Food for Thought (and Discussion)

[johobbit]

I will be preparing food a good bit of Saturday, but that's okay ... our moms (the grandmas to our kids) are worth it. And we'll be celebrating my birthday on Saturday evening, so as to save Sunday to focus more on honouring our mothers, especially, as well as my parents' 58th wedding anniversary (May 3rd). Anyway, all-in-all, May 9th calls for a very special dinner.

So, is anyone here preparing your mom's favourite meal for Sunday?

*would love to try some of DTR's homemade pudding*

[Pattertwigs Pal]

Pattertwig, those cupcakes look delicious! Keep me away from them!

Luckily, one doesn't get calories by looking.

Hungry, anyone?

Yes, the angel food cake thingy sounds especially good.
It sounds like you have a lot of things going at the same time Jo. It's rather amazing how things tend to happen right around the same time. My sister's birthday is today and we always go out to celebrate birthdays and we also go out for Mother's day (so no cooking here). My dad is going to be out of town Friday and Saturday (as he usually is right around this time). It took quite a bit of work to find time to get everything in.
I made a lemon cake for my sister's birthday. She didn't decide until today what kind of cake she wanted. Usually, she choose lemon pound cake which doesn't require frosting. This year she decided on a regular lemon cake so I had to run out and get frosting. We had the cake in case she decided on her usual. She doesn't like a lot of frosting on her cake or those candy pieces that spell Happy Birthday. I like a lot of frosting. I used letter shaped cookie cutters as stencils and sprinkled colored sugar and sprinkles in them. It didn't work as well as I had hoped. I think more frosting would have helped. Since I was at the store anyway, I bought graham crackers and used the rest of the frosting on them. Part of the fun of making a birthday cake is to hid it, so it isn't seen until the right moment. Sometimes it doesn't work so well. My sister just went in the cupboard where it is hidden.

[QueenSusanJ316]

I just made a really good chocolate eclair cake that is super easy to make if anyone wants the recipe. Oh, this is not just my opinion my whole family agrees. I will probably make breakfast in bed for my mom, and dessert for lunch.

[Shantih]

Shantih, a few pages ago, you had posted pictures of some strawberry muffins you made- they looked so scrumptious, would it be all right with you if you could share the recipe?

I got that recipe from Martha Stewart's cupcake book, here it is online -
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/strawberry-cupcakes?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/our-best-cupcakes#slide_2
The only thing I changed was I replaced the cake flour (we don't have it in the UK) with plain flour mixed with some corn flour.

I made some blueberry muffins yesterday, they're actually pretty healthy and taste great! And, alas, have already been eaten. I must make more.

[RevelinginWonder]

Shantih, those muffins look heavenly!

I have recently gotten into cake decorating, and have been working a little with fondant. Last month a friend and I got together to make a cake for my little sister. The theme was The Little Mermaid. It was not without faults, as it was my first cake with fondant, but we had a blast making it, and Laila ((Pronounced Lyla)) my sister, loved it.

For the fondant cover, I just did a light blue marbled with a darker blue. For the sand on top, I used crumbled graham crackers, and cream cheese frosting as glue. Then we took blue frosting and a very light shade of gray to make waves lapping on the shore. It was SO much fun!


This weekend I will be making two more cakes... should be fun. I have to do one for my other sisters birthday, and another for a friend. I am super excited! If anyone has tips, I would love to hear them!

[Aslanisthebest]

Thank-you for the recipe, Shantih! I can't wait to try it.
Those muffins look very good... all the muffins we've seen that you've made have a nice tea-time, natural look and taste look to them.

Awww, I do like the Little Mermaid cake, RevelinginWonder! The waves, sand, and everything looks terrific. =]

For what I've been cooking, I managed to check out Martha Stewart's Cookies and Winnie the Pooh Tea Time Cookbook from the library. So, I've been enjoying browsing through them and deciding what I want to make.
From the former, my sister and I made Snickerdoodles. (which turned out very successful, fluffy, cinnamon-y, and delicious.) I attempted Chocolate Thumbprints which I've been dying to make for over a year, but they more or less failed. They tasted... okay. I had done some rough divisions with help from the site and the butter wasn't entirely all at room temp, so that might've added to their faliure... I'll try them again when I'm out of being upset at using all those ounces of Baker's chocolate. I followed the ingredient divisions from the site and it proved to give less dough, use much much more chocolate than was needed, and they turned out pale and crumbly because of too much flour. *sighs* Next time I'll stick only to the cookbook; so far Martha Stewart's online recepies have given me sad results when I'm trying them with no surety behind.

The Winnie the Pooh Tea Time cookbook is a smart little thing, it is! Such few, simple ingredients needed, easy instructions, and tasty treats in the end. I'm wanting to try Strawberry butter and one of the scones. The non-sweet cheese scones look lovely.

[georgiefan1]

I definitally see cake decorating as a form of art! all the cake shows like Cake Boss im obbsessed with! some of the stuff they do is amazing!

