Bridesmaid Baby Cakes- Take I

You may remember from some previous posts that I am hosting the bridesmaids' luncheon for my future sister-in-law, Brenna. You also may (or may not...it's ok. I don't blame you. Who can keep up with it all?) remember that I decided to make the baby bridesmaids cakes from Southern Living for dessert at the luncheon. I posted about them here.



My mom came over for a test run of making the baby cakes. The recipe called for Poppy Seed Cake. That sounded too time consuming and, well, just not as good as regular ole' cake. She brought over every cake baking/decorating item she had. I pulled out all of my stuff too. We started our test run with all of this (see below). We had parchment triangles, couplers, icing tips (numbers one, three, and sixteen), cake mixes, canned icing, powdered sugar, candy quick, whipping cream, cream cheese, white icing color, almond extract, vanilla extract, etc.





We decided that between us we had enough boxes of cake mix to use instead of making homemade cake. We pulled a Sandra Lee. You know, she hosts that show "Semi-homemade." Note: I seriously didn't know that show came on the air anymore. I just found out when I looked it up to make the link above. I thought they stopped making it years ago. That shows what I know. :)





In an ideal world all of the cake flavors would have been the same. Well, my little perfectionist self has come to terms with the fact that we don't live in an ideal world and that multiple cake flavors will be ok in the end. All of us girls at the luncheon can just taste each other's and swap. It'll be like trading desserts in the 3rd grade lunchroom. What fun!

We made vanilla cake, devil's food cake, and chocolate fudge cake. Here's the science behind our cake choices. We chose these because we had two boxes of each of these flavors. We were making the cakes on jelly roll pans and had to double the recipe to make two sheet cakes of each flavor on two jelly rolls pans. We needed enough to have two layers of cake. Each cake will be decorated with each attendee's monogram. (Brenna, do you know who likes what kind of cake? I can monogram accordingly to minimize the cake swapping.)


And we were off. First we made two white cakes. While those were baking, we mixed together the devil's food cakes and started on the icing.

All of these pictures were taken on Judd's iphone. The photo quality is not great but you get the idea. If you don't have a seizure and/or your eyes don't cross from looking at it (it's blurry y'all. sorry.) the photograph below is of me making the icing. I used the butter cream frosting recipe found in Southern Living. You can get the full recipe in that link to the previous post at the top. The frosting calls for 2 lbs. of powdered sugar (make sure to sift it first), 1 cup of butter, 1/2 cup of whipping cream, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon almond extract.

Now Vanna...oops I mean Momma...show them what they've won...er...I mean made.

The cakes will look like this when you take them out of the oven. Your Momma might not look like this and she might not stand like Vanna White, but the cakes will definitely look like this.

I purchased a scalloped edged cookie cutter from Hobby Lobby for .99 cents. It most resembled the one Southern Living used. We cut out the vanilla cakes first once they had had time to cool. Forgive the sweatpants and old sorority t-shirt. It's not 1950 y'all. I just don't know how June Cleaver managed in her kitchen in those heals and dresses. (Disclaimer-I don't know what is up with all of the TV references. I guess I'm just in a mood. Well, that and I couldn't resist that Vanna - Momma thing).

Here's June

Here's Me. Ha. When all three cake flavors had baked and cooled we topped the layers with the butter cream frosting and sandwiched them together. By this point it was getting pretty late. We didn't have it in us to attempt the poured fondant. Take II will happen tonight. I'll let you know how they turn out.

As we were cleaning up, the living vacuum walked in to help. By living vacuum I mean nearly 100 lb dog who will eat anything. I think he was disappointed because our adventure was pretty tidy and he didn't get many crumbs.

He hammed it up for the camera anyway though. I think he knew I was going to post this on the blog and that he should probably smile. Ok, maybe not.

Bridesmaid Baby Cakes

Photo: William Dickey / Styling: Cari South

Southern Living has solved all my problems. Well, maybe not all of them (not that I really have that many anyways), but certainly it has solved my dilemma about what kind of place cards to use at Brenna's bridesmaids' luncheon posted about here. Now I can use this great idea for place cards and as dessert! Whoopee!!!


Thanks Southern Living. You really are the southern woman's survival guide.


This recipe is from the SL website: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1816402

"Bridesmaid Baby Cakes can be personalized with each attendant's initials. The batter is the same one used in the larger wedding cake, but Jan baked the Poppy Seed Cake in a jellyroll pan and cut it into flower shapes. For a formal affair, use white-on-white frosting or monochromatic hues. Experiment with contrasting colors for a casual look."


Prep: 1 day.
Yield: Makes about 1 dozen (3-inch) cakes


Ingredients
2 recipes Poppy Seed Cake
1/2 recipe Buttercream Frosting
2 recipes Poured Fondant
Food coloring paste (optional)

Preparation
1. Prepare cake, 1 recipe at a time, using 2 jellyroll pans; bake as directed.

