Christmas Pudding

Recipe.  A pudding basin is a bowl that can be baked or steamed for several hours. I used an aluminum bowl. This is just a little different from a fruit cake. I liked it a lot.

Chantilly Frosting

Chantilly Cream Frosting

1 stick Salted butter softened

1 16oz Mascarpone cheese softened

1 8oz Cream cheese softened 

3 cups confectioner's sugar 

1 cup Heavy whipping cream whipped thick 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

Cream the butter, mascarpone and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Maybe 4 minutes. Add in the confectioner's sugar and continue to mix. I used my mixer with paddle attachment. In a separate bowl, whip your whipping cream and vanilla extract. Whip until stiff peaks form in the whipping cream. If the whipping cream is too soft, it will make the frosting runny. Next, gently fold the whipping cream into your creamed butter and cheese mixture by hand with a rubber spatula. Mix just enough to incorporate to a smooth consistency for frosting your cake or cupcakes. If not using immediately, refrigerate in a closed container and remove 5 to 10 minutes before frosting your cake of cupcakes. 

Raspberry Ruffle Cupcake

These cupcakes were fun to make. The cake was a basic chocolate cupcake. But I made two flavors of buttercream icing! The red buttercream frosting was made with a regular 4 ounce package of raspberry jello, dissolved in hot water. The white buttercream had melted white chocolate in it. I used a new frosting tip called as Russian Piping Nozzle, and garnished the cupcakes with candy sprinkles and white chocolate flakes to resemble flowers. The person whose birthday it was, was super delighted!

Easter Birthday Cupcake

Vanilla and malt flavor cupcake with vanilla buttercream tinted green, rolled in coconut and topped with malt ball eggs.

Hello Kitty

Cake for Virginia

Coconut Cake

Thank you Mimi for throwing me an excellent pool side party. I got lots of great gifts and everyone had a nice time.

Lekach Honey Cake

Butter, for greasing pan	2 3⁄4 C. flour, plus more for pan
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon	2 tsp. ground allspice
2 tsp. ground ginger	1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda	1 tsp. kosher salt
1 C. sugar	6 eggs, separated
1 C. canola oil	1 C. honey
2 Tbsp. orange zest	1⁄4 cup fresh orange juice
2 Tbsp. Grand Marnier	1 1⁄2 C. confectioners' sugar

Instructions

Heat oven to 325°. Grease and flour a 4-qt. Bundt pan; set aside. Whisk together flour, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, baking powder and soda, and salt in a bowl; set aside. Beat ³⁄₄ cup sugar and egg yolks in a bowl on medium-high speed of a mixer until tripled in volume, about 4 minutes. Stir in oil, honey, 2 tbsp. juice, zest, and Grand Marnier. Add dry ingredients; stir until just combined.

Beat egg whites in a bowl on high speed of a mixer until soft peaks form. Add remaining sugar; beat until stiff peaks form. Fold whites into batter. Pour into prepared pan; smooth top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle of cake comes out clean, about 60 minutes. Let cool and invert onto a serving plate. Whisk remaining juice with confectioners' sugar; drizzle over cake.

Brownie Bunnies

3/4 C. unsalted butter
4 ounce (113g) semi-sweet chocolate bar, coarsely chopped
2 C. granulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 C. unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1 C. (125g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
half a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease your pan. Set aside. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the butter and 2 ounces of chopped chocolate. Melt in 30 second increments, whisking after each, until completely smooth. Whisk in the sugar until completely combined, then whisk in the eggs and vanilla. The batter will be light brown and a little dull looking. Add the cocoa powder, flour, salt, remaining 2 ounces of chopped chocolate and the chocolate chips. Fold it all together with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Batter will be very thick. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes, in a 9x13 pan. I used the bunnies pan and they took about 14 minutes. After brownies are cooled, pop out of pan. Wash pan. Melt 3 white chocolate candy melts in each pocket (45 seconds in the microwave) and place a bunny back in the mold so as the chocolate cools, it will stick to the shaped brownie bunny.

Blueberry Cheesecake

Crust
60 vanilla wafers (Nilla cookies)
¹⁄₄ C. granulated sugar
1 stick butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350F. Place wafers in a large Ziploc bag and smash with rolling pin until you have a bag of dust.  Transfer crumbs to a medium size bowl and stir in sugar and melted butter.  Press the crumbs firmly into the spring form pan and up the sides.  Bake for 10 minutes or until edges are just starting to turn golden brown. Let cool completely on a wire rack before filling.

Filing
3 (8 ounce) blueberry flavor cream cheese, softened
¹⁄₂ C. sugar
3 Tb. all-purpose flour
¹⁄₂ tsp. salt
3 eggs
8 ounces sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 zested lemon
2 C. blueberries
3 Tb. blueberry jam

Beat softened cream cheese and add sugar, flour and salt until blended. Add eggs, one at a time and blend.  Add sour cream, vanilla and lemon zest. Gently stir in blueberries. Pour mixture into cooled crust.  Top with blueberry jam and "cut in" to make swirls.  Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 50 minutes. (Cheesecake will be done when it still jiggles in the middle.) Turn off oven and let remain in oven with door open for 20 minutes. Remove and let cool. Cover and chill cheesecake in refrigerator.

Panettone

The PANTONE® name is known worldwide as the standard language for color communication from designer to manufacturer to retailer to customer.  Panettone or King cake is a type of sweet bread loaf originally from Milan, usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas and New Year .  The word "panettone" might derive from the Italian word "panetto", a small loaf cake. The augmentative Italian suffix "-one" changes the meaning to "large cake".  However in Milanese "pan del ton", means "cake of luxury".

