The Goody Goddess

Craving

2010-11-06T22:39:00.001-07:00

I have nothing to post regarding delicious goodies. My pantry is bare and I am seriously craving Swiss Merengue Buttercream Frosting.

Seriously.

Bah.

Fall Favorite

2010-10-28T11:23:00.001-07:00

Our family has a tradition of making Chocolate Popcorn Balls. They are a combination of freshly popped popcorn (over the stove, not in the microwave!) and ooey, gooey tootsie roll-like confection formed into a sticky crunchy chocolatey ball of deliciousness. Yum!

Here they are in all of their glory!

To make these delightful treats you need the following:

1 cup light corn syrup

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup popcorn kernels, popped (any unpopped kernels should be separated and discarded)

extra butter, for greasing your hands (Pam works too, but butter tastes so much better!)

waxed paper, or parchment paper

Divide the popcorn into a couple of large bowls, so that you have enough room for mixing. In a medium suacepan, combine corn syrup, sugar, cocoa and butter. Bring to a boil and cook until they reach soft ball stage. (Test by dropping a bit of the chocolate in a cold glass of water. If the texture is malleable, its ready to go.)

Drizzle over the popcorn and mix. You must move carefully and quickly as the chocolate dries quickly. Grease your hands and form popcorn into balls. Let cool on waxed paper.

Do you have a favorite fall tradition in your family?

September

2010-10-05T11:00:00.001-07:00

It was a busy month. The first weekend I made a wedding cake. Let’s just say it’s not an easy task with a two month old. Thank goodness I have an awesome family that always jumps in to help out!

I love making wedding cakes. Its so fun to be a part of something so special. Sarah and Cuyler were a darling couple, and it was such a pleasure to work with them.

I was also able to make a birthday cake for cute little Brighton! I love watching kids eat cake. It’s so fun to watch them discover the deliciousness. It gets EVERYWHERE! For my next birthday, I am gonna eat cake like a kid again.

I also attempted my first gluten free cake. Lets just say it was a big FAIL. But I will not surrender to the rice flour, no way! Success will surely follow…

A Year Later…

2010-10-05T10:33:00.001-07:00

I realized a couple weeks ago that it has been a year since I started this little blog. When I decided to start, I was looking for something to keep me busy. Good news, it worked! Granted, I didn’t follow my goals to the letter. I didn’t bake and blog about it every week. I probably did more baking than blogging. But, I never would have anticipated that I would have accomplished what I did. I have learned all sorts of techniques and have had a blast trying out new recipes. I have made goodies for all sorts of events, and have even been paid to do it. The best part, people actually like the stuff!

I hope I can keep this going. I have still have projects lined up (a cake in the oven as I type) and really love to do it. Besides, there is nothing like a house that smells like chocolate all the time!

More Catering

2010-08-19T19:18:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I did another catering job with Dianne. Another wedding, in fact. We served appetizers and desserts, with summertime flavors as our inspiration. I made red velvet and chocolate dipped white cake pops plus s’mores bites, and then assisted with a few other treats.

Here are some shots of the food. I missed the bbq wings (they were gone so fast), grilled veggies, and the salsa bar. Sorry Dianne!

Burger and Fries

BLT Bruschetta

Whoopie Pies

S’mores Bites

Shortcake Bar

Red Velvet Cake Pops

I also did the centerpieces for the tables. The only specification were colors: blue, black and white. So this is what came out. The frames were filled with blue shell photos, as the mother of the groom wanted some beach influences.

I have had so much fun working on these events, and look forward to more in the future!

Cupcake Class

2010-08-02T20:02:00.001-07:00

About a week ago, I got to go to a cupcake decorating class with my mother-in-law. We had a great time learning about fondant and gum paste, and tried our hand at creating edible cupcake toppers. The instructor wanted to go with a summer carnival/state fair type theme, so we made mini fondant replicas of fair food. We all made hot dogs, popsicles and cotton candy. Then, we were able to choose our own, so I made an ear of corn.

This is how they turned out:

I really enjoyed the class. I learned a few new tricks and tips, but l loved getting to play all day. Thanks to Dianne for taking me (hopefully we can go again soon), and thanks to my Matthew for watching baby boy.

Bun out of the oven!

2010-07-15T21:38:00.001-07:00

My sweet boy tested done on June 21st! He is without a doubt the sweetest treat I will ever make!

