Friday, April 27, 2012

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies



For some reason, I have been wanting to make peanut butter sandwich cookies for a long time.  One week I was on a sandwich cookie kick and that was all I could think about.  But for some odd reason, which I cannot explain, no sandwich cookies were made that week.  If you know me, you know that sometime I prefer instant gratification.  I want to make a plan, and execute it immediately.  I am a planner, but I need to be actively working on a plan and setting things in motion to make me feel like I am planning.  But somehow, these cookies mysteriously fell by the wayside.




During my random blog searching, I spotted these cookies.  It was Thursday and by the end of reading the blog post, and sharing it with a friend, I was already planning to make these cookies Saturday.




And true to my plan I did make these cookies Saturday.  I RAN my first 5k on Saturday!  In a time of 37:38 (11:47 min/mile).  No, I am not fast, but I am consistent and steady and ran the whole time, even up hill.  Yup, I am proud of myself.  After getting home, I still had these cookies on the brain and immediately got to work.




The recipe I used had the cute suggestion of making these look like Nutter Butter Cookies, in the peanut shape.  After doing 2-pan batches (4 pans total) this way, I tired of this method and was not achieving the results I wanted, so I did the rest as a circle.  So really these cookies are a cross between homemade Nutter Butters and Girl Scout Do-si-dos cookies.




These cookies are good.  Plain and simple.  The cookie is not too sweet (I cut down on the sugar from the original recipe), and the frosting/filling adds a nice sweet and extra peanut buttery touch.  I enjoyed the cookie, with filling, and I am not a filling girl.  And of course for quality control purposes I had to try a peanut shaped and circular shaped cookie.  No worries, they both taste just as great ;-)




Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
Adapted from Cookies and Cups

Ingredients

Cookies:
1 cup Butter, room temperature
1 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
3/4 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 1/2 cups Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
Extra Sugar for rolling

Filling:
1/2 cup Butter, room temperature
1/2 cup Vegetable shortening (makes the filling firmer and more like store bought)
1 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
4 cups Powdered Sugar
2-3 TBS Heavy Cream

Method

1. In a large bowl beat butter, peanut butter, and sugars until light and fluffy.

2. Add eggs and vanilla continuing to mix until combined

3. Add in flour, baking soda and baking powder. Mix until combined.

4. Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.

5. Preheat oven to 375F.

6. Using a 1 TBS cookies scope, scope out cookie dough.  Roll cookie sugar.

7. Place on cookie sheet with room to spread.  Use the tines of a fork to make crisscross pattern.

8. Bake for 8 minutes until edges are lightly golden.

9. Cool before filling.

10. For the filling: In a large bowl beat butter, shortening, and peanut butter together until smooth.

11. Add in powdered sugar and turn mixer speed up to medium and beat until filling is smooth.

12. Add heavy cream one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is achieved.

13. Line up similar sized cookies together.  Pipe, spoon, or spread filling on one side of the cookie pair.

14.  Place matching cooking on top and press lightly to sandwich in filling.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

S’mores Krispie Treats



Do you remember the Rice Krispies Treat commercial where the mom made the treats in like two second and then sits on a stool reading a book.  About 1-2 hours later, she hops off the stool sprinkles some flour on her face and comes out the kitchen looking famished, as she serves Rice Krispies Treats to her family.  Yeah, that is what these are.  They literally take very little time and preparation, but they are so tasty that partakers will think you slaved over a hot oven all day.




This recipe is really a non-recipe (to me).  I have made it several times before, but have never blogged about it, as I just did not think anyone out there would be interested.  But now, I have finally decided to blog about these treats because they seem to be an overwhelming crowd favorite, and I have been asked for the recipe by my co-workers on several occasions.




This are the few ingredients you will need; that’s it!  Follow the directions off a standard Rice Krispies Cereal box except exchange Golden Graham Cereal for the rice krispies.  For this sized recipe (a 9x13in pan), I used 1 big box of the Golden Grahams and two bags of mini marshmallows.




After the treats are all mixed up and the heat turned off, throw in a bag of chocolate chips.  Stir quickly until they are just incorporated (and maybe melting a little).  Note- put the chocolate chips in the freezer to slowdown the melting; you want distinguishable chocolate pieces a chocolate covered dessert.  Press the treats into a prepared pan.  I line my pan with parchment for easy removal.