Bacon Carrot cupcake

Cupcake	Frosting
3 C. grated carrot	1 stick of butter, room temp
5 eggs	rounded 1/4 C. powdered sugar
7 oz butter melted (close to 2 sticks)	1/4 C. sugar free maple syrup
3 Tb. non nutritive sweetener	pinch of salt
1 ½ C. almond meal
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ cup chopped pecans
2 tsp. vanilla
½ C. shredded unsweetened coconut

Bake 350* for 20 minutes. Makes 12 cupcakes. Serving size: 1 slice iced Calories:327 calories, 6 carb, 34 g. fat, 6 g protein.

Cake

Brownie Pound Cake

Brownie:
5 Oz dark chocolate (broken into pieces)
1/4 C. unsalted butter
1/4 C. brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 C. all-purpose flour

Butter cake:
1/4 C. unsalted butter
1/4 C. sugar (I reduced by 1 Tbsp)
2 eggs
1 C. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
3 ½ Tbsp. milk

Grease and line a 4×8" loaf pan with aluminum foil. Preheat oven to 180C/350F. To make brownie, melt chocolate and butter over low heat. Remove and leave to cool slightly. Stir in brown sugar until blended. Add in egg, mix well. Fold in flour, mix until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove. To make butter cake, beat butter with sugar until creamy. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold in sifted flour and baking powder, alternately add in fresh milk, mix to form batter. Spread the butter cake batter over brownie, bake in oven at 160C/320F for 25-30 minutes or until cooked. Insert a cake tester in the middle to check doneness.

Waffles

Delicious homemade waffles are only 10 minutes away.  I had a jar of apple sauce made this fall that I ran thru the blender to be ultra smooth.  Caitlyn seemed to enjoy it, but I prefer mine more chunky.  These waffles are a great way to use up the extras.

2 eggs (beaten until fluffy)
2 C. all purpose flour (but I suppose you could use something else)
1 3/4 C. milk
1/2 C. apple sauce
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
a dash of cinnamon for extra flavor
pinch of salt

Mix ingredients in large mixing bowl.  Batter should be smooth and runny like cake mix.  Spoon batter on top hot waffle iron.  Cook waffles until they stop releasing steam around edges and no longer stick to waffle iron.

Cinnamon coffee cake

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter (room temperature)
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup buttermilk (milk + 1Tb. vinegar left to rest for 5 minutes)
1 cup brown sugar
2 heaping tablespoons ground cinnamon

Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Cream the butter and sugar in another bowl. Beat in the eggs, salt, vanilla and lemon zest. Gradually incorporate the dry and wet ingredients, slowly adding the milk to keep batter consistency correct. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Pour 1/3 of the batter into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan. Pour 1/3 of the cinnamon mixture on top. Repeat two more times, pour the remaining cinnamon mixture on top. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean, about an hour.

Party Cake

DIY Sprinkles

Chocolate	Colored
1/2 C. powdered sugar	1 C. powdered sugar
3 Tb. cocoa powder	1/2 tsp salt
4 teaspoons vanilla infused vodka	1 egg white
2 teaspoons water	1 tsp flavor extract
(Just be sure it's 6 tsp. liquid, total)	food coloring

Instructions:
1. Mix powdered sugar with cocoa (for Chocolate) or salt (for Colored) very well. Add the liquid and mix, incorporating everything. You'll get a thick but workable frosting like mixture.
2. If you want to create multiple colors, distribute white frosting between separate bowls. Now add the food coloring. I recommend that you add between 2-3 drops of color, then whisking together, before add more. Continue until you’ve reached your desired color. Put your icing into a plastic sandwich bag, removing as much air as possible, then tying shut. With a scissors, snip a tiny, tiny hole into one corner of the bag. Or use a pastry bag with a #2 round tip.
4. Lay a piece of parchment paper down on a flat surface, then squeeze long straight lines of icing onto the parchment paper. Make sure the stripes don't touch.
5. Let dry up to 24 hours undisturbed. If you used mostly vodka as the liquid, this will dry faster, as it will if you live in a warm, non humid place. If you use water or your home is colder, this will take more time. Let it dry until you have hard sticks that flake off the parchment paper easily.
6. Pick up the side of the parchment paper, and start rolling it, so that the sprinkle sticks detach from the parchment paper and end up in the middle. Make a pile of all the sprinkle sticks, making sure they all are facing the same direction.
7. With a non serrated knife, cut the pile of sprinkle sticks into little sprinkles, each about a quarter of an inch long.
These now are your sprinkles. Use as you would any other sprinkles. Keep them in a dry place. They don't spoil.

Happy Birthday

And a very merry un-birthday to you.

Chocolate Ganache

• 12 ounces chocolate, chopped into small pieces
• 1 cup heavy cream
• optional 1 tsp. extract/liquor

Place chocolate pieces in a large bowl. Heat heavy cream on medium high until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and immediately pour cream over chocolate and stir until completely mixed and glossy. Allow ganache to cool before pouring over cakes as a glaze.

If you want to use the ganache for piping (like the edges), stick it in the refrigerator so it gets slighly firm. Use your hand mixer to whip it up.   When you are able to spoon the ganache and it can hold its texture, it is ready for piping.

Coconut Cake with 7 Minute Icing

14 1/4 ounces cake flour, plus extra for pans, approximately 3 cups
(we are subtracting 1/2 C. of the cake flour, and adding 1/2 C. coconut flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup fresh coconut milk
1/2 cup fresh coconut cream
(we are adding an extra 1/2 C. milk to compensate for coconut flour)
8 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature (2 sticks)
16 ounces sugar, approximately 2 1/4 cups
1 teaspoon coconut extract
4 egg whites
1/3 cup coconut water

Thank you Food Network
 534 calories per slice, but very low in cholesterol and sodium, and high in selenium.