In the Kitchen | Testing for a Daisy Wedding Cake

In a few short weeks my brother will be getting married.  I made my own wedding cake, and have made some fun cakes for the kid's birthdays since then so I offered to make my brother's cake as well.  They have picked daisies as their flower, so I figured a daisy cake was in order.

Being the procrastinator that I am, I've only just recently started working on the practice cake.  Piping flowers is new to me, so this has been an adventure so far.  I need to make the flowers in advance so I can put the cake together really quickly the day before the wedding.  So, I went to my Wilton cake decorating book (inherited from my mother-in-law) to get a recipe for Royal Icing.

Royal Icing
3 egg whites (at room temperature)
1 pound (about 4 cups) confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Combine ingredients and beat at high speed for 7 to 10 minutes.

Yield: 4 cups




Pretty simple recipe!  The catch is that this icing dries very quickly so you need to keep your bowl covered with a damp cloth.  Also, you need to use this icing right away since you cannot rebeat it.

I piped my daisies on a flower nail, gave them yellow centers, then laid them to dry on my flower molds.  These are curved to give flowers a nice curve, rather than being flat.  My daisies were dry in about a day and ready to put on a cake.

The bride (who is actually a friend of mine) does not like anything too sweet so she requested something other than a buttercream frosting for the cake.  Specifically, she wondered if a Whipped Cream frosting would work.  Since I've never made a whipped cream frosting it was back to the Wilton book.

Well...I tried their recipe but was not really happy with the results.  I'm sure part of the reason was my inexperience with this type of frosting.  But it was edible, though a little hard to work with, so I frosted my test cake anyway.

Now to decide on a look for the daisy cake.  I'm thinking of two different approaches.

1. Wrap a ribbon around the base (represented by a piece of yellow paper in my picture) of the cake that matches the ribbon used in the flowers.  Place daisies around the upper edge of the cake and a little pile of daisies on top.

Same option, close-up:

2. Begin with a pile of daisies on top of the cake, then arrange them so they cascade around and down the cake.  This one was a little tricky to show because my test cake was a little small.

What do you think is the better option?  More orderly daisies in a row with ribbon, or a casual cascading pile of daisies?

Disclaimer:  You'll have to excuse the messy frosting job, the recipe I used was very difficult to smooth.  The recipe also had gelatin in to stabilize, which turned into little chunks when added to the cream. I need to experiment a little more with the frosting.  Chunky and hard to spread and smooth just won't do :)

This post will be linked at:

• Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts
• Wow Me Wednesday at Polka Dots on Parade

In the Kitchen | Black Bean Quesadillas with Corn Salsa

Last week I borrowed Cooking Light Weeknight from the library and have been experimenting with recipes all week.  This particular cookbook has a picture for every recipe and all the recipes that I've looked at are under 500 calories for a meal.  I love black beans, so the picture of this recipe really drew me in and I had to try it.

Black Bean Quesadillas with Corn Salsa
Source: Cooking Light Weeknight
Quesadillas:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 cups chopped plum tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
4 (8 inch) flour tortillas
Cooking spray
3/4 cup (3 oz) preshredded 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese (Instead, I used a mixture of cheddar and pepper jack.  The pepper jack added a nice spice to the quesadillas.)

Preheat broiler.  Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic, saute 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, cilantro and beans; cook 5 minutes or until liquid evaporates, stirring occasionally.

Place tortillas on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Top each tortilla with 1/2 cup bean mixture and 3 tablespoons cheese; fold in half. Lightly coat tops with cooking spray. Broil 3 minutes or until cheese melts and tortillas begin to brown. Cut each tortilla into 3 wedges.

Salsa:
1 cup frozen whole-kernel corn
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 red bell pepper, chopped

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

Yield: 4 servings
1 serving is 3 quesadilla wedges and about 1/3 cup salsa)
Calories: 420

If you chop all the veggies the night before and keep in the refrigerator, this recipe comes together very quickly.  It was really tasty and made a great leftovers for lunch the next day!

