Thursday, July 14, 2011

Logo design HELEN OF MEMPHIS


A local Artist, formally from Memphis, needed a logo for her budding craft business. Her dream is to one day have a store where this antique store sign will adorn her store front. She needed a logo that while different from the sign, would represent the same feel. This is what I came up with.....


you can learn more about Helen on her etsy shop.

Mini Blueberry Tarts



If you are heading to the HUDSON VALLEY this weekend, there's still time to get in some blueberry picking! I went last weekend to HODGSON FARM in Walden, NY where they said their blueberries are chemical-free!

We picked enough blueberries for snacking, smoothies, freezing, and baking.

Our first baking project were these simple Mini Blueberry Tarts. 




Best Rainbow Cake Recipe

I've seen many posts on "Rainbow Cakes", and my daughters 13th birthday gave me the perfect opportunity to give it a try.


{I want to give myself a disclaimer on the photos and cake decorating. With the limited time I had on this baking project, decorating was a "quickie" and the photos were shot super-fast with my iphone}.

This recipe, taken directly from the "Whisk Kid" blog, was PERFECT!!
I was amazed how evenly and flat each layer baked and the flavor was delicately textured. The only adjustment I made to the cake was decreasing the amount of food-coloring {for a slightly more natural look}.

For the frosting, I followed the the recipe for the "fill and crumb coat" but I used a lighter frosting on the outside.

This is after assembling and "coating" the outside of the cake. I baked the cake in the evening and refrigerated it over-night. The frosting hardened, making it the perfect surface for a final frost. While I'm a big fan of "it's best the day you bake it", in this case after bringing it to room temperature it still tasted perfect.


For the outside frosting I wanted to use something lighter,  a little more fluff and a little less butter. This helped to balance the richness of the buttery frosting on the inside, but with the warm weather of the day, the frosting started to melt before we cut-into the cake. Minor miss-hap, but something to consider.

Here is the Last Piece Standing!! {p.s. I know I messed-up the order of the rainbow!! It made for a good laugh. Once you place that layer, there's no taking it back :)

I can't wait to make this recipe again! Next time I'll try shades of one color!


{RECIPE BY WHISK KID RECIPES}

Super Epic Rainbow Cake
I'm adding a disclaimer here: THERE IS A LOT OF FROSTING/BUTTER IN THIS CAKE. I used a lot because I wanted the cake to be very striking visually. It is intentional. Put in less if you want. Also, I'm not forcing you to eat this entire cake by yourself, so - seriously - quit freaking out about the butter.

White Cake (but not really)
I made things difficult on myself and altered a coconut cake recipe for this. I don't know why I didn't just make a white cake from a white cake recipe, but.... I didn't. Here's the source if you're looking to make a coconut cake. It looks divine, but my friends don't like coconut :(
2 sticks (226 g) butter, room temp
2 1/3 c (466 g) sugar
5 egg whites, room temp
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 c (375 g) flour
4 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 1/2 c (355 g) milk, warmed for 30 sec in microwave to bring to room temp
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple GEL food coloring. Liquid will not be vibrant enough!

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Oil and line how ever many 9” cake pans you have (I have three and I just reused them).

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Cream the sugar and butter, then add the egg whites (I cracked them all into one bowl) and add them a little at a time. Add the vanilla and mix until fully incorporated. Then, alternating between wet and dry, add the milk and flour mixture in two parts.

Divide the batter amongst 6 bowls (I did it by weight. Weigh your mixing bowl before you begin adding ingredients and then subtract the weight of the bowl from the final measurement after the batter is completed. Divide that number by six and add that weight of batter to each bowl), and then whisk a fair amount of the appropriate food color into each bowl. Keep in mind that the color of the unbaked batter will be the color of the baked batter. Pour into the pans and bake for 15 minutes each.

When you remove them from the oven, let them rest on the cooling rack, in the pan, for ten minutes. Then flip, cover, and stash them in the fridge to cool quickly.

To fill and crumb coat:
9 egg whites
1 ¾ c (350 g) sugar
4 sticks (532 g) of butter, room temp
2 tsp lemon extract

To frost:
5 egg whites
1 c (200 g) sugar
2 sticks (226 g) butter, room temp
1 tsp lemon extract

Cook the egg whites and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved (test by rubbing some between your fingers. If it's completely smooth, it's done). Pour into another bowl (a stand mixer is preferable) and whip on high speed until room temp. Then, on a medium-slow speed, add the butter, waiting until each piece is completely incorporated before adding the next. After all the butter has been added, turn the mixer back to high speed and whip until it has come together, about five minutes. Add the extract, beat briefly and then use.

If the buttercream seems soupy after all of the butter is added and does not come together after whipping, refrigerate for 5 to 7 minutes and continue whipping until it becomes fluffy and workable.

Assembly
Stack the layers in your preferred order and fill and frost as you would any other cake.

Once frosted, the cake can be left on the counter without any problems, but feel free to refrigerate it. Just be sure that the cake is at room temperature when serving or the frosting will be hard, not smooth.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

SIMPLE LEMON CAKE with a "twist"


I looked to my garden for inspiration & knew I had to do something with my beautiful Peonies. After doing a little research, I discovered that these edible petals were used as a garnish in lemonade. I thought, lemon cake would be close enough & I went to my trusted Martha Stewart site for a lemon cake recipe.


Peony (Paeonia lactiflora) - In China the fallen petals are parboiled and sweetened as a tea-time delicacy.  Peony water was used for drinking in the middle ages. Add peony petals to your summer salad or try floating in punches and lemonades.

I wanted to keep the look of the flower without using the center, so I tried {tried} to recreate the center with something that would be edible.

I sliced the lemon rind & mixed up some powered sugar and lemon juice.
My hope was that the sugar would harden & "hold-up" all of the lemon pieces to replicate the flower's center. {i didn't account for the natural oils in the peel that would continually keep the sugar moist. So, this was only mildly successful}


This was a simple Lemon Tea Cake. Dense and moist, not too sweet, with a strong lemon flavor.

Here is the MARTHA RECIPE:
Lemon Cake
This recipe was also featured on "Mad Hungry with Lucinda Scala Quinn."
Martha Stewart Living, March 2008 http://www.marthastewart.com/255933/lemon-cake
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