Strawberries were on sale this week.  On sale, as in so cheap the supermarket could just as well have given them away, type of cheap.  So I bought a ton of strawberries, not just to make this cake but to have plain or to make milkshakes out of.  This is a two layer 9” x 13” cake covered with cream cheese whipped cream frosting and garnished with hearts cut out from strawberries.

This is a lot of cake.  It’s enough to feed a crowd, and then some.  But if you’re looking to make just a regular size cake instead, this earlier recipe for Strawberry Cream Cake just might fit the bill.  I had so many strawberries I wanted to use them as much as I could in between the cake layers, hence the large cake.

Basically, I baked two 9″ x 13″ layers, covered the first layer with cream cheese whipped cream frosting, generously topped that layer with chopped strawberries, covered the strawberries with another layer of  frosting and then placed the second cake layer on top.  Then I covered the entire cake with the same frosting, and roughly made markers on top of the cake to make some kind of design and garnished the top with cutouts from the strawberries.

I sliced the strawberries horizontally in half and used a heart shaped cookie cutter to form the cutouts.

A few years ago I chanced upon a show on TV selling strawberry plants.  The pitch was, if you buy the plants, in a matter of months, you’ll be harvesting tons and tons of strawberries, just like the strawberries they had on the show.  And they had this huge, basketful of beautiful strawberries… right.  Being the impulsive buyer that I am, I ordered a few plants and got them in the mail a few days later.  I didn’t waste time planting them in the backyard.  I had visions of stepping out into my strawberry patch to harvest baskets upon baskets of strawberries.  Hah!  It took almost a year before anything happened.  And guess how many strawberries I got out of those plants… one!

As if I hadn’t learned my lesson, the next plants I bought on TV were peonies.  Yes, in about a year or two the plants will start to bloom and can reach a maximum height of 7 feet tall!!!  Well, that was about three years ago.  Out of the 10 plants I ordered only two are alive and they are barely over a foot tall.  What’s more I have yet to see them produce one single blossom.

It’s not to say all that I’ve planted are duds, not at all.  I’ve planted some hydrangeas and hibiscus plants which have grown to be quite lush blooming with really huge flowers.  These plants I purchased from a nearby nursery.

Anyway, back to the cake.  I got a little distracted with gardening since it’s spring and I’m itching to work in the garden, if only I had more time.  Sometimes I wish there were five of me so I could do all the things I want to do.  So again, the recipe will make a lot of cake.  My earlier Strawberry Cream Cake will make one regular size cake which in itself will already be quite generous.

Because of the fresh strawberries and the whipped cream and cream cheese in the frosting, this isn’t the type of cake I would serve outdoors and have sit while grilling in the backyard, unless everyone’s ready for dessert.  This is a cake better served indoors in climate controlled temperatures.  So yes, it’s a bit of a prima donna, but aren’t all frosted cakes anyway when it comes to heat, sun and outdoors.

As for storage, the cake should be refrigerated.  I have a cake keeper meant to hold sheet cakes, so I placed the cake in the keeper and stored it in the fridge.

Now on to the taste test; the cake was delicious and so was the frosting.  What’s even better is that the frosting was easy, quick and less messy to make than regular buttercream since I didn’t have any powdered sugar flying all over the countertop.

All in all, I thought this Strawberry Hearts Cake was pretty lush, as in luscious.

I had to muster some self-control and limit myself to one slice to taste.

Strawberry Hearts Cake

 

Author:

SugaryWinzy

Recipe type: Dessert

Prep time: 60 mins

Bake time: 30 mins

Total time: 1 hour 30 mins

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Delicious white cake filled with whipped cream, cream cheese frosting and fresh strawberries.

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 4 ½ cups cake flour
• 5 teaspoons baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups butter
• 3 cups sugar
• 6 egg whites
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• ¾ cup milk
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the frosting:

• 2 packages (8 ounces each) reduced fat cream cheese
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups heavy whipping cream

For the filling:

• 2 ½ pounds fresh strawberries

Preparation

For the filling:

1. Wash and drain strawberries.
2. Remove leaves and rough chop reserving a few for garnish. Set aside and refrigerate.

For the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray two 9” x 13” baking pans with non-stick spray.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Stir together evaporated milk and regular milk.
4. Beat butter on medium speed using flat paddle attachment until smooth, creamy and free of lumps.
5. Still on medium speed, gradually add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
6. Add egg whites one at a time beating well after each addition to incorporate.
7. Switch speed to medium low and add ⅓ of the sifted dry ingredients. Alternate with about ½ of the milk mixture and continue to mix. Repeat the procedure ending with the dry ingredients beating only until batter is smooth and creamy. Do not overmix.
8. Add the vanilla and mix just until blended.
9. Divide the batter evenly between the two baking pans and spread evenly with an offset spatula.
10. Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from oven and place on cooling racks. Allow the cakes to cool in pans for about 20 minutes.

