December » 2009 » simmiecakes

Manger Cake

manger_cake

Ok, I must admit when I first got asked to make a manger cake, I didn’t know what a manger was. In case you hadn’t figured out from all the Hanukkah posts…I’m Jewish. So, this is what I thought a manger was:

Turns out that’s a manger scene. I was all set to make the sheep, the wise men, maybe a goat. Good thing I was set straight by the Hills and was told that the manger is just the trough the Baby Jesus is in.

My manger is a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream icing. A few quick swipes with the fork gave the icing a bark like exterior. The manger needed a little something extra so I added some wooden planks made out of chocolate. The hay was made from yellow fondant, rolled thin and cut into pieces with a pizza cutter. We made the hay the night before and let it dry out overnight to give it a more hay-like texture.

hay

Each piece of our linguine-hay was meticulously put on the cake to give it that casual strewn-on look. Isn’t that the way it always works?

Merry Christmas!

baking

There’s been a frenzy of baking in the land of Simmiecakes.

mini_cakes

You know, some traditional Christmas baked goods.

close_up_m-cake

Except not really.

Close_up_O-cake

When Life Gives You Lemons…

Make a delicious trifle.

Sometimes you have dreams of making an adorable igloo cake complete with penguins and possibly a cute little polar bear.

Then you get this:

cake_mess

But instead of fretting of your inability to gauge if a cake is actually done even though you stuck it with a cake tester like five times and you’ve previously baked dozens and dozens of cakes, take your big ole mess and make something delicious.

Like this:

trifle

Trifle people. No worries.

Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?

Apple Cider Doughnuts

sugared

Right, so I meant to post this a few days ago when it was actually Hanukkah and still kind of relevant. But then a bit of cold, two feet of snow, and the second season of Mad Men got in the way. It happens.

But anyways. Doughnuts. Or donuts. I thought they were hard to make. Turns out, they are actually pretty easy. Oddly, I just happened to have some apple cider in my fridge, so on a whim (seriously, it was a whim, I had already scoffed at the idea of making doughnuts earlier that day) I decided to give it a go. And what a good decision that was.

Apple Cider Doughnuts

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup apple cider
3 1/2 cups flour, plus additional for the work surface
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
4 Tbsp (1/2 stick or 2 ounces) butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
Vegetable oil for frying

Cinnamon Sugar Topping

1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Start by measuring out the apple cider into a medium saucepan. Reduce it over medium heat for about 20 to 30 minutes, until it’s down to about 1/4 cup.

ingredients

While that’s happening, measure out the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg into a bowl.

cider

Using an electric mixer (or stand mixer) beat the butter and sugar until fluffy and smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure each egg is fully mixed in before adding the next. Gradually add the reduced apple cider and the buttermilk until just incorporated. Finally, add the flour mixture until a soft dough forms.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and sprinkle them with flour. Lots of flour. Turn out the dough on one sheet, sprinkle with some flour, and using your hands, flatten until it’s about 1/2″ thick. Stick this sheet of dough into the freezer for about 20 minutes until the dough has firmed up.

doughnuts

Using some round cookie cutters (or doughnut cutters if you are fancy like that), cut out doughnut shapes. I used a 3 1/2″ round cutter for the outside and a 1″ round cutter for the inside. Place the shapes on the other cookie sheet and stick them in the fridge for at least 20 minutes. I re-rolled the dough a couple of times to make more doughnuts.

frying

In a frying pan (or deep fryer), heat up enough oil to measure about 3″ in depth to about 350º. Carefully drop in the doughnuts so as to not let the oil splatter and fry on each side for about 60 seconds. Remove from the pan and lets them drain on many layers of paper towels.

fried_in_pan

Carefully dip the doughnuts into the cinnamon sugar mixture and serve.

cooling

Makes about 18 doughnuts.

Latkes, Latkes, Latkes!

potato_latkes

Now what’s Hanukkah without some good old fashioned potato latkes? Nothing like taking some grated potato, mixing it with a few simple ingredients, and frying them in a whole lotta oil. Which is exactly what we did.

