This morning I stood under a blossoming orange tree that hummed with honey bees.  I found my way under this tree after a walk through my neighborhood on one of those mornings that couldn’t decide if it wanted to laugh or cry.

The sidewalk showed evidence of midnight rain.  The smell of rain on asphault… ooh so perfectly dreamy.  The sky, bright blue with clusters of pure white and angry grey clouds.

The air was just cold enough to chill me through my sweater and carried the scent of orange blossoms nearly a block.  That’s the scene that lead me, arms hugging my chest, to the bee humming orange tree, live with blossoms and heavy with fruit.

The scene screamed of Spring.

Standing there under that tree, it felt like life was just bursting out into the world.  What a pure expression of life and beauty that tree was this morning.

Happy Spring.

Have some life… enjoy it!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes are a spring classic.  Right?  I paired mine with Dulce de Leche Buttercream, but feel free to groove on with a classic Cream Cheese Frosting.  These beauties are unadulterated carrot yum, the kind of treat you might find at a church bake sale…. like, the best church bake sale ever!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

adapted from Martha Stewart

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makes about 28 cupcakes

• 4 cups peeled and finely grated carrots
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped, pod reserved for another use (or 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract)
• 1/2 cup crushed pineapple, well drained
• 1 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted and finely chopped
• 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

I think I’m supposed to hate cake mix.  I think, once you get a chef’s coat, you are supposed to turn you nose up at all things packaged, pre-mixed, and all around too good to be true.  Well the truth is, I don’t hate cake mix, or at least I don’t hate it as much as I should.

I could bore you with a pro and con list detailing my love hate relationship with cake mix, but I won’t.  I’ll just say this- I love cake mix because my Mom buys it for 35 cents and then passes it along to me, with that oh-so-great-I-found-a-bargain feeling.  Cake mixes are easy beyond belief, moist every time and really hard to screw up.  But the truth is, even easy to make, 35 cent cake mix isn’t really a bargain.  It’s filled with loads of oils and sugars that I can’t even pronounce.  If I can’t pronounce it, there’s a good chance my insides that don’t what to do with it either.  So, you win and you lose.  Sounds a lot like life, doesn’t it?

I whole heartedly reject what the directions on the cake mix box tells me to do.  If I’m going to make a boxed cake, I’m certainly going to do it my way.  I’m not sure if I can make cake mix couture, but I’m sure as hell going to try.   So to my yellow mix I added lime zest, orange zest, orange juice and toasted coconut.  Hmm…. couture enough?  I don’t know.  I’ll probably have to find a skinny French model wearing a skinny French couture dress to stand next to my cake… then I’ll be able to reasonably call it couture.  Yea…. that’ll do it.

Orange, Lime and Toasted Coconut- Haute Couture

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1 box yellow cake mix

1 box vanilla pudding

4 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1 cup sour cream

zest of 1 orange

zest of 1 lime

juice from half an orange (a scant 1/4 cup)

1  cup toasted sweetened coconut

Lime Glaze

Juice of 1 lime

1 cup powdered sugar

Toasted Coconut for extra fanciness on top of the cake

1.  Mix all of the ingredients together in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or a large bowl with a hand mixer, on low for 30 seconds, and then on medium for about 2-3 minutes.  Scape down the bowl as necessary to incorporate all of the ingredients.

2.  Pour the batter in a well greased and floured Bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 39-44 minutes, or when a thin knife inserted in the cake comes out clean, and that cake has a nice golden color.

3.   Remove the cake from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes.  Invert the cake onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

4.  Embellish with a lime glaze- The juice of 1 lime added to 1 cup of powdered sugar.  Whisk until no lumps remain.  Pour over Bundt cake, letting the glaze drip down the sides, and sprinkle with toasted coconut

I had a food fantasy yesterday, in the middle of my Monday workday.  My fantasy involved four things: me, my uber comfy Santa pajamas, a bowl of made-by-me ice cream, and my electric blanket.  I fantasized all the way home and skipped dinner to get my ice cream going.  I had all the fixins for coconut cardamom ice cream so  I thought I’d give it a go.  I like cardamom ice cream!  At least, that’s what I told myself… for as long as I could.

So as it turns out, I’m not a big fan of cardamom in ice cream.  Even with a coconut camouflage, I just couldn’t get into it.  Of course, I didn’t know the extent of my dislike until I was situated deep within my electric blanket, with my Santa pajamas on, watching a movie.  All things considered, at that point, by life was pretty wonderful, so the  ice cream wasn’t such a tragedy.

