just some thoughts...

While my project is finished i still probably will post on this every once in awhile....just wanted to post some pictures of the ice cream cake i made

i made this cake for my birthday because i was previously asked if i wanted one for another birthday thing. Everyone seemed happy about it, however after the first night the cake gets crumbly since it is frozen but other than that it was great! 

It's pretty simple...make an oreo crust with around 32 ground oreos and some butter, place that on a springboard pan. Then make a cake (a little thinner than normal) in a pan the same size. Once cooled layer that and then pour semi-melted ice cream on top. I froze that and added homemade whipped cream

not that difficult! If you want actual directions that are more formal let me know!

-J

Healing Haiti Foundation

For their senior project, my friends Amma and Adebia Ntoso worked a "Healing Haiti" project. They were going to raise money for beyond boarders in Haiti. They are part Haitian and their mother actually went to Haiti with a beyond boarders program since she is a doctor. Part of their project was throwing a fundraiser. While they collected money in school, they also ended their project with a big fundraiser at the Timmons House (a building at my school). After trying my food previously, they asked if I could bake for them. Clearly I said of course!!! I already baked for charity bake-sale so I definitely couldn't turn this down. There is just something even MORE rewarding about baking to make people happy while supporting extremely important people or causes.

 For the bake sale I made vanilla cupcakes and cinnamon cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I made them mini so that a) there would be a lot, and b) because they look more adorable (a trend i've been following a lot).

            In addition, I made my previous chocolate chip cookies and brownies. Instead of caramel or candy, I put chocolate bars in the middle of the brownies to give them an extra chocolate touch!        
Overall the fundraiser went GREAT!!! Amma and Adebia raised $537.24 from the in-school drive and $1091.10 from the event. I am so glad I got to help my friends out. Plus, as an added bonus I won my friend Taylor's piece of art in the silent auction!

Penn Charter Bake Sale

My friend Kim is working at the Saint James School in Philadelphia for her senior project. Since my senior project was baking and she was having a bake sale fundraiser, we figured it would make a lot of sense for me to bake for her. The proceeds went to the Saint James School in order to improve their after school program.I decided to make my general vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting, chocolate cupcakes with chocolate fudge frosting, and chocolate cupcakes with a marshmallow frosting dipped in chocolate.
The vanilla frosting I came up with by myself but the marshmallow and chocolate frostings you can find here:
http://www.countryliving.com/recipefinder/fudgy-cream-cheese-frosting-3628
and
http://www.marthastewart.com/258067/hi-hat-cupcakes
i didn't however use the cake batter that martha stewart used.

When I saw the addition of oil needed into the chocolate I originally thought it was gross... I learned however that it makes the melted chocolate more silky and thin which helps when coating the cupcakes.
Some key tips if you make the marshmallow topped ones:
-Freeze the cupcakes with the frosting for around 10 minutes, it makes the dipping easier
-don't be stressed out if the frosting before or after dipping isn't perfect, they still look good
-if you notice some marshmallow getting into the dipping chocolate, remove it. It makes the chocolate have a grainy look instead of the completely smooth silky look that you want

'

Making the marshmallow frosting...it is done over a pan of simmering water

cupcakes with marshmallow top

vanilla on vanilla cupcakes

I added edible pearls for decoration

with extra batter I made larger cupcakes for home

dipping process

vanilla and chocolate cupcakes!

and some bake sale pictures!

hopefully everything went well!

Just an update that my senior project is ending in less than 2 weeks. I will still bake sometimes since I love to do it so much but it won't be as frequent

If you have tried things PLEASE comment on them

Thanks

-J

Communion Party: Brownies and Cupcakes...plus a little messing around

A family friend approached me and said her nephew had a communion part last weekend that she would love dessert for. We both decided that cupcakes and brownies were the typical treat for kids of that age. I made the brownies I have previously made (without the candy inside) and put a carmel topping on. For the cupcakes I decided to make a chocolate cupcake with ganache filling and vanilla frosting. I have mentioned all of these separate elements in previous blog posts, however this combination was a new one. I liked adding ganache into the cake because it added a richness to the cake. The sweet creamy frosting would contrast the bittersweet flavor of the ganache well.

