I made my first pie!

I'm not a big pie fan, in fact, I really don't like pastry crust. I also don't like pie filling, either (the jelled stuff, from a can). I've eaten it before, but I really don't like it. For Thanksgiving, I always make apple crisp for me to eat while everybody else digs into the pie.

Last November I had to get the four hour blood test for gestational diabetes done at the hospital. It was brutal. Rob was kind enough to go with me to get it done. In the waiting area was a Martha Stewart magazine Rob looked through. He found a triple-chocolate pumpkin pie with a graham cracker crust. It looked promising, so we thought we'd try it. Didn't get to it last year, so two weekends ago we finally made it for the first time. It was pretty good. Not my favorite ever, but I do feel accomplished in that I made a pie.

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/triple-chocolate-pumpkin-pie

The photo is courtesy of the above website since I forgot to take any.

Next we're going to try an apple pie. We're going to create the recipe by combining parts of other recipes. Of course it'll have a graham cracker crust and this time we'll do a "crisp" topping. I'll take photos for sure.

Cake Tips

I'm not a huge cake fan, but I like decorating them. Rob loves, them - so I am experimenting more with them and finding stuff we both like (as if I need the help finding good treats).

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If you like baking, hopefully these help. Oh, and soon I'll post my favorite chocolate cake recipe - it's kind of my catch all - and I don't think it's failed me yet.

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I'm a big fan of using dry cake mix, from a box, then I just add to it. There's actually a book called The Cake Doctor, and what it does is "doctor" cake mixes. That's where my favorite chocolate cake recipe comes from (via my sister, Bethany-thanks!), and it's where my quest to bake good cakes began.

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So, back to the tips:

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Every cake can use a little extra pudding - for a chocolate cake, add chocolate pudding - for every other cake, I add vanilla (unless you can find an box of instant pudding that matches your cake flavor). I just add a small box of pudding, and no changes need to be made to the mixing or baking instructions.

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Also - I add milk instead of water (to any mix)- makes things a little creamier. It's good.

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A baking tip (making decorating easier) - to make even cake tops

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When you bake with round cake pans . . . you know how they always round out on top, too? Well . . . if you get an old towel and tear off two strips (the long way), making them as wide as the cake pan is tall - - - wet the towels, then secure them around the cake pan with either a safety pin or even a push pin (won't melt in the oven at 350 - I tested it, personally). That helps distribute the heat more evenly, and the cake will rise, but stay flat on top. I'll try and post photos soon, just to explain. This beats cutting off cake tops (making them flat), especially because it minimizes crumbs that can potentially spread through the icing.

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Last tip - instead of using icing or frosting in the middle layer of cakes - spread some pudding - again, makes things more moist. You can make some instant pudding and spread about a cup, or just buy a pack of pudding snacks and use one - I've done both.

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Random things - hopefully something is useful to you. :)

Baking Frenzy. . . and a little cooking, too

This past few weeks I've had a lot of opportunities to bake - and remember some of my cake decorating skills (I took a class in grad school but haven't used it much since then). Here's what I've been making:

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For Faith's birthday (during our fam reunion), Amanda, Naomi, and I made these little cupcake bites (recipe/idea courtesy of Bakerella). I think they look pretty cute, but I don't know if I'll ever make them again - they are REALLY REALLY sweet, and lots and lots of work. And just not that wonderful. Disclaimer - I did make some recipe changes - Faith had a chocolate cake, too, so these were a side, made of strawberry cake - maybe the chocolate would have turned out better tasting.

Two days after Faith's birthday, it was my niece Abby's birthday. When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted, she said, pink cake with pink frosting, so strawberry cake it was.

Next - it was the end of the month, and after calling my visiting teachees a few times, I never reached them, so on the 31st, I decided to drop something off. Really, I mostly just wanted an excuse to try making these:

The best part of these?

Yum! They turned out SO well that I'll definitely be making these again.

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Yesterday, was Rob's birthday - he requested that we make homemade calzones for lunch/dinner. I think it was a success. They looked great, and tasted wonderful, too. So good that we might just do a repeat for dinner tonight.
Also for Rob's birthday . . . I won't go into my failed attempt at a Spiderman cake - I'm just glad that out of the 2 cake mixes I made, there was an extra layer, not used for what became a little messy. Not as fun as a Spiderman cake, but pretty good, still--I cut the 9x9 cake into 4 pieces, stacked, and decorated it just for Rob.
I think he likes it.