I'm Moving

You can now find me in my new neighborhood. I hope that you join me there. I have a little over a year to complete my goals and I'd love to share my progress with you. Hope to see you soon.

Well it looks like a cake

Last week, a friend asked me to bake a cake for her godson. After discussing his dietary needs we settled on a vegan cake. A quick search of the internet netted me a recipe or a eggless and dairy free cake vegan cake.
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar ( I substituted turbinado raw cane sugar)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup soymilk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon vinegar

Heat oven to 350°F. Prepare cake pan: Line 8-inch round or square cake pan with parchment paper and grease bottom and sides of the pan. Then flour the pan. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add vegetable oil, soy milk, and vanilla extract; whisk until no lumps appear and batter is smooth. Add vinegar, stir about seven times, and quickly pour into pan. Bake around 30 minutes, until cake begins to pull away from sides and/or toothpick inserted in the center pulls out clean. Let sit for ten to fifteen minutes, invert, and cool on rack.

I doubled the recipe and baked it in a bunt pan since he could not have icing. I kept saying to myself..well it looks like a cake because it was not my cup of tea. I think I would have liked it better with regular granuated sugar

Tipsy Cakes

Last month, a good friend of mine celebrated her birthday. The plan was for me to make her some White Russian cupcakes. Our plans quickly changed when she had to have emergency surgery the day before her birthday so we put the cupcakes on the back burner. I finally made good on my promise a few weeks ago and delivered her a batch of White Russian cupcakes. These things have become a hit with all who have tasted them. L has requested them weekly and as recently has this afternoon. I will probably hold off on making them again for another week so we (I) don't begin to tire of them.

White Russian Cupcakes

18 1/4 ounces yellow cake mix
3 1/2 ounces vanilla instant pudding mix
1 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup whole milk
4 large eggs
1/4 cup vodka
1/4 cup Kahlua, plus
2 teaspoons Kahlua, divided
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Frosting

1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 tablespoon Kahlua
2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate, shavings

Directions

Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350°F and line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners.
Place cake mix, pudding mix, oil, milk, eggs, vodka, 1/4 cup Kahlua, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. Spoon or scoop 1/3 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it three quarters of the way full. (Remove empty liners if you don't get the full 24 cupcakes). Bake until they are golden and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, about 17-20 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks. Cool for 5 minutes. Brush the tops of the cupcakes with remaining 2 tablespoons Kahlua. Remove cupcakes from pans. Place on wire rack to cool.

Frosting
Place a large, clean mixing bowl and electric mixer beaters int he freezer to chill for 1 minute. Remove the bowl and beaters from the freezer. Pour the heavy cream into the bowl and beat with electric mixer on high speed until the cream has thickened, 1 1/2 minutes. Stop the machine and add the sugar and 1 tablespoon Kahlua. Beat the cream on high speed until stiff peaks form, 1-2 more minutes. Place a heaping tablespoon of the whipped cream on each cupcake and swirl to spread it out with a short metal spatula or spoon, taking care to cover tops completely. Garnish with chocolate bar shavings.

These are My Confessions….

I confess despite watching countless movies I have not seen many movies deemed classics in African American cinema. There are times when talking to L about movies, he will look at me in disbelief when I tell him I haven't seen 'XYZ' movie. To remedy that I decided to watch 20 movies referenced in Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies& Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films. With the help of Netflix and Direct TV I am well on my way to completing this goal.

Sweet Sweet back's Badass Song
To Sir with Love
Cry Freedom
Sparkle
Lady Sings the Blues
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich
Under the Cherry Moon
The Great White Hope
Claudine

I must say I am upset with myself for missing out on such great films for so long. Some I didn't care for but most I have really enjoyed. I'm half way to my goal of 20 films and will update once I have completed.

Martha Stewart Cupcake Update

I recently tried two more recipes from the Martha Stewart Cupcake Book. First up was the devil food cupcake with chocolate ganache. Let me preface this by saying I L-O-V-E chocolate and thought this would be a good match for me. The cupcakes were just ok to me buy L liked them. The chocolate ganache was a huge disappointment. I guess I should have read the directions more carefully before beginning. There are several time consuming steps involved and I was way to impatient. Also, the chocolate I used was too bitter (I'm a milk chocolate gal myself). I will try this recipe again and tweak it with the things I've learned. I'll be sure to update with a new review.

The second cupcake recipe was a hit. I decided to try the marble cupcake recipe. Since L is not a fan of marble cake I shared them with my co-workers who were excited to receive a sweet treat. I am really pleased at how these turned out and will be making them again.