Spatulas, Corkscrews & Suitcases

DEVILS FOOD White Out Cake - TWD

                                   

Tuesdays With Dorie Devils Food White Out Cake
Thanks to Stephanie of Confessions of a City Eater for choosing Dorie's Devils Food White Out Cake last week. You can find the recipe on pages 247-249 in Baking: From My Home To Yours, or by going to Stephanie's blog.

This cake was a challenge for me, not because I can't make cake - I've made thousands of them - but because my Easy-Bake Oven only holds ONE (that's 1, as in ONE) 9" round cake pan at a time. I considered using a springform pan and cutting the cake into three layers, but that always meets with disaster, AND crumbs! 

                                                       


My solution was to either make cupcakes or improvise. Well, you know me. I'm the Queen of Improvisation! I used an 8"x8" baking pan for the cake. When it cooled down, I cut it in half lengthwise, and then cut those two pices in half through the middle to make 4 layers total.

Then I made the frosting which was VERY yummy! I layered and plastered the 4 cake layers together with the frosting, and pressed mini chocolate (Good, cheap chocolate!) to sprinkle on the top, and Viola! it was finally done!

                                                         

Oh, and then I made 10 cupcakes with the rest of the batter!
You gotta have cupcakes! What's life without cupcakes?

                                                                

Baker's Notes:

• I loved the shape of this cake! A round cake, while typically standard is, well, typical and standard. If I had made the regular round cake, everyone at the pizza party would have said, "Oh, nice cake." But, when I brought this one in to a full house, everyone said, "WOW! What a beautiful cake! Did you make that?" *blush, blush* (I didn't say it, but Of Course I Did!) The TALL rectangular shape with 4 layers, made this very elegant cake stand out and say WOW! It's nice to try something different once in a while.
• This cake took me ALL day to complete! That's not to say it would take YOU that long. It's just that with my limited oven capacity, and small galley space, it takes me much longer than everyone else. We'll just say it was a labor of love!
• And finally, make twice the frosting! You've heard me say it before, and I'll say it again. There's never enough frosting with Dorie's recipes...ever! Just double it at the beginning and you'll save yourself a boatload of trouble making anther batch later.

You can see the rest of the White Out Cakes by going to TWD blogroll, and of course by visiting Stephanie's blog.

Check out the rest of my articles on The Examiner and also Suite101!

                                                                             

WINE TASTING - Sauvignon Blanc - People's Liquor Warehouse, Rhode Island

                                            

We took this photo while we were in Amador County, California. It was crush time!

Wine Seminar & Artisan Cheeses
It's that time again! Time for a Wine Seminar at People's Liquor Warehouse in Warwick, Rhode Island! This Wednesday, February 25, 2009 at 6:00pm, Marc, the Wine Guy is planning to take us on an in-store wine tasting trip through New Zealand, France, Chile & the United States, tasting Sauvignon Blanc - the "other white wine".

                         
Narragansett Creamery
Joining him in this one hour seminar, will be Louella Hill of Narragansett Creamery. She'll be bringing a wonderful selection of their Artisan cheeses, specially paired with Marc's choice of Sauvignon Blanc wine. Narragansett Creamery is currently the only producer of cheeses in Rhode Island. Living in Vermont for almost 10 years spoiled us. Having an abundance of local artisan cheeses and our daily bread in our backyard was second nature to us. Not that we took it for granted, but it was an almost spiritual thing. Cows. Milk. Cheese. How much simpler can it get? Can't wait!

                                  

People's wine tasting & seminar are free, but please call ahead (401-737-0900) to confirm your spot. It's been so well attended the last few months, that there were people standing!  Seriously, I think there were more than 45 that came to the Valentine's Wine & Chocolate seminar! It's that good! You won't want to miss it!

See you there! Wednesday, February 25, 2009 at 6:00pm.

