Recycling and Revamping

Holidays – done.

….

That was me taking a breather. It was nice though, I slept until noon every day like most people. Right? No?? Oh.

So what to do when you want to bake for your friends’ birthdays but are kinda lazy but obviously don’t want them to know that you’re lazy and instead think that you’re a super considerate and amazing baker and/or friend? The answer is to recycle and repackage old tried and true recipes as a revamp.

Here’s a fun way to package a cake.  Basically take any cake recipe and bake it as a sheet cake. Cut out rounds and layer it in jars with your favorite frosting. To add texture, crumble crunchy bits in between the layers, like cookies, or chocolate bars, or nuts.

Here’s my take on Jar Cakes:

Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting from my previous post. 

·    Because I wanted enough for 5 jars, I cut the cake recipe in half and baked in 9 x 13 inch pan for about 22 minutes. I also cut the buttercream recipe in half.

·    After the cake is cool, cut out rounds that fit into your jars. I used a biscuit cutter.

·    Alternate cake, frosting, and crunchy bits in layers. It’s best to use a pastry bag to pipe the frosting.

BOOM! Revamped!! Friends are impressed.

Here’s my take on revamping the trusty old butter cookie to make Spiral Cookies:

The butter cookie recipe is from this previous post.

·    I cut the recipe in half

·    Roll out to 2-3mm thickness rectangle

·    Spread a thin layer of your favorite jam and roll tightly. Don’t worry if the jam oozes out – just spread it on the outside of the roll.

·    Roll in sprinkles. Wrap in plastic wrap and tighten even further.

·    Refrigerate to harden before slicing and baking at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes or until slightly golden.

BAM! Revamped! Friends are super excited.

Before baking.

After baking.

Ps. The great thing is that people who are sick of your baking will be blown away. They will be thoroughly tricked into thinking you made something new. But you didn’t. And it’s awesome. You’re welcome.

Strawberry Lemon Yogurt Loaf

I wanted to make something for my dad for Father’s day.  A consideration for anything I bake for my dad is that it needs to be butter free.  Remember these angel food cupcakes I made for him? Butter free!  The great thing about cakes that use oil instead of butter is that it they stay moist since oil is liquid at room temperature.  (I guess on the flip side, butter brings that nice buttery flavour to baked goods.)  I decided on a lemon yogurt loaf – and why not throw in some strawberries and jam?

Check out the verdict on this Strawberry Lemon Yogurt Loaf!

Strawberry Lemon Yogurt Loaf

Adapted from here.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup plain full fat yogurt
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
3 large eggs
2 teaspoon lemon zest
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup vegetable oil

1 cup diced strawberries

1/3 cup jam, any flavor
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice 

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and grease and flour the sides.

2.  Sift flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

3.  Beat yogurt, 1 cup sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla until smooth.

4.  Add flour mixture and mix slowly until almost incorporated.

5.  Pour in oil and fold in by hand with a spatula.

6.  Fold in diced strawberries.

7.  Spoon some batter into the loaf pan.  Dollop jam on the batter.  Spoon more batter on top, then dollop more jam.  Repeat a few more times.  Top with a few strawberries for a nice presentation.

8.  Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  If using a bigger loaf pan than mine, it might only take about 60 minutes.

9.  While baking, make syrup by heating lemon juice and 1/3 cup sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.

10. When done baking, cool for 10 minutes.  Drizzle with syrup and wait until it soaks in.  You can take the loaf out the pan and drizzle any remaining syrup on the sides and bottom.

 

Dollops of jam

Ready to bake

Verdict: This loaf turned out super moist and flavorful!  The bits of strawberry and jam inside the loaf gave it different bursts of berry flavor amongst a lemon cake.  My dad really like it, especially since it didn’t have any butter.