Now that the treats are in the pan, turn on your oven’s broiler.  While the butter was slowly melting at the beginning of the process, I sliced the jumbo roaster-sized marshmallows in half lengthwise and placed them cut side-up on wax paper.  On top of the treats in the pan, place the marshmallows in a line cut side-down.



Place treats into oven to brown under the broiler.  Watch carefully as they will brown quickly.  Remove them when they are browned to your liking.

I place my treats in the fridge to firm up and help set the chocolate really well.  A knife coated with a non-stick spray is best when cutting these very sticky treats apart.



Lastly, you pepper your face with flour and dose yourself with a few capfuls of water before presenting you treats.  Then you lament about how you worked so hard to make this gourmet dessert, and how much you hope everyone likes them.  As the partakers sing your praises, giving you the next week off from work or household responsibilities, only you will know how easy these were…




Shhhh!   It will be our little secret ;-)

Friday, April 20, 2012

44. Rum Cake

Let me preface this post by saying it is not intended to be offensive.  So, just chalk it up to my off beat personality :-)



My church has driven me to drink, to over indulge in the devil’s brew!  Before you form an opinion and want to douse me in holy water, let me explain my weekend.  Saturday, the day before the Holy day, I was at home cleaning up my kitchen area in preparation for making some Easter bread.  It was a little before 5 PM and I get a call regarding Sunday’s service.  I immediately start going through the house trying to find the tablecloth and hand towel needed for service the very NEXT day.  The lady who usual has the towel and tablecloth was on vacation.




I leave my house and head to the church, thinking that maybe the towel and tablecloth are there.  Nope, they are not there.  I could not show up to church on Sunday empty handed.  So, I must go and seek a replacement for Sunday.  I head to Target.  I find a hand towel, but no tablecloth.  I know from previous experience, a white tablecloth can be hard to find.  I decide to head back to the one place I was able to find one before.




The mall… on the Saturday night… prior to Easter Sunday… was a mad house of people trying to find their last minute Easter outfits.  After parking so far from the door that I could have walked from home, cutting around loiterers standing in the way on the sidewalk, and making it through the racks of pastel printed puffy dresses, I get to the table cloth isle.  There are no white tablecloths to be found.  Not only did I have to come to a store in the mall, I now had to go out of that store, and brave the actual mall.




The mall was an overcrowded nightmare.  Not Christmas over crowded, but bad nonetheless.  I should mention that my attitude might not have been the best as all I could focus on was how much time this was taking me.  I get to another home goods type store and begin searching for a tablecloth.  Then with the lovely lightening, I could not tell what was white and what was silver, grey, or off white.  I begin taking tablecloths to other sections to compare them with things that I knew were white.




After all that, nothing was quite right.  As I am rounding the corner, thinking what store I could try next, I finally see a plain white tablecloth.  After contemplating which side I needed for no less than 20minutes, I got in line and waited there another 30 minutes.  Did I mention it was the Saturday before Easter Sunday?




I have to blaze back through the mall.  Getting to my car, I realize that is now night and I have not had dinner.  I went to the store near my house and grabbed a slice of pizza and went home.  It was now nearly 9PM and nearly 4 hours of trying to prepare for a last minute addition to Sunday’s service. 




My plans to make Easter bread were shot.  I could not get started on a bread recipe at 10 at night and still have it ready to share with some special folks on Sunday.  I still had the urge to bake something.  So, instead of making Easter bread, I stepped into the bad side and made RUM CAKE!  If it had not been for the stress of the evening, I would not have felt the need to pull out the Rum and use a bottle and a half in the cake.  Actually, my plan earlier in the day was to make bread and cake, but due to the circumstances “cut the bread” and
bring on the rum!”  So, now that I have explained myself, and you have (hopefully) put your holy water away, let’s talk about this yummy boozy cake.




This recipe came out wonderfully.  The cake was very moist and flavorful.  It tasted heavily of rum (the best part).  I liked the addition of the roasted pecans as an added crunch factor.  I baked six mini-bundt cakes and four pint sized jars.  The bundt cakes were cute, but the jars were by far my favorite.  I have never actually baked a cake in a jar until now.  Because the cake only gets a hot syrup, not a frosting, it is a perfect candidate to be baked into a jar.




