Angel Meringue (cup)Cake with Lemon Curd

The boyfriend and I were going to a post-Christmas, pre-New Years potluck with his friends.  We were asked to bring a dessert, so obviously of the two of us, the task was given to me.  I knew that someone was going to bring a cheesecake, so I wanted to bring something that was the opposite of cheesecake. So, what’s the opposite of cheesecake?  I’m thinking a light and fluffy angel food cake – the key to which is whipping up egg whites to stiff peaks and folding in the flour.  Since angel food cakes require a lot of egg whites, I use a carton of just egg whites (like eggbeaters).  Well, this time, I tried whipping up the egg whites, and it wouldn’t whip up…5 times! I finally decided that some yolk accidentally made its way into the carton during the assembly process (since even a drop of fat will keep the egg whites from whipping up), so I bought another carton.  Presto, stiff peaks!  I made cupcakes with the left over batter.

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Angel Food Cake

Adapted from here.

Ingredients

1 cup + 1 Tablespoon cake flour

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

12 egg whites

1 Tablespoon warm water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1.       Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2.       Sift flour and ¾ cup of sugar 4 times into a bowl.

3.       In a large (non-plastic) bowl, beat egg whites and warm water until foamy (30 seconds).

4.       Add salt, cream of tartar, and vanilla, and beat on medium until soft peaks.

5.       Gradually add the remaining ¾ cup sugar while beating. Beat to stiff peaks on high.

6.       Sift flour mixture over egg whites in six parts and fold in with a spatula.

7.       Pour into an 8 inch ungreased cake pan and bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

8.       Flip the cake pan upside down and balance the edges of the pan on cups (see picture).  Cool like this for 1 hour as it will ensure a high cake.  When completely cool, run a knife along the edge before unmolding.

*if you have extra batter, bake cupcakes for 16 minutes

After baking

Cooling upside down on (step 8)

Meringue

From previous post.

Ingredients

2 egg whites

½  teaspoon cream of tartar

1/8  teaspoon salt

½  teaspoon vanilla extract

½  cup sugar

Directions

1.       Preheat oven to 200^○ F. Trace 2 circles (of the cake pan from above recipe – I used 8 inch pans) onto parchment paper.  Place circle side down onto baking sheet.

2.       In a large metal bowl, beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt to soft peaks.

3.       Add vanilla and beat.

4.       Gradually add sugar and beat until stiff.

5.       Spread meringue into the circles on the baking sheet.

6.       For meringue decorations, line a piping bag with raspberry jam and fill with egg white mixture.  Pipe decorations on baking sheet.

7.       Bake for 1.5 hours or until they are thoroughly dry. Leave in oven with heat turned off for another hour.

Meringue lined with raspberry jam.

Before baking

Cake assembly

1.       Place first meringue layer on plate.  Apply lemon curd (I used store bought).

2.       Place angel food cake on top.

3.       Apply lemon curd on cake. Place meringue layer on top.

4.       Apply lemon curd on the meringue layer and decorate with raspberry meringue decorations.

Cupcake assembly

1.       Core cupcakes using a paring knife and fill with lemon curd.

2.       Place core back into cupcake, and spread a layer of lemon curd on top.

3.       Place a raspberry meringue decoration on top.

Cored cupcake

Verdict:  The cake was a perfect alternative to the cheesecake!  It turned out super fluffy and the meringues gave it a nice crunch!  The lemon curd gave it a tartness that complemented the sweetness and gave it flavor!  I am always amazed by how a simple cake with very little ingredients (and no fat) can be so tasty!

Best Ever Butter Cookie

I’ve been making these butter cookies every Christmas for over 10 years.  They are the best – simple, buttery, and very addictive.  My friends are huge fans – some would say these are their favorite out of all the cookies I make.  The secret ingredient is the vanilla syrup – instead of using vanilla extract, I use vanilla syrup that coffee shops use to flavor their coffee.  I used to decorate these cookies with icing, but now I prefer to sprinkle decorations before baking.

Butter Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter

1 ¼ cup sifted icing sugar

2 Tablespoon vanilla syrup

1 egg

2 ½ cups flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

Directions

1.       Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.

2.       Beat in vanilla syrup and eggs.

3.       Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.  Gradually add into butter mixture.