I will be starting a family blog to give little updates on baby Cole. The address is mlgamfam.blogspot.com.

Wedding Cake Follow Up

2010-07-15T21:28:00.001-07:00

I mentioned in a post a few months back that I was going to make a wedding cake. Well, I did! And it was so fun! The cake received great reviews. Apparently it was rather tasty!

The MIL and I also catered a great brunch. Crepes, French toast, and mini frittatas were just a few of the items on the menu. Sadly, we didn’t get any pictures of the food, but my hubby snapped a few of the cake.

I loved being a part of the couple’s special day. It was so wonderful to see how happy they were.

Patriotic Pie

2010-07-15T21:02:00.001-07:00

For Memorial Day (yes it was two months ago) I decided to try my hand at a fresh fruit tart. I have always wanted to make one cause they look so delicious! And berries are in season now, so I couldn’t waste the opportunity.

I used a short dough crust, just flour, sugar and butter. You can’t go wrong there. It is the same recipe I use for New York Cheesecake, which I need to make again. Yummy!

I made lemon curd and added freshly whipped cream for a filling. It lightened the curd just so it wasn’t too overpowering.

Then I topped it with strawberries and blueberries. It wasn’t exactly how I wanted it to look, but it sure tasted good. Especially with a dollop of cream to top it off!

Thank you Betty Crocker!

2010-05-03T21:06:00.001-07:00

I don’t typically use mixes when I bake, but there are a few exceptions (Betty Crocker fudge brownies are my favorite). But I was seriously lacking energy and needed to take a treat to a barbecue. So I ran to the store and grabbed a cake mix and some frosting ingredients. I can’t buy the can, I just can’t. I perused my cupboards and fridge, and decided I would make strawberry lemonade cupcakes. Delicious!

Here is what you do:

With a regular white cake mix, exchange the water for lemonade (I used Crystal Light). I added the zest and juice of one lemon since my sugar free drink doesn’t pack quite the punch that real lemonade does. Add the other ingredients and bake according to your specific directions. One tip: Use an ice cream scoop to portion the cupcakes.

When I make frosting, my standard go to is an American buttercream: butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, maybe a little milk. For the fresh strawberry buttercream, I finely chopped about six average sized strawberries to add in after beating the sugar and butter together, omitting the milk and vanilla.

Can I just tell you that I hate strawberry frosting or cake or ice cream, but this stuff was so good because it was so fresh. It’s the only way to go.

Here is the result:

Go buy a cake mix, and let me know what you come up with!

Giving into the cravings.

2010-04-09T20:35:00.001-07:00

I am pregnant, and I like to eat. It’s a problem, but baby gets hungry. And that’s how I justify eating whatever I want, whenever I want. I have had some bananas aging on my counter now for a week or so, and they have been calling my name. Not to eat in their plain and somewhat healthy form though. I actually won’t touch a banana if it has even one little brown freckle spot on it. Traces of green indicate the ideal stage of ripeness for eating bananas.

Anyway, I have been watching them age and thinking how much I really want a banana cake. Finally, I gave in today. I made my mom’s banana cake recipe. I love it, and will share at the end of my excessively chatty post.

I gave in to the craving partially because I wanted the cake, but also to serve as a practice cake for frosting. Yes, I actually have something to practice for! In May, I get to make a wedding cake. It’s the real deal ladies and gentleman! My lovely mother-in-law has been asked to cater the wedding and has employed me as her assistant and cake baker. Actually, I think bakeress sounds better, even if it isn’t a real word.

So here is the photo that I was sent. This is what the bride wants. And we all know that every bride gets what she wants :)

This is my practice run. It doesn’t look as fancy without the flowers, and I was testing out a couple things. But it’s a start.

I won’t be using the dots on the bottom, or maybe a version of them will end up bordering the top and bottom. Or it will be the ribbon all the way. Not to mention, the cake probably won’t be a banana cake either.

I am really excited about my project, and can’t wait to post the final product!

I almost forgot! The recipe:

Banana Cake

2 1/3 cups flour

1 2/3 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups smashed bananas (I used four whole bananas today and never really measure this part. Use at least 2)

2/3 cup shortening

2/3 cup buttermilk (or regular milk with a bit of vinegar)

3 eggs

1 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2/3 cup finely chopped nuts

Follow the general rule for mixing…bananas, sugar, oil, then the eggs. Add dry ingredients alternating with the buttermilk, or just throw it all in and mix. It will work just the same because its that simple of a recipe. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes (8 or 9 inch rounds).

