I heart cake

I guess you could say my goal is to make everything, or a slight variation on everything in Milk - my new favorite pastry book by Christina Tosi. Have all of the recipes worked out well...ummm, not exactly. However, it is not because I don't know what I am doing, I SWEAR! Haven't figured out just what is going wrong yet. But, cakes tend to back over the pans...some of the cookies burn, but regardless, I am trying out all of these wacky recipes!

Here is the Banana Hazelnut Cake. Well, minus the hazelnuts and crap. I couldn't handle the 7 recipes in the 1 recipe the day I made this, so it was a bit simpler.

And here is a picture where you can see the crazy layers! I love it!!! I will probably never make a normal cake again.

The most organized mess.

I got a new book! I am SO excited! Along with everyone else who got this book & caused Amazon to be out of stock on 6 inch cake rings...who knew?! Christina Tosi is kind of like a celebrity & her book rocks. Check it out here.

I made the Birthday Cake (pictured above) with a little trouble, but it came together in the end. This truly is a glorified Funfetti Cake...like from a box...just WAY better. Because these recipes in the book are like recipes with recipes inside of recipes...inside of recipes...I took the idea, with the cake recipe  & simplified it by using my own butter cream recipe. I'm not a production kitchen, much to many people's surprise! And I have to say, it turned out well.

This cake looks like a giant mess! But, then once you look closer, you realize it really is a neat, organized mess in a perfect 6 inch circle. Then, you get to thinking, how the hell do you do that?! Acetate stripes & 6 inch cake rings. It really isn't as tough as it may seem!

Anyhow, this was the first idea I made from this book & I cannot wait to make more awesome messes! Check out the book...seriously.

Hummingbird Cake...I don't get the name...

I made this cake (http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Hummingbird-Cake-1000070102) for my co-worker/friend's birthday. Oooops, she is on vacation all week! Ha.

It has been over a month since I last posted something, which means it has been a REALLY long time since I have made something worth posting about! Maybe I made a lot of ice cream, but they all look the same for the most part. This is why I was SO happy to make a frekain' cake!!!

I followed the recipe above to a 'T' and everyone at work LOVED it. Then I added some dehydrated pineapple chips, a white chocolate truffle dusted in gold & gold sprinkles to make it extra fancy! Cause that is how I roll, people. I was also pretty thrilled with my 'ruffled' frosting technique. I hadn't had the opportunity to try it before now. Love. Next time...I am going to add a gradient of color to the frosting. Cannot wait!

Anyhow...make this cake! I promise you will like it. 

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins are just ugly cupcakes...

A slight banana kick? I think yes. Everything I have made recently has included bananas. Not sure why. But bananas are awesome. Possibly because of the high carb content...mmmmmm...

I wanted to make something that seemed breakfast-y for people at work. I mean, is it odd I am trying to constantly give people cupcakes, ice cream, cakes, cookies at like 9AM? Ehhh, whatever! Call it a cupcake and people think it is fancy, call it a muffin and people think it is breakfast!

Recipe? Click here. I added an oat crumble, too. And then sugar & butter. Why not?! Ugly can taste good.

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes

Cookies & Cream Frosting with a chocolate cake, studded with white chocolate chips. Really, this butter cream rocked. And was super easy.

I used my standard recipe (which is in previous posts), but used just over 1/2 of the butter called for. Then, I crushed Oreos, mixed them in and let it sit over night. This way the Oreos softened and I was able to get a smooth frosting that was nice and pipe-able. No chunks! Chunks are bad!

Peanut Butter Raspberry Cupcakes

My mini obsession shown again through baked goods. A mini on a mini.What is not to love here?!

This was a mini cupcake I made for a Locks of Love event - which is why they had to be pink (and the next post, there is blue). So, what is this? A peanut butter cake, soaked with raspberry sauce, topped with a raspberry butter cream & a mini reeses pb cup topped with the butter cream to make it look like a mini cupcake. Have I done this before? Ya, but different flavors. So, it is new kinda.

Lilikoi Chiffon Cupcakes & Mini Cakes

So I made these a while ago & I am lame & seem to have no time to do anything but work, make edible things & take picture. Then........one day post them here! LAME. Anyhow, this was a request for a birthday for a co-worker's son. Passion fruit curd, a passion fruit scented chiffon cake & some lighter than usual butter cream.

I had to research a little, because apparently this is something that is very popular in Hawaii. Usually a layered cake, filled with passion fruit, then frosted with a whipped cream. Knowing whipped cream wouldn't hold up, I decided the butter cream would have to work. I just added a lot less butter. It worked, I think.

