Vanilla Birthday Cake

This week is, for sure, a special Birthday week in our family. My little, and youngest, sister Shaina, turns 21 today!! That's an exciting year to celebrate. When I see her on Sunday, I either want to make her a cake as pretty as the one I made yesterday for my BFF Colleen's 30th Birthday, OR we are going out for Rita's water ice, and i'll spike her water ice with Vodka ;) My one and only niece, Genevieve, celebrates her birthday tomorrow! So many birthdays, and all for the ones I love dearly. I absolutely love making Birthday cakes. Yesterday, I attempted my first Naked cake. If you haven't already heard the term, you likely have seen a naked cake and didn't know that's what it is called. It's when a layer cake is exposed, and the filling and frosting only coats the edges of the cake where the cake layers meet and sometimes (like this cake) the surface edges are thinly and sparingly coated with a little of the frosting. It has been a wedding cake trend for a while now, but finally I made one of these rustic and natural beauties for a Birthday. To top off the prettiness, I cut some fresh flowers and leaves to decorate the top. The cake turned out to be as delicious as pretty. See Country Living's recipe below (or click HERE) for vanilla cake and my buttercream frosting. I wrote in some basic directions on creating the perfect 4 1/2" round naked cake. Happy Birthday S, G, & C! xo RCN

Cake Ingredients:

1½ c. sifted cake flour

1½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

½ c. unsalted butter

1 c. sugar

2 large eggs

½ tsp. vanilla extract

½ c. whole milk

Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:

Mix and combine all ingredients until it becomes a smooth frosting texture.

3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1/3 cups butter, softened

3 tablespoons milk

Baking Directions:

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly coat four 4 1/2" cake pans (I used spring form) with butter and dust with all-purpose flour. Sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Place mixture in electric stand mixer with whisk attachment. Beat in the butter one 1/4 teaspoon. Mix on low speed until the mixture resembles coarse sand (may be a 'bit larger grains than sand). Next, beat in sugar one tablespoon at a time, until the mixture resembles fine damp sand. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and milk, and beat on medium-high, just until blended. Do not overbeat. Pour equally into four 6" cake pans. Bake for about 30 minutes, until toothpick inserts at center of cake and pulls out smoothly without wet batter. Remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes. Remove from cake pans and set to completely cool on wire rack.

Wilton Icing Smoother

4 1/2" Springform Round Baking Pan

KitchenAid Electric Stand Mixer

Assembling and Decorating Directions:

First, decide what cake stand or platter you want to use to display your cake, set aside. Once cakes are cool, trim off the dome of each mini cake with a serrated bread knife. The goal is to cut the tops off each cake to create flat surfaces that will allow you to easily stack each cake on one  another. Grab cake stand or plate and buttercream frosting. Place a smudge of frosting at center of plate. Grab one layer of cake and place centered on the frosting on plate, push down to help secure the cake. Cover the top surface of the cake layer with about a 1/2 inch of frosting, frost all the way to edge of cake, its even better to let a little hang off the edge. Place next layer on top of first layer. Continue all steps until you reach your 4th layer. Frost the top of the cake and smooth the top surface. Take an icing smoother, link below, and smooth out all edges of the frosting insides of cake. Continue using edge all around the sides of the cake and at all layers of the cake to smooth and spread a random and sparing amount of frosting on the cakes exterior, just like images below. Lastly, cut fresh flowers, leaving no stem for small flowers, and a tiny stem on big flowers (bigger flowers may shift more so a little stem allows you to stick more firmly into cake and frosting). Leave stems on leaves as well, as they will be the last decoration to add, underneath flowers and you will need stem to stick in from underneath flowers. That's it! 

Cacti Cookies

I am overly obsessed with everything cactus. I decided to put together a small treat table for this upcoming Cinco de Mayo (tomorrow!) and went with cacti as my fiesta theme. Sugar cookies, are similar to my banana bread theory, in that you can't try too many recipes in order to get you to your absolute favorite. So this time around, I used Alton Brown's cookie recipe from Food Network. They are not very sweet, which is perfect, especially because I decided to dose them in green icing and sprinkles. I mean...how cute are these? Perfect for any summer fiesta! Ingredients and directions all below OR click HERE for link to original recipe. xo RCN

Cookie Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour, and some extra for rolling out dough 

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon milk

Baking Instructions:

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer with whisk attachment and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. If dough and mixture clump towards center of whisk, take a second to pause your mixer and use a spatular to clear out the whisk, continue to mixing. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with flour. (Alton uses powdered sugar- this will make your cookie sweeter) Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with flour (or powdered sugar), and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. I use a silicon baking mat + a little flour and it works excellently! Cut into shape with cactus cookie cutters, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges. Rotate cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. 

Decoration Directions:

You will need a clean surface, wire cooling rack, paper towel, toothpicks, mini faux floral buds,  green cookie icing , and white sprinkles.