People's Liquor Warehouse, 1350 Greenwich Ave, (Apponaug) Warwick, RI, 02886, 401-737-0900

Permission to use copyrighted photos granted by Narragansett Creamery, Dearborn Street, Providence, RI, 02909, 401-272-4944 

BAKED AMISH OATMEAL

                                      

Don't Feel Guilty!
Now here's a couple of recipes that won't make you feel guilty about gawking at my blog, and drooling over all that frosting I put on my Red Velvet Cupcakes! And let's not forget the Nutella Chocolate Fudge Brownies!

Amish Baked Oatmeal
Amish Baked Oatmeal is a heart-healthy recipe, conjured up during our vegan years! Oh, the horrors! Can you imagine us being vegans? And yet, I can't deny that we felt the best during those 3 1/2 years. Then we got into catering, and life as we knew it suddenly changed. Although we eat our share of meat, dairy and junk food now, it doesn't hurt once in a while to eat something you can feel good about. As it is, we probably go meatless 2-3 days a week anyway. Not just for health reasons, but because of sheer laziness!

                                                    

Apple Strawberry Baked Oatmeal
When Erika from Stampin Mama (AKA one of my very talented daughters) was asked to share her Apple Strawberry Baked Oatmeal Recipe for Homespun Oasis - a new blog about Bringing you the BEST in Handmade - she asked me to dig out my own recipe for the family's favorite Baked Oatmeal. She wanted to cross link my recipe - in my long, out-of-print cookbook - with hers in Homespun Oasis. Warm fuzzy memories came flooding back. OK, so some memories weren't that great, but hey, I was talking about Baked Oatmeal!  At the time, we were living in Lancaster County, home of the Amish! For whatever reason, the recipes for Baked Oatmeal became Amish Baked Oatmeal. Who knows why? Maybe they invented the stuff. After all, it is a quick & easy, no-fuss, economical and time-saving recipe, and the Amish are known for their simplicity and frugality. Sounds good to me, I'll go with that one.

All the recipes were loaded with drippy, syrupy, fat-laden butter (not that I have a problem with that mind you), dairy and refined sugars. I had to find a way to make it healthier and still be absolutely delicious so the kids would still eat it! That's how this recipe for Amish Baked Oatmeal came to be. You don't have to make it with all the crunchy-granola alternatives. You can make it any way you like. I added optional ideas just in case.

                                                                       

Quaker Oats Says....
Improvise, play around with the recipe, make it your own! And you know what? Quaker Oats says, "More than 40 scientific studies confirm that eating oatmeal daily can help lower blood cholesterol, and can help reduce the risk of heart disease. Experts believe it is the soluble fiber (beta glucan) in oatmeal that helps reduce blood cholesterol levels. Oatmeal is more than a cholesterol-freefood." WOW!

Two Baked Oatmeal Recipes
There are two recipe links here. One is for Erika's Apple Strawberry Baked Oatmeal, and the other for my Overnight Amish Baked Oatmeal. Go take a look, they're both different enough to give you plenty of breakfast variety. Oh, and all the photos in this post were taken by Erika too. Let's give her a big round of applause!

                                                           

A WINNER! CakeSpy Cuppie Magnets

                                      

Congratulations To The Cuppie Winner!
Say good bye to Cuppie! He's going traveling again. This time his wicked cool adventure will take him all the way to Rebecca house! I have no idea where Rebecca lives yet, but I'll bet this will be his first visit to her town! Rebecca is the author behind Ezra Pound Cake, a wonderfully delicious blog! If you haven't been there yet, I urge you to go take a look at her beautiful photography and chuckle at her witty humor. She just did a Devil’s Food White-Out Cake with a Jeep and boulders on it, made out of fondant and Rice Krispies Treats®!

                                           

cakespy
Thanks also to Jessie from cakespy for sponsoring this giveaway! Her blog has always been an inspiration to me, and I've enjoyed watching Cuppie's adventures!

Here's Rebecca's comment and time stamp, and further down is Mr Random Generator's lucky number 34! I'll be emailing Rebecca to let her know when to expect Cuppie, and to make sure she has a spot waiting for him on her refrigerator when he gets there!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cuuuuuuute! What a fun giveaway.
Posted by: Rebecca | February 20, 2009 at 09:13 AM

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
34
Timestamp: 2009-02-22 07:15:40 UTC
© 1998-2009 Mads Haahr
Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional | Valid CSS
Web Design by TSDA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Again, Congrats to Rebecca! And thanks to Jessie from cakespy for giving us all delightful Cuppie cupcake smiles!