For the frosting:

1. Beat the cream cheese until smooth using the flat beater attachment of a stand mixer.
2. Gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
3. Add the vanilla extract and mix until fully incorporated.
4. Change flat beater and switch to wire whip attachment. Mix on medium speed for a few seconds.
5. Change speed to slow, and very slowly add the whipping cream.
6. Switch to high and whip until frosting reaches stiff peaks.

Assembly:

1. Place one cake layer on serving plate. Spread frosting evenly on cake. Cover layer with chopped strawberries, making sure to leave about ½ inch gap from all around the cake edges.
2. Cover strawberry layer whip frosting. Place second cake layer on top. Cover entire cake with the rest of the frosting.
3. Decorate cake as desired and garnish top with fresh strawberries.
4. Store in covered container and refrigerate.

3.2.1753

Strawberry Hearts Cake

Original article: Strawberry Hearts Cake

©2013 SugaryWinzy. All Rights Reserved.

I baked these Red White and Blue Flag Cookies using my favorite shortbread recipe with minor variations from the earlier shortbread versions, Heart Shortbread Cookies, Shamrock Shortbread Cookies and Spring Shortbread Cookies.  I’m somewhat enamored with shortbread as it’s a really delicious, yet simple type of cookie.  This recipe uses five basic ingredients: flour, sugar, powdered sugar, butter and salt.  So basic, and yet it yields pure heaven.  This recipe holds up very well with slight adjustments, if needed, to any of the ingredients.

This type of flag cookie isn’t limited to red, white and blue.  You can apply more or less the same technique to any flag, provided the design is not too intricate.

Divide the dough into thirds, allotting a little more to the portion that that will be tinted red.   Tint one portion of the dough with red food color, another portion with blue food color and leave the last portion uncolored.  Photos on making shortbread dough are posted in my earlier post, Shamrock Shortbread Cookies.

1. Divide the red dough into three and, on sheets of wax paper, roll them out with a rolling pin into squares measuring approximately 6” x 6.5”.  Then divide the white dough in half and roll out each half into the same size squares as the red dough.  You can use any measurement you prefer, it just depends on the size of flag you want to achieve.
2. Stacking the layers. Flip one layer of white dough over one layer of red dough and set aside.  This will be the bottom of the flag.   Stack three layers of red and white dough, alternating starting with the red, one white layer in between and ending with a red layer.  Slice off 1/3 of the width of this stacked layer of three, about 2” if your layers are 6” in width.  Transfer the sliced red/white/red layers and place them on top of the bottom two layers, making sure to align the red/white/red layers to the right.  Make a log out of the blue dough with a length equal to the red and white layers, and the width and height should equal the gap next to red/white/red layers.  To get straight right angles out of the blue dough, run a ruler or something with a straight edge along each side of the blue dough.
3. Fit the now angular blue dough into the space on top, on the left side.  Wrap the assembled cookie dough tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for about 30 minutes.  Freezing the dough makes it firm enough so that when sliced, you get clean, sharp edges.

Slice the dough with a sharp knife, each piece measuring slightly more than ¼” thick, and bake the cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper in a 300 F oven for about 20 – 25 minutes.

The first and last slices are usually not very straight and everything else in between will be fine.  I had this idea of cutting out stars with a cookie cutter using the first slice and two others as practice.  As it turned out, it was taking more time than expected, so I quickly nixed the plan and just made the rest of the cookies without the stars.  The three cookies with the stars came out looking more like battle worn flags, so I’m not sure it was worth the effort adding the stars, or maybe I was just in a hurry to get things done that I wasn’t careful enough—whatever.  They all turned out delicious anyway.  You might notice the battle worn flags right there in the distance.

I wanted to use up as much of the dough as I could so, using what I had left, I made a smaller version.  I didn’t even bother using a rolling pin for these smaller cookies.  I just divided the dough into balls and flattened them with the palm of my hand.  Then I sliced and stacked the dough using the same procedure outlined above.  Pictures 4 and 5 show the first slice I was referring to earlier.  The surface won’t be very straight and level, but the slices after that will be fine.

And then I still had a little bit of red dough left so I used it to make little heart cookies.  I find it very easy to transfer the cutouts onto the cookie sheet if I slide a flat metal spatula underneath.  The excess dough will easily separate from the cutout.

Yet another good thing about shortbread cookies, aside from the fact that they are so delicious, is that they will expand only ever so slightly, if at all, when baked.  So I have more control over the shape and size of the cookie.

These flag shortbread cookies would also be an option to liven up any Memorial Day or 4^th of July celebration.

