I Yam What I Yam!

Ok so this blogging thing is tougher than I thought. I never realized how easy I had it when I would just post pictures on Facebook with a lame little caption. I think the reason it has been so hard is because writing has never been my strong suit and I find that I write like speak. And obviously I speak by rambling off mindless topics that jump all over the place with a few bad words thrown in. So from here forward I plan on being a lot more committed to this blog. No more copping out by just posting pictures on Facebook!
Besides not blogging this month I have been stricken with the changing weather sinus crap. Fall is rearing its colorful little head here in the mountains and thanks to this cool/hot weather falls brings, I have had whatever this junk is for going on a week and a half. Through the head pressure and sniffles I had to make a birthday cake and cater food for a bridal shower feeding 20-30 people. Even though I survived, the lack of sleep, late nights and working the 8-5:30 did not help me get better. In fact I have gotten worse and now I have no voice. (I'm sure people will jump for joy at the thought of this.) But this week approaching is my week to recuperate. I have no baking obligations and I can experiment (or not) in the kitchen. I did make a major decision last week that I am jumping off the cupcake bandwagon. At the risk of becoming too cliche or even "so last year" I am swearing off cupcakes for a while. So my Yammy Cakes will be my last cupcake post for a while because I really want to try harder recipes that actually push me a little bit. I am a junkie for trying things that I know I cant do and I think that I have been holding myself back with the baked goods. My dad actually got me an awesome cook book Dinners for Two: Cookbook with Music CD. The CD has classical pieces performed by The San Francisco String Quartet. I am excited to try the recipes and listen to the CD. Before I became a grungy alternative gal I would sit and listen to classical music in my room. Some of my favorites were The Flight of the Bumblebeeby Rimsky-Korsakov and Waltz of The Flowersby Tchaikovsky. I still listen to classical, much to the dismay of my husband who will get onto our vehicle and ask "What the heck are you listening to??" HAHA! I usually just reply "To awesomeness, duh!"
Some of the things I have made recently have actually made me proud. I am impressed that I have become pretty good at cake decorating. I have only made and decorated three cakes and this third one was my best by far. I am also self taught which makes me optimistic for the ones I will do in the future or if I ever got some proper training. I also made some Candied Yam Cupcakes in honor of the new fall season. WOW! I think I ate eight of them. And the bridal shower...I made an impressive menu. Pulled pork sliders, Fruited Chicken Salad, Baked Potato Salad, Tomato Bruchetta, Veggie Pizza, Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Chips with an apple berry salsa, Vanilla Berry Trifle, Strawberry orange cake with homemade cream cheese icing, cake balls. I think there is more...I just cant remember. I was unable to photograph any of this deliciousness thanks to my crappy Kodak camera that decided to break. Now I am in the market for a new one, any suggestions? I need an upgrade. Alright I think I have written enough and at the risk of rambling any further.....its picture time!

The beginning of some awesome cupcakes

Candied Yam Cupcakes with Marshmallow Buttercream and Candied Pecans

Yummy Yammy Cakes!

Candied Yam Cupcakes with Marshmallow Buttercream and Candied Pecans
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
3 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
4 large eggs
1 (16-oz.) can yams
2/3 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Place pecans, sugar, butter and cinnamon (First four ingredients)in a pan over medium heat. Stir constantly until pecans are toasty and sugar has carmelized

2. Beat sugar and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition.

3. Whisk together mashed yams, orange juice, and vanilla extract. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with sweet potato mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Fold in toasted pecans (leave some for garnishing). Place foil baking cups in muffin pans, and coat with vegetable cooking spray; spoon batter into cups, filling two-thirds full.

4. Bake at 350° for 28 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean. Remove immediately from pans, and cool 50 minutes to 1 hour or until completely cool. Spread cupcakes evenly with marshmallow Frosting. Garnish, if desired.

