12 July 2010

As promised, I have to share this recipe with you, as it’s absolutely divine.  Check this out ( and no, it’s not the most attractive photo!):

Since this is Alton Brown’s recipe, I’m going to link you directly to it, HERE.  But, I’ll list my own time-saving techniques here:

• First of all, there’s no need to use a cast -iron skillet.  I use a non-stick cake pan.  Sooooo much easier.  I stick the butter and the brown sugar in the pan, then stick the pan in the oven while it’s preheating. Total time-saver. Just mix it once during the pre-heating process.  I’ve made this cake in the skillet, and it tastes the same as with the non-stick pan. 
• I usually double or almost-double the pecans.  Don’t skip the toasting.  You have to toast them.
• The course cornmeal of which he speaks is labeled “polenta” in the dry goods section of my Whole Foods. The recipe works fine with the regular cornmeal that you buy for making cornbread.
• If your toothpick doesn’t come out clean, the cake is not even close to done.  If you’re worried about the top getting too brown, cover it with foil before you stick it back in the oven.  I have to bake mine for the recommended 45 minutes, and then cover and bake for another 15.  Maybe it’s my oven.
• I almost always use fresh cherries as opposed to maraschino.  The cake in this pic has maraschino.  It would taste great without the cherries if you don’t have any.
• While the pineapple ring/cherry combo might remind you of Thanksgiving, I assure you this is a perfect dessert for summer as well.

Seriously.  You have to try this.  And, by the way, it tastes even better after it’s been in the fridge overnight. Enjoy!!

I’m really liking these blog boards – I created them in part for people doing Project 365, but I like the idea of using them to showcase a few details from one event.  This one is from Zoë’s 6th birthday party, which we had here at the house with 6 other girls and one very awesome high school student who came to help with the festivities (thanks Claire!).  The party went over really well, so I wanted to share some of the funner ideas. Some photos…

I *think* you can click on that to see it bigger.  Anyway, here’s what’s what:

• the cake.  First of all, I know it looks like a cake wreck.  (Have you see that blog/book? Hysterical).  But the reason I’m posting a pic of it (besides the fact that Z loved it) is that  I HAVE TO SHARE this amazing fondant recipe with you! OMgosh if you ever worked with fondant you know how gross-tasting, expensive, and difficult to color it is.  This recipe is none of those things.  It’s made with a bag of marshmallows and some sugar.  I made this cake about 2 hours before the party and believe me I know it’s hideous, but the fondant was so easy to work with and covered so many mistakes that I so wish I had taken more time with the cake, because I think it could have been really beautiful.  But anyway, HERE is the link to the recipe – you can read all the comments too – I found some of them helpful.

 

• more on the cake. I didn’t actually bake this cake.  Faaaaaar too much effort.  I always buy an undecorated, giant sheet cake from BJ’s.  These things are awesome. They’ve got a layer of buttercream and they’re frozen, so they’re very easy to cut.  I cut this one into three flowers (yes, those are supposed to be flowers stacked on top of one another) and just covered them with the magical fondant.  The best thing about this process is that there’s a ton of extra cake leftover.  It’s all in little bits and makes a PERFECT strawberry shortcake trifle.  You can use this as a second dessert at the party, or just eat it all yourself like I did.  Here’s how to make it:

1. Get a box of Instant White Chocolate Pudding.  make it.  Set aside.
2. Whip up some whipping cream with some sugar and vanilla.  Set aside.
3. Slice a bunch of strawberries.  Set aside.
4. Gather up your spare cake parts and chop them all up into bite-sized pieces.

To assemble:  If you’ve got a trifle bowl, great.  Use it.  otherwise any old roundish casserole dish would be fine.  So, first spread a bit of the pudding on the bottom.  Then add a layer of cake.  Then more pudding.  Then add some strawberries.  Add a layer of the whipped cream.  Then more cake, more pudding, more strawberries, more cream.  Decorate the top with some cut strawberries.  Et voila, a quick, easy, and deeelicious dessert.

• the sugar flowers.  So, here’s another thing you can do with the magical fondant.  Again, keep in mind that I threw these things together in like 5 minutes with whatever I had laying around – imagine what you could do with a little planning?  So, I took my purple fondant, rolled it, dipped a flower cookie cutter in crisco and powdered sugar, and used it to cut these shapes.  Then I draped the flower over a gumdrop and let it dry. I’ll totally be doing this again – except I’ll add dried egg whites to the fondant so it dries quicker.  Love these!!

