August 2010 - Willow Bird Baking

Month: August 2010

Snack Attack #1: Strawberry Lemonade Popsicles

Did you see Joy the Baker’s recent popsicle post? The one where she mentioned that her popsicle molds come from the dollar store?

What?

You mean I don’t have to win one of those fancy $50 molds (because there’s no way I’m buying something that expensive) to make popsicles?! You mean I can make them with a mold that costs a dollar?! Or even WITHOUT A MOLD AT ALL?!

Have you ever had one of those moments where you realize you’ve been lulled into some weird advertising-induced hypnosis? You start wondering how you could possible make ice cream without purchasing a hundred-dollar KitchenAid attachment. How in the world people wash their floors without the latest souped-up super mop. How people subsist without a dishwasher. How people can brave the harsh elements without a trendy coat in this year’s style. How people made pasta before pasta machines, bread before bread machines, pie crusts before food processors.

This dude calls it “lifestyle creep,” where luxury items slowly start to seem like necessary components of a happy life. And of course companies don’t mind — they want it that way!

This other dude talks about how companies have created a “culture of unnecessaries” (thanks to Dena for these links).

I think those dudes are right on. It doesn’t mean I’ll stop buying Coke Zero or eating out every now and again, but it is a call to step back and examine.

Maybe it has to do with being really poor right now (I’m really poor right now, y’all), but I’ve been waking up and noticing these assumptions I’ve fallen into over time. Maybe I don’t need to eat out so much. Maybe I can do without new dishes and props for photos, and instead just rearrange the ones I have. Maybe I don’t need to buy the fancy shampoo. Maybe now is not the time to cook with Gruyère (cry).

And maybe I don’t need the $50 popsicle mold before I can have some good ol’ fashioned summertime snacking fun.

Sure enough, my dollar store had mini popsicle molds. The sticks that came with the mold were kind of useless, but the store also sold regular old craft sticks. Popsicles for $2? Count me in.

I decided to create some Strawberry Lemonade Popsicles because I love the tangy, sweet mix of berries and lemon. These are yogurt pops, so they’re creamy and indulgent. It’s still about as hot as the surface of the sun in Charlotte (I decided this while sweating through my church clothes and trying to put air in my tires last Sunday), so icy treats are still welcome even as September approaches.

Want a salty snack to go along with these sweet pops? Stay tuned for Snack Attack #2! So delectable!

I have two questions to end with today: What’s your current favorite snack? and What unnecessary things have you been lulled into feeling like you “need”?

Strawberry Lemonade Popsicles

Recipe by: Adapted from Our Best Bites and The Kitchn
Yields: about 18 of my mini-popsicles, and probably about 9 regular sized popsicles

Lemonade Layer Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups lowfat yogurt, plain or vanilla
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
5 tbsp sugar

Strawberry Layer Ingredients:
1 pint strawberries, cored and quartered
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup plain yogurt

Directions:
First, make the lemonade layer mixture. Heat the lemon juice in a small, microwaveable bowl for around 45 seconds (give or take, depending on your microwave) and dissolve all the sugar into it. Pour this mixture into a medium bowl with the yogurt and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to assemble popsicles.

Make strawberry layer mixture. Place the strawberries, water, and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a bowl. Simmer for around five minutes until the strawberries are soft. Pour this mixture and the lemon juice into a food processor and pulse until almost pureed, but not liquefied. Chill in the refrigerator until cool, and then whisk the yogurt into the strawberry mixture until well combined.

Assemble the popsicles. Use a teaspoon or tablespoon (depending on the size of your molds) to carefully spoon alternating layers of lemon and strawberry mixture into your molds. If you typically like your lemonade more sweet than tart, use more strawberry layers than lemon. If you prefer more tart than sweet, use more lemon layers than strawberry. Freeze overnight. To unmold, dip molds into warm water and gently pull popsicles out. Serve immediately (or wrap in wax paper and place in ziplock bag to store in freezer).

P.S. You know what’s funny? No one ever makes apple popsicles, pumpkin popsicles, cinnamon crumble pops. I think at some point in my life, I need to make fall popsicles. We’ll sit by the fire in our parkas and enjoy them together. Who’s with me?

P.S. 2 — A bonus for you: my tweets during this popsicle endeavor. You should follow me on Twitter for fun behind the scenes play-by-plays!

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August 31, 2010 by Julie Ruble | 64 Comments

cakes

Secret Garden Recipe: Pink Ice Petit Fours

Want to have a tea party?