Then, because I am obsessed with miniature things, I decided to make mini layered cakes like the actual Lilikoi Chiffon Cake. Not knowing how well it would work, I still make the cupcakes. And...I was very happy the mini cakes turned out! They were actually smaller than the cupcakes! How funny?! I am easily amused.

An insanely picture heavy post, because I think the mini cakes are cute!

My iPhone was bigger than the mini cake.

If you are interested in this recipe, use this for the curd, but replace lemon juice with passion fruit puree. Then, use google Chiffon Cake. You will get a decent one. They are all pretty much the same. Just be sure to fold the eggs whites in carefully & use cream of tarter! Don't leave it out! Fun tip - use a balloon whisk to fold! It is like folding with 10 spatulas at once!

Butterfinger Banana Cupcakes w/Salted Caramel

Why not put Butterfingers in a cake? Peanut Butter Banana & chocolate always goes well together, right?

Plus, I had made this recipe a few years ago as a cake for a friend's birthday...and since I was at their house in Seattle, I figured it was a good time to bring it back!

 

This is the newer, better, prettier version of this recipe and of course my own salted caramel frosting drizzled with salted caramel & topped with crushed Butterfingers. I class-ed it up a bit, made it a little prettier:)

This cake recipe really is awesome! The bananas add a nice texture to the cake, making it dense, but still keeping it moist. If you make this, be careful to chop the candy bars well & make sure they are fully mixed into the batter. If you do not, you will get weird spots while baking - and since you want an even texture, so the cake doesn't have odd crunchy spots, this is pretty important!

Ice Cream Sandwhiches with left-overs

I always end up having enough cupcake batter to make something like 28 cupcakes when a recipe says it makes 24, or enough frosting to do 32 cupcakes when the recipe says it will do 24...you catch my drift...I end up with extra stuff in my freezer!

So, this time, I made cake-cookies with extra batter, knowing I had extra ice cream (extra in that is was made for nothing specific...). So, I thought I'd just make some stuff...

So, I made some peanut butter cake-cookies, some chocolate white chocolate chip cake-cookies & filled 'em with ice cream. Some salted caramel peanut brittle ice cream in the PB cake-cookies & some bananas foster & vanilla bean swirl ice cream in the chocolate cake-cookie...

I was ridiculously happy at how well these sliced, since they were so giant. I am easily thrilled with random things like that.

PB & J Chocolate Cupcakes

I like to make things I haven't made before. Here is a chocolate cupcake, stuffed with peanut butter fudge, chocolate ganache, peanut brittle & raspberry sauce.

Then, topped with a raspberry vanilla swirled butter cream & a crystallized chocolate cube.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream w/Peanut Brittle & Salted Caramel Sauce

Of course I can't just leave something simple alone. But, I didn't want to make the simple, but super good vanilla bean ice cream into something weird (this time).

The ice cream recipe is super simple - my standard

2 C milk
1 C Cream
3/4 C Sugar
2 T corn syrup
2 T corn starch
1 vanilla bean, scrapped
1 1/2 oz cream cheese

Grasshopper Cupcakes

Sometimes I don't feel like writing anything - mostly cause I am not that in to writing. So this is short and sweet (omg...is there a joke there...unintentional, I swear)...

Brewers Blondies

Bars are kinda fun to make. These are called Brewers Blondies because 1) they are supposed to be made with malt from a brewery. Well, I had ot kind of fake that since I don't live near a brewery...or wait, I probably do, but this wasn't planned out or anything! And 2) they are like brownies, but lack the chocolate.

Macaron challenge!

I have never made French Macarons before. I have always heard they were really tough to make & they were problematic & that it took a lot of practice to get it right. Ummm, not really appealing to me. But, then a couple of my co-workers had some while on a trip - some good & some bad - and suggested I try to make them, too! Of course I was up for the challenge!...

Dark Chocolate Ice Cream w/Pistachios (dairy free!)

Dark Chocolate Ice Cream w/Pistachios

I decided to attempt to make an ice cream that was dairy free, low in sugar & it happens to be low in fat (boo). Why?! Because as much as I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE ice cream, I really do my best to not eat dairy.

Here is my variation on the Dark Chocolate Ice Cream from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. Want the recipe?!...keep reading!

Hot Sauce Gingerbread Cake w/ice creams de jour

Gingerbread Cake

A birthday at work! Score. It was a co-worker's birthday & I was asked (which always makes me happy!) to make a cake. But, for this particular person, the cake had to be unique. It is always exciting when someone or a group of people like trying odd flavor combinations - those of which usually turn out to taste good, and not weird like they sound - but not everyone is so willing to try these types of things...

Chocolate Merlot Frozen Yogurt

The cake was one of Oprah's favorite cakes - the recipe is here. It is made of a rather odd combination of hot sauce (like Tobasco), ginger water & cane syrup. Because it was baked in a bundt pan, which usually means a large amount of dense batter, it had to be baked for almost an hour. Which, is part of the reason I am slightly obsessed with bundt cakes right now. They get a nice, dark, but thin crust around the entire cake. This looks awesome on a light colored cake, but even if you have a darker colored cake - the nice, slightly crunchy, chewy texture of the cake crust is yummy!

Then, the cake was frosted with a meringue that was toasted with a torch, of course! Fun & tasty. It was a nice light frosting that paired well with the spicy cake - much better suited to this cake than a butter cream would have been.

I also made a few ice creams, knowing I could make some 'out there' flavors! Sadly, I only have a picture of the one here...a Chocolate Merlot Frozen Yogurt, a Sweet Corn & Raspberry Ice Cream & a Key Lime, Ginger, Cayenne, Coconut Ice Cream. I have to say, I liked them all. Of course, they were all from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams book, or slight variations on her recipes.

Roasted Strawberries & Buttermilk Ice Cream - From Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream book

So, this was the first (of what seems like a million!) ice cream I made from my new favorite book! Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams - might be the best book I have ever purchased! Mainly, because of the base recipe & how perfect the texture of the ice cream is. Of course, all of the insane, unique flavor combs, are fun, too!

This was the most 'normal' flavor I found in the book (beyond chocolate & vanilla), so I thought it would be perfect to make & bring to work to see what people though...

Fug-Cakes

I was bored last weekend and I just wanted to try some different decorating ideas, specifically for frosting cupcakes. I had seen something I liked on  another blog and I wanted to try it.

I got carried away with stencils & sprinkles and crap...lol...I don't care for it at all!

Cowboy Cookies: part deux

Just more pictures...

Cinnamon Sugar Cake

A co-worker's birthday. He happens to like cinnamon & sugar donuts. So, I tried to make that into a cake.

A vanilla cake made with brown sugar & cinnamon - pretty simple. Frosted with vanilla frosting. Nothing horribly outrageous - but good, none-the-less!

More pics...

Raspberry Cream Cheese Ice Cream Sandwiches

I have made at least 5 ice creams in the last 24 hours. A bit ridiculous?! Yes. Anyhow, I got a new book. I have nothing to do. So, what the heck?!

Harry Potter Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting topped with a Golden Snitch cake-pop or Harry's glasses.

Fun stuff for a co-worker's kid's birthday! I think I need to find one person per day who's birthday it is...so I have a reason to make something every day! Sign up people...!

Left over cupcakes with butter cream flowers.

Nutella Ice Cream

Given any excuse to make ice cream or a cupcake...or anything...I'll do it! A co-worker's son had his wisdom teeth pulled. All he can eat are things you don't have to chew?! Kind of crappy...but a GREAT excuse to eat a lot of ice cream!

This is just a basic vanilla recipe where I replaced 1/4 C sugar with Nutella, because it is insanely sweet on it's own...how is there a Nutella commercial saying give it ot your kids for breakfast?! That is insane!...anyhow...read on for the recipe!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies

The minis

With my new goal of baking everything in both of my books by the guys at Baked, I decided to make Whoopie Pies. People talk about them all of the time & seem to love them. I have never had one.

Check out these books below for some awesome recipe! There are various whoopie pie recipes is both books.

Cowboy Cookies

 I don't get the name at all. But the book said this is what the cookies are called. Pretzels, chocolate chips, oats & coffee. They are super yum! But not one of those ingredients makes me think of a cowboy, right?!

Whiskey Cream Cake

Have I made a lot of 'good-bye' cakes lately?! It seems that way, but I guess I have only made 2. This cake was for my friend/co-worker for her last day before starting a new job.

This was sort of a bunch or recipes piled on top of one another...

Burnt Whiskey Caramel Ice Cream & Brownie Cubes

Ice Cream & Brownie Cubes

If you didn't know that I really don't eat dessert (VERY rarely), you'd probably think I am obsessed with brownies. Well, I kind of am, because if I ate dessert, I'd eat like, a million brownies - as least!

I made these brownie cubes because I had to trim the edges off the