Yummy, yummy! I want some now!

Hand over the cake…

2010-03-17T16:58:00.001-07:00

So, I am really proud of this post. Not so much my words though. Blah, blah, blah! I am really excited about my cake. It was just another German chocolate cake, not really complicated. And the frosting wasn’t even perfectly smooth. But I made a gun! Out of fondant! A fancy fondant revolver! For my dad, because he loves guns, and it was his birthday. And I love my dad. So certainly he needed a gun cake!

I would have attempted sculpting it, but coconut pecan frosting isn’t particularly obedient, and it needed to look decent. So, I pretended I was five again playing with play-doh.

Just a side note, fondant is way better than play-doh, but just as messy!

So this was the result:

Happy Birthday to an amazing Dad! Love you!

Eat your vegetables, for dessert!

2010-03-09T16:41:00.001-08:00

Vegetables and cake don’t mix, or at least that’s what my husband said on Sunday as I was baking his dad’s birthday cake. He learned yesterday that this is just not so, as he ate a good portion of that vegetable infused carrot cake.

I admit, I am not the biggest carrot cake lover (I think it has something to do with the raisins), but this was a mighty tasty cake. It also helped that the sides were coated with cream cheese frosting, toasted coconut and walnuts.

I used my Martha Stewart Cupcake book again for the cake recipe. This has been my go-to book lately, and it has yet to disappoint.

Here are some shots of the cake:

Happy Birthday Doug!

Taste the Rainbow

2010-03-09T16:19:00.001-08:00

Basically, I have been on a sugar cookie baking frenzy! Last week I made over one hundred sugar cookies for a church event my mom was in charge of.

Our church has a program for teen girls called Personal Progress. It serves as a method for teaching young women to set and accomplish goals that will help them to be strong women in the church, as well as in their community. Last week’s event was a way to introduce the program to the girls and their families.

The Personal Progress program uses eight values that the girls base their projects on. Each value is assigned a color. I decorated the cookies in each of these colors, piping the values on some of them. The eighth value, virtue, was recently added. We used bees instead of coloring them gold. Bee virtuous!

I had so much fun making these, and it was really great practice for the piping skills.

Think Pink!

2010-02-20T10:47:00.001-08:00

Not for me, or my little boy bun in the oven. We are all blue over here, but my friend is having a baby girl. Last weekend I was able to go to her shower and got to make some yummy little treats. I went with some cute sugar cookies and mini spice (sugar and spice, and everything nice!) cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

Oh cream cheese! You are delicious!

Here are some photos. I have a habit of forgetting the camera, and so my sister’s had to do. My friend’s shower/baby nursery colors were brown, green and some pink. I got a little carried away with the pink. Oops!

I promise they looked much cuter at the shower, but again, I forgot the camera!

To frost the cookies I used royal icing. It works best when stacking cookies. To do the polka dots, you use a wet on wet technique. You pipe the edges of the cookies, and then fill with icing. While wet, add in your alternate color dots and then let dry. So easy and so cute! If you want a similar top to the cupcakes, roll out fondant, cut into the desired shape and press with an acrylic stamp. Its incredibly simple to do, I promise.

The shower was so much fun and I can’t wait to meet the sweet baby girl. It also made me even excited for my own baby. I cant believe he is going to be here in only a few months!

It’s Game Time!

2010-02-07T15:27:00.001-08:00

Do you have your Super Bowl treats ready?

Who’s gonna win? Saints or Colts?

Lemony Sunshine

2010-01-28T17:56:00.001-08:00

It has been raining here in San Jose, or at least it was raining. For over a week. We had a tornado watch. Its been dreary and gloomy, and I have missed the California sun. I decided to bring some sunshine into my kitchen by making lemon bread. Nothing screams sunshine like lemons.

I have several new recipe books that were given to me over the Christmas holiday, one being a Williams Sonoma baking cookbook. So I thought I would test Mr. Williams, or Mrs. Sonoma, or whoever managed to create such a name for themselves, and try their lemon bread. The recipe is pretty basic:

Cream shortening and sugar.

Add eggs.

And lemon zest.

