The cool kids call it "SMBC:" Cake in Augusta, GA

I have been up to a lot lately, which is really nothing new except we are adding 'moving" to our repertoire this month. I am sure we have all been there, but I must say that my house is in a continual state of scramble (and will be for at least the next month).

But outside of moving, I have been baking all sorts of cakes and cupcakes for different events that I realized I haven't ever shared with you, and I suppose now is as good a time as any....

Breakfast at Tiffany's Cupcakes

I made these cuties for a "Breakfast at Tiffany's" themed breakfast at my church.

Fist Birthday Cupcakes

And I made these for a 1st birthday party. They are quite possibly the most precious cakes I have ever made.  Don't you think?

Ruffle Cake

And a ruffled smash cake to go along with them.

I also had a wedding cake, which I will show you next week.  It showed up on the right day, even (for those of you who get that reference).

For special events: events when I know that cakes might be sitting out for a while, I always choose to use Swiss Meringue Buttercream.  Sure, it is a lot of work, but its silkiness and staying-power cannot be reproduced. And the flavor: velvety smooth, and not overpowering next to a well baked cake. It pipes beautifully, and I venture to say that it almost sparkles.

Take some time to make some this week, but don't if you don't have a stand mixer. I cannot imagine how difficult it would be without one.

Refer to my very first blogpost: here for a recipe.  Enjoy, and if I don't see you again, have a lovely Easter.

Rachel Bee

An exceptional sort of hot.

It is summertime, and although the living isn't exactly "easy," I couldn't be happier with the warm weather. I am sure I am not special in that I prefer summer to winter; but here in our little corner of Georgia, summer is an exceptional sort of hot.  The high 90's begin in June, and seem to stay until November (Thanksgiving is always in shorts).  The air is muggy and stale, with no cool breeze or (heck) even warm breeze to provide momentary relief.  When I made plans to move here, a man I knew (who had lived here before) cautioned, "Take whatever temperature it is here, add 10 degrees, remove the breeze, and that is the summer there." Since he had a reputation for being a jerk, I believed that comment to be typical from his jerky "Old White Man Says" soul.  However, when we pulled up to our new house in August that year, the thermometer outside read 110 degrees, and we proceeded to unload our trucks.

Drat.

Four years later, I am somewhat used to my 94 degree run, my car seats seething with the summer sizzle, and spending most afternoons indoors with a very active 3 year-old.  We turn our thermostat up to 80 (78 if we get too hot), sit in our underpants, and try not to use the oven past 10AM.

One of the pleasures of summer is all of the ripe and juicy berries, and this week blackberries were the theme.  The texture of blackberries are a little off for me, with every little juicy capsule bursting it's innards in a noisy succession, "pop, pop, pop, pop."  I can eat one or two, but the third one always weirds me out.  I do not mind them in cobbler, tarts, bars, coffee cake (when the oven does the exploding for me), or curd, as I learned this week.

I had a good cup of blackberries left over from last week's bounty, and as I hate to throw things out, I pureed them with the intention of putting the resulting goo in the freezer.  After sieving out all of the seeds, I tasted it, and was surprised at how tart it was. Immediately I pulled out some eggs and a lemon, and started making Blackberry Curd.

The result is so thick and creamy, and the perfect shade of violet.  As I had some pumpkin left over from winter, I decided to fill Pumpkin Cupcakes with it.

I pulled the remaining frosting from my Rose Cake out of the freezer, whipped it up to high-heaven, added 2 tablespoons of the curd (for color), half a slab of cream cheese and half a stick of butter.  I also threw in two cups of confectioners sugar, and then whipped and whipped until it almost had the consistency of whipped cream.

I was out of piping bags, so I slopped that frosting right on there, all willy-nilly.

I topped them with a sprinkle of cinnamon, a cinnamon stick, and a little blackberry.  So sweet!

Finally, a cross-section.  See that gorgeous purple deliciousness?  See the orangeyness (a word) of the pumpkin?  What a delightful pair!

If you have any pumpkin laying around, do make this recipe- which I will post later today (I hope) as I need to get ready for my run.

Love you all, and hope you have a great weekend!

Rachel Bee

The treasure inside...

I was afraid to even pull up my blog today, as yet another full-week hiatus cannot be good for my following or readers in general.  Last week was a blur- not really busy with anything- but somehow completely packed all at the same time.  I bake all throughout the week, but sometimes my husband's (aka photographer's) schedule falls in a way that makes photographing beautiful food nearly impossible.  I thought about writing another photo-less diatribe on my life, but I was not in the mood for thinking last week, or causing anyone else to do the same.  AND-

If you can't say anything nice... you get it.

