Ravenous Bunny Cupcakes

Happy Easter! I wanted to post these at daybreak, but the last few days I was running on a pretty tight schedule and had so little time. Does that scenario resound with anyone else?

After a very fit Easter brunch of appam and beef mappas, I will be serving these very appealing cupcakes. I came across these ahh-dor-able topped delights on another blog and knew I was destined to make them. So it came to be that in the stead of hot cross buns I'd create some very endearing bunny buns for Easter. Irresistible, right?

The inspiration and instructions for the "Ravenous Rabbit " cupcakes come from the delightful blog, Hungry Happenings, I loved Beth's creative genius imagining up these doubled- over thumpers digging amidst well -strewn carrot patches.

The bodies, tails and feet were rather fun to make. The carrots were challenging at first to mold, but became second nature after I reached the gazillion mark (joking, probably about 200 for 12 cupcakes- more if you want it your cups brimming).

The recipe I used for the cupcakes come from my chocolate cake recipe here. Below I have included the chocolate buttercream recipe. I used marshmallow fondant that I made for modelling my figures  (recipe below).

The hula skirted one was my own idea. I felt you needed to have a feminine presence amidst the majority of macho tushies :-)

After this project, I think I might join a local pottery molding class- ah, the endless possibilities that come with food blogging.

Chocolate(buttercream) frosting ingredients :

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2-3 tbsp cream
• 1/2 tsp salt

Preparation:

• Cream butter for a few minutes in mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. 
• Turn off the mixer.
• Sift powdered sugar and cocoa into the mixing bowl. 
• Turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the dry ingredients don't fly everywhere) until the sugar and cocoa are absorbed by the butter. 
• Increase mixer speed to medium, add vanilla extract, cream and salt, beat for 3 minutes until all ingredients are incorporated and frosting has a creamy, smooth texture. 

Marshmallow fondant ingredients :

• 4 cups loosely packed mini marshmallows
• 2 tbsp water
• 4-5 cups powdered sugar, plus additional for dusting
• 2 tbsp vegetable shortening for greasing hands and workspace

 Fondant prep and roll:

To make marshmallow fondant, place marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave 1 minute on high; stir until marshmallows are melted and blended. 

Place confectioners' sugar on top of the melted marshmallow mixture in the bowl. Fold sugar into marshmallow mixture with a shortening greased wooden spoon. Place shortening nearby your workspace so you can reach into it with fingers. 

Grease hands and counter generously. Dust counter with extra powdered sugar. 
Turn marshmallow mixture onto counter, it will be sticky. 
Knead like you would dough,  until fondant pulls into a firm, smooth ball, that can stretch with no tearing. Add enough confectioners' sugar in between to avoid sticking, 

If the marshmallow fondant is tearing easily, add 1/2 tsp of water at a time 

Always cover fondant with plastic wrap. Any unused fondant can be stored in double plastic wrap so it does not dry and crack.

I made 2 batches of fondant  for this project, one left uncolored and the others divided and colored orange, pink and green with gel food coloring.

Have your figures assembled and ready before you frost the cupcakes. 

The making of the ravenous bunny and his tempting carrots: 

 Divide fondant according to need, you will need to make lots of carrots, so have a sizable amount colored orange. Divide more for pink and then green. For coloring fondant, see this.

You will need all the white fondant for 12 big balls for bodies, slightly smaller balls for 12 tails, and 24 even smaller pieces to shape into feet, you also need 24 peg sized pieces for legs to attach feet onto. 

For the feet markings, use pink fondant, I rolled out a thin tiny log of pink fondant and cut off very small pieces for the top paw marks. If you have the # 6 round Wilton tip, use the smaller end to make cut out rounds. For the larger  print, the smaller end of the  #12 Wilton tip can be used.

And if you're decorating 12 cupcakes, you will need 72  of those tiny rounds and 24 large  rounds for the feet markings.

With the orange fondant, mold several carrots, indent on sides. Poke a hole with a toothpick in the  top center of the carrot and there insert a very small roll of green, which you later and very carefully cut apart and shape into leaves. 