 

• the fairy crowns.  these were so easy and such a hit.  I did some prep work here before I gave them to the kids.  First I created a twisted circle of wire (you can use pipe cleaners too) and then I wrapped it in a strip of felt so it would be more comfortable to wear. (hot glue the ends in place).  Then I unstrung some leis that I bought at the dollar store, and put them in some bowls along with some pink pipe cleaners.  The girls strung the flowers onto pipe cleaners and then wrapped them (with help) around their pre-made crowns.  We then tied long strands of ribbon to the crowns.  They came out so cute – and what an inexpensive thing!  We made wands too, but I don’t have a photo of that.  We just hot-glued unfinished wood stars to dowels and gave the girls adhesive gems and paints and whatnot.  They loved that too.  All of this, by the way, was done at my dining room table on top of a disposible tablecloth for easy cleanup.  There was a second tablecloth underneath so the table wouldn’t be un-festive after removing the craft-ridden tablecloth.

 

• the favor bags.  well, here’s where you might think I’m a little crazy, but I sewed 11 of these bags and made the braided handles out of torn strips of the pink canvas. I based the pattern on a tutorial from Martha for a no-sew bag.  Except I sewed them.)  I then made a pretty fabric flower for each, and for the centers I made buttons with each of the girls’ names. Too bad only 6 girls showed up.  Why don’t parents RSVP these days? That’s another blog post.  Anyway we filled these with the usual junk, but the bag became part of the favor and hopefully something that the girls will keep and use.

 

• the decorations. (no photo – oh well)  We simply hung loads of crepe paper streamers in shades of green from each doorway, floor-to-ceiling.  I also made those giant tissue paper flowers ( the ball-shaped ones) and hung them from various places.  Simple, but it looked really cute.

 

• The thank-you’s.   My favorite part!  As the girls arrived, I took a photo of them on the couch.  I told them I had borrowed my camera from fairyland, and that it was a magic camera. It would magically turn them into fairies sitting on flowers, like the picture on Zoë’s invitation (see photo below).  After the party, I did some quick photoshopping with the layered file I saved from the invitation, and in no time each girl was transformed into a flower-sitting fairy. I then printed these onto the 3″  magnets and stuck them in the thank-you cards.  The girls definitely loved them.  Here’s what the invitation looked like – please don’t mind the absolutely cheesy poem:

Product used:  Worn Photo Overlay – Set One

 OK that about wraps it up.  I hope you’ll find some of these ideas useful for your very own crafy fairy party.  This’ll be the last year I can pull off a fairy theme – and 6 years old was pushing it.

Maybe soon I’ll actually post all the new products I’ve released since my last post.  Hmm.

Have a great week!  Off to watch LOST.

I know this is a digi/crafty blog…but most of my crafty friends also love baking.  And the end result of this recipe is certainly a thing of beauty, so here you go…

Plum Blueberry Upside-Down Cake!

I used the recipe from allrecipes.com, HERE.  BUT, I read through all 106 comments and chose to make the following modifications to the recipe, which resulted in nothing short of a heavenly cake:

• First, I didn’t find it necessary at all to use a springform pan OR to grease the pan…there’s enough butter in here!  I used a heavy duty teflon cake pan and the cake just fell right out of it.
• I did use butter instead of margarine. 
• I doubled the butter/brown sugar mixture, sort of.  Instead of 6T I used 5T, but I used 1/2c. of brown sugar.
• For the first try, I melted the butter/brown sugar mix in the microwave.  Worked fine.  For the next try, I put it in the cake pan and shoved it in the oven while the oven was preheating.  I’ll probably just keep doing it this way.
• Definitely you’ll want to add 1/4 tsp. cinnamon to the dry.
• To make my cake extra pretty, I arranged the outer circle of plums in a radiating pattern, like sun rays.  Then I arranged the inner circle in two concentric circles of sideways plums.  Like the photo in the allrecipes recipe.  In the remaining space, I added the blueberries…but..
• For my first try at this, I dumped all the blueberries in the center.  There were so many, the cake fell in the center when I inverted it.  So, I added only one layer of blueberries this time, and added the rest to the batter.  Much better.  If you do this, be sure to add 2T. additional flour to the dry.
• About that cook time…there is no way my cake would have set in 40 minutes.  Both times, I had to bake it for 45 minutes, then cover it with foil and bake it for an additional 15 minutes.  The toothpick should come out absolutely clean, or your cake will fall in the middle.
• I found this to be equally as good straight out of the oven, and three days later out of the fridge.  If it lasts that long.

That’s it!  If you like plums, you should try this.  Definitely.  Plums are in abundance around here at this time of year, so it’s a perfect summer recipe for us.  You could use any soft fruit though.  Have fun!