The Secret to a Red Velvet Cake??

/3 Comments/in , /by

I made Red Velvet Whoopie Pies last night to take as dessert to a dinner party.  The recipe was a very simple recipe for the red velvet part- a box of cake mix, eggs, water and oil.  I made two different fillers: a marshmallow and a cream cheese icing.  Everything went very well, and they looked beautiful- I had rolled them in mini chocolate chips and red hots- it was just a fun dessert to make.  Then Corby came home.  And he tried one. And it was bad.  Corby loves red velvet cake, and as this was my first attempt to make this, I was pretty excited for him to try it and love it and think that I was the best baker in the world.  Needless to say, very disappointed.  What went wrong??  I, of course, tried one as well, and Corby was not lying- they were bad despite how pretty they looked.  Fortunately, I had enough time to make a Cheerwine Cake, which is always good.  So, my goal this weekend is to find and make a good red velvet cake.  I am not going to use a box mix because that clearly didn’t work.  The standard recipe that I am finding online seems to be:

Red Velvet Cake

  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 2 ounces red food coloring
  • 2 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar

There is some variations in the amount of baking soda and vinegar and cocoa powder, but I am going to be a master of this by Sunday so stay tuned!!

Keegan Filion Farm Fundraiser

/0 Comments/in /by

Back in December, there was a devastating fire at Keegan Filion Farm down in Walterboro.  This farm provides a lot of produce and meat to restaurants in the area that support local farmers, and in keeping with that support, many of the restaurants in Charleston held a “barn raiser” yesterday to raise money to help save the farm.  The restaurants included Fish, McCrady’s, Husk, FIG, Luca, Cypress, Fat Hen, Wild Olive, Slight North of Broad, Macintosh, EVO, Glass Onion and on and on.  With this lineup, of course, we went.  The event was at Lowndes Grove Plantation, and the food was amazing.  We took Walker with us mainly because it was free to bring him, but also because, unlike most 8-year-olds, the way to get Walker to try something is to say it is “exotic”.  Walker and his dad go on “bizarre food” trips- they have been to Spain, Italy, France, and Switzerland, and still to this day, Walker says his favorite food is tripe.  Gross- as an 8 year old, there would have been no amount of money that you could have paid me to try the lining of a cow stomach, and to be honest, it might take a lot today.  Walker is an extremely adventurous eater.   His favorite dish yesterday (it was my favorite dish as well) was from FIG.  Mike Lata, I know I have said this before, but is an absolute genius.  FIG had as their station ricotta gnocchi with a lamb ragu sauce.  So delicious.  Some of the other dishes provided by these amazing restaurants were turkey sausage with sweet peppers and beer mustard on a toasted slice of French Bread, Hoppin’ John, Hot Tamales, blue cheese lamb lasagna, braised beef taco with grilled greens and onions, and others that I tried and loved and don’t remember exactly what was in it.  And, I am happy to report that it seemed like they made a lot of money for the farm.  I am so sorry that they had a fire, but I was thrilled to support them in this event as it was just wonderful! If you would like to help out the Keegan-Filion farm, you can mail donations directly to the farm at 1475 Keegan Drive, Walterboro, SC 29488.

Peanut Butter Pie Fail

/1 Comment/in /by

I love The Local Palate (www.localpalatemag.com), the new cooking/food magazine in Charleston.  Yesterday, they put up a link to all of their recipes http://www.localpalatemag.com/recipes.html, and I tried the Peanut Butter Pie recipe.  You know those days in the kitchen where everything goes wrong- you drop eggs on the floor, you burn butter, your flour explodes everywhere into a disastrous mess- that was pretty much my experience with trying to make a Peanut Butter Pie.  You know when you have those days, and despite all the mess and frustration, your dish turns out marvelously- well, that didn’t happen.  Ok- here is the recipe from the Local Palate-

Peanut Butter Pie

Ingredients:

2 cups peanut butter, smooth or chunky
1 pound cream cheese
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 pint heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
3 large egg yolks
1 Oreo cookie prepared pie shell
4 tablespoons peanuts, toasted
4 ounces shaved bittersweet chocolate

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, whip together peanut butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar.