The best part of baking the rum cake into the jar, is that it can be sealed in a way in which it will keep fresh for a good while and you can mail it to loved ones.  To accomplish this I took one jar out of the oven.  Whipped the rim if necessary.  I then took a knife and poked the cake several times.  I next poured a good amount of syrup (out of a measuring cup) over the cake.  It will bubble up, which is awesome to watch.  Then I placed the lid over the bubbling hot jar, and turned the ring.  As the jar/cake cools, the lid’s bubbled center will sink in sealing the jar.  I thought this was so awesome.




And just to round out the story--Sunday morning, literally less than one hour before I have to leave to be at church, I get a call from the lady who usually has the tablecloth and hand towel… Wait for it… They had been in my house all along, hanging on the closet door.  Really?!?!  I could not believe that I had wasted an entire Saturday evening, when they were literally in my own house mere inches from places I looked the day before.   At that point, I took another bit of cake and a swig directly from the rum bottle… And then headed to church.  Just kidding, but the cake I ate Sunday evening was extremely good (and well deserved)!




This also marks another item off my top 100 list!




Rum Cake
Adapted from Always Order Dessert

Ingredients:
 for the cake
1/2 cups (or more to taste) pecans, toasted and chopped
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons + 1/2 cup vegetable oil, separated
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 package Cook and Serve Vanilla Pudding
3/4 cup whole milk (I used a scant 1/2 cup heavy cream and heaping 1/4 cup water)
4 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup dark rum
1 TBS vanilla extract

for the rum syrup
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup dark rum

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325F.  Prepare pan and/or jars with flour/shortening spray, and drop chopped pecans into the bottom of the pan/jar.  (For the jars, I reserved some of the pecans to sprinkle in the middle). Set aside.

2. With a stand mixer, cream together sugar and butter.

3. Add the 3 TBS oil, flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt, combining until evenly distributed. (The mixture will look like fine crumbs.) Add in the pudding mix.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk (or cream mixture), rum, vanilla extract, and remaining vegetable oil.

5. Pour the wet ingredients into the mixer and mix well until combined. The batter will be smooth (possibly with a few lump; don’t worry they will bake out), thin, and pour easily.

6. If making minis or jars, pour batter in large measuring cup with a spout for eats distribution into pans/jars. Pour batter into pans or jars (for jars, I poured in half then sprinkled in more nuts, then pour in the rest).  Do not fill the pan and jars beyond 1/2 to 2/3 full, as the cake will rise.  Bake for 20-25 (mini bundt) to 35-40 (jars) minutes, or until a tester inserted in the cake comes up clean.

7. While cakes are in the oven, prepare the syrup for the jars, or while the cake is cooling for the minis.  In a large saucepan with high sides, combine the butter, water, sugar, and salt. Cook over medium heat until the butter completely melts and the sugar dissolves. Let the syrup reduce slightly, but keep an eye on it so it does not boil over. Remove from the heat(!!!) before stirring in the rum (it will bubble).

8. If you made jars, look at the explanation above regarding how to apply the syrup and seal them.  If you made bundt cakes, let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes, before inverting them onto a rack to cool completely (approximately another 10 to 20 minutes).

9.  Clean out the bundt pan, then place the cakes back into the pan.  With a sharp knife, poke a few holes in each cake.  Pour the syrup all over the cakes.  Let it sit for at least 8 hours, but overnight would be best.  Invert and enjoy.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

My Top 100: Update #4

Time for another My Top 100 list update. (Update #3) (Update #2) (Update#1) (Initial List)

I cannot believe I developed this concept 20 months ago.  Time definitely flies.  Though I have conquered only about half of the list, I have been doing substantially more baking in the recent year(s).  I have been trying variations on different recipes and new recipes just alike.  I even bake so much (sometimes) that I am unable to post about it all here!  I keep thinking one day my officemates will tell me to stop bringing in treats; but that day has not occurred (yet).

This list was about challenging me to do new things.  As I begin to conquer the remaining items, I feel ready and up to the challenge.  Some of the things left are (obviously) the most challenging items to complete.  I guess that is why there may have been some mild procrastination in attempting to make them (yes, I am talking about the bread items made with yeast).  Nevertheless, I will procrastinate hesitate no longer… I will accomplish everything on this list.  I still do not have deadline in mind, but I am constantly working towards the finish line.  I am definitely the tortious, not the hare.  Slow and steady may not win the race, but it will definitely finish it.

