Yellow Butter Cake

It is said that if you're going to have dessert, portion-controlled servings are the way to go.
I find that logic almost interesting.

Regardless, I gave it a try. And I believe this clever strategy has the potential to work!

I can't  begin to tell you how many of these single-serving cakes I've had this week  plus the strong urge to swing from power lines was undeniable.

However, should my body start to block out the sun, I will have to forgo the experts' advice, and resort to baking mini cupcakes instead...

You'll probably think it prosaic to blog about yellow cake, when you consider the endless times I've declared my love for chocolate cake. But this humble classic takes me back to my childhood. And to all the birthdays this type of cake has made its appearance. Light in texture, not overly sweet, buttery and very comfortable sharing the spotlight with just about any buttercream.

These cupcakes were topped with some fantasy-type flowers, which I'll refer to as   'camellias' because who would gainsay me? Who?
In any case, a fancy swirled top would also be pretty. I will be sharing both, my favorite buttercream, and a  simple way to pipe flowers, in time for Valentine's Day.

Yellow Butter Cake

4 large eggs, room temperature
½ cup heavy cream
¼ cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2¼ cups sifted cake flour
1½ cups superfine sugar*
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, each stick cut into 8 pieces

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two 9-inch pans and line bottoms with parchment paper. Or, line a standard cupcake pan, with cupcake liners. Whisk together eggs, heavy cream, sour cream and vanilla. Remove 1 cup of this mixture and set aside.

Combine cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Mix on lowest speed to blend, about 30 seconds. While mixer is still running, add butter, one piece at a time (Make sure to cover mixer bowl with a kitchen towel for the initial mixing, to keep all the ingredients in the bowl instead of your lovely face :).

Mix until butter and flour begin to look  pebbly, with pieces about the size of peas, 30 to 40 seconds after all the butter is added. Add reserved 1 cup egg mixture, mixing on lowest speed until until incorporated, about 10 seconds. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.

Add remaining egg mixture  into batter, in slow, steady stream, about 30 seconds. Stop mixer and scrape sides and bottom of the bowl. Beat until well combined, 15 seconds longer

Divide batter equally between pans. Pick up each filled pan a few inches off the counter and drop several times to 'belch' any air bubbles to the top, as well as to evenly level the batter in the pans.

Bake until tops are light golden and wooden skewer inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool cakes on wire rack 8 to 10 minutes. Run thin metal spatula around pan perimeter to loosen. Invert cake onto parchment-lined wire rack, peel off parchment, and reinvert cake onto parchment paper-lined rack.**  Cool completely before frosting. Adapted from The Best Recipe, by Cook's Illustrated.

*To make your own superfine sugar, process granulated sugar in a food processor or blender for about one minute.

**This cake will level off a bit once it comes out of the oven. If the cake still has a dome after a few minutes of cooling, take a piece of  parchment paper and lay it over the cake. Rest another cake pan over the warm cake, and  press it down, gently. Hold  for 15-20 seconds and release the pressure. If cake still has a dome, repeat the process. This is a  technique commonly used by cake decorators to level most cakes without the need to slice the tops off.

I hope you'll bake this wonderful cake soon. But I'm warning you, you'll need a shower afterward.

Have a good weekend, my friends.

Designs by Gollum
Romantic Home

Butternut Squash...

...or, Cucurbita Moschata, as most kids refer to it...




"Is that my favorite pumpkin bread I smell?" he asked, as he foxtrotted into the kitchen.

"Uh-huh."  I craftily replied, as the fires of Hell consumed me.

You see, in an attempt to convince the-one-I-hold-dear to admit fresh Butternut squash was  better than canned pumpkin,  I baked his favorite "pumpkin" bread...with some minor changes.

In deference to my die-hard Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater, I finally confessed to substituting Butternut squash, while ranting  about its many virtues.
Well, it didn't really take that much convincing. And after that first bite,  he tuned me out, his eyes gently rolled back into his head, and I declared victory.

In any case, I'd be remiss if I didn't suggest serving the warm bread with Cinnamon Honey Butter from Fly Through our Window.
And please, do not eat this while standing, or your knees may buckle. It is that good.

Some were baked in canning jars, to give away as gifts. Yeah.

Others were baked into loaves, paired with that spicy butter I told you about.

Butternut Squash Bread with Pecan Streusel Topping
Yield: 2 loaves or 36 muffins.

Bread:

1½ cups pecan pieces
¾ cup vegetable oil
3 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 cups butternut squash purée
½ cup water
3 cups AP flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1½ teaspoons ground nutmeg
1½ teaspoons ground allspice
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1½ teaspoons ground cloves
½ teaspoon salt

Topping:

½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
¼ cup (½ stick) butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ cup AP flour
½ cup toasted pecan pieces (see above)

Preheat oven to 350° F. Arrange pecans on a baking sheet, toast them for 7 to 9 minutes. Reserve ½ cup of pecans for the topping.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, spices and salt. Set aside.
Grease two 9 by 5-inch loaf pans, or 36 standard-size muffin cups. Whisk the oil and sugar in a large bowl. Add the eggs, butternut squash purée, and water and whisk until well combined. Stir in the flour mixture, adding 1 cup pecan pieces last. Divide the batter between two loaf pans.

