Red Velvet wedding cake.....

My brother Aaron got married yesterday & I wanted to do something nice for him and Jenni.....I heard they were not having a cake - so - I offered.....You can't have a wedding without a cake right?

Here is it......It took my 2 1/2 days but was well worth it!!!    I used Buddy Valastros (the cake boss) icing recipe....so nice to work with!

Homemade Vanilla Extract

For those of you who like to bake as well as cook......ooh ooh ooh....me!!  I do I do.....I came across a recipe for "do it yourself" Vanilla extract.   (which I use a ton of)  It could not be simpler....

Vodka & Vanilla beans.....pretty easy huh!  That's what I though. You just cut your vanilla beans in half ~ put them into a jar ~ add Vodka.....voila!!!   It will take a couple of months so make sure you put the date you did it on the bottom with a piece of tape (if I put in on a calendar I know I would lose the calendar!)       The only work you have to do is give it a good shake once a day!  It will start to turn brown in about a week. Just keep up the shaking & in 2 months you have vanilla extract! 

When the 2 months are up just simply remove the vanilla bean & strain really well through cheese cloth to remove all of the seeds.......Guaranteed to never run out!

This is after only 1 month of sitting.....

Only 1 month to go:)

my Christmas Croquembouche....I am so proud!!

OMG.....that is all I have to say about this!!  I wanted to take on a challenge for a Christmas dessert....what else could there be but a Croquembouch!! From the homemade "cream puffs" to the filling.

 My 1st strategy was to get all of the cream puffs done....

So on the 1st day I made all of the cream puffs..... 

using just your basic ingredients..... cream puffs were created.....

**I know I had a pic of them but it must of been erased**

On the 2nd day I did 2 things....made the filling &

 ran to the store to get the base of the Croquembouch....my foam cone....

Oh look ~

There are some of the cream puffs on the side hanging out....the cone is white but what I did was cover it with 2 layers of heavy duty aluminum foil....

Now to make the salted caramel drizzle.....mmmmm.....like my cream puffs the pic of this has disappeared also (that's what happens when the kids take the camera).....

For the caramel drizzle I just took :

2 1/2 C sugar

1 T Sea salt

2/3 C water 

**cooked it until golden brown**

For the filling:

2 to 3 C heavy whipping cream

1/3 C to 2/3 C powdered sugar

so easy!!!

Now onto the fun part.....

With the filled cream puffs I started to build of course from the bottom placing my 1st toothpick about 1" from the bottom & just going from there.....

Dipping 1/2 of the cream puff + about a third of the top & placing it on the toothpick.

**At times the Caramel would cool so I would just reheat it.**

At the end of the Croquembouche I would use the slightly cooled caramel & make caramel "hairs" all over.....I would then take a fork and make the same hairs allllllll over until it completely enveloped the top....

Here is the end result....

So yummy!!!!  Also so rewarding.....I am so proud of myself:)

Happy Birthday Brady....

  My son Brady was turning 8 & I asked him what kind of cake he would like for his birthday....he of course said Yoshi. So without avail I searched hi & low for a yoshi cake pan....even the cake specialty shop in town did not have one!  Now I knew I was in trouble.  Then all at once the idea popped into my head ~ I found a picture of yoshi on the internet, went to my local print shop with printed picture of yoshi & my huge honkin' cake pan in tote....I said with a pretty please & a smile if they could help me fit the yoshi into the cake pan as big as possible. The guy came over with his handy dandy wheel thing to size things & figured out how much the pic needed to be blown up.....ba da bing...ba da boom...I had a big yoshi:)   I was so thrilled I had to go show my husband right away.  I first had just planned to cut around the yoshi & use the extra cake for "1-up" mushrooms but as I laid the "laminated" yoshi on the cake I just did not think it would work like I planned. So instead I frosted the cake first....laid down the yoshi & with my niece Carissas idea on utilizing tooth picks....I traced around yoshi, peeled him off & got to decorating.
  Being a bit nervous seeing this was my "1st cake without just slapping frosting on it" got to work......here's how it turned out.....

So proud of myself & Brady loved it!

Celery what??

That is what I hear the most this time of year from the produce people at my local grocery store when I ask them when they are getting their seasonal delivery of Celeriac......

You know.....the knobly root that tastes & smells very similar to celery.....except a bit bigger.

So the grocery store finally received it so I figured I better grab & get some frozen for winter soup use.

So basically I just cut in half - cut those halves into slices & just cut around to remove the skin.

After that is done I just cut into bite size pieces & get them ready for the blanching process.

They will get blanched for 4 minutes & immediately get put into an ice water bath to stop them from cooking & getting all mushy....

My rule of thumb is to let them in the ice bath as long as they were blanched...

After they are done I remove them using my awesome spider & dry them using paper towel...

Then I just pack them in a good quality freezer bag - label - date & freeze flat.

Very tasty in soups....you could also roast them in some olive oil - choice of spices in a 400 degree oven 25-30 min or until fork tender.....

Yummo!!!!

Mushroom cupcakes???

My son is turning 8 tomorrow....for school the kids always take cupcakes to share....I asked him what he would like for his cupcake "theme" & his response & I quote --- I want 1-up mushrooms from the Mario game.....cute right!

Normally I make my cupcakes from scratch but due to a "dead" refrigerator I just did not have the time so boxed cake would have to do. 

I noticed that it called for egg whites rather than eggs.....I read on the bottom of the box & all it said was that if you used whole eggs to bake 1 minute more....So as I was filling the liners I noticed it was runny...It never said to lessen the liquid if using whole eggs....guess I was just to crazy busy to realize.

I decided to bake them & just hope for the best. They were "OK" when I took them out....kind of flat but I figured that would happen.  I let them cool & when I walked back into the kitchen I noticed that I had a muffin tin full of inverted nipple cupcakes!!  OMG...  I could of just cried.  I almost chucked them and made more but I did not have the time! 

I frosted & decorated them.....this is the end result---

Cute but these are the

flatest mushrooms I ever saw:)

I guess that will learn me....

Homemade Ravioli cheese filling

Here is the recipe for a basic cheese filling for the ravioli I made.......

1 Cup Ricotta cheese

2 Tablespoon parmesan

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

* Mix first 3 ingredients together until a paste is formed.....then add the S & P....

refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour