TRIPLE SALTED CARAMEL CAKE

I would like to start off by saying GOOOO COWBOYS!!! We beat the Skins last night- sigh.. so nice!

Now, back to the topic at hand-- I made this cake for my bday and have yet to put the recipe up... so here you go, I introduce to you, the TRIPLE SALTED CARAMEL CAKE!!  My friend Sara made this and referred me to this recipe They make cupcakes, but I was more in the mood for cake!  It's a bit overwhelming seeing it in recipe form but once you get started it turns out to be fairly simple!

Cake Batter:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

Cream butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until pale fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated.  Add vanilla.  Mix and scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and beating until combined after each.

Bake for about 25 minutes. When done, transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes.

Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting:

1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 stick salted butter
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar 

In a saucepan, stir together granulated sugar and water.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat.  Cook without stirring until mixture turns a deep amber color.  Remove from heat and slowly add in cream and vanilla, stirring until very smooth.  Let caramel cool for about 20 minutes, until it is just barely warm and still pourable.

In a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and salt together until lightened and fluffy.  Reduce speed to low and add powdered sugar.  Mix until thoroughly combined.

Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the caramel.  Beat on medium high speed until light and airy, and completely mixed (about 2 minutes).  Mixture should be ready to use without refrigeration.  If your caramel was too hot when added, it will cause your icing to be runny.  If this happens refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.

Candied Salted Caramel Rounds
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 cup water
2-4 tablespoons of large-crystal sugar

Lay out a large piece of parchment on your work surface and spray with cooking oil (such as canola). Fill a large tub (or your sink) partially full of ice water.

Put sugar, salt and cold water in a heavy pan; stir over low heat until sugar dissolves.  Increase heat and bring syrup to a boil.  Lower heat slightly and swirl the pan once or twice as the syrup caramelizes so it will color evenly; do not stir.  When the caramel is deep amber, plunge the base of the pan into ice water for about 2 seconds to stop further cooking.

Working quickly, dip a spoon in the caramel and let it fall onto the parchment paper in a drizzle.  Move the spoon in a circular motion as the syrup falls from the spoon. Repeat 15 times.  When caramel has hardened (it will still be sticky) sprinkle on the large-crystal sugar.  Remove from paper and top the cake!  I had a a wee bit of a hard time with these -- Ry is more steady/gentle handed so he had to offer assistance! :) THANKS!

If you love or even like caramel highly recommend baking away!!!

Bday recipes-- Jenna's treat!

Jenna requested a light summer treat-- nothing too heavy!  I had just the perfect concoction in mind!! This recipe can be executed in a bunch of different ways-- I decided to go the bite size route since we were eating dinner out!  This recipe is extremely simple and one that EVERYONE loves!!  The crust is composed of just a basic sugar cookie!

Sugar Cookie 

1 1/2 c unsalted butter, softened 

1 c sugar 

1 egg 

2 tsp vanilla extract 

4 1/2 c all-purpose flour 

1/2 tsp salt

Cook at 350F. 

In a bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy; beat in egg and vanilla extract. On low, beat in flour and salt. Divide dough in half; shape each half into a 1/2-inch-thick disk. Wrap in plastic wrap; chill until firm. On floured surface, roll dough 1/8-inch thick; cut into shapes. Transfer to ungreased baking sheet. Bake until lightly golden around the edges, 10 minutes. just your basic sugar cookie

Allow cookies to cool then add your fixings! :)

Cream Cheese Topping

4 ounces cream cheese

1/3 c sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Blend together until smooth.  Add this to the top of your cookies and sprinkle with your favorite fruit! AND HAPPY BDAY BIB!!

Bday recipes-- Tony's yellow cake

Tony, my boss, likes to keep things simple so he requested a basic yellow cake with chocolate icing! I couldn't keep it that simple so I kicked up just a notch! Take a lookski!

Yellow Cake recipe:
2 c of cake flour (4 tbsp of cornstarch fill remainder of measuring cup with regular flour)
2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c butter
1 c sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 c milk

Preheat oven to 350F

In bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt with a wire whisk.Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and mix until completely combines. Slowly add flour alternately with milk. At end of addition batter should be smooth. Bake Yellow Cake Recipe for 20 to 25 minutes. Link to recipe I used

I doubled this recipe for an EXTRA EXTRA big cake :)  Turned out great!  Allow both cakes to cool!

