It's My Birthday!!

Ok, so technically my birthday isn’t until the 12th, but hubby was out of town this week, so I decided to make my cake a little early.  Besides, who wants to spend their birthday in the kitchen?  Now, ordinarily I leave birthday cakes to the professionals, but this year I decided, not only to bake myself a cake, but to go the whole nine yards.  I made real Italian buttercream, and even bought pastry bags and piping supplies to do a few decorations.  Next time you have a birthday or special event, give making your own cake a try. 

Here’s what you’ll need for the cake:

¾ cup butter (1 ½ sticks)
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 ½ cups flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 Tablespoon vanilla
½ teaspoon almond extract (optional)

All of your ingredients must be at room temperature before you start.  Sorry, I didn’t manage to get an ingredients picture for the cake.  I will tell you to preheat your oven to 350°, though.  Also, you need to line 2, 8 inch round pans with parchment and butter the sides of the pans.  To see how to cut parchment to the proper size, I showed how in my chocolate cake post. 

Throw your softened butter into a mixing bowl. 

Beat it for a good minute or two so it becomes nice and soft and fluffy, then pour in the sugar and beat for another 3 or 4 minutes.

Add the eggs and vanilla. 

Be sure to save the extra egg white so you can use it in the buttercream later.

I know, eggs are supposed to be added one at a time… yeah, I didn’t.  Just make sure you mix until they’re completely incorporated. 

Next, sift your dry ingredients into a separate bowl and whisk them together. 

Add ⅓ of the dry ingredients. 

Mix until incorporated, making sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.  Pour in half of the room temperature buttermilk. 

Repeat.  You may notice that the mixture looks a little lumpy or curdled after the liquid additions. 

Don’t worry about that.  As long as you end with dry ingredients, it will smooth out beautifully, which you can see here.  This picture also shows why you have to scrape down the bowl frequently. 

Now divide the batter evenly between the two pans. 

Into the 350° oven for 35-40 minutes. 

So, apparently, my oven cooks a little on the hot side.  That is what causes cakes to crack on top.  Oh well, that’s what icing is for, right?  Now, cool the cakes for 30 minutes in the pans, then remove them and allow them to cool completely.  Once they’ve cooled, drop them back into their pans, cover them, and refrigerate for at least a few hours.  I left them overnight. 

Now to start on the frosting.  I knew I wanted some of my buttercream to be pink, but as usual, I would not be using artificial colors.  Instead, I used pomegranate juice. 

Unfortunately, you can’t just add it as it comes.  Adding too much liquid to your frosting will make it break.  We have to cook it down.  Easy enough.  Just pour it into a pan and boil it for a while, stirring occasionally.  As it cooks down, you’ll start to see larger bubbles forming and stacking on top of each other.  That’s a good sign that much of the water has cooked off. 

It will be very hot, so pour it into something very heat safe, and make sure it’s resting on top of a towel or hot pad.  As you can see, from the 2 cups of juice, I ended up with about ¼ cup of colored syrup. 

Set that aside and we’ll start on the buttercream.  Now, since I had never made Italian buttercream before, I used a recipe I found on the interwebs.  That being said, next time I make it, I will change it up just a bit.  To me, it was a bit too rich and buttery, so I will try cutting the butter down to 2 cups instead of the 3 that are called for.  Since I’ve never made it that way and can’t guarantee it would turn out beautifully, I’ll give you the recipe I did make.  If you feel like experimenting, try it with 2 cups and let me know how it turns out.   

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 ¼ cups sugar
½ cup water
8 egg whites
⅓ cup sugar
3 cups butter (6 sticks… what?  It’s my birthday.)

Again, it is important that everything is room temperature. 

For separating all the eggs, I used Seeley’s tip and pulled out a third bowl.  Don’t forget the egg white you save from making the cake.   

See?  Perfectly separated. 

Save those yolks, 4 of them at least, and next week I’ll show you a great way to use them!  Now, onto the syrup.  Before you start, grab a little dish of ice cold water.  In a pan over medium low heat, stir together 1 ¼ cups sugar and ½ cup water.  When the sugar has mostly dissolved, increase the temperature to medium, continuing to stir constantly.  When it reaches a boil, put on a lid and set a timer for 3 minutes. 

Now back to the mixer.  The recipe I used called for 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar, but I didn’t have that, so I just added a little squeeze of lemon juice to the egg whites.  Feel free to do either, or neither.  Now, turn the mixer on high-ish.  When the egg whites become foamy and opaque, sprinkle the over the sugar while the mixer continues to run.

Soon, the mixture will become very opaque.  You want to be able to do this.

