in search of the perfect vanilla cake

I’ve mentioned once or twice in the past that I’ve been on the continual search for a really great vanilla/butter/yellow cake recipe. And, though I’ve found good ones, I’ve never felt as though I’ve found THE one. My friends… the search is over. I have found the recipe I want to spend the rest of my life with.

I needed to make vanilla-vanilla cupcakes for a baby shower not too long ago and, since I didn’t yet have a go-to recipe, I spent some time on the interwebs doing some more vanilla cake research. Clearly I’m perpetuating my “last to know” status, because this recipe has been making internet rounds for years…. and I’m just picking up on it. Don’t judge. Better late than never, right? Right. I LOVE this cake. So much so that this is now my go-to vanilla cake recipe… at least until I finally pick up on the next big thing. But maybe even after that. We’ll just have to see.

Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Cupcakes
(recipe courtesy of Magnolia Bakery via Epicurious)
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20¢â¬â€œ25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (approximately 1 pound)
2 to 3 tablespoons milk

In large bowl, cream butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

happy holidays from me and the daring bakers

Two years ago this month, I joined The Daring Bakers. What an amazing time I’ve had since then… every month tackling a new challenge and having a great time meeting other wonderful food bloggers along the way. This month was no exception!

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

Considering this was my first foray into the land of gingerbread house construction, I decided to try the recipe from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book and, in a move completely out of character, got to work early in the month! It became clear pretty early on that this recipe and I were not going to get along very well… the dough was dry and crumbly — even after spending the night in the fridge — and I ended up having to add more water the next day and re-kneading the whole batch by hand. Not, by the way, my idea of a good time.

Though I didn’t have much trouble with the dough shrinking as it baked, I did have lots of issues with cracked pieces after they cooled. We spent a lot of time, and used a lot of royal icing, trying to mend the pieces back together so that we could use them.

Here’s how it all went down — mostly in pictures:

While I was busy on my side of the table …

… holding my breath and eventually meeting with success …

… my poor husband was on the other side of the table …

… using royal icing like spackle …

… trying to keep it all together …

… and reinforcing with whatever he could think of … until …

… the bittersweet end … when it all just sort of fell apart.

This is not to say my house came together without incident. It was quite a challenge starting out with almost twice as many pieces as we should have had.

But with slow determination … and with the encouragement of my husband who convinced me not to give up … we ended up with at least one (structurally flawed) gingerbread house.

Was it fun? Even in spite of the issues at every turn with the dough and baked pieces? YES.

Would I do it again? YES. But I’d use a different recipe. This one just wasn’t for me. (Visit our host’s blogs for challenge recipes if you’re interested.)

Thank you to Ana and Y for yet another fun Daring Baker adventure. I enjoyed making my first gingerbread house and I think there are definitely more in my future! To see how the rest of the gang fared, take a trip over to our blogroll and start clicking!

Happy Holidays, one and all!

Mexican Chocolate Christmas Cookies

We’re on the final stretch in the countdown to Christmas… are you ready? I’m happy to report that, at our house, all presents have been purchased, the tree is up and decorated, the Christmas cards are in the mail, Drop In & Decorate was a great success, and the abbreviated version of Holibaking 2009 is complete. I’m ready!

This is my last Christmas cookie contribution for the season. It’s been a busy month and, though I had big, big baking plans (as usual), in the blink of an eye December had zipped by. So, with one egg left in the fridge… this was the perfect recipe for me.

I’ve paired cinnamon and red pepper with chocolate many times in the past. But it had never occurred to me to add a dash of pepper to the mix as well. What a great idea! Everyone loved these cookies and we have just enough left to share with Santa on Christmas Eve. I hope he enjoys them as much as we have!

Mexican Chocolate Christmas Cookies
(recipe courtesy of Cooking Light)
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 dash black pepper
1 dash ground red pepper
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place chocolate in a small glass bowl and microwave at 50% power in 30 second intervals until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup and level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through red pepper) and stir with a whisk. Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixture at medium speed until well blended (about 5 minutes). Add egg and beat well. Add cooled chocolate and vanilla and beat. Add flour mixture. Beat just until blended – do not overmix.

Drop bough by level tablespoons 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper or silpats. Bake for 10 minutes or until almost set. Do not overbake.

Remove pans from oven. Cool cookies on pans for 2 minutes or until set. Remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack. Dust lightly with powdered sugar.

Yield: Approx 24-32 cookies

Drop In & Decorate… Cookies!

I had a pretty great childhood… I can’t remember a time when I didn’t feel loved, or secure, or encouraged by my family. And the holidays? Always a season of magic and love… and never without more than enough gifts under the tree. So it’s hard for me to imagine what it must be like to not feel and experience all of these things as a child… or to not enjoy the warmth of the holidays surrounded by people who love you. But, the reality is that there are many kids in this world who won’t be having a wonderful Christmas with their families. Kids who, instead, are spending it in a strange, new place… without many of the comforts of home… often not knowing whether they’ll return home to family or be placed into the foster care system. This is the reality of many of the kids who find themselves placed at the Northwest Arkansas Children’s Shelter.

