Break The Fast 2013

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BreakTheFast2013InvitationSmall

Ilayne’s Break The Fast Invitation

Each year I make a “themed cake” for Break the Fast. This year, I was so blown away by the incredible invitation we received I decided I had to take homage to Ilayne’s talent. Her invitation used lace for borders and the silverware was punched out of used (and cleaned) soda cans. Absolutely amazing.

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Dave’s 2013 Break The Fast Cake

The cake I made was a simple white velvet, two layer 9′ x 13″ cake, roughly the same aspect ratio of the invitation. I used a crusting dark chocolate frosting, substituting 6 tbs dark cocoa plus 3 tbs vegetable oil for 3 bittersweet chocolate squares to darken the color of the frosting. Nuke the chocolate, oil and 1 cup butter until almost melted then add 1 tsp vanilla. Stir 1 cup of milk into 2 lbs confectioners’ sugar, add the chocolate mixture and stir. The frosting will harden as it cools. Add more milk to make it spreading consistency. (Warm the milk if you think you need more time before spreading the frosting.)  Frost the bottom layer, stack the second layer and frost completely. To evenly smooth the frosting, heat a long spatula in boiling water, wipe dry and use the warm spatula  to smooth the top and sides of the cake. (Thank you Patty Beck for that great hint.)

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Gum Past Lace

Roll out white gumpaste to a large thin layer. Cut one piece into a strip 1″ wide and 13″ long and allow to dry flat. Cut another piece into an isosceles  triangle 4″ high with an 8″ base and allow to dry flat.  (In Euclidean geometry, the isosceles triangle theorem, also known as the pons asinorum, states that the angles opposite the two equal sides of an isosceles triangle are equal. It is, in essence, the content of proposition 5 in Book I of Euclid’s Elements.) When dry, cover the cut, white gumpaste with a lace paper doily and airbrush with black edible airbrush paint. (Use alcohol as the solvent. I use vodka, purchased in the little bottles airlines use. They are inexpensive and do not require much storage space.) The round place mat was cut from the same gumpaste using two round lids as templates. The larger circle was airbrushed silver, the other left white. The words “Dig In” were sugar sheet punch-out letters. I wish I could have done script, but I only had block letters and my piping skills are not adequate to small script lettering.

BreaktheFastCakeSilverwarewith template2013 Invitation

Gumpaste Silverware and Template Image

Make the silverware by cutting gumpaste in the shape of a knife, fork and spoon. Lay the cut gumpaste on a similar sized real knife, fork and spoon so the gumpaste utensils conform to, and 3 dimensionally take the shape of the real silverware. (Note 1: 3 tines are much easier than 4.) (Note 2: Do not set heavy objects on the dried, completed gumpaste silverware. It causes bad language to be spoke out loud.)


RECIPES:

White Velvet Cake (Requires two cakes this size)

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9″ x 13″ pan. Sift the flour and salt together and set aside.
  • Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix well. Dissolve baking soda in buttermilk. Alternately add flour and buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour. Pour into the 9″ x 13″ inch pan.
  • Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for about 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing. Each finished cake should be 1″ to 1.5″ high, slightly dense and very moist.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

  • 1 cup butter
  • 3 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
  • 6 tbl dark chocolate cocoa
  • 3 tbl vegetable oil
  • 2 pound confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 – 1.5 cup milk

Directions

Melt chocolate and butter in the microwave, or in the top of a double boiler. In a large bowl, combine confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and 1/2 of the milk. Blend in the melted chocolate mixture. Add remaining milk, a little at a time, until desired consistency is achieved.
Let stand until spreadable (frosting will thicken as it cools).

“Cheese” Cake

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Fran saw this recipe in a magazine that was dedicated to cooking with cheese. It’s primary audience is vegetarians, not carnivores like Fran and me, however, there were some very good ideas to be had from the “dark” side.

This cake uses the “not-me David” yellow cake as a base. The two 8″ round cakes were then frozen. 24 hrs later I removed the cakes from the freezer and carved one edge of each to round it off. I crumb coated it with some yellow tinted butter-cream  to try to match the color of the frosting to Gouda cheese. Reserve a few tablespoons of frosting. Stack the two cakes with frosting between them and the Chese Cakeun-carved sides touching. It goes back into the refrigerator until the night before it is to be used. Erev-eating (that means the night before it is to be eater) The cake is removed from the fridge and smoothed. I wear a latex glove and smooth the frosting so the fondant will look nice and smooth after it is applied. Speaking of which, I rolled a small piece of fondant out to about 1/8″ thick. Using a plate about the same diameter as the cake I cut a circle out and put in on a plate. Place the cake on the circle of fondant and roll out a large piece of fondant to end up about 15″ diameter. If the crumb-coat is still moist just lay the fondant over the cake. If the crumb-coat has set up, spray it with a fine mist of water. This helps the fondant adhere. I always have trouble covering round cakes with fondant and not having wrinkles. It requires pulling, stretching and smoothing, but it is an art I have not quite mastered.

