Or..something like that. Maybe not in Greece, but resembling Greece! So my old neighbor asked me to decorate a cake for a friends 50th birthday, and the birthday theme was Greece! So I decided to come up with a Santorini inspired cake! I used fondant for the top and cut it out to look like the skyline, with the famous blue doors and roof. I used graham cracker crumbs for the sand and made a vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream =) I like the way it turned out, and the birthday girl loved it!

I was asked by a friend if I could make a cake for a wedding shower/house warming party. She had looked online and gotten a few ideas, and I told her to e-mail me what she would like. I was so happy to see which cake she had chosen! I had always wanted a Tiffany & Co little blue box cake! And as a plus, the bride to be was named Tiffany! So it was perfect. I decided to make a large blue box for the bridal shower cake, and two matching little cakes for the houswarming. The shower was pink themed as well, so I wanted to tie it in with the cake. I also made tiffany colored cupcakes to go with it, with little mini white fondant bows to match. Now, I had used fondant before to decorate cakes and cupcakes, but never for an entire cake covering! It was really easy and fun. If you have’t decorated one before with it, I would definitely try it out!

Needless to say the bride to be loved the cakes! She saved one of the smaller pink boxes to bring home to her fiance! Here are some pictures of the finished cake, and a couple of the bride to be and myself!

Val, The Bride to be Tiffany & Me

First off I’d like to wish my mom a Happy Birthday!! As I mentioned earlier, my mom has been away at the Dominican Republic for a week! And today is her Birthday! But she isn’t home til tomorrow, friday, missing her birthday! So I thought I would bake her a cake so she could have it when she gets home! A birthday isn’t a birthday without cake! Also, I’ve gotten my final grades back and was super happy to receive a B in Biology! So all that stressing, and even lack of baking paid off! So, I think I deserve a piece of cake too!

Ever since I made the Zucchini cake I’ve been wanting to make a carrot cake, mostly so I could use my shredder attachment again! But also, my mom loves carrot cake as well! I was originally going to make another one from the Joy of Cooking, but then compared the two and liked the additions of coconut to the cake, also it seemed to make more. So, from the book I got for my birthday last year, Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From my home to yours, I decided to try out her Bill’s Big Carrot Cake. So far I’ve loved everyting I’ve baked from it, including the white out devils food cake, which I made for my brother’s birthday in March, which was de-licious!! So here’s the recipe for the carrot cake! It’s definitely a winner.

Bill’s Big Carrot Cake

From Baking: from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan
Yields 10 servings

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 3 cups grated carrots (about 9 carrots, you can grate them in food processor fitted with a shredding a blade or use a box grater, i used my KitchenAid with the shredding blade and baby carrots)
• 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
• ½ cup moist, plump raisins
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup canola oil
• 4 large eggs
• *I also added about a cup of crushed & drained pineapple

Getting ready:

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter three 9-x-2-inch round cake pans, flour the insides, and tap out the excess. Put the two pans on one baking sheet and one on another.

To make the cake:

1. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the carrots, chopped nuts, coconut, and raisins.
2. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the sugar and oil together on a medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs one by one and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother. It will resemble custard or Jell-o at this point.
3. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing only until the dry ingredients disappear. Gently mix the chunky ingredients. Divide the batter among the baking pans.
4. Bake for 40-50 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until a thin knife inserted into the centers comes out clean. The cakes will have just started to come away from the sides of the pans. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes and unmold them. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.
5. The cakes can be wrapped airtight and kept at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.

To make the frosting:
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until the frosting is velvety smooth. Beat in the lemon juice or extract. If you’d like coconut in the filling, scoop about half of the frosting and stir the coconut in.

*I toasted some coconut beforehand, and sprinkled it on top of the first layer in the middle of the cake.

To assemble the cake:
Put one layer top side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. If you added the coconut to the frosting, use half of the coconut frosting to generously cover the first layer (or generously cover with plain frosting). Use an offset spatula or a spoon to smooth the frosting all the way to the edges of the layer. Top with the second layer, this time placing the cake stop side down, and frost with the remainder of the coconut frosting or plain frosting. Top with the last layer, right side up, and frost the top- and the sides- of the cake. Finish the top with swirls of frosting. If you want to top the cake with toasted nuts or coconut, sprinkle them on now while the frosting is soft. Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes, just to set the frosting before serving.

Serving:
This cake can be served as soon as the frosting is set. It can also wait, at room temperature and covered with a cake keeper overnight. The cake is best served in thick slices at room temperature and while it’s good plain, it’s even better with vanilla ice cream or some lemon curd.

Happy Birthday Mom! xox From Me & The animals

First off I have to apologize for my long absence! It’s been a crazy March so far. But I had such a craving to bake that I went out and bought a new pan just for this cake! I had wanted to make zucchini bread initially, and growing up my Nonna always made the best. I had her recipe written down somewhere and couldn’t find it! So I decided to improvise and create something a little different. My mom’s been out of town this weekend, so this morning when I told my brother I was going to make zucchini bread, he asked if I could make banana bread instead. So I thought I would compromise, being the nice sister I am. I found this recipe and decided to give it a try. It’s super moist and I love the colors that come out of the combo of zucchini&banana. This is really yummy and I even got to use my brand new attachment! I had gotten it from Koko, back in June for my birthday and hadn’t tried it! I think I was scared, its the shredder and grater attachment for the Kitchen Aid mixer, and it’s so easy and works great!! Especially for zucchini bread or carrot cake when you have to shred lots! So if you have one, try it out on this recipe! It’s delish.

ps. I realize my cake is broken, or should I say “wrecked”. Needless to say one part of the cake got a wee bit stuck, but hey, perfection isn’t everything. It’s how it tastes!

Zucchini & Banana Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup aw zucchini, shredded ( about 3 small )
• 1 cup mashed banana ( about 2 )
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans, if desired.

1. Shred zucchini and set aside.  Mash bananas and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs, oil, and sugar.
3. Slowly add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and pecans.  Thoroughly combine.
4. Add zucchini and bananas until well blended.
5. Pour into greased and flowered bundt pan, and bake for 45-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. Cool for 10 minutes in pans on wire rack.  Remove from pan and cool completely.

When life hands you lemons Grapefruits…

So I came across this mouthwatering recipe on Tastespotting a couple of days ago. And normally I wouldn’t have clicked on it, but the name intruigued me because we happened to have a whole bunch of grapefruits lying around the fridge! So I thought I’d check it out. And I’m glad I did! This is a yummy recipe and can be adapted for a lemon cake as well. It’s perfect for afternoon Tea…or afternoon nibbling, or morning noon and night nibbling for that matter. Give it a try.

Grapefruit Yogurt Cake Recipe

Stolen from Smitten Kitchen, Adapted from Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3 extra-large eggs
• 3 teaspoons grated grapefruit zest (approximately one large grapefruit)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup suger, eggs, grapefruit zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it’s all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile

Cook the 1/3 cup grapefruit juice and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the grapefruit-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.

Glaze Recipe

For the glaze:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar and grapefruit juice and pour over the cake.

This recipe is really yummy! And it’s not too sweet and nice and light!

Enjoy! Alicia

I tried this sticky toffee pudding recipe before and decided it would be perfect for Christmas! So I made another one, only jazzed it up for Christmas! If you would like the recipe, from Joy of Cooking, click here

All this sticky tofee goodness is de-licious!

Try this..now!! Sure it starts with Pitted Dates..but this cake give them a good rep!

Thought I’d add some more pics of my lovely table decor!

Hope you had a good holiday break!..back to school and work now!