Made By Melissa

I take any opportunity I can lately to bake a cake. This past weekend at work was one of my co-workers last day, so of course I volunteered to make the cake. I have wanted to make the America’s Test Kitchen Fluffy Yellow Layer Cake since seeing it in the March issue of Cooks Illustrated. 

I have to tell you, I have been in a bit of a baking funk lately- it seems like everything I have made, I have screwed some part of it up. This recipe continued that trend for me, I thought my ingredients had sufficiently come to room temp., but upon combining them, everything turned into a gloppy, greasy mess. But I was determined to make this cake, so a load of dishes and trip to the store later, I tried again and this time it came out perfectly. 

To me, nothing goes better with yellow cake than chocolate frosting. I adapted the chocolate buttercream frosting from the one given to me in my Wilton cake decorating class to frost and fill the cake. I wish I had a picture of the inside of the cake, but I didn’t want to bring my camera to work.

This classic combination of yellow cake and chocolate frosting was very, very good.

Fluffy Yellow Layer Cake

• 2 1/2 cups cake flour , plus extra for dusting pans
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1 3/4 cups sugar (12 1/4 ounces)
• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly
• 1 cup buttermilk , room temperature
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 large egg yolks , room temperature
• 3 large egg whites , room temperature

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch-wide by 2-inch-high round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper. Grease paper rounds, dust pans with flour, and knock out excess. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 1 1/2 cups sugar together in large bowl. In 4-cup liquid measuring cup or medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and yolks.
In clean bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat egg whites at medium-high speed until foamy, about 30 seconds. With machine running, gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar; continue to beat until stiff peaks just form, 30 to 60 seconds (whites should hold peak but mixture should appear moist). Transfer to bowl and set aside.
Add flour mixture to now-empty mixing bowl fitted with whisk attachment. With mixer running at low speed, gradually pour in butter mixture and mix until almost incorporated (a few streaks of dry flour will remain), about 15 seconds. Stop mixer and scrape whisk and sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium-low speed and beat until smooth and fully incorporated, 10 to 15 seconds.
Using rubber spatula, stir 1/3 of whites into batter to lighten, then add remaining whites and gently fold into batter until no white streaks remain. Divide batter evenly between prepared cake pans. Lightly tap pans against counter 2 or 3 times to dislodge any large air bubbles.
Bake until cake layers begin to pull away from sides of pans and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Loosen cakes from sides of pans with small knife, then invert onto greased wire rack and peel off parchment. Invert cakes again and cool completely on rack, about 1 1/2 hours.

Chocolate Buttercream

• 1 cup solid vegetable shortening ( I was out of regular, so I used butter flavored)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4-6 tablespoons of water, divided
• 1 pound confectioners sugar (approx. 4 cups)
• 1 tablespoon meringue powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder

Cream shortening, vanilla and 4 tablespoons of water on low speed until combined. Sift together confectioners sugar, meringue powder, salt and cocoa powder. Add dry ingredients to shortening mixture, mix on low, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Once ingredients have been thoroughly combined, add additional 1-2 tablespoons of water to create thin consistency icing to frost cake with.

After completing Wilton course 1, I realized I am slowly turning in to a cake decorating junky and signed up for course 2 at Micheals. In course 2, I will be learning about using royal icing and color flow, with the focus being flowers and borders. I don’t have to make a cake for every class, like in course 1, instead I will use the various flowers made during the class with royal icing for the basket weave cake at the end.

No pics from this class since we only played aroud with the practice board. We reviewed the basics from course 1 and then learned how to make rosettes, the reverse shell border, the rosebud and the chrysanthemum. We only used buttercream icing in this class, but will begin with the royal icing and colorflow next week. Again, I am the only one signed up, so I was only there about an hour this time.

Next class: I will be making the colorflow bird for the final cake, as well as learning how to make apple blossoms, violets and violet leaves.

Supplies needed: I ended up buying the course 2 kit, since it contained the oval pans needed for the final cake. I also need to get some parchment triangles, a corsage pin and a couple of featherweight bags for the royal icing.

This recipe comes from the lovely Ina Garten. Who doesn’t love The Barefoot Contessa? Seriously, especially her baked goods. A lot of her recipes intimidate me, but this one is one I have made several times now, both in cake form and as muffins.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 extra-large eggs at room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups sour cream (I used low fat)
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• For the streusel:
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts, optional (I did not use this time)
• For the glaze:
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons real maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan. Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for 4 to 5 minutes, until light. Add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Finish stirring with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.

For the streusel, place the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and butter in a bowl and pinch together with your fingers until it forms a crumble. Mix in the walnuts, if desired.

Let cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes. Carefully transfer the cake, streusel side up, onto a serving plate. Whisk the confectioners’ sugar and maple syrup together, adding a few drops of water if necessary, to make the glaze runny. Drizzle as much as you like over the cake with a fork or spoon.

To make 12 muffins, I halved the recipe- everything divides evenly except the eggs, I used 2 large. Using my Pampered Chef medium scoop, I put one scoop of batter in the bottom of the muffin cup, sprinkled 1/2 teaspoon of streusel and topped with another scoop of batter and 1 teaspoon of streusel. If you like a lot of streusel, don’t half the recipe for that and use more, but the maple glaze is very sweet.

Well not entirely from scratch, and not really tacos either. More like burritos, but the meat for the burritos was from scratch! Tacos/burritos/fajitas are an almost weekly staple in our house, we just change out the fillings. We are trying to decrease our sodium intake and the low-sodium taco seasoning packets just aren’t that good, so I decided to try this recipe after seeing it over at The Spicy Skillet. I thought the ground beef filling came out very well, Nate thought there was a bit to much chili powder, so next time I will probably decrease the amount slightly. I plan to try the home-fried taco shells sometime soon, click on here to see the recipe for those. Original recipe is from Cooks Illustrated.

Ground Beef Filling

CI Note:Tomato sauce is sold in cans in the same aisle that carries canned whole tomatoes. Do not use jarred pasta sauce in its place. We prefer to let diners top their own tacos with whatever fillings they prefer. There’s no need to prepare all of the toppings listed below, but cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes are, in our opinion, essential. Makes 8 tacos, serving 4.

• 2 tablespoons vegetable or corn oil
• 1 small onion, chopped small (about 2/3 cup)
• 3 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• table salt
• 1 pound 90% lean ground beef (or leaner)
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vinegar (preferably cider vinager)
• ground black pepper

Heat oil in medium skillet over medium heat until hot and shimmering but not smoking, about 2 minutes; add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 4 minutes.

Add garlic, spices, and 1/2 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add ground beef and cook, breaking meat up with wooden spoon and scraping pan bottom to prevent scorching, until beef is no longer pink, about 5 minutes.

Add tomato sauce, chicken broth, brown sugar, and vinegar; bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, stirring frequently and breaking meat up so that no chunks remain, until liquid has reduced and thickened (mixture should not be completely dry), about 10 minutes. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.

Using wide, shallow spoon, divide filling evenly among taco shells; place two tacos on individual plates. Serve immediately, passing toppings separately. We used burrito-sized tortillas filled with lettuce, tomato, shredded mexican cheese, light sour cream and salsa.