11 cakes in a week...

Greetings on this gorgeous Friday! (okay when I wrote this it was Friday...I was just a bit slow in getting it finished because I had a very busy weekend. Oh well...here's the blog anyway. And I just finished some yummy sugar cookies, that I might blog about tomorrow) The sun is actually shining here in Sweden and  I am so happy that it's finally Friday. I have had one busy baking week. I was asked to bake cakes for a conference happening this weekend, there will be roughly 160 people attending, a meeting for 15 people and two birthdays. For the conference I used simple recipes a chocolate and an English cinnamon cake that I baked (x8) for each. For the meeting of 15, I baked fun cupcakes, and for the birthdays which were combined I made a new cake! Since I am only one person and baking is not my full time work, I had some help with the large conference cakes. But it's been a full week and I can officially say that I am tired of sugar, flour and eggs...at least for the weekend! I will start again on Monday with a whole new baking adventure.

Until next time enjoy your baking adventures,
Barefoot and Baking in the Kitchen

Here are some pictures of the fun I had this week...

The start of the  Raspberry cream filled cake with
Chocolate Ganache frosting. Boiling cream.

Bars of milk chocolate

All finely chopped and ready to be melted with the cream

Together it makes a lovely swirl of colors, not to mention
it's divine in taste. After I mixed it completely, I set in the
fridge to cool for several hours. Then took it out and
whipped it.

Here is the final whipped product












Then I started on the cream raspberry center filling

Added in raspberry jam to taste












And voilá look at this pretty pink filling

And these are the three sugar cakes that will make the
layered cake. Don't worry I did not burn them, they just
turned darker on one side.

Raspberry cream filling on bottom layer

Here's two layers

Here's the final three. Like a big sandwich.

Different angle and sitting nicely in the fridge

Here it is almost complete, with the chocolate ganache
frosting. If you think it sounds good, let me assure you
that straight out of the mixing bowl, with the spatula
in fact, this taste incredible. I don't usually splurge on
my baked goods because I am so sick of all the sugar,
but I do not regret indulging on this.

From above












Was very easy to smooth onto cake

The final touch is lined raspberries around the cake

Pretty

Just having fun taking shots of this lovely cake

Next up are the Lemon Cupcakes. Creaming butter
and sugar here,

Next you add lemon peel, vanilla and eggs

Makes a nice smooth batter

Then the milk is added and everything is mixed and then
you put into cupcake holders

First part of the frosting and next time I do this I will skip
because in the end it caused the frosting to separate.
Whipping the cream until stiff peaks form.












Combined with the rest of the frosting ingredients

Here are the final cupcakes frosted and ready to eat!

I made a batch of 18 and made WAY too much frosting
I think if you are making more cupcakes then the normal portion,
try only one batch of the frosting. It went a LONG way.

YUM!

One of the 8 large cakes I made...with
some awesome help though. * Note-when
trying to get such large cake out of pan...
cut into pieces first. Every one of mine
broke somewhere in the middle or sides.
Broken cake does not equal nasty bad
tasting cake, but it's not as pleasing to the
eye.

Recipe for the cakes:

Raspberry cream and chocolate ganache cake:

Sugar cakes:

50 g margarine 

1/2 C sour cream

2 eggs

3/4 C sugar

1 1/4 C flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. vanilla

Melt butter and milk together, whisk eggs and sugar, add to butter and milk. Add flour, baking powder and vanilla. Bake at 350F or 175C for 35-40 minutes.

Ganache frosting

Serves: 1.5 cups

Ingredients

• 12 ounces chocolate, chopped into small pieces
• 1 cup heavy cream
• optional 3 tablespoons flavored liqueor

Instructions

1. Place chocolate pieces in a large bowl. Heat heavy cream on medium high until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and immediately pour cream over chocolate and stir until completely mixed and glossy. Allow ganache to cool before pouring over cakes as a glaze. The longer you allow the ganache to cool, the thicker it will set. Typically I stick mine in the refrigerator so it is slightly cold before whipping. For piping or frosting, allow the ganache to completely cool and set up. When you are able to spoon the ganache and it can hold its texture, it is ready for piping.

Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon mousse frosting

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners and set aside.
For the cupcakes: In a large bowl, whip butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Stir in eggs, vanilla and lemon zest. Scrape sides of the bowl and whip again. Slowly stir in dry ingredients until combined and then stream in milk. Scrape sides of the bowl again and mix until batter is just combined.
Scoop batter by the spoonful into prepared muffin tins, dividing it evenly. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F and put cupcakes into the oven and bake 20-25 minutes or until just baked. (The last thing you want to do is over-bake these! Watch them like CRAZY!!) Remove from oven and cool completely.
For the frosting, whip cream until stiff peaks form. Remove from bowl and set aside. In the same bowl, whip butter, vanilla, lemon zest and powdered sugar for about a minute. You just want to break the butter up in the powdered sugar. With the mixer on, stream in the milk until the frosting starts coming together. Scrape the sides of the bowl and whip it on high for about 2 minutes. Fold in the cream carefully. Once it’s all incorporated, you can frost your cupcakes. I used a piping bag with Wilton tip #1M, but doing it old school with a knife is totally fine too. Serve.
If there are leftovers, store them in the fridge.

Ingredients

• FOR THE CUPCAKES:
• ½ cups Butter, Softened
• 1 cup Granulated Sugar
• 2 whole Eggs
• ½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tablespoon Lemon Zest
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 1-⅓ cup All-purpose Flour
• ½ cups Milk
• FOR THE FROSTING:
• ⅓ cups Heavy Cream
• ½ cups Butter, Softened
• ½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tablespoon Lemon Zest
• 3 cups Powdered Sugar
• 3 Tablespoons Milk

Caramel Apple Cake (aka John's three layered cake)

Greetings from what turned out to be a gorgeous day in Sweden!
I was asked to make cakes for some new students (roughly 30 people) and since I am a glutton for new recipes I decided to dive into a "famous" Martha Stewart one. Actually on her website it say's John Three Layered Cake, but I think they should have called it Caramel Apple Cake. This cake is incredibly easy to make, but takes forever to bake in the oven. I would say give yourself an hour for each one, at least that is about the time it took for me. The batter itself takes 10-15 mins. prep. time, so it goes by fast in the beginning. The cream butter frosting also takes some time and if you have a hand held mixer like me ( I know, I am dreaming of a Kitchen Aid mixer) then be prepared to stand for about 15 minutes whipping this frosting into shape. Overall, the cakes themselves tasted sweet and nice, a bit of a chewy texture, but that is from the loads of brown sugar. (sort of a molasses effect) The cream butter frosting was too buttery for my taste and I didn't even put in the amount of butter it called for. If I do this cake again I will taste the frosting before putting in the last 1/2C or so. Just a tip. It was a fun experience, as I learned how to make cream frosting, I had never done before and I hope it was tasty for those that ate these cakes. Well give it a shot and see for yourself if it's a winner!

Until next time,
Barefoot and Baking in the Kitchen

Started with peeling and coring the apples

Mixing the brown sugar and butter together

Adding eggs

Becomes a nice caramely look

Adding cut and shredded apples

Yummy batter

Next up is the cream frosting, I didn't take photos of
the steps before this part, but you will see in the recipe
that it requires you to cook on the stove. The part
turned out quite nice though. See the peaks forming

I like this frosting's look.

After adding the butter the frosting goes from being more
meringue like to being cream like. It's light and fluffy,
but again beware of too much butter taste.

It sort of resembles a fruit cake. While it might not look
like much or even that great, it does taste nice and with
the frosting on you won't see the splotches.

See what I mean? Now it's lovely and sprinkled with
cinnamon and cut apples on the sides gives it a little
more glamor.