I have to admit, I’m not the biggest latke fan. It’s something to do with the fried-surface-area to potato ratio that I don’t like. I like lots of potato. I think that’s why I like home fries instead of hash browns and steak fries over crispy fries. But for Hanukkah, I’ll have a few latkes. And gosh darn it, I’ll enjoy them!

grating_potatoes

Instead of just making some of the regular potato latkes, we decided to mix it up a bit and expand our latke horizons. In addition to the heaping number of traditional latkes, we also made a plate of potato and zucchini latkes, and some sweet potato latkes. And if I do say so myself…yum!

zucchini_latkes

Traditional Potato Latkes

makes about 20 large latkes

4 to 5 potatoes, peeled and grated
1 medium onion
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
3 Tbsp flour
Salt and Pepper

Potato and Zucchini Latkes

makes about 10 large latkes

2 to 3 potatoes, peeled and grated
1 zucchini, washed and grated (I left the skin on)
1 small onion
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
3 Tbsp flour
Salt and Pepper

Sweet Potato Latkes

makes about 10 large latkes

2 to 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and grated
2 eggs
2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp flour

All the latkes are made the same way. And it couldn’t be easier!

Mix the grated potato, onion (if there is any), eggs, flour, baking powder, and spices together in a large bowl. Heat up about 1 inch of oil in a frying pan. Drop by heaping spoonfuls into the pan. Flatten with the back of the spoon.

Fry on each side for 3 to 4 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from oil and drain on copious amounts of paper towels. Serve with applesauce and sour cream (not salt and pepper! These are latkes, not hashbrowns!).

Happy Hanukkah!

We’re four nights in, but Happy Hanukkah! Been eating some latkes? Some doughnuts? How about a little dreidel action? No? Well, you’re missing out.

Betsy and I had a little Hanukkah shindig the other day. We got a bunch of friends together, had some food, had some drink, had some good company and a good time.

Of course, I made a cake.

It was pretty simple because I didn’t have much time. Vanilla cake with lemon icing and a blue and white swirl of fondant. A little fondant dreidel and some Hebrew letters topped it off.

Some good friends came down from New York for a visit too.

It was a mini Cornell Gymnastics Club reunion! But what really topped off the night, was this gem of a video they produced.

‘Nuff said.

Tempura

tempura

Ok, I know. No posts for a few weeks and then I follow up a roasted vegetable post with another vegetable post? What am I thinking? Well, probably not much. Except these vegetables are FRIED. That’s right, dipped in batter and thrown into a piping hot pan of oil. Yum!

I’m not sure what made me want to make tempura. It’s not like I’ve been lacking in hearty meals lately. Last week I had two Thanksgiving dinners, a big pot roast meal, got a pie for running a 5K (speaking of which…anyone want a Tabletop apple pie? Talk to The Jackster), and got up at like 2:30 AM to go shopping on Friday (ok, that last one isn’t about what I ate, (although I did have a steaming cup of hot chocolate while in line) but I felt the need to share) and then ate at Denny’s. I’m pretty sure when I flew back to MD on Sunday, I hadn’t actually been hungry since the previous Wednesday.

But anyways…tempura. It’s delicious. It’s delectable. It’s probably something else that starts with the letter “d” but at this moment I am failing to come up with anything.

The presentation is impressive, but the secret is out:

Tempura is surprisingly simple to make.

And you can make it in a jiffy. Just pick your favorite variety of vegetables (or just one vegetable, maybe tackle an entire pound of potatoes or something, it’s all good) or some seafood (I think shrimp is pretty popular) and 20 minutes later you’ve got a delightful (oh hey! Another “d” word!) dish! The batter is light and crispy and it just feels decadent (again! I can’t help myself) eating tempura.

veggies

Tempura

adapted from Disney’s Family Cookbook

6 to 8 cups of mixed vegetables (zucchini, sweet potato, peppers, carrots, onions, broccoli…whatever floats your boat)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 egg white
1 cup water
Vegetable oil for frying

Take your lovely selection of vegetables and slice them up in a-few-bites-sized pieces. I sliced the sweet potatoes into 1/4″ thick slices, cut up some carrot sticks and zucchini sticks, and some broccoli florets. And for Andrew, I threw in a couple of shrimp for good measure.

sliced_veggies

So after you’ve got your veggies prepped and ready to go, it’s time to make the batter. To make the batter, start by measuring the flour, corn starch, salt, and baking powder into a bowl.

batter

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg white and the water together. Then mix the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. The batter will be lumpy, but that’s ok.

sweet_dipping_action

In a wok, frying pan, or deep fryer (if you just happen to have a deep fryer lying around) heat at least an inch of oil (or more…you know, if you have a deep fryer) over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, dip the vegetables or shrimp into the batter. Just a light coating of batter will do. Then, gently place in the oil so as to not splatter, and fry until golden brown (4 to 5 minutes).

shrimp

Try not to cram too many pieces into the pan so that they crowd each other and stick. After they are browned, remove from the oil and place on some paper towels to help drain the oil.

cookie_sheet

Serve with some dipping sauce. I made a sauce by combining soy sauce, a 1/2 tsp of sugar, and a few red pepper flakes.

tempura_close