Cake Pops!

Seems there's been a lingering theme in the Tyson Kitchen... cake pops. Whether just plain 'ol cake pops or cake pops with a theme, they're still tempting little orbs of smooth and sweet cake and icing.

These cake pops were designed for a fundraiser for the American Heart Association Heart Walk in Huntsville this coming weekend. And piggybacking on Valentine's Day, they're filled with love and yumminess.

The original cake pops recipe I found on Bakerella.com uses a box cake mix and canned icing... not very tasty, in my opinion. But the beauty in making cake pops is the possibilities are endless. So I found a top-rated red velvet cake and simple cream cheese icing to create a sublime cake pop.

I used vanilla coating for half of the pops.


And even carried the heart theme through from hearts to love.


There's even chocolate covered cake pops.


Since these are for a fundraiser I'm pondering the going rate for these little treasures.

Marshmallow Fondant-Covered Double Chocolate Cupcakes

My beloved 3-year old daughter will go waltzing into school tomorrow with these for her preschool class Valentine's Day party.



Simply sublime double chocolate cupcakes with marshmallow fondant. I'm curious to hear how a gaggle of 3-year olds take to fondant (as opposed to the chain supermarket, preservative-filled buttercream). Hopefully they'll find a place in their HEART for fondant.

If nothing else, they can peel off the fondant and play fondant frisbee.

And perhaps I'll bring a smile to the faces of friends and co-workers come Monday with heart-shaped red velvet cake pops.

Celebrating Another Birthday

Unlike we adults who often dread the anniversary of our birth, all of that dread and fear is quickly cast aside when watching your beautiful daughter celebrate her 3rd birthday. She's excited and she knows it's something to celebrate.

We started last weekend with her birthday party where the children feasted on grocery store cake with shortening-laced buttercream frosting. In contrast, the parents celebrated with grownup cupcakes doused with swiss meringue buttercream.

And today we made double chocolate cupcakes with white chocolate buttercream to celebrate with her classmates tomorrow at preschool. A triumph!

Grown Up Cupcakes: Pound Cakes with Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
Chapter 8: Celebrations
Fresh Flower-Topped Pound Cakes, page 270
Swiss Meringue Buttercream, page 304

Deep within the pages of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes are what, I believe, are some of the best cupcake recipes in existence. Throughout my many years of consuming cupcakes (and adding girth to what should be my small frame) I've come to one conclusion. I, personally, believe a pound cake makes the best cupcake. They're firm, dense and moist, and can withstand a plethora of frostings and toppings.

In preparation for my daughter's 3rd birthday party, I completed a dry run on the "Wish Upon a Starfish" mini cakes last weekend. After making the star cakes on Saturday, I tried 3 separate icing techniques - fondant, candy melts and petit fours icing. I didn't particularly like any one technique, so I axed the idea of mini cakes. Instead, I turned to the local bakery of our grocery store with my tail gently tucked between my legs. Although the lovely lady who helped me didn't seem keen to my personal failure, I was disappointed. But, alas, 3-year olds couldn't care less where the cake came from as long as there's cake.

I also planned to make the Brown Sugar Pound Cakes for the parents but, as usual, changed my mind.

Rather, I chose a simple pound cake recipe and a Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Mind you, I've never made Swiss Meringue Buttercream before and as with most attempts, I put an almost immeasurable amount of pressure on myself to make a perfect recipe. But, really, what makes a perfect recipe?

The pound cakes turned out perfect, with one small concern. The recipe noted a yield of 36 cupcakes but I wound up with 26; quite a difference.

And I learned a really important lesson in making the Swiss Meringue Buttercream. No matter how much you believe you can make substitutions, you really can't. Especially when it comes to the egg whites. I've done this once before and feel certain I won't make the same mistake again. There's a culinary certainty that is no within my memory, and that it is when a recipe calls for egg whites, forget being "easy on yourself" and use REAL egg whites. Your time and patience will thank you later.

And after 2 attempts the Swiss Meringue Buttercream was sublime. Not too sweet but very rich and buttery.


Laced with luscious vanilla bean.

Follow Up to Slow Cooker Week: The Judgment

I've been too busy eating this week to follow up with one important tidbit to Slow Cooker Week. I have, thankfully, spent some time on the eliptical machine actually exerting energy and producing a glistening southern gal glow in an effort to burn off some of the calories. But thankfully only one of the Slow Cooker Week recipes required exertion to burn off the calories. And that was the Macaroni & Cheese.

The Macaroni & Cheese was evil, sinful, rich and luscious all at the same time. Which brings me to this. Remember my premonition that the small elbow-shaped pasta might turn to mush? Thankfully the corkscrew shape I chose didn't get mushy. But, when attempting to re-heat, the Mac & Cheese was likened to wallpaper paste. It wasn't good stuff. Yuck.

