lemon pound cake

i made this lemon pound cake back in january, and it's something my coworkers still talk about. i guess i should make it again...

i used a basic pound cake recipe and added some lemon zest, and used a lemon glaze for the top. i tend to like a denser pound cake. otherwise i feel like i'm just eating birthday cake.

professional baking class - cakes 2

for our second cake class, we did butter based cakes. this included cheesecake (not my favorite but they turned out pretty good nonetheless), pound cake, and checkerboard cake. i love love love pound cake, so i was excited that we got to try three different versions: the master pound cake, the perfect pound cake, and the great pound cake (i think that's what it's called). they were all tasty, fyi. for the cheesecakes, we did a test to see what happens if you bake it without a water bath. my partner and i were in charge of the sacrificial cheesecake, so ours cracked down the middle. it still tasted good, though!

julia child butter cake

for my brother's birthday i decided to try something challenging (and fun) and make a cake from my new julia childs cookbook. i decided on her basic vanilla cake, with buttercream frosting. however, i had some bananas laying around to i decided to throw those in there, and add some rum to the buttercream - voila, banana fosters cake!

the buttercream though, being a traditional french buttercream, was 90% butter. so putting the cake in the fridge did not work. eating the cake was pretty much like eating a stick of butter. but after letting it sit out and come to room temp, it was pretty darn good.

professional baking class - cakes 1

for our first cakes class, we made egg based cakes. so using a sponge cake recipe, we made a jelly roll, tiramisu, and a chocolate version which was rolled into a bouche de noel. this was a really fun class, but i think i was suffering from sugar overload all weekend long.

chocolate ice cream cake

my coworker's birthday was last week and i promised him i would make something. he wasn't around for when i distributed my christmas goodies, which is why i promised i would make him something yummy. i asked him what he wanted and he said 'something you haven't made yet.' so i suggested ice cream cake. he was excited.

i did some research online to find the best method. a lot of recipes said to just use ice cream sandwiches, but that is lazy to the max. then i found a few that said to bake cake, then freeze ice cream in the cake pans and layer it all together. now that's what i'm talking about.

first i baked the cake. the recipe i used made enough batter for 3 cake layers. that would mean i needed two ice cream layers. i was creating a 5 layer cake - holy moly.


once my cake pans were available again, i could put the ice cream in. had to make sure to cover the pans with foil so i could easily get the ice cream out once it was frozen.


i let everything sit in the freezer over night and assembled the next evening. i took everything out of the freezer, unwrapped it, and started layering.


then i threw that back in the freezer for about an hour or two, just to firm up. i read in a recipe online that cool whip is a good icing for ice cream cake, since it freezes so well. and it turned out really nice, i have to admit. it was a perfect icing for the cake - it wasn't too heavy and it was a nice compliment to the heavy cake and ice cream.



the cake was a big hit with the birthday boy and everyone else at work. i think everyone is expecting an ice cream cake for their birthday now. i wouldn't mind being the designated work baker, as long as they put a little something in my paycheck to pay for all this stuff! maybe one day..

thanksgiving 2009!

oh my goodness. what a week. i spent all of last week baking for thanksgiving, and then spent about 20 minutes eating it all up. isn't it funny/annoying/sad that so much time goes into planning for thanksgiving dinner, and then you're so excited to eat that you inhale everything and it's over in a flash... at least i can look back on it and think how delicious everything was (oh and ps i totally ate too much this year, had to excuse myself from the table because i thought i was going to puke. that's not normal, right? i have a problem).

anyway, here come the photos.

first, i made an apple crumble pie. you can't have thanksgiving without apple pie. i love making lattice crust tops - people are always so impressed with lattice tops, and they're really not that hard to make. after you've done it once, you'll be able to do it really quickly on all your pies. this pie was good, it gelled really nicely and wasn't runny at all. secret? apple sauce!


next, i had the pecan pie tarts. these are so so so good. and they are so easy to make. the crust is basically just butter and cream cheese, and the pecan filling is nuts, sugar, egg and butter. good, simple ingredients=delicious food. these were the perfect size and a big hit, especially with my brother.


i decided to spice things up by adding a cake to the list of thanksgiving desserts. i found this recipe for a pumpkin sandwich cake on the better homes and gardens website, and i love pumpkin and i love cream cheese frosting, and this recipe combined the two, and then added chocolate (drools). when making the cream cheese frosting, i think it was a little too tart for my taste. but when inside the cake and with the chocolate ganache, the tanginess complimented the rest of the cake (which was all really sweet). cakes are fun to make, but you really have to have the patience.


and of course we can't forget the pumpkin pie. i made a brandy pumpkin pie, and it was some of the best pumpkin pie i've had. there was just enough brandy in the recipe where you couldn't really taste the alcohol, but you knew there was something a little special in there. the custard was so smooth and silky, not too thick like some pumpkin pies. and the crust came out really nice and crispy. this recipe is a keeper!


i also made a vegan pumpkin pie for scott. according to him, it's delicious. i didn't try it - by the time he got to eating it i was done with pie and just looking at sweets made me sick. but he said it was good, so i'm happy about that.


i hope you all had a great and tasty thanksgiving, and didn't eat to the point of nausea (like me). i really enjoyed baking this year, i'll probably tone it down a bit next year, though. four desserts? yeah, a little crazy.

bring on the christmas cookies!