[Shantih]

Good luck with that recipe, aslanisthebest It's one of my favourites

I agree, georgiefan1. Although I love baking I'm only just getting into decorating properly. I have a plan to learn how to make buttercream roses this summer, it's probably the most complicated I've ever got

I made cupcakes for my friend's birthday the other day. She's not very adventurous with cakes so I went for plain vanilla cupcakes, with oreo buttercream frosting -



I also piped her initial in chocolate to go on each cake. This wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be, but it was really time consuming. Despite my lack of enthusiasm for plain cupcakes, these were actually really nice, it was a great recipe which I can probably locate if anyone would like it

And today I made a batch of brownies with white chocolate chunks since I've had a craving for ages



Another simple, one bowl recipe! They came out very moist and dense, especially considering there's no actual chocolate in the sponge, just cocoa. I'll definitely be making these again.

[ElfMaidenArcheroRivendell]

Woah, cool! A baking section! Finally! All that stuff is absolutely scrumptious! I'll try some of them, since I cook & bake a LOT! I will post recipes, whenever I bake & pics too! I also have a Narnian Food topic if anybody's interested! (http://www.narniaweb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1563) Also, click on my signature if you are interested in signing the Reprinting for the Narnia Cookbook petition! Thanks!

[Aslanisthebest]

Those muffins look divine, Shantih!

As today is my father's birthday, my mom kept up the tradition of making an Italian Black Forest cake.
It basically is chocolate cake, in two layers. Between the layers is first bread crumbs, jam, then fresh hand-whipped cream. The other layer goes slap on top, and then the whole thing is frosted with more hand-whipped cream and then decorated with strawberries/chocolate/mint sprigs.
I took no part in decorating except for encouraging the addition of strabwberries and later putting on thick chocolate curls, which was not photographed. None the less, here it is!

[ElfMaidenArcheroRivendell]

Oh, that cake looks yummy, Aslanisthebest! Your mom must be a wonderful cook/baker! I like the strawberry garnish! Very pretty! I usually do the most baking in my house. Does anyone here watch "Cake Boss" on TV or YouTube? It's about an Italian Bakery in Hoboken, NJ. I want them to make a Narnia & a LOTR cake. That would be cool! I can't wait til the Narnia Cookbook gets reprinted (hopefully), then I will try out all the recipes, and take pics of them & post them! I also want to get "The Redwall Cookbook" by Brian Jacques. Good thing that's still in print. My mom's a MAJOR cookbook collector. We have over 200 at the least, and not over-exaggerating. I also like to bake/cook recipes from http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/, http://www.cookscountry.com/, http://www.marthastewart.com/, http://www.epicurious.com/, http://www.foodnetwork.com/, since these are the most popular, reliable food websites. My mom likes to look at blogs also, as do I. Well, anyhoo, here's a molasses gingerbread cookie recipe, that I just made with my little cousin & sister. They are delicious, and smell good too! And that's saying a lot, because I'm a amateur food critic, and am really interested in culinary school? OK, enough about me: here's the recipe- http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/782. Enjoy!
P.S. Any "Top Chef" watchers out there?

EDIT: Hi! I just made a delicious pumpkin chocolate cake for kids who despise pumpkin or squash. You can't taste the pumpkin (I guess, it's because I used a darker cocoa. Yeah.), but it makes it incredibly moist. It's also really good with vanilla ice cream or powdered sugar! Here's the recipe:http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2635. I also have some pics for everyone to click on! Enjoy! *goes to get more cake*




7/23/2010: I just made this gorgeous pumpkin bread today! http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/1461

[starkat]

As this is also cooking...

For the first time I have gotten my from scratch pizza sauce recipe down! I finally wrote it down!!!!

2 cans of tomato sauce
1 can of tomato paste
2 tbs garlic
1 tbs oregano
1/2 tbs paprika

Then adjust from there to taste. I usually do all of this by feel and taste instead of by recipe. I started out just throwing stuff in and I got it down to consistent ingredients, but I never wrote down the amounts. I usually throw some other stuff in there, but that's the base I use.

[joy93]

Me and my Mom made an Apple cake the other day and it was delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ElfMaidenArcheroRivendell]

Nice pizza sauce there, Kat. Will probably try it myself.
I love apple cake too, joy93! I am going to make either a giant chocolate chip cookie or cake (http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/giant-chocolate-chip-cookie-cake) for tomorrow or chocolate chip cookie bars: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/chocolate-chip-cookie-bars-recipe. I also love making bread the no-knead way. I have a cookbook just for that. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031254 ... 0312545525) I also want to try out NYC baker, Jim Lahey's no-knead recipes which got featured on the New York Times. Some are on http://www.marthastewart.com/

[joy93]

Nice pizza sauce there, Kat. Will probably try it myself.
I love apple cake too, joy93! I am going to make either a giant chocolate chip cookie or cake (http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/giant-chocolate-chip-cookie-cake) for tomorrow or chocolate chip cookie bars: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/chocolate-chip-cookie-bars-recipe. I also love making bread the no-knead way. I have a cookbook just for that. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031254 ... 0312545525) I also want to try out NYC baker, Jim Lahey's no-knead recipes which got featured on the New York Times. Some are on http://www.marthastewart.com/

I love chocolate-chip cookie cakes!!!!!!!!!!! they are the best me and my mom are planning on making a strawberry cake next cant wait!! I might try those cookie bars they sound really good!!!!

[starkat]

Nice pizza sauce there, Kat. Will probably try it myself.

If you do, let me know what you think. Though if you aren't a fan of a lot of garlic, I'd recommend dropping the garlic amount and increase the amount slowly until you get it where you like it. It covers quite a bit. We can usually spread it out on two ready-made Pillsbury pizza crusts in the flat, rectangular pans.