Updated List:

Cakes, Cupcakes, and Mini-cakes
Moist Yellow Cake
Red Velvet Cake (New Recipe)
Carrot Cake (New Recipe)
Rum Cake
Petit Fours
Confetti Cake
Crumb Cake
German Chocolate Cake
Jelly Roll
Multi-Tired and Decorated Cake
Boston Cream Pie
Marble Cake
Yule Log
A Birthday cake for Mommy
Cake in a Jar (I still want to send it by mail in the future)
Almond Cake
Fruit Flavored Cake
Zebra Cake
Ferrero Rocher Cupcakes
Honey Spice Cake
Tres Leches Cake
Coconut Cake (from “Good Eats”)
Checker Board Cake

Icing, Frostings, Cake Coverings, and Fillings
Whipped Cream Frosting
Pour Fondant
Italian Style Buttercream
French Style Buttercream
Swiss Meringue Buttercream (New Recipe)
Chocolate Buttercream
Chocolate Icing made with Melted Chocolate
Coconut Pecan Frosting (Icing for German Chocolate Cake)
7 minute or Fluffy Boiled Frosting
Fresh Strawberry Frosting
Fruit Puree Filling
Lemon Curd Filling
Fondant on a Cake

Pies, Pastries, and All Things Flaky or Fluffy
Peach Hand/Fry Pies
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Doughnuts (Baked)
Doughnuts (Fried)
Sticky Buns
Cinnamon Rolls
Croquembouche-Cream Puffs
Éclairs
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Danish
Turnovers
Double Crust Pie
Latticed Top Pie
Pecan Pie
Cream Pie (36. Accomplished Sept. 3, 2011, for my mommy’s birthday)
Funnel Cake
Crack Pie
Ol’ Fashion Apple Dumpling

Cookies, Bars, and Brownies
White Chocolate Cherry Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookie (New Recipe)
Traditional French Macrons
Lemon Bars
Graham Crackers
Short Bread
Whoopie Pies
Fudge
Checker Board Cookies
Stained-Glass Cookies
Gingersnaps

Yeast Breads, Quick Breads, and Muffins
Brioche
Croissants
Orange and Cranberry Muffins
Biscotti
Cornbread
Bagels
Rosemary Bread
Hot Cross Buns
Potato Bread
Pumpernickel Bread
Monkey Bread
Sweet Potato Biscuits
Blueberry Muffins (34. Completed July 29, 2011.  Sorry, no pictures=no blog post)
Streusel Topped Muffin (35. Ditto)
Lemon Poppy Muffins
Bran Muffins
Cheese Bread

Desserts That Are Creamy and Ate With a Spoon
Banana Pudding (from scratch)
Chocolate Soufflé
Crème Brule
Bread Pudding
Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream
Chocolate Lava Cake
Fried Ice Cream

Savory
Butternut Squash Ravioli with a Browned Butter and Sage Sauce
Vegetarian Pot Pie
Spring Rolls

All Other Wonderful Things
Caramel Popcorn
Corn Dogs
Cereal
Granola
Crepes
Gingerbread House
Fruit Leather
Peanut Brittle

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Cookie-Therapy



These cookies I am about to share with you have meant more to me than almost anything else I have ever baked.  These cookies (and the recipe) were created for a dear friend who is going through Chemotherapy.  My friend is a warrior and refuses to let cancer or the treatment, get her down.  She battles the fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite, and changing taste buds like a true warrior!  She is truly an inspiration and deserving of something made especially just for her.




My friend has just finished her 2nd session of 6 chemo treatments.  In the days directly after her treatment she is constantly nauseous, cannot taste too much, sweets (one of her favorite food groups) are too sweet, and she craves lemon and mustard.  For a person who loves food the way my friend does, these side effects seem so horrible.  I wanted to try and make something for her that she could enjoy today, that hit her sweet tooth, but did not yield unpleasant interactions with the side effects of her chemo.  A little Cookie-therapy was necessary after Chemotherapy.




