Raspberry Chocolate Cake Special!

So for this past Mother’s Day, I wanted to try something a little different. Instead of buying a cake as we always do, I decided to make a homemade one! The recipe for the cake is the same one I used for the 6 layer rainbow cake. The topping is just raspberries with a milk chocolate chip inside and of course, shaved chocolate to top it all off. As for the icing, I was originally going to use this recipe doubled. It was so funny because when I pulled out all these sticks of butter that I was going to use (not to mention the many cups of confectioner’s sugar I would need as well), it looked quite absurd. Looking at it all again, I realized how unhealthy this cake was going to be so I quickly looked up another recipe for some healthy icing, hopefully with less butter this time. Surprise surprise, I found a recipe that actually tasted amazing with no butter! Another benefit to this is that you most likely already have all these ingredients so no last minute trips to the grocery store!

ButterLess White Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 egg whites

Directions:

1. First off, get a saucepan and heat together the sugar, water, and cream of tartar. Cook it over medium heat until the sugar is all dissolved and you see little bubbles on the surface.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium mixing bowl, whip the egg whites and vanilla extract together until they form soft peaks. It may take a while, so be patient.
3. Add the heated sugar mixture to the egg whites and continue mixing until stiff peaks are formed. This will take about 10 minutes.
4. Enjoy!

 

Bundaberggg & Brunch

Try new things everyday. Whether it’s with restaurants, shopping, music, or even events, trust me you won’t be disappointed. It’s always a learning experience and you’ll always come out with a story to tell. You never know, that weird name on a restaurant menu may just become your all-time favorite dish to order. The best place I’ve found to try new things is World Market, my favorite food and home decor store. They have a crazy amount of atypical drink flavors that you probably have never heard of in the classic glass bottles. The strangest one I have tasted, Chocolate Fizz Soda, is exactly as named- a chocolate flavored sparkling drink. On our most recent trip to World Market we got four different flavors (all non-alcoholic by the way)- Ginger Beer, Peachee Sparkling Water, Mate Mojito Mint and Lime, and Ginger Brew. It was so hard to choose just because of all the overwhelming flavors. We originally went with the goal of buying Bundaberg Bitter Lemon, but they were out of stock of it so we just had to settle with the other flavors. Overall, the Ginger Brew was the most bitter out of all the drinks and you could taste the ginger in it. The Ginger Beer tasted almost exactly like Ginger Ale, the only difference was that the ginger flavor was a little more noticeable. My favorite out of them was the Peachee Sparkling Water, just the right amount of peach flavoring added to sparkling water. They’re all healthy too by the way, because the sugar used to sweeten them comes from pure cane sugar and there is no corn syrup or yucky preservatives.

A quick and easy dish to make- pasta with tomatoes, a variety of cheeses, onions, and black olives

A fresh salad with arugula and cucumbers from the farmer’s market, in addition to some sliced onions and tomatoes

Kale from the farmer’s market! (in the process of being boiled)

Added some onions and spices to the boiled kale mixture

Tada! The final and finished product, best eaten with bread by the way

Interesting snack we found at World Market too. The combo of cranberries, honey, and sea salt tastes wonderful with almonds!

What’s your favorite store to test your culinary taste?

Bodegas Taco Shop!

The medley of atmospheres that restaurants have to offer make them so much fun to go to, not to mention how each usually has a signature dish. Fuddruckers- Burgers. Lulu’s Bakery and Cafe-Huge Cinnamon Rolls. BJS-Deep Dish Pizza. You name it. So naturally, going to Bodegas Taco Shop I just had to order some sort of taco. I was about to go for the shrimp tacos, but I’m glad I ordered the fish tacos instead. They were the best fish tacos I have ever eaten, packed with amazing flavors and topped with a nice slice of avocados!

My friend and her sister ordered a platter for two including flautitas, yucca fries, wings, not to mention the delicious assortment of sauces that came with it too!

The outdoor scene was so gorgeous, with the hanging lights and humongous trees. You feel obligated to sit outside because the atmosphere is so serene and relaxing.

If you are ever at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts or in the museum district, be sure to stop by here for a quick lunch!

Surprises Abound!

Wow, I just love surprises, both giving and getting them. First off, I would love to thank Nina Baydoun from Tabkhet el Yom for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award. This is my second award, after the last Sunshine Award I got. If you want some a variety of the best Lebanese food, then be sure to check out her blog!