As glue, I used water and applied it with a toothpick. You could use a fine brush, solely used for food too. 

Assembly:
Feet: After flattening and shaping feet, place pink discs as markings, big marking near one end and 3 smaller ones above it.
Form rounded bodies with roughly tablespoonful of fondant and place a pea sized round tail, (slightly fluffed and pulled) out on top, assemble feet onto the two pegs as legs towards lower part of bunny bottom.
Place bunny on top of frosted cupcake, use carrots(some with green stems and some without) to fill up sides.
Wilton cupcake wrappers in the picket fence design were used to wrap cupcakes.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.  Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead ..." Matthew 28:5,6,7 

Have a very wonderful Easter weekend, flooded with the hope that comes from that empty tomb.

Chocolate-vanilla marble cake and a marshmallow fondant revisit

If you were to ask me how many times a year I make cake or have baked desserts. I'd stumble, mmm, how would I give you a definitive answer? More so, what would you think if you really knew ? And I will admit it's more, much more than I've had you  believe. 

You see, of the 365 days I walk my kitchen, I live to bake, cake, on most- big, small, loaf, cupped, layered, checkered, pop-sticked, soaked- and eat the results. Though, often than not, it's the weeknight one-bowl whipandbake, unadorned, negates any amount of loft which might have them in for a showandtell. Frequents, that make for substantial after-dinner glee, whose stories remain untold, even though many might be possible contenders for the online spotlight.

Way too many to count these standard everyday occurrences, some that do seem worthy, but never see light, due to the lack of hands, words or, in my case, motivation to record all the flour-sugar-egg narratives that make dessert rotations on my daily table. 

Marble cake, fits and serves just that "everyday cake" bill. A combination of batters in contrasting colors and flavors swirled to a deliriously pretty effect, it assaults more than a few of your senses.  The moist crumb is what hits you the second you take a bite, after you get over the stunning visual effects of yellow and brown psychedelics. This is cocoa- vanilla coupling that's almost too delightful to believe. Because even I question myself on how, really, can something that looks this good, and be ridiculously easy, actually be that good? Oh but it can, and I am honest here, people when I say it does delicious in a so rank a way, that it need no accoutrement whatsoever.

Just have it be, charming enough to accompany sips of afternoon tea. Or even tall iced glasses of milk.

But hey, do we limit something of such impending magnitude and and stop there? For there is much more that transcends and greatly adds to Marbles's values. Thereby, it can and will stretch far beyond the spectrum, to grandiose ventures, where it can duly dazzle in fanciful embellished affairs.

And it did achieve just that, contributing to a broader picture, being the star component in an impressive, at least to a batch of 11 year old boys, birthday cake for my Second Born. Thus, after making his favorite sport edible, almost a month ago today, my oven has welcomed the same marble cake, twice since. 

Simple, sweet and sensational. I believe I owe it to you, so that your weeknights and occasions can be graced by just this kind of versatile cake visitation.

So with this discourse as I  show off the personalities and possibilities of today's subject, I thought it'd be beneficial to work in a marshmallow fondant review as well. I had given you an ingredient list and accompanying workflow once upon a time, but I believe we can perhaps tweak it just the minutest, so that you may never have to purchase those from store shelves, majority of which my kids won't touch if you payed them (and that's saying a lot).

Further, my thanks to the many YouTube demos on how-to-make-soccerball-cake-a-reality and pinteresty illustrations that would put God chefs to shame. Because of you, we got to see futbol in cake format, baked, assembled and scored in less than a day.

Here you have it, today's tract, swathed in visuals to perhaps beckon to your many variant personalities, whether it be a liberation of the inner gluttonous cake beast or paving way to your future as Cake Boss, Part Deux. I think it'd bide you well to look it over and take many notes.