Flags are such colorful designs that patterning cookies after them makes for very appealing images.  Some might be a little too intricate to replicate completely, but any flag would make interesting cookies.

Shortbread is actually Scottish in origin.  Thank you, Scotland, for a wonderful idea.

As for tints, I sometimes use food color from Whole Foods and the colors are okay for certain things like frostings.  But since I wanted to get as close as possible to the primary tones, I used Americolor this time.

I love these nostalgic, thick and heavy diner plates.  They date back to around the 40’s and were actually used in a diner.  I’m the only one in the family who loves diners.  I would like to go more often, but my husband is more of a health nut than I am so we always end up dining elsewhere.

In film noir movies, a man enters a diner and orders a cup of joe, which would be a cup of coffee.  He looks stricken, as they always do in film noir, as he ponders some deep sorrow, usually a lost love.  I was reminded of those old movies when I decided to use in some of these photos an original old menu from Joe DiMaggio’s Grotto from the 1940’s, I think.  A cup of joe just seemed to go with Joe DiMaggio.  Today, almost no one actually uses the phrase cup of joe.  Nowadays, it would be more like cappuccino or latte, or something like that, not really sure since I’m not a coffee drinker myself.

And back then, the standard fare would have been pretty straightforward.  Today, just make that a Mediterranean sandwich with portobello, olive tapenade on ciabatta bread with organic spinach and could you please throw in some alfalfa sprouts with that?

Actually, I don’t think people back then would have had shortbread in diners.  It would have been more like a slice of apple pie or a donut with a cup of joe.

Remember veterans on Memorial Day.  Or better still, reach out to one and show your appreciation.

And if you plan to bake some flag cookies, whatever type of flag that may be, have fun!

Happy baking!

Red White and Blue Flag Shortbread Cookies

 

Author:

SugaryWinzy

Prep time: 60 mins

Bake time: 25 mins

Total time: 1 hour 25 mins

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These flag cookies are perfect treats for Memorial Day or 4th of July.

Ingredients

• 2 cups unsalted butter at room temperature
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 5 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• Few drops of red and blue food color

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 300F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Using a flat beater of a stand mixer, cream butter until light and smooth.
3. Gradually add granulated sugar and mix until well blended and fluffy.
4. Gradually add powdered sugar and salt and beat until fully combined.
5. Gradually add the flour and beat well until dough leaves the sides of the bowl and clings to the beater.
6. Remove about a little less than ⅔ of dough from the mixing bowl. To the dough remaining in the bowl, add a few drops of red food color and beat well until evenly colored. Remove the dough from bowl and set aside. Wash bowl.
7. Divide the ⅔ untinted dough in half. Leave ½ untinted and set aside. Place the other half in the mixing bowl and tint with blue food color. Beat well until evenly colored.
8. Divide the red dough into three and, on sheets of wax paper, roll them out with a rolling pin into squares measuring approximately 6” x 6.5”, or to desired flag measurements.
9. Divide the white dough in half and roll out each half into the same size squares as the red dough.
10. Flip one layer of white dough over one layer of red dough and set aside.
11. Stack three layers of red and white dough, alternating starting with the red, one white layer in between and ending with a red layer.
12. Slice off ⅓ of the width of this stacked layer of three, about 2” if your layers are 6” in width.
13. Transfer the sliced red/white/red layers and place them on top of the bottom two layers, making sure to align the red/white/red layers to the right.
14. Make a log out of the blue dough with a length equal to the red and white layers, and the width and height should equal the gap next to red/white/red layers. To get straight right angles out of the blue dough, run a ruler or something with a straight edge along each side of the blue dough.
15. Fit the now angular blue dough into the space on top, on the left side. Wrap the assembled cookie dough tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for about 30 minutes.
16. Slice the dough with a sharp knife, each piece measuring slightly more than ¼” thick, and bake the cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper in a 300 F oven for about 20 – 25 minutes.
17. Remove from oven and cool thoroughly on cooling rack.

3.2.1753

Red White and Blue Flag Shortbread Cookies

Original article: Red White and Blue Flag Shortbread Cookies

©2013 SugaryWinzy. All Rights Reserved.

These delicious Chocolate Chip Breakfast Scones are great not just for breakfast but for any time of the day.  Scones are a little bit like cookies, though not as rich.  The outer texture is firm and crusty while the inside is soft and flaky.  They are super easy and fun to make and the aroma of scones baking is just pure heaven.  I’ve made this recipe several times before. 

For this post I baked the recipe twice, once using the food processor and another by hand, both with great results.

If you don’t have a food processor it’s perfectly fine to make these scones by hand using a pastry blender.  In fact, I found I have more control with the dough when I mix it by hand.

