Look familiar?

These yummy sugar cookie bars might look familiar as they've been making the rounds lately.  I originally saw them on the blog One Ordinary Day, then on The Repressed Pastry Chef, and AGAIN on My Baking Addiction. 

I had printed out the recipe from One Ordinary Day when I first saw them there and had every intention of making them but one of the Twins' teachers had something else in mind when she requested a treat for her class.  So they were pushed to the side for another day.  After seeing these pop up and raved about on two more awesome blogs I couldn't put them off any longer. 

I'm not crazy about sugar cookies but I am crazy about these.  They really are all they are hyped to be. Blondies and Snickerdoodle ones are still my favorite but these are an excellent alternative. 

I was worried that they might be overly sweet so I cut back on the sugar (about a 1/4 cup) but after tasting the bars I  think next time  add the full amount. I topped my bars with cream cheese frosting and sprinkles but had intended to frost only half of the pan with it and the other half with Em's Buttercream Dream Icing.  I didn't softened enough sticks of butter, grrrr, so I was forced to frost the whole thing with the cream cheese frosting. The  recipe is from Simply Recipes and is the one I used to top my red velvet cupcakes.

If you haven't already please hop over to this post to leave me your opinion and enter my giveaway.

Technorati Tags: sugar cookies,bars,buttercream,frosting,cream cheese,sprinkles

Another Cake Collaboration With Charity

Here's the second cake I promised you.  Unfortunately this cake  lived in the shadow of Snickerdoodle Bundt Cake so was not given its proper dues.

Charity's choice this time around was a cake she saw on the blog, Food Loves Writing called Restaurant Eve's Cake.  Though essentially a white cake the recipe does not call for just egg whites but the whole egg. In the post, the writer mentions that the cake tastes like sugar cookies.  I agree.  It is reminiscent of sugar cookies though in my opinion better.  (I'm not fond of sugar cookies  as the ones I've eaten in the past have been crunchy, overly sweet, and often topped with even sweeter frosting.).  The frosting Charity decided on was a Fresh Strawberry Buttercream she saw on Culinary Concoctions by Peabody.  I had initially planned on using blackberries instead of strawberries but a little girl who shall remain nameless ate so many of the blackberries I didn't have enough. 

For the cake I followed the recipe as written with my only change once again being the size and type of pan I used. I baked (18) cupcakes and a (thin) 11" x 7"  cake .  With the 11"x7" cake I cut out six 3"x3" circles and made two 3 layer mini cakes.  This was  by far one of the easiest cakes I've made and the icing on the cake is,(ha!) besides being tasty and easy,  clean up was a snap.  Now the frosting on the other hand was another story.  Was it good? Yes. Would I make it again?  Probably not.

My biggest problem with the frosting was the consistency which led to my second problem. It was too sweet.  I only made a half  batch and should have used 2 cups of powdered sugar but because it was extremely runny I had to add a heaping third cup and still it was very "soft".  My dilemma was, in order to get it to a consistency that was manageable I would have to add more powdered sugar, making it extremely sweet. As it was I was already pushing it.   I went ahead and gave it a try as is and "frosted" one of the mini cakes and a few of the cupcakes. With the left over frosting I beat in about 2 oz of softened cream cheese (all I had left) and another 3/4 cup of powdered sugar.  The consistency was a bit better and the taste wasn't quite as sweet.  I used this batch to frost the mini cake you see here.

I think a fresh strawberry cream cheese frosting would have complimented the cake better as the cake on its own was sweet enough and would have benefited from a tangier frosting.  The buttercream frosting we used would have been better suited to a cake that needed a bit of sweetening.  Don't forget to see how Charity's cake turned out and whether this was a keeper!

Technorati Tags: strawberries,buttercream,cake,frosting

It's not about the cake but the frosting!

This is all about the frosting and this frosting is too  good to not pass  along.  Some of you may be like, duh, Ingrid where have you been and others, hopefully one, will be like, hey, thanks!  :-) I found this  caramel frosting recipe on Erin's Food Files.  (Check out her candy coated marshmallow heart pops.)

I had a layer of banana cake in the freezer that needed to be used from when I made this cake.  When I froze that sucker and even before tasting it I knew I wanted something caramel-y. 

Don't make the cake but do make the frosting. It was actually pretty easy and just a little time consuming.  You make your own caramel sauce (yay,me) and use it in the frosting which is a cream cheese buttercream concoction.  Did I mention it's goooood? No? I'm talking GOOD!  I thought I didn't like caramel growing up then I started blogging and realized, oh, what I don't like is that yuckiness they put into jars and label caramel sauce.  After making my own it's been confirmed I LOVE homemade caramel sauce and Julia, you're right this is even better than those caramels you unwrap and melt down with cream or whatever.  I know better now.

I  "frosted" the middle layer with caramel sauce then once it set up I added the caramel cream cheese buttercream. For top I  drizzled caramel sauce on it.  Everyone who had a slice only talked about the frosting an even my nonfrosting loving son said that it was great.  Yeah, make the frosting forget the cake!

On a side note I just finished the book Emma & Me by Elizabeth Flock.  I really enjoyed it.  Lately I haven't had much luck at the book store.  I can't seem to find anything that makes me want to stop what I'm doing and read!  Emma & Me was really good and I didn't even guess the end until the end which I really liked.  It's tiresome when midway through a book and you already have it all worked out.  I'm moving on to Wally Lamb's  She Comes Undone my friend, Wendy suggested it to me. Anybody else read it? Recommend it? Or anything else? 

Okay, just one more thing.  A few people have asked where did I purchase my cake stand.  I purchased it at Target on clearance for 5 or 6 dollars. 

That first photo is courtesy of Miss Karolyn.

Technorati Tags: caramel,cream cheese,frosting,buttercream,books

Strawberries & the Internet = strawberry cupcakes

I love the Internet and I especially like Google. I love how I can at the touch of a few buttons get information about everything! I feel so powerful. I type in a few words and presto more information that I could possibly read let alone use.

On Thursday evening I realized I had a pint of strawberries in the fridge that needed to be used. If I were to ask my children they would scream for strawberry shortcake again but I wanted something different. So off to my computer I went....googl-ing (is that a word?). Cupcakes still being the rage I decided to find one that I had all the ingredients for and did not involve an all day process. This is what I found (plus a lot of other yummy looking recipes for strawberries. I really need to try my hand at a strawberry tart) Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes and Sprinkles Strawberry Frosting. The only change I made was to fill them with a store bought lemon curd and Babygirl filled and drizzled hers and the Twins' with strawberry puree. YUM! I would definitely make this again!

LiveJournal Tags: cupcakes