Baby Shower Cake

This cake was so much fun to do. My friend asked me to make a cake for a baby shower she was throwing for her friend who is having her first baby, a little girl. How exciting! I jumped at the opportunity and immediately dreamed up the design. She sent me a picture of the baby's crib bedding so I used that as a color and design starting point. A lot of work, I'm not going to lie - it's just me in my little kitchen, no staff of helpers to get the cake baked, filled, and dirty iced before the real fun begins with the decorating. Still I love the process, it's an outlet and when it turns out so fantastic, I enjoy it even more. Hope you like!!

(I'll post the lemon cake recipe in a future post, it was yummy :)

Black Forest Cake

Don't you just love how it looks - I love it when things just look so yummy you want to eat it right now! I first attempted this cake last year for my husbands birthday. While it tasted phenomenal, aesthetically it didn't do too well.

LAST YEAR'S CAKE MISTAKE!

This year for his birthday I was determined to redeem myself and create an authentic (with one major substitution) and aesthetically pleasing Black Forest Cake.

Start with a regular chocolate cake mix (I used Devil's food). Make it according to the directions (I used bean puree instead of oil). Bake 2 - 8 or 9 inch round layers. Let cool. Level the cake by trimming off the dome.

Ingredients:

1 can of tart cherries packed in water

Cherry pie filling

1 pint whipping cream

8 oz baking chocolate, semi-sweet or bitter-sweet

Process:

Make a simple cherry syrup - drain the tart cherries reserving the juice. Combine the cherry juice with equal parts sugar, heat on stove until the sugar is dissolved and then let it cool = simple cherry syrup. *Note - An authentic Black Forest Cake calls for Cherry Liquor or rum drizzled over the cake layers - I'm definitely NOT an alcohol person and using alcohol was not an option, thus I came up with the cherry syrup instead.

Make ganache: Bring 1 cup whipping cream to boil. Pour over chopped chocolate in large bowl. Let sit a few minutes then whisk until completely melted and combined. Let it cool and set up in the fridge.

Whip whipping cream until stiff peaks form, sweeten with sugar.

Assembly:

Pour several tablespoons of cherry syrup over both cake layers, allow the syrup to soak into the cake.

On the bottom cake layer, pipe a ring of ganache around the top rim forming a 'barrier' or 'dam'. Spread 2/3 of whipped cream over bottom layer inside the ganache barrier. Sprinkle several tart cherries on top of the whipped cream.

Place second layer of cake on top of bottom layer, making sure the top layer is upside down so the very top of the cake is completely flat and not domed.

Frost the sides only with ganache. Pipe a design around the bottom of cake with ganache (I made a normal shell border with a #32 tip)

Pipe a reverse shell border around top of cake with remaining whipped cream (I used a 2D tip for this). Fill in top of cake with cherry pie filling, keeping within border and not disturbing the whipped cream.

So yummy - don't you wish you had some right now!!

AND happy birthday to my wonderful, hardworking, sweet, loving, ever-faithful, patient husband of 10 years! Here's to a hundred more baby!! Love you!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

I really love artichoke dip. My husband and I order it at restaurants when we feel like splurging. I found this recipe years ago (allrecipes.com) and have made it a handful of times, I always get compliments when I make it. I think it ranks up there with the restaurants. You should try it!

1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped (apparently you can buy marinated and non-marinated - I have always used the marinated)

1/2 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup mayonnaise

4 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup grated Romano cheese (I used Italian cheese blend)

1 - 2 garlic cloves, minced

Combine all ingredients in small baking dish. Cover and bake at 375 until bubbly - about 25 minutes.

Couldn't be easier - seriously.

Cheese Bread

I found this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine. Loved it when I first made it, and then made it again today for company and everyone here loved it too. Good recipe! And what's so great is that it is a fast bread recipe, you only let it rise once for 20 minutes, so you can be from start to finish in less than an hour. Awesome!

1 cup warm water

1 tsp sugar

1 TBSP yeast

1 TBSP oil

1 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used bread flour and used way more than 2 1/2 cups - just keep adding a little at a time until it reaches the right texture - soft dough but not sticky)

In a bowl, combine water, sugar, and yeast. Add oil and salt. Add 1 cup of flour, mix well, keeping adding flour little by little until a soft ball forms. Knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place in a bowl, cover and let rise in warm place for 20 minutes (I always heat my oven on 350 degrees for exactly 2 minutes, turn off the oven and then let my dough rise in the warm oven, works wonderful! And I cover the bowl with a lid or with plastic wrap, never a towel, this keeps the moisture in better)

Place dough on a large cookie sheet or jelly roll pan greased with olive oil. Pat dough until it stretches to the edges of the pan.

Brush the top of your dough with olive oil, just enough to coat your dough, don't drown it. Combine seasonings:

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp dried thyme

1/8 tsp pepper

Sprinkle evenly over dough.

Add 1 - 2 TBSP grated parmesan cheese and 1/4 to 1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese (I used italian cheese blend) - sprinkle evenly over dough.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until golden brown.