Mixing together two favorites

 

Every once in awhile a light bulb goes off on the baking side of my brain.  And sometimes that light bulb ends up with awesome results like this one…..

I was having a pretty crappy day yesterday, but this is not the time or place for those issues….so when I have a crappy day I try to think of things that make me happy.  I will also say it was a little gloomy yesterday too, and I was missing all the sunshine we had last week.  So I decided to create some of my own sunshine, in the form of LEMON CURD.    And even though I would be happy just eating said lemon curd out of the jar with a spoon….I figured the family would rather something else yummy for snack/dessert.  And since this pound cake recipe turned out SO well, I decided to combine the two. 

I bring you….Vanilla Bean Pound Cake, with Lemon Curd swirled inside.  It is TO DIE FOR.   Basically I just layered the pound cake batter with the Lemon Curd in between….and the curd stayed nice and soft.  Just perfect.

If you are every having a bad day I strongly suggest you make some of this….you can’t help but smile at a bowl of bright yellow lemony goodness.  Trust me.  It worked for me. 

Look at this cake:

Old Fashioned Recipes

I love recipes that get handed down from other generations.  I have several that I have been lucky enough to receive from my mother and Omi.  But this one isn’t from my family.  My amazing friend, Laurie (aka @SuperSlush) was kind enough to share her Grandmother’s Pound Cake recipe with me….and told me it would be ok if I posted it here to share with you all.   This recipe is very basic, but absolutely delicious.  There are so many different things you can add to this recipe to make it even more delicious depending on your mood….on my first attempt to make this recipe I was in the mood for a Cherry Lemonade….a la Sonic.  So I added these…

Maraschino Cherries!! Oh, and some lemon.  I love these cherries…I really don’t care how they are made, or what goes in them…they are yummy. 

Old Fashioned Pound Cake   Recipe Graciously Given by Laurie

Preheat to 350. Grease a 10 inch bundt or tube pan.

Ingredients:
3 cups sugar
2 sticks butter
1/2 cup shortening
6 eggs
3 cups flour
1 cup milk

Cream sugar, butter and shortening until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping sides in between additions. Alternate flour and milk, starting and ending with flour. Pour into greased bundt/tube pan. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

To make this a Cherry Lemonade Pound Cake zest and juice two lemons and add to the sugar, shortening and butter while creaming.  Drain a jar of maraschino cherries (save the juice to make a powdered sugar glaze), and fold in cherries before putting batter in pan.

To make the cherry glaze mix the juice from the jar of cherries with powdered sugar until you achieve the desired consistency.  Pour over cooled pound cake.

Look at this cake….but look quick, it wont last long….

Thank you, Laurie for sharing your Grandmother’s recipe with me…and for letting me pass it on to all of you.

xo

Pie Love(r)

 

I adore a good piece of pie.  The flaky crust, the yummy filling….I am drooling.  I prefer a fruit filling, but am not one to turn down a cream, pumpkin or pecan pie.  

When doing some research a few months ago about all the places (mostly food related) that I wanted to visit in Seattle when we moved out West, I stumbled on High 5 Pie.

I knew that it would have to be one of the first places I check out.  So last week when I was in desperate need for a break from these crazy boys, I tweeted that I was heading to Seattle for some pie, and did anyone want to join me.  I was super excited when a new (and awesome) friend said that she would be in the city and would love to join me.  Yippee!  Pie and conversation….yes, please.

Libby and I decided to share a couple of slices so that we could, without huge guilt, try two slices out of their incredible looking selection.

Lemon Shaker

and Maple Blueberry

I have to say that I can’t decide which I enjoyed more….they are both delicious and so different from each other.  I had never heard of lemon shaker….but it is a candied lemon peel filling.  Tart, tangy and just a little sweet.  Perfection.  Loved that the Maple Blueberry was a one crust pie with a crumble topping…it was so great.  Had those tiny blueberries that just burst with juice when you bite them. It was so good that is what I chose to bring home to Jason.

So, if you are ever in Seattle, and want to go for some pie….this is the place.  And call me, I’ll join you for a slice!

 

Macarons, the fancy french kind!

I did it. I conquered one of my baking fears. I made French Macarons. I was totally inspired by my friend Susan over at She's Becoming Doughmesstic. Susan made some gorgeous Orange Dreamsicle Macarons this week and her pictures and write up made me feel like I could do it. Her tweets of encouragement gave me no other option but to try. And I had egg whites in the fridge needing to be used too.

I had decided to make lemon lime macarons. I had some great limes in the fridge and some leftover lemon buttercream from this weeks cupcakes. I was hesitant to add too much food colouring and I really didn't add enough. They aren't green at all! They are more orange than green, so that is why I used an orange backdrop! Compliments them nicely! But they do taste like lemon and lime, nice and citrusy. Fantastic!