Pour cream into a second mixing bowl or stand mixer. Whip cream with vanilla bean seeds to stiff peaks.

Fill bottom of double boiler with water and place on medium-high heat on the stove. Place egg yolks in top of double boiler and lightly temper egg yolks until slightly thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and let come to room temperature.

Fold eggs into peanut butter mixture.

Fold in whipped cream with peanut butter mixture. Combine thoroughly.

Pour mixture into prepared Oreo pie shell. Top with peanuts and shaved chocolate. Place in freezer for 2 hours. Use a warm knife to serve.

Now- here is what went wrong.  First of all- I could not find an Oreo pie shell as the store, so no big deal, I got a chocolate pie shell. Next, I decided to use my stand mixer to mix the heavy cream and my hand mixer to mix the peanut butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar together.  Bad idea.  Perhaps I might have used too small of a bowl, but mixing cream cheese, peanut butter and powdered sugar is not so easy- but mess aside- got it done.  Now to the heavy cream and the seeds of a vanilla bean.  I got some of the seeds out and the rest all over me, so I added some vanilla extract, but despite the work to get the seeds- my heavy cream did not whip… at all.  It just stayed very milky and spraying everywhere.   A phone call to my mother informed me that even though the recipe said heavy cream, I should have bought heavy whipping cream or just whipping cream and fortunately she had some at her house.  In the mean time, I did not have a double boiler for the egg yolks- it took five attempts to get the three yolks needed.  Not only that, but in my homemade double boiler of two pots on top of each other, are you supposed to have the bottom pot boiling before you put on the eggs- I don’t know, but I did not have the water boiling before I added the eggs, so I am not sure if the eggs turned out correctly.  I took the eggs off of the stove to let them get to room temperature and rode my bike over to my mother’s to get her whipping cream.  She only had 1/2 a pint, but it whipped beautifully, so I then added half of mine that I had been mixing for 15 minutes to no effect.  Well, of course that diluted the whole mixture but I added it and the eggs to the peanut butter mix anyway.  This part all went ok- and I put it in the pie shell and froze it and it looked very pretty.  It really didn’t taste very good, and it wasn’t that it was horrible by any means, but just not great.  I don’t know if it was the eggs or the bad heavy cream or what, but if I was to attempt this again, I would get some good whipping cream, and I would cut the amount of cream cheese in half as it was a very strong flavor and kind of hid the peanut butter flavor, and I would double the amount of powdered sugar to 1/2 a cup.  I think you could do this without messing up the recipe too much as I had a ton of the pie filling left over.  I will say the chocolate pie crust was very tasty, and if you can’t find oreo- this works just as well!  Here’s to feeling like a complete beginner in the kitchen again!!

A Blast 900 Class

/2 Comments/in /by

Since I get to write about food and baking all the time, here is a quick post on the opposite.  I took a Blast 900 (www.blast900.com) class this morning, and it was amazing!  I feel like I made up for all the candy I ate at the gingerbread house party.  It is an hour-long class that rotates between treadmill work and weights, and they say you can burn up to 900 calories in an hour.  Ok, so I ate way more than 900 calories of candy at the party, but this definitely helped!!  Here is a picture from their Facebook page to give you an idea of how badly my legs are going to hurt tomorrow.

Gingerbread House Party

/0 Comments/in , /by

We went to my sister’s gingerbread house party in New York last weekend, and Walker was so disappointed that he couldn’t take his gingerbread house on the plane home, we decided to have a gingerbread house party as well.  Thanks to my mother’s genius when she was making houses for my sister’s party, she made five extra, because who doesn’t need extra gingerbread houses lying around?  There were so many great things about this party.  The first was that the only thing I had to do was buy the candy.  I can do that.  I can do that well.  The only problem there is making sure all of the candy actually gets home.  Here is the candy set up.

