Cake #53 Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cake

Today is the last day of 2011, and as I sat down to bake my cake for today, I was struck by a quite marvelous thought; as I watch the last hours of the year pass by, this will be the first complete year Evie has ever seen. 2010 was nice for her, but she missed January and February due to her March birth, so this will be the first “New Year” that is so special for her. It was a year of many firsts: first steps, first friends, first birthday, first younger sibling, first real words, first Christmas (that she was old enough to understand), and even first watched full-movie (Toy Story – watched this morning actually).  

It is so exciting to think that Evie has another full year of activities just on the horizon, and we have another bundle of joy coming in just a short six months or so! And yet, still another 12 hours or so away from 2012, and the Childs’ family Dance Card is already filling up. We will be going down to Ted’s Mom’s house for New Year’s tonight, and we will be there again tomorrow to watch the Raven’s game and celebrate Ted’s birthday a day early. Next weekend Ted is going to Atlantic City with some friends from school, the following weekend Ted and I will celebrate our 6^th anniversary and then will go to the Capitals game with Katie, Ron, and Ted’s cousins Donny and Chris (what an awesome Christmas gift from Donny and Chris by the way!), and finally we will be planning both Evie’s second birthday in March, as well as getting her new room ready (which is her birthday present – all decorated in Little Mermaid).

And yet, with all that in the future, we still have the cakes. This week’s cake was a Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cake, a delicious and yet difficult cake. The cake itself was easy, calling for flour, baking powder, butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and rind of lemon. The caramel apple toping however, which went (as the title suggests), on the bottom of the pan presented a challenge, as butter, sugar, and water had to boiled in a pan to make a caramel-like substance to coat the apples on the bottom of the cake. The caramel never quite firmed the way I wanted and therefore (I felt) that the apple coating did not look as I wanted. I was however assured by Ted after he tried a piece that there was no negative impact on taste whatsoever! 

The Book's Cake:

 My Cake:

We’re off to New Years, as soon as we can get Evie away from her new art easel…. Happy 2012!

Cake #52 Christmas Mulled Sponge Loaf

'Twas the day before Christmas and all through the house, "The kitchen smells like port wine and cinnamon," said my spouse." Today's cake is in preparation for Christmas tomorrow. I am bringing the cake to my sister's house for after dinner -- hopefully all will enjoy! This cake was really fun to make because I got to make my own reduction of powdered sugar, port wine, and one piece of star anise. The decorations on top of the cake were 10 fresh cranberries, 10 fresh bay leaves, 1 egg white, and superfine sugar. The rest of the cake was also different from most of the other cakes I have made, containing the traditional flour, butter, baking powder, eggs, vanilla, and light brown sugar; it also was made with apple pie spice, a grated rind of an orange, and orange juice.

The cake tastes like licorice (probably from the star anise in the reduction), wine, and cinnamon- even though there isn't any cinnamon in the cake!  I love this cake even more so because Evalyn helped with sugaring the bay leaves and the cranberries . . . now it may not look as good as the professional cake picture (see below) but this one is so much more special because Evie got to make part of it (see mine).

Book's picture: 

My cake . . .with Evalyn's sugaring technique!

The fact that Evalyn was able to help me make part of this cake, and asks me "Mom you okay?" when I cough, or "Mommy you help?" when she needs me to fix something astounds me. How can this not-even-two-year-old girl already be such a young lady? She doesn't realize what tomorrow means, but she does know how to say "ho, ho,ho" and she has gotten some presents from Ted's side of the family (which she loved) so she is getting some practicing at opening them.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas tomorrow morning, - but a not a Happy New Year yet . . . because I will have another cake to bake for that!

Cake # 51 Christmas Cupcakes

 What do you get with strep throat on a Friday? (awkward silent pause) Saturday night fever!

So, I never really was a joke teller -- but I do like to try. Anyway, strep throat took over my immune system this week as I was trying to prepare for our annual Christmas Party. By Saturday, I was doing my best to make the Joan Rivers-like rasp in my voice sound sexy-- it didn't work.

