Showing posts with label baking tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baking tips. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Easter Baking Disaster

I promised an update on the Easter baking...monstrously bad. I tried 3 things: eggnog bundt cake, petit fours and yeast rolls.

I have NEVER had a problem with the bundt cake before...I mean never. Well, I decided to use a new fancy pan-release spray instead of trusty Crisco and flour. Wouldn't you know it, it stuck..badly. So badly, I had to turn it into a trifle. Luckily, I had planned to serve it with macerated strawberries and real whipped cream so I just made three layers of each and called it a trifle. Whew.

Petit fours are my arch nemesis. For the life of me, I cannot get the glaze right. So, I found what looked like a promising recipe on Martha Stewart's website for the glaze. I made a genoise, put a layer of cherry preserves and was ready to go. I tinted the glaze too dark but otherwise it worked just fine. Then, came the taste. Waaaay too sweet. sigh. back to the drawing board. If anyone has a good petit four glaze recipe, please, please, please send it to me.

Here's what they looked like freshly glazed:



Final Product:



Looks good, tastes yucky. grrrr.

The yeast rolls looked promising but never rose. At the end, I had small, hard little dough balls. gross. I used a Martha Stewart recipe which I thought I followed exactly right. I am convinced it's the recipe. I still have a packet of yeast so I'm going to look up a new recipe and try again. I had to stop at the store after mass to get a can of Pillsbury crescents--which were yummy.

I usually have much better success baking, but I guess you can't win 'em all.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Christmas Cookie Bake-a-Thon




Every year I like to make Christmas cookies. I give them to friends and neighbors and take some big plates into work. It's getting to be that time of year, so I need to start planning what I want to make.

I always make sugar cookies but everything else is up for grabs. I made gingerbread cookies last year which turned out well. My husband bought me a cookie press so I may do some butter cookies too.

I was wondering if anybody out there has any suggestions on old favorites that I should make. I like to bake from scratch so basically nothing is too hard or detailed. What can I say? I'm an overachiever. I'll take your suggestions for about a week or so and then I have to get down to serious planning. Thanks, guys!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Yummy Devil's Food Cake

Hey guys, I wanted to share this recipe with ya'll in case you need a foolproof recipe for chocolate cake. I love Emeril's recipes and this one is especially good. It is moist, dense and rich. I have never used the frosting recipe because it doesn't quite look right. With a good chocolate cake recipe, you can use almost anything, so use your favorite. One tip: use the best chocolate and cocoa powder that you can find.

Here's the link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_29436,00.html

If for some reason that doesn't work, go to the food network website and search for "Devil's Food Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Icing" from Emeril Lagasse.

Enjoy, bitches!