Strawberry Shortcake Cake with Homemade Whipped Cream

Strawberry Shortcake has been one of my longtime favorite desserts, and is a long standing tradition for many a household. After I saw this on pinterest I decided that I’d take a crack at it. Those who partook in this cake LOVED IT!
Read before you start!

1. You must use a springform pan or a deep pie pin to bake this. It rises a lot and will spill over on a standard 9″
2. The consistency of the cake batter is very thick, don’t be alarmed!
3. If I had to guess right, a good light whipped cream frosting, or maybe a cream cheese frosting would go well with this cake.

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Ingredients – Cake

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/8 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 pound of strawberries, hulled and halved

Ingredients – Whipped Cream

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease 9 inch springform pan.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl.
3. In a larger bowl, beat sugar and butter with an electric mixer until fluffy.
4. Incorporate egg and milk and continue to beat until just mixed.
5. Introduce dry mixture until blended and scoop batter into springform pan.
6. Hull and half strawberries, then place them cut side down and press slightly into batter.
7. Bake cake for 10 minutes at 350°F, then reduce heat to 325°F and bake for an addition 50 minutes.
8. For the whipped cream, whip heavy cream until stiff, then incorporate vanilla and sugar.

Lemon Tart

Yes! I am back from my academic year of baking hiatus. I decided to start off this week with something a bit summery, because I was in the mood. This lemon tart was delicious. It is rather tart but if you like lemons, you’ll love this.

Read before you start!

1. If you do not have a tart pan, a pie pan will do just fine.
2. This recipe calls fro 3/4 cup of lemon juice. From personal experience, this is 4-5 medium lemons or 3-4 large lemons.
3. Its also nice to top this with some powdered sugar.

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Ingredients – Crust

• 6 tablespoon unsalted butter (divided)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup flour
• Zest 1/2 lemon

Ingredients – Lemon Curd

• 3/4 cup lemon juice (2-3 large lemons)
• Zest of a lemon
• 1 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks

Directions

1. Preheat over to 410°F.
2. In a pan, combine butter, oil, water, sugar, zest, and salt, and heat until butter is melted.
3. Add flour and stir into a ball.
4. Spread crust to pan and evenly coat bottom and push up sides about 1.5 inches.
5. Bake shell for 15 minutes then remove and cool.
6. Lower oven to 350°F
7. In a medium sauce pan combine lemon juice, zest, sugar, and butter. Heat on low.
8. In a small bowl, whisk eggs and egg yolks together.
9. After the butter has melted, slowly introduce half of the butter mixture into to egg mixture (to temper the eggs).
10. incorporate egg mixture into the saucepan, still heating over medium-low heat.
11. Stirring constantly, cook mixture over heat until small bubbles start ot form and the mixture thickens.
12. From the pan, pour the mixture through a strainer and onto the tart crust.
13. Place tart in oven for 5-7 minutes.
14. Remove from oven, cool for 15-20 minutes, and then chill for 1-2 hours before serving.

Granola – The double edged sword!

Dear Blog Patrons,

If you are like me, you absolutely love granola, and you realize that granola is a double edged sword because the high in fiber and protein promises are accompanied with a high calorie count. When or where it was decided that granola is a healthy snack is beyond me but I am here to help with this. As I am currently dieting (sort of) I tend to head for healthy snack, but am often deceived by the false promises of granola, often setting me back by 500-600 calories just for 1 cup of dry granola. Dont believe me? Look it up yourself. Regardless,  I hereby pledge to do my best in either finding the best low calorie recipe, or making one myself, that wont leave you grimacing at neither the taste nor the calorie count.

Your devoted blogger and cooking hobbyist,

Jeremy

The Trifecta Cupcake

These three flavors combined (banana, chocolate, and peanut butter) make an amazing edibile treat that will be loved by most.
Read before you start!