To make the topping:

With your hands, work the sugar, flour, butter, cinnamon and the reserved ½ cup pecans in a bowl until combined. Sprinkle topping over the loaves.
Bake loaves for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Bake muffins for about 25 to 30 minutes.  Adapted from The Pastry Queen, by Rebecca Rather.


Cinnamon Honey Butter

2 sticks (8 ounces) softened butter
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 cup honey*
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Using the whisk attachment in your mixer, blend all ingredients until  smooth and has an even consistency. Occasionally scrape down the sides of the mixer with a rubber spatula to ensure even mixing.

*I only used 1/2 cup honey.



While looking for ways to use up this winter squash, I came across another dessert I'd like to share with you. Dulce de Zapallo, or, Candied Butternut Squash in Spiced Syrup from Laylita.
This dark, rich, luxed out dessert with a spicy syrup  is  somewhat similar in taste to its  American cousin, the pumpkin pie. But with fewer side effects inflicted by the traditional   pie crust.

Check out Laylita's blog for recipe and tempting photos.



This was served with  Butternut Seed Brittle,  and queso fresco.

P.S. Laylita chose Piloncillo in this dessert. And so did I. 
Piloncillo is a wonderful, caramel-y, unrefined sugar,  more flavorful than brown sugar. It comes in blocks, and cone shapes, and can be found in Mexican and Latin American markets, or, ordered online.



I dare say candied Butternut squash is better than a  backstage pass to Deff Leppard. 

Regardless, one of these days,  Joe Elliott, will show up at my door, with a restraining order flowers in his hand. Oh, rapture!

My Prolific Vegetable Garden

And you know what? I never even bothered planting or watering these. Curious?
Well then, get yourself some marzipan and I'll show you how to grow your own vegetable garden, the lazy-ass way.

I find that kids, especially, love these vegetables ... and I can't help but wonder WHY a child who has absolutely no qualms diving into a bowl of Krap Macaroni and Cheese, or Dirt Cake with gummy worms, will gag at the mere sight of fresh vegetables. Any parents out there who could shed some light on this phenomenon?

Incidentally, I'm not talking about my kids, of course. My kids are perfect. I just wondered.

My inspiration for these bushels of vegetables came from a local farmer's market. Seeing the wide array of summer vegetables, compelled me to recreate some of them in sugar.
I started out with Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes. Of course, you could use your favorite cupcake recipe. The domes on the cupcakes were sliced off, then they were turned upside down and iced with chocolate buttercream.

Once the icing set, I laid strips of fondant over the cupcake to resemble a bushel. I also rolled out a circle of fondant to cover the bottom of all the cupcakes to give it a clean, finished look.

Once the fondant had set up and was firm enough to handle I turned the cupcakes right side up. Iced the top of the "bushels" with chocolate buttercream and decorated them by placing the marzipan tomatoes and corn on top.

The tomatoes were made by rolling out tiny balls of marzipan. Tomatoes aren't all the exact same size or shape in nature, so yours shouldn't be either. If you need inspiration, my advice for you is to study a real tomato, or any other vegetable, and copy it. Try to copy the real thing, whenever possible.



Gumpaste tools were used to make the indentations in the tomatoes, but if you don't own any of these tools, the dull side of an x-acto knife or even a wooden skewer will achieve the same effect.

The ears of corn are also very simple to make. Because these were so small, I had to come up with a way to make the job faster, and results more realistic than individually rolling lilliputian balls of marzipan into tiny kernels of corn.

If you have that much time on your hands, by all means, knock yourself out. But know this, I'll hate you. I don't have that much time to play, so I'll stick with my own technique.

I digress. Run to your local fabric store and buy a piece of Nylon Netting. Not Bridal Tulle.
Nylon Netting is different from Bridal Tulle. Why? Well, because they're spelled differently for one thing, but that's not the reason why. The latter is much too fine, and will not give you the look you're after.
Nylon netting, on the other hand, has wider holes, which, once wrapped around a cone of marzipan (that's been dusted with confectioner's sugar or cornstarch) and pressed against a bench scraper (see picture below), will result in perfect little ears of corn. Saving you one major headache. No need to thank me.



Once all your "produce" is done, set them aside to dry for about 30 minutes, or longer, depending on their size.
To give a slight shine to the tomatoes and corn, I combined 3 parts corn syrup with 1 part water. Using an artist's brush (avoid cheap, craft brushes as they shed horribly, and you'll end up with hairy vegetables - not very appetizing) brush the corn syrup mixture over all your vegetables, but avoid brushing the bottoms, or they'll stick. Set aside to dry. You could make your vegetables or fruits in advance and store, covered, in a cool place for several weeks.



The Terra Cotta pot is just as simple to make. Roll a 1" ball of fondant or gumpaste (which has been tinted with tiny amounts of yellow, red, and an even tinier amount of brown gel or paste food coloring. Or, if you can find terra cotta paste food coloring, you'll spare yourself the hassle of color-mixing. Mold fondant into the shape of a thimble. Cut a thin strip of fondant and attach to the rim of the pot with a little water (or the corn syrup mixture I recommended above). Make the sunflowers using a tiny flower cutter. Add the centers and glue on top of the pot. Set the whole thing aside to dry.



Enjoy. I'd also like to add that by the time you read this, I will be on my way to a much-needed vacation. But if you have any questions or comments regarding this entry, please post them. I will reply as soon as I get back. See you all soon.