For the Cake~
(Adapted- Martha Stewart's marble cake)
 Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ cups cake flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened at room temp
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temp
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ⅔ cup buttermilk, room temp
• ¼ cup cocoa powder, plus 1 tbsp
• ¼ cup plus 2 tbsp boiling water

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350° F. Keep aside a 9×5 inch loaf pan, greased and floured or spray with nonstick spray .
• Whisk together cake flour, baking powder and salt.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy.
• Add eggs one at time, scraping down sides of bowl when needed.
• Mix in vanilla.
• Add in flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, until all ingredients are combined into one smooth batter
• In the now empty bowl that was used to whisk flour, mix cocoa powder with the 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp of boiling water and stir until smooth. Add 1/3 of the cake batter to this and combine well.
• Alternate and scoop the batters in a checkerboard pattern, in two layers- chocolate-vanilla-chocolate. Place brown over yellow, yellow over brown when doing second layer.
• Swirl  the batters with a skewer/knife in zigzags and figure eights for a pretty marbled effect. 
• Bake 40- 60 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Leave in pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto wire rack to let cool.
• You can leave plain, frost with buttercream, ganache , fancy the whole show up. Your choice. It's all good.

Notes:

• If you use salted butter, like I do, omit the salt in cake ingredients.
• For the half dome part of the soccer ball cake, I scooped one batter into the other(brown into yellow). 

In a checkerboard pattern, alternate batters in two layers. Swirl these using a skewer or knife.

Swirl it pretty and let it shine.

I should say it's extremely difficult to get this wrong. Any which way your wrist turns, you create cake art.

Marshmallow fondant~
Ingredients:

• ¼ c unsalted butter, softened or as much needed
• 16 ounces/1 pound white mini-marshmallows
• 2 to 5 tablespoons water
• 2 pounds icing or powdered sugar

Directions:

• Have softened butter ready in a widemouthed bowl (for your hands to easily reach )and keep aside.
• Place the marshmallows and two tbsp of the water in a very large greased microwave-safe bowl, and microwave on high for 30 seconds and melt the marshmallows. Continue at 30 second intervals, stirring between each 30 seconds, until marshmallows are melted, gooey and completely smooth. 
• In the bowl itself, place 1/2 of the  confectioners' sugar on top of the marshmallow mixture(if your bowl is not big enough, all of this can be done on the countertop). Using a well greased wooden label or greased hands, mix this until roughly combined. Mixture will be very stiff.
• Rub your hands thoroughly, in between fingers, backs of hands, with butter mixture, and turn out marshmallow dough onto counter dusted liberally with powdered sugar.  Place more sugar on top of this sticky mixture, one cup at time and begin kneading the dough. As you knead, the dough will become workable and pliable. If it does dry and tear, add water-teaspoon at at time- until smooth. 
• Add confectioner's sugar by cupfuls to the mixture as needed. You may not need all the sugar. Continue kneading until the fondant is smooth and no longer sticky to the touch, 5 to 10 minutes. 
• Form the fondant into a ball, coat it with a light film of butter mixture and wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place/seal in Ziplock bag squeezing out all air. Refrigerate overnight. 
• When ready to use, allow the fondant to come to room temperature ( if really hard, microwave at 60% power for a few 30 second intervals until soft) and roll it out onto a flat surface lightly greased with butter/shortening or dusted with cornstarch, sometimes both. I like to coat my work surface with only butter, but if gets "slippery" I add a few sprinkles of cornstarch.

Coloring fondant~

• You can separate and color the fondant before it goes into the refrigerator, though sometimes the colors get denser as they sit. I prefer to color as and when I need to use it. Bring to room temperature and knead in a little coloring at a time, using a toothpick. If you're using different colors, wash hands thoroughly between or use food grade gloves  as colors will transfer from hands.Wilton gel food colors and Amerigel are the ideal choices when coloring fondant, though with smaller pieces of dough, I've used the liquid drops too- dough consistency may get sticky/soft with it so you have to be careful when/if using liquid coloring.