1. Start out by lightly mixing the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.  Using a pastry blender cut the butter into the flour mixture just until the butter is evenly distributed all throughout and the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
2. Photo 2 shows how the flour mixture looks after the butter has been evenly distributed all throughout.
3. Next, stir chocolate chips with the flour mixture using a spatula.
4. In a separate bowl, first combine the egg, vanilla and milk and stir these three ingredients very well.  Then pour the egg mixture over the flour mixture.
5. Use a spatula to mix the dry and wet ingredients until the dough binds together to form a ball.  My bowl was large enough that I could lightly knead the dough right in it without having to roll it on a floured countertop.
6. At this point, you can flatten the dough ball into one large 8” disc, or divide the dough into two balls to make mini scones.
7. With the palm of your hand, flatten the dough balls to make two round discs about 6” in diameter and with a sharp knife, slice each disc into 8 triangles, for a total of 16 triangles.

Transfer the dough slices onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Slightly beat one egg with one tablespoon of milk.  Brush this egg wash over the dough before baking to get a nice golden finish.  Bake the scones in a pre-heated 350 F oven for about 25 -30 minutes or until golden brown.

Here’s the second batch of dough I made using a food processor.  Mixing the dough with a food processor is faster.  The dough will turn out slightly darker as some of the chocolate chips will be chopped into smaller pieces by the blade.

1. Place the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in the food processor and pulse just until the butter is evenly distributed all throughout and the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
2. Next, add chocolate chips and give the mixture just one or two quick pulses to mix the chocolate chips, but not enough to break all the chips into tiny pieces.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the egg, vanilla and milk and stir these three ingredients very well.  Pour the egg mixture over the flour mixture in the food processor.  Pulse all the ingredients just until the dough comes together and leaves the sides of the bowl.
4. With floured hands remove the dough from the bowl and lightly knead it on a floured countertop to form a ball.  I found that dough mixed with a food processor tends to be stickier than dough that’s mixed by hand.  So if the dough tends to stick, just sprinkle flour on the dough and on the countertop and knead to incorporate the sprinkled flour.
5. Flatten the dough ball to form a disc about 8” in diameter and 1” in thickness.  With a sharp knife divide the dough into 8 equal triangles.  To prevent sticking flour the knife.  For this batch, I decided to make 8 large scones as opposed to the 16 mini scones I made with the batch I mixed by hand.

Same procedure as the earlier batch mixed by hand.  Transfer the dough slices onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Slightly beat one egg with 1 tablespoon of milk.  Brush this egg wash over the dough before baking to get a nice golden finish.  Bake the scones in a pre-heated 350 F oven for about 25 -30 minutes or until golden brown.

These are the larger scones mixed with the food processor.  I’ve also baked these breakfast scones with raisins instead of chocolate chips, and they turned out just as great if not better.

You can also bake the scones plain without the chocolate chips and serve them with jam or butter while still warm.

These scones were made with skim milk instead of whole milk and they still turned out great.  If preferred, cream can also be used instead of milk.

These are the mini scones mixed by hand.  The dough can also be made the night before.  Just wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, store it in an airtight food container and keep it in the fridge.

The next morning, all you have to do is flatten the dough into a disc, slice it into triangles and bake.

Shown here are the larger scones mixed with the food processor.  You can tell the difference because the color is slightly darker than the mini scones mixed by hand.  Either way, it doesn’t matter how the scones are mixed, they always turn out delicious.

Every household has a food police who puts a limit on the treats everyone eats.  In my house, it certainly isn’t me as I love to bake and I love sweets, so it’s my husband who tends to impose the arugula and alfalfa sprouts kind of thing—no, you can’t have cake, no you can’t have cookies for breakfast, let’s eat organic arugula and edamame because they’re healthy, blah, blah, blah.  Well, even the food police loves these scones for breakfast.  So it’s kind of like having cookies for breakfast, but not really since they’re not as rich as cookies.

Chocolate chip breakfast scones… try it for a great weekend breakfast.

 Happy baking!

Chocolate Chip Breakfast Scones

 

Author:

SugaryWinzy

Serves: 8

Prep time: 30 mins

Bake time: 30 mins

Total time: 1 hour

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Recipe for delicious chocolate chip scones, great not just for breakfast but anytime of the day.