2. Cut out 24 cake layers, using a 3-inch scalloped cutter.

3. Sandwich together 2 layers with a small amount of Buttercream Frosting; repeat with remaining layers. Place each cake on a wire rack over a shallow bowl or pan.

4. Prepare Poured Fondant, 1 recipe at a time; tint with food coloring paste, if desired. Quickly pour fondant over cakes, completely covering tops and sides. Reheat excess fondant, if necessary. Continue until cakes are evenly coated. Let dry before decorating.

5. Insert a coupler into a large decorating bag. Fit coupler with metal tip #1, and fill bag with remaining frosting. Pipe bridesmaids' initials on center of cakes, if desired. Pipe a shell border with metal tip #16 around top and bottom edges of cakes.

Courtesy: Southern Living, JUNE 2008

South Alabama Gumbo

Preparing and devouring a seafood feast is a Christmas Eve tradition with my in-laws. Their hometown, Brewton, Alabama, is approximately 5 miles from the Florida state line. It is also only about 1 and 1/2 hours from Mobile, AL. This second locale is important because of our dear friends the Atkins. The Atkins family has owned Southern Fish & Oyster wholesale seafood supply for several generations. (You can reach them here (251) 438-2408.) The fish house is located on the Mobile River and supplies the freshest seafood in town to almost all of the local restaurants. Having wonderful friends who can sell you the absolute best seafood you've ever tasted comes in handy you know.

We drove down to Mobile the day before Christmas Eve to get some crab claws, Alabama Gulf Coast shrimp, and to visit our dear Aunt Weise. She is a whole 'nother blog post entirely. She's a famous water colorist who lives in Fairhope, AL. Her paintings are signed with her first name only, Willoweise. You'll have to keep your eye out for her work. Again, I'll do a post solely about her later.

Judd has become the gumbo king in our family. In the midst of the Christmas craziness going on around us, we attempted to document how to make this delicious dish. He's going to walk you through the process in a few but first....

Here are the ingredients you'll need:

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons butter

1 onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped garlic (2-3 cloves)

2 cups diced Conecuh sausage (for all of you non-Alabamians this is pronounced Ca-neck-ah. You can click the link above to find their website. This sausage is made here in the heart of dixie in Evergreen, Alabama.)

2 stalks of celery, diced
1 to 2 lb's of "16-20's" or Jumbo Gulf Coast Shrimp (peeled and de-veined)

1 lb container of Crab Claws (Cocktail Crab Fingers)

4 cups of Swanson's chicken broth (very important....no MSG)

One 28-ounce can diced tomatoes

2 cups cut okra

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (Tabasco is a great substitute....but we use both)

1 teaspoon file powder or until desired thickness (this is pronounced Fe-lay).

Salt and Pepper to taste

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Note: The okra can also come from a frozen package of gumbo vegetables. We used this method for the batch below. It usually has corn, okra, celery, and red bell pepper. This is not a substitute for the fresh green bell pepper or diced fresh celery found above.

asd

Serves 10-12

Judd here......Abby's insisting that I write my own process of making our gumbo.....so here goes nothing. Step 1: Get the freshest local seafood (yes.....it does matter).

Quick fact: when it comes to shrimp, the jargon has no industry regulations. The more universal technique measures shrimp by the count, or number. If the shrimp are "16-20s," that means there are 16 to 20 shrimp per pound, regardless of the label's large, extra-large, or jumbo designation (courtesy of Coastal Living).

Step 2: Peel jumbo shrimp.

Step 3: De-vein shrimp with a shrimp deveiner (come on....it's the south...they sell them at your local grocer). If you're not from the south or coastal areas, you could use a knife, but the logic behind the deveiner is that the curvature of the instrument depicts the curvature of the shrimp itself. It is a miracle utensil if you ask me. (Below-my dad deveining)

Step 4: Rinse promptly with cold water.

Step 5: Read carefully......the roux is the most important step of the gumbo process. In a 5qt pot combine the flour and butter and cook over medium heat stirring constantly, until the roux has browned. The ideal color you're looking for is chocolate.

Step 6: Add the onion, green bell pepper and garlic and saute for 2 minutes.

The fragrance of these ingredients mixed together will blow you away! Even Justin Wilson himself would say "Oooooweee dat smell goooood!"

You have to man your station for a brief moment, but after mixing the ingredients......perfection is effortless and inevitable!

Step 7: Add sausage (browning for a minute), add chicken broth, diced tomatoes, celery, okra (or frozen gumbo vegetables), thyme, bay leaves and cayenne and bring to a quick boil. Simmer over low heat for 45 minutes.

Step 8: Throw in the crab claws a minute or two before you add the peeled shrimp and cook for 10 minutes. Add file powder and salt and pepper to taste.