Additional notes~

• You could sub all shortening for the butter. I like the flavor of the butter in the fondant- makes it enjoyably edible.
• If your fondant feels too dry, rub it with some butter/ shortening to make it pliable. If it feels too wet/sticky, add more powdered sugar and knead it a bit more.
• It's best to let MMF sit, double wrapped, overnight. There have been instances where I've used sans any refrigeration, though it's not advised ;-) If you need to take it out early, see if there are visible sugar specks. If so, knead it through.
• MMFondant keeps well when stored double wrapped and sealed in an airtight Ziploc or airtight container, upto 2 months. May keep longer in the refrigerator, though you'd have to worry about odors of other foods /drying out if you had it in that long.

The inside reveal was the best part. The 9x13 base cake was Nigella Lawson's Fudge cake from the FN archives. I spritzed the cakes with some simple syrup before frosting and covering to keep them moist.

Wilton's ball pan makes the whole process of making a ball cake quite easy, complete with templates for your soccer ball's hexagons and pentagons, that can be further traced onto cardstock,then laminated. A good covering of buttercream prepares the base for both cakes to be fondant adhered.Like I said YouTube is a veritable university on how to cover cakes with fondant, shapes, etc. So it would be worth your while to check it out.  I made/needed two batches of the marshmallow fondant recipe, prepared the day in advance and pieced and colored accordingly with Wilton gel colors. The black fondant, however, was store bought- way too much work/mess to color fondant black. The "grass" was vanilla buttercream, colored and piped with Wilton's tip #233.

" 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'." Jeremiah  29:11
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Much gratitude and thanks to all my faithful readers, supporters, followers and FB page likers-makes blogging goodeats all the more enjoyable.
 I'd however, like to address another issue, one that bothers me to no end, the increasing problem of others lifting (stealing) BFMK photographs/content and passing them off as their own, be it on individual blogs, microblogs, social media, websites. A lot of work goes into all this, from recipe selection/ cooking/ photographing/editing and constructing the posts. Although it's my pleasure and passion to maintain this site, it truly discourages when my images are snagged and pasted elsewhere as another's.
So what I am I getting to? When you need to borrow an image/photograph or post one that appears on my pages, please ask. I promise I won't bite. Further, play fair with attribution- do give credit. I've actually seen pictures with my entire recipe/ notes pasted straight up and no acknowledgement given. But then there are the several positive instances, ones I mention each chance I get, where websites link back and name source. To those, thanks for playing fair. I am grateful.
Through comments below, do ask before taking. Attribute it, with a shoutout/ mention/courtesy link back to my page. Remember... credit where credit is due. I appreciate. God bless.

Fall fondant toppers and cupcakes

When your temperament coincides with the seasons, ie, in strict alignment to the months of the year, menu "specials"and baking ventures will and should rhythmically follow suit.

Withstanding the times we find ourselves in, I feel this October specifically warrants visuals like ones on the page today. Due to the fact I have a food blog, which is often, ahem, errant, makes presenting "eye-catching seasonal features" a necessary assignment.

Besides, the play-do freak in me could not let this one go.

It's not as much a recipe as it is a display of how far vanilla cake, a couple cups of buttercream and the few ounces of marshmallow fondant can take you.

Whereas, it can also be considered a lesson on seeking joy in the simple things. Such as the perfect orange in my jack-o-lantern faces that could've had a less grim look about them, but really, who cares(?). Or the home edition blue pumpkins, each stemming from the desire to festoon the house upside down, but goes only as far as molding sugarpaste to achieve my design goals.

Moreover, the blushing apparition with  Marilyn Monroe-dress-in-the-air-feels particularly holds affinity to my being. Where else and when could she be such a thematic center of attraction?

The project, start to finish, is pretty effortless. Batter, baking and buttercream don't require much from you and lending personalities to Casper-ish ghosts could be all- day child's play. The kind of play I've managed to master in the several decades after my actual childhood ostensibly ended.

The cupcakes are a perfect startup activity before the biggest baking season of the year (get ready for it). It's also why I beckon you to click those links below, then indulge your inner sculptor.

The rest, I tell you, is a piece of cake ;-)

Have a boo-tiful holiday, folks🎃

Cupcakes in theme with any occasion can be as mood brightening as the morning sun.