Watch Spatulas, Corkscrews & Suitcases for the next giveaway for Smith's Edge Knife Sharpeners!

SPICE CAKE with CARAMEL FROSTING

                                     

Spice Cupcakes with Penuche Frosting Recipe
The recipe for this Spice Cake is so easy, I can throw it together and get it in the oven in less than 15 minutes! In fact, the batter was in the pan before the oven was up to temperature! The brown sugar Penuche Frosting is so smooth it melts on your tongue, and sweet enough to set off the allspice, cinnamon and cloves in the Spice Cake. Together, they're a perfect match!

Penuche or Caramel Frosting?
Some people call it Penuche Frosting, and others think of it more as Caramel Frosting, but they're really one and the same recipe. It's not quite a buttercream, as the butter is melted and boiled with the brown sugar to give it that most delightful flavor of Grandma's caramel!

                                   

Dairy-Free Cake Recipe - Egg-Free Cake Recipe
This dairy-free cake mix truly is dairy-free and egg-free! The Spice Cake is made with cornstarch, vinegar and baking soda, which I suspect is how it rises and tastes so darned good and rich! And even though I made the Penuche or Caramel Frosting with butter and milk, you could make the whole cake  vegan by substituting margarine - vegetable or soy - and soy milk or water for the dairy products. Your choice! Either way, it'll cut down on some of the fat and cholesterol!

Calories? What Calories?
Now, I never said this Spice Cake with Penuche Frosting was fat-free or low calorie. But, I once heard a rumor that went something like this, "If you eat the Spice Cake standing up, there are no calories in it!" Yup! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

                                                           

Examiner.com - Providence Edition

                                 

Are You A Freelance Writer?
If you love to write, I came across a great online outlet for writers and a great way to make some extra money.

According to Amy from the Examiner, "Examiner.com is becoming the leading online site for local news and information. We are specifically looking for people who want to write and share their knowledge as a Local Examiner at the Providence Edition of Examiner.com. (They are looking in over 60 cities nationally)

As an Examiner you will have a great opportunity to inform others about a subject you love and to promote yourself and, further your career. The talented people we’re looking for have local expertise in one of the following subjects:

1. Arts and Entertainment 2.Bars and Clubs 3.Business and Finance 4.Careers and Workplace 5. Neighborhoods and Communities 6. Education and Schools 7. Family and Parenting 8.Fitness and Weight Loss 9.Food and Drink 10.Games and Hobbies 11.Health 12.Home and Living 13. News 14.Pets 15.Politics 16. Style and Fashion 17.Recreation 18.Relationships 19. Religion and Spirituality 20.Restaurants 21.Shopping 22.Sports 23.Gadgets and Tech 24.Transportation 25.Travel."

You can visit the site and apply for all 60 cities by going to:

About Examiner.com

Oh, and when you do, please enter Donna Diegel #4208, on the bottom of your application. That's me!

photo-rolve,sxc

GIVE-AWAY! CAKE SPY MAGNETS

                                        

CAKESPY- Another Giveaway!
Jessie, AKA "Head Spy" from cakespy.com, has graciously sponsored our next giveaway! If you haven't seen Jessie's blog, cakespy, you just have to stop what you're doing right now, and go take a look. It's one of the best cupcake blogs in the blogosphere today! Jessie's artwork is adorable. Her Cuppies have real cupcake  personalities. There are sweet Cuppies and very naughty Cuppies, and they all have wicked cool adventures.

What Do Cuppies Do?
They go shopping, sit in cafes with their cuppie friends, visit other bakeries, and even fall in love and get married! They've traveled to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower, gone shopping in New York City, visited the Space Needle, and Cuppie's even gone to the beach in a bikini!