We’re going to find a garden enclosed in cool, moss-covered stone walls. We’ll lay out delicate china on a wrought-iron table with ivy growing up each leg. Arrayed in sweet sundresses and sandals, we’ll carry in platefuls of hot buttered scones, pitchers of raspberry and strawberry lemonade, and pots of fragrant orange tea. Every sip will be accompanied by a staunch pinky point. Twilight will find us still laughing, unwilling to let the summer daylight slip away.

Oh, and of course there’ll be petit fours. The dainty, sweet little cake squares will be the jewels of the tea table.

What a fantasy. In actuality, I’ve just finished my first week of teacher meetings. The past few days have been filled with book shelving, furniture moving, copy making, curriculum planning, sweet student meeting, and lots of teacher giggling. I’ve left with a headache nearly every day, relieved that headache with a nap nearly every day, and even still . . . gotten a ton of work done nearly every day!

We can still have petit fours, though, right? Petit fours are sweet little tea time desserts that seem to specialize in being adorable. Any number of miniature desserts can be classified as petit fours (literally “small ovens” in French), but for my sister’s surprise garden party earlier this summer, I knew I wanted dense, fruity cake squares. Petit fours are sometimes filled with jams, and then are covered in poured fondant or chocolate.

Now, before I gush, these bite-sized cakes were not perfect. More specifically, the poured fondant was not perfect. In fact, instead of “poured,” let’s call it glopped fondant. Shall we?

The thing is, fondant is going to be super sweet. There’s a cavity-inducing amount of confectioner’s sugar in it, not to mention the corn syrup. The only hope of this stuff covering your petit fours and not ending up with a cloying mess is making sure the poured fondant is heated enough to be very thin, so only a thin layer sticks to the outside of the cake square. This proved to be impossible with the recipe I used. It was warmed in a double boiler for gentle heating, but as soon as I started to pour, I was only able to cover a couple of cake squares before it was glop. Even when it was fully heated, it never really got thin enough to cover the squares in a reasonable way. As a result, they were too sweet.

Oh, and that color? That was not the color I was going for. I had a pale, rose petal pink in mind. Um, that’s all I’ll say about that.

While the petit fours weren’t perfect, the taste itself (beyond the fondant) was so wonderful. The cake was deliciously moist, cool, and dense with a gorgeous buttery almond flavor. The raspberry jam covering was the perfect complement to the almond (one of my favorite flavor combinations!) and was simple to brush on, though it never dried completely. Really, if you use poured white chocolate or a different poured fondant recipe (how about trying this one, which looks great?), these would be fantastic (and they’d probably look a little less “gloppy” as well). Even in their overly sweet state, I ate a ton of them due to their brilliant flavorings.

This is also one of those recipes that ends up looking fancy despite being relatively easy to make — and you know I love those. A few key steps (like freezing the cake before cutting it up and making sure your fruit glaze is very thin) ensure that the process is relatively simple.

Go have a tea party!

Pink Ice Petit fours

Recipe by: Adapted from Diana’s Desserts
Yield: 60 1-inch petit fours, or about 16 2-inch petit fours

NOTE: This recipe does not include the poured fondant recipe or instructions due to the aforementioned difficulties. If you want to try poured fondant, I’d recommend looking at this post on Cakes and Cupboards, which looks promising. Nevertheless, poured fondant might still be too sweet for you. Another option is a poured chocolate. You’ll probably need two coats if you use white chocolate. If you want completely smooth petit fours, I recommend using a thin layer of rolled marzipan under your icing, or the buttercream procedure outlined on Cakes and Cupboards, above.

Cake Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
3 egg whites

Fruit Glaze:
12 ounces raspberry preserves (or heated jelly)
3 tablespoons water

Directions:
Prepare the cake. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9-inch baking pan, or use Wilton’s Cake Release.

Cream butter, shortening, and sugar together in a large bowl. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk. In another bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.

Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto a cooling rack. When cooled, chill cake in refrigerator for a bit before freezing it for at least 1 hour.

Right before removing the cake from the freezer, prepare fruit glaze. In a medium saucepan, heat preserves with the 3 tablespoons water on low heat. If using jelly, judge whether or not you need any of the water to make it a thin consistency.

Remove cake from freezer. Using a long, serrated knife, cut a thin slice off each side of chilled cake. Cut cake into squares of desired size (for me, about 1.5-inch squares). Place squares 1/2 inch apart on a cooling rack over a sheet pan. Use a pastry brush to spread a thin layer of heated preserves over tops and sides of petit fours before icing. Allow excess to drip off. Let dry (I put them in the fridge and let them set up a bit — they never really “dry”). Repeat if necessary to thoroughly coat squares.

