Once again, time to catch up

BIRTHDAY!! Last week was Calvin's birthday. I made cakes. Yes...more than one. The first cake was made to take to the FCR. To celebrate. And I am told that they like things that contain alcohol....so off to the Cambridge cooler I went in search of Baily's Caramel Irish Cream. Yea....for $26 a bottle....not going to happen. Especially since I was only using a small amount. However...I found a box of four little bottles....for only $10. SOLD! Off I went. Back into the little red car and and home to make frosting. So....here is cake #1. Baily's Caramel Irish Cream Cake.

Bailey’s Caramel Irish Cream Cake
Chocolate Cake(recipe follows)
Chocolate-Caramel Ganache(recipe follows)
Bailey’s Buttercream Frosting(recipe follows)
Store bought Caramel Sauce



Deeply Dark Devils Food Cake
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

11 TBSP unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/3 cups warm water


1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease two 9 inch cake rounds and dust with flour.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix to incorporate.
3. Beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Gradually add the sugar and beat on high speed for about 3 minutes. Add the cocoa powder and beat for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides with a spatula. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the vanilla. On low speed, add the flour mixture in three additons alternating with the warm water in two additions. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix at low speed for 30 seconds. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4. Bake cake for 45-55 mintues. Cool cake for 20 minutes after baking.
5. Remove cake from pan and let cool completely before frosting.
Source: The Cake Book by Tish Boyle


Bailey’s Buttercream Frosting
3 large eggs

4 large egg yolks

½ cup water

2 cups sugar

3 cups of butter, at room temperature

½ tsp salt

4 TBSP Bailey’s Caramel Irish Cream

Using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the eggs and yolks in a large bowl on high speed for about 5 minutes. In a medium saucepan, combine the water and sugar; simmer until it reaches the soft ball stage, registering between 234 and 240F on a candy thermometer. Immediately transfer the syrup to a large heatproof liquid measuring cup. In a slow, thin stream, add the sugar mixture to the egg mixture., mixing on low speed the entire time. Increase the speed to medium and beat about 7 minutes, until the syrup has cooled. Add the butter, half a stick at a time, beating on medium after each addition. Once all of the butter has been added, beat on medium speed until the frosting thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Stir in the salt and Irish Cream.


Chocolate-Caramel Ganache
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 cup heavy whipping cream

10 caramel candies, unwrapped

Place the chocolate in a medium bowl. Heat the cream and caramels over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the caramels have melted completely. Pour the hot mixture over the chocolate and stir until melted.
Source: Both Ganache and Buttercream are adapted from The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather with Alison Oresman


To Assemble: .
Take your two 9-inch cake and cut each one of those layers horizontally in half(so you should have 4 layers). Place the bottom layer on a cake plate. Spread a thick blanket of frosting on top. Add the second layer. This time spread the chocolate-caramel ganache on that layer. Place third layer on top of that and spread more buttercream. Place forth layer and frost the top and sides of the cake with remaining frosting. Drizzle store bought caramel over the cake, however much you would like. Place cake in refrigerator until ready to serve.



CAKE #2.



This was our birthday cake for the family. We have a tradition that we go out for dinner as a family for everyone's birthday. So...off to Red Robin we went because the famirefused Shushi....me included!

Deeply Dark Devils Food Cake
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

11 TBSP unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla

1 1/3 cups warm water

I will post the frosting at a later date. It is from Dorie Greenspans cookbook. It is the marshmallow frosting for the devils food white out cake.
The cake is topped with Seroogys Dark chocolate curls. YUM!
1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease two 9 inch cake rounds and dust with flour.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix to incorporate.
3. Beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Gradually add the sugar and beat on high speed for about 3 minutes. Add the cocoa powder and beat for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides with a spatula. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the vanilla. On low speed, add the flour mixture in three additons alternating with the warm water in two additions. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix at low speed for 30 seconds. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4. Bake cake for 45-55 mintues. Cool cake for 20 minutes after baking.
5. Remove cake from pan and let cool completely before frosting.
Source: The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

AND...Rhubarb Dessert....
Rhubarb Dessert:
Recipe adapted from: cooks.com

1 c. flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. butter
2 tbsp. milk
4 c. raw rhubarb, diced
1 (3 oz.) pkg. strawberry jello

TOPPING:

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. flour
3 tbsp. butter

Mix together flour, salt, baking powder, and butter; add egg and milk. Press into ungreased 9x9 pan. Cover with diced rhubarb. Sprinkle with dry gelatin.

Mix topping until crumbly. Sprinkle over top. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. Serves 9.