The second great thing about this party was the three families we had come over to help us decorate the houses.  Two of the families are very old friends of mine who I have know since I was born practically, and we all three went from 1st through 12th grade together, and that includes boarding school in Connecticut.  We had grown up decorating gingerbread houses together as children, and it was so much fun to watch our own children start this tradition for themselves.

The third thing I loved about this party was where my sweet old dog, Nemo, positioned himself.  Now, since I didn’t actually have to do anything for this party other than buy the candy, and since I am currently at my real job without my mother’s recipe book in front of me, I can’t post at this time the recipe for gingerbread houses, but I will do an update this afternoon when I get home.

I might be biased, but I think these four gingerbread houses are the best gingerbread houses ever to be built.  It is such a fun Christmas activity to do with children, and so much fun to eat after!

Update: Of course my wonderful mother sent me the recipe as soon as she read this!!

Gingerbread House/Men

 Cream:
¼ cup butter
½ cup sugar
½ cup dark molasses

 Sift:
3 ½ cups unbleached flour
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. cloves
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. ginger
2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. baking soda

Add dry ingredients to the butter- sugar mixture alternately withabout ¼ – ½ cup water, or enough to be able to roll out the dough. Cut into shapes for a house or into Gingerbread men and bake on doubled, or even tripled layers of waxed paper. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

Icing Cement

Mix 3 egg whites at room temperature until they are very peaked and dry. Slowly add one box of powdered sugar.

Elizabeth Taylor, Le Creuset and Toys for Tots

/0 Comments/in /by

I was asked last night if I went to the Elizabeth Taylor Jewelry Auction Preview while I was in New York last weekend.  I did not.  I heard the preview catalogue was $300 and since I  don’t like magazines and really don’t like catalogues, I think that is a little on the ridiculous side.  Despite all that, if I had won the lottery, a nice little Elizabeth Taylor bauble would probably be something I might enjoy.  Who doesn’t need a $12,000 hand mirror?? So, since the Elizabeth Taylor catalogue (http://www.christies.com/elizabethtaylor/the_sales.aspx) is not going to be part of my Santa list, the only thing to take its place is the Le Creuset gift guide (http://cookware.lecreuset.com/cookware/content_GiftGuide2_10151_-1_20002).  Yay!!  This is so much more up my alley- well at least for every day, reasonable, not ridiculous jewelry things.  There are some fantastic gifts on here in all price ranges.  In the $50 price range- the metal active-ball corkscrew is awesome.  My sweet friend who works at Le Creuset gave me one last Christmas, and I love it!

Another fantastic Christmas idea is one I got from The Bloggess (www.thebloggess.com)- if you don’t read her blog, you should.  I fall out of my chair laughing at her posts.  She is phenomenal, and I can’t wait until her book comes out this spring- you need to check her out!  Anyway- she said that for the past several years, she has gotten a whole bunch of toys and donated them to Toys for Tots in her parents’ name, which, I think, is pretty brilliant.  So, this year, she has four places you can donate to for the holidays.  Project Night Night (projectnightnight.org) is a great organization that provides a “Night Night” bag for homeless children that includes a book, blanket and stuffed animal.  The second is Toys for Tots (www.toysfortots.org).  The third is the The Heifer Project and I am going to re post what she put up about it because it so funny:

The Heifer Project (http://www.heifer.org/ourwork/our-work). Basically it’s about giving livestock and training to families around the world, because llamas are awesome.  Or something.  I don’t know.  I get confused after I see the llamas.  But I do know that they do amazing work and that you can buy a share of a goat for $10.  Which is great because you’re helping a family in need and you also get to tell your horrible aunt Frieda (who made you feel fat when you were 12 and won’t stop asking why you aren’t married yet) that for Christmas you bought a share of a goat in her honor.  The ass end.  Merry Christmas to everyone concerned.

