The Cake of Your ..:**~DREAMS~**:..

...So, who doesn't like cake, amiright?!?!

(This guy and the Cabbage Guy were my favorites from the show, beeteedubs)

My dad got me the coolest baking tools gift basket recently, and it came with some awesome stuff to work with (FINALLY, A REAL PIPING KIT!!).  So naturally, I've been hard at work playing around with it to see what does what, what I'm good at, what I'm decent at, and what I just plain suck at.

Experiment 1: Portal Cupcakes

I spent last week with mah boyfriend, and during those magical seven days, I got heavy into the gorgeous gameplay and compelling story that are the makeup of Portal 2.  The first one is one of my favorite games ever, and the second one (still not finished, DON'T SPOIL IT GUYS) is blowing my mind.  Anyway, I thought I'd channel my Aperature Science Labs spirit and frost my cupcakes with a Portal color scheme.

I had two major problems with these: one was that the longer I piped, the warmer the frosting got, thus melting and not retaining shape too well (see: top leftmost cupcake).

The other was that I didn't realize I forgot the EGGS in the batter until it was too late.  My cupcakes sank in the middle and crumbled at the slightest touch, and had no weight or richness at all.  Needless to say, I haven't forgotten to double check my ingredients since.

My favorite of this cupcake bunch are actually the front three: the one on the left is because I was able to see the beginnings of two-toned frosting at work.  The middle, just because those pearls are so gorgeous and classy looking.  My dad got me four bags of those bad boys, and they just add such a delightful pop of color to anything!  And the rightmost is because I love the layered tier look (which, coincidentally, came from trying to cover up the giant frosting blob mess that was my first attempt at piping a buttercream rose.

Speaking of which...

Experiment 2: Rosy Spice Cake

Determined to make a beautiful frosting rose for once in my life, I spent one morning watching YouTube tutorials for making them.  Turns out, my hamartia* was not having a flower nail.

For those of you who don't know (just as I didn't), a flower nail is basically a flat circle with a long stem handle underneath it (like a pizza cutter, but with the blade horizontal instead of vertical).  As it turns out, the flower nail is invaluable for making roses because you can turn the handle effortlessly while you work, instead of rotating your whole hand.  That's what allows the petals to form a proper shape, instead of being stretched and warped.

Seeing how I still don't have a flower nail, I became the Kitchen MacGyver and used my cooking thermometer instead.

The result?

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!

Man, oh man, the sheer pride I felt when I finally made a real frosting rose.  I imagine it's a lot like curing a disease or having a child, except way less important.

As for the cake itself...

(Someday, I'll figure out how to make the pictures appear larger on the blog without consuming the whole page)

My largest obstacle with this cake was the roses, obviously.  Because the thermometers have very small heads, getting the roses off (which is normally done with scissors) cost me half of the flower's base.  I piped the others directly onto the cake, and some of them turned out better than others (namely, the front three).  However, some green frosting trails not only helped cover up the problematic bottoms of the roses, but also gave the appearance of leafy tendrils as added to the overall aesthetic pleasure of the cake.

Experiment 3: The Rainbow Cake of Your Wildest Dreams

My inspiration for this cake actually came from a fellow food enthusiast that I see a lot on YouTube and Facebook: Ann from How To Cook That, who did a killer Rainbow Heart Cake tutorial.  The technique she used was randomly piping brightly colored frosting into a prepared pan, which I decided to replicate here (except I just drizzled it in with a spoon, it was easier than piping, plus my batter was runny anyway):

And if you think that looks cool, check them out after they bake:

The photos actually do a lot of justice to the bright hues.  I loved the way they turned out!

The external decoration was a bit of an improvised challenge, if you will.  I wanted it to have color, but I didn't want the whole outside to be a rainbow, too.  So I came up with a basic plan: most of the frosting would be white, but I would pipe on some colorful swirls as a pretty accent.