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In the Kitchen | Blueberry Pops

Here in Michigan we're in the first weeks of blueberry season so last Friday we loaded up the kids and headed off to pick some blueberries.  With rain threatening and two squirrelly toddlers, we did not stay too long - just long enough to pick about eight pounds.  Some we ate fresh, some went into the freezer, some went into muffins, and some went into blueberry pops.  I've had this recipe sitting in my "to try" pile for ages and finally decided to give it a go.

Blueberry Pops

5 cups blueberries

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

In a blender, puree all ingredients.  Place a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and pour the contents of the blender into the strainer.

Using a rubber spatula, press the mixture through the sieve.  You want to get as much liquid into the bowl as possible, while leaving the pulp behind.

When you have mostly just pulp left in the sieve, discard the pulp.

If necessary, add additional water to yield 3 cups of liquid (I did not have to do this).

For easier pouring, I transferred the liquid into my pyrex mixer.  Carefully pour mixture into popsicle molds, place caps (or sticks) and freeze for about 3 hours or until popsicles are solid.

You can also use cups and wooden popsicle sticks if you do not have popsicle molds.

Note: This recipe yields approximately ten 2 1/2 ounce servings.  If your popsicle molds are larger than this, you will get fewer popsicles.

To remove popsicles, run them under warm water until they loosen.

Enjoy!

Yield: 10 servings
Per serving: 58 calories





Another alternative is to freeze some of the mixture until it is somewhat slushy, but not solid.  Insert and straw and you have a smoothie!  Since I only had one clean set of molds available when I made these, I made slushies for the kids for dessert - they highly approved!

In the Kitchen | Chocolate Haystacks (No-Bake Cookies)

It is hot, hot this week so I really do not like to use the oven to bake cookies.  This recipe is from my childhood and is great for weeks like these.

Chocolate Haystacks

2 cups white sugar
6 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups shredded coconut
2 cups quick oats




Combine the sugar, cocoa, butter and milk in a saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil stirring frequently.  The key to these cookies is to really let this mixture come to a full boil.

Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, coconut and oats.

Lay waxed paper on your counter or on cookie sheets.  Drop cookie mixture by teaspoonful onto waxed paper.  Allow to cool.  As the cookies cool they will harden.  Remove cookies from wax paper and store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

In the Kitchen | Feeling Domestic

So far this summer has been a hot one and in hot weather I don't like to turn the oven on. Who wants the extra heat in the house? Despite that fact, sometimes its still fun to do some fresh baking. In my mind nothing quite says home sweet home than the small of fresh bread and cookies. As I was measuring and stirring I thought about the smells of Christmas in the kitchen and the coziness of having family close. Recently, I borrowed a copy of the book Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys by Lucinda Scala Quinn from the library. Its a cookbook about cooking good food for the men and boys in your life and filling the kitchen with smells that remind them of home and keep them coming back. I really liked how Scala Quinn describes cooking for her family as an act of love.

Staying home with my children is something I've always wanted to do. I love the smell of bread, freshly baked and cooling on the counter. I enjoy making fresh cookies to greet my husband when he comes home from work. I want my kitchen to be filled with the aromas of good food created with love for the people I love. I like feeling domestic.

In the Kitchen | Fruity Yogurt Popsicles

For years now I've had a set of popsicle molds sitting idle in the cabinet over the refrigerator. I had great intentions to make popsicles for the kiddos but it never seemed to happen.

One evening, inspired by some strawberries in the freezer that were getting old I made fruit smoothies. They were pretty simple, yogurt, strawberries, and bananas. Jaden loved his smoothie, and the opportunity to drink from a straw. One blender-full of smoothie made more than enough for all of us with some leftover. Looking at the leftover mix I thought of the popsicle molds and dug them out of the cupboard. I poured the extra smoothies into the popsicle molds and popped them into the freezer.

Jaden and Hannah enjoying their popsicles on the deck.

The result? Tasty popsicles that both Hannah and Jaden enjoyed, and healthy too. Hannah is at the stage where she wants whatever her brother is having and this was a great treat for both of them. The two of them sitting side-by-side (totally unposed) on the deck enjoying their popsicles was so cute that I just had to snap a picture.

Next up on my list? Chocolate pudding pops - not so healthy, but tasty and fun!