The fourth is Wish Upon a Hero (www.wishuponahero.com)- people can post what they need, and you can look up by all sorts of criteria including zip code and grant a wish to someone in need.

Well, just a couple of thoughts in this holiday season-  I need to start shopping!!

 

Grilled Pumpkin Soup, Oyster Sliders and a Black and White Eclair

/0 Comments/in , , /by

I love New York.  I am so glad I do not live there anymore, but I really do love it.  We had such a fun weekend, and the weather, although not cold and Christmas spirit-inspiring, was fantastic.  The food was even better.  We went to a lot of places, and I don’t think all of the walking we did was even close enough to cover the intake.  First stop was Mas (La Grillade)  http://www.maslagrillade.com, which is a new restaurant down in the Greenwich Village that opened in September as a sister restaurant to Mas Farmhouse (www.masfarmhouse.com) , which is just around the corner.   Here, the chef, James Beard Winner Galen Zamarra, “feels that the basic technique of cooking over an open fire is the best way to honor the inherent natural properties of food”. While I don’t really understand all that, the food was amazing!  I had a grilled romaine salad as a starter and then the grilled pumpkin soup with broiled goat cheese croutons, bluefoot mushrooms and chives and rosemary oil.  It was amazingly delicious and a wonderful evening with great friends.

Even though we live in Charleston and have fresh oysters practically in our backyard, Corby heard about the oyster sliders at The Dutch (http://thedutchnyc.com), so of course, we went to try them.  While I did not partake in the consuming of the oyster sliders, the restaurant had a great atmosphere and wonderful feel, and the look on Corby’s face while eating said slider- I am assuming they were pretty marvelous.

And last, but certainly not least, and probably my favorite of all was the Dominique Ansel Bakery (http://dominiqueansel.com) down in Soho, we went to check out on Sunday morning.  We unfortunately shared a black and white eclair- I say unfortunately because I wanted it all for myself and then maybe three others to go with it.  It was the best eclair I have had in a very long time, and I feel like I am well-versed in all things eclair, as they are my favorite.

All in all, I feel like I got the best NYC experience.  We walked everywhere, tried several new restaurants, had amazing dinners and wine and saw lots of old friends, got delayed for almost two hours at Laguardia for no apparent reason, and got in late last night exhausted and happy to be home.  It was perfect.

 

Spiced Eggnog Pound Cake

/0 Comments/in /by

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving!  I am still so full, but it was all worth it.  I remade a lot of recipes that I have put on this blog this past week for family members that I have not seen in a while.  We started off on Wednesday night, having my parents, all of my siblings and nieces over for dinner.  Corby served up his now-famous BBQ with coleslaw and a potato and bacon hash that was out of this world.  I made a salad and used the Pimento Cheese pop-overs instead of croutons.  Since we were having BBQ, my brother and his wife brought Bourbon Banana Pudding- I don’t have the recipe yet, but apparently it is from Joy of Cooking, and it was so so so good.

The next day,  I made the Prosciutto Cheese Straws for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner snack- fantastic and a huge hit with my brother and father, and for Thanksgiving Day dessert, I made the Chocolate Bread Pudding that was the Le Creuset recipe contest winner, and it was just as good as I remembered it!  We also got an Apple Crisp from The Co-Op on Sullivan’s Island (www.thecoopsullivans.com).  The Co-Op is a great little grocery/deli that serves up great sandwiches and amazing homemade desserts- definitely check it out!

So despite the fact that it is 80 in Charleston today, I am now gearing up for Christmas- how is that possible!!!  We are headed to NYC this weekend for a visit, and I am so excited to get some cold weather to get into the Christmas spirit.  We are also going to my sister’s annual gingerbread house building party on Sunday, before we head home, which we have not been to in a long time and should be so fun!  To also help get into the Christmas mode, here is a recipe I love from Christmas with Southern Living from back in 2005- Spiced Eggnog Pound Cake- enjoy!