Which doesn't always apply, I have found.  I have developed quite a taste for cyber foot-in-mouth.

Anyway-

A few days ago, I made a cake per a friend's request, and it looked something like this...

I say "something like" as this is not the same cake.  I made another that looked, well- something like it.

I was pretty pleased with the overall look of this cake.  I was lurking around on tastespotting.com, and I saw a similar version of this cake here.

And here.

AND here.  And, well... here, even.

In other words, as much as I would like to lay claim to such beautiful design, it is not my own.

Although it is pretty, and I plan to make many more.

As gorgeous as the cake is; as much as I love swirls of lavender-grey Swiss Meringue Buttercream- as close as Vanilla Butter Cake is to my heart and thighs- the real treasure of this cake is in the filling.

It is no secret how much I love citrus curd, but this creamy custard gets an upgrade in the form of mango puree.

If you have never made citrus curd, it is an absurdly easy task- and one that will demolish (obliterate, even) any sort of diet you might be on.

Citrus curd and blueberry pancakes: delicious.
Citrus curd and coconut cream cheese frosting: obscene.
Citrus curd and finger: you bet.
Citrus curd and palm of hand (spoon, ladle): why, of course!

You get it.

Mango Curd (only ever so slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

2 very ripe large mangoes (flesh removed as best you can and pureed)
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 c lemon or lime juice (I had lemon on hand)
4 large egg yolks
pinch of salt
1/2 stick of butter

Toss the puree (I used my blender for this), sugar, lemon juice, egg yolks, and salt into a heat-proof bowl.  Stir everything together, attach a candy thermometer, and place it over a pot of simmering water.  Stirring constantly (and being certain that the bottom of the bowl doesn't make contact with the simmering water), bring the mixture to 165-170 degrees.  This will take a bit.

Add the butter, one piece at a time, and set aside to cool for 20 minutes (or so).  Place in the refrigerator overnight, or until completely cool and thick.

Enjoy!

Note: When filling a cake with curd, pipe a dam of frosting around the edges of the cake layers before filling the center with curd.  You will have a time trying to frost the cake afterward if you skip this step!

I hope all of you have a wonderful Memorial Day, and take a moment to cry like a baby over our freedom (listen to Tom Wait's "Day After Tomorrow").  Hug a soldier, and bring him a cake filled with mango curd.

Have a great one,

Rachel Bee

Sometimes a girl needs...

A cake.

A whole cake, all to herself.  She can eat it all in one day, or she can cut it into slices and put them in the freezer to enjoy for- breakfast for a week.

And other times, a girl doesn't need a whole cake.  In fact, I am right to say that a girl rarely (if ever) needs to finish an entire cake on her own, no matter the size.  And when I made this for work...

... I did not intend on eating the whole thing, all by myself.

Would I create 8 fondant daisies for a cake I mean to eat by myself?  Would I cover it in delicate silver sprinkles?

Would I bake 4 layers of delicious, strawberry cake, and fill it with creamy Swiss Meringue Buttercream?

No.  No I wouldn't.

If I baked a cake for myself, it would look very little like this.  It would be full of berries and lemon curd, topped in (of course) cream cheese frosting, and probably pretty lumpy and not picture-worthy.

It would look nothing like this.  How vain do you think I am?

Don't answer that question...

But Saturday morning, I brought in this cake to work; and there it stood for hours, undisturbed.  I cut into it to give a slice to a client, and when I had some spare time, I took a slice myself.  And then, I enjoyed another slice.  And then my co-worker said to me, "Boy, you sure can put down some food."

Hmm...

And the cake continued to sit, and it was nearly 4:00PM.  So as it was time for me to go, I cut two, huge chunks of cake, and put it in my remaining co-workers' bags.  HA!  And they thought they weren't eating cake today.

"Wah ha ha ha!  Buah ha ha ha!"  Ahem.

As much as I like, even love my new place, they get no more cake.

Ever.  It is making me too chubby.

OK.  That is a bit harsh.  I can be persuaded.

After all, we are all so very cute...

I really like these people, and I would do nearly anything for them, including wearing a Polo shirt and posing beside a golf cart.

And I would bake them another cake, even if only to eat all by myself.  That's what being "confectionate" is all about.