The recipe for the cupcakes is right here.

I used the vanilla buttercream here, minus one cup sugar.

Scroll the pages for my marshmallow fondant, which, in my opinion, is the best tasting fondant ever.

Fall themed recipes:

 2019: yellow cake

2018: Fanta cake

2012: fun Fall cupcakes

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 "Therefore, my heart is glad, my whole being rejoices, and my body will dwell securely." Psalm 16:9

  

Baby Yoda cupcakes

It's slightly colder in the Southwest desert. Not quite the bonechill which ushers in pretty long coats, fuzzy loungewear or even the down parka I wanted last year. Nope, but sufficient enough my wardrobe gets a special section labelled sweater weather, in hopes that most items in it are adequately utilized. 

Indeed, cooler is better. It means my cakes don't have to live in the fridge. I can have one, two or even three out on the counter for more than five minutes without their structures becoming terribly malformed. And for someone who bakes as a side gig, I am fastidiously OCD about things staying in place as intended, not sliding/shifting because they can't adhere. If I put it there, it needs to stay- pretty much a universal truth.

Likewise, let me, once again, extol on the virtues of homemade marshmallow fondant. When you're equipped with an arsenal, in my case, a new batch every two weeks, there's abundance for practice, play and put away.

This type of cake icing is elastic yet sturdy. It gives molded cakes a finish that is very forgive-able. Marshmallows and sugar combine to an exceptional pliability,  which means polished covered treats and smooth trinkets adorning the same, example being the cutest Yoda ears ever. It surpasses a lot of typic fondant hurdles and is amply delicious. 

I don't think there has ever been a time the recipe has failed me.  It certainly makes the confectioner's repertoire a more consistent, less anxiety driven one. Your ends to a sculpted cake are totally attainable and the resulting "oohs and aahs" on delivery never get old.

So when you roll out nearly 101 circles to top dozens of cupcakes, you come to realize that a reliable mmf recipe is not to be taken lightly.

In the case here, the same fondant in three colors, rolled and cut with plain edge cutters created an adorable topper: the edible ascent of the ultimate internet baby.

Frankly, your Grogu moment can occur with any flavor or type of confection you choose. Tell me he wouldn't look just as adorable tucked on pumpkin spice cuppies with thick cream cheese swirls? 

I know you see it.

Take a look, enjoy some Fall and may the Force be with y'all.

Marshmallow fondant recipe right here.

I used geometric cutters to make my toppers uniform: a circle cutter for the white base, the same cutter halved for the blanket, a small oval for the face and squares that I stretched to create the cutest Yoda ears.

Trying to clean the slate and clear my drive- recipes/ pictures/ cakes- before attempting to share anything new. So it might be fewer words, more images. Hopefully I'll be able to balance it out with fair dottings of season appropriate gems too. 2021's coming to a close too soon. Don't you think?

2020: Owl cake pops

2019: Cherupayar payasam

2018: Multigrain pizza crust

2017: Yoghurt rice

2016: Cashew chicken curry

2015: Stuffed acorn squash

2014: Chili roasted cauliflower

2013: Alfajores

2012: Beef fry

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"You are my hiding place;  you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance."-Psalm 32:7

Strengthened marshmallow fondant

As I'm cycling through quite the stack of half finished texts, adding to and waking up the few which have been laying in perpetual draft mode, I realize how grateful I am for this space I've spoken from for more than ten years- on food, methodical recipe sharing and ...ahem...unwelcome periodic life lesson snippets.

A record of recipes require stories, in the least, general descriptions of what and why. Pictures brighten the storytelling. In my case, the several piled in cue, waiting to see light, should take me through a good hundred days worth of narrative content.

Likewise, the need to articulate, animate, level the imbalance of unspoken thoughts and recite fragments of life/mind/kitchen remains a steadfast one. A lack I shouldn't wax over much since the fur child who wanders our empty rooms takes in my every word like it's nobody's business.

Perhaps this piece is for posterity and the Two People that regularly lived under my roof. You know, those once Littles, who liked making samosas and chocolate sandwich cookies with me, whom I read favorite  books to and whose days were played back during downtimes and dinner. 