Marshmallow Buttercream

1 cup butter, softened
1 7-ounce jar Marshmallow Fluff
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine butter and Marshmallow Fluff. Beat until smooth and creamy. Reduce speed and slowly add powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Beat the mixture until soft and fluffy.

Happy Birthday to James!

I free handed the UK...not bad! My paw prints suck though

Listening To:

Never There -Cake
Creep-Stone Temple Pilots
If You Could Only See-Tonic
Black Hole Sun-Soundgarden
In Bloom-Nirvana

All Sorts of Cakery

Somehow in the last few weeks I have been commissioned to bake. No not the baking that gives you the munchies, cake baking of course! I love baking cakes. In fact, I needed to find a way to use some fresh vanilla beans I had bought from Arizona Vanilla Company and vanilla bean cake was the obvious answer. But when I was asked to make a cake for a coworker that resembled a woman's torso...well I hesitated. I mean sure, I can make round and square cakes all day long. I can create a mean cupcake too! But a cake with boobs? That seemed way to far out of my reach and borderline offensive. But the cooking daredevil inside forced me to accept the challenge. So I pretended I had just entered Kitchen Arena and my secret ingredient was "FONDANT". Errr....wait I have never made, worked with, or even eaten fondant! Sheesh, to me fondant is a bad word, give me some buttercream! But I wanted this as life like as possible and my reputation as the workplace foodie was on the line. So I decided that I was going to go with it but I was going to make my own marshmallow fondant, no offense to Wilton. After two days of swearing, crying and a lot of hysterical laughing I finished my cake. And to my surprise Bertha (I had to give her a name) was beautiful. The awesome part is that another coworker asked me to do a cake for her the following week. And of course I chose a design that was far beyond my abilities. This time my creating was foiled by running out of eggs while making my six inch top cake. I tried to alter my recipe but what came out was a delicious but crumbly cake. I had to redo my cake....sadness. Some of the things I learned as I ventured into the world of cake baking is that you must use dowels for a stacked cake, that fondant is ridiculous and I hate it sometimes, and lastly drinking the vodka that you paint fondant flames with is always a good idea.

Vanilla Bean Cake

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher sea salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cups vanilla sugar
2 vanilla bean split, seeds scraped
3 eggs
1 3/4 cups milk


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, baking powder and sea salt together and set aside. Mix together butter and sugar until well combined. Add vanilla bean seeds and blend well. Add eggs one at a time, continuing to mix until ingredients are combined. In a separate mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Add in three batches to butter mixture, gently stirring. Add milk and mix until all ingredients are combined. Be careful not to over mix; it will cause the cake to become tough. Butter your pan and dust with flour. Pour batter into pans and bake 45 to 55 minutes. Allow to cool in pan before removing and slicing or frosting. Frost and Enjoy!!

Meet Bertha

Bertha is sorta creepy

Harley Cake

Listening To:

Kings of Leon-Molly Chambers
Kings of Leon-Taper Jean Girl
Kings of Leon-Need Somebody
Chromeo-Needy Girl

Note-I had to listen to KOL!! Going to thier concert in Cincinnati on Saturday!

Hamburgers and Hot Buttered Rum....Cupcakes?

For the past couple years my husband's employer has put together a picnic in the summer to give everyone the opportunity to mingle outside of work. They set it up so whoever attends must contribute a covered dish or dessert. Everyone usually brings some good things and there is food everywhere. In all seriousness bringing a covered dish that does not have to be refrigerated really isn't as easy as people think. Last year I made an appetizer of bacon wrapped stuffed jalapenos. They were of course a hit. But silly me forgot to wear gloves and had fire hands for a few days. Lesson learned. This year I decided that I for sure wanted to do a dessert. And since I have been practicing my dessert presentation I decided to be fancy. This did not come without a road block. When I got home from work at 6:45pm and stepped into my kitchen with a game plan to get 4 dozen cupcakes done, I also stepped in a puddle. A HUGE puddle. Not knowing the source of all of this water I felt the panic set in. Did Joel leave the freezer open? Is water leaking from the pipes? Is our roof leaking? NO! Something even worse....my fridge and everything in it was dying a slow warm death. So I had to rush and make my buttercream, use my eggs, and try to keep everything cool in my pocket sized mini fridge and stay sane all at the same time. But my end result was impressive and oh so awesome. I think I did the happy dance a few times during decoration. I'm sure Joel got a laugh out of me doing air kicks and fist pumps with a pastry bag in hand. So without further adieu...I give you Hot Buttered Rum Cupcakes and Hamburger Cupcakes.

