly larger then you want.  The middle hole will fill in and get smaller when you cook them

Heat oil in pan, it doesn't have to be enough to cover biscuit, you can flip them over.

Test oil with small piece of dough, oil should bubble around.

Cook each side for about 15 seconds or when get golden brown.

Cool, frost, sprinkle, wha la!