Taking all of this into mind, I created a Lemon Ginger Oatmeal Cookie.  I know the flavor combination sounds odd, but it really works.  I used lemon because that was one of the flavors my friend was craving, plus the acidic notes would be something her muted tasted buds would likely be able to pick up.  Further, the extra acidic quality of the lemon juice cut the sweetness of the cookie.  I used ginger as a natural measure to help reduce nausea and settle her stomach.  Lastly, due to the loss of appetite, I figured that if she was going to eat a cookie, she needed a little more nutritional value to sustain her; therefore, I added oatmeal.  Those ingredients are the cornerstone of my friends Cookie-therapy. 




Those dealing with an altered sense of taste and those who are not should be pleased by the flavor combination just the same.  My friend and her husband (who does not even like oatmeal) loved these cookies.  The first thing to hit your pallet is the bright refreshing taste of lemon, and a mild undertone of ginger.  It reminds me of ginger tea for some reason.  There are also candied ginger pieces in the cookie, which give you little flavor burst of ginger as you continue to chew.  The cookie is a nice balance of flavors and not too sweet.  The texture of the cookie is chewy and the oatmeal is a nice touch of oaty-ness, making the cookie “feel healthy” (as my friend says).  So now it not only Cookie-therapy, but also Health Cookie-therapy.




I was so thrilled that my friend liked the recipe and was actually able to enjoy the cookie.  To me, that is what made this recipe especially successful--It was made with love for a friend, and she was able to eat it and love it now (not in a week or two when her taste buds returned to semi-normal).  The bonus was that others enjoyed the cookie too.




**My friend, with the support of her friends and family, is taking strides against breast cancer by walking and fundraising for the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure.  If you would like to donate, please click here.  Thanks and we appreciate your support!


Lemon Ginger Oatmeal Cookies
Recipe by Baker at Law, but Inspired by YER

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) Butter
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup White Sugar
2 Lemons, zest and juice separated
1 Egg, room temperature
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 1/2-3/4 cups of Flour (more or less, depending on how juicy your lemons are)
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Ground Ginger
1/2 tsp Salt
3 cups Old Fashion Oats
1/2 cup Candied Ginger, finely chopped

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Cream together butter and sugars.

3. Add in lemon zest, lemon juice, egg, and vanilla extract, each separately and stirring in between.

4. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and ginger, then add to butter mixture.

5. Once flour mixture about half stirred in, add oats.  Mix completely.

6. Stir in candied ginger.

7. Portion out cookies with cookie scope onto baking sheet, leaving room for the cookies to spread.

8. I used a 3 TBS cookie scope and baked them for 12 minutes, yielding 25 cookies.

9. Cool and enjoy!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

41., 42., & 43. Baby Shower Cake



One of my co-workers and his wife will be adding a new addition to their family any day now.  As an office, we always like to commemorate big life events with food and presents.  So, this shower was given as reason for us to have cake to honor the soon to be born Baby Boy Smith.




It has been a while since I have made a cake for work.  We have gone an unprecedented 4 months without a birthday (mine does not count, as I was not making my own cake), and on the last birthday a last minute replacement cake was necessary due to a 1 AM kitchen accident…  So, I really felt the need to go over and above with this cake.




The first concept I came up with was the checkerboard interior.  I thought it would be awesome to make the inside of the cake visually interesting.  Plus, the concept did not seem too difficult to accomplish.  The checkerboard interior really just required planning and preparation.  I made the cake, cut the pattern, and reassembled the layers Wednesday night.  That left icing and decorating for Thursday.




Earlier in the week, a friend of mine asked for my Buttercream Frosting recipe, as he was trying to recreate a beloved cake from a local gourmet grocery store.  He said that the grocery store baker said that they use an Italian Meringue Buttercream.  I directed him to a blog and told him it was something I wanted to try, but had not done so yet.  I mean the Swiss method has worked out so well… If it ain’t broke, why try and fix it?


Pattern transfer technique with piping gel


Really, I just had a fear of timing the egg whites and sugar syrup perfectly.  Not to mention not wanting to deal with a thermometer to measure the temperature of the sugar syrup.  Nonetheless, I decided to take on the Italian method so I could provide technical support to my friend.  He actually made the frosting before I could make it, so I was no help at all… But, the situation did get me to try the new technique.  And I am proud that I did not fail at it.  It seems very similar (actually almost exactly the same) to Swiss Meringue Buttercream, but maybe a bit more buttery.