Hamburger Cupcakes

1 box vanilla cake (prepared according to package)
1 box brownie mix (prepared according to package)
Buttercream icing (homemade or purchased)
Red, Green, Yellow food coloring
White Sprinkles

Bake cake and brownies according to package. Let cool completely. Remove cupcakes from wrappers and slice in half horizontally. Cut your brownies, you can do squares or circles for the "meat". Divide your butter cream into three bowls and mix up your "mustard" "ketchup" and "lettuce". Place one brownie piece on bottom half of cupcake. Spread or pipe on mustard and ketchup. I suggest piping the lettuce for a more realistic look. Place the top of the "bun" on the brownie and frosting. Scatter the sprinkles on top of each bun. Admire the awesomeness.

I am choosing not to post the buttered rum cupcakes for a few reasons. One is because it is so awesome, if you want to know it, I want to personally give you the gift of this recipe. And two...I really eyeballed this recipe. I couldn't exactly tell you the measurements verbatim. I will however tell you I got the inspiration from The Cupcakery. I changed the recipe quite a bit and topped it with my brown butter cream frosting. Nommyness times ten!!

Listening To:

Fire It Up-Modest Mouse
Army of Me-Bjork
Arizona-Kings of Leon
Boys Don't Cry-The Cure
Time to Pretend-MGMT

Death By Chocolate

I have always known that my eating habits are very much affected by my mood. And because of this I have self diagnosed myself as an emotional eater. I get sad, I eat. I get happy, I eat. I get nervous, I eat. Well this really might just mean that I like to eat. Most recently I have been wanting chocolate. I love chocolate! And any recipe that claims to kill me with chocolate has to be tried...and eaten. I found this recipe on All Recipes. I changed the original recipe to fit my own taste preferences. I replaced the german chocolate cake for a butter recipe chocolate cake. I also opted to use extra creamy whipped topping and instant coffee. You  could easily make this a minty death by chocolate by substituting toffee for Andes mints or replace the coffee for caramel. Overall this is awesome and I will make it again for sure! It made my tummy happy and I am sure it will make yours happy too!

Death By Chocolate

1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 2/3 cups milk
3/4 cup strong brewed coffee ( I used instant coffee)
1 (12 ounce) container creamy whipped topping, thawed
6 (1.4 ounce) bars chocolate covered toffee bars (Heath), frozen and crushed

In any size cake pan, bake cake according to package directions. Cool and crumble. Make pudding, according to package directions, with milk.
In a large trifle or other glass serving bowl, place half of the crumbled cake. Pour half of the coffee over the cake, and spread half of the pudding over that. Top with half of the whipped topping, sprinkled with half the crumbled candy bars. Repeat layers in the same order. Refrigerate until serving. Enjoy!!

They Say It's Your Birthday...

