[Baking] Chocolate Lava Cake

Chocolate Lava Cake

If there is one person who loves cholocate-y desserts more than me, that would be my husband.  It's his birthday and I thought of baking something extra special... just for him.  We have gained so weight in the past several weeks and it's mostly because of our physical inactivity, being sedentary most of the time.  Yes, I have been baking here and there but it's always "to share" with family and friends.  Well, this Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe is served in ramekins, small enough for one person.  Talk about portion control.

There are many recipes online.  I did my research and came up with my own.

Chocolate Lava Recipe (serves 4, 6oz ramekins)
Ingredients:
2 large whole eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
3.5 oz Scharffen Berger Bittersweet dark chocolate, cubed
4 oz unsalted butter, cubed

Procedure:
1.   Preheat oven to 450C.  Line ramekins with butter.  The ramekins we have are 8oz and are wide rather than tall - I was able to make 3 portions.
2.   Place butter and chocolate squares in a glass bowl and melt in a double broiler (just because we don't own a microwave).   Mix well.
3.   Beat the whole eggs and eggyolks until pale yellow.  Add the sugar and beat until completely dissolved.  Add the vanila and salt.
4.   Pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and combine.
5.   Fold in the all purpose flour.  Mix.
6.   Gently pour the mixture into the prepared ramekins.  The cake will be baked in a water bath (baine marie) so place the filled ramekins in a deep dish filled halfway with hot water.
7.    Bake for 15 minutes.  Your cake is done when the sides are firm to and the center is soft (and jiggly).
8.   Take the cake out of the oven and gently run a knife along the side and place a plate and carefully invert the cake.
9.   Sprinkle powdered sugar and top with your favorite fruit (I used mangoes).

It was delicious and my birthday boy loved it!

Enjoy!  Happy baking!
♥ michelle

[Baking] Caramel Cake with Hydrangea Flower Icing for Grandparent's Sunday

We are celebrating Grandparent's Day today!

Here's a short summary on how it came to be.

"The impetus for a National Grandparents Day originated with Marian McQuade, a housewife in Fayette County, West Virginia. Her primary motivation was to champion the cause of lonely elderly in nursing homes. She also hoped to persuade grandchildren to tap the wisdom and heritage their grandparents could provide. President Jimmy Carter, in 1978, proclaimed that National Grandparents Day would be celebrated every year on the first Sunday after Labor Day."

As a tribute to them, I made this Caramel Cake decorated with hydrangea flowers.  

Caramel Cake with Hydrangea Icing

Oh, I had a lot of fun making this cake.  I love hydrangeas - they are colorful, delicate and so pretty to look at.  

It was my first time to make them and I think they turned out dainty and beautiful.  

I went to this site to learn how to make them.  Look at how pretty these cupcakes by Glory are.  

Hydrangea Cupcakes by Glory

I'm more into cakes than cupcakes but I would like to do this in my next cupcake project.  

May your week be filled with color and God's abundant blessings!

♥  michelle  ♥

[Baking] Star Wars Cake and Polymer Clay Personalized Topper

We celebrated a dear friends 16th birthday and it was inspired by Star Wars.  I made the green cake which is "Pandan cake."  The cake is made using the extract of Pandan leaves.  It is very common in Asian cuisine, mostly used in desserts.  It is very aromatic and makes desserts tasty.  However, I think it is an acquired taste because I know some Asians are not too fond of it.  I called it "Yoda Pandan Cake."

"Youda Pandan Cake" and "Red Velvet Star Wars Cake"

The personalized cake topper is made from polymer clay.  It incorporates some of our birthday celebrants' things:  longboard, violin, red chucks and her red backpack.  It was my first time to make such and it was challenging.

The blue Star Wars cake was made by Jane&Jill cakes.  The cake was red velvet - delicious!  I added the topper which was pretty cool too because the light saber lit up!

I helped out with the table decorations as well.  I printed out the images from MeckMom and added them to chocolate and white chocolate peanut butter Reese's mini cups.

I love helping out in themed parties.  It's fun brainstorming and making the most of available resources.

Cheers!

♥  michelle  ♥

[Wilton Wednesday] Buttercream Icing

Welcome to Wilton Wednesday!  

Today is about Buttercream Icing.

I have never tried making buttercream icing in my cakes so it was pretty interesting.  

You can find the recipe HERE.

We had to make a double batch for class:  

2 cups vegetable shortening, meringue powder, 2 lbs powdered sugar, water or milk, vanilla and a dash of salt.  

I used McCormick pure vanilla and though it didn't discolor my icing, you might want to use a brand that will not tint your icing (such as Wilton vanilla) especially if you want it stark white..

The procedure is pretty simple.  Mix all the ingredients and beat until smooth.  Add the water or milk a little at a time until the desired consistency is achieved.  I learned that there are three types of icing:  Stiff, Medium and Thin each had its own purpose.

Stiff icing is used for flowers with upright petals like the rose.  Notice that the spatula doesn't move.

Medium icing is used for stars, shells, borders, rosettes, zigzags and flowers with flat petals.  The spatula will move slightly and start to lean.

Thin icing is for printing, writing and leaves.  It is also used for icing the cake.  To test for consistency, the spatula will fall over.

 I baked a boxed cake for class... not as good as the real thing but it works for practice.

I tort the cake and filled it with this Grave's Mountain Cantaloupe Peach jam from Virginia.  Oh, it was delicious! This was given to us by friends from their trip.

I used thin icing to crumb and cover the cake.  I didn't add a lot because I didn't want to waste it and it's too sweet to my liking.  I added gel color and piped stars and swirls in my cupcake design.

I learned how to make the pearl border too.  I was fun!

Oh well... I need to practice, practice and practice some more.

A friend of mine asked me how much sugar I consume a day with all my baking and cooking.  Not too much.  The secret is sharing and spreading the joy with others.

See ya'll next week.

♥  michelle  ♥

Dessert Favorite [Tiramisu]

I love eating desserts and so does my husband... what a treat, huh?

One of our all time favorite is Tiramisu.

It's a simple dessert to make but oh so fattening especially if you end up eating the entire pan.  I found this recipe from Giada de Laurentiis through the food network.

Ingredients:

6 eggyolks

3 Tbsp sugar

1 lb mascarpone cheese

1 1/2 c strong espresso coffee

2 teaspoons dark rum

24 packaged ladyfingers
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate shavings, for garnish
cocoa powder, for garnish

Directions:

With an electric mixer, beat the 6 eggyolks and sugar until creamy, thik and pale.  Giada recommends beating for about 5 minutes. Add the mascarpone cheese and beat until smooth.  Add 1 tablespoon of espresso and mix until thoroughly combined.

In a deep pan, dip each ladyfinger into espresso-rum mixture for only 5 seconds (soaking too long will cause them to fall apart). 

Place a little eggyolk-mascarpone mixture on the bottom of the pan.  

Arrange the soaked ladyfinger on the bottom of the pan -  I used 2 small rectangular pans, consuming about 16 ladyfingers in each pan.

Spread 1/2 of the mascarpone mixture evenly over the ladyfingers. Add another layer of soaked ladyfingers and top with remaining mascarpone mixture. Sprinkle with cocoa powder and/or shaved chocolate.

Hubby is uber excited to share this with me.  It's my last 3 days before my 2 month vacation outside the US. 

Until next time.... happy baking!