 And I was pretty satisfied with my results, actually:

The green and blue were a bit overpowering, however; I globbed spoonfuls of different colored frosting into one bag, except the green and blue kind of went in side-by-side, I ended up with way more of those two than the pink and yellow.  BUT, when I got to the border, the other two not only starting bleeding through, but the colors began combining and produced purple as well (I didn't even have purple)!  As I got closer to the end of my frosting, the colors began melting together and becoming dull, hence why the bottom border isn't quite so eye-catching.  The beads were spur-of-the-moment, and I feel like they help balance out all the green and blue.

 As for the inside...

BAM!

BAAAAAM!!

CHECK.  THAT.  OUT.

I couldn't even contain my delight as we cut into the cake.  The colors just explode against one another, and both the outside frosting and the rainbow inside really compliment each other!  Seriously, it looks so magical, I'm beaming with pride while I type.  I don't like to be conceded, but I was really, really proud of this cake.  Overall, it's one of my favorite creations so far, mostly because I just went crazy with the creativity.  Most of it (even the rainbow inside) was planned as I went, and it was actually pretty liberating, and highly rewarding upon getting the finished product.

BONUS ROUND: COOKIES

My dad and I were hankering for a late night snack last night, so I took the opportunity to play around with some cookie decor.  The bottoms got a little dark around the edges, but overall, they were nice and buttery (it was just Betty Crocker mix, anyway).  I piped some of them with an open circle tip, and others I just spread the icing on.  The ones that got piped came out a little flat and mushy, because I made such fat icing lines which were squished when I pressed them into sprinkles.  However, I really liked the polka-dotted ones, and the ones with pearls (again, obviously).  The colors also stood out really nicely against the plain backdrop of the frosting and the cookie.

Fun Fact: the middle cookie with a red sprinkle symbol and the yellow sprinkle one near it both have Japanese Kanji on them.  The red one says Ka (火), which means fire, and the yellow one says Kin (金), which means gold or wealth.

Man, I miss Japanese class.

If you're from any of my Japanese classes and you're reading this (and you all know who you are), talk to me in the comments: suggest my next project/recipe, tell me what you think of this one, write me a whole paragraph in 日本語 if you want to.  #レプリセント~

ECHO out.

Marsala Meatballs and Crabby Flatbread

WHO WANTS MEATBALLS?

I think I'm gonna use this gif for every post from now on.

So my dad and I are both chefs and food lovers in our own right, and now that I'm staying with him for a little while, we can kind of bump off each other's culinary inspiration and make some really bangin' food.  We've done a lot of cooking in the last week, and I figured I'd go ahead and start with one of my favorites.

If there's one thing I love making, it's meatballs.  I mean, seriously, can you go wrong with meatballs?  Even if you mess them up, you can still make all kinds of other stuff with them!  They taste great by themselves or with some pasta or maybe roasted vegetables, and as soon as you stick a toothpick in them, BAM.  Fancy hors d'oeuvres right there.

I've made meatballs plenty of times before, and each time, I've tried to do at least a little something to improve them--there's been times I've baked them, simmered them in a pan with a little oil, or maybe some pasta sauce.  But my favorite, and everyone else's unanimous favorite, is Marsala meatballs.

The secret?  Mushrooms.  You want mushrooms right there in the skillet cracklin' and sizzlin' and baskin' in all that warm, wine-y goodness.  The meatballs will taste pretty great depending on how you season them, but the mushrooms are your flavor secret weapon--they soak up all the flavor of everything around them and explode in your mouth.  This I have learned time and time again--people tell me the meatballs taste great, but the mushrooms just make the dish.

Marsala Meatballs a la Portabellas

Yields: 7-10 large meatballs

Now I know what you guys are thinking: "What's that delicious-looking pizza square thing on the left side of the plate?"  Well as it happens, that was my dad's culinary contribution to the meal.  His concoction was Crabby Flatbread, a killer combination of fresh crab meat, Ranch dressing, and shredded Parm atop a flatbread crust.  Since it wasn't my creation, I'm not at liberty to write the recipe... at least, until I pester him for permission, 'cuz that stuff was goooooooood.

