Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting

It's that time of month again where Daring Bakers all over the world are posting another fabulous recipe chosen by a new monthly host. This month our host was Shuna of Eggbeater and helping her host was Alex of Brownie of the Blonde and Brownie duo and Jenny of Foray into Food.

The cake was very easy to make and I impressed myself with making caramel syrup. I actually had to make it twice because I had a dumb moment of pouring the hot syrup into my plastic strainer. So R.I.P. dear strainer! Ignore the Happy Birthday on the cake I made the cake for my brother-in-law's birthday so my husband and I wouldn't get stuck eating the whole thing. The only change I made was after it was forsted I covered the sides in ground toasted pecans. I thought the flavor of the toasted pecans and caramel went very well together.

CARAMEL CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

(Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting is courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon as published on Bay Area Bites.)

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)

2 each eggs, at room temperature

splash vanilla extract

2 Cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup milk, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350FButter one tall 9" cake pan.

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth.

2. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.

3. Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl.

4. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.

5. Sift flour and baking powder.

6. Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dries.

7. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time.

8. Add another third of the dries, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dries. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, drry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}

9. Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds. making sure batter is uniform.

Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it. Cake will keep for three days unrefrigerated.

CARAMEL SYRUP

2 Cups SUGAR

1/2 Cup WATER
1 Cup water for "stopping"

1. In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand.

2. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush.

3. Turn on heat to highest flame.

4. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.

5. When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and prepared to step back.

6. Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}

For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.

CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

12 tablespoons UNSALTED BUTTER

1 Pound CONFECTIONER'S SUGAR, SIFTED

4-6 Tablespoons HEAVY CREAM

2 teaspoons VANILLA EXTRACT

2-4 Tablespoons CARAMEL SYRUP

Kosher or sea salt to taste

1. Cook butter until brown.

2. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.

3. Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.

4. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner's sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks to0 chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner's sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.

Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light.

Since I had some leftover caramel syrup I drizzled it on the bottom cake layer before I put a layer of buttercream on.

Don't laugh at my ghetto cake frosting stand! I really want a spinning cake stand that tilts, but I can't justify spending $60 when I don't make that many cakes.

I hate to pipe frosting I think my handwritting is horrible, but I gave it a go anyway and to my surprise it came out pretty good.

I toasted some pecans and ground them up and coated the sides of the cake to give it a "professional" look. Plus the pecans and caramel flavor went well together and cut some of the sweetness of the cake.

Lesson learned stop using plastic stainers!

R.I.P. Strainer you've been good to me!

Carraba's Chicken Bryan

I've been playing with my new Iphone and I am addicted to it and I somehow manage to wear the battery down everyday. Anyway one of the applications I downloaded on it is a recipe program called Big Oven. (Can you tell I have an addiction to recipes?) I wanted to check it out and find a recipe for my mother in law's birthday. We had her over on Sunday since we are heading out of town on Wednesday to my parents for Thanksgiving. I found a recipe for a chicken dish I had at a local restaurant called Carraba's and I had to try it.

The recipe says it yields 8 servings, but I like a lot of sauce on stuff so it was enough for 5 maybe 6 people if you are using the sauce over noodles like I did. If you use the sauce for the chicken only then you should be able to yield 8. The only thing I changed is I used dried minced garlic because I forgot to pick some fresh garlic up at the store. (I think the people at HEB know me since I'm in there so much.) I was also confused when they say it yields 8 but they have 6 chicken breast???

Overall the flavors where amazing and I recommend letting the sauce simmer for a while in order to thicken up.

Carraba's Chicken Bryan

(Adapted from http://www.bigoven.com/)

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons minced yellow onion

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup squeezed lemon line

1 1/3 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 1/2 cups sun dried tomatoes

1/2 cup fresh chopped basil

salt and pepper

6 chicken breast cut into halves

olive oil for brushing

balsamic vinegar for brushing

salt and pepper for chicken

12 ounces soft goat cheese at room temperature

1. Saute Garlic and onion in 4 TBS butter in a large skillet over medium heat.

2. Stir in Wine, Lemon juice, increase heat to Medium high and simmer.

3. Reduce heat to Low. Stir in Chicken broth. Add Balsamic and slowly stir in corn starch.

4. Stir in tomatoes, Basil, Salt, White Pepper. Keep on low heat and Cover.

5. Brush chicken breast with oil, balsalmic, and salt and pepper them.

6. Fry chicken in Iron skillet until thoroughly cooked. Place in sauce to keep warm.

7. When serving place an even amount of goat cheese on each breast. Spoon Sundried tomatoe sauce over chicken and goat cheese.

Delicious to serve with salad, a vegtable like zucchini, or rice.

Happy birthday Barbara I hope you have a wonderful day!