 What ganache looks like when the cream is added to the chocolate...then you whisk..

ending ganache result...creamy chocolate 

 Ganache filled cakes

 Final cupcakes!

Something I decided to do for the first time is switch the device I use to "core" the cupcakes. I generally used to use a simple cupcake corer, however I have noticed that sometimes the wide circumference of it makes the cupcakes fall apart when being eaten. I found an apple corer in my kitchen. While the whole it creates is smaller, it still is a good size for filling and prevents the cupcakes from crumbling from too little support.

With extra cupcakes, ganache, and frosting, I decided to mess around a little. I saw cupcakes online that had frosting dipped in chocolate. Friday Night I was going to my friend Maggie's house for a dinner with other friends, so I figured being dessert would be a nice ending. While i didn't use the recipe that I saw online, I used it as an inspiration for these. I used all the previous ingredients. I swirled frosting on the cupcakes a little higher than previously. After putting them in the freezer briefly, I dipped them into the chocolate ganache and then let them cool. These were fun to make and tasted yummy. Again, the bittersweet chocolate and sweet frosting complimented each other well.

Kind of reminds me of the dairy queen ice cream dipped in chocolate right?

Next I will post about a bake sale I helped out with
-J

Mothers Day 2: Raspberry Filled Vanilla Cupcakes

Sunday afternoon I talked to my friend Heather about her day plans, and over time I ended up with an invite to her house for Mother's day dinner. Since Heather loved everything raspberry I made in the past, I last minute decided to make a simple vanilla cake and frosting with a raspberry filling. This frosting was one of my favorites so far, especially since it was pretty simple. I followed the recipe for a normal white creamy frosting with butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar, however I added some cream cheese as well. Initially one would think that I was making a cream cheese frosting, but that was not the case. Normally in cream cheese frosting the ratio between cream cheese and butter is pretty parallel. To avoid making cream cheese frosting I did the butter to cream cheese ratio as 2 or 3 : 1. I improvise with the frosting for it is the one things that doesn't depend on exact measurements. Overall I was very happy with the turnout of the cupcakes.

 Workspace during the ending process of the cupcakes.

Decorations: Blue and Green edible "balls" and pink edible pearls

-J

Mothers Day - Strawberry Cake

A family friend asked me to make a cake for her mom for Mother's Day, so of course I said yes. Sadly, I probably shouldn't have agreed to a strawberry cream frosted cake.The cake itself was a yellow cake and there was a cool strawberry frosting on top. I also put some sliced strawberries in-between the layers with the filling to give it more flavor.

While I have made cakes before that look nice and were successful, this one didn't work out quite as well. I made the frosting too thin, so even though it was chilled for awhile, it still didn't thicken. This made the frosting process very difficult. The top turned out nicely, but the sides weren't holding the frosting as well, especially over the gap between the layers. While it ended up looking decent, I was frustrated and upset because I hate when I make things that don't turn out the way I want them too. I probably am too hard on myself, but maybe thats a good thing so that I can be more successful with my desserts in the future. Nevertheless, I probably won't remake this cake anytime soon (especially on a hot day...it supposedly melted a bit overtime as well). The flavor was delicious but the appearance not quite as much.

 Design for the top of the cake

Design applied onto the cake

If you can tell, the bottom picture zooms in on some of the decorations. I clearly used mostly strawberries however I switched them up a bit. I found mini cake cutters of shapes so I decided to use the star and heart cutters on the strawberries to help with a border. That with some edible pearls along the edge helped the cake despite the sloppy sides.

-J

next i'll be posting pictures from a communion!

Plain and Simple - Chocolate Chip Cookies

I decided to just go with a classic today and make chocolate chip cookies. No pictures since people ate them so fast, but they looked pretty generic. I received a positive report about them, so that's always nice. I really liked that they stayed soft instead of getting hard after a night (which some do).