I used an ice cream recipe that contains a cornstarch thickener rather than egg yolks.  The eggy taste is a little overpowering.  I think the cornstarch lets more of the other flavors through.

Coconut Cardamom Ice Cream

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1 cup coconut milk

1 1/2 cups half and half or milk

1/2 cup sugar

6 cardamom pods

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

1. Put all of the coconut milk, 1 cup of half and half, sugar and salt into a sauce pan. Over medium- low heat.

2.  Lightly crush  cardamom pods with the bottom of a heavy sauce pan.  Pods should be  opened slightly to reveal seeds.  Place whole pods in warming milk.  Just as milk begins to boil, remove from heat and cover.  Steep pods in milk for ten minutes.

3.  In the mean time,  add cornstarch to remaining 1/2 cup of half and half.  Stir, trying to remove any lumps from the mixture.

4.  After steeping period, remove cardamom pods and return the milk to a medium- low flame.  Add the cornstarch mixture and vanilla.  Milk will thicken substantially as it comes to a boil.  Stir on low for about 1 minute after it boils to thicken it substantially.

5.  Strain the mixture and place into a bowl over and ice bath.  Stir until the mixture is completely cool.  You can also place it in the fridge for at least and hour.

6.  After mixture is cool, follow manufacturer’s instructions to operate ice cream machine.

I think next time I have an ice cream fantasy that involves comfort and indulgence, I’ll try chocolate peanut butter ice cream.  Maybe chocolate chip cookie dough….. extra extra cookie dough.  I’ll just stay away from spicy ice cream, which I conclude, is just as odd as wearing Santa pajamas in late January (and all year round).

]]> http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2008/01/12/feed/ 2 http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2008/01/pink-hawaii/ http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2008/01/pink-hawaii/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2008 02:51:00 +0000 joythebaker http://joythebaker.com/blog/?p=4

I was recently asked to create a Hawaiian themed cake for a girls first birthday.  Children’s theme cakes usually run along a spectrum: from Sesame Street designs to Yo GabbaGabba characters.  I somehow can never find my creative voice in tracing an Elmo onto a cake.  It’s just not my style.  Imagine my excitement in having free reign with a Hawaiian cake!

What I came up with is a three layered devil’s food cake with coconut cream cheese frosting.  The hot pink dye seemed to call out to me, so the cake became a girly pink with toasted coconut dressing up the side.  On top I fashioned a gum paste (and paper) palm tree with shredded coconut sand, gumpaste coconuts and flip flops.  Yea… flip flops. 

 I’m so pleased with how this cake turned out!  I was able to satisfy the desires of the customer and still create a colorful, hip design.  A little pink Hawaii for one year old Miss Lilly.

Devils Food Cake

3 cups sugar

1 cup butter

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 2/3 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 tablespoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cup sour cream

1 1/3 cup hot, strong coffee

Preheat oven to 350.  Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.  Creaming the butter and sugar in an electric mixer.  Beat for about 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  The mixture should be pale in color and fluffy.  Beat in the vanilla extract.  Add eggs one at a time.  Beat each egg into the batter for 1 minute, scraping down the bowlt after each egg.  Alternately add the flour mixture, and sour cream, mixing until just combined.  The batter will be fairly thick at this point, almost like brownie batter.  See the picture above.  With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the hot coffee.  The batter will thin substantially.  Place in greased and floured cake pans ( I used three 10″ pans) and bake for 18- 25 minutes.

This recipe produces a deliciously moist cake, but because of all of the liquids, the cake is a bit fragile.  Cake pans should be very well greased and floured.  When cakes come out of the oven, let them rest until cooled, then take a knife and loosen the cake from the sides.  Turn them out, and let them cool further on a cooling rack.  Don’t turn them out to cool onto a plate, they’ll stick.  Oh yes, I learned the hard way.  

Layer with any delicious frosting you fancy.  I went for a coconut cream cheese frosting.  Say you aren’t a wiz at frosting the sides of the cake.  Here’s a tip:  always work with a clean cake decorating knife.  Cake knives have a round tip, and no sharp edges.  As your working with the knife, have a deep bowl of hot water on hand.  Dip the knife in and shake it around to clean off the excess frosting.  Working with a clean tool with help ensure clean lines and edges.

When all else fails… hide your mistakes under a layer of delicious toasted coconut!