Funny world of recipe contest...

So I went home at lunch to let my puppy dog out and we went for a quick walk to check the mail. I opened an envelope and inside it said - Congratulations you are a winner!

Apparently I won 2nd place and for the prize you win a Tapas Party Cookbook.


When you get into recipe contesting it's a whole new world and job in itself. I have pendiflex folders to sort out upcoming contest with all the rules printed on contest I plan to enter and then another folder sorted by announcement month of contest I have entered. I then have a 3rd folder for ideas. Often times you forget about a contest because it's months later before they announce. The reason I'm sharing this info is because I was about to announce my excitment on the message board of a contest site I'm a member of when I read someone else had won 2nd place. I had to pull the "Experience the Heart of Spain" contest info and re-read the details and it says -


"RANDOM DRAW FOR SECONDARY PRIZES: On or about November 17, 2008, all remaining eligible entrants will be automatically entered into a random drawing to determine the five hundred (500) winners of the Secondary Prizes."


So the funny thing to me is that I placed 2ndish along with 499 other people! Oh well, I'm thankful that I was picked and I'll never turn down a cookbook. (If you ask my husband and I'm sure he'll try to mail you some just to make room and probably thinks I would never know!)


You win some and you loose some, but at least I gave it my all! Best of luck to all of my other contesting buddies, I know it's tough out there and if you're interested in getting into it contact me and I'll help you out on where to get started.

Hot Buttered Rum

This spiced ice cream in a mug of hot rum is a perfect holiday drink by the fire or as an after dinner drink. I also really like it, because you can make it ahead only only use what you need. It's also great for kids to have too (minus the rum). I used a small cookie scoop which was about a the same size as a tablespoon.

Hot Buttered Rum Batter

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 pint vanilla ice cream, softened

1 cup dark rum

boiling water

In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar and beat until combined. Blend in powdered sugar, cinnamon, the 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg and cloves. Beat in ice cream until nearly smooth (mixture still will have small lumps). Place batter in a covered airtight container and freeze for up to 1 month (batter will not freeze solid).

For each serving, spoon about 3 tablespoons batter and 1 tablespoon rum into an 8 to 10 ounce heatproof mug; add 3/4 cup boiling water. If desired, serve with a cinnamon stick and sprinkle with additional nutmeg.

Southwestern Spicy Seafood Soup

Woohoo it's finally cold here! I say cold, but I mean comfortable...High today is 56 degrees F, but it won't last long since it's supposed to be back in the 70's on Sunday.

Putting me in the spirit of cooler weather I decided to make a soup last night to welcome the cold front. My dad came up with this recipe and if you like seafood and spice this is a good mix for you.

Southwestern Spicy Seafood Soup

(Serves 4)

Soup:

1 cup cooked rice
2 (14 ounce) cans of vegetable broth
1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning
½ teaspoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon Mrs. Dash Seasoning
½ tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon Buddy’s Blends Original Seasoning
1 bunches green onion tops
1 tablespoon celery flakes
1 pound flounder fillets or any fish of choice
1 pound of cleaned boiled small shrimp
2 heaping teaspoons cornstarch
½ teaspoon dry roux mix
¼ cup chopped cilantro

Crackers:

4 flour tortillas

Butter flavored cooking spray

Cajun Seasoning

Soup: In the stockpot, add broth (reserve ½ cup), Old Bay, garlic salt, Mrs. Dash, chili powder, Buddy’s Blends Original Seasoning, green onion tops, celery and flounder. (Note seasoning can be adjusted to the amount of spice you want to acquire.) Bring to a rolling boil. Boil for approximately 20 minutes stirring occasionally making sure that the flounder fillets break up completely. Reduce the heat and add the shrimp. Mix the remaining vegetable broth with the cornstarch and dry roux mix. Add the chopped cilantro. Stir with a slotted spoon until the soup has thickened, approximately 5 minutes.

Crackers: Preheat oven to 300 degrees. While the soup is boiling, place tortillas on a cookie cooling rack and put the wire rack on a cookie sheet. Spray the tortillas with the cooking spray and sprinkle with a liberal amount of seasoning. Bake for 20 minutes or until hard and dry. You can precut the tortillas or break the baked tortillas into a free form shape. This makes a good compliment to the soup.

Quick and easy dinner

Last night was one of those nights where it never seemed to slow down. After work we had to go to the ATT store to swap out my phone which took a little over an hour then head home to walk the dog and cook dinner. I went the easy route and tried a time saver recipe from the current Holiday 2008 food and family magazine I just got in the mail. The recipe was easy and only used one pan so I was happy about that. The thing it lacked was seasoning. I added a couple shakes of each of my go to spices - Mrs. Dash, pepper, garlic salt, italian seasoning, cayenne and red pepper flakes and it brought the dish back to life. The thyme leaves were not enough flavor to win me over so add whatever spices you want.

