Tag: baking

I’ve got a secret, yes I do…

Wiwohka4 Comments

It seems like just yesterday she was playing dress-up…

and now she’s having a baby!

And guess what?

I know the gender of my grandbaby, but it’s a secret… for now. My daughter asked that I take a peek at her test results and not tell her the gender, yet. This way, I can bake the gender reveal cake for her and my son-in-law. They want to experience the surprise together, as a couple. Isn’t that incredibly romantic?

So, guess what today is?

Baking day!

I need to get the cakes baked and cooled, but I won’t be doing the frosting and decorating til tomorrow. I want the frosting to be as fresh as possible, so I’ll hold off doing it til just before we deliver it.

For now, I can show you the cake baking part as long as it’s only the cakes. I’ll be sure to show you the whole thing after the reveal, I promise!

I’m making a 4 layer white cake with the surprise candy hidden on the inside. The recipe I found is crazy! It calls to bake them for 50 minutes at 325. Even though my oven runs a bit warm, they baked for 43 minutes before I pulled them… absolutely perfect!

I’ve cooled, wrapped, and refrigerated them til tomorrow morning. When I get up in the morning, I’ll make a huge batch of Vanilla Buttercream frosting. My youngest daughter bought a very lovely cake topper, as well as the candy that goes on the inside.

For now, the scary part is finished… that is, perfect cakes for the decorating. I’m a flavor girl, so I don’t care how pretty the cake looks on the outside. If it doesn’t taste delicious then what’s the point, right?!

Oh, and I even cleaned up my mess! Well, to be honest, it wasn’t that difficult. Ever since I began my baking adventures with that tiny Easy-Bake-Oven, my workspace needed to be clean. I suppose that every baker worth their salt, or more appropriately, their sugar, keeps things clean as they go along. It helps keep a clean and organized work space! Willy Wonka’s factory was always clean and organized… it had to be!

That way he could focus on the magic in the candy. Well, at least that’s what I think…

Come On In…

WiwohkaLeave a comment
Daily writing prompt
What’s your favorite thing to cook?
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Since I’m too lazy to look back and find my answer from last year’s prompt, you’ll get a fresh answer, though it won’t be a so called “favorite”… but it’ll still probably make you hungry.

Our room only comes with a microwave, countertop range (two spots to boil or fry something), a glass mixing bowl, one frying pan with a lid that belongs to a smaller pan, and a handful of kitchen utensils, and there’s no cooking going on in here, unless I want every single item we own to smell like our last meal. For everyone’s benefit, I’ll write about what I used to cook, instead.

There was my mother’s homemade chili, hamburger/cornbread casserole, or her lasagna… that lasagna was to die for!

During my children’s young years was the proving ground for my culinary skills, which were quite undervalued and appreciated, in my opinion. While they may offer mixed reviews, I feel quite accomplished in both cooking and baking. In truth, due to the creation of the Easy Bake Oven, my baking is probably the better of the two.

Meal wise, a sure fire winner would be my Brown Sugar Burgers. But only use the good buns, because the cheap kind always fall apart like wet paper! I think that I may have written about a Chicken, Mushroom, and Artichoke Fettuccini Alfredo, with fresh Sourdough Garlic Bread. Oh well, I won’t bore you with the details, but it was really good!

Dessert wise, I’ve been told that my Snickers Cheesecake was better than ‘you know what’, but my personal favorite desert would have to be in the cake department. It’s a homemade pound cake with French Vanilla Cream Cheese frosting, covered in fresh strawberries. The strawberries were sliced and covered in a sprinkling of sugar overnight. I always used the syrupy juice to drizzle across the top of the cake, right before it was sliced!

Hands down, cookies will always be my prize winner, but sometimes we have to remember the rest of all that yummy food. With that being said, I’ve done my part in offering a sincere answer to the prompt, but there are other things I wish to spend my time doing this morning, so I’m off for now…

You didn’t think I would forget the cookies, did you?

It all starts with butter…

Wiwohka3 Comments
Daily writing prompt
List five things you do for fun.
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There’s nothing like a fresh hot bun, straight out of the oven and smothered in real butter… not the cheap stuff, either!

Anyone who loves eating fresh bread knows that after butter, comes a really, really good fruit preserve like strawberry, raspberry or even like an apple/pear marmalade. Once upon a time, I found a recipe for it on Pinterest, I think, and it was amazing!

Another of my go-to’s for a yummy bun is to tear it open and lay in some really good honey! Now, I’m not talking about the regular store bought honey that’s been processed so much that all you get is the sticky sugar taste… no, no! Get in your car and drive to your local bee farm, where you can pick out your favorite flavor. Trust me, if it’s not fresh honey… don’t waste your time! Unless you want either diabetes or a grueling everyday workout to burn off all the wasted sugar you just ate, get the healthy honey… just sayin.

If you aren’t a sweet flavor fan… try a dab of cream cheese and a slice of ham. This is a sure fire way to make your mouth water, I think. During the holidays, you just switch out the cream cheese for stuffing and/or cranberry sauce… I betcha you’re onboard with me now, right?!

Here is the last, but certainly not the least, of my list of 5 things to do with a bun…

Drum Roll, Please….

Are you ready for this?

……..

Wait for it…

Yup! I’m pretty sure you’re familiar with this one. I don’t know about you, but I can never get tired of a good ole fashioned Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato bun? Am I right?

Help yourself, but if this didn’t hit the spot for you, I left you some cookies, too…