So as the clock ticks into the wee hours of the 1st day of August I am overwhelmed by how many birthdays there are for my loved ones and friends this month. I mean like well over 10 people that are close to me will be celebrating their birth at some point in August. And I am not talking about Facebook or Myspace friends that I am "friends" with but have no contact with, I am talking people that I see and talk to pretty often. So this is my shout out to all of my special people and anyone else who is celebrating a birthday! Happy Birthday, Feliz Cumpleanos, Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag, Hau`oli la hanau! I hope you eat lots of cake and if you are really lucky it will be a cake that someone special has made for you.
One special person that is celebrating a birthday this month is my mother in law Pam. I have been truly blessed to have this awesome woman in my life and I decided that I wanted to make her something extra special for her birthday. Not just any old cake would do. My inspiration came from an Amish bakery/store close to my home that sells some addicting brown butter cookies. These cookies are Pam's favorites so I wanted to turn them into a cake. The only problem is the closest recipe I found is in metric measurements. So after using my awesome brain and the Internet I made some of the yummiest cupcakes. I found that it is actually the icing that makes this recipe because the cake part was not extremely impressive. You could put this icing on a pumpkin cake, spice cake or a rum cake (like a hot buttered rum cupcake!!! Oh man I have to really try to make something like this) and it would be delicious. I will warn you in advance....get ready to feel greasy. I had butter everywhere. I must have even spilt a little at one point because I slid across my floor. The mess is worth it. The flavor is rich, nutty and reminiscent of toffee or a Werther's Original. I loved them and most importantly Pam loved them. Success!!

Brown Butter Cupcakes with Brown Buttercream Icing
Adapted from Nigella Lawson's How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking

Cupcakes
1/2 cup plus 4 tbsp unsalted butter
3/4 cup self-rising cake flour
3 tbsp sugar
5 tbsp brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
2-3 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 400F. First off is burning the butter: place butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, stir constantly until it turns a dark golden color (3-5 minutes). Take the pan off the heat and strain into a bowl (to separate from the sediment). Let the butter sit until it solidifies, but is still a little soft. (This took almost 30 minutes because it’s hot here; if hot out, put in the fridge for about 10 minutes).
When the butter is solid, yet soft, place in a food processor along with ALL cupcake ingredients except milk. Blitz! Add milk slowly and pulse till well-mixed. Divide among 12 cupcake papers and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Icing
1/2 cup plus 4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 2/3 to 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 tbsp milk

Do the same thing with the butter that you did above for the cake. Once it’s in the solid/soft state, beat it along with 1/2 of the sugar until stiff. Add tbsps of milk and the rest of the sugar alternately. Then add the vanilla. Enjoy!

Listening To:

Snow Patrol-Chocolate

Kings of Leon-Pistol Of Fire

Vampire Weekend-Diplomat's Son

Feist-1234

S'more of what?

It is my favorite time of year! It is finally the two weeks in the summer when my little sister comes and visits me! It surpasses Christmas and Thanksgiving as my favorite by a long shot. Since I live 2,000 miles away from all of my family, I consider this time to be my happy holidays. This particular visit has already been so busy and so fun. We went to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee over the weekend and did some shopping, sightseeing and most importantly lots and lots of eating. I made sure to take her to places she had never eaten at before because otherwise what is the point? All I know is we had a blast. It definitely was not a long enough thats for sure. And sadly coming back meant having to go back to work...blah.
Work or not...I cooked on! One of my creations this week was a blackberry bbq sauce. Jenina  helped me tweak this recipe. At first it was so much like a vinaigrette that I thought for sure it was going to be a disaster. But she lent me her time and taste buds and helped me perfect one of my favorite experiments ever. I have made bbq sauce before but this was smoky and sweet and spicy all at once. My mouth totally danced a jig.

Blackberry BBQ Sauce

I am going to go ahead and admit to everyone I am a cookieoholic. I love cookies. No I am obsessed with cookies. All kinds. Rarely do I meet one that doesn't instantly become my best friend. Obviously I have to be obsessed to turn something that is perfectly delicious the way it is into a cookie. The truth is I have been eyeing this recipe for sometime. It is a s'more cookie recipe. I mean who doesn't love a s'more? The crunchy graham, melty chocolate, and gooey marshmallow? Yuuummyyy!! Every time I think of a s'more I think of one of my all time favorite movies The Sandlot. I think I watched this movie at least once a week when it was released on VHS. I also had a major crush on Benny... *sigh*... But anywho back to the cookie!! It was pretty good. I do feel like the whole point of a s'more is the campfire, hanging with friends and getting marshmallow stuck to your face, shirt, and well everything else. I think that this is one cookie that is much tastier left in its natural state. It just isn't the same when you have to zap a cookie for 15 seconds in the microwave to get the effects of the real thing. It is also waaayyy more time consuming than a s'more. Next time I will make the cookie part more cuplike and fill it with some chocolate ganache and marshmallow fluff. Sort of like a mini s'more tart. (I plan to blog about this idea too!) In conclusion if you have time...make the cookies. My opinion? Make a traditional s'more!

