Lion cake

I have a friend, whom I have known for a very long time.  She now happens to live on the same street as me.  She has a total of 4 children.  He baby, the only boy, had a birthday recently.  Mom asked me to do the cake, which of course I said yes.  She asked me if I could do a lion.  Ummm...sure.  I'll try anything once.  She then showed me a picture of this child's favorite stuffed toy, a lion, and asked me to get as close to it as I could.  No pressure!

I asked her the usual questions about flavor, filling, etc.  I was really thankful she did not want a three-dimensional cake.

I used my tried and true, go-to chocolate cake recipe:

2 C flour
2 C sugar
6 Tbsp cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 C warm water
2/3 C oil
2 Tbsp vinegar
2 tsp vanilla (or 1/2 tsp mint) extract

As she was expecting a fairly big crowd, I actually made two cakes, one recipe in a 16 in. round pan.  I used standard buttercream between the layers and to crumb coat the cake.  I then cheated, went to Wal-Mart and got one of their flesh tone pre-made fondant kits.  I only put the fondant on the top of the cake because I needed to make a lion's mane around the outside anyway.  

The only thing I was really disappointed about was that mane.  I tried my "hair/grass" tip.  No go.  I have hot hand syndrome (don't laugh, it's a thing) so after the first few bits, the buttercream was coming out in a big blob.  PLUS...did I mention it was a 16 inch round cake?  That's a LOT of piping with the hair tip.  Soooo...take 2 was a star tip.  I got the entire mane piped on, allowed it to chill again in the fridge.  Then, I took the tines of a fork to make it look like the stuffed animal with a mane that had seen better days.  

Anyway, here is the end result.  Mom loved it, the little boy loved it.  I was less than 100% pleased, but I'm not the one who mattered...

Happy Birthday Mario!

I can't believe, I won't believe it!  My grandson is 3 years old already!

When my daughter called to tell me the party details, I asked her what she wanted for a cake.  She asked my grandson, who screamed MARIO!!!!!!

I did some digging and found a few ideas for cakes.  My daughter had told me there would be several of the neighborhood kids at the party, so I thought cupcakes for little hands might be better.  I decided to do a combination of cupcakes and a smaller cake.

I used my go-to chocolate cake recipe for 1 layer of the cake and half the cupcakes:

2 C flour
2 C sugar
6 Tbsp cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 C warm water
2/3 C oil
2 Tbsp vinegar
2 tsp vanilla (or 1/2 tsp mint) extract

I then went to work trying to find a white cake to match the moisture of the chocolate.  I have tried and tried with little result.  However, this particular cake came close:

Ingredients

• 1¼ cups sifted all purpose flour
• 1½ cups sifted cake flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1½ cups sugar
• ⅔ cup vegetable oil
• ⅓ cup vegetable shortening at room temperature
• 3 tablespoons good quality vanilla extract (if you want pure white use clear vanilla extract)
• 3 large eggs
• 1½ cups buttermilk

Instructions

1. Sift together both flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar. Set aside.
2. Grease and flour 2 nine inch round cake pans and line the bottom with 2 circles of parchment paper.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the vegetable oil, shortening and vanilla. Beat well at high speed with whisk attachment until light and fluffy
4. Beat the eggs in one at a time.
5. Fold in the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk.
6. I always add dry ingredients in three divisions and liquid ingredients in 2 divisions. It is very important to begin and end the additions with the dry ingredients. Do not over mix the batter. As soon as it has no lumps in the batter, pour into the two prepared 9 inch cake pans.
7. Bake at 325 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Now I went to work...I made a standard 8-inch, 2-layer cake and a total of 20 cupcakes.  I decorated the cupcakes like the little mushroom people in the video games.  I then made the actual cake to look like a scene from the video game.  Here's the problem!  My grandson's birthday was in late March, and we were still in the middle of very cold weather for the date.  However, my husband insisted that the cake would be destroyed during the trip unless I held it (umm...think I know how to transport cakes, but whatever).  I wanted to leave for the party without incident, so I gave in.  Big mistake!  It was a rare sunny day that day, and the sun beating in the car started to melt the cake!  My green hills were becoming green puddles.  Luckily, I cheated and used a Mario toy for the top of the cake.  I shudder to think of what poor Mario would have looked like after the trip.