Nevertheless, there's something to be said over the bliss of not having dirty clothes on floors, corners -everywhere besides the laundry room (hooray!). 

In the natural progression of life stages, the baby adults I once beget are in their away-at-school stage, far from our minute to minute dialogue and end of day conversations. I wonder, however, who else but mom can cheer you on while being the sounding board to daily rants? Therein lies point Number One on invaluable uses of the cell phone.

Not complaining...because even though it seems like loss, I am not lost. The excitement of new seasons brings ideas, directives, and images which I hope fall in flow from my fingers through blog doors. 

Above all, I'm not going to downplay the vainglory in showing off cake photography I did nearly a year ago. You think the real reason I'm penning down this post with fury?

I've spoken at length on the intricacies of homemade fondant. This underestimated type of icing can be used in a list of ways. In fact, with the right flexibility, stretch and tools, your sculpt-and-mold skills reach higher levels than countless pottery classes ever could. There's no dearth to the mastery fortified edible clay can yield. 

Hands down, dough made from marshmallows and sugar is the tastiest alternative to store-bought fondant. It gives pastries a fine finish, and can often be the best plan B in circumstances a buttercream job goes awry.

The fine white powder known as tylose/Gum-Tex/CMC is a dream in that it provides a hastened drying process to this decorator's medium. Your ability in punching out not less than a dozen sugarpaste superheroes and the assorted bouquet of flowers will make many a birthday child squeal in delight. 

If anything, I feel driven to run through an instructional on perfect projects using mmf. It's a plus both ways: I display more pictures and your expertise soon rivals Michelangelo's.

Ingredients:

• 4-6 tbsp vegetable shortening 
• 1 16 ounce bag white mini marshmallows
• 3 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• pinch salt
• 32 ounces (2 pounds or 8 cups) confectioner's sugar
• ½ tsp tylose powder( Tylopor or CMC)
• gel food color(optional)

Directions:

• Grease a large heat safe bowl and rubber spatula with shortening. Place marshmallows in the bowl and microwave for 1½ to 2 minutes. Stir and heat for an additional thirty seconds if unmelted pieces remain in mixture. Mixture should be melted and flowy.
• Grease the bowl and dough hook of your stand mixer with shortening, place 1 cup confectioners sugar into the bowl, along with the vanilla and salt.
• Add 1 tbsp water to the marshmallow mixture and gently ease out of the bowl using a greased spatula and pour into the stand mixer bowl. Add 2 tbsp of shortening, and gently mix on low, using the bowl shield to catch any flying sugar as you  combine ingredients. 
• After a minute or until mixture seems combined, stop and add in a half cup of sugar and the tylose powder and mix on medium speed. Continue adding half cup fulls of sugar until mixture is elastic and smooth. Be careful not to use all the icing sugar as too much icing sugar can make the fondant dry. It is ready when dough feels pliable and ready to roll. 
• If you need different colors from one batch, divide into pieces and knead in desired gel coloring, using your hands. Smooth and shape into discs. Add in small amounts of sugar if dough starts feeling tacky.
• Coat each disc with shortening and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Place in an airtight container.
• Allow fondant to sit overnight(12-24 hours) for the texture will firm up. 

*If you need some of your fondant soft, take out the desired amount before adding the tylose, cover and set aside. Sprinkle in tylose to the remaining batch. You may not need the full half tsp, since the portion is smaller. Tylose makes fondant harden fast, so be sparing with it. You can always add more, depending on the project.

*Can be stored at room temperature for two weeks. After that, refrigerate for upto four months.

* To soften after taking out of refrigeration, place fondant in microwave and heat for 10-15 seconds.

This was probably my most adventurous project per date. The logo and stand up toppers needed time and much detail oriented cutting.

A strong MMF's merit lies in the fact it can transform meh into marvelous, making jaws drop, guaranteed.