Jessie's artwork is for sale through her Etsy shop. She has framed and matted prints, assorted sets of the cutest notecards, greeting cards, magnets from London, Paris, Seattle, and even Cuppie T-Shirts! Go and order something for a friend, for a gift, heck, order something for yourself!

                                                              

CakeSpy Dome-Topped Magnets
In Jessie's words, "Totally sweet! This is a 4-pack of super strong dome-topped magnets featuring the cutest and sweetest little carb-eater ever: Cuppie! In this cute set of magnets, the little cupcake is eating some delicious carb-o-licious foods including buttered bread, pumpkin pie, waffles, and spaghetti! Each magnet is 1 inch in diameter, and they come in an attractive clear clamshell box with a pretty pink-striped backing paper. The magnets themselves are super-strong; each one can hold up a couple of sheets of paper, and are sleek and well-designed."

These oh, so cute cakespy Cuppie Eating Carb magnets, NEED to be on YOUR refrigerator, stove, mixer, file cabinets or anything else that magnets stick to! AND, we'll also include Cuppie's bookmark and a few mini postcard size prints too!

RULES:
The rules are simple. US & Canada entries only. No duplicate comments. We'll use Mr. Random Generator like we did with the Lake Champlain Chocolates, and the Hello, Cupcake! give aways. I'll pick the winner this Friday, February 20th, 2009, midnight EST. I'll email the winner and post it here too.

Leave a comment on this post only. Tell me how cute Cuppie is! Then, tell all your friends. Tweet about it on Twitter. Better yet, Follow me on Twitter! Add a link on your Facebook page. Just get the word out because I have lots more coming!

HELLO, CUPCAKE WINNER!

              

Congratulations!
We have a winner for the most adorable cookbook ever, HELLO, CUPCAKE! The Super Duper Random Generator picked #43.  Congratulations Debbie! Your number was #43.  Go take a peek at Debbie's blog, Suburb Sanity. I've already enjoyed pouring through her posts, and I know you will too!

Here's Debbie's comment and the time stamp.

"I love a nice vanilla cupcake with a buttercream frosting. Simple but delicious."
Posted by: debbie | February 10, 2009 at 07:15 AM

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
43
Timestamp: 2009-02-15 20:35:17 UTC
© 1998-2009 Mads Haahr
Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional | Valid CSS
Web Design by TSDA

Let's all congratulate Debbie! We'll all be expecting to see cute & cuddly cupcakes appearing on your blog, Suburb Sanity in the near future!

Just a quick note --- I really do try to reply to everyone that leaves a comment. However, this time the give away got away from me! I did read each and every one though, and some of them were so good and yummy, I wish I had a pile of books to give to each one of you!

It seems the number one favorite was Chocolate, followed by Yellow, and then Red Velvet Cake. I made Red Velvet Cupcakes last week. They were deliciously  moist and so easy to make. Here's the link, so please go help yourself and enjoy!

Check back tomorrow for the next giveaway. I have cookbooks, refrigerator magnets, knife sharpeners, pasta, kitchen gadgets, etc to give away this month and the next, so make sure you watch this blog. Put it in your favorites or Google Reader!

RED VELVET CAKE for Valentine's Day

                               

Red Velvet Cupcakes ---Sweet!
A baker knows how to measure ingredients; flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. Sometimes the cup is short, other times it's filled to over flowing. But, True love can't be measured with a measuring cup. That's where some awesome Red Velvet Cupcakes come in handy! Feeling blue? Have a cupcake! Got great news? Have a cupcake. Found out you're pregnant? Have a dozen cupcakes! They really do make life worth living, especially the Red Velvet Cupcakes!

Heart Shaped Red Velvet Cake
As Valentine's Dat got closer this year, I missed making the heart shaped Red Velvet Cakes we were so well know for in Vermont. Thing is, we always got orders for hundreds, which to many of you would say, "That's a good thing, right?" YES, and NO! You see, we decorated them ALL by hand. Everyone of them were personalized with a loving, or not so loving, sentiment.