When we got to my daughter's house, I put the cake in the fridge for a few minutes and then did my best to reconstruct my scene.  Everyone loved it, but I was still stewing about my poor judgment listening to my husband.  LOL.  I won't make that mistake again!  

At the end of the day, the most important part was the fact that my grandson jumped up and down yelling Mario cake, Mario cake, thank you Mimi! the whole afternoon.  Some day maybe I can learn to look past the imperfections...

Chocolate brownies with Peanut Butter cookie dough

There are few things better in this world than chocolate and peanut butter...that is, in my world.  Sure, I have my family and friends, but chocolate and peanut butter does not ever stress me out or give me any "lip."  I can curl up with it on a snowy day and it's happy to comfort me.  OK, I think I just described the definition of stress eating, but I digress...

Yesterday was National Peanut Butter Day. Woo!  I wanted to make something, but I was truthfully too lazy to drag out my trusty KitchenAid.  I wanted to make something I could whip up in a quick hurry.

I had not made brownies in a while, and that is something even my husband with little to no sweet tooth will eat.  I found this recipe for the "best gooey chocolate brownies" and decided to try them.  Then I decided to dress them up with some peanut butter chips.

Now we are getting somewhere.

I thought "hmmm...that's not enough peanut butter yet, what can I do?"  Light bulb!  I have an easy recipe for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.  I can throw some of that on top of the brownie mix.

I didn't want the cookies to become too crispy having been baked too long with the brownies, so I baked the brownies about half way and then added the cookie dough.

Oh my goodness, they are going to be wonderful.....the anticipation was driving me insane.  You will have to forgive the photography, I just was not interested in getting a great photo, if ya know what I mean.

Chocolate brownie recipe (from food.com)

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda (omit if you don't want the crunchy crust)
• 1 cup peanut butter chips

1. 1
   Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 175 degrees Celsius.
2. 2
   Melt the butter and lightly grease a pan of your liking (I used an 8x8 because I like a thicker brownie).
3. 3
   In a large bowl; combine the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda.
4. 4
   In another large bowl; combine the sugar, melted butter, and vanilla extract.
5. 5
   Once combined beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each until thoroughly blended.
6. 6
   Gradually add in the flour mixture to the egg/sugar mixture.
7. 7
   Toss the peanut butter chips in a little flour. (The flour will keep them from sinking to the bottom of the pan.).
8. 8
   Mix the peanut butter chips into the batter.
9. 9
   Bake for 20-25 minutes. (The brownies are done if you stick a toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean.
10. 10
    (ALSO, THE BATTER IS GOING TO RISE. PLEASE, DO NOT BE ALARMED! ONCE IT SINKS, WHICH TAKES ALL OF 10 MINUTES, I CAN ASSURE YOU THEY MIGHT BE THE BEST BROWNIES YOU'VE EVER TASTED.).

Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies (from The Girl Who Ate Everything):

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp baking soda

½ cup milk chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips. When blended, mix in the chocolate chips. Using your fingers, form 1 1/2 inch balls (dough will be very wet and sticky) and place onto an un-greased parchment lined cookie sheet. You don't want to make them too big because they do spread. Bake for 9 minutes. Let the cookies sit on the cookies sheet for about 30 seconds to 1 minute before letting cool on a wire rack. Makes around a dozen small cookies.

One more Frozen cake

You have to hand it to Disney.  They know how to hook the wee ones with their movies.  When my daughter was young, it was The Little Mermaid.  Now, my granddaughter is 6, and she is obsessed with the movie Frozen.  When I say she is obsessed, I mean it.  The girl is hardcore.  She is about as girlie as they come.  She loves to play dress-up and wear a tiara.  She recites the movie when she is playing with her dolls like she is re-enacting the movie.  Then comes the singing.....oh, the singing.  It's actually more like screaming...like those of you on the West Coast need to hear her singing in order for the world to stay on its axis.  There are arm motions and choreography to go along with the vocals.