Prepare your desired poured fondant or chocolate and pour over the petit fours. Decorate the tops with different frostings, chocolates, sprinkles, candy, sugar flowers, etc. as you wish. Refrigerate until ready to eat — eat within a day or two.

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August 29, 2010 by Julie Ruble | 40 Comments

cakes

Ina Garten’s Lemon Loaf Cake and Raffaldini Vineyards

So what have you been up to this summer? As you know, up until this past weekend, I had not fulfilled my summer quota of fun sunshiney activities — no beach, no pool, no picnic. With school looming ahead of me (teacher meetings start tomorrow), something had to be done. Quickly.

My friend Vada saved the day (er, the season?). We Jazzercise together and she invited me to join her and a group of her fun friends for a road trip. It was her friend Lori’s birthday and they were headed to Raffaldini Vineyards in Ronda, NC.

When she first suggested it, I wasn’t sure. I don’t drink, so what would I do at a vineyard? Would I end up counting grapes in the corner as everyone else played wine pong (that’s what they do at vineyards, right)? As it turns out, though, Vada doesn’t drink either, and she was certain it would still be fun. I’m up for fun! I told her to count me in.

Vada and Luca

I’m so glad I went, because it was fun. Turns out, vineyards are beautiful — or at least Raffaldini Vineyards certainly were! We drove about an hour out of Charlotte and suddenly it felt like we were in Italy. Vada’s friend Luca, our resident Italian, agreed that it reminded him of home — a nice stamp of authenticity. As promised, fun ensued.

First, we ate a lovely picnic on an outdoor patio overlooking the vineyards and mountains in the distance. The vineyards offered a whole menu of food you could purchase on-site, but I brought a little packed lunch to save money. I also brought this bright, summery Lemon Loaf Cake, which was moist and traveled so well. Vada, who is an absolutely extraordinary cake decorator, brought cupcakes along. We had quite a feast!

After our picnic, we took a brief tour of the vineyard, learning about the soil, growing practices, and types of grapes grown. While others enjoyed a wine tasting, Vada and I took a walk around the grounds and had a photo shoot. Finally, we took a tour of the winery and learned how the wines were made. It was so informative — not being a drinker, I tend to think of grapes as the basis of jelly and “tannin” as something you do at the beach. I learned a lot! The best part? The entire day only cost me $8 — and that included buying a bottled water on-site.

Vada’s gorgeous cupcakes and the quick Lemon Loaf Cake packed for traveling!

This one little day trip kind of made my summer! It was filled with sweet people, good food, beautiful surroundings. How about you? Does one event or activity this summer stand out as your favorite?

You can relive part of my end of summer fun by making this quick, simple loaf cake for yourself. It has a tangy, drenched lemon flavor that will help you kiss the summer days farewell.

5 from 1 reviews

Ina Garten's Lemon Loaf Cake

Prep time

25 mins

Cook time

50 mins

Total time

1 hour 15 mins

A delicious, tangy, easy lemon loaf cake. Be careful not to overbake!

Author: Adapted from Ina Garten via Two Peas and Their Pod

Serves: 6

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt or sour cream
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
3 eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest or 2 teaspoons lemon extract
1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Glaze Ingredients:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/4 x 2 1/2-inch loaf pan (I use Wilton’s Cake Release). Line the bottom with parchment paper and butter and flour the entire pan.
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl. In a large bowl, whisk together yogurt, 1 cup of the sugar, eggs, lemon zest or extract, and vanilla. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet, whisking to combine (I did this in 2-3 additions). Use a rubber spatula to fold the vegetable oil into the batter until it’s fully incorporated. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester stuck in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
While the cake is baking, combine the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.
When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing it and placing it on a baking rack over a sheet pan. Use a cake tester, wooden skewer, or toothpick to carefully pierce holes throughout the cake (I used a toothpick so the holes wouldn’t be too obvious, but a skewer might have made deeper holes in the cake, allowing more syrup to get through). While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool completely.
In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar and lemon juice, whisking to form a smooth glaze. Pour over the cake. Slice and serve with fresh berries, whipped cream, or ice cream.