And if two new techniques were not enough for one cake, I decided to finally tackle putting fondant on a cake.  For some reason, I thought the design I had in mind would be easier to execute on fondant.  Kneading and rolling out the fondant was not that bad actually.  I probably used too much powdered sugar, as the fondant looked a little elephant skin like over the side edge.  But for a first attempt, it came out awesome.




Now, let’s talk about the taste of fondant.  I have never tasted it before.  Go figure, right!  I mean I have worked with it in a weekend baking class, and cut letters out of it for a pumpkin cake a few years ago… But, I have never tasted the stuff.  O… M… Goodness!  If this stuff did not make cakes look gorgeous, I would question more why it exist.  It taste like sugar and play dough.  Yes, the salty, colorful dough we played with as children.  And beside the awful taste (the little nibble I tasted I could not even swallow), it has a play dough smell.  The whole night while working on the cake, all I could smell was play dough.  Really, I may have to try the marshmallow “fondant” one more time, just to see if it is possible to achieve beauty, with a better taste and smell.




Regardless, the cake came out very well.  I am happy with the design, but as the perfectionist that I am, I can only also see the flaws, but for the sake of brevity, I will not point them all out here.  Lets just say that as I work with fondant more, I will get better at using it and covering cakes.




The taste of the cake was wonderful!  I used the same White Butter Cake recipe that I have used in the past.  When I find a good recipe, I stick with it.  I kept the cake flavor pretty neutral with vanilla extract.  I did flavor the Buttercream with almond flavor.  It was a nice balance and though the almond was only in the frosting, it scented the entire cake.  If I would have put almond in the cake and frosting, it would have been too much.




I sent two pieces of cake home with my co-work—one for his daughter and one for his wife who will ultimately share some of the cake with Baby Boy Smith, after all the shower was in his honor.




Vanilla (& Blue) Checker Board Cake with Italian Meringue Buttercream Frosting covered in Fondant.  (This marks three more items off my top 100 list!)




Checkerboard Cake Technique

I will not even try to begin to explain this one to you when there are so many great blog posts already out there.  This was my main go to post for this technique.




A few notes.  I used an 8-inch pan.  This makes all of the measurements a little harder, but a 6-inch cake would have been too small for my office (as used in the tutorial).  When using an 8-inch pan, I figured the inner circle would have a diameter of 2.5 inches, and the middle circle would be 5 inches.  This would mean that the 8-inch cake, final measurement for the outer ring is actually 7.5 inches.  Which makes sense because cakes condense as they cool and the sides have to be leveled out.




I have one cookie cutter that worked from the inner ring.  I used the bottom of my sifter (it has a 5 inch diameter) as a pattern for the middle ring.  I lightly pressed it into the cake, and then cut out along the line with a sharp, thin bladed knife.  So, be inventive and measure circular object around your kitchen until you find one the right size, if you do not have an appropriate cookie cutter and did not want to try to free hand it.




Italian Meringue Buttercream

Technique and tutorial from ButterYum


Just the egg whites and sugar syrup whipping together.


I used my traditional Swiss Meringue Buttercream ingredient ratios (1:2:3) however.


The infamous curdle stage.  My butter may have been too cold.  Just keep whipping...


For this specific cake I used the following:
5 oz Egg Whites (by weight)
10 oz Sugar
4 TBS Water
15 oz Butter
1 tsp Almond Emulsion
1 tsp Vanilla Extract


...it will finally come together and be ready to use.


This produced just enough buttercream to crumb coat and frost the 4.5-inch tall, 8-inch diameter cake.  If you would like to put buttercream in between the layers, you will need to make a larger batch.



White Butter Cake Recipe
Adapted from Joy of Baking
(I made two separate batches, obviously dying one blue)

Ingredients:

2 large eggs, separated
1 3/4 cups (175 grams) cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar, divided (3/4 & 1/4 cup)
1 scant TBS pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Butter and flour two 8-inch round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper.

2. Separate the eggs, placing the yolks in one bowl and the whites in another bowl.  This is easiest to do while cold, then let the eggs come to room temperature prior to use.

3.  Combine flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

4. In bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until soft.  Add 3/4 cup of the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.  Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

5. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. 

6. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.

7. With a rubber spatula stir in 1/3 of the whites into the batter to lighten it, and then gently fold in the remaining whites until combined. Do not over mix the batter or it will deflate.

8. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake for approximately 20 - 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

9. Cool the cakes completely before use.