So...my granddaughter turned 6 in mid November.  When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted, she looked at me with that tilted head and her hand on her hip and said "Oh Mimi, you know I want a Disney Frozen cake."  As if there might actually be other Frozen merchandise out there, she feels she needs to specify that it's Disney Frozen.

I asked my daughter to sit down with my granddaughter and decide what they wanted to see on the cake and they were more than happy to comply.  Of course Elsa was on the top, of course it was blue, of course there were sparkly bits.

I was actually pretty excited to make this cake because it gave me the opportunity to try some new techniques.  I did cheat and got the actual dolls to add to the cake as I was not going to take the time or the chance actually that I would not get the look right.  The 6 year-old would call me out in a heartbeat....just as she had when she turned 4 and I made cupcakes with frosting the color of all the Disney princess dresses and I happened to forget the green one, whomever she may be.  Ugh..the innocence of youth.

Anyway...this was the final product.  She loved it.  The other little girls at her party loved it.  I was once again a rock star in my granddaughter's world.....which is the absolute best place to be.

Sugar Cookies

No matter if you call them sugar cookies or sugar cakes, the fact remains that they are delicious.  I have a few recipes for these cookies, but I am always willing to try more.  My personal preference is more of a soft pillowy cookie....unless I am going to frost the top.  Then, I make a recipe with a crispier cookie.

This is a new recipe for me, and it seems to blend the two ideas together.  It is soft and crispy at the same time.

The recipe I found was named Amish Sugar Cookies.  I'm not sure what makes them Amish, but that's really not the point.  These cookies are good.

The recipe does not call for milk, but have a glass on hand when the cookies come out. It's the perfect compliment to a warm cookie!

Ingredients:

1 cup butter 

1 cup vegetable oil (I used olive oil)

1 cup sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract (I would add a bit more for a bolder tasting cookie)

4-1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

Directions

1. In large bowl, beat the butter, oil and sugars. Beat in eggs until well blended. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar; gradually add to creamed mixture.
2. Drop by small teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. Yield: about 5 dozen.

Banana bread counts as fruit...right?

Every week when I go to the market, I have the best intentions.  "I am going to buy lots of fruit and vegetable so the family can eat healthy."  Yeah...about that.  Every week I have an over ripened bunch of bananas to do something with.  This week, banana bread came up in the rotation.  You know, now that I think about it....I think there may be a conspiracy.  If we don't eat the bananas, she'll make something sweet with the.  Hmmmmm..I believe I'm being had here.  They are luck they're cute.

Anyway, I had soooo many bananas yesterday, I had enough to do 2 loaves of banana bread.  I baked these up while the troops were away, so I was able to freeze one loaf for later in the week. Are any of you as excited as I am for school to start again?  If for nothing else, to ease up on my food bill.

Wow...I'm a little scattered today.  Sorry about that.  I found this recipe on line quite some time ago. It is enough to make 1 loaf of the bread. I doubled the recipe and it turned out just fine.  It is really tasty.  It's moist with lots of banana flavor, but not too sweet.  I would imagine you could give it a quick toast and put butter on it.  Yummmmm ...

Preheat oven to 350 F

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking SODA
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2-1/3 cups mashed bananas

Lightly grease loaf pan (I line with parchment)

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.  In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and the brown sugar.  Add eggs and bananas until well blended.  Add banana mixture to the flour bowl and mix until just moistened.  Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.


Bake for 60-65 minutes.  When done, a toothpick inserted in the center will come back clean.  Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing.  Then, place on a cooling rack until completely cool. ..if you can wait that long.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

My grandson loves bananas.  He also loves the Minions from Despicable Me, who subsequently....love bananas.  He and my granddaughter came to visit me this past weekend, so I needed to have bananas on hand.  He ate his fair share, but I was left with a few on my counter.  Today, I decided it was either time for them to jump into the trash or jump into my mixing bowl.

They chose wisely and jumped into my mixing bowl.  I'm not a huge banana flavor fan, but I have to say the results of this little adventure might change my mind.  I was shopping through my recipes and found this one, which includes chocolate chips.  How could I go wrong?