Add dry ingredients followed by wet ingredients.

Bake for an hour.

And devour!

Congrats Mr. Williams or Mrs. Sonoma. You make a mean Lemon Bread!

**Note: Williams-Sonoma was founded by Charles E. Williams, though I am not sure this is his actual recipe.

Happy Birthday Mom!

2010-01-18T11:47:00.001-08:00

My mama had birthday. She is 29 again, and looking fabulous! I decided I wanted to make her a special cake for her birthday. She has a favorite truffle from See’s Candies. Key Lime. Its delicious. Key Lime buttercream coated in white chocolate. Sounds kinda cakey. So I thought I would make a cake that had some of the same flavors.

I made a simple white cake. I should have added a bit of lime zest, but I didn’t want to overpower with lime. The cake was filled with a lime curd. Oh my goodness! Lime curd is fabulous. Don’t buy it. Make it! I used Alton’s recipe again, but changed a couple things. Here is the recipe:

5 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

4-5 limes, zested and juiced (It’s about 1/3 cup juice, its ok if its not enough, and wont hurt it if there is too much. Don’t add extra water…bleh!)

1 stick butter, cut into 8 pats

In a small saucepan, boil a small amount of water. In a metal bowl (that will fit over the saucepan without the water touching the bottom), whisk egg yolks and sugar. Add lime juice and zest and mix well. Place over boiling water, and reduce heat to low. Stir until yolk mixture has thickened. It takes longer than you think, about 10-12 minutes. It need to get thick, especially for a cake filling. I didn’t cook it long enough, and had to start over. Once it has thickened, remove from heat and add the butter, one pat at a time. Stir each pat until its melted and then add another. Cover and refrigerate your curd for up to a week.

To cover the cake I made a white chocolate ganache with 1 cup cream and 1 1/2 cups white chocolate, just to thicken it a bit. I didn’t frost the cake, but rather let the ganache fall over the top. Photographically, it was not the prettiest. But it tasted really, really good. Next time, more ganache to cover the cake well.

Happy Birthday Mom! Love you!

It’s about time…

2010-01-02T16:42:00.001-08:00

I admit it’s a little sad that I lasted for 2 months with my little blog, and then suddenly stopped. Let’s just say that things have been a little out of the norm for the Goody Goddess. My desire for cooking and baking and eating hit an all time low when I discovered I was baking something extra special…a baby!

After what felt like an eternal hiatus, as I have been horribly distraught that I have no desire for sweets, I decided it was time to return to the baking.

I made a few things in December that really deserve some posting. My grandparents celebrated their 50th Anniversary with their children and grandchildren in mid December. It was a perfect opportunity to make a cake. Here are a couple shots of the German Chocolate decadence: That’s my sweet grandma and the love of her life. They are a wonderful blessing in my life. The magnolia flower is handmade…a first attempt. It gave me some struggles, but I am determined to conquer the art of sugar flowers!

Right before Christmas, I had another project. My mother-in-law has started a catering business, and I was able to help out with one of the events. She catered a luncheon for about a hundred missionaries from our church serving in the area. There were a lot of hungry young men, and she did a great job. I was assigned to make a cake to look like the badges that the missionaries wear. Apparently the newest missionary, and probably one of the oldest since he has been around for a thousand years or so, is Santa Claus.

It’s a little more embellished than the traditional badge, but it desperately needed some Christmas cheer. Sadly, I left the good camera at home. My dear sister-in-law was kind enough to take a picture with her phone. Technology is amazing!

That is pretty much the Goody Goddess up to date. I made some fleur de sel caramels for Christmas that were pretty delightful, but forgot to snap a shot. Next time I will add my own flair and make sure to post the recipe!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T18:06:00.001-07:00

Make yourself some delicious sugar cookies today…or just pig out on all that candy! But, I would certainly go for the sugar cookies!

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween!

Sometimes you feel like a nut…

2009-10-27T20:20:00.001-07:00

I decided I wanted make something special for my mom. She is a great gal and always deserves something sweet. Its odd that the title for this post is “sometimes you feel like a nut”, and I am making something for my mom. She is a little nutty, and I always laugh the hardest when I am with her. For a while now I have thought about making some Almond Joy cupcakes for her, as one of her favorite candy bars is the Almond Joy.