The Recipe is easy:

I made around 35 cookies around the size a little smaller than a palm (but I have small hands so..)
Ingredients:

• - 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• - 1 cup white sugar
• - 1 cup brown sugar (packed)
• - 2 eggs
• - 2 tsp vanilla
• - 3 cups all-purppose flour
•  - 1 tsp baking soda (dissolved in 2 tsp hot water)
• - 1/2 tsp salt
• - 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (i like to put mini's in too so there can be more chocolate)
• (you can add walnuts if wanted (around 1 cup) but I didn't)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Cream the butter with both sugars until smooth

Add the eggs 1 at a time

Add the vanilla

Add the dissolved baking soda and salt

Stir in the flour and chocolate chips (and nuts if you added them)

Either scoop spoonfuls or roll 1 1/2 to 2 inch balls

Bake on a ungreased cookie sheet  for 10 minutes until the edges and bottoms slightly brown.

ENJOY!

Making Strawberry Cupcakes and a Strawberry Cake next!

Past Creations before the Senior Project - Some of my Favorites!

I just wanted to post pictures of things I made that weren't part of my project, or didn't make it into the blog. A lot of these desserts influenced to do a baking senior project in the first place. I always though I made tasty and pretty desserts, but having such positive reactions to all of these really encouraged me to move forward with it.

For Judy's Birthday: Yellow Cake with Banana Filling and Caramel Frosting

 Yellow Cake Assortment - Caramel filling/Frosting, Banana Filling/Frosting, and Caramel Frosting Banana Filling

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes with Fudgey Chocolate Frosting

 Caramel Banana Cupcake

 Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes

 Raspberry White Chocolate Cupcakes

 Inside of Yellow Cake with Banana Filling and Caramel Frosting

Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte

Peanut butter and chocolate is a combination that I know most people LOVE (unless you don't like peanut butter, that is). I've made Reese's desserts and they were a hit, so I decided to take on a different type of dessert. The torte was basically like a pie...or a mousse cake. The crust was Oreo's and the filling was basically peanut butter and some ingredients with fresh whipped cream folded into it. This resulted in a peanut butter mousse. While this dessert looks a little complicated, it actually isn't that hard to do.

Making the chocolate ganache topping was the one area I struggled with. In one ganache recipe it said to stir the chocolate and heavy cream with a spatula or spoon of some sort. When I did that the ganache just looked like gross, lumpy chocolate. The trick to it (during round #2) is to WISK the ingredients together. I guess the light, fluid motion and gentleness of it helps...who knows. Using the wisk made the ganache come together so much better, and afterwards to apply it I just poured it on top. I had family friends and my sister (who lives in london) over to try it! Based on Ethan's face in the picture below, I think they enjoyed it!

For any peanut butter, mousse, oreo, chocolate loves - this is the PERFECT combination
I used this recipe, http://annies-eats.net/2009/04/10/chocolate-peanut-butter-torte/, for the gist of it, but little things were changed. Regardless, the regular recipe seemed perfect as well

-J

 Peanut Butter Mouse 

 Once the ganache was added...

 Ethan likes it!

 Inside with the Peanut Butter Mouse

P.S I made some chocolate covered strawberries with extra ganache

Passover Friendly - Chocolate Molten Cake

A few weeks ago during passover, I realized that the food I brought in couldn't be eaten by any of my friends who keep kosher during the holidays. On top of that, two of my friends are gluten allergenic (no flour). Since I want to make treats that EVERYONE can enjoy, I decided to make Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes with a Raspberry Sauce and Whipped Cream Frosting.

When making a flourless cake, I was worried that the consistency would be unappetizing. Surprisingly, they turned out being dense and delicious almost like a molten cake. On a few I put whipped cream topping with a carmel drizzle, but I mostly just made raspberry ones. I hope everyone enjoyed them because I think they turned out great. The recipe was from http://bakingbites.com/2007/02/flourless-chocolate-mini-cakes/ for the cakes. I improvised the raspberry sauce and for the whipped cream I just did the generic mix of heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla extract!
-J

 Before they fell..

 Once they fell...

Homemade Whipped Cream

Cupcake with Carmel Drizzle

 Raspberry Topping (no color added, its THAT bright)

 Final Flourless Chocolate Cakes with Whipped Cream and Raspberry Sauce