Snip off flower blooms from fake stems, leaving 1/4"-1/2" of wire on end (to stick into cactus arm). Set flowers aside. Set up cooling rack, and place paper towels underneath. Once cookies are cool, move to a clean surface. I reused my silicon baking mat. One at a time, place cookie on mat and begin covering top of cookie with green icing (follow directions on bottle as to how to warm up in microwave, etc.). Let the icing drip over the sides of cookie. Take a toothpick and continue to smooth out icing on surface and spread icing to sides and cover sides, as well. Take white sprinkles and lightly and sporadically sprinkle onto top of green icing. Take one bloom and fluff out the petals. Hold the little wire end and stick it directly into the cactus cookie arm. Using another toothpick, stick the toothpick under a corner edge of the cookie to lift it off surface. Once it is tilted up, grab cookie from underneath and transfer to a cooling rack to let excess icing drip off. Continue all steps until all cookies are decorated. After a few more minutes, transfer into air tight container. If possible, try to keep cookies in a single layer, or use a sheet of wax paper in between stacks.

Shamrock Sundae

Forget about the shake. How about a few scoops of mint chip ice cream covered in chocolate sauce, marshmallows, and sprinkles. It doesn't take much, when it comes to ice cream, to make me happy. Keep it simple and enjoy a quick and easy festive sundae for St. Patty's. All the extra awesomeness, like green straws and sparkling clover trimmings make the dessert that much better, without too much of a fuss. To avoid sticking wire wrapped embellishments (like the one pictured above) directly into your food, slide the accessory into a straw first, then add to decorate. A sweet treat that looks as great as it tastes will impress the kids and maybe a husband, too. xo RCN

Irish Potatoes

My Mom and Mom Mom have been making Irish Potatoes for Saint Patrick's Day ever since I can remember. Not only are these little delectables one of my favorite treats, ever, but they are super easy to make. And, no, they aren't actual mini potatoes, they are super sweet candies. There are a few renditions of this Irish-American Philadelphian dessert, but my favorite recipe consists merely of butter, confectioners sugar, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, coconut, and cinnamon. That's it! Other's often use cream cheese or even mashed potatoes, but this version is my Mom's and my most favorite. This recipe is equally tasty when the sugar/milk/butter/vanilla/coconut mixture is coated in chocolate and made into cream eggs for Easter. Enjoy these addictive little delights, recipe below! xo RCN

Ingredients: Makes about 90-100 1.5-2" sized potatoes ...you can always 1/2 the recipe

1 cup Butter

2 tsp Vanilla

14oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk

3lbs sifted Confectioner's Sugar

16oz bag Sweetened Coconut

Cinnamon (for rolling/coating)

Cream butter and vanilla in large bowl. Blend in the milk until smooth. Gradually add sifted sugar until mixture becomes stiff. Knead remaining sugar into mixture. When mixture is no longer sticky, knead in desired amount of coconut. Divide candy mixture into 1.5"-2" ovals. Refrigerate for an hour (or overnight) then roll in cinnamon. Store in refrigerator, but may serve at room temperature.

Banana Bread For Beau

Banana Bread is by far one of Zach's favorite baked goods. He doesn't have a big sweet tooth, but once the bananas in the kitchen begin to brown he always asks if I will, please, make Banana Bread. This time I planned on making the bananas turn, as I knew I would not be around for almost two weeks and wanted to leave Z with a few of his favorite foods and snacks.

I have baked many banana bread recipes, some with nuts, some with chocolate. I tend to love most of them, but I continue to try out new ones in search of what is the best. This time around I decided to try out a recipe from Food Network. Link HERE to go direct to site, or follow directions below. I recommend this banana bread - no burnt edges and moist in the center. Yum! xo RCN

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 large eggs

3 ripe bananas

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Recipe will serve two paper loaf pans "around" size 3.5" wide by 7" long and 1.75" tall. Note: many loaf paper liners are greased, but if not then grease with butter or spray.

Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

Cut three 1/2" slices of banana from the center (widest circumference) of one banana and cut each slice into a heart shape, set aside (for decoration on top of bread). In a small bowl, mash the remaining bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 

Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears. 

Pour batter into prepared paper liners. Place filled paper loaf liners into metal loaf pans and place in heated oven. Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. About 3/4 ways through baking or ten minutes before removing bread from oven, place and press the three banana heart slices equidistant across top center of bread. Once bread is finished baking, remove liners from pan and set aside to cool.

