Monday 28 November 2011

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I made this cake about a year ago and it is one of my favorite cakes in the world. It has 4 Tbsp of red coloring in the batter so the cake comes out a rich red. I find that all the best frostings are made up of cream cheese, butter and sugar. This one is no exception. I especially love this cake because of the berries found in the middle of the 2 layers. I had never seen this before and had never even thought of doing it either. 

Here's what the cake looks like before it is completely frosted...




The brightness doesn't really show from this picture. Imagine a deep red of a cranberry. That's what the cake looked like.  The recipe is from Bon Appetit Desserts: The Cookbook for All Things Sweet and Wonderful


Here is the recipe:



Ingredients:


CAKE

  • 2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour (sifted, then measured)
  • 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 tablespoon red food coloring
  • 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 large eggs

FROSTING

  • 2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 1/2-pint baskets fresh raspberries
  • 3 1/2-pint baskets fresh blueberries

Preparation


FOR CAKE:

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. 
    Butter and flour two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. 
    Sift sifted flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into medium bowl. 
    Whisk buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla in small bowl to blend. 
    Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well blended. 
    Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. 
    Beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk mixture in 3 additions.
  • Divide batter between prepared pans.
  • Bake cakes about 27 minutes. Cool a bit and turn cakes out onto racks then cool completely.

FOR FROSTING:

  • Beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until smooth.
  • Beat in vanilla. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
  • Place 1 cake layer, flat side up, on platter.
  • Spread 1 cup frosting over top of cake. 
    Arrange 1 basket raspberries and 1/2 basket blueberries atop frosting, pressing lightly to adhere. 
    Top with second cake layer, flat side down. 
    Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. 
    Arrange remaining berries decoratively over top of cake. 



Unfortunately I don't have a picture of my cake completely frosted but I did find a picture of what the cake looks like in the book. 




It tastes as good as it looks!




Tuesday 22 November 2011

Wait, Isn't There Something Missing...

I guess you've been wondering where the "meats" part of my blog is. Well, the name was actually thought up by my mom. My brother is an amazing cook and we were imagining our own cooking/baking business. We were trying to come up with catchy names and "Sweets & Meats" popped into my mom's head. So far I've been concentrating on the "sweets" side but I think it's time for some meats.


I don't cook as often as I bake so there won't be as many posts about cooking as there are about deserts but I don't think that will make anybody sad :P


Here is what I've been making for the past couple of weeks:


Homemade Pizza




The crust is homemade and is just a simple white flour crust. I rolled it extra thin because I hate thick soggy crust under my pizza. The tomatoes sauce I used is a homemade marinara sauce made with our own fresh tomatoes that we cored and froze in the summer. There are thinly sliced red onions and you can throw them directly on the pizza without caramelizing them first. The onions are sliced so thinly that they cook perfectly in the oven and taste sweet. This saves you hours of caramelizing. You can add any topping of course and on this pizza pie there's pepperoni and fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese.


Enjoy.






Monday 14 November 2011

The Best Things Come in Small Packages

Macarons
There is a lot of appeal in small desserts. Cupcakes are à la mode and the new cookies that everyone is craving are macarons. I don't know what it is... Maybe the delicate decorations and the cuteness of the bite-size portions, or maybe it's just because you don't feel as guilty eating them. Whatever the reason, no one can resist these tiny sweets... including me.


Not only can we make miniature cakes and colorful cookies, we can also make small pies :) 
Nom nom nom...

Bite-Size pecan sugar pies:


I got this recipe from a book called Petite Sweets: Bite-Size Desserts to Satisfy Every Sweet Tooth. These pies were delicious! The crust was made with cream cheese, butter and flour so it just flaked and melted in your mouth. The filling has chunks of roasted pecans which adds a nice crunch to the whole ensemble. The filling is also made with maple syrup! Mmmmm.
The best thing about this recipe is that you don't have to cook the crust before you add the filling like a normal sized pie. 

Before going into the oven

The recipe I used makes 24 of these mini pies. They are about 2cm in diameter and you can eat one in one bite. I think I ate 5 of them at once. That's how good they are!