Here are my nominations:

1- bakingwithbrennan

2- Teenage Girl Cooks

3- Allison Eats

4- A Melbourne Girl at Heart

Speaking of surprises, I’ve been eyeing this multi-layer rainbow cake I found on foodgawker foreverrrrrr! I finally got the excuse to bake it up today for my sister’s party. It was so funny because all the party guests did not know what to expect when I told them there was a surprise for them inside the cake. I mean, it looks like a totally normal cake from outside, with the plain white icing and what not. They probably thought that I put some strange material inside. Surprise!!!!! They had no idea that there would be a rainbow inside after the first slice was cut.

The cake itself was pretty easy to make. I followed a white cake mix recipe that I found here.

Rainbow Cake

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of all-purpose flour
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 5 large egg whites
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup of sour cream
• 2 tsp of pure vanilla extract
• Gel Paste (I used the Wilton Colors: Christmas Red, Orange, Lemon Yellow, Leaf Green, Sky Blue, and Purple)

Tools Needed:

• Measuring cups: tablespoon, teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon, 1 cup, 1/2 cup
• 2 Mixing Bowls (for dry/wet ingredients)
• Electric Mixer
• Parchment Paper, Pencil, and Scissors
• 9″ round cake pans
• Toothpicks
• Mini bowls (for separating the egg whites)
• 6 medium bowls/spoons (for separating the 6 colored layers)

Preheat: 350 F

Directions:

1. Mix together all the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Set aside.
2. Cream all the butter with an electric mixer. If you forgot to leave it till it reached room temperature, then microwave it for about 20 seconds before creaming.
3. Add in the sugar, egg whites, vanilla extract, and sour cream mixing well in between each and every addition.
4. Alternate adding the flour mixture and milk to the creamed mixture. Mix until well incorporated.
5. If you have a scale, you can weigh the amount of the total cake mixture and divide it by six to see how much to add to each of the 6 divisions. My lack of a kitchen scale lead me to improvise and use another method. Instead, I used the measuring cups to scoop the mixture into each of the 6 bowls laid out. I started with a 1/2 cup for each and then added another 1/3 cup to each dividing the rest of the mix as equally as I could.
6. Next, use the toothpicks to add the 6 gel food colorings to each of the 6 bowls. The color you see of the raw cake mixture is how it will turn out after being baked, so add the food colorings according to your own discretions.
7. Now, trace the cake pan with a pencil on the parchment paper and cut out the circle. Butter the parchment paper after putting it in the cake pans. I used two cake pans at a time in the oven, because I only had two.
8. Pour the colored batter into the cake pans and bake for about 15 minutes or until well done.

For the icing I wanted to try something different so I did a Swiss Meringue Buttercream from here. I didn’t really like how it turned out though, because it was not consistent enough to ice a cake. I had to add half a can of store bought frosting to it to make it less runny. This was only for the filling though, in between the layers. For the outside frosting, I went with the recipe that I have been using from my previous cupcake post. It hasn’t failed me yet and is the perfect icing for a cake!

More cupcake pictures too!

Simple Pleasures of Life

Yes, I know. This is probably my millionth post about cupcakes on my blog, but they are just so much fun to make (and eat)! Trust me, it’s hard to stop once you develop an obsession with food. My previous obsessions include fondant cake and cakeballs, but after I watched a couple episodes of DC Cupcakes, it is now cupcakes. Who ever knew cupcakes could be so much fun?

Red velvet cupcakes + buttercream homemade icing = perfection <3

What a Surprise! The Sunshine Award

I am so honored to say that Miss DIY has given me the Sunshine Award! I’ve had this blog for less than a year and this is my first mention on another blog. It’s a nice feeling knowing that someone appreciates your blog

Anywaysss, onto the questions:

1. What is your favorite color?  Cerulean blue. I don’t think I will ever forget that gorgeous shade of blue on a crayon.
2. What is your favorite animal?  I love all animals but I have to say that my favorite are cats- to be exact the Bengal, Sphynx, and Maine Coon breeds.
3. What is your favorite number?  I’ve always gone with 21.
4. What is your favorite non-alcholic drink? I’m not really a big tea or coffee person. I’ll just stick to fresh strawberry lemonade or any other fruit drinks.
5. Do you prefer Facebook or Twitter?  Twitter. It’s more to the point.
6. What is your passion?  Food. It has the power of bringing people together.
7. Do you prefer getting or giving presents? I don’t mind receiving, but giving is always fun to do when you make it personal and unique.
8. What is your favorite pattern? I’ve never really given thought to this, but I love the baroque pattern. It’s just so classy and elegant.
9. What is your favorite day of the week?  Saturday. I don’t think there’s a need to explain this lol..
10. What is your favorite flower? Gardenias. They smell wonderful!

