Pretty Cakes

So my sister signed me up for the Wilton's cake decorating class at our local Michaels craft store.  It was pretty fun.  It's a 4 week course that met once a week.  It can get kinda pricey, it seemed like we had to buy something new each week, along with the start up items, but if you plan on decorating at all when the class is over it's a fairly decent investment.  Our first class we decorated cookies, second was a 2 layer cake, then filled cupcakes, and then a final cake.  The first 3 classes we decorated our whatever using the skills we had learned for the week, and the last was a "have fun with it".  

So here was my final cake:

It's a double layer yellow cake (thank god for box mixes)  with a hot fudge filling (from the ice cream aisle) and chocolate butter cream frosting (made from scratch, recipe's on the wilton's baking site).  We learned frosting roses in the last class, hence all the roses.


About a week after we had a bake sale at church to raise money for a blind school in Jamaica, and after a quick online search for something interesting to make, I found (and made) these:

Sugar cookies decorated to look like sand dollars

Owl cupcakes made from M&M's and Oreos

Sunflower cupcakes made from M&M's and Oreos

Sunshine made from candycorn

Scalloped Pineapple Dessert

Mmmmmm...I made this the other night and decided it was too good not to share.  My sister has made it before and always promises to bring me the leftovers from whatever party she's taking it to, but there never are any :(  So I took the initiative and whipped up a batch so I could see what I was missing.  I can see now why there were never any leftovers.

Scalloped Pineapple Dessert

16 slices of white bread, cubed
2 large cans of pineapple (diced/cubed) drained
1 pound (2 sticks) butter
6 eggs
3 cups sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix eggs and sugar in a bowl.  Melt the butter and add, mixing thoroughly.  Add bread and pineapple.  Let sit a minute a two to let the mixture soak into the bread.

Bake in a 9x13 pan for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
(I usually have to cook mine for 45 minutes or a tad longer, your oven may vary)

Enjoy!  I've been told it's like a variation of pineapple upside down cake, so if you like that, you should like this as well :)

Easter Cheesecake

Because what's Easter dinner without dessert?  Easter cheesecake is a simple cheesecake recipe that gets into the holiday spirit by adding lots of color.  Why should the eggs have all the fun?  If you have kids this is a great baking project to include them in.

To begin we'll use this basic cheesecake recipe:

 

1 Oreo pie crust

8oz of cream cheese, softened

14oz of sweetened condensed milk

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

food coloring

Preheat oven to 350F.  Beat cheese until fluffy.  It will look something like this:

 

(I make a double batch, so don't worry if yours doesn't look like the amount of mine)

Gradually beat in the sweetened condensed milk until smooth (be sure to scrape the sides and bottom well to make sure you get all the cream cheese mixed in).  Add the egg and vanilla.

 Take 4 small bowls and divide the mix into 5 equal parts.

 Place 20 drops of food coloring in the four bowls, one color per bowl.  Leave the mixing bowl plain.  Take your pie crust and remove the plastic protector shield thing.  Set this piece aside for later.  After the cheesecake has cooked and cooled, you can flip it over to make a lid, re-crimping the metal pan will secure it in place.

 Spoon in enough of each color to fill the bottom, then start layering the colors in swirls.

(This is a double batch, if you're making a single batch there's only one pie crust)

 Here they are half filled.  My nephew loves to help with this part : )

 And there they are finished.  I place my pans on a cookie sheet as it makes it a bit easier for me to get them in and out of the oven.  Cook at 350F for 35 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean.  Let them cool and place the lids on the pans, making sure to crimp them into place.  (Yay for the lids, now the cheesecake is stack-able!) Refrigerate until chilled, and enjoy!

Easter Bread

A break in the alphabet challenge to bring you the yummy goodness that is Easter bread.  What makes Easter bread so yummy you say?  Is it the super secret family recipe handed down through the generations?  Or that special ingredient that makes it rise above the competition? (Hahaha, that's bread humor right there, "rise" above...get it?...yeah...)

 

No, what makes it so yummy is the colors!  Honestly, how could you not smile when you're eating a rainbow?  Although, when people ask how I make it, I do tell them the secret ingredient is Easter eggs.  Some people get it...quite a few don't. (Easter eggs are colored, the bread is colored...)

I have 2 variations for Easter bread, the first is a simple loaf, like above, the second is a four strand braid.  Both variations start out the same:

 

A box of food coloring and 1 box of bread mix PER color

 

I use a bread machine to do the mixing, if you don't use one that's fine.  Put the bread mix, yeast, and water (see back of box) in the machine.  Place 10-15 drops (for light colors) or 30-40 drops of food color (for more vibrant colors) where the water pooled. If you're not using a bread machine, mix the coloring into the water before you add the water to the dry ingredients.

 

 Set the machine to mix and go do something for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes place the dough in a flour dusted bowl and cover it with a towel to let it finish rising.  OR since this is a very time consuming process and like me you sometimes make the dough one day and assemble it all the next day, put a lid on the bowl and stick it in the fridge overnight.    The next day take it out and let it sit at room temperature for 45-60 minutes so it can warm up and rise a bit.

At this point all your dough has been made and given a chance to rise.  How many colors should you have?  Well this year I did 4, some years I do 5 or 6.  It depends on how insane I am at the time.

Divide your dough (I get 6 balls of each color if I'm making a loaf, 8 balls if I'm doing a braid) using a bit of flour to make the stickiness manageable.

  Take one of each color.  For the loaf version, you'll take a rolling pin and roll each ball into a rectangle shape.

   Layer the rectangles on top of each other.  

Starting at the short end, carefully roll up the layers to form the loaf.  Gently tuck the ends under and place in a lightly greased bread pan.  Cover with a towel and let raise (it will roughly double in size).  Bake at 400 F for 25 minutes (or follow the directions on the box if using a different mix)

 

For the braid version you're going to take your dough and roll them out like snakes...it reminds me of playing with play dough, only it smells yummier : )  How long do you make it?  Depends how much dough you have. Just have fun and do what feels right =P

 

 Take the ends at top and pinch them all together.  If you don't know how to do a 4 braid, here's a quick walk through.  Hopefully the pics will be enough : )  

 

 Take the blue and place it under the pink...

 

and then over the green...

 

and then under the purple.

Then we take the pink and  make it go under the green...

over the purple...

 

and under the pink. 

So the far left strand will always go under, over, under.

 

Continue braiding and then tuck the ends under.

 

Place on cookie sheet, cover with a towel and let raise, then bake the same as above.  These here are different sizes because I used different amounts of dough.

If you're like me and like to give things away during holidays, I take an extra step:

I take my braided bread, cut it in half, turn under the ends and place them in these mini bread pans.  Cover with towel, let rise, etc.

I wind up getting 16 mini loaves from 4 boxes of bread mix.  The bigger ones were given more time to rise, the smaller loaves came at the end when I just wanted to get the whole thing over with and didn't care that they hadn't fully risen before baking.  Don't be lazy like me, let your bread rise =P

So that's Easter bread.  Wow your friends and amaze your kids one of these Easters.  Have fun and make it your own!