White Cake and the Best Chocolate Buttercream

My dad’s birthday was a few days ago, an his requested present was a homemade white cake with chocolate frosting, and a pancake breakfast. He also recently got a trip to Hawaii, so don’t think he was jipped. Anyways, my dad’s birthday is also the anniversary of me ending my reliance on Betty Crocker; I made my first cake from scratch to mark this occasion two years ago.

White cakes have a bad rep for being dry, but the white cake recipe I used was found copied down in my aunt’s recipe binder; it’s a fairly standard recipe, but produces a moist, medium crumb cake. The chocolate buttercream was found on the Wilton website via a Google search, but it has noww been bookmarked as one of my new, go-to frosting recipes.

Classic White Cake

1 cup milk
6 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 1/4c cake flour
1 3/4c sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4c) butter

Measure out cup of milk, let warm to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Butter and flour two 9 inch cake pans. (I also lined the bottom with parchment paper)
Combine milk, eggs whites and extracts in a bowl.
Over a bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, rub in butter. (I used an electric mixture at a low speed)
Add milk mixture, stir without overmixing. (I added a little over half of the milk mixture, and beat it slowly for about 2 mins, then added the other half and beat for about another minute.)
Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and gently shake to smooth batter. Bake 30 minutes. Let cool in pans then invert onto colling racks.

Chocolate Buttercream recipe

-Mel

Peanut Butter Fudge Brownies

My camera charger has been MIA for over a week now, so I haven’t been able to post/photograph the limited amount of baking and cooking I’ve done recently. I don’t know what Johnny’s excuse is, except that he’s a busy boy. I’m a busy gal too, but I don’t spend my extra time playing video games. What can I say, I’m just the dedicated LAFS poster.

Anyways…

I got the recipe for these off of Anna’s site, and made them for a party on Friday night. I made a few minor changes to make due with what I had on hand, and more importantly because I don’t like nuts getting in the way of my brownies. I don’t like nuts getting in the way of my chocolate, for that matter. I also used reduced fat peanut butter, which means these officially qualify as diet food. I’ll post the recipe as I made it. Next time I think I might throw about a 1/2c of peanut butter chips into the brownie portion, just to make the peanut butter flavor more pronounced. Then again, if you used the peanuts that I didn’t have in my house, they would probably make the flavor stronger.

For the brownie base:
3/4 cup unsalted butter
7 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 cup all purpose flour

For the frosting and ganache:
1 cup Reduced Fat Jif creamy peanut butter (do not use natural or old-fashioned)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided, room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon whole milk (I used skim and it seemed totally fine to me)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

7 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped*

Preparation
For brownies:
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 325°F. Line 13×9x2-inch metal baking pan with foil, leaving more overhang than I did. Butter or spray with cooking spray.

Place 3/4 cup butter in heavy large saucepan. Add both chocolates; stir over low heat until smooth. Remove from heat. Whisk in sugar, vanilla, and salt, then eggs, 1 at a time. Fold in flour. Spread in prepared pan. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 30 minutes. Place pan on rack; cool.

For frosting and ganache:
Using electric mixer, beat peanut butter and 1/4 cup butter in medium bowl to blend. Beat in powdered sugar, and salt, then milk and vanilla. Spread frosting over brownies.

Look in your pantry for semi-sweet chocolate, only to find one ounce left. Grab 3 ounces of unsweetened chocolate, 3 ounces of Baker’s “German Sweet Chocolate”, and the ounce of semi-sweet and say a little prayer. Chop. Drop half an ounce of semi sweet onto the floor, say a swear word or two, then throw in a big handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips and call it even.*

Melt chocolate assortment and 1/4 cup butter in heavy small saucepan over low heat until smooth. Drop ganache all over frosting; spread to cover. Chill until set, about 1 1/2 hours. Cover and keep chilled until about 2 hours before you want to serve.

Using foil as aid, transfer brownie cake to work surface; cut into squares. Bring to room temperature; serve.

*The ganache turned out just great this way. :).

I suggest cutting these small, as they’re very dense and rich. Plus, once you have one you will immediately reach for another one..then another one…and then another one. This may cause tummy aches.

-Mel

Spaghetti Squash is for Lovers

Raise your hand if your New Years resolution involved losing weight, health, or the deprivation of complex carbohydrates and/or butter. Now, raise your hand if roughly 3 weeks into the new year, you fell off the band wagon by eating the rest of the Ghiradelli chocolate you’d “portioned out for emergencies” after Christmas, a bag of very cherry Jelly Bellys, and then decided to bake chocolate chip cookies and shove roughly 5 into your mouth as soon as they were cool enough to hold. Whoops.

If that had been oh…me, I know where I would turn the next day to cure my sugar hang over. Spaghetti squash.

I only discovered spaghetti squash recently, and it is a veggie after my own heart. You simply cut it in half, remove the seeds, cook it as you choose, and then shred the innards into long, spaghetti like shred. Pasta makes my heart flutter, so I fell in love with the process. Also, spaghetti squash is a dream come true to the calorie concious; and 4 ounce serving has only 37 calories (4 oz of pasta has about 400).

My method of choice for preparing spaghetti squash is to cut it in half, remove the seeds, and then bake the squash face down on a jelly roll sheet with about 1/4th inch of water at 375 for about 30 minutes (you could also nuke, boil, or even slow cook the squash), then shred, toss with some homemade tomato sauce and lots of cooked veggies, dig in and enjoy. Your taste buds and the rest of your vitamin shocked body will thank you.

-Mel

Hiatus

Oh dear, it has been quite a while since the last post! The new year brought lots of stress and busy times for both Johnny and I. Don’t fret, cooking has been done and there are posts to be made, just as soon as a spare second is found.

-Melanie

Salmon with Phyllo Wrapped Asparagus

I enjoy a love-hate relationship with Paula Deen. The woman’s voice drives me bonkers, and her unnatural obsession with butter makes my stomach churn; however, she certainly makes good food. I’ll even admit to watching episode upon episode of her show, and finding her strong Southern accent and giggle occasionally charming. I also have a love-love relationship with asparagus and carbohydrates, so when I saw her making phyllo wrapped asparagus, I decided to use them as a side dish with salmon for dinner.

They look good, yes. I could barely wait to delve into them and am sad to report I was terribly disappointed with the result. They proved to be good indeed, but certainly did not meet my expectations. I noticed the recipe lacked seasoning of any kind, but I went against my better judgment and made them as written. The taste of the cheese did not come through as much I would have liked, but that may just be because I flat out did not use enough of it. Who knows.

If you added some salt and pepper these would be great! As is, the recipe lacks a certain flair, tastes somewhat bland, and probably isn’t worth the struggle with temperamental phyllo dough.

Phyllo Wrapped Asparagus
from Paula’s Home Cooking

9-10 asparagus spears, depending on size
1/2 (16-ounce) package frozen phyllo dough sheets, thawed
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
Salt and Pepper to taste*

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Snap off the tough ends of the asparagus. Unwrap the phyllo and cut the stack in half lengthwise. Reserve 1 stack for later use. Cover the phyllo with a damp towel to keep it from drying out. Take 1 sheet of phyllo and brush lightly with some melted butter. Sprinkle with some Parmesan. Place 2 to 3 asparagus spears on the short end of the sheet. Season with a pinch salt and pepper.* Roll up, jelly-roll style. Place each piece, seam side down, on a baking sheet. Brush with more melted butter and sprinkle with more Parmesan. Repeat until all the asparagus spears are used up. Place baking sheet in oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy.

*You will be sorry if you don’t.

Serve up with your favorite preparation of salmon, if you’re me.

-Mel