Well enough of the questions. Here are a couple blogs I think deserve a Sunshine Award! Check them all out!

(these are in no particular order)

The Smart Cookie: A very dedicated blogger, I don’t think I’ve gone a day without seeing a new post. The recipes are all to die for and I love how each one has “the cast of characters”.

Oh So Yammy! : Combines food, traveling, and fashion. Perfect combo in my opinion.

Liv(e) Laugh Love :  Words cannot describe the beauty of the photographs. If only I could lift that cupcake off the computer screen!

Chocolate Obsessed: Chocolate is amazing so a blog dedicated to it must be awesome. With numerous healthy recipes, you won’t feel guilty for eating all that chocolate.

Red, White, Green, and Black All Over

Me and some friends decided to make cupcakes for a bakesale to raise awareness and funds for the injustice going on in Syria. It started when me and my food-loving friend were looking at pictures of cupcakes and she showed me one that made a picture of a flag from cupcakes put together. Suddenly, we got the idea to do a bakesale. It was hard deciding how many to make and what design (whether the flag is on each one separately, on them as a whole), etc because there is just so much you can do with cupcakes. In the end, we decided to make 2 of the Syrian flags which can be seen below. We also made about a 100 red velvet and devil’s food cake cakeballs and dipped them all in a white base coat. Then, we dipped one side in green candy coating and the other in brown, topping them with a red dot to represent the stars. We only dipped about 50 due to running out of the white candy coating, which was the base for the cakeballs.

For the icing on the cupcakes, the green and red colors were the easiest to color. We had the toughest time with black though. The result you see below is a combination of blue gel coloring and also some black icing from those small pouches used to decorate cookies. I haven’t tried it yet, but it may be easier if you try chocolate frosting as a base, and then add the gel colorings needed. There are also some black gel colorings you can get from Michaels or cake supply stores.

Since the homemade icing was so good at a previous bake sale, we decided to make it again! But, we forgot one important ingredient: the heavy whipping cream :O Hakuna matata. We found another recipe that didn’t use heavy cream and it turned out better than the last. Instead of the heavy cream, we just used milk. Also, instead of the 1 cup shortening, we divided it into 1/2 shortening and 1/2 cup butter. It does make a stiff icing so we just added more milk (3 tablespoons instead of 2) and also half a can of store bought frosting.

Buttercream Icing #2

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 cups of confectioner’s sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons milk

Directions:

1. Cream together the butter, shortening, and vanilla extract
2. Blend in all 4 cups of sugar
3. Add the milk and beat with an electric mixer until it is light and fluffy

Yum, an assortment of red velvet and devil’s cake cakeballs!

Cupcake decorating set = amazing set of mini cupcakes

A couple days later, I made more because I was still obsessed with making cupcakes, both mini and regular. We had too many for us, so our lucky neighbor got a tray of cupcakes!

This is how our neighbor returned the tray to us, full of delicious chocolate chip brownies. Yummy!

Piece of Cake

Sometimes it’s nice to make a tasty dish without turning the whole kitchen upside down. You know, flour all over the countertops, dirty mixing bowls stacked on each other, and countless ingredients scattered about. Well, the Banana Bread recipe below was made with only 4 ingredients! Not only that, but the four ingredients are basic and found in almost any kitchen. Definitely saves you an unneeded trip to the grocery store to get that one rare ingredient.

You can find more 4 ingredient recipes at :

http://www.4ingredients.com.au/

My last experience with bananas and baking didn’t go too well. I was making banana cupcakes and apparently put too much bananas because after an hour the cupcakes were still runny! So as expected, I was a bit skeptical about making this. Too bad this recipe was a failure too haha just kidding, it actually turned out quite amazing! Unsurprisingly, the banana bread disappeared in one day. It is a light snack that tastes like cake though it is bread. You could eat it bare to savor the simple flavors or you could spread some butter, jam, or whatever you have handy.