S'more Cookies
by Martha Stewart

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 cup whole-wheat flour (spooned and leveled)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup light-brown sugar
1 large egg
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, cut into 30 squares
15 large marshmallows, halved horizontally
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, pulse oats until finely ground. Add flours, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; pulse to combine. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, scraping down side of bowl. With mixer on low, beat in flour mixture just until combined.

Drop dough by tablespoons, 1 inch apart, onto two baking sheets. Top each with a chocolate square. Bake just until lightly golden, 11 to 13 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Remove sheets from oven; heat broiler. Top each cookie with a marshmallow. One sheet at a time, broil until marshmallows are lightly browned, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.

Listening To:

Hootie and the Blowfish-Let Her Cry (LP Version)
Band of Horses-No One's Gonna Love You
Broken Bells-The High Road
Stone Temple Pilots-Vasoline

I Got My Thrill on Blueberry Hill

It is a sad week when nothing inspires me food wise. Living in rural Kentucky and the access to fresh fruits and vegetables should be more than enough to spark something in me right? Ok Ok I guess I have just been lazy but my schedule hardly allows me to grow my own garden let alone stop at one of the little roadside shacks to pick through produce. I am just banking on my in laws giving me some fresh corn...oh the plans I have for those guys.
Well since I was slacking in the kitchen for a few days I decided that on Friday I was going to make some chicken fajitas. Easy, yummy, and one of Joel's favorites. To my excitement, the area grocery store finally got its act together and I picked out some perfect avocados, crisp red and orange bell peppers and some rosy tomatoes. Yum! All of these ingredients combined with some organic chicken, whole wheat tortillas, sour cream, and peach salsa made for one tasty trip south of the border.

So with this successful shopping trip came the discovery of some pretty blueberries that happened to be only $1.99 a carton! What a steal! I wanted to definitely make something that I could share...and since my co-workers tend to benefit from my obsession with all things yummy, I wanted something a little different that they could eat in the morning rather than just a snack. And thanks to Martha I found the perfect recipe. Now I will say in advance you must Must MUST toss your blueberries with flour before folding them in the batter. Otherwise they just sink and get stuck to the pan. Also make sure to coat your pan in either cooking spray or butter to ensure the cake doesn't stick. If you are looking a not too sweet cake to enjoy with that morning cup of coffee this is the winner...and it is so pretty too! Nom Nom Nom!!!

Blueberry and Lemon Bundt Cake
courtesy of Martha Stewart

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1 teaspoon for blueberries and zest
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
2 cups blueberries
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
Nonstick cooking spray, for pan
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, whisk 2 1/2 cups flour with baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars on high speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions of sour cream.

In a bowl, toss blueberries and zest with remaining teaspoon flour; gently fold into batter. Coat a 12-cup nonstick Bundt pan with cooking spray. Spread batter in prepared pan.

Bake cake on bottom rack of oven until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes. Cool in pan 20 minutes. Invert onto a rack; cool completely, top side up. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving, if desired.

After Cooling Ready for Dusting

Somethings are too pretty to eat....yeah right!

Get in my Belly!

Listening To:

The Black Keys-Busted

Dave Matthews Band-Crash Into Me
Smashing Pumpkins-Whir [Explicit]
Pearl Jam-Wishlist
The Gypsy Kings-Volare
Counting Crows-Mr. Jones