We made a plan to meet last Wednesday, and I was going to present her with her treat. I baked the cupcakes, and shortly after got the sad call that she was sick. No more meeting, and still all of those cupcakes. I decided to finish them off, as a practice run. The Momma deserves the best anyway!

I used Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes recipe for coconut cupcakes, exchanging almond extract for the vanilla. I wanted to give a nice almond flavor. I also used a cream of coconut, since I had it on hand, and lessened the sugar.

For the frosting, I used Martha’s dark chocolate frosting, but added cream of coconut, and some extra powdered sugar to thicken it up a bit. I have to say, it was delicious. I love frosting.

I toasted some coconut and topped the cupcakes with some sliced almonds. They were really cute, and tasted pretty good too. I think next time I will do half coconut extract and half almond extract in the cupcakes, just because I LOVE coconut.

Next post, I will try to remember to include pictures along the way. I always forget that part!

I made a cake!

2009-10-21T03:17:00.001-07:00

For some reason, its 3:00 in the morning, and I am up. Don’t ask why. I don’t know. Crazy dreams. Stuffy head. Thinking of a million things all at once. Alas, I thought I might make my visit with insomnia a bit productive and share my exciting news…

I made a cake! A big cake! For my boss! For their business’s 20th Anniversary!

I got a call on Thursday around 5:00, to make the cake for Saturday, which was a bit of a challenge. But I am always up for a challenge. We chatted briefly about size, flavor, design, and came up with the idea to make what I thought would be best! Ha!

I scrambled to the bank at 5:15 to get cash for the cake supply store that closes at 5:30, making it with oh, 5 minutes to spare. I grabbed a cake pan (hooray), some fondant, and ran to the grocery store to pick up caking ingredients. And then I ran to another store, and another store! Dang it for everything not being accessible at one store. I even when back to the store after one round of baking, because I ran out of ingredients. I should have planned better, but who needs to plan? I was baking a cake! For my boss!

On Friday, I frosted the cake and covered it in homemade marshmallow fondant (see CakeJournal for an awesome tutorial). I brushed the cake with a silver glitter (it looks a little dirty in the pics), and then began the painstaking labor of cutting individual letters for the studio logo. Oh, but it was so fun!

With the help of my husband, we assembled the letters for the logo. Then, I piped the letters with fondant icing writer that I HATE and will NEVER use again! It clumped up (the official term) about every five seconds! But alas, I managed to make it look semi-acceptable.

And the final product:

Congratulations Studio 10! I hope there are 20 more years ahead!

Banana Split, Goddess Style

2009-10-14T00:20:00.001-07:00

Over the weekend, Matthew and I had some friends over for dinner. I love to bake, but I also love to cook. When I cook, I always accidentally make a ton of food, so dinner guests are especially appreciated in this house.

For dessert, I wanted to do something on the lighter side, as the cuisine of the evening was Mexican. But, chocolate was requested. Traditional chocolate, aka brownies, cake, aren’t so light. So I thought outside of the box, just a bit. Mexican Hot Chocolate…chocolate and cinnamon… bananas and chocolate… bananas and cinnamon. Ooo, cinnamon bruleed bananas with little ice cream quenelles and a chocolate drizzle!

Yes, that was my actual thought process.

So, I made them. And it was so easy, and so fast. I made a homemade chocolate sauce with 60% Cacao Ghirardelli chocolate, a little cream, a little butter, and a little water to thin it out. Usually, the chocolate would clump up once the water was added, but fate wasn’t that cruel to me on Saturday (I had already destroyed three martini glasses that I was planning on using for serving…don’t ask).

Then, I made the bananas. Oh, yummy bananas. I cut them into spears (or eighths if you prefer) and covered them in cinnamon and sugar. Then, I torched ‘em!

Just a side note- I love my culinary torch! Thank you Matthew!

Now, a banana split needs ice cream of course. But I didn’t want big clumpy scoops. Because I watch way too much Iron Chef America, I had seen quenelles being made a few times and I thought I might try my hand at them. Basically, you take two spoons and shift the ice cream (or sorbet, cream, mousse, etc.) between the two until it creates a football shape. You can apparently do it with one spoon too, but I am a visual learner (dancer by day). So, I went with two spoons.

The dessert turned out to be pretty much delicious, or at least my guests were kind enough to lie about it if they were bad. But I liked them, and had more as a late night snack.