Here's the ingredient list:

1-1/2 cup granulate sugar
3/4 cup butter (room temperature)
2 eggs
1-1/2 tablespoons milk
3 ripened bananas
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking SODA
chocolate chips (to your desire)

Here are the instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cream the sugar and butter in a bowl (I always use my Kitchen-Aid, but any mixer will do).  Add eggs and mix until blended.  Add the bananas (I just broke them into small pieces...did not mash) and then add milk.  Mix until completely blended (1-2 minutes).  Add flour and baking soda, mix until incorporated.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Spray 2 loaf pans with non-stick spray (I used Baker's Joy) and divide batter between the 2 pans.

Bake for 45 minutes.  It will look done, but trust me.  Bake the whole 45 minutes.  Insert a knife into the middle.  It should come back clean.  Let cool on rack for 30-45 minutes and ENJOY!

I am always interested in hearing feedback on my posts.  If you bake this, please let me know how it turns out!  This is not my original recipe, but we all make small modifications to suit ourselves.

Gingerbread cookies

When people think about the holidays, they think about gingerbread cookies and houses, egg nog, peppermint bark and shopping 'til you drop.  That's most people.  Me?  I think of peanut butter fudge, but I have an somewhat obsessive relationship with peanut butter.  I HAVE to have it.

Anyway, I digress.  Since not everyone shares my opinion on the peanut butter thing, I have to satisfy the cravings of my family for the normal holiday faire.  My dear husband does not have a particularly sweet tooth (seems almost unnatural doesn't it?), so I decided to start with gingerbread cookies.  

I shopped for recipes and stumbled across this one from Glorious Treats.  I went to work making the dough and boy, about that dough.  There's a ton of it....and it's thick.  My poor KitchenAid was begging for mercy.  It was all worth it in the end though.  To say there were a lot of cookies would be an understatement.  

The first thing I noticed was the aroma coming from the oven.  It was heavenly.  I decided to try one, and I was glad I did.  I might just be tempted to come to the "normal" side of holiday treats!  They were fantastic.  You control whether or not the cookies are crispy or soft by the thickness of the dough.  

A note about the frosting...the first time I made the frosting, I added too much water and the frosting was way too thin.  It slid right off the cookies.  The second time around, I added a bit of clear corn syrup (because the powdered sugar just isn't sweet enough), and that seemed to do the trick.  

My husband was drawn to the kitchen by the aforementioned heavenly smell of these cookies baking.  He found me decorating these.  He is a very artistic person, so I think his interest was piqued.  He asked me if he could help decorate them.  Against my better judgment, I agreed.  I gave him the piping bag and he went to work.  Within 5 seconds, I see frosting spewing from his hand like lava from a volcano.  He looked at me like I was going to beat him.  That man and his Kung Fu grip, I tell ya'.  We had a good laugh about it, and it's something that we will remember every time gingerbread cookies are made.

My little monkey.....cake

Even before my grandson was born, his world was covered in monkeys.  Monkeys on the onesies, monkeys on the bibs, stuffed monkeys and monkeys on the crib sheets.  It only seemed fitting that when his first birthday rolled around that his smash cake would have a monkey.  The only problem with that logic is that Mimi (that's me...to the little ones) didn't know how to make a monkey from fondant.

My answer to my 18-year-old son when he asks me about something is "Google it."  Now faced with my own dilemma, I decided to take me own advice.  I sat down and googled "how to make a fondant monkey."  To my surprise, up popped some YouTube videos!  That's all fine and good, I thought to myself, but can I really get mine to look like the one in the video?  Well, here's the finished product.  Aside from the face looking a little like a cow-monkey combination, I thought it looked close.

The day came for my grandson's birthday.  My daughter and son-in-law took their places in front of him and waited for him to dig into the cake.  NOPE!  This boy proceeded to pick the blue and green circles very carefully and delicately off the cake and eat them.  I have never found fondant to be especially appetizing, but hey, to each his own right?  He giggled and giggled about the monkey and tried to eat him too.  My daughter had enough of this, so she put his hand in the cake and tried to show him how to smash it.  He still was having no part of this, so it was decided to just break off a piece of the cake and let him taste that.