Just a closer view

The apples on the side give it that "fall" season feeling.

Recipe for this cake:

• Prep Time 45 minutes
• Total Time 2 hours 20 minutes, plus chilling
• Yield Serves 12

Ingredients

• For the Buttercream:

  • 4 large egg whites
  • 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces

• For the Cake:

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pans
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pans
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups packed light-brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, two coarsely grated and two diced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter three 8-inch-round cake pans; line bottoms with parchment paper. Butter, then flour paper and sides (tapping out excess); set aside.
   
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugar, and eggs until well combined; fold in grated and diced apples. Add flour mixture; mix just until combined. Divide batter among prepared pans; smooth tops.
   
3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 20 minutes, then invert onto wire racks; peel off parchment. Invert cakes again, and let cool completely on racks.
   
4. Make buttercream: In a heatproof bowl set over (not in) a pan of simmering water, whisk together egg whites, sugar, and salt until sugar has dissolved; remove from heat. Using an electric mixer on medium, beat mixture until fluffy and cooled, about 15 minutes. Increase to high; beat until stiff peaks form. Reduce to medium-low; gradually add butter, beating until fully incorporated, about 3 to 5 minutes.
   
5. Assemble cake: Place one layer on a serving plate; spread top with buttercream. Top with another layer; spread top with buttercream. Top with third layer; spread remaining buttercream over top and sides of cake. Refrigerate at least 1 hour (or up to 4 days). To serve, bring cake to room temperature; slice with a serrated knife.
   

Heading into Fall

In celebration of the new fall season coming to Sweden (yes a little earlier than I am used to, but nonetheless this is the season in Sweden now) and it's also my mother's birthday, I have been baking up a storm. Since I don't live anywhere near my mom (sniff sniff) I still thought it nice to honor her with some baking. The only problem I realized, was that if she were here, she would only enjoy one of my baked goods from today, because she is an avid hater of coffee "anything". So to usher in Fall I have made a coffee, brownie cake and in honor of my mother's birth I have made pear, cinnamon muffins.

Happy birthday mom! And welcome lovely Fall season!

Until my next post enjoy the beauty around you.

If you live near the west coast of  Sweden and are interested in some of my baked goods, please contact me grahamlr@gmail.com

Barefoot and Baking in the Kitchen

Melted butter and cocoa

Together with coffee gives a lovely glossy look













Coffee grounds

Eggs and sugar

Cold coffee made from yesterday's breakfast works great!

Nice silky smooth

Beautiful swirls made from the egg and sugar mixture

Flour mixture

Coffee, brownie cake done. Added up top for a nice
look is shredded chocolate and nuts

See that lovely white cake plate...this is my new
birthday gift! I think it's so classy and this chocolate
brownie looks divine atop.

So pretty

Chocolate Brownie cake

6 tbsp. butter (melted)
1/2 C cocoa
2 eggs
1 1/4 C sugar
2 tbsp. coffee grounds
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 C strong already made coffee
14 tbsp. flour  (sorry for the crazy conversion, 14 tbsp is also 4/5 cup)
Set oven to 325F or 175C. Melt the butter and mix in the cocoa. Whisk the eggs and sugar together set aside. Mix in the coffee and vanilla into melted butter and cocoa. Add egg mixture and flour, mix thoroughly. Pour into 9" baking pan, bake for 20 minutes or until the middle is not runny. Decorate with shredded chocolate pieces when it's warm. Taste really nice with whipped cream or ice cream.

Pear Cinnamon Muffins

Cut pears into small pieces

Mix eggs and sugar

Add yogurt and butter to whipped egg mixture

Throw in the pear pieces

Flour time

Added cinnamon and cloves

New muffin forms

Muffins ready to be baked

Fresh hot muffins out of the oven

Yummy pear goodness

Makes you want to cozy up on the couch and drink hot
tea and enjoy this savory muffin.