Snowball Cookies All Winter Long

Valentine's Day is fast approaching. It is a sweet time of year, so what better to do, than make some sweets? One of my favorite Christmas cookies that my Mom makes is a Snowball Cookie. Wow, this year they tasted better than ever. Snowball Cookies really apply to all winter long, so I figured I would turn them into Valentine cookies since I L-OV-E them so much. With a little extra help from the sprinkle and dessert cabinet, I made these cookies look fab and fit for any Valentine's Day affair. They are very powdery, you may need some extra napkins! xo RCN

You will find a few versions of the recipe if you search online. This batch was made from the cookingclassy.com recipe. Ingredients and instructions below, or link to direct source HERE. Also...the super cute mini cupcake liners (Meri Meri, $2.99) and napkins ( Lady Jayne Ltd, $3.99) came from Homegoods.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tbsp cornstarch

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup finely chopped Pecans (I used a little less than half a cup)

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, for coating

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using an electric stand mixer fit with the paddle attachment, mix butter on medium speed until creamy, (about 20 seconds). Blend in 1/2 cup powdered sugar and salt. Mix in vanilla. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down edges of bowl before continuing to mix if dough is spread up towards the side of your bowl. Sprinkle cornstarch evenly around mixer bowl then with mixer set on low speed slowly add in flour and mix just until combined. Stir in Pecans. Scoop dough out 1 Tbsp at a time and roll into a ball. I shaped half of my dough into small hearts by splitting the 1 Tbsp into two pieces, rolling into cylinder shapes and then molding back together into a heart shape. Keep one end of each cylinder separate from one another and then press the other end of each cylinder together to form the point of the heart. They look cuter when they aren't perfect!

Place cookies onto ungreased baking sheets and bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes, until bottom edges are lightly golden. Do not under bake, this recipe is meant to be more dry and cookies are not meant to be moist in the middle. The cookies will literally dissolve in your mouth, just like snow. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. While cookies are still warm, pour 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar into a bowl and roll cookies in powdered sugar. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, then once cookies are cool, roll in powdered sugar once more. Coat until cookies are completely covered. Just after coating for second time, top with pink, red, white, and rainbow sprinkles. Cookies look great served inside mini Valentine themed cupcake liners .

Bake It Pretty Mini Foil Liner

Bake It Pretty Mini Polka Dot Foil Liners

Ol Southern Charm (Etsy) Valentine's Day Cocktail Napkins

Wilton Rainbow Sparkling Sugar

Wilton Pink Sparkling Sugar

Wilton Valentine Nonpareils Sprinkles

Chocolate Pistachio Cupcakes

I'm what they call a cupcake triple threat. I love to bake them, decorate them, and eat them. My absolute favorite is chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream frosting. Zach usually has trouble remembering my favorite, so on my birthday he always orders every possibly combination from the bakery. Even if he forgets my favorite, I can't get mad at his solution. He has it covered. It works, there is always at least one chocolate flavored cupcake with buttercream frosting in the bunch.

I decided to try a new recipe that has some additional ingredients aside from cocoa powder. The original recipe I referred to calls for walnuts. I swapped the walnuts with pistachios; a nut I like much more. I paired the chocolate pistachio with a buttercream frosting and finished the cupcakes off with Nutcracker decorations and all the winter white fairyesque toppings you can imagine. Delightful! xo RCN

Cupcake Recipe (makes one dozen cupcakes):

1 cup of pistachios (original recipe calls for 1 heaping cup of walnuts)

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cups water

Preheat oven to 350F and prep cupcake tin with cupcake liners. Grind pistachios in blender or food processor. I mixed them in a blender until they were very fine and added 1 teaspoon of water into the nuts while I mixed them.

Mix flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in small bowl, set aside. Then in a larger bowl, whisk finely ground pistachios with sugar until blended. Add one egg at a time, followed by the vanilla extract. Sift a third of the cocoa/flour mixture into the pistachio mixture. Add 1/2 the water, continue alternating dry ingredients and water until all combined, ending with dry ingredients. Scoop the mixture into the cupcake liners and bake for about 20-25 minutes. I always use the toothpick method to help determine when my cupcakes are done. If you insert a toothpick into center of cake and it comes out clean, then finito!

Buttercream Recipe:

1 stick of salted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 small box of confectioners sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoons of Milk

Soften butter to room temp and then mix until fluffy with wooden spoon or hand mixer. Add vanilla and continue to mix. Sift in the confectioners sugar and continue to mix all ingredients. Lastly, add the milk. You can always add more milk at the end if you need to make the buttercream softer. I usually like buttercream relatively thick. 

Decorations:

A pinch of unsweetened coconut per cupcake

A few handfuls of vanilla chips and marshmallows divided between all cupcakes

A sprinkle of pearlized Wilton decorative candy balls per cupcake

Meri Meri cupcake kit - I used the Nutcracker kit which is sold out of a few stores, but available on ebay. I also recently saw this set at Homegoods. If you are still looking for something holiday, Meri Meri still has an adorable santa/reindeer kit available online HERE.

Meri Meri has some of the most adorable cupcake kits, you can find them all HERE.