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup (8 tablespoons) butter
• ¾ cup chocolate chips
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup milk (can be substituted with skim milk, or if richer scones are preferred, use cream)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Using a pastry blender or food processor, place the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a bowl. If using a pastry blender, cut the butter to evenly distribute throughout the flour mixture. If using a food processor, pulse the ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Add chocolate chips. If mixing by hand, mix the chocolate chips with a spatula. If using a food processor, use one or two very quick pulses just to get the chocolate chips mixed. Avoid over mixing with the food processor so as to not to break all the chocolate chips into tiny pieces.
4. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg, vanilla and milk until well combined. Pour egg mixture over the flour mixture. If mixing by hand, use a spatula to stir the egg mixture with the flour mixture until dough binds together. If using a food processor, pulse just until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl.
5. Remove dough from bowl and lightly knead on a floured countertop to form a ball. If dough tends to stick, sprinkle flour over the dough and on the countertop. Knead lightly to incorporate the sprinkled flour.
6. Flatten the dough into a disc about 8” in diameter and 1” in thickness. With a sharp knife, slice the dough into 8 equal triangles. Another option is to slice the dough in half to make two dough balls, flatten each ball into a disc about 6” in diameter and 1” in thickness, and slice each disc into 8 equal triangles to get a total of 16 scones. Flour the knife to prevent the dough from sticking to the knife.
7. Transfer the dough slices onto the prepared cookie sheet. Lightly beat one egg and one tablespoon milk. Brush egg wash over each slice and bake for 25 – 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Notes

¾ cups raisins can be substituted for the chocolate chips

3.2.1753

Chocolate Chip Breakfast Scones

Original article: Chocolate Chip Breakfast Scones

©2013 SugaryWinzy. All Rights Reserved.

Here’s a really simple and easy recipe for lemon bars.  Whenever I’m pressed for time and have a million and one things to do, a recipe like this can easily be done early in the morning, and would still leave me the rest of the day to do other things.

With a food processor, mixing the crust and the filling can be done in a matter of minutes.

To make the crust, I start out by pulsing 2 cups of flour, ½ cup of sugar and 1 cup of butter in the food processor.  I mix the ingredients until the butter is evenly distributed and the mixture looks like coarse crumbs, as shown in the right photo.

With the back of a large spoon, I evenly press the mixture onto a 9” x 13” baking dish, that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, and bake it in a pre-heated 350 F oven for 15 – 17 minutes or just until lightly browned.

Meantime, while the crust is in the oven, I blend the filling, again using the food processor, by simply adding to the bowl 4 eggs, ½ cup lemon juice ¾ cup flour and 1 ½ cups sugar.  It takes just a few seconds for the mixture to thoroughly blend.

Here’s the crust out of the oven just half done and lightly browned.

I then pour the lemon filling over the crust and bake at 350 F for about 20 – 25 minutes or until the lemon filling is set.  Then I remove the dish from the oven and allow the lemon bars to cool completely.  I sprinkle powdered sugar all over the surface then slice the lemon bars to get a total of 48 bars measuring roughly 1.75” x 1.5”.

Making lemon bars is really easy, it’s a recipe that’s so simple I don’t have to spend time fussing over anything.

The recipe is quite versatile too.  Sometimes I just make half a recipe and bake the lemon bars in a square 8” x 8” baking dish instead.

I’ve also made this recipe using egg substitute instead of eggs, which also worked pretty well.  I’ve also experimented by taking out a tablespoon or two from the butter just to cut down on the fat, and have found that the recipe still holds up pretty well.

I have also varied the amount of lemon according to taste of whoever is at home.  Sometimes, I reduce the amount of lemon by a tablespoon or two and proportionately reduce the amount of sugar in the filling to match the adjusted amount of lemon.  The recipe I have here I think will pretty much suit the average taste.  It can be used as a starting point and tweaked according to taste, if desired.

I store the lemon bars in an airtight container or underneath a cake dome at room temperature.

I posted a recipe for bar cookies in this earlier post that is equally as good as these lemon bars, if not better, as I’m very partial to dates.

Happy spring baking!

Lemon Bars

 

Author:

SugaryWinzy

Prep time: 10 mins

Bake time: 40 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Save Print

 

Ingredients

For the Crust:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup butter

For the Lemon Filling:

• 4 eggs
• ½ cup lemon juice
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups sugar

Preparation

For the Crust:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
2. In a food processor bowl, combine 2 cups flour, ½ cup sugar and 1 cup butter. Pulse until butter is evenly distributed and mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Spread mixture evenly in a 9” x 13” oven proof baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake for 15 – 17 minutes or just until lightly browned.

For the Lemon Filling:

1. Place eggs, lemon juice, flour and sugar in food processor bowl and pulse for a few seconds until completely blended.
2. Pour lemon filling over crust and bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until filling is completely set.
3. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before slicing.
4. Sprinkle surface with powdered sugar and slice lemon bars by 8 on the long end of the dish and 6 on the short end of the dish to get a total of 48 bars each measuring approximately 1.75” x 1.5”

3.2.1753

Easy Lemon Bars Recipe

Original article: Lemon Bars

©2013 SugaryWinzy. All Rights Reserved.