Tasty Traditions

2009-10-08T19:44:00.001-07:00

This past weekend, we were able to listen to our Church’s Semi-Annual General Conference. For two days, we get to be spiritually fed and uplifted as we hear from our wonderful leaders.

These weekends were some of my favorite while I was in college. I was usually invited to watch the meetings with friends and their families. I was able to share some of their “Conference Traditions” and be a part of a family when I was far away from my own. Aside from sporadic note taking, accidental naps, and conference bingo, the top tradition was always partaking in a delicious breakfast of some sort!

Now that I have my own little family, consisting of me and Matthew for now, I wanted to start a little tradition myself. I have fond memories of making cinnamon rolls with my grandma, and not so fond memories of the disasters as I tried to replicate them (usually flat, hard, salty, nasty bread!) But they are a special, yummy treat that I have determined to be our own Conference breakfast.

I have always attempted to replicate Grandma’s bread recipe, but its never quite as good. So I decided to look up a few refrigerator roll recipes (so that I could let the dough rest overnight, and sleep in a bit) and combined a few to make my own. After letting the dough rest overnight, I rolled it out to about 1/4 inch thick, and generously buttered the top, all the way to the edges. I wanted to make these rolls a bit more rich with cinnamon than normal, so I used 5 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon to cover the buttered dough. After rolling the dough, I used waxed dental floss (unused, of course!) to cut the dough to about 1 1/2 inch rolls. The dental floss doesn’t press as firmly as a knife and makes a cleaner cut.

I let the rolls rest for about an hour, and baked them for 20 minutes or so. I let them cool a bit and then topped them with a buttery powdered sugar glaze. They were soooo good! I just wish everyone could have come and had some! But instead, I stuffed my face, and added a few extra rolls to my sides!

Here is some cinnamony delight that won’t add any extra rolls to your tummies…lucky!

Gimme S’More!

2009-09-30T13:34:00.001-07:00

Last month Matthew had to work in Austin and I decided to go out and visit him for a few days. While Matt worked, I toured the Capitol Building, checked out museums, and found a great independent bookstore. We had some awesome BBQ, and some fairly edible Tex-Mex. But the best thing we found was Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop. It is a tiny, cute little bakery with some quite delectable treats. They have a great assortment of cupcakes, dessert bars, pies, and made to order specialty cakes.

To satisfy our sugar craving, we grabbed a few cupcakes and my husband decided he needed to try a S’mores bar too. And OH MY GOODNESS, it was divine. In fact, I had to replicate the masterpiece this week. We were invited to a BBQ over the weekend, and I thought they would be the perfect treat!

I started with a graham cracker crust: finely crushed grahams, butter, dark brown sugar, and baked it for about 10 minutes. Then I made a thicker ganache, with a bag of semisweet chocolate chips, and a cup of heavy cream. I think next time i will use even less cream, to thicken the chocolate even more. It was really melty though, giving even more of an allusion of the real deal s’more.

I topped the whole thing with homemade marshmallow. It was surprisingly easy to make, and ridiculously addicting. I used a recipe from Alton Brown. He is a genius, and his recipes always seem to work for me. His lemon curd is excellent!

After letting the marshmallows dry out for a few hours, I browned the tops with my brand new culinary torch (thanks love)!

The trick to cutting these was dusting the knife with powdered sugar before each cut so that the marshmallow didn’t stick and result in the bar falling apart.

The bars were a big success. At least, Matt and I liked them! And we got rid of most of them at the BBQ. I love being able to try new recipes and replicate good things that I have tasted before. Now I just have to figure out what to make this week, since we don’t have any birthdays or BBQs to go to!

Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate

2009-09-25T09:47:00.001-07:00

My baby sister turned 18 last Saturday! I can hardly believe it. She’s legally an adult! What happened to that cute little cherub of a baby?

(Whine, whine, whine…I should move on.)

So, for her birthday I asked what kind of cake she wanted. Her reply was, “Chocolate cake, chocolate mousse filling and chocolate ganache. Oh, and some raspberries in the mousse.” I was so proud (She takes after me, the chocoholic!). But she gave no specifics on decor. I asked, and asked what she wanted it to look like, but I got nothin’. Oddly enough, she did request a certain cake plate. So I decided to let that inspire the decor for the cake.