Wilton Heart Shaped Non-Stick Pans
I loved these pans! They were clean and shiny, and for the most part, the cakes slid right out of the pans. There were 6 hearts to a pan, and we had 4 pans, so we were in business. John made the batter and baked them, and baked some more, and baked again, and again, until we had enough for our orders, and then some. 

                                       

The Cake Assembly Line
The cakes were popped out of the pans and placed upside down on sugar-dusted parchment lined baking sheets. Then they wre frozen over night. That made it easier to ice and decorate. In the morning, John would trim the bottoms so they layed flat. He than iced them tops and sides, and placed them back on the sheet for me. He'd lick his fingers, I would get after him, it was the things memories were made out of!

                                                                        

Can I Take Your Order, Please?
I had my pastry bags, each one with a small star tip, and the other had a round writing tip. I piped a border all around the top of the cakes. Very simple but it gave it a finished look. Next was time for the messages. We would take specific orders with names of loved ones, something funny or something off-the-wall. I did put my foot down though, when I was asked to do some REAL naughty things.  Nope, not going there! If I felt wide awake (which was questionable), I would make red rosebuds with green leaves. They were so sweet and cute!

                                                                     

The Cakes With No Names
After all the ordered cakes were done, I had my fun! I had a whole slew of slogans and sayings I thought up. Some were the standard messages like "I LOVE YOU" or "Be MINE". But then I got my mo-jo on, and started writing, "TONIGHT?", and "HOT STUFF", or "YES, YES, YES!". That lead to "BITE ME", and "RED HOT", or "ON FIRE", and "OH, BABY!" You get the picture? Every Valentine's Day, we'd go into all our regular stops with blank cakes, and the customers would tell us what they wanted. I did this ON THE SPOT, in the ice cold van with numb hands (remember, it was February in Vermont). John and Brad would bring the list out to me, and after blowing on my hands for 5 minutes, I could get them to work my magic with the pastry bag. And, when I say we did hundreds, I mean hundreds!

                                              

Do I Miss Playing Bakery?
Yes, I do. I asked John that question the other day. He didn't even hesitate. It was a very firm, NO! He loved making the customers happy, but hated the LONG hours, like 40-48 hours without sleep. We were like the walking, talking, decorating dead! But everybody was happy. And, I'll bet if we walked back into those businesses tomorrow, it'd be like old times again. We'd be sold out in a matter of hours! To the good times! If anyone from Burlington, Shelburne, Charlotte, Ferrisburg, Vergennes, Panton or Middlebury are reading this, "HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY - WE MISS YOU!"

                         

                                                 

Red Velvet Cake Recipe
Oh, you were wondering where the Red Velvet Cake Recipe with Cream Cheese Frosting was? As usual, run on over to Suite101, and it's right there, ready for you to crank up the oven and get baking. Print it off for yourself, email it to a friend and tell them you love them! All the buttons are at the bottom of the recipe. Click away happy bakers! Click away!

LOVE, DONNA - XOXO

                                                                       

NUTELLA ROUND-UP!

                

Ahhhh....NUTELLA!
On February 5th, over 100 Nutella addicts came out with their oven mitts on and their sleeves rolled up to celebrate World Nutella Day 2009! You should see all the creative things  bloggers from all over the world made with their jars of Nutella. Cookies, croissants, muffins, puddings and!  Cheesecakes, waffles, crepes, truffles, and, I kid you not, even grilled Nutella sandwiches and chicken enchiladas! Oh, and don't forget my NUTELLA CHOCOLATE FUDGE BROWNIES!

There were so many entries, that Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy posted half the Nutella photos, and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso posted the other half!

And, if that's not enough, Sara shares: Types of Nutella Lovers and 50 Ways to Eat Nutella! And wait, there's more! Michelle wrote up a post: Top 10 Signs You’re Addicted to Nutella! Ya think?

   

                                

I don't often buy Nutella, but when I do, it usually shows up in some sort of dessert. Are you surprised? Now that I have another gazillion ideas, I'll have to buy another case or two! And when I do, you can bet I'll be posting the photos to tempt you some more!