Cut a piece of the finished cake (about 1/4th the entire cake) out and set on its side. Carefully frost the 3 visible sides of the cake (the wedge removed and both inside edges of where it was removed) with the reserved frosting. If you plan correctly there should be one large tablespoon of frosting left for you to eat.

Coat the fondant with a light layer of vegetable oil to make it shiny. Brush a bunch of grapes with slightly beaten egg whites and coat with granulated sugar. Let the grapes dry for at least an hour then arrange on the platter and add a few crackers for effect.

I was working on the railroad…. err kitchen, yeah!! that’s the ticket… kitchen!!

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Remember the yellow cake with meringue frosting from a couple of weeks ago. I bet you didn’t realize that was just a practice cake! The real one was for Fran’s work where they are working on a strategic plan. I used David’s Yellow Cake (that is just a name. It could just as easily been Ralph’s Yellow Cake, its just someone named David published the recipe first) as the basis of a commemorative cake for the City of Tamarac.Tamarac Cake

The difference between this cake and the original Yellow Cake is I used fondant to cover this cake and gum paste to make all the emblems and logos. I cheated and used sugar letters to spell “Team 4 Information Management”. My piping skills to write that much just aren’t there… yet. As usual, everything is cake or candy and edible.

Garlic Chicken with Roasted Peppers

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You know, sometimes it pays to look in the back of the fridge. Sometimes its frightening, but once in a while fortune smiles on you. Yesterday morning I found a package of red, yellow and green peppers we bought some time ago for some unremembered purpose. They had been there a while, but not so long as to be liquid. Not being one to waste more than absolutely necessary I washed them and brushed them with a light layer of vegetable oil (not EVO, it has too low a smoke point), tossed them in the convection oven and let them roast until they had a nice black blistered skin. Remove from the oven and put in a bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and let cool. After 10-20 minutes cut the ends off and slice into 1/2″ to 1″ strips. Use your fingers to slide the skins and seeds off the strips and put aside until…

I had two nice chicken breasts, which I seasoned with salt and pepper and set intogarlic chicken and roasted peppers a large skillet containing about 1/2 cup of chicken broth over medium high heat. Cook, covered, until the chicken until mostly done (15 min or so depending on thickness) then add the peppers and a garlic clove (I used a teaspoon of ground fresh garlic.) Cook another 10 minutes adding a diced roma tomato with 2 minutes left. When you are sure it is done (juice runs clear) sprinkle with mozzarella cheese divide and conquer!

A little long grain rice would be nice, but I just added some extra peppers I had laying around somewhere.

David’s Yellow Cake

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No, no no!! Not ME David!! David someone else from AllRecipies.com. I needed a yellow cake recipe for our staff pot luck lunch and decided to try this as a test. The final will be quite different but I wont make it until next month. This recipe was moist, flavorful and a great texture. Here is the yellow cake.

12 Servings, Prep Time: 20 Minutes, Cook Time: 30 Minutes

IngredientsYellow Cake Meringe Frosting 1Small

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 8 egg yolks
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups cake flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 – 8 inch round pans.
  2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  3. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pans.
  4. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly tapped.
  5. Cool 15 minutes before turning out onto cooling racks.

12 Servings, Prep Time: 20 Minutes, Cook Time: 30 Minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 8 egg yolks
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups cake flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 – 8 inch round pans. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pans.
  3. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly tapped. Cool 15 minutes before turning out onto cooling racks.
  4. I used my torch to lightly scorch the meringue to give it some contrast and that slightly smokey taste.

 

Sautéed Chicken with Goat Cheese Sauce

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I heard a recipe for a chicken and Gorgonzola cheese sauce on the radio, then, after my car was safely parked, looked it up on my phone. The URL was for a “recipe of the day.” Unfortunately, I did not copy the recipe down and when I went back, it was another day and another recipe. Deciding to play the home edition of “Chopped” I made dinner with what was on hand, hence the Sauteed Chicken with Goat Cheese.

  1. Coat thinly cut chicken breasts in flour and saute in a pan with a little EVO
  2. Boil water to make some pasta (I love fettuccine.)
  3. While the chicken is cooking (about 3 minutes per side) slice some roasted red peppers into thin strips. (Or use pimentos, sweet peppers, whatever you have.)
  4. When browned and almost done, remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
  5. Cool the saute pan slightly and add some milk (1/2 cup or so), stir in a small package of goat cheese (I like Laura Chenel, but as we are cooking with it, any brand is probably OK)
  6. Raise the heat until the mixture is boiling. Be careful not to scorch it.
  7. Add some flour to thicken (I probably used a tablespoon, it depends on how much milk you used)
  8. Let the milk/cheese/flour mixture reduce until it is thick and add the chicken back to the pan.
  9. Drain the pasta and add to another saute pan heated to medium high with some EVO added.
  10. Stir in the roasted peppers (or whatever you had, if it was fresh peppers, add those first and let them soften until tender). Stir (or toss which is more fun) until hot. Add a little more EVO until it looks wet, but not saturated.