Coffee Butter-cream Filling
1/2 c butter, softened
1 1/2 c confectioners sugar
1/4 cup strong brewed coffee

Top one of the cakes with this then stack and ice the rest of the cake with Chocolate frosting!

Chocolate Frosting
1/2 c unsalted butter at room temperature (key that its unsalted real butter!)
2 c powdered sugar
3 tbsp cocoa powder
4 tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

I sprinkled the top with the confectioners sugar to add a pretty little touch!!  Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream and you have yourself a nice little treat!!!!

Nameless Dessert

Hiiii guyss!!! Happy Friday!!!! It's finally here! I feel like it has taken forever to get here!

Last night I was graced with the presence of my bestest friend from HS Stephanie Renee! It is so amazing how you have connections with people that never change!! Even though we haven't seen much of each other over the past couple of years, every time we get together we pick up right where we left off-- its such a great feeling!!  So to treat Steph I decided I had to make something a little special :)  Combining as many flavors as possible-- that would taste good together obviously! So here is what I came up with-- I really need help naming the cake-- all suggestions are welcomed!! :)  Send them on over!!

Cake ingredients:
2 c sugar
4 eggs
2 1/2 c flour
1 c milk
3/4 c veggie oil
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c diced cherries (used the pencil technique again to remove pits :) )

**Combine sugar and eggs until the mixture becomes a yellow runny consistency. Add flour, milk and veggie oil, mix well (1-2 minutes with mixer).  Sprinkle in baking powder, vanilla and lastly cherries blend another 1-2 minutes.  Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes.  I chose to go the double decker route! :)  MORE IS ALWAYS BETTER :)


Chocolate Filling and Icing
1/2 c unsalted butter at room temperature (key that its unsalted real butter!)
2 c powdered sugar
3 tbsp cocoa powder
4 tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

** Whip all ingredients together until you get stiff peaks.

Almond Cream Cheese Icing
4 ounces cream cheese
2 c powdered sugar
1 tsp almond extract

**Whip all ingredients together until the stiff peaks show! 

Assembly required:)  Spread chocolate icing on top of one of the cakes sprinkle with chocolate chips :) EXTRA CHOCOLATE-- can't go wrong! Stack second cake on top and ice the sides with more chocolate icing!  Ice the top layer with the almond cream cheese icing.  To create a nice presentation sprinkle with diced cherries and lemon zest!  Slice and serve-- yummmmmyyy gooood!!!! 
Take a lookskie for your self!!! 

HOPE Y'ALL ENJOY-- Send over your suggestions for names... Can't wait to see what y'all come up with!!!
B

Brittany's BlueBerry Puddin' Bites

Happy hump day!! Hope y'all have been having a great week thus far!  Last night around 8:30 I became a weee bit antsy-- shocking I know!!! So decided that I would bake something to share with you guys!! I combined a few recipes I have used in the past as well as some I've been wanting to try for quite some time!  What I came up with is a heavenly pudding cupcake/shortcake type thing with blueberry topping topped with a cream-cheese honey almond icing!!  Needless to say it's very sweet but still has a sense of freshness and goodness from the blueberries!  I made them in a smaller cupcake pan to create a bite-size appeal!  The recipe is as follows:

Cupcake ingredients:
2 c of flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 c butter
2 large eggs
2 tsp almond or vanilla extract (I used almond since I used almond in the icing)
2/4 c milk
1/4 c vanilla instant pudding
1/4 c whipping cream

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.  In a separate bowl combine butter (I melted mine to better mix), eggs, almond and milk.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.  Once fully incorporated slowly add instant pudding mix. Mix to make sure all ingredients are combined.  As a last step whip in the whipping cream.  The mixture will be slightly runny but that is what we are going for.  This will cause the cupcakes to sink in the middle verses rising; creating a little pouch for all of our toppings!!! OH and extra extra moisture-- believe me its heavenly!!!  Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes until the tops are golden brown :)

Blueberry topping ingredients:
1-1 1/2 c blueberries
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp lemon
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
2 tsp honey

Place blueberries in blender and blend until you get a syrup consistency I recommend pulsing so that you don't end up with soup haha!  Add other ingredients and mix until fully combined.

Cream Cheese Honey Almond Icing
8 ounces of cream cheese (room temperate-- sit out on counter while making cupcakes)
1/2 c butter
1 tsp almond extract
2 tbsp honey
1/4 c confectionery sugar

I wish there was a button you could click on that would send you a treat.. Perhaps one day!! ;) ENJOY!