Susan has the recipe posted on her blog here. Rather than copy it all out for you, hope over there and check out her Orange Dreamsicle Macarons, and all the other amazing things she does!

Thank you Susan for the inspiration and motivation! Now to make them chocolate and hazelnut, chocolate and mint, ooohhh chocolate and orange! Bring it on. I am no longer afraid!

Take care,

Tania

Love Big, Bake Often

Put the Lime Curd in the Cupcake!

Instead of "put the lime in the coconut"....get it? I try to be funny... is it working?

I don't know where this lime obsession is coming from the past couple of days, but I am lovin' it! The lime curd I made yesterday turned out luscious....that's right....LUSCIOUS. I wanted a cupcake to go along with it that would hold up to this fantastic lime curd. So I asked my friend CB, from I Heart Cuppycakes to send me a link to her best go to vanilla cupcake recipe....and this is what she sent...you can find her version here. (Thank you for responding to me so quickly - gotta love twitter!)

Lime Vanilla Cupcakes

Makes about 12

1-1/4 cups AP flour

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

Zest from one lime

6 tbsp butter, room temperature

1 large egg + 1 egg white, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350F.

Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Zest lime and with fingers rub the sugar with the lime zest. In a stand mixer, fitted with flat beater, beat the lime sugar and butter until well combined, about 2-3 minutes. Add egg and egg white, one at a time, beating on low.

Then add vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk in 2 additions, ending with the flour mixture.

Fill cupcake liners about 1/2-2/3 full. Bake for about 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

6 oz Cream Cheese

1 1/2 Sticks Softened Butter

2 tsp Lemon Extract

1 Tbsp Half and Half

Approx 6 - 7 cups of Icing Sugar

Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add in Half and Half and Lemon Extract. Add Icing Sugar until you reach the consitency you are looking for....I like to have it spreadable but stiff enough to hold the swirls and peaks!

I used the simple "cone" method to fill these cupcakes. I took a sharp knife, coned out a piece of the cupcake, cut off the bottom of the cone, put in the lime curd, and put the top of the cupcake back on. Just like this......

Then I frosted them with the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting. Lemon Lime Vanilla Cupcakes. They were a hit at the meeting and I actually was able to sneak a couple to bring back home for Jason and I to enjoy. They are delicious. Oh, and luscious. What a great word!

This is my last posting for NaBloPoMo......whew....it was tough to make sure to post everyday. But a very fun experiment. I may chose to do it for another month....guess I have to decide tomorrow..... thoughts?

That's it for tonight all....hope you had a good April!

Take Care,
Tania

Love Big, Bake Often

A day of baking and treats...

I have been a busy baker today. Lots of goodies coming out of the kitchen today. It started with some Chocolate covered English Toffee. (and no J that isn't what I am sending you, though I could!) I have been wanting to make some other candies, but thought about trying my hand at this and see if the super cheap candy thermometer actually works before making some others that have more rich ingredients. I decided to make it with some fleur de sel in the toffee and sprinkled on the chocolate on top too. All I can say is YUM. It looks great and you can really taste the buttery goodness and the salty sea salt. I used Paula Deen's recipe for English Toffee and just omitted the nuts.

Then I decided to make a recipe that I had seen awhile back and thought would be fun for the boys. One of the fantastic blogs I check out daily, The Way the Cookie Crumbles, posted a recipe for Pigs in a Blanket. I thought the boys would love them. And surprisingly enough Jakob loved it, he ate it with strawberry jam, but he ate it! I had to make the dough twice - the first time I forgot to add the sugar and the poor yeast didn't have anything to eat and refused to rise!


For dinner I made a recipe that I have been wanting to make ever since I saw it a couple of weeks ago (or so). CHIPOTLE LIME GLAZED SHRIMP! Ok - not baking, but man were they ever freaking yummy!! I found it while perusing my Google Reader and all the blogs I follow. Ezra Pound Cake shared this recipe from Cook's Illustrated. I served it with lime maple sweet potatoes and cornbread. No greens - the green beans I had in the fridge went south on me. Oh well - double tomorrow! I think we will be working this into the "rotation" for sure - love it!!




And last but not least, Lemon Blueberry Muffins. I have another playgroup with the new meetup group in the morning. A coffee meetup while the kiddos play. I thought I would bring something yummy with me (as I usually do), so I made a Dorie recipe but substituted lemon for orange, and added some sweetened cream cheese in the middle before baking them. So when you bite into them there is a yummy cheesecakey center.

I am sorry I am not including recipes in this post - but follow the links and you can get them while checking out some new sites.

Take care,

Tania

Love Big, Bake Often