Place the chicken on a plate, pour some of the remaining cheese sauce over, put the pasta next to it and its supper time!!

 

Awww… Fudge!

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It’s winter. There is a slight nip in the air, sweater weather. It’s the season for caramel corn, sugar on snow and… fudge!! We grew up with fudge every winter, chocolate, peanut butter and the combination thereof. Our fudge was grainy and sweet, not the smooth sweet soft fudge found in stores and from chocolatiers. My fudge retains all the old flavors, textures and memories of fudge years now long gone. (Full disclosure, the recipe is from Betty Crocker’s cook book.)Fudge

  • 4 cups sugar
  • 1 1/3 cups milk
  • ¼ cup corn syrup
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
  • ¼ cup butter
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla

Method

  • Grease bottom and sides of 8-inch square pan with butter.
  • In 3-quart saucepan, cook sugar, milk, corn syrup, salt and chocolate over medium heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate is melted and sugar is dissolved. Cook, stirring occasionally, to 234°F on candy thermometer or until small amount of mixture dropped into cup of very cold water forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from water; remove from heat. Stir in butter.
  • Cool mixture without stirring to 120°F, about 1 hour. (Bottom of saucepan will be lukewarm.) Add vanilla. Beat vigorously and continuously 5 to 10 minutes, using wooden spoon, until mixture is thick and no longer glossy. (Mixture will hold its shape when dropped from a spoon.)
  • Spread in pan. Let stand about 1 hour or until firm. Cut into 1-inch squares.

Seminary Muffins

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I received this recipe from AllRecipes Healthy Choices subscription. Easy to make, ready for breakfast! I might add some raisins next time. Delicious and healthy muffins. Great for breakfast or a snack. No oil, butter or yeast! You may use oat bran instead of oatmeal if you wish

Ingredients

  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/3 cups mashed ripe banana
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup applesauce
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup quick cooking oats

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease one 12 cup muffin pan.
  2. In a large bowl, combine egg, banana, brown sugar, applesauce and vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
  3. Gently stir flour mixture and oatmeal into banana mixture. Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts. Pour batter into prepared muffin cups.
  4. Bake in preheated oven or 15 to 20 minutes, or until light brown. Remove muffins from pan and place on a wire rack to let cool before serving

“Pottering” Corn on the Cob

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Several people asked how to “Potter” corn on the cob. I am a little surprised that no one caught the reference to the final episode of “M*A*S*H: Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen (#11.16)” when Colonel Sherman Potter says: “Well, I like fresh corn. I mean real fresh corn. So I think maybe I’ll just take a hot plate out to the garden, make a pot of boiling water, then I won’t even pick that corn – I’ll bend that stalk till the ear dips into the water, and I’ll eat it right there standing up. Scrumptious!”

A Plague of Frogs… and its not even Passover!!

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Some time ago Fran bought me a book on decorative cakes and cup cakes. A week or so ago she sort of threw down the gauntlet and more or less challenged me to make something from the book. Here is the result – a family of frogs. They are made with white velvet cake that was lightened some by incorporating some meringue into the batter (I took one egg white and 1/3 of the 1 1/2 cups of sugar and beat them into a meringue which was added at the end of mixing.) Otherwise the recipe is the same as listed elsewhere. The frosting was store purchased vanilla dyed with the appropriate shade of green. The adults eyes are yogurt covered raisins and the kids eyes are white jelly beans. The eye pupils are dots of chocolate cake decorations. Warts are either the ends of green jelly beans or the ends of dark chocolate coated raisins. The lines around the eyes and mouth darker green dyed frosting which was piped from cutting the corner from a zip-lock bag. Next time I would use a real piping tip to make the lines smoother.

Two sets of cupcakes are made and the tops cut off squarely. The wrapper (should have been green) was removed from one and it was “glued” onto its mate, upside down, and frozen. After about 20 min in the freezer the tops were cut slightly to round off two opposing sides to shape the head. The cupcake was dipped into dyed and slightly nuked frosting (to make it about the consistency of whipped cream) and the eyes, warts etc were added. Cut a wedge about 1″ deep to make the mouth and glue some red fruit by the foot which was cut into semi circles into the opening. Another piece with the ends cut was put in the mouth for the tongue.