Many thanks to Cake Central for the nice article on SugaryWinzy published in the latest issue of Cake Central Magazine.  Cake Central is the world’s hub for all things cake, where cake lovers gather to share tips, ideas and talk about their love of cake.  Have a question on how to stack a tiered cake or how to make intricate figures made from gum paste?  Or simply looking for inspiration for your next cake project?  You’ll find your answers in Cake Central.  The website is chock full of incredible creations you wouldn’t think possible.

Cake Central Magazine is a beautiful online glossy magazine, and is filled with entertaining articles on cake professionals and wonderful pictures of their breathtaking works.  The magazine also talks about the latest trends in cake decorating, includes tutorials and recipes and covers just about everything under the sun when it comes to cake.  If you love to bake, or enjoy just admiring beautiful creations, you will love this magazine.

Here is an enlarged view of the article on SugaryWinzy.  It is not often that this site is mentioned anywhere, so to have an article alongside those of cake professionals is indeed humbling and I really appreciate it.

Thank you, Cake Central, and all the best!

SugaryWinzy on Cake Central Magazine

Original article: Cake Central Magazine

©2013 SugaryWinzy. All Rights Reserved.

To celebrate spring, I made these cupcakes and piped them with a delicious, yet light and fluffy, fat-free frosting.  I wanted to use a fat-free frosting to mirror the lightness of the season.  Spring is such a bright and cheerful time of the year.  The flowers start to bloom, trees turn green and everything around us comes to life with color.  It’s also a great time of the year to start tending to the gardens again and plant more flowers.

Naturally, I had to pipe a few flower cupcakes, for what would spring be without flowers?  I made a few mini flower cupcakes.

And I also made a few medium flower cupcakes.

I find this white cake recipe really delicious, moist and soft.  With one recipe I was able to make two dozen medium size cupcakes and one dozen mini size cupcakes.  I suppose if I wasn’t as generous in scooping the batter into each muffin cup, and if I had decided to make them all medium size, the recipe could yield three dozen medium size cupcakes.

The fluffy, light, fat-free, cloud-like frosting is one of my favorites.  It is made by very slowly pouring hot syrup made of water, sugar, cream of tartar and a small amount of corn syrup, over three egg whites while whipping the egg whites at medium low speed.  On high heat, the syrup is first brought to a rapid boil.  I use a candy thermometer to measure the temperature.  When the syrup reaches around 225 F, I start whipping the egg whites first on low then increasing to high until the egg whites start to take shape.  When the syrup reaches around 230 F, I reduce the mixer speed to medium low and start to pour the syrup in a very small trickle into the egg whites.  I pour only about a third of the syrup, then return the pot to heat the syrup up back to 230 F.  While the syrup is heating, I switch the mixer speed back up to medium high.

This photo was taken after pouring the first third of the syrup.  The frosting is still soft, but has started to increase in volume.  The bowl will be hot to the touch as shown by the heat condensation on the sides of the bowl.

Once the syrup reaches 230 F again, I reduce the mixer speed back to medium low and slowly pour about ½ of the remaining syrup.  I repeat the procedure and return the pot back to the heat and switch the mixer speed back up to high.  Again when the syrup reaches 230 F, I pour the last of the remaining syrup over the frosting with the mixer speed on medium low.  Once all the syrup has been poured, I gradually increase the mixer speed all the way up to high and whip the frosting for about 5 – 7 minutes until the bowl has cooled to the touch, and the frosting has reached stiff peaks and lost its shine.  I make sure to add the vanilla sometime while the frosting is whipping on high.  In this photo, all the syrup has been poured in.  You can see that the frosting is thicker because of the marks made by the beater.

This photo was taken after about 4 minutes of beating at high speed after all the syrup had been poured in.  There is less condensation on the sides of the bowl as it starts to cool off.  The marks made by the beater on the frosting become even more pronounced.

This frosting is almost done.  You can see a few stiff peaks next to the beater.  I continued to beat just a few minutes more to make sure the frosting was stiff and thick all the way through the bottom and not just in the surface.  How long the frosting is whipped will depend largely on the mixer, but as a rule of thumb, I whip the frosting between 5 – 7 minutes on high after all the syrup has been added.  Cues will be, the frosting will be very thick all the way through and will hold stiff peaks.  The bowl should also be cool to the touch.

The frosting has reached stiff peaks, is very thick and fluffy and the condensation on the sides of the bowl has disappeared as the bowl has cooled down.  At this point, since I wanted to have 3 different colors of frosting, I removed about 2/3 of the frosting from the bowl, left about 1/3 to tint with a few drops of blue food color.  I divided the 2/3 frosting I removed from the bowl in half in separate bowls.  I added a few drops of pink food color to one bowl and yellow to the other.  I also made sure to mix each bowl thoroughly to distribute the color evenly.