August 23, 2010 by Julie Ruble | 92 Comments

cupcakes

Wacky Candy Cupcakes: Ferrero Rocher and Reese’s Cup

When my sister called and asked me to make a dessert for her office party, I jumped at the chance to recreate an old favorite. Way back toward the beginning of Willow Bird Baking, I made some fun Ferrero Rocher Cupcakes in which I stuck a whole frozen candy into each cupcake prior to baking. I enjoyed those (despite the candy losing a bit of crunch), but always wanted to find the time to tweak the concept a bit.

This was my chance! I wanted to take a moist chocolate cupcake, fill it with a giant dollop of the hazelnut-chocolate spread Nutella, ice it with rich chocolate frosting, and crown the whole thing with a Ferrero Rocher. The entire cupcake was designed to imitate the flavors in the candies themselves.

And why stop there? How easy would it be to fill some of the cupcakes with peanut butter instead, topping them with a huge Reese’s Cup? Hurray for candy cupcakes!

I could have gotten even more carried away (cupcakes filled with coconut pastry cream and topped with Mounds? Cupcakes filled with caramel and topped with Snickers?), but I reeled it in. That doesn’t mean we have to turn our imaginations off, though. What Candy Cupcake would you make?

Now, I am Wacky McWackerson. I’m as silly as they come. But that’s not why these cupcakes are called Wacky Candy Cupcakes instead of just regular ol’ Candy Cupcakes. Raise your hand if you’ve heard of Wacky Cake! Anyone?

Wacky Cake is NOT what you call the 2nd batch of cupcakes you make after ruining the previous batch and just barely convincing yourself not to throw your muffin pan across the apartment, spewing chocolate lava on your roommate’s couch (hey Barb!), but good guess. I did make these Wacky Cakes after a first batch of chocolate cupcakes flopped, but that’s not why they’re wacky.

Wacky Cake is actually just a vegan chocolate cake — no eggs, no milk — and is probably called “Wacky” ’cause vegans are just a little nutty sometimes . . . just kidding, just kidding! I love you, vegans! The truth is, no one really knows why it’s called wacky. Some say it’s because it’s a little wacky to make a cake with no eggs, which is just as good a reason as any, I guess. Regardless, Wacky Cake happens to be the perfect recipe to resort to after a flop that uses most of your eggs. Just call me MacGyver.

Turns out, Wacky Cake is also yummy and rich — the perfect cupcake base for my creation. I went and added un-vegan ingredients to complete the recipe, but if you’re a vegan looking for a great chocolate cupcake, the base recipe here is perfect for you. It’s also just plain easy to make.

The frosting, on the other hand, was a bit of a hassle. It doesn’t whip up very firm, so I had to refrigerate it for a bit and re-whip before frosting the cupcakes and sticking them in the fridge in a hurry. After sitting in the fridge overnight, though, the frosting is firm — and very chocolatey and delicious. I’d use it again for the taste, but I’d make sure to have refrigerator space cleared out ahead of time to chill the cakes immediately.

Speaking of refrigerating these cupcakes, the Nutella jar expressly says not to refrigerate Nutella. Don’t worry — it’s not because the product turns toxic or anything, but actually because it firms up into almost a nougat texture, which for our purposes, is awesome. The center of the Ferrero Rocher Cupcakes was a hunk of hazelnut-chocolate love.

Overall, these cupcakes were tremendous! I greedily devoured the few I kept to sample, and Sarah says her coworkers were enthusiastic about them as well! Both varieties are the perfect imitations of their respective candies, incredibly indulgent, and simple to make. If you’re used to making a plain cupcake-n-frosting combo, why not get a little feisty, add a sweet filling and a candy topping, and pump up your cupcakes? It’s a quick and easy way to turn a dull dessert into something special.

Now it’s your turn: Think up a cupcake-version of your own favorite candy. Tell me about how you’d make it in the comments section — and bonus points for ACTUALLY DOING IT! Send me photos of your candy cupcake creations to post on Willow Bird Baking!

Ferrero Rocher and Reese’s Cup Cupcakes

Recipe by: Adapted Wacky Cake recipe from Being Wife and frosting from Hershey’s
Yields: about 30 cupcakes

Wacky Cake Ingredients:
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
6 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons vinegar
12 tablespoons of mazola or vegetable oil
2 cups water

“Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Frosting Ingredients:
1 cup (2 stick) butter
1 1/3 cup cocoa powder
6 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup milk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Candy supplies needed:
Creamy peanut butter (I don’t use the natural sort for this because I kind of want a processed, sweet flavor)
Nutella
15 Ferrero Rocher candies
15 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (I use the big sort!)

