Grooms Cake

I made my first grooms cake this past June. It was so much fun and stressful. Transportation is so nerve racking!!

It was a three tiered chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, chocolate pralines cookies and grated semi-sweet chocolate. Topped with two toy Harley's, requests of the Groom.

There's me!!

I transported the cake unassembled. When I got to the lake house where the wedding was held, I put the cakes together and fixed any mess ups in the icing. I also had my mom break the cookies so they didn't have that "perfect" look to them. Then I stuck them to the cake, and grated a chocolate candy bar over top.

Making cakes for people is something I want to do for the rest of my life. So if you know someone who needs a cake, or you want a cake for your next party, let me know and I would love to do it for you.

St. Patricks Day Dinner with Friends

Chicken en papillote with Mashed Potatoes, 

           Green Pear & Celery Salad,and Chocolate Cupcakes.

                 (oops! forgot to take a picture of the salad)   

Ok, well I really didn't make this whole meal , but I helped.  This is my Mom's recipe which I think is one of her best.  After this has been cooking for about 15 minutes you get this amazing aroma from the kitchen, I can't describe it... it's just wonderful! 

Ribboning the vegetables is the best way to to make this dish.  You can always slice the vegetables on the diagonal which is also very pretty, but make sure whatever you do that they are all the same size so they cook evenly.

After cutting the pieces of parchment into large hearts, place the chicken on one side, add your spices and then start putting on your beautiful vegetables. Then you are going to start closing the packets by crimping the sides all the way around.                                                                                                                     

can you tell my sister loved her new fingernail polish??

Chicken en papillote

                                Boneless skinless Chicken breast                                                                                Salt                                                          

 Pepper

Herbes de Provence

White Balsamic Vinegar 

Carrots 

Zucchini 

                  Parsnips ( a wonderful addition to this meal)

Put the chicken on the parchment paper hearts; sprinkle salt, pepper, and the herbes on the chicken. Wash all the vegetables and peel the root vegetables, then start ribboning using the vegetable peeler.  Add extra virgin olive oil to veggies and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  After you drizzled the chicken with the vinegar, put the vegetables on the chicken and start closing the packets. Put them all on a baking sheet and cook at 400 for about 30 minuets.

 

The chocolate cupcakes are simple. Just use your favorite chocolate cake recipe, and then I use the Wilton Buttercream icing. Sorry Crisco users I don't use any Crisco in my icing, I just substitute it for butter. This is the best icing of all time so I highly recommend using it!! The color, obviously is totally up to you.   I would like to thank my Mom and sister for their gorgeous hand modeling  for this post!                                                                                                                                      

Flourless Chocolate Cake

 To be honest I dont think I'm a great cook, baking on the other hand, different story! I love to bake, I love to do it when I'm bored, when I'm hungry, when there is a special occasion, and mostly when I should be doing something else. Baking is very relaxing and also stressful at times. When I go somewhere and see the "oh so perfectly made" store-bought cake, I always think, "Why could they have not spent the  short amount of time it takes to make one from scratch that looks just as beautiful?" 

The cake below is a perfect example of that, the prep time was about 20 minuets.  It would have been shorter but I don't have a microwave, so I melted the chocolate over the stove (which I think is a better way of doing it anyway).   You can eat this hot or cold and you really can't mess this up. This cake makes a great birthday cake.  It's easier than a regular chocolate cake because there is less measuring.  The recipe said it would only feed 8 but I got 16 hearty slices out of it. Enjoy!! 

                                                

                                       Flourless Chocolate Cake

                     6 tablespoons unsalted butter

                     8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

                     6 eggs, separated

                    1/2 cup sugar

                     

Butter the sides and bottom of a 9 - inch spring-form pan. Set aside.

Place the butter and chocolate in medium size sauce pan. On medium /low heat, melt the chocolate and butter stirring until completely melted.  Let it cool slightly, then add the egg yolks. In a large bowl,  beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Slowly add sugar, and then continue beating until  glossy stiff  peaks are formed.  Gently fold  in 1/4 of the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the rest (Do not fold too much or the egg whites will deflate).  Pour the batter into the pan and smooth with a rubber spatula. Bake in the oven at 275 degrees,  for 45 to 50 minutes. After the cake has cooled, sprinkle a light dusting of powdered sugar.