Am I the only one who thinks it's hysterical when 2 adults are outsmarted by a 1-year-old?

Peanut butter fudge

I am pretty much in love with all things peanut butter.  However, good peanut butter fudge is hard to find.  I do not like my fudge to taste more like marshmallow or sugar than peanut butter.  I volunteered to bake some goodies for a fundraiser to benefit my son's indoor percussion unit and I wanted to include peanut butter fudge.  I found lots of recipes with the marshmallow fluff, creme, etc. in it.  I was getting a little discouraged when Pinterest pulled through again.  Thank you, Shop Girl!

I liked the fact that I did not need a science degree to make this fudge.  No stirring constantly for 3 minutes and 24.6 seconds exactly.  It could not have been easier.  

I could barely contain myself long enough for the fudge to set.  When I could no longer stand the wait, I cut into the fudge and sampled a piece.  I was literally weak in the knees.  So smooth, so peanut buttery, so fudgy.  I cannot wait to make more!

Here's the recipe (from Shop Girl):

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup milk

2 1/4 cups brown sugar

3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Optional: add chopped unsalted peanuts for extra crunch

DIRECTIONS:

First, measure out all your ingredients, because you will need to have them on hand, as the fudge comes together pretty quickly. Place the confectioners' sugar in your electric mixer bowl. Then, in a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, making sure that it doesn't burn. Once the butter has melted, add in the milk and brown sugar and whisk until you have a smooth mixture. Constantly whisking, bring it to a boil, then cook for another two minutes, continuing to whisk. Remove from heat, and add in the peanut butter and vanilla extract and stir until you have a thick, creamy sauce. Pour it into your electric mixer with the confectioners' sugar, and mix until completely smooth and creamy. Pour into an 8x8 inch pan (line the pan with parchment paper) and let chill until the fudge is firm, then cut it into small pieces using a sharp knife. (*Note: I cut the recipe in half and made a smaller batch, and it was still a lot of fudge!)

Chocolate Chip Cookies as good as grandma made...or close to it.

My love of baking comes from my grandmother.  She was your stereotypical housewife.  They believed in living a simple life.  They had no television, and she would wash the clothes in an old wringer machine.  The clothes would then be hung on the line to dry, winter or summer.  She ironed everything, from my grandfather's cloth hankies to sheets, everything got ironed.  

I stayed with my grandmother while my parents worked, so we spent a lot of time together.  Once a week she would say "time to make the chocolate chip cookies" and she would get to work.  I can still see her as she would measure the ingredients and mix up the batter.  She used the "2 spoon" method to drop the batter onto the cookie sheet.  I can remember how the cookies smelled as they came out of the oven.  

My grandmother has been gone for 9 years now; but she was not able to bake for quite some time before she passed.  When she passed, my step-mother got some of her recipes.  She has been trying to replicate the chocolate chip cookies, among other things, with little success.  My father and uncle say "Nope, it's close but not like Mom used to make."  

Well...when I was leaving home many, many years ago to get married, I noticed that my mother's Grange Hall cookbook jumped into one of my moving boxes (honest, it did that all by itself!).  Over the years, I have been perusing through the pages of this cookbook.  I found this chocolate chip cookie recipe.  The ingredients sounded similar to what I remember from all those years ago with my grandmother.  I decided to give it a go.  I'm so glad I did!  These cookies taste just like hers did.  Whenever I make these, I think of her and the many things she taught me all those years ago.  I miss her, and what I would not give to have her back just for a little while to give me more tips and pointers along the way.

Here is the chocolate chip cookie recipe:

ingredients:

1/2 cup soft shortening (I use stick margarine)

3/4 cup sugar (half brown sugar/half granulated)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1-1/8 cup flour (measure before sifting)

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup nuts (optional)

1 small package of chocolate chips

Mix together the shortening, sugar, egg and vanilla.  (I used my KitchenAid and let it go for about 5 minutes).  Stir in the sifted dry ingredients and add nuts and chips.  Drop by teaspoons 2 inches apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes.  Yield: 2 dozen