It’s amazing just three egg whites and a small amount of syrup can yield so much frosting.  I had 4 piping bags filled with frosting. Once I had all my piping bags lined up, it took just a matter of minutes to frost the cupcakes.

This is how I filled the icing bags:

• 1 large 16” piping bag with 1M tip – filled with blue frosting
• 1 medium 12” piping bag with tip 21 – filled with pink frosting
• 1 medium 12” piping bag with tip 21 – filled with yellow frosting
• 1 medium 12” piping bag with tip 103 – filled with blue frosting

I used tip 21 to pipe frosting on the mini cupcakes.

I started on the outer edge of the cupcake and swirled the frosting going round about 3 or 4 times until I reached the desired height.

To pipe the frosting on the medium cupcakes, I used the 1M tip.

Again, I just used the same technique starting at the outer edge of the cupcake going round to build a huge mound of frosting.

And what would cupcakes be without having a few with pink frosting?

Tip 21 was used to pipe this frosting on this cupcake.

It’s a field of cupcakes.  This is one field I wouldn’t mind running through.

To pipe flowers, I used tip 103 for the petals, starting on the outer edge with the narrow part of the tip facing outward.  For the center of the flowers I used tip 21 starting at the middle going round twice.  It’s the same technique I used for the Ruffle Cupcakes.

Spring is all about light and airiness and I thought the fat-free frosting really went well with the cupcakes.  The cake part itself was so good I could have had the cupcakes by themselves unfrosted.  The cupcakes were consumed immediately so I didn’t have to worry about storage.  I’ll have to come up with more things befitting spring.  Until then…

Happy baking!

Spring Cupcakes with Fat-Free Frosting

 

Author:

SugaryWinzy

Prep time: 60 mins

Bake time: 20 mins

Total time: 1 hour 20 mins

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Cupcakes made with delicious white cake and fat-free meringue frosting

Ingredients

White Cake Recipe:

• 3 cups cake flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 ¼ cups sugar
• 4 egg whites
• ¾ cups canned coconut milk
• ½ cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Fluffy Fat-Free Frosting:

• 2 ¼ cups sugar
• ¾ teaspoon cream of tartar
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup water
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 3 egg whites
• 2 ¼ teaspoons vanilla

Preparation

White Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line muffin pans with cupcake liners.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Mix together coconut milk and regular milk.
4. Beat butter on medium speed using flat paddle attachment until smooth, creamy and free of lumps.
5. Still on medium speed, gradually add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
6. Add egg whites one at a time beating well after each addition to incorporate.
7. Switch speed to medium low and add ⅓ of the sifted dry ingredients mixing well. Alternate with about ½ of the milk mixture and continue to mix. Repeat the procedure ending with the dry ingredients beating only until batter is smooth and creamy.
8. Add the vanilla and mix until well blended.
9. Use an ice cream scoop to fill the cupcake liners. Do not overfill.
10. Bake in oven for 18 -20 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from oven and place on cooling racks.

Fluffy Fat-Free Frosting:

1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, cream of tartar, salt, water and corn syrup.
2. Stir gently until more or less combined. The mixture will fully blend once it starts to boil. Do not stir once the syrup starts to boil.
3. Turn on heat to medium high. Monitor temperature with a candy thermometer.
4. When syrup reaches between 220 F and 225 F, start whipping the egg whites on high speed using wire whip attachment of a stand mixer.
5. Once the syrup reaches around 230 F and at the same time egg whites start to hold shape, switch mixer speed to medium low, remove saucepan from heat and very slowly, in a thin stream, pour hot syrup into the egg whites, between the beater and the bowl to avoid splatters. Pour about ⅓ of the syrup.
6. Return saucepan to heat to bring temperature back up to about 230 F. At the same time, increase mixer speed back up to high. When the syrup returns to 230 F, switch mixer speed back to medium low and slowly pour ½ of the remaining syrup. Repeat procedure, returning the rest of the syrup to the heat to bring it back up to 230 F, while increasing mixer speed back to high.
7. Once the last of the syrup has been poured in, increase mixer speed to high and beat for about 5 – 7 minutes. Bowl will be hot to the touch. Add vanilla while frosting is whipping on high. Whip frosting until it hold stiff peaks and has lost its gloss. The bowl at this point will have cooled down.
8. Tint frosting as desired and transfer to icing bags to pipe frosting onto cupcakes. Use immediately.

3.2.1753

Spring Cupcakes with Fat-Free Frosting

Original article: Spring Cupcakes with Fat-Free Frosting

©2013 SugaryWinzy. All Rights Reserved.

These Easter rabbit cakes were made from the same rabbit cake pan, so I had to bake each cake one at a time, allow the first cake to thoroughly cool before I could remove it from the pan, wash the pan and then bake the second cake.  There are so many more cute rabbit cake pans available now, I was planning on getting a new one but just didn’t get around to it.