4.       Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours or overnight. You can also freeze the dough for up to 6 months.

5.       To bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

6.       Roll out dough to ¼ inch thickness or less, and cut shapes with cookie cutters.

7.       Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and add decorations (if desired).

8.       Bake for 4-6 minutes, or until the edges are slightly golden.

9.       If decorating with royal icing, ice after the cookies have cooled completely. 

Before baking.

I made sent some of these cookies to my friend in Toronto.  Here’s how I packaged them.

All ready for more newspaper to cushion the cookies.

Verdict: Delicious as always! Even better the next day as the flavours become more prominent.

Gingerbread House

I love the smell of gingerbread during the holiday season.  I make a gingerbread house every year just to fill the apartment with the smell.  I used to buy the pre-made houses, but started making them from scratch because I get to design my own house.  Here are a couple pictures of the one I did last year:

This year, I used the same recipe, but made a different house template.  I also used melted white chocolate melting wafers to pipe the designs instead of royal icing (mostly because I was lazy to make the icing, plus, there’s always a lot of leftover icing that I unhappily end up throwing out).

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Gingerbread with Fresh Ginger

Adapted from here.

 

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 ½ Tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons water

House template

Measure and cut out house piece paper templates.  You can find one here. If you are going to include a surprise inside the house (e.g., a Christmas tree), be sure to cut our some windows so that you can see it.

Instructions

1.       In a large bowl, mix butter, sugar, molasses, ginger, cloves, and baking soda until well combined. 

2.       Mix in flour and water.

3.       Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.  You can freeze for up to 6 months.

4.       To bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

5.       Roll out dough in pieces big enough for each template piece. Transfer rolled out dough to baking sheet, place template on top, and trace around with a butter knife.  Remove the excess.

6.       Bake for 6 minutes (longer if dough is thicker), and leave on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Assembly

1.       Since I used melted chocolate, I decorated the house pieces before assembly.  Use either melted white chocolate or royal icing to pipe designs.

2.       To make the glue that will hold the pieces together, cook 1/3 cup sugar in a saucepan on low heat until golden.  Use a spoon to spread the sugar “glue” on the edges of the house and press together.  Work quickly as the “glue” hardens almost immediately spreading onto the gingerbread.  Be very careful not to touch the cooked sugar –it will burn you!

3.       After the walls are secured to the base, glue the Christmas tree inside.

The sugar glue is ready when this colour.

The back.

The surprise inside!

Verdict: The smell of gingerbread fills the apartment for weeks! I made gingerbread cookies with the left over dough, which were very tasty!  I’ve never made gingerbread with dried ginger, but these cookies made with fresh ginger are flavourful!  As for the white chocolate, I think I’ll go back to royal icing next year, as the melted chocolate was a tad too liquid to do intricate piping work.

2 Types of Rice Crispy Squares

When my colleague told me that her mom made rice crispy squares with Mars chocolate bars, I had to make them!  She melted the Mars bars before adding the cereal, but I decided to cut them into chunks and disperse them throughout the squares.  I have also wanted to try making browned butter rice crispy squares, so I thought I would make these too, and bring them for my colleagues at work.

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Browned Butter Rice Crispy Squares

Adapted from here. http://ricekrispies.ca/cgi-bin/rk_ca_2007/recipe.pl?id=14

Ingredients

¼ cup butter

5 cups mini marshmallows

1 ½  teaspoons vanilla syrup

6 cups puffed rice cereal

*For a chewier square, double the butter if browning

Directions

1.       In a large pot, melt and brown butter (i.e., cook until it browns and smells like toffee) over medium-low heat.

2.       Stir in marshmallows until melted.

3.       Stir in vanilla.

4.       Take off the heat and add puffed rice cereal. Stir until well coated.

5.       Press into a pan, and cool before cutting.

Mars Bar Rice Crispy Squares

Recipe is the same as above plus 4 Mars bars, cut into chunks.

Stir in the chopped Mars bars after adding the puffed rice cereal.

Chopped Mars Bars

Verdict: Both these squares were very tasty! My colleagues seemed very pleased!  I liked the way you get a chunk of the chocolate bar with some bites of the square.

I would recommend doubling the butter if you are going to brown it as a lot of it evaporates during the process.  This will make a chewier square.