Spiced Eggnog Pound Cake

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 6 large eggs
  • 3 cups sifted cake flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup eggnog
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons brandy (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • Powdered sugar
  • 1 cup sifted powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon whipping cream

Preparation

  • Generously grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan; set aside.
  • Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer about 2 minutes or until creamy. Gradually add granulated sugar, beating 5 to 7 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until the yellow disappears.
  • Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to butter mixture alternately with 1 cup eggnog, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla and, if desired, brandy.
  • Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Stir cinnamon and the next 3 ingredients into the remaining batter. Spoon spice batter over plain batter. Swirl batters together, using a knife.
  • Bake at 350° for 50 to 55 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan; cool on a wire rack.
  • Place cake on a cake plate; dust with powdered sugar.
  • Combine 1 cup powdered sugar and whipping cream, stirring until smooth. Drizzle glaze over the cake

 

My Bakery Wish List

/2 Comments/in , , , /by

Since I started writing this blog, I have been making a wish list of bakeries I want to visit.  Red Truck Bakery (www.redtruckbakery.com) in Old Town Warrenton, VA is definitely at the top of the list.  First off, I really love that they turned an old Esso Station into a bakery.  Second, I really love the truck- an old 1954 red  Ford farm truck- while I would not have the first clue how to drive it and would surely kill the transmission, clutch and any thing else in the engine, is really my dream truck.  Third, and most importantly, I am obsessed with their menu- I look at it every day and wish that I could be there right when the bakery opens and smells so amazing.  Today’s soup for example is potato with apple wood smoked bacon- heaven.  If you live in the neighborhood or have the chance to be near the area, please check it out for me as it doesn’t seem that I will make it there any time in the near future.  Fortunately- they ship nationwide (http://www.redtruckbakery.com/store)!! Here is some of the press from my favorite magazine- Garden & Gun:

“Leave it to a baker in moonshine country to create a dessert that rivals the Kentucky bourbon ball. The Double Chocolate Moonshine Cake from Red Truck Bakery in Virginia is made with legal hooch and enough rich chocolate to give you a food buzz. ”
  ~ Garden & Gun Magazine

It is getting to be time for Hot Chocolate

/0 Comments/in /by

Despite the fact that it is almost 80 degrees in Charleston today, I have been craving hot chocolate.  Maybe it is because I know in some parts of the country, ski season is just around the corner, and I am missing my days as a ski instructor in upstate New York, or maybe it is because hot chocolate is just so delicious, that it is a drink that is craveable no matter the temperature.  So, I got a packet of Marshmallow Lovers Swiss Miss mix and fixed a cup.  Tasty, but I think we can do better.  Here is a recipe I found on David Lebovitz’s blog (www.davidlebovitz.com) that is pretty special- I made a few changes to the recipe to suit my taste, and the great thing about this recipe is you can adapt it to whatever you are in the mood for- Kahlua, a dash of rum if you are feeling up for it.  David Lebovitz was named one of the top five pastry chefs in the San Francisco area and has been featured in every cooking magazine you can think of.  He has written six books, ranging from chocolate to ice cream to his favorite dessert recipes.  Here is his recipe, adapted by me, for hot chocolate. So good!!

Belgian Hot Chocolate Recipe

  • 1 quart 2% milk or use whatever kind of milk you drink- for those who like it very creamy, use half and half.
  • The original recipe calls for 8 oz of bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate and 4 oz of milk chocolate- I used 6oz and 6oz
  • tiny pinch of salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • a dash of vanilla extract
  • a dash of nutmeg

Warm about one-third of the half-and-half or milk, with the chopped chocolates and salt, stirring until the chocolate is melted.

Whisk in the remaining half-and-half or milk, heating until the mixture is warmed through. Add the cinnamon, vanilla extract and nutmeg.

Use a hand-held blender, or a whisk, and mix the hot chocolate until it’s completely smooth. Serve very warm and add as many marshmallows or as much whip cream as you like!