Birthday Goodies

To console myself after my macaroon failure, I thought I'd post a couple of recent culinary triumphs! I made two delicious creations for my birthday this year...

For the family party, I made a yummy New York Style Cheesecake. I think this was the first America's Test Kitchen recipe I ever made. This was my fourth time making it and it is totally reliable and 100% delicious!



For the party with pals, I made a Vanilla Cake with Grand Marnier Syrup, Raspberries and Vanilla Frosting. The cake and frosting were from ATK. I brushed the syrup into the cake before assembling and nestled a few strawberries between the layers. This cake is inspired by a fabulous D-Bar creation. My version didn't match exactly, but was tasty nonetheless.

The Culinary Apocalypse

I consider America's Test Kitchen to be basically infallible when it comes to cooking and baking. That's why I was shocked - SHOCKED - when an ATK recipe failed me this weekend! I tried to make macaroons and this was the result:

What the heck?! The goo binding all that coconut together just separated out, pooled and burned. So sad! I just don't know how to make sense of a world where America's Test Kitchen fails me. It's a very simple recipe and I followed it precisely. Perhaps it's an altitude thing?? I just don't know!!!

Random food encounters this weekend

1. Why would a fast food restaurant ever make a soft drink container that doesn't fit into cup holders? I just came back from Burger King with a medium and a small drink for my parents. While the drink carrier they gave me is perfectly fine for carrying the drink out of the restaurant, it doesn't realize stabilize the drinks once I got them onto my car. I tried putting both drinks into the cupholder, but the medium drink didn't fit at all (aren't those 7 Eleven super gulps constructed so they can still fit into the cupholder?). It seems like Burger King bought unused movie theater drink cups and just printed their own logo on it.

I did try putting them on the floor on the passenger side, but they flipped over after the second or third turn in the parking lot. Grrr.

2. Clam pancakes.

My mom and I went to the Original Pancake House for breakfast yesterday. I had a baked pancake (the Dutch Baby) that was pretty good, but it tasted more eggy than your typical pancake.

My mom opted for the clam pancakes. I was really skeptical but they actually tasted good. The clams were cooked enough that they didn't taste too clam-y (didn't taste salty and sea-like). The pancakes were thin, their texture and taste were more like crepes than the fluffy pancakes we make at home, and the clams were layered between the thin layers of pancake.

Maybe I'll try the bacon waffles next time (yes, with the bacon mixed into the batter).

Birthday cake for my dad

Thanks to Nancy for the extremely yummy buttercream frosting recipe. It's amazing what three sticks of butter and that much powdered sugar can accomplish. The Christmas plate was the only large round plate I had that I could use to try to emulate Nancy's "spin and frost" moves that I remembered from Mame's wedding.

The three layers, from top to bottom, are yellow cake, fudgy brownie, and red bean cake. I was a little nervous about all the diffrent flavors and textures (spongy, solid, springy/bouncy/gooey) but it turned out well.

If you stop by tomorrow I'd be happy to serve you a piece :)

Cup o' Cake

Yesterday, I stumbled across this recipe for cake-in-a-mug. So I tried it last night!

Who hasn't found herself craving some chocolate cake, but with none on hand and no time to bake?! Here's the solution: an individual chocolate cake that you can bake in less than 5 minutes, start to finish (Take that Rachael Ray!).

The recipe:
4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 egg
3 Tbsp milk
3 Tbsp veg oil
3 Tbsp chocolate chips (or other candy of choice)
splash of vanilla

Combine dry ingredients in a coffee mug. Add the egg and mix (the mixture will be pasty and seem all wrong, but just hang in there). Then add milk and oil and stir. Mix in chocolate chips and vanilla. Microwave on high for 3 min. in a 1000 Watt microwave, or 4 min. in a 700 Watt microwave. Enjoy!

Here's what mine looked like when it was finished (forgive the crappy photo quality, my camera is on the fritz so I was reduced to my phone camera):

I decided it needed some ice cream to go along with it:

The cake itself is pretty dense and a little bit tough. We're not exactly going to be putting the D-Bar out of business with this one. But for a last-minute chocolate craving fix, it does a decent job. I might try fiddling with the recipe a bit to see if I can get a better result. Will post updates if I have any success!