Rachel Bee

Get into the van...

As you all may have gathered, I am a busy girl.  I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, stylist, knitter, baker, and song writer.  I like to picture myself as a mother of 9, driving all of my kids around in a gigantic blue van.  Each of my children gets her time in the front seat.  We chit-chat; labouring over dreams, successes, and failures.  Our heart-to-heart lasts until either one of my other babies clamours for attention, or I am simply annoyed, fed up, or even disappointed with our time.

Usually, life in the van is without major incident, but last week we picked up a pesky little hitch-hiker, by name: "The Cold."  He was malodorous, obnoxious, and selfish; not willing to share the front seat with anyone.  Sometime yesterday we pried him from the vehicle, and now I have 9 neglected and malnourished babies to care for.

Yikes.

So lets begin with a strawberry cake recipe, shall we?

Strawberry Cupcakes

Strawberry Cake

2 cups white sugar
1 package strawberry gelatin
1 cup butter, softened
4 eggs (room temperature)
2 3/4 cake flour
2.5 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 c whole buttermilk
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 cup strawberry puree

Preheat oven to 350.  Prepare your pans.

Cream together sugar, gelatin, and butter for 5-7 minutes, until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated.  Stir in vanilla.

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.  In another, mix together buttermilk and puree.  Add the dry and wet ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating between the two; beginning and ending with the flour.  Scrape the bowl between additions.

Divide between pans and toss into the oven, baking...

25 (or so) minutes for 2 8" rounds
15 (or so) for cupcakes

I say "or so" because I do not trust my oven sometimes, so I always start checking for doneness about 5 minutes beforehand.  These cakes look very moist, almost undone when they are finished.  Make sure you check with a tooth pick.

For the frosting I used the recipe found here for Marshmallow Frosting, but I added some pink food color.  You could also do a Cream Cheese Frosting (without the lime zest), or a Swiss Meringue Buttercream, but please, do not be fancy and try to add  too much strawberry puree to butter-based frosting.  It will separate and end up in the trash.

And you will cry.

Couldn't you just leave well enough alone?  It was pink!  It was sweet!  It had little strawberry seeds in it, making it adorable!

But you just had to add another tablespoon, didn't you?

Oh.  Sorry.  I digress.

So, enjoy this Strawberry Cake.  It tastes like spring.  It is pink.  It is delicious.

And maybe a skein or two of yarn can make it into the front seat of the van this evening.

Have a beautiful Monday.

Rachel Bee

Crazy ol' St. Valentine...

Oh, St. Valentine.

We learned who he was in school.  I think I might have even seen a play about his antics.

Crazy ol' St. Valentine.

I don't know what I truly think about his holiday, as we haven't observed it in 6 years.  I think I have told myself that everyone else stopped observing it as well.  As I flip through Valentines Day memories in my mind, more of them are tear-filled dramatics rather than observances of romantic bliss.  My Facebook updates show that the boyfriends of my unmarried friends shower them with presents, as my married friends tend to post an amorous quotation; or spend the evening grilling out with their children.

As I have been married for nearly five years, I have realized that flowers are too expensive for something that ultimately ends up in the garbage.  The chocolate that comes in heart-shaped boxes is usually poor in quality and is not worth the calories.  Dinner out means sitting with complete strangers and spending money on something one could do better at home.

But is it all a sham?

A day to celebrate romantic love?

Well, whatever it is or isn't, one thing I know: it is definitely a day for eating cake.

Or cupcakes.

Heart-shaped doilies.  I love them.  

Well, everyday is a day for eating cake, in my opinion.  I had some leftover coconut cake for breakfast.

What?  shut up for two seconds and give you a closer look?

OK.

Chocolate Cupcakes

I actually made these for a married friend of mine who celebrates Valentines Day.  Go figure.

Moist Chocolate Cake topped with my favorite Swiss Meringue Buttercream, tinted the most delicate of pale pinks; the deep blackness of the Oreo crumbs nestled on the blush of buttercream is a sight to behold.  What you cannot really see are the precious pink fondant daisies.  They were adorable.

So dear.

I also made a cake with the other half of the frosting and batter.  You will see it soonish.

So, romantic love.  Whatever this day dedicated to it is or isn't, I accept it for the sugar it offers.

Because cake is delicious.  And the affirming smile I get from the one who took the pictures is a celebration to me.

Chocolate:  Mi Amour.  

Have a beautiful day.

Rachel Bee