Llama agrees :-)

2021: easy Swiss meringue buttercream

2020: caramel cake

2019: kale and mango smoothie

2018: multigrain pizza crust with charred paneer

2017: banana cake with citrus cream cheese frosting

2016: chili-lime roast corn

2015: farfalle salad

2014: rustic loaf

2013: buttermilk and cheddar biscuits

2012: vegetable curry bun

Sunset and sand with The Two

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"And [I pray] that the eyes of your heart [the very center and core of your being] may be enlightened [flooded with light by the Holy Spirit], so that you will know and cherish the hope [the divine guarantee, the confident expectation] to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints (God’s people)..."~ Ephesians 1:18-23 AMP

Olive oil lemon cake

Here's the thing: building cakes of somewhat designer magnitude should not be limited toward events of an apparent worthiness factor, you know, like wedding/milestone birthday/winning an Oscar, or anything remotely similar. In fact, the Pow! moment you've been waiting for, might be for something far less sensational.  

Not disclaiming the thrill in showing off your Boss skills each possibility permitted, but, in all honesty, testing techniques you've been dying to try could be the simplest of cake orders away. On occasion, specifically when YouTube blesses your imagination for such a time as this.

I'm not isolating the conversation to the gold gilded visuals on the page today. Instead, I'll give you an in-depth view of the contents inside. After all, we know exterior glam without an awesome interior is mere decoration (life lesson for the day, please).

Before we delve, a reminder: do not allow the "olive oil as fat" part in the ingredient menu mislead you. It's the liquid conduit for the many mighty things that happen in build. Like the tender-dense crumb which brings a certain sophistication to the entire setting. The fact it's supremely moist might fool you into thinking a sleeve of butter slipped through instead.

EVOO notes linger in bites, allowing the hint of lemon shine through as the sun. It creates a not-so-rich surface in which to accommodate ornate decor, such as the marshmallow fondant railed along its sides. 

Further and as I've mentioned before, citrus spruced cake is substantially delicious.  The clean, bright mouthfeels from the snips of zest is an outstanding testament to how addictive cake can actually be

These few elements sync beautifully with the syrup infused base. Considering, we all know Top Brass in high class dessert-ing come from sugar soaked pastries.

In hindsight, the venture does not fall into a Fall-scented bracket (yes,pun!) and may have you reconsider pinning it on the upcoming holiday menu. Though, based on what I've said here, is that really a deterrent against making it right about now?

Moreover, those marble slab panels there could rival an architectural digest feature.

Looking at the amount of times I've rediscovered the glories of baking this gem, it beckons me to new revelations, one being it will definitely be a permanent cake menu fixture.

Because I do cake orders, in addition to a few other gigs, you see:-)

Finally,  the do-ability factor is tantamount to a third grader degree. 

Wouldn't that be... enough said?

(Cake recipe adapted from Modern Honey)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• grated zest from two whole lemons
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup olive oil
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/3 cup milk(preferably 2% or higher)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and line baking pans with parchment.
• Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest in a bowl.
• Cream sugar, olive oil, eggs  lemon juice and the vanilla in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until combined and creamy, about 2 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk. 
• Increase the mixer speed to medium high and beat until combined, about 1 minute.
• Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• Cool in pans for five minutes, then invert cakes onto racks and allow to cool completely before frosting.
• Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Notes: 

You could swap the olive oil for canola oil if you prefer, although flavor may be compromised.

I used three 6 inch baking pans to bake my cakes.

1/2 tsp of lemon zest was added to my cream cheese frosting.

For the fabulous panel art, check out Rosie's tutorial.

My recipe for marshmallow fondant here.

The cake itself freezes well, upto 2 weeks.

Precutting the fondant and setting aside  to dry overnight will keep slabs upright and perpendicular.

2019: Moist yellow cake

2018: Multigrain pizza with charred paneer

2017: Banana cake

2016: Swiss roll cake

2015: Basic chicken curry

2014: Besan laddoo

2013: Alfajores

2012: Macarons

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Memories of my father-in-law who passed away last week.  He's now at The Table, 

tête-à-tête -ing with Jesus❤️

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”  Romans 8:15-16