Step 9: Cook white rice by a 2:1 ratio of 2 cups water to 1 cup rice for approximately 20 minutes.(note: I like it a bit dryer than most).

Step 10: Pour your gumbo over rice, throw a French baguette in the oven dressed with some olive oil, sea salt, butter, and Tony's Chachere's (we like to call it creole seasoning in South Alabama).

Plate the rice, gumbo, and bread and devour!

Ghoulishly Good

I love to make Halloween treats. When Judd and I were in graduate school we hosted an annual pumpkin carve. I used to make a spooky spread for our friends to enjoy while carving. Every dish had a Halloween themed name. Our friend Tripp made some really yummy ghost meringues one year. I came across this recipe today and it reminded me of him. I thought I would share these three recipes I found on SouthernLiving.com. Auburn plays Ole Miss on Halloween night. I think I may make these dishes for a terrifying tailgate.

(Pictures and recipes from Southern Living)

White Meringue Ghosts



6 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 tablespoon semisweet chocolate mini morsels

String licorice (optional)


Beat egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed with an electric mixer until foamy. Gradually add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form and sugar dissolves (2 to 4 minutes). Add extract; beat until blended.


Spoon mixture into a zip-top plastic bag; snip a small hole in 1 corner, and pipe mixture into ghostly shapes on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Add mini morsels for eyes. If desired, cut licorice into 2-inch pieces. Firmly pinch ends together. Insert 1 in top of each ghost for a hanger.


Bake at 200° for 2 hours. Turn oven off, and let meringues stand in closed oven with light on 8 hours.


Yield: 16 meringues





Jack-O'-Lantern Cheeseburger Pie


1 pound ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, pressed

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup ketchup

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 (15-ounce) package refrigerated piecrusts

1 tablespoon prepared mustard

3 cups (12 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided

2 tablespoons water

1 large egg

Red and yellow liquid food coloring


Cook first 5 ingredients in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring until beef crumbles and is no longer pink; drain. Stir in ketchup and Worcestershire sauce; cool.
Unfold 1 piecrust, and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Spread mustard evenly over crust. Stir together meat mixture and 2 cups cheese; spoon onto center of crust, leaving a 2-inch border.


Unfold remaining piecrust, and cut out a jack-o'-lantern face, reserving pastry cutouts to use as a stem. Place crust over meat mixture; crimp edges of crust, and fold under. Place stem on top of jack-o'-lantern face.


Whisk together 2 tablespoons water, egg, and 1 drop each of red and yellow food coloring; brush over crust.


Bake at 425° for 20 minutes; remove from oven, and brush again with egg mixture. Fill eyes, nose, and mouth with remaining 1 cup cheese. Bake 5 to 10 more minutes or until golden brown.


Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Mummy Dogs

Prep: 15 min., Bake: 15 min., Stand: 5 min.

1 (11-oz.) can refrigerated breadstick dough

12 bun-length hot dogs

Wooden picks (optional)

Vegetable cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Unroll breadstick dough, and separate into 12 strips at perforations. Gently stretch each strip to a length of 8 inches.

2. Wrap 1 dough strip lengthwise around each hot dog. Secure with wooden picks, if necessary. Coat lightly with cooking spray. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet.

3. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes. (If using wooden picks, remove before serving.)

Garlic Mummy Dogs: Substitute 1 (11-oz.) can refrigerated garlic breadstick dough. Proceed with recipe as directed.

Parmesan-Garlic Mummy Dogs: Substitute 1 (11-oz.) can refrigerated Parmesan-garlic breadstick dough. Proceed with recipe as directed.

Garlic-Herb Mummy Dogs: Substitute 1 (11-oz.) can refrigerated garlic-herb breadstick dough. Proceed with recipe as directed.

Yield: Makes 12 servings

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Fall is finally here. The first day of autumn was September 22nd. Get out your fall decor. Go and buy some pumpkins. And get in the kitchen and make something yummy.

I found this recipe in Taste of Home two years ago when we were living in Philly. I used to make it as a special treat for us in our apartment on cool fall days. I also made it while in Philly to share with my northern friends at our monthly book club meeting. They had a fit over cream cheese icing. Another great thing about this recipe besides how delicious it is, is that it uses whole wheat flour and is sweetened with honey. Aside from the icing and chocolate chips it is relatively healthy. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
From Taste of Home

SERVINGS
15
CATEGORY
Dessert
METHOD
Baked
PREP
20 min.
COOK
20 min.
TOTAL
40 min.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 cup miniature chocolate chips


FROSTING:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners' sugar


DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. Combine the eggs, pumpkin, oil, honey and water. Stir into dry ingredients just until combined; fold in walnuts and chocolate chips. Fill greased or foil-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely. For frosting, in a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until smooth. Frost cooled cupcakes. Yield: 15 cupcakes.

From tasteofhome.com Sep 28, 2009

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