Tiramisu Cake

I haven't posted in a while and I have been doing quite a bit of baking and realized that I have never posted my baking projects on my blog!  So to remedy that I am going to start with sharing a cake I made last night.

I want to precede this with the fact that I am in no way a professional baker - I am a beginner - so please take my advice and experience as tips from someone who is experimenting and making mistakes (I don't post my mistakes but I will write about what I've learned!)

I found a recipe online that looked yummy.  As I have never made tiramisu I thought I would give it a try - I've always loved the dessert.  This recipe creates the classic tiramisu taste using a box cake for the base (which I was hesitant about at first) but with the homemade filling and frosting and then soaking the cake in booze, it's hard to tell (if not impossible) that it came from a box (shhhh).  The cake required a lot of steps and is a bit labor intensive, but so worth the time because it's not hard.

I made the 4 cake layers the night before in my new 6"cake pans - preparing 2 at a time.  Follow the recipe on the box and separate the cake mix in half.  I made the first two layers with the plain white cake mix and cooked those first.  Then I added 3 packets of VIA instant coffee to the remaining batter and cooked the last 2 layers.  So I had 2 white cake layers and 2 coffee flavored cake layers.  If you don't want as many layers make 2 coffee layers and 1 plain layer for a 3 layer cake.

Ingredients:  (as adapted from Tiramisu Layer Cake on Allrecipes.com)
Cake:

• 1 package moist white cake mix
• 3 packets of VIA Starbucks instant coffee (but any instant coffee would work, use 3 or 4 tbsp)

Coffee Mixture:

• 1 cup coffee (I used 3 shots of espresso and water)
• 4 tbsp coffee liqueur (I used Kahlua)

Filling:

• 2 (8oz container) mascarpone cheese
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 4 tbsp coffee liqueur (I used Kahlua)

Frosting:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
• 2 tbsp coffee liqueur
• 2 packets VIA Starbucks instant coffee (again, any instant coffee will work)

Garnish:

• dark chocolate chips
• cocoa powder

I wrapped the 4 layers of cake in plastic separately and refrigerated them overnight.

The next evening I got to work.  I mixed together the ingredients for the coffee mixture and set aside.

To make the filling combine the mascarpone, 1 cup confectioners' sugar, and 4 tbsp of Kahlua in an electric mixer on low speed, beat just until smooth, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Next make the frosting.  Beat the cream, 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, and 2 tbsp Kahlua in an electric mixer on medium to high speed until stiff (this takes about 5-8 mins)

Now get the filling back out of the fridge and fold 1 cup of the frosting into the filling mixture to make it a bit lighter.

Now comes the assembly!!  Place first cake layer on a serving plate or cake stand (you can't move this cake once you start soaking it in coffee and booze - it's too mushy)  Using a think skewer or a fork, poke a bunch of holes in cake.  Pour one quarter of the coffee mixture over cake slowly (I just used a tablespoon and slowly drizzled onto cake).  Now spread with one third of the filling mixture and top with next cake layer; poke holes in cake again.  Pour another quarter of the coffee mixture over the second layer and spread with another one third of the filling mixture and top with third cake layer.  Repeat this process on all layers.  When you get to the top layer, poke holes in this cake too and pour remaining coffee mixture on top.

I returned the entire cake to the fridge and let it chill for a while so that it wouldn't be too mushy while I frosted it.  While waiting for cake to chill I made chocolate tree garnishes for around the perimeter of the cake.  These turned out super cute and were very easy to make.  Just heat up 1 cup of dark chocolate chips in a double boiler (or if you don't have one like me, just put about an inch of water in a small sauce pan and put a large glass bowl on top making sure the water does not touch the bottom of the glass bowl and boil the water - the steam will heat up the bottom of the bowl and melt the chocolate without burning it).  Stir the chocolate until completely melted.  Now transfer chocolate into a pastry bag with a small tip - make sure chocolate has cooled a little bit so it doesn't melt the pastry bag.  Lay out foil or parchment paper on a cookie sheet and proceed to "draw" the trees with chocolate.  You can make any doodle into a cute chocolate garnish!  I then popped the cookie sheet into the freezer so that the chocolate would harden.
And voila!  Little trees!

Now frost the cake!

Get the cake and frosting out of the fridge and apply frosting to sides and top.  I garnished the top of the cake with cocoa powder sifted through a sieve over a paper cutout of a moon I had put on the top of the cake.  Remove the paper cutout to reveal design!  I also cut 5 little bats out of black scrapbook paper and hot glued them to the back of a few wooden skewers.

Everyone raved over this cake and I was quite proud of how pretty it turned out as well!  I can't wait to bake again.  

Happy Halloween!!

Too much cute!

This is the first time I've posted a video to my blog.  But I just wanted to show the cuteness I've been subjected to while my parents were away on their trip to Banff.

Please disregard my silly voice.  I reserve it for talking to doggies only - it definitely goes up an octave... ha!

Hand Carved Stamp Art - making an old bikini new again

Here's a little project I did to revamp an old bikini.  I am currently in love with anything chevron or tribal and handcrafted block-printed fabrics are to die for (but a tad pricey).  I am on a tight budget so no shopping for me!  I decided I would be creative today and try my hand at this block printing thing I've been seeing around the web.  Plus it will add a little something to a basic black bikini I have hanging around - and if it doesn't turn out then no biggie...

First off I raided my parents wine cork stash and picked two clean corks to carve up.

I drew a triangle and chevron pattern on each cork then took a utility knife and carved them out.  These patterns are super simple and not hard to carve at all - I find that simple looks best when making a stamp and the end result will depend on how you use the pattern in repeats or design.

I decided to forgo the chevron and stick with the triangle.  I measured where I wanted the stamps to be placed on the bikini and laid some tape down as guidelines.  I used a small paintbrush to apply paint to the stamp before printing.  Then stamp!

It looked pretty good as is, but the paint I used came out a little faint.  I don't know if it was because I was just using crafters acrylics or if it was inevitable with the black background.  So I decided to paint another layer over the stamped image.  This was easy and really made the gold stand out.

I measured and added a second layer of triangles (yet another Jinx photobomb).  I used Golden brand acrylics paint in Iridescent Gold.

It's hard to get a final result picture without blatantly showing my boobies but it is a bikini so here it is...

I am fairly happy with the results.  This is just a lay-out-in-the-sun bikini so the paint should last. The rows of triangles were less straight than I anticipated due to boobie curve (doh, should have realized this) but it looks pretty neat - and the bottoms that go with this bikini have gold hardware details at the hips so it looks like it was meant to go together.

I definitely want to make some more stamps and do up a scarf with this printing technique.  I will also research and invest in some fun fabric inks!

Projects in Progress

Helping Tom with some projects at The Folly.  Also just enjoying the sun.

Selecting boards and arranging before staining.

Other projects at home...

Trying to get some sewing projects done with a cat around is silly.  Oh Jinx, I was sitting there.

And this is my mending pile...

I put this pretty crop top together in a day - I'm almost too old for crop tops but this one is nicely tailored.  I am so in love with this watercolor fabric I could just die.  It's left over from the retro dress I made (you can see the pattern in the picture above this right next to Jinx).

I think it turned out pretty cute for something I whipped together without a pattern.  Styled with a full skirt here makes it more age appropriate, with almost a vintage vibe. (Silly mirror pics)

I am officially an Aunt!

Desmond arrives!  8lbs 8.8oz.  Thank you for making me an aunt and congratulations Abbey and Steve.

Sweet baby boy.  Love.