Gingerbread-less house

We decorated a wooden gingerbread house form with this version of royal icing and every scrap of candy we could find. From my friend Gayle:

"Royal icing is made. Basically it is egg whites and 10x sugar. Easy to make with a stand mixer.

I used 1/4 cup meringue powder, 1/2 cup of water and 4 cups of 10x"

Pictures to come. I'm a tad behind.

Creamsicle icing

For the icing on our lemon filled Starlight cake, we made creamsicle icing!

We started with Betty Crocker's creamy vanilla frosting:
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup butter, softened
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- about 2 tablespoons milk

Except we used 4 tablespoons of juice from clementines instead of milk and added about 2 teaspoons of their grated peel.

Silly Cake

Yesterday we ate leftovers... leftovers from the weekend, the dinner party, even pasta I don't remember. Today for lunch, we'll probably have salad wraps and cake.

My daughter and I took the cake recipe we used for the birthday cake last week and decided to make our own silly cake. We mixed yellow food coloring (my daughter's choice) into the batter, then I gave her a fork and let her swirl other colors into the final product. While it baked, I whipped up some experimental lemon icing. I used some ingredients that means it will require refrigeration.

To make Creamy Vanilla Frosting Betty Crocker advises mixing the following:

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1.5 teaspoons vanilla
• About 2 tablespoons milk

I only had two cups powdered sugar so I did the following:
Angel's lemon yogurt frosting

• farm fresh lemon yogurt, two tablespoons
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1.5 teaspoons lemon extract
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream

Tracy's Yellow Cake

My friend Tracy said yellow cake is her favorite. So, I tried to hook her up.

From:
http://bakingbites.com/2005/10/happy-birthday-to-me/

Yellow Sheet Cake

2 ½ cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup butter, softened
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9×13 inch sheet pan with parchment paper, or lightly grease it with shortening or oil (butter will produce a harder “crust”).
Sift cake flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add sugar and, using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed to blend. Cut butter into 4 or 5 chunks and drop into the bowl with the flour. Blend on low speed until mixture looks sandy and no large chunks of butter remain, 1-2 minutes.
In a large measuring cup, combine eggs, milk and vanilla. Beat lightly with a fork until combined. With the mixer on low, pour 1 cup of the egg mixture into the bowl. Turn speed up to medium and beat for 1 ½ minutes. Reduce speed back to low and pour in the rest of the egg mixture. Continue to beat at low speed for an additional 30 seconds, until liquid is fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for a few more seconds, if necessary.
Pour into prepared 9×13 pan and spread batter evenly with a spatula. Tap gently a few times to eliminate any bubbles.
Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes, until a tooth pick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let cool for 30 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a rack to cool completely. You can leave it in the pan if you’re serving it casually.
Serves 16 (or 12 birthday-sized pieces)

I really followed this one and made Betty Crocker's chocolate icing.

That I deviated from the recipe...
Chocolate Frosting (from Betty Crocker)
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
(I didn't have unsweetened so I used semisweet)
2 cups powdered sugar (I reduced to 1 and 1/3 cups because of the semisweet chocolate)
1.5 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons milk

Combine butter and chocolate until well mixed. Not when hot. Stir in sugar. Beat in milk and vanilla. Use enough milk to make desired consistency.

I also gave Tracy some Heath baking bits to sprinkle on top. Turns out Heath is her favorite candy.

The cake didn't cool before she had to leave so I sent her on her way, with the cake in the pan, icing in a separate container and the Heath bits.