Double Rainbow Birthday Cupcakes

I know a very special girl who turned 3 this weekend, and she loves rainbows. Her dad is on deployment, so I wanted to make her something really awesome for her birthday and help out her mom, who is so busy. I have seen the rainbow cupcakes everywhere, but the idea for the sky frosting and rainbow candy I just saw the other day on another website, and I decided to try it. I think these turned out AWESOME, and the birthday girl loved them!

I just used a boxed cake mix and used a 1/4 cup measure to scoop batter into each bowl, until I ran out of batter (it is important that you have roughly the same amount of each color, or else your last few cupcakes will be purple, blue, green and yellow only ) You only put a tiny amount of each batter into the cupcake liners, and don't worry about spreading it out or anything, it all works out when they bake. Be careful not to overfill, because you can't take any batter out once you put it in! Also, food coloring gel works waaaaaaaaaaaaay better than liquid color, you need way less of it.

Once they were done, I let the cool completely, and since my frosting turned out to be yellow, not white like I thought, I dyed it blue, and then I used marshmallows to make the clouds. I microwaved them for about 10 seconds and then immediately put them on the cupcakes, in little clumps of 3. Without the microwaving, they just look like marshmallows, and if you wait too long, they start to get sticky and you end up having to scrape them off your fingers.

To make the rainbows, I got Airheads Extremes rainbow sour belts, at the Dollar Tree. Cut each strip in half, and gently pressed each end into the marshmallow clouds. Taa daa!

It's Been A While

I haven't been on my blog in a few months, ever since my new addition. Having a toddler and a baby makes it tough to get more than a few moments alone. I thought I should start up again by sharing something totally amazing...my birthday cake.

It all started with a vision. Growing up, my mom started making me a birthday cake, chocolate with french vanilla or cream cheese frosting and fresh strawberries. I got it every year, and started making it for my own birthday when I moved out. But lately, cake has seemed...boring. It's always dry, the frosting is too sugary, there isn't any filling, or the filling isn't any good, or the frosting is good, but the cake isn't, whatever. Cake was never perfect.

I saw a recipe for red velvet crepes a few days ago, with Nutella filling. I thought that sounded amazing, and considered making it for my birthday. Then I remembered the cake I loved growing up. I thought about the individual merits of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. Cake, frosting, and filling.

And then my vision came.

I have never been good at making multi layer round cakes. One layer always ends up sliding off the other, and I can never get the frosting to cover the whole cake, it usually ends up sort of melting off. I tried some new ideas and got everything to come together exactly as I pictured.

I bought a boxed vanilla cake mix, cocoa powder, Nutella, strawberry flavoring, strawberries, and strawberry glaze. I had red food coloring on hand already. I also had 3 disposable 9" round cake pans. Here's how you make it:

Mix the cake according to directions, and divide 3 equal portions into separate bowls.

Add 1/4 cup cocoa powder to one, 2 Tsp strawberry flavoring and some red food dye to the other, and leave one plain.

Pour each batter into its own greased and floured pan, and bake according to directed temp, but cutting the time down, since the cake will be thinner (it took mine about 20 mins instead of 30). You will have to bake two layers at once, and do the third after.

Let the cakes cool, put a plate over your cake pan, and flip to release the cake. If your layers are really high in the middle, saw a little off the top with a knife to even them out.

Put your chocolate layer on a serving platter, and cover with Nutella (I microwaved the Nutella for a few seconds which helped it spread). Put the vanilla layer on top of that and cover with cream cheese frosting. Put the strawberry layer on top, cover with strawberry glaze, and sprinkle with fresh strawberry chunks.

That's it! It was sooooo easy. I did everything up until glazing the top, and put the cake in the fridge overnight. It helped to keep the layers from sliding all over when I sliced it. It also helps to wipe off your knife after each slice, so you get a nice clean cut every time.

I love the Neopolitan ice cream look it had, and I thought it looked more classy without frosting on the outside. Plus, it was easier. I think this is going to be my birthday cake for the rest of my life.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

So I randomly decided to try my hand at breadmaking the other day. I don't have a breadmaker, and I ALWAYS seem to kill the yeast, so I have never really been into it. I discovered recently why my bread never rises...it is not a good idea to store your yeast in the cabinet above your oven, which gets hot enough to cook bread itself. I feel so stupid; I can't believe I never thought of that.

So, I got some new yeast, and tried a recipe I found online for plain white homemade bread. The recipe called for too much flour and too little water, so it took forever to get the proportions right, which meant that the dough was waaaaaaay overworked by the time I got it right (I decided to use the dough hook on my Kitchenaid, rather than knead by hand). I also had been keeping the yeast in the big pantry cupboard next to my oven, which I think is also too hot, as the yeast only partially activated. So, yeast in the fridge from now on!

This time, I used yeast that a friend brought over, and my new wet/dry ratio, and added spices, raisins and sugar, and ended up with awesome bread! The recipe is kind of trial and error; you start out with some general ingredient measurements, and adjust as you go. This can be made so many ways...herb bread, cheese bread, you can add dried fruit, or just go plain. Give it a try!



Homemade Cinnamon Raisin Bread
Makes 1 loaf

3-4 C flour
1 C warm water (around 110 degrees)
2 1/4 Tsp active dry yeast
1 Tsp white sugar
1 Tsp salt
1 Tbsp melted butter

2/3 C brown sugar (this bread is mildly sweet; add a bit more if you want it sweeter)
1 Tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 C raisins

Fill measuring cup with 1 cup warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top of the water, add the white sugar, and stir to break up any lumps. Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes, until the top of the water becomes thick and foamy -- this means the yeast is working. If is doesn't foam, your water is too hot or too cold, and you need to toss it and start over.