Anyway, this week I decided to pull out the fondant and the food coloring again and make some Christmas Cupcakes for a Christmas party that Ted and I had on Saturday. These cupcakes were essentially a spice cake made with flour, baking powder, cinnamon, butter, light brown sugar, eggs, almond extract, ground almonds, and a little bit of sherry to top it off for the holidays. They were extremely tasty, but i made too many of them, so for some I followed the recipe and created holly-ed fondant icing, and for others I just made a traditional butter cream.

Here is the book's picture:

 And here are my cupcakes in a festive Christmas Tree cupcake holder:

Next week I am making a Christmas Mulled Sponge Loaf -- which I believe is just a sponge cake drowned in some sort of red wine . . . I wonder being pregnant am I allowed to have a bite?

Sigh- Until then.

Cake # 50 Orange Peanut Butter Cake

In the past six years of marriage Ted and I, just like any married couple in this economy, have struggled to make ends meet with a teacher's salary. So one of the things that we do to cut back on lunches is to eat peanut butter sandwiches for anywhere to one to two weeks at a time. Now that the holidays are here and Ted and I have been spending way more money than we normal spend, with presents, trees, pictures, cards, lights, parties, etc., the budget for this week's cake was cut extremely down. We had enough for me to buy one cheap item. To give you an idea I normally by anywhere between two to three new items for my cake every single week. The only cake that we had every ingredient for except one item, was Orange Peanut Butter cake- how perfect for us!

All we had to buy was an orange. Besides and orange, the cake called for orange juice, peanut butter, vanilla, sugar, flour, eggs, butter, baking powder, and powdered sugar.

Next week when we get paid again, I will make a more holiday-like cake- but for now, The Children are very happy eating their peanut butter cake bars.

Here is the book's picture:

Here is my cake:

See you next week with even more Christmas cheer!

Cake # 49 Frosted Raspberry Almond Ring

Finally December! As a kid, my favorite holiday was always Easter. I loved everything about it. Dyeing my fingers and my clothes more than my beloved "eggies" as I called them, trying to find more eggs than my twin brother, and most importantly, eating jellybeans. Believe it or not, the regular flavored, regular sized jellybeans (preferably from Wockenfus) are still my favorite candy of all time. Yes-- that does include the black ones, and I have always wondered why licorice is given such bad cred- really what's not to like? Sweet and bitter favors all in one chewy bite-- yes please! However, now that I am getting older, and I have a child (soon to be two!) of my own, my heart has followed my husbands, (and probably most of America's) and switched to Christmas as my favorite holiday.

Wrapping my daughter's presents from "Santa" and "Rudolf" and "An Elf" is what makes this holiday so special for me. All of our family traditions, old and new, coming together with a kid who is finally old enough to get excited herself-- well you can't ask for more than that. So because it is the first weekend in December, I am beginning the first of four of my holiday cakes.

This cake, the Frosted Raspberry Almond Ring, does not only scream winter in its flavors, but also in its colors. The topping of the cake is "frosted" with homemade marshmallow, which was my first experience in making marshmallow. To make a marshmallow topping you need, 1 extra large egg white, 1 1/4 cups of confectioners' sugar, 1 tbsp of dark corn syrup, and 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar (which if you didn't know is basically a compounded acid in order to help egg whites stiffen up). Since I do not have a double broiler, I do what many a moms have done before me and heated up a pot of water and stuck a bowl on top of it. Next, you mix all of the ingredients with a hand mixer over the hot water until the mixture can stand on its own and takes a more sticky consistency. The marshmallow came out perfectly, and tasted -- well just like melted marshmallows!

The rest of the cake was fun for me to make as well, because I love raspberries and I got to mash about a cup of raspberries to put them into the cake. The cake was also made of butter, flour, sugar, eggs, almond extract, and baking powder. Then after frosting the cake with the marshmallow topping- I added more fresh raspberries and slivered almonds.

Here is the book's cake:

Here is my cake:

All that is left is to have my two most favorite people in the world, (besides Lucille Ball and Jane Austen) Ted and Evalyn to try a bite! Tune in next week for more holiday baking!