Banana Bread 

Preheat: 350 F

Ingredients:

• 2 large ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of whole egg mayonnaise
• 2 cups of self-rising flour (CRUCIAL that it is self-rising)

Directions:

1. Mix together the mashed bananas and sugar
2. Add the mayo and sifted flour and mix until combined
3. Pour into a loaf tin and bake for 50-60 minutes or until well done

The Perfect Breakfast Food Too!

Got Lemons?

I am currently at the library but my laptop is strangely not picking up the wifi which is probably a sign to start on this blog post instead so I’ll just post it up later. Well, it all started when I tried a slice of this heavenly bundt cake that someone gave us in return for giving them a bag of lemons from our lemon tree. The cool part was that they used our lemons in the lemon bundt cake! The cake not surprisingly disappeared in one day. Anyways, I never thought I would get to taste it again and I wondered what the secret recipe was. One random day though, bored out of my mind, I decided to bake something. I get most of my inspirations and ideas from foodgawker which is the most addicting website ever because the format is amazing not to mention all the beautifully photographed food. For me, it’s key to see a good picture of what I am about to cook because I then know what to expect or not expect when baking. Well, I saw a recipe for a lemon bundt cake, which reminded me of that delicious slice I had a while back so I decided I was going to make just that. A benefit of this recipe is that you most likely already have if not all but most of the ingredients. We had tons and tons of lemons so I picked a couple from outside, cleaned them, and put them aside all my other ingredients. I have to admit, one of my favorite parts of this cake aside from how moist and delicious it is, is the lemon icing on top. It took me a couple times to get it right, but after making this cake four times, I think I have the hang of it.

Here is the recipe for the Lemon Bundt Cake and the Lemon Icing:

Lemon Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks and 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter at room temp
• 3 eggs and one egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 cup yogurt (I used Greek yogurt but any is fine)
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup lime zest (about 6 limes)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• around 1/4 cup breadcrumbs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter your bundt pan with the 2 tablespoons and coat with breadcrumbs.
3. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together and set on the side.
4. Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth consistency.
5. Add the eggs, one by one.
6. Mix in the lime juice, lime zest, vanilla, and yogurt.
7. Add the dry mixture and mix well.
8. Pour in the pan and bake for about 45 minutes or until well done.

Lemon Icing

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar

Directions:

1. Mix together the lime juice and confectioner’s sugar (it shouldn’t be too runny)
2. Put a small spoonful on the cake, if it dries and you cannot see it then you need to add more confectioner’s sugar.
3. If it is a good consistency then pour in a circular fashion around the whole cake and it will fall naturally through the grooves.

The Chosen Ones

How Your Breaded Bundt Pan Should Look Like!

1st Attempt and FAIL (Lemon Icing Is Too Runny)

2nd Attempt = SUCCESS

Lookin Great!

A World of Cupcakes

Im not really sure why but I just never gave much thought to cupcakes. It was always about cakes, cakes, cakes, ever since I started watching Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss which highlighted the potential of a simple cake mix. Just recently though I got hooked onto DC Cupcakes. I know, they’re just cupcakes and you probably think you can’t do much with them. Wrong. The amazing displays they did on that show were as cool as Cake Boss, though I still prefer fondant over icing any day. After watching the first whole season, me and my sister got inspired and decided that we were going to make cupcakes! A search for a cupcake pan failed, so we went and bought a mini cupcake pan as well as the regular 12 piece cupcake pan. We used the recipe for the Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake for the cupcakes and a buttercream recipe for the frosting. Our first try at the cupcakes was with a banana nut recipe which was a cooking disaster.. I think we put too much banana in the mix because after an hour, the mini cupcakes were still not cooked! Not to worry though, we had a backup Hershey’s Chocolate Cake recipe which hasn’t failed us to date. The cupcakes tasted great not to mention the homemade icing too! Can’t wait to buy new icing tips and experiment with different designs

Homemade Buttercream Icing 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of shortening
• 4 cups of confectioners sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 ounces heavy cream

Directions:

1. Cream the shortening until fluffy and consistent.
2. Add the confectioner’s sugar and mix well.
3. Mix in the remaining ingredients: salt, vanilla, and heavy cream

Tips:

-You can use butter instead if you don’t have shortening or prefer a sweeter icing. Or an even different combo would be doing half butter and half shortening