Pound Cake

my pound cake came out well- moist & thick. that sounds disgusting but, it's good.

if i wasn't so lazy i'd type out the recipe- maybe later. God Bless

*later* i'm still lazy- it's the Williams & Sonoma pound cake recipe- you can google it :)

lemon curd cake

so i made an AWESOME lemon curd cake- it was SO GOOD: i think it was moist & tasty because of the lemon curd that is actually incorporated into the batter:

Lemon Curd Cake:
(from Emily Luchetti's Four-Star Desserts)

Curd Ingredients:
4 large egg yolks
2 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Cake Ingredients:
2 cups sifted cake flour
2 1/4 cup granulated sugar (divided into 3/4 cup & 1 1/2 cup)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp (=half stick=2 oz) unsalted butter, softened at room temp.
3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
6 large egg whites

To make the lemon curd:
Fill a medium pot 1/3 full of water and bring to a very low boil. In a medium heatproof bowl whisk together egg yolks, egg, 1/2 cup sugar. Whisk in 1/2 cup lemon juice. Set the bowl over the pot of water making sure water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is thick, about 10 minutes. Strain the curd into a bowl. Place plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the curd (to prevent a skin from forming). Chill curd until cold (but it's okay to chill it until it's cooled down to room temperature).

To make the cake:
Preheat oven to 325. °Butter and flour a 9-inch round x 3-inch high cake pan. Sift together cake flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Set aside dry ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, mix together butter, lemon juice, zest, and cooled lemon curd. Stir in dry ingredients. Using the whisk attachment, in the bowl of a stand mixer beat the egg whites on medium speed until frothy. Increase speed to high and gradually add the 1 1/2 cup sugar. Whip until soft peaks form. Gently fold the whipped egg whites into batter. Spread batter into you prepared cake pan.
Bake at 325° until cake tester comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes.
Cool on rack and then remove cake from pan.
Dust with powdered sugar if desired.

it got rave reviews at work (i brought it in for a co-worker's b-day) and it TOTALLY beat out the other lady's homemade ice-cream cake (i felt a little bad because i could tell she was a little off-put because people seemed to appreciate my cake little more. she's a wicked nice lady so i didn't want her feeling to be hurt so i had a piece of her cake too and went on & on about it- she puffed up a little after that so i think she'll be ok) there was a lack of communication so my co-worker got 2 wonderful homemade cakes & they were both devoured. i managed to steal a little sliver of the lemon cake to bring home to brandon because i know he'll love it.

pumpkin bread & cinnamon buttermilk muffins

today i made Pumpkin Bread:
Pumpkin Bread:

Ingredients:
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 applesauce
2/3 cup water
3 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350° degrees F (175° degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 (or 2 9x5) inch loaf pans. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, applesauce, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans. (you can also add a cup or so of chocolate chips)
Bake for about 50 (or 1hour 20min for 9x5) minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (i also melt about 2 tblsp of butter & throw in a little pumpkin pie spice- then i poke holes in the still hot bread and pour the butter over)

i have an affinity for pumpkin so i thought these loaves tastes wonderful- brandon also brought back glowing reports from his work- so i am happy :)

last week i made Cinnamon Buttermilk Muffins:


they were good- nice & fluffy & light. the recipe is from my Williams & Sonoma Muffins cookbook and it's almost perfect. i alway tweak the recipe & add a little of this & that and i'm good to go.

mint cupcakes

i made cupcakes:

White Cupcakes with Mint Pieces & Mint Frosting.
yummo! i'm far to lazy (i'm lazy alot) to type out the recipe.


basically it's a vey basic white cupcake recipe & i threw in some Andes baking pieces. the frosting is a basic Crisco, milk, powdered sugar, vanilla frosting- except instead of vanilla i used peppermint extract! throw in a few drops of green food coloring- throw some Andes baking pieces on top and WALLA!!! i adore mint- so i'm quite pleased!









i've already eaten one- and i have three extra ones sitting on the counter calling to me- i'm saving them for Holly & the kids so i'm going to ignore their calls.

chocolate chip sour cream banana bread

i made choc. chip banana bread yesterday- it's wicked good- i'm too lazy to post pictures though.

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Banana Bread

Ingredients:
5 Tbsp. butter
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla1
1 1/2 c. mashed bananas (about 3-4; the blacker the better!)
1 3/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 9X5 loaf pan, making sure to cover each corner with the butter then flour, so the bread comes out easily after baking.
Cream butter and sugars together with mixer on about a medium speed. Let mixer run for a minute or two to whip the mixture.
While that mixture whips together, combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Lower speed of butter mixture and add egg, egg whites, and vanilla. Mix to incorporate.
Add dry mixture and sour cream to butter mixture, alternating a small amount of each at a time, starting and ending with the dry mixture. Blend for a minute to whip and incorporate.
Slowly add mashed bananas to the mix and blend quickly to incorporate.
Evenly pour mixture into pre-greased loaf pan.
Bake for approximately 1hr 10 mins. at 350° degrees.

b-day cake

i made a birthday cake for one of my co-workers: it tasted wonderful! i was quite pleased:


it was a 2 layer white cake with cream cheese frosting & strawberry puree- fabulous!

snickerdoodles

i made snickerdoodles today- i just love them:


Snickerdoodles:

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large egg
2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2.Mix butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar and eggs thoroughly in a large bowl.
3.Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.
4. Blend dry ingredients into butter mixture.
5. Chill dough, and chill an ungreased cookie sheet for about 10-15 minutes in the fridge.
6. Meanwhile, mix 3 tablespoons sugar, and 3 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl.
7. Scoop 1 inch globs of dough into the sugar/ cinnamon mixture.
8. Coat by gently rolling balls of dough in the sugar mixture.
9. Place on chilled ungreased cookie sheet, and bake 10 minutes.
10. Remove from pan immediatley and cool on wire rack