This weekend is also a dry run for the mini starfish cakes. After baking 18 cakes, I think we might be safe for the birthday party next weekend. Tomorrow will be the coating dry run. I'm hopeful we all survive.

Slow Cooker Week: The Judgment

Thankfully the frigid temperatures are slowly becoming less frigid and my Crock Pot has done virtually ALL of the cooking this week. I have exerted little to no effort to get dinner on the table all week long. What I'm doing now is trying to figure out exactly how I can repeat this next week without the rest of the household catching on to my lazy cooking habits.

So after testing / trying 4 recipes from the Year of Slow Cooking blog, here's the judgment:

Baked Potato Soup: Lord have mercy.

Get in your car.

Drive your car to the market.

Buy all of the ingredients (if you don't already have them).

Make this immediately.

This was, hands down, some of the best Baked Potato Soup I've ever tasted. In fact, it rivals the Baked Potato Soup at Houston's. While living in Atlanta, I made it a mission to get to Houston's every Wednesday for the Baked Potato Soup and a Grilled Chicken Salad.

I did make a few simple modifications. First, I halved the recipe to not wind up with 18 gallons of Baked Potato Soup (but I might be regretting it now). I replaced the chicken stock with water and chicken bouillon; replaced about 1/2 cup of the water with fat-free half & half. Before gently mashing the potatoes (keeping some texture) I removed about 12 ounces of the cooking liquid. Then added low-fat cream cheese, a heavy splash of fat-free half & half and a little of the cooking liquid.

Taco Soup: Almost too easy, but it was good - not great, but good. (Considering the resident princess ate almost an entire bowl, I think it's safe to say it was good.)

Macaroni & Cheese: Everyone loves macaroni and cheese, right? If you don't, this might change your mind. Of course the resident princess dove right in with both hands. I have to admit, when I threw everything in the Crock Pot I was a little skeptical. Anticipating a slight disaster due to the cooking time, I used a larger shaped pasta (corkscrews) so the pasta wouldn't turn to mush. I think the strategy paid off. I think. Maybe. Regardless, it was mmm-mmm-good.

And last, but not least...

Brown Sugar Chicken: All I have to say, is don't waste your time, electricity, or the chicken. Edible but not all that.

All in all an interesting week of meals. Julia Child would be terribly ashamed of me. I used less than 3 Tablespoons of butter this week. I'm so ashamed.

Next project: Planning the "Wish Upon a Starfish" mini cakes (complete with Ariel or "fish" theme) I'm making next weekend. The resident princess has a birthday party and I'm disappointed to not have found an over-the-top, extraordinary cake. And no cupcakes this year. All kids get a decorated mini cake and the parents get Brown Sugar Pound Cakes.

The Antithesis of MtAoFC

Perhaps it's the frigid temperatures and the fact that we've had snow on the ground for more than 72 hours, but I'm feeling lazy and just shy of wanting to hibernate for the next 3 months. Since that's not a possibility and I still need to feed my family, I thought I'd let someone else do the cooking. My Crock Pot.

Poor Julia could, in fact, be shouting in the heavens to hear that anyone would ever use such a cooking appliance. But, for me - the working wife and mother - it's something that lightens the time-consuming pressure of getting a healthy meal on the table before midnight. I'll be sure to pay the proper homage to Julia by using mass quantities of butter.

So this week we're trying 4 slow cooker recipes found from the Year of Slow Cooking blog (now in the printed form of a cookbook):

Baked Potato Soup (reducing the calories by using low-fat cream cheese and 2% milk, along with a heavy, heavy splash of fat-free half & half)
Taco Soup
Macaroni & Cheese
Brown Sugar Chicken (creative way to get chicken / protein into a toddler)

Tonight we kicked off the "Week of the Crock Pot" with the Macaroni & Cheese. It was ooey, gooey and creamy. Approved by all, this will defintely find it's way back into our Crock Pot soon.

And then there was the vegetable - Braised Cucumbers. (Yes, the same braised cucumbers mentioned in "Julie & Julia".) I just couldn't help myself in wanting to try braising a cucumber. In short, the texture of the cucmber becomes slightly more firm, along with the richness of the butter, and takes on almost an artichoke heart texture. I used an English cucumber (also known as a Hot House cucumber) since the skin is thinner and there are less seeds. The entire family loved the cucumbers.

And speaking of braising, there are two whole artichokes in my fridge who will be gently and carefully braised this week and soon after, meet a velvety Hollandaise sauce. What a pair!