Add the salt, melted butter, brown sugar, spice, raisins, and 1 cup flour to your mixing bowl (this recipe is assuming you are using a stand mixer with a dough hook...no hand kneading!). Add the yeast water and start mixing, slowly adding more flour 1/2 cup at a time, until it forms a dough that is dry enough to not stick to the sides of the mixer, but wet enough to be slightly sticky. You may need to add a touch more flour or water to get it right.

Let the mixer run on a medium speed for 10 minutes, checking periodically to pull the dough off the hook (it will start to work up and over the hook after a while and just spin in circles). The dough should be smooth and soft to the touch when done, kind of like your skin.

Lightly grease a large bowl with butter, canola oil, or shortening. Form your dough into a ball, and roll it around the bowl to coat it in your fat of choice. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and place in a warm, dry place (above the fridge is good, or in your oven if it is not hot). Let the dough rise until it is doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Uncover the dough and punch it in the middle, and it should pull away from the sides. Knead it a few times, and form it into a loaf shape. Place it back in the bowl and recover, and let it rise again for another 40 minutes or so.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place the loaf on a greased, floured baking sheet, or use a Silpat, which is an awesome silicone mat used for baking. Cut a few slashes in the top to keep it from tearing as it cooks. It won't hurt if you forget, but it looks nicer with the cuts on the top.

Place in your oven and cook for 20-30 minutes, or until it is big and fluffy and lightly brown all over. Let the bread cool before slicing, or it will get crumbly and fall apart.



Spread with butter and eat, or use it for french toast, or pop it in the toaster and cover with peanut butter...anything, really!



P.S,

Sorry for the lack of pictures in progress; I'm working on remembering to take them :P

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies

I am usually a big chocolate person...if I have a choice of desserts, I am going to choose the one with chocolate. That being said, I got bored and decided to go to my favorite recipe website, allrecipes.com, and find some inspiration to make cookies. The first recipe I found was for plain cookies with jam in the center. Never being able to leave well enough alone, I thought the cookies would be so much better with peanut butter! I adapted the recipe I found a bit to suit my tastes, and here is what I came up with:



Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

Makes about 2 dozen

6 Tbsp Crisco
6 Tbsp butter
1/2 C sugar
1/4 C peanut butter
1 egg yolk
1 Tsp vanilla
1/2 Tsp baking powder
1/2 Tsp baking soda
1 3/4 C flour
Grape jelly

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the first 6 ingredients with a stand or hand mixer until creamy. Sift dry ingredients and add slowly, mixing just until fully incorporated. The mixture will be somewhat crumbly but should easily roll into a ball. Take pieces of dough and roll them roughly the size of a bouncy ball. Place on a baking sheet, spaced 2" apart, and make a well in each cookie with your thumb. Fill with a small amount of jelly, about 1/4 teaspoon. Do not overfill, the jelly will boil in the oven and you don't want it to spill over. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the edges just begin to turn brown. Place on a rack to cool.



These cookies turned out so rich and buttery, and sweet but not too sweet. I buy reduced sugar jelly (no artificial sweeteners added), and without all that sugar it is more tart and not so overpowering. I think it really makes a difference. Overall, I think the recipe could be changed in many ways and is pretty foolproof. And they received the toddler Seal of Approval, so that has to mean something!

Crumbly Blackberry Cobbler

So my first few posts won't be that great, because I don't have any pictures of my process, but I have a few great recipes. First off is my blackberry cobbler.

I like my cobbler to have a crumbly, cookie-like crust on top. Some people make something a little more like a cake, which does not appeal to me. After picking about 4 cups of fresh blackberries down by the harbor, I knew it was cobbler time, but I could not find a recipe to suit my needs. So, I made my own. The end result was a perfect mix of sweet and tart, soft and crispy, and hot and cold, thanks to a healthy scoop of vanilla ice cream, which is a must.

I'm waiting for the recipe to be approved on Allrecipes.com, so in the mean time, here it is.



Crumbly Blackberry Cobbler
Serves 12

Ingredients:

4 cup fresh blackberries
3 tablespoons corn starch
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Crust:

1 cup corn flakes, coarsely crushed
1 cup flour
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cold water
1 stick cold butter, divided

Vanilla ice cream, yogurt or whipped cream for serving (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Add cornstarch to cold water and stir until dissolved.
3. Place blackberries in a 3 quart saucepan, and pour starch mixture over. Add sugars and stir to dissolve. Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and add vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, mix all crust ingredients except butter, then add half of the stick of butter and cut into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter until it is coarse and crumbly. Add water, one tablespoon at a time, until mixture just starts to hold together. Adjust water amount as necessary.
5. Place berry mixture into a 9x13 baking dish, and crumble crust all over the top. Melt the remaining 1/2 stick of butter, and slowly pour all over the top of the cobbler.
6. Place the cobbler in the preheated oven and bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes, and then turn the oven up to a broil and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes until the crust is golden brown.
7. Serve with ice cream, yogurt or whipped cream, if desired.

Note:
You may need to adjust the sugar depending on the sweetness of your berries. This recipe is tailored to more tart berries.