I used different flavors for each cake.  I actually made these cakes for Easter last year.  I had plans of baking two again this year, but well, I just simply didn’t have the time.

I made this brown rabbit cake first.  The cake was flavored with coffee and frosted with coffee-flavored buttercream to match.

This white rabbit was made of yellow vanilla cake and frosted with vanilla buttercream frosting.

I used a star tip to apply the frosting on both cakes.  I frosted the cakes directly without any crumb coating underneath.  I made the eyes on each rabbit cake different to give them a look and personality apart from the other.

As an aside, I thought I would mention I created a gallery so that the things I have baked so far can be easily viewed at a glance.

And speaking of galleries, here I am on vacation visiting my favorite art gallery, the building in the foreground.  The gallery is immense, and houses a number of the world’s art treasures.  The architecture of the building, inside and out, is breathtaking.  Even a long holiday isn’t enough to appreciate all the beauty within.  One can get lost admiring works of art ranging from the 1600s to the Impressionists in the 1800s to early 1900s.  Renoir, Degas, Matisse, Toulouse-Lautrec, Seurat, they are all there; and of course, my favorites, Cassatt, Whistler, Sargent and many more.  The mood in the gallery even on a busy day is serene and quiet; it’s a refuge from the noise of the city outside.

Turning back to cakes, I’ve seen taller rabbit cake pans that I think would make a really cute cake.

Seeing these pictures again makes me remember how delicious both cakes were, and how fitting for Easter.

This is kind of a funny shot of the rabbits’ rear ends.

I will have to make a rabbit cake or two again sometime and will plan to get a new rabbit cake pan just for a different look.   Until then…

And happy baking!

Easter Rabbit Cakes

 

Author:

SugaryWinzy

Serves: 10

Prep time: 60 mins

Bake time: 60 mins

Total time: 2 hours

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Recipe for the Vanilla Rabbit Cake

Ingredients

Yellow Cake:

• ½ cup butter
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• ½ cup milk
• 2 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup shortening
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 8 cups powdered sugar
• 4 tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup

Preparation

Yellow Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray rabbit cake pan with non-stick spray.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder together.
3. With a flat paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth.
4. Gradually add the sugar.
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
6. Switch speed to medium low and add ⅓ of the sifted dry ingredients mixing well. Alternate with about ½ of the milk and continue to mix. Repeat the procedure ending with the dry ingredients beating only until batter is smooth and creamy.
7. Pour batter into rabbit cake pan, and bake as directed depending on style of cake pan used. My cake pan required 1 hour of bake time.
8. Remove from oven and allow cake to cool before removing from pan.

Buttercream Frosting:

1. With a flat beater attachment, cream the butter until smooth and creamy.
2. Add shortening and continue to beat until well blended.
3. Add salt continuing to beat on medium speed.
4. Add powdered sugar gradually beating well.
5. Add milk and continue to beat until smooth.
6. Add vanilla and beat until well blended.
7. Add corn syrup and beat until fully incorporated.

3.2.1753

Easter Rabbit Cakes

 

Author:

SugaryWinzy

Serves: 10

Prep time: 60 mins

Bake time: 60 mins

Total time: 2 hours

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Recipe for the Coffee Rabbit Cake

Ingredients

For the Cake:

• ½ cup butter
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• ½ cup milk
• 2 teaspoons espresso coffee
• 2 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Coffee Buttercream:

• 1 ½ cups butter at room temperature
• ½ cup shortening (I used Spectrum)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons instant espresso dissolved in ½ cup hot water
• 8 cups powdered sugar

Preparation

For the Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray rabbit cake pan with non-stick spray.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder together.
3. Microwave milk for a few seconds just until slightly warm. Dissolve coffee in milk.
4. With a flat paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth.
5. Gradually add the sugar.
6. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
7. Switch speed to medium low and add ⅓ of the sifted dry ingredients mixing well. Alternate with about ½ of the milk mixture and continue to mix. Repeat the procedure ending with the dry ingredients beating only until batter is smooth and creamy.
8. Pour batter into rabbit cake pan, and bake as directed depending on style of cake pan used. My cake pan required 1 hour bake time.
9. Remove from oven and allow cake to cool before removing from pan.

Coffee Buttercream:

1. Note: once the coffee is dissolved in hot water, bring the mixture to room temperature first before adding it to the butter.
2. Cream butter until light and fluffy.
3. Add salt, vanilla and dissolved coffee. Mix until well incorporated.
4. At low speed gradually add powdered sugar. Beat until well blended.

3.2.1753

Easter Rabbit Cakes

Original article: Easter Rabbit Cakes

©2013 SugaryWinzy. All Rights Reserved.