Tag: fivestarbake

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Today’s Bake: Raspberry Ribbons

While you could easily make these with another type of jam/center, raspberry is one of my favorites, and this recipe does not disappoint in any way, shape or form – even my non-raspberry liking friend loves them! It is basically a very good shortbread ‘bar’ with a strip of jam in the middle and a light piping of sweetness on the top (which you could skip if you wanted). Be sure to use butter, not margarine, and a good quality jam (Bonne Maman my go-to). Ignore the 1/2 cup designation and use what you feel like. I also used heavy cream for the glaze (vs. evaporated milk).

Raspberry Ribbons
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/raspberry-ribbons/
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Today’s Bake: Orange Cranberry Bars – 12/7/23

Saw these and thought not much can go wrong with orange and cranberry, one of my favorite combos, and then add in cream cheese frosting – WELL. Sure enough, this is a five star bake! And it makes quite a bit, so if you’re looking to parcel off some pieces to thank the UPS Driver (see https://www.facebook.com/ChannellingKindness/ post of 12/11/23 ), these just might be your ticket! My one comment on the recipe is the 1/4 cup of orange zest can be, depending on the size of your oranges, quite a few oranges (took 6 for me), so keep that in mind before you get started. My bake time was also a little bit longer than indicated – closer to 28 minutes.

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/orange-cranberry-cookie-bars/

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Today’s Bake – Szarlotka – 2/11/2023

Let me start with the realization in my 60’s that I always thought I loved apple pie, because my mother loved apple pie and I always made it for her, therefore I should love it. I like it, but it actually doesn’t fall into the love category. There are so many other flavors of pie I’d much rather have. (Kind of like NYC – I grew up there and always thought I loved it – until I visited it for the umpteenth time as an adult and realized that I really didn’t like it that much). Anyways, I digress. This dessert combines the goodness of the apple middle of apple pie with a cake like crust that keeps the middle moist and delicious but not loosey goosey. A Polish apple cake, it is just one more of the successes I’ve had in the Baking With Dorie cookbook (which I cannot recommend highly enough). And top it with homemade vanilla ice cream (flavored mine with brandy), and this is as close to heaven as it gets.

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Today’s Bake – Lemon Vanilla Bean Cake – 11-9-22

This cake has been my go-to cake for a triple layer 6″ cake with a lovely vanilla flavor, perfectly moist, and easily filled with all sorts of options. Today I followed the cake/filling recipe in Frosted (Bernice Baran), using lemon curd between the layers, but choosing an ABC frosting instead of the suggested American Meringue Buttercream.

Despite a dam of frosting, as well as trying the ‘seal it in technique’ (Georgia’s Cakes), the lemon curd oozed all over. It took several crumb coats and repairs before I could mask the lemon that insisted on blending with my ABC.

Speaking of ABC, I remain a fan of this frosting more so than any other I have tried, although I continue to work to make it not taste as sweet. Hard to do when it’s so full of sugar, but today’s experiment included: using Amish roll butter, adding in 2 TB super chilled heavy cream and 1 TB super chilled sour cream, 1 TB lemon juice, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 TB meringue powder, and beating for about 15 minutes. Still sweet but less so – I feel like I’m getting there. And the texture was good for spreading and piping. So much patience required in this cake decorating business – cannot do it when I’m tired.

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Today’s Bake – Pumpkin Marshmallow Cake – 11-6-22

Recipe from Bernice Baran’s Frosted – I’ve said it before, the recipes in here are just fantastic. Lots and lots of five star bakes IMHO.

First off, a three layer 6″ cake was the perfect opportunity to test out, side by side, the bake even strips mentioned in my previous post – they really do make a difference. Much less of a dome to the cake, but most importantly, a lovely finish to the sides – see for yourself (one on the left, no strip). If you are a baker, absolutely worth the $10. Note: I do think they bake a little slower, so you may need to add another 5 minutes to the bake time.

Now for the cake, LOL. Wonderful caramel chai taste on the drip – will use that in other recipes, just yummy, though not quite as thick as I would like. And the cake is very moist and has a great spiced pumpkin taste. The frosting – I took it upon myself to substitute giant orange pumpkin marshmallows instead of the regular marshmallows called for in the frosting. The taste is great (and I’m a fan of the color); I did run into an issue with the consistency of the frosting (a bit goopy and required several periods in the fridge) and the marshmallow left clumps of chewy toasty marshmallow in the frosting (not necessarily a bad thing, but you wouldn’t have been able to pipe this frosting). All in all, this is an amazing spiced cake, and I’m not even that much of a pumpkin fan! I may have to change my opinion!

