Shabby Garden Cake

Just a quick blog about cake, and the amazing women in my church. There is a couple in our church who was engaged with not much in the way of money, family or friends. They wanted a reception, but were unsure how to do it. So one of the ladies in the church said "I will throw you a reception!" And that's what she did! She'd just inherited a bunch of wedding decor, and there are amazing caterers in our church. So with a lot of helping hands, everyone threw a quaint, personal, elegant and classy wedding reception. It was so fun!

I made this cake for them, and it was perfect for my first wedding cake because they wanted it small with simple decorations, but it tasted amazing! Lime whipped cream, lime filling with strawberries and a white cake. (well...green and yellow, white cake) A far cry from the usual chocolate with buttercream that i'm used to. It turned out a little flowery for me, but the bride loved it. And look at the inside! That's my favorite part.

And I need to say a quick word about the cupcakes.

Pretty much everything was donated by our church, so a couple ladies made the cupcakes at home, brought them to the building, and I threw some decorations on them. One flavor was Tres Leches....and HOLY COW! They were amazing! Afterwards, while cleaning up in the kitchen...I took 6 home. And I ate them all by myself. Here is the super simple recipe that was used:

Easy Tres Leches

Cupcakes:
-1 box white cake mix
-1 T. ground cinnamon
-4 eggs
-1/3 c. oil
-1&1/4 c. water
-foil liners

-Spray liners with Pam. Mix all other ingredients together and fill foil liners. Let cupcakes cool completely.

Leches:
-1 c. whole milk
-1 c. evaporated milk
-1 c. sweetened condensed milk

-In a bowl, stir 3 milks together until well combined. Poke holes in your cupcakes with a toothpick and slightly pull liners away from cupcakes (this will help keep milk IN the cake, not pouring over the sides). Pour 1 spoonful of milk on each cupcake and then repeat 4-5 times.

Tip: To completely soak the cake, let them chill in fridge 1 hour - overnight.

Topping:
Pipe whipped cream onto each cupcake and drizzle with caramel.

Good luck!

PS: I know people will be wondering what the Fox and the Hare are all about??? Well, the bride bought them as their cake toppers because she calls her hubby a fox, and he chased her down like a hare. Hence: Fox and the Hare. :)

Zoey's Zebra Cake!

So...my family is having babies. Lots and LOTS of babies. At least my in-law side of my family. My side of the family is old, so we're having a bit of a dry-spell. Good news is...i'm not one of the pregnant ones! So I celebrated by helping to throw one of my sisters-in-law a shower!

Here I have a cake:

My lovely sister and brother (Mariah and Taylor) decided to name their coming daughter Zoey, and theyre going with a zebra/jungle theme. You know...Zoey Zebra...so cute. So I thought I would finally get brave and try a real, fondant-covered cake. The last time I tried to cover a cake in fondant was about 3 years ago and it was a DISASTER! It ended in tears and a messy cake. I resorted to moulding fondant, and I got pretty good at it. But THIS turned into a work of art! Let me tell you, my hands were shaking, but I finally did it! The fondant boots and zebra took me hours of work, but I think the 2 minutes it took me to cover the cake was a million times worse! Until it turned out PERfect...then I cheered. Anyways, enough bragging and self-congratulating. Here are some cupcakes:

When I arrived with the cupcakes, my other sister-in-law had these adorable cupcake pokes leftover from a shower she had done the weekend before. They looked so cute! I have to put a quick plug in for Costco (because it's amazing). Pastry Pride Ready to Whip Cream. Its flavored...its fluffy...you can pipe it...it won't melt when it sits at room temp for a few hours...I love it! And I don't have to stress out about stabilizing my own whipped cream. That's what I used on the Heath cupcakes this time and it was stupendous. Anyways, you can find a pretty good tutorial on how to make the boots here. I added quite a few details to the design, but it's a good base to start with. My only complaint is that she doesn't provide a printout of the pattern, so you will have to play around with it for your sizing.

German Apple Pancakes

When Matt thinks of Father's Day (or Christmas, or St. Patrick's Day, or our kid's birthdays, or any holiday, really), he thinks of German Apple Pancakes. They are all he wants for breakfast most of the time, but I try to keep it special for Father's Day. He doesn't read my blog, so this will be our secret....I want them every morning for breakfast, too! I'm such a good wife, though, that I don't make them without him (very often. what??).

I can't really remember where the original version of this recipe came from...probably somewhere on google. All I know is that it's Yummmmmmy!!!! Anyways, here are the step-by-steppers:

 You will need a cast iron frying pan or some other oven-safe stove-safe pan.

Whisk together 1/2c. flour, 1T. sugar, a pinch of salt and 1/2t. baking soda.

 Add 4 whipped eggs, 1c. milk, 2 t. vanilla, 2T. melted butter and some cinnamon and nutmeg.

Let the batter sit for 20-30 mins at room temperature  It will thicken significantly over this time, but should still be pretty runny and pourable. Is pourable a word? I guess so, since spell check didn't kick in.

Preheat your oven to 425*F. Coat your pan with LOTS of butter before turning on the heat. (sorry, there's not a picture for this step). I just take the stick and rub it all over the bottom AND sides of the pan super well. Combine some cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar. Sprinkle it liberally all over the pan. Add 1 whole sliced apple (peeled or unpeeled is up to you). You want to try to get the slices to lie as flat on the pan as possible. Sprinkle more of the sugar mixture over the apples.

 Cook, covered, over medium heat until the apples are tender and bubbling. Don't let them scorch! Make sure your heat doesn't get too high, and be sure to have plenty of butter in the pan. If you need to add some pads of butter while the apples are cooking, that's totally fine. Covering the pan isn't necessary, but it helps the apples steam and cook more quickly and evenly. Don't be picky about every apple being tender... you're going to bake them soon.

GENTLY pour your batter over the apples. If you pour the batter too fast, all the apples will float to one side. You want them to stay evenly distributed here.

                         

Use an oven mit to transfer the pan into your oven. That handle gets hotsy totsy!! Bake about 10-15 mins at 425*F. Then reduce the heat to 375*F and bake another 10 mins or so. We were hungry and anxious to eat, so I pulled this out about 5 mins early. It was still totally cooked, just not as golden on top as usual.

 Slice and top with powdered sugar and Creme Fraiche (or whipped cream if you're lazy like me.)

 Or cut them into little bite-sized pieces for your minions. :)

Happy Father's Day!!!

German Apple Pancakes

1/2 c. flour

1 T. sugar + more for sprinkling

1/2 t. baking soda

pinch of salt

4 large eggs, whipped

1 c. milk

1 t. vanilla

2 T. butter, melted + more for coating

1 apple of any kind, sliced

cinnamon & nutmeg

powdered sugar

Creme Fraiche (or whipped cream)

1. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda & salt. Add eggs, milk, vanilla, melted butter, cinnamon and nutmeg. Let stand at room temperature 20-30 mins.

2. Preheat your oven to 425*F. Coat a cast iron pan with butter. Combine sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and sprinkle the pan liberally. Line your pan with sliced apples and sprinkle the apples with more sugar mixture. 

3. Cook apples, covered, on medium heat until apples bubble and caramelize. Add more butter if needed. Once the apples are mostly tender, pour batter very gently over the apples.

4. Put the pan in the oven and bake about 15 mins at 425*F. Reduce heat to 375*F and bake an additional 10 mins.

5. Slice and top with powdered sugar and Creme Fraiche or whipped cream.

Serves 4