Hopefully, like me, you’re able to accomplish that in the 3 minutes you have while the lid is on the syrup.  When the timer goes off, remove the lid.  It should look about like this. 

With a clean spoon, drop a little of the syrup into the cold water. 

You should be able to gather it together into a ball, but it should flatten easily between your finger and thumb.

When you get to that point, turn off the heat and carry the pan over to the mixer.  When the syrup has stopped boiling, with the mixer running on medium high, begin to pour the syrup very slowly into the egg whites. 

Try to get the stream to fall between the side of the bowl and the whisk.  If the syrup gets on the cold metal, it will harden rather than mixing in.  Naturally a little of it will be thrown around by the whisk no matter what you do. 

When all the syrup is into the mix, it will be quite hot.  If you have a flexible ice pack on hand, go ahead and wrap it around the bowl.  I always keep a bag of cheap frozen peas on hand for just such an occasion.  They make the best ice packs, and you can get them really cheap.

You want the mixture to be just a little over room temperature, around 80°, then it’s time to start adding the butter.  Cut the butter into about 1 Tablespoon size pieces and add them one at a time while the mixer continues to run. 

Yes, it is going to take a while.  And when you finally get close to the end of your butter, this will happen and you’ll think you’ve killed the whole thing. 

Don’t panic, just keep going.  It’s going to turn into buttercream, and soon.  See?

Now, I wanted a layer of pink in the middle of my cake as well as pink borders and a few little flowers, so I took about a third of the icing out and added some of the pomegranate syrup.  See how thick it is?

Whisk it in to get the color you’re looking for.  I added about 1 ½ teaspoons to get a nice pastel pink. 

Ok, let’s put this cake together.  Cut the bottom cake in half. 

Top the bottom half with raspberry jam, leaving a small border around the edge.  Use something really good.  I used homemade. 

Put the top back on and plop on some of the pink buttercream.

Spread, again leaving a border.

Now for the second cake.  Since this one is going to be on top, I decided to level it out a bit so I’d have a flatter surface on the top of the cake. 

Cut that cake in half.  I missed the middle, so I put the thinner piece onto the cake next.  Top that one with raspberry jam like you did the first. 

Last, you want whatever is flattest facing up. 

Now for the white buttercream.  You want to do very thin layer on the whole cake.  This is called a crumb coat, and that’s exactly what it’s for.  It traps the crumbs.  Pop the whole cake into the fridge for 30 minutes, and give your feet and back a break.  Don’t refrigerate the rest of the buttercream, though.  It needs to remain spreadable. 

Now, I’m not going to teach you how to decorate a cake.  As I’ve already said, I’m no cake decorator.  You can find great videos on youtube, though.  Here’s what I did.  I coated the whole cake in an even-ish layer of buttercream.  Looks good enough to me. 

Then I just did a border around the top and bottom of the cake in pink, and a handful of easy flowers. 

Not perfection, but I don’t think it’s half bad for my first attempt.  Especially considering how artistically inept I am. 

It was a bit time consuming, but I really enjoyed doing it.  And really, what’s better than sitting down with a delicious, and mostly pretty, slice of cake and being able to say, “I made that!” 

What food do you usually leave to the professionals? 

Can't Buy Me Luuu~huv.

The Beatles were right.  Ok, those words can’t have been uttered often, but it’s true.  Money can’t buy you love.  Part of me despises Valentine’s Day, and that’s exactly why.  I hate that love has become so equated with commercialism.  Don’t go out and buy overpriced chocolates for your sweetie.  Instead, make your own.  I promise they’ll cost less, they’ll taste better, and they’ll mean a heck of a lot more.  If you want it to be really special, why not make the candy together so you have an experience, a memory, and some fun time together?  Besides, who knows what chocolate dipping could lead to.  *wink, wink*

So here’s what you’ll need:

2 cups sugar
½ cup half & half
1 cup strawberries
4 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons syrup
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

The first thing you need to do is butter a 9x13 glass pan and set it atop pot holders.

Now, throw your strawberries into the blender. 

I’ve heard a lot of people ask if a Vita Mix is really worth the money.  I have to say, if you regularly use a blender, and if it’s within your budget, it’s worth every penny.  So, puree your strawberries until they’re mostly smooth, but I like there to still be seeds.  Measure out ½ cup of the puree.  ¾ - 1 cup of whole strawberries should get you pretty close to that. 

Throw everything into a 2 ½ quart or larger saucepan. 

Heat over medium low heat and stir everything together.  At this point, I decided a little squeeze of lemon juice would be a good addition.

And squirted the camera lens.