As I mentioned earlier this week, after easily a full year of procrastination, I have finally hosted my first Drop In & Decorate Party! Drop In & Decorate, Inc. is a nonprofit organization founded by fellow foodie Lydia Walshin. Their mission is to help individuals build bridges of caring and respect between groups within their own communities… with cookies! It’s really a simple (yet brilliant!) concept: bake some cookies, invite friends or family (or neighbors, or co-workers) to stop in and help decorate, then donate the cookies to a local food pantry, emergency shelter, senior center, lunch program, or other community agency. Such a fun and easy way to put a little good back into the world!

I invited my friends Gretchen and Robin over for an evening of pom-apple cider, cookies, royal icing and crazy sprinkles, holiday tunes, and girl talk. We had a wonderful time and managed to decorate roughly six dozen cookies without making too much of a mess! The creativity was flowing and once we all became familiar with the in’s and out’s of decorating with royal icing, we turned out some lovely (and festive!) cookies.

I can’t believe I waited so long to try my hand at decorating sugar cookies… it’s so much fun! You can go crazy with color and decorations, or you can take the minimalist approach. It’s all good! And if you happen to take a wrong turn with your cookie and decide you don’t like the way it turned out… you can eat your mistake and move on to a new cookie! Brilliant!

I also can’t believe I waited so long to host one of these parties. Lydia has struck on a wonderful idea and it felt unbelievably good to drop those cookies by the Shelter and know that the 30+ kids staying there right now would be enjoying our beautiful cookies with their dinner that night. I can only hope that it made the staff’s day a little brighter and brought a little bit of happiness to the rather uncertain world of all of those beautiful children.

This is a great event to host anytime of the year. But if you’re looking for a great way to put a little holiday joy back into your community during the coming week, whip up a couple batches of cookies and spend a little time with your kids, neighbors, co-workers, family or friends decorating cookies and then donate them locally. I promise you’ll have a wonderful time and will love knowing that you’ve given something back to your community. I’m certain I’ll be hosting a party again soon!

Thank to Lydia for bringing us Drop In & Decorate, to Gretchen and Robin for being my partners in crime, and to Frankie and the rest of the wonderful staff at the Northwest Arkansas Children’s Shelter for providing such an important resource to hundreds of kids in need every year. Happy Holidays!

Sugar Cookies
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 egg
2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a large bowl/bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until fully combined. Add the flour mixture in three parts and beat until just combined, scraping down the bowl occasionally.

Roll out dough on a floured surface to approximately 1/4 inch and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Yield: 3-4 dozen cookies, depending on size

Royal Icing
(courtesy of Lydia @ The Perfect Pantry)
1 lb + scant 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
5 Tbsp meringue powder
1/2 cup cool water (add more, a teaspoon at a time, if needed for desired consistency)
A few drops of paste food coloring

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, combine first three ingredients and mix on low speed until glossy and fluffy, 7-8 minutes. To color, place some icing in a small bowl or plastic cup, and stir in a few drops of food coloring until desired shade is reached. Royal Icing hardens quickly when exposed to air, so use immediately, or transfer to an airtight container; it will keep overnight at room temperature. Beat well before using.

Yield: 2-1/2 cups, enough for one batch of large cookies.

giving back this holiday season

It’s easy to forget, as we’re wrapped up in the flurry of gift-giving, holiday-partying, and (at least for some of us) holibaking that the holiday season brings, that there are people all around us who aren’t blessed with the good fortune that we are. When I’m feeling stressed that the universe is not letting me have my way… or things are feeling unfair, I try to stop and take inventory of just how many good things there are in my life and just how lucky I am. I have many, many reasons to be thankful.

So this year, I’m channeling that perspective into a little holiday giving. And, if you’re looking for a fun and easy way to do the same, I encourage you to check out Drop In & Decorate and consider hosting a party of your own. More details on my party later in the week, but what a fantastic way to spend an afternoon with your family… your friends… your co-workers… your neighborhood kids… whatever group, large or small. And it’s perfect for the young, old, and everyone in between.

Though you’ll have a fabulous time, the best part is knowing that you’ve shared a little cheer with a nonprofit agency serving basic human needs in your own community… one of the best gifts you can give at this, or any, time of the year.

Lebanese Kebabs

Looking for something tasty and easy for dinner? Head over to FGG and check out yesterday’s Foodie Friday recipe… Lebanese Kebabs!

Peanut Butter Cup Drinking Chocolate

Are you ready for this? Peanut Butter Cup Drinking Chocolate over at FGG! An exercise in mindful decadence!