Smothered Chicken & Green Bean Skillet

4 boness skinless chicken breast (I used 5)

2 cups frozen green beans (I used 3 - 14.5 ounce cans, drained)

1 can (10.75oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup (I used a 26 ounce can)

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves (I used the seasonings mentioned above)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Heat large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cover. Cook 5 to 7 minutes on each side or until done. Remove from skillet. Add beans, soup, 1/2 cup water and thyme to skillet; cover. Cook 6 minutes, stirring often. Return chicken to skillet; cook 1 minute or until hot. Top with cheese.

P.S. Be sure to check out my blogging buddy Priscilla's site HERE for a giveaway she's got going until this Sunday at noon!

Broiled Fish with Shrimp and Jalapeno-smoked Corn Beurre Blanc

My dad just brought us some fish so I was on the hunt for a new recipe to try and found one that I printed off in February of 2004. Yeah that long ago! So I figured now is the time to try it. Overall it was ok, like most recipes there's always changes to make next time I make it. There wasn't any flavor besides jalapeno and a hint of corn. It needs alot of seasoning, even the Old Bay and Mrs. Dash I threw in wasn't enough.

Broiled Fish with Shrimp and Jalapeno-smoked Corn Beurre Blanc

(Adapted from foodnetwork.com courtesy of Brigtsen's Restaurant)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

3 tablespoons seeded fresh jalapeno peppers, finely chopped

1/2 cup smoked corn kernels

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon white vinegar

2 to 3 drops hot red pepper sauce

1 pinch ground white pepper

4 (7 ounce) fish fillets, about 1/2 inch thick (recommended sheepshead, redfish, striped bass)

4 teaspoons seafood seasoning

4 tablespoons clarified butter

1 cup seafood stock (or water)

12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined with the tail left on

2 tablespoons finely minced shallots

1/2 cup white wine (recommend: Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay)

Preheat the broiler.

To make the Jalapeno-smoked corn butter: In a food processor, add the softened butter, jalapenos, smoked corn, salt, vinegar, hot red pepper sauce, and white pepper. Process until fully blended. Turn the machine off occasionally and scrape the sides of the processor bowl with a rubber spatula to insure that the ingredients are fully blended. Transfer the corn butter to a small bowl and refrigerate.

Season each fish fillet on both sides with the seafood seasoning. Season lightly and evenly. Place the fish fillets on a shallow baking pan and drizzle the top of each fillet with about 1 tablespoon of clarified butter. Add the seafood stock (or water) to the pan. Use just enough liquid to cover the bottom of the pan. Place the fish under the broiler and cook until done, 6 to 8 minutes. While the fish is cooking, make the sauce.

Heat 2 more tablespoons of the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp and cook stirring constantly, just until the outside of the shrimp turns pink, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the shallots and cook, stirring constantly, for 20 to 30 seconds. Remove the skillet from the stove and carefully add the wine. Return the skillet to the stove and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to low, Add the smoked corn butter in small spoonfuls and cook, shaking the skillet constantly, just until the butter melts into the sauce. Remove from heat. to serve, place 1 fish fillet on each plate. Top each fillet with 3 shrimp and about 1/4 cup of sauce. Serve immediately.

Quick freebie...

This is pretty last minute, but I just found out about it. If you are looking for a unique holiday gift idea or need to put wedding pictures or baby pictures in a book here's an offer for you. You have until tomorrow to setup an account with snapfish and you have until Sunday to put your book together. I haven't seen any limit on how many pictures you can upload, so this is great if you have a lot of pictures to put in a 20 page book.

Click HERE for a free book offer through snapfish. It's $6.99 for shipping, but the book is FREE that's a $30 value.

I'm all about the free offers so let me know if it's something you're interested in I'll do some post or list them on the sidebar.

This one goes to the dogs

Mocha has added so much joy to us and we love her to death. I've always been a dog person so I'm very excited to have her in my life. For this post my inspiration was Mocha I've seen the outrageous prices on homemade gourmet dog treats and I'm like I can do that! So I read a lot online and found a quick and easy recipe to make her. I can't wait till it's her birthday because I found a cake recipe too!

Apple Cinnamon Dog Treats

(Adapted from All Natural Dog Treats)

1 cup natural applesauce or chopped apples

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon parsley

1 cup cold water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

5 cups flour

1/2 cup powdered milk

2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all of the ingredients. Roll out dough to desired thickness and cut into fun shapes using cookie cutters. Bake 20-25 minutes until browned.

My puppy loved them and so did some of her friends. The shapes didn't really work out to well so I made long finger like sticks and they worked better.