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

About 3 cups red wine (any kind--I'm not experienced enough yet to suggest variants)

1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms -OR- 1 can mushrooms, drained (doesn't HAVE to be portabellas)

1 egg

3-4 tbsp butter

At least 1/2 cup flour

Bleu cheese crumble (optional, but trust me, it tastes so good)

1 tbsp applewood rub

1 tsp garlic powder/salt

Dash of Oregano, salt, and pepper

Instructions:

1.) Heat a large, deep skillet over high heat.  Once it reaches temperature, melt the butter.

2.) Add a little bit of flour to the butter, mixing well until it combines and forms a thick, gravy-ish consistency.

3.) Add the wine, 1 cup at a time, stirring well.  Allow it to simmer and boil for about 5 minutes, to help break down the alcohol.

4.) Reduce to medium heat and add the mushrooms.  Cover and stir occasionally.

5.) Break up your ground beef in a large bowl.  You can just use your hands (WEAR GLOVES OR MAKE SURE THEY'RE CLEAN!) and break it into large chunks for now.

6.) Add the egg, applewood, garlic, Oregano, and salt and pepper.  I've learned not to be stingy with salt as it is very easy to sacrifice flavor in doing so.  So don't pour it in, but be generous with your dash(es).  Grind and mix together until it becomes a large mass.

7.) Pulling off palm-sized handfuls at a time, shape the meat into balls.  Mine lingered at about 1-inch in diameter, but you can mix it up if you'd like.

8.) Once you've shaped all the meat into balls, begin adding them, one at a time, to the wine and mushroom mixture.

NOTE: you'll want to keep a very close eye on the meatballs for the first 5-10 minutes of cooking.  Use tongs or a spatula and rotate/turn them frequently.  This will allow for even browning and prevent them from sitting on one side for too long, which will cause them to burn.  After they've began to brown properly on all side, you can let them side on one side for a bit longer, to allow the insides to cook undisturbed.

9.) Allow the meatballs to cook, in total, for about 15-20 minutes, covering in between rotations.  Keeping them covered locks in all the moisture, and the built-up steam will help cook them internally!

Also, I'd recommend using a toothpick to poke small holes all the way through the meatballs, from top to bottom.  The tiny openings will help guide heat to the inside of the meatballs, which will cook them thoroughly.  Don't make too many openings though, as that will make the structure unstable and cause them to crumble apart.

10.) Once the meatballs are nice and dark brown on the outside, remove the skillet from heat.  Place meatballs on a plate, on at a time, and use a spoon or scoop to generously glaze them with the Marsala sauce and mushrooms.  Crumble with Bleu cheese and serve hot with an ice cold beverage.

Okay guys, my time on the library computer is almost up for the day, so this is where I'll end it.  Check back every day for new posts!!

ECHO out.

OFFICER ON DECK!!

Told you guys I'd start posting when I could get on a computer!!

Unfortunately, however, I'm using a public library computer--being outside of the comfort and privacy of my own home, I'm not necessarily at liberty to take all the weird, random videos and pictures I normally do.  Ergo, my next few posts won't really be littered with pictures of my face like they usually are.

So anyway, I'm in Kentucky for the next month or so.

I'll be living with my dad here until the beginning of July rolls around--at that point, the Bae and his family will be home from their vacation in DEUTSCHLAND, and I'll be moving in with them in Tennessee.  From there, I start culinary school, guys.

But don't you worry none: my dad is a culinary enthusiast just like me, and if there's anything he likes doing, it's getting crazy in the kitchen and making awesome food.

In short, you guys will have a lot to feast your eyes on this month.

I have a handful of things to post about for you already--I've already been here for a week--so I'll be at work on them as quickly as I can.  I'm limited to public library computers (because I'm an idiot and my laptop charger got left home in DELAWARE), which have time-restricted use, so bear with me.  I promise, there's all kinds of deliciousness coming.

And you know what?  We'll start with one of my favorites.  

Anyone like meatballs?

Good.

ECHO out.