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Today’s Bake – Caramel Apple Cake – 10-26-22

And yes, it’s a five star day! Woot woot on this cake! SO good.

A little secret. I’ve made caramel multiple ways and this time I cheated and used the Werther soft caramels, melted half a large bag with 3 TB water and added 1/3 cup of light cream, and presto. Delicious caramel. Just so much easier (okay, I also needed to use up this bag of caramels I’ve had sitting around forever!)

This cake is DELICIOUS. I used Gala apples as that’s what I had on hand, and yes, it took only two apples. The spices come through, the cake is rich enough to feed 10 people, but to make it more delightful I paired it with homemade vanilla caramel ice cream. Nope, not standing on the scale tonight, that’s for sure! Here you go: https://livforcake.com/caramel-apple-cake/

(Don’t laugh at my funny teddy – first time using molding chocolate. Fun!)

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Today’s Bake – Carrot Cake – 10-19-22

Well it’s fall, and the fall colors got me thinking of orange, and pumpkins, and, well, carrots – and then I remembered a good friend who had shared her recipe for carrot cake some time ago. While I’ve baked for years, carrot cake has not been something I’ve made too often – it isn’t on my list of favorites and therefore it was shuffled to the bottom of the pile.

That might have to change, however, when I tried this recipe. Very moist. Nice rise to it. Beautiful presentation, cuts well. And one can never go wrong with cream cheese frosting.

The number one lesson from today, however? I tried Amish butter. Amish butter has a higher dairy fat content than American butter, and I have, to date, always been a store brand butter person. While this particular cake recipe doesn’t have butter in it (oil), the frosting and decorations do, and what a depth of flavor difference. While the cost may be prohibitive for it being my ‘go-to’ butter, it will certainly become my special occasion one!

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Today’s Bake – Front Facing Choc Ganache and Choc Cake – 10-16-22

I have been wanting to try a front facing cake ever since I saw one on Facebook, and today was the day! I used a recipe I was familiar with (makes two 8″ layers, a dense but moist and firm cake – Black and White Cake from Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson). I’ve made this recipe before and on a whim I added in 1 tsp of baking powder as my previous notes state it didn’t rise that much. I thought the baking powder made it a little on the dryer side around the edges (did not overbake), so this was my first time using a cake syrup to soften the cake just a tad. (Equal parts sugar and water boiled and then cooled and then brushed on the cake). I had leftover cream cheese frosting (this really is my favorite frosting, despite the fact I keep trying so hard to like the different buttercreams) so that went in the middle. My ganache was 8 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate to one cup of heavy cream; I chose semisweet choc as the cream cheese has the tang to it. The trick was lots of fridge time – cool the cakes and fill with cream cheese frosting. Chill. Cover with ganache. Chill. Cover with another layer of ganache. Chill.

Next was to slice off a section to make for a flat side, and to tilt the cake on it’s side. Chill. And then the stencilling (using some of the leftover cream cheese frosting). And chill.

I’m super pleased! I think this would be much tougher with a buttercream frosting that slid around – the ganache, when chilled, served as a solid chocolate coating to hold the cake in place.

This is delicious!

https://www.thesweetsensations.com/2013/06/vintage-cakes-black-white-cake/

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Lemon Meringue Cheesecake Bars

An interesting no bake recipe from the cookbook “Frosted” by Bernice Baran. And even with no bake, it was a two day ‘bake’, if you will. But oh, how yummy.

You start with a graham cracker crust. Pretty simple. The cheesecake layer is amazing – is it whipping cream, cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, lemon zest and juice, salt and vanilla bean paste. You beat all this to high intensity. Meantime you make a lemon curd (really lemony) and spread the curd on top of the cheesecake layer – and then you freeze the entire thing overnight. The next day you make a Vanilla Meringue Frosting (basically a 7 minute frosting) and layer that on top of the frozen curd, and toast it with a torch. The result? A super airy and light (these two words are key) but very lemony bar. Definitely five stars!!!!