My poor camera.   It’s had all manner of food on it, not to mention steam, water, and it’s been dropped on the kitchen floor a few times.  Ok, so keep stirring until your sugar is completely dissolved.  You want this to happen before the mixture reaches a boil.  If it’s getting too hot and it’s still grainy, turn the heat down.  Once it’s all dissolved, you can increase the temperature to medium or so, but continue to stir constantly until it reaches a boil.  Once it’s boiling, pop the lid on and set a timer for 3 minutes.  This is a good time to get a little dish of ice cold water.  You also need to wash all the crystals off of your spoon or get a clean one out.  After 3 minutes, remove the lid.  It should look something like this:

Time to start testing for temperature.  Get a little bit on your clean spoon, and drop it into the cold water. 

When it reaches the right temperature, you’ll just barely be able to gather it into a ball and pick it up.  It won’t hold its shape. 

While you’ve got it, rub it between your fingers to make sure it’s completely smooth.  If it’s not, you need to add ½ cup of water to your mixture and start the cooking process over again.  Pour the very hot mixture into your waiting pan. 

This is why it needs to be on hot pads, or a folded towel.  It’s extremely hot.  There will be lots of little bits on the bottom of your pan, but resist the urge to scrape it. 

Now just walk away.  It needs some time to cool.  You could wash up or put in some laundry.  Me?  I went to hang out with my little buddy.  But I had to annoy him first by taking his picture.  How could I resist?  Look at him all cozy in his new bed with his blanket and his dog. 

Ok, so it’s possible I could be slightly biased.  Anyway, after 15 or 20 minutes, you’ll want to start checking the temperature.  You want the bottom of the pan to still be warm, but not so hot that you can’t hold your hand there comfortably.  Now, prepare for an arm workout.  With a sturdy spatula, start pushing it into the middle of the pan. 

It will be really sticky and stretchy at this point. 

Just keep moving it around.  Stir, scrape, drizzle… whatever you feel like.  Just keep it moving.  It will slowly start to turn a little opaque.  There will be big bubbles appearing as you stir… don’t worry about it. 

Still very stretchy, and it just kind of runs and doesn’t hold any kind of shape.  Keep stirring.  In this picture, you can see it’s becoming even more opaque, but it’s still stretching and running.  Not there yet. 

This is what we’re looking for.  Still soft and pliable, but no longer runs or stretches.  See how it’s holding its shape on the spatula?

It could take a long time to get to this point.  Don’t get discouraged.  When my feet and back got tired, I went and sat down with it and just kept moving it around.  It doesn’t have to be quick stirring.  Just scrape it around slowly and lift it up and allow it to run back onto itself.  It will get there eventually.  It probably took 30 – 45 minutes for mine to finally fudgify.  Yes, fudgify.  That’s basically what we have here, after all.  Strawberry fudge.  Now, spread it into a parchment lined pan.

At this point, it needs at least a few hours to finish the reaction that’s happening inside.  Just cover it, and after 2 or 3 hours pop it into the fridge.  You can leave it over night, or start dipping, once it’s nice and cold.  When you’re ready to dip, pull the whole thing out of the pan, and place it onto a cutting board.  I like to use a pizza cutter for this, but you can use a big knife if you prefer. 

Cut it into small squares.  They should be small, maybe 1 inch squares.  They’re going to get bigger when you coat them in chocolate, and you want each chocolate to be about two bites. 

Place one piece into the palm of your hand. 

Roll it into a ball and place it on another piece of parchment.  You want to do it quickly because the longer it’s in your warm hands, the stickier it will become.  (That’s what she said!)  (Sorry about that.  I know it was crude, and this isn't one of Seeley's posts, but I just couldn’t resist) 

Ok, onto the chocolate.  I like to chop up good chocolate bars.  (Thank you Trader Joes for your fabulous pound plus bars)  Chocolate chips will work fine, though.  Just microwave whichever you choose in a small glass bowl for 30 seconds at a time, stirring well between each.  It should only get just barely warm enough to melt.  Throw in one strawberry ball at a time.  Roll it around and allow the excess to drain.  A fork works well for this. 

Carefully drop it onto another piece of parchment. 

Oops.  I obviously didn’t let that one drain long enough.  See the little puddle around the bottom?  Now, to make them pretty, I decided to place a little piece of freeze dried strawberry on each one. 

See how cute they are?

I decided to do some milk chocolate and some dark.  One more advantage to making your own, you can do it however suits your mood.  You could even dip some of them in white chocolate. 

I used imported, high quality chocolate, organic strawberries, organic sugar, and organic brown rice syrup, and this whole pan of chocolates still only cost me about $5 to make.  You won’t find quality ingredients like that in even the priciest candy shop, and for $5, you’d be hard pressed to even get a half dozen pieces.  So don't buy love this year.  Make it!

What are you going to do with your valentine this year?