For the cake, I used a basic chocolate cake recipe, but ended up cutting out some sugar when I added it to the egg whites, because the batter was SOOOO sweet already. The cake was really tasty, so don’t be afraid to tweak things a bit. The chocolate mousse filling is the best part. Its not really mousse, but whipped cream with melted chocolate added to it. I found the recipe once from Tyler Florence (I think), and it was so simple in comparison to all the others, I went with it instead. In my adapted version, I used:

1 pint whipped cream

1/2 bag semisweet chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over boiling water, not letting the water touch the bowl. Add vanilla, and let cool. Meanwhile, whip cream until it is rather stiff, but not butter! Add 1/4 of cream to chocolate, and mix to lighten up. Then fold it into the rest of cream. When I filled each of the layers, I topped the mousse with some fresh raspberries. That’s it! So delicious!

I decided to whip the ganache, so that i could coat the cake well when frosting it. It worked great, and I loved the finish.

For decor, I used small edible beads in pink, yellow and blue to match the cake plate. I also made a fondant bow, which took a ridiculously long time for some odd reason. I added the bow, as it is the best feature on the cake plate. I mean, really, look how cute it is!

The cake was a success, and I am still with the whole baby sister all grown up thing. Clearly, I have issues with birthdays, and numbers, and all that change stuff!

Happy Birthday Sister! Love you so very much!

Happy Birthday Matthew

2009-09-18T19:34:00.001-07:00

September is birthday month. My husband also had a birthday, and my sister’s is tomorrow. Sorry, the first few posts with be surrounded by the “B” word.

For Matthew’s birthday, he wanted pie instead of cake. Pie, really? He says not much of a cake man, although whenever I make cake, or cupcakes, they quickly vanish. But, being his “B” day, he gets whatever he wants. Unfortunately, he was pretty vague about what type of pie he wanted. I did, however, get him to narrow down his pie choices to three: chocolate cream, apple, and blackberry. So being the good wife that I am, I made all three. Now, I didn’t make three huge pies. That would be ridiculous. Instead I made mini pies. I found some small cute tins that were the perfect serving size!

I started with the crust my mom taught me how to make. She makes the best crust. Ask around. People will most likely use butter or shortening, or a mixture of the two. She uses butter flavored Crisco. The recipe for one crust is:

1/3 cup plus 1 tbs. butter flavored Crisco

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp. salt

2-3 tbs. cold water

Like any other recipe, you combine the dry ingredients, cut in the shortening and then add water, one tablespoon at a time, ensuring that the crust doesn’t become too wet.

For the fillings, I winged it. Apples, cinnamon, sugar. Blackberries, sugar, a bit of vanilla (cause I like it), and a touch of cinnamon. I always use cornstarch as a thickener. For me, it works better than flour.

For the chocolate cream, I googled. I have only ever had a chocolate cream pie where the cook used a packaged pudding mix. GROSS! I don’t believe in packaged products, ever! I found a couple of recipes that I thought might work well, and then mixed them together. Basically, it was your standard pudding recipe, but decadent and delicious.

I prebaked the crusts for the chocolate cream, while filling and covered the apple and blackberry. I, of course, topped the chocolate with fresh whipped cream and a sprinkle of cocoa powder. Yum!

We decided that the chocolate cream was our favorite! Who can resist whipped cream? I sure cant!

Birthdays

2009-09-18T12:03:00.001-07:00

I am now officially a quarter of a century. And for some reason, this sounds really old. I know its not, but it sounds like it. The word CENTURY… its just daunting. And quarter, that’s the BIG coin. Its just a bad combination. The importance of this random feeling old, money, long times tangent is that it resulted in this very blog.

I was hours into turning the ripe old age of 25 when I started contemplating the things that I had, or had not done. I thought about what made me happy, and what I could do to make this year better than the last. So I made a list. On the list was baking. I LOVE to bake. Its therapeutic for me. Bad days become baking days. Baking days are the best days. So, once a week, I will bake, ensuring at least 52 fabulous days a year (plus more for the days following in which the goodies are devoured). But I also decided that I should share my baking excursion. Thus, the Goody Goddess blog was created.

Now, the title was chosen that I might one day be a true Goody Goddess. I am a decent baker, and I love all sweet treats. But I don’t feel that I have quite reached the status of goddess. Hopefully, for the first birthday of the Goody Goddess there will be plenty of divine treats to share!