Directions:
NOTE: You may want to make these cupcakes the night before you intend to serve them, since the frosting needs time to set in the refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 30 cupcake wells with cupcake liners. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, and baking soda.

Add vanilla, vinegar and oil, stirring until smooth. It’s normal for the mixture to seem thick and pasty right now. Add the water and mix (carefully to avoid splattering) until there are no lumps in the batter.

Pour mixture into prepared cupcake pans. Bake 12-15 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely.

Carefully hollow out each cupcake using a table knife, and reserving the scraps for another use (maybe cake balls?). Using a piping bag or a ziplock with the corner cut off, fill half the cupcakes with peanut butter and the other half with nutella.

Make frosting: Melt the butter and stir in the cocoa. Alternate adding powdered sugar and milk, and beat to spreading consistency. Stir in vanilla. I refrigerated my frosting after beating to give it a thicker consistency, since it wasn’t as firm as I’d like. Unwrap all your candies while it refrigerates, because you’ll have to work quickly.

Have a platter ready in the fridge to receive finished cupcakes (the frosting is not very secure until it’s been refrigerated for at least a few hours). Pipe a big rosette onto each cupcake, covering your filling, and plop the appropriate candy onto the middle. Place finished cupcakes directly in the fridge to sit for a few hours, and take out immediately before serving.

Other fun candy cupcakes around the internet: 100 Grand Cupcakes, Snickers Cupcakes, another version of Ferrero Rocher Cupcakes.

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August 20, 2010 by Julie Ruble | 60 Comments

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Secret Garden Recipe: Sparkling Raspberry Lemonade

Dear Summer,

I know I haven’t always treated you the way you deserve to be treated. There were plenty of days this summer when I slept through the best part of the morning. I only went out for ice cream one time, and that was after nightfall. I didn’t get to the beach or the pool even once. I never accomplished the picnic I’d planned in the mountains.

Listen, Summer, I know that being a teacher makes this even harder to excuse. I, better than anyone else (besides my students, maybe), should know the value of a great summer. I should have played in sprinklers. I should have driven around town with a slushy in one hand (and hopefully the steering wheel in the other). I should have gone on at least a couple of spontaneous road trips. Trust me, I know.

Give me some credit, though, Summer. I did almost exclusively wear a rotation of 3 sundresses all summer long. I stopped wearing clothes with finicky washing/drying directions to facilitate my summer laziness. I stocked up on dollar store flip flops and barely wore a legitimate shoe the entire season — except for that one time I wore my sassy heels. I started watching some of the horrible reality television that I’m embarrassed to talk about. I met my friend Beth for Indian, and just the other day, met my friend Andrea for sushi.

I filled up my hummingbird feeder! Not with raspberry lemonade, true, but I think the hummingbirds were plenty happy with sugar-water.

Changing up garnishes!

And I didn’t just flit around, either — I also used you, precious Summer, to be productive in ways I love. I planned a Secret Garden surprise party for my sister, for which I made this gorgeous lemonade. I blogged and blogged and blogged. I wrote the syllabus for the new cooking classes I’m teaching this fall. I diligently kept up with Top Chef.

Wait, watching Top Chef counts as productive, right?

Aw, a few raspberries in the pitcher look so nice. Maybe I should have added a lemon slice or two, too?

Summer, even though I’ve made some mistakes, it’s obvious that I care about you. I’m begging you, pleading with you — stay just a little longer. I’ll make amends; I’ll make sparkling raspberry lemonade. I’ll sit on the balcony with little Byrd, sippin’ this tart, fruity, sweet summertime beverage, just like I’m supposed to. Pretty please?

Love,
Julie

Sparkling Raspberry Lemonade

Recipe by: Adapted from Sunset
Yields: about 5 1/2 cups of lemonade

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup raspberries, washed and patted dry
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cup sparkling water
2 1/2 cups water*

Directions:
Mash raspberries with sugar in a small bowl and let stand for 10 minutes. Press this mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a pitcher and discard the seeds. Add lemon juice, sparkling water, and water, stirring to combine. Taste and add more sugar if desired. Dip each serving glass’s rim into lemon juice and then into sugar. Serve lemonade in these glasses with ice, and garnish with raspberries, mint, pretty straws, lemon slices, etc. as desired.

*NOTE: I am so lame. I fiddled with the original amount of liquid in the recipe and of course didn’t write down the changes I made. This is my best guess as to how much water and sparkling water I added, based on memory, but you can always fiddle with the ratio of ingredients after tasting.