1. The chocolate can be left out, or incorporated however you wish (baked into cupcakes, mixed in with frosting, topped on cupcakes).
2. Nestle’s Chocolate Chunks (not chips)  hold up well while baking, maintaining their chocolaty texture.
3. If you decide to mix chocolate chips into frosting you will not be able to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.
4. If my imagination serves me right, this would also make a great cake and frosting combination

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Ingredients – Cupcakes

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 2 very ripe large bananas, peeled
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 t vanilla
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk

Ingredients – Frosting

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup smooth peanut butter
• chocolate chunks, or chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and place 12 muffin liners in muffin pan.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl.
3. Mash bananas and mix in sour cream and vanilla.
4. With an electric mixer, beat  butter in large bowl until fluffy, then incorporate sugar. Mix for 1-2 minutes.
5. Add in egg and egg yolk and beat until just blended.
6. Incorporate 1/3 of the flour mixture and 1/2 of the banana mixture, alternating until all is gone (flour, banana, flour, banana, flour).
7. Scoop batter into muffin liners (generous 1/4 cup for each).
8. Bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean (about 20 minutes).
9. Transfer cupcakes to rack and let cool completely.
10. To make the frosting, whip butter in a mixing bowl until consistency is fluffy.
11. Slowly incorporate powdered sugar
12. Stir in Cream Cheese and peanut butter.
13. After cupcakes cool frost them and top with chocolate (if desired, highly recommended).

Strawberry Topped Brownies

If you are looking for that perfect combination of chocolate and strawberry, look no further! The brownies are chewy and this recipe combination is one of a kind!

Read before you start!

1. Do not attempt to substitute margarine for butter in the frosting recipe. The consistency of the frosting will be different and so will the taste.
2. Be careful not to cook the brownies too long, otherwise they will turn out cakey.
3. If you do not have a food processor, an alternate method to pureeing strawberries can be to shred them and then mash them. The same concept is applicable.
4. A quart of strawberries is perfect for a single batch of this recipe.
5. The brownies are also very good on their own.

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Ingredients – Brownies

• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 sticks butter or margarine, melted
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup coacoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• dash of salt

Ingredients – Frosting

• 1/4 cup pureed strawberries
• 2 sticks butter (no margarine)
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tabelspoon vanilla extract
• dash of salt

Directions

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees and grease a 13×9 cake pan.
2. Combine sugar, water, and melted butter in a large mixing bowl. Stir in eggs and vanilla extract.
3. In a separate, smaller bowl, combine coacoa powder, baking powder, flour, and salt. Slowly stir dry mixture into wet mixture.
4. Spread into greased pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the clean toothpick trick works.
5. To make the frosting, whip butter in a mixing bowl until consistency is fluffy.
6. Slowly incorporate powdered sugar, about a cup at a time.
7. Stir in vanilla extract and pureed strawberries.
8. After brownies have been allowed to cool, frost them and top with sliced strawberries (if desired, highly recommended).

Lemon Lover’s Cookie Sandwich

Now I am a lover of most any cookie, but when you combine two of my favorite baking ingredients (lemon and shortbread), then you have a truly good combination

Read before you start!

1. Once the cookies are baked LET THEM COOL. The lemon buttercream filling will melt away quickly if you do not.
2. An alternative to this recipe would be to just make frosted cookies, and not sandwichiches. This would double your output if you are baking to feed a larger group.
3. When sandwiching, try to find two which are similar sizes.

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Ingredients – Cookies

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• zest of one lemon

Ingredients – Lemon Buttercream

• 1 3/4 cup confectioners sugar
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• juice of one lemon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. In a large bowl cream the butter, salt and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and lemon zest while stirring. Keep stirring and add flower and cornstarch until combined.
3. Roll small, roughly quarter sized balls and place them on wax paper.
4. Lightly press  each piece with a fork or your fingers (if you want no imprint) until it is more flat than rounded.
5. Bake for 25 minutes.
6. ALLOW COOKIES TO COOL COMPLETELY
7. Cream the sugar, butter and lemon juice together until light and creamy. spread the cream on one side of two  cookies then sandwich them together.

True Grit

★★★★★

True Grit tells the story of a courageous and outspoken girl named Mattie who is out to exact revenge on a man who killed her father. Alongside the U.S. Marhall Cogburn (Jeff Bridges!), she sets out on her adventure into the “Wild West”. This movie earns my Five-Star review for many reasons. First it successfully revives a timeless classic, which can be hard to do while captivating modern audiences and maintaining a story line. Second is the great balance between action and comedy, which is often vital to earn any viewers respect. Third, finally, and probably most important to the success of this film is the amazing directing done which has allowed it to completely transcend the typical “Western” movie cliché. Yes, as I sat to watch the movie, dreading the typical gun-slinging cowboy movies I’ve seen too often, I was taken by surprise with the actual content and not the clichés.