Strawberry Cake Comparison

More experiments going on over here.  This time, of the strawberry variety.  Strawberry cake is one of the best flavors of summer... except that the good strawberries from Florida are harvested in the Spring... whatever.  I'm highly partial to Florida strawberries because I went to college in FL and have very distinct memories of the Plant City Strawberry Festival where I proceeded to not only eat a million strawberries but every food on a stick that was sold there.  It was a good day.

I've only made one other strawberry cake recipe before and it's a Cooking Light recipe which is good, but I don't do light desserts at parties.  That's weird.

As I was looking for recipes there was an abundance of strawberry cakes made with cake mix and strawberry jell-o.  I'm sure these taste good but I can't show up at an event with stuff that came out of the box.  I have a reputation to uphold.  Food snob, right here.

I made three different cakes today.  I did.  I promise....

Oh yeah - there are only two photos of ingredients over there.  I know.  Oddly enough recipes #2 and #3 have the exact same ingredients - different proportions and totally different results, but the list was the same so it made no sense to take two pictures.





I made all three recipes as standard cupcakes and also used frozen strawberries that I thawed, strained and pureed for each.  They all also used cake flour which I'm a big fan of because I think it makes cakes softer and more delicate.

Some of the differences...

Cake #1 has buttermilk, a combination of butter and oil, whole eggs, vanilla beans and almond extract and lemon zest in the batter.


To mix it up you cream the butter and sugar then add the eggs, then buttermilk, then dry ingredients, then strawberries.

Cake #2 has whole milk, vanilla extract and whole eggs.

To mix it up you combine all the dry ingredients with the butter, then add all the wet ingredients including the strawberries at the end.

Cake #3 has whole milk, vanilla extract and egg whites.

To mix it up you do the same thing as #2.

I really had no expectations for which of these cakes I would like better and I was surprised by how different they all were.

First, let's talk about appearance.  Cake #1 was DARK which is weird because the picture on the recipe was a normal color.   It looked more like a cabernet cupcake than a strawberry cupcake.  (Does that exist? - it should)  Cake #2 didn't rise very much so it was on the small side but it was a pretty light pink color.  Cake #3 was definitely the prettiest and we know that pretty matters in cupcakes.

Texture is up next.  #1 and #2 were both light, fluffy and tender.  #3 was much more dense and a little wet.  Not so good.

Most importantly - Taste!  #2 didn't taste that great - probably because of the texture issues noted above.  To be honest, I eliminated it in my mind as option the second I broke one open and saw the wet, dense center.  #1 and #3 both tasted really good but I felt like the almond extract and lemon zest in #1 distracted from the strawberry flavor.  The flavor in #3 was still pretty light in the strawberry department but that can easily be taken care of by the addition of strawberry frosting :)

Speaking of frosting, I didn't test multiple strawberry frosting recipes.  Weird, huh?  I'm still a little shocked myself.  In some ways frosting is pretty forgiving, particularly American buttercream.  You can always add more butter or powdered sugar or cream if you need to adjust the taste or texture so I took a risk and just made this one.  It was really good!

So, obviously the overall was favorite was Cake #3.  It was pretty and it tasted like strawberries which is really all you need in a strawberry cupcake.... besides frosting.

Here are the recipes....

Cake #1
Cake #2
Cake #3

Julie

White Cake Comparison

It's like a science lab around this joint lately (and you know how much science grates on my last nerve).  I've been doing a lot of tests on different recipes for the same foods to see which ones I like best.  I'm responsible for doing desserts for a few upcoming events and the last thing I want is to try and make something the day before the event only to have an epic fail on my hands... and based on the results of the tests I've been performing that would have been a distinct possibility!

I'm actually pretty proud of myself for approaching it this way.  Typically I just wing it and 90% of the time things go great, but the other 10% make my eye twitch.  Eye twitching is my subtle stress indicator (right after me getting super grumpy at CA - also very subtle).

The first test was on basic white cake.  I have a recipe I've been using for a while that I used to love but lately it hasn't been behaving correctly.  Maybe it's a different house, state, oven... whatever. 

My intention was to test 3 different white cakes... my old stand-by and 2 others I pinned on Pinterest after they proclaimed to be the best white cake ever.  When I looked at the recipes more closely I realized that one of them was exactly the same as the recipe I already had in my repertoire.  Therefore, today you get a comparison of 2 white cake recipes.

Cake #1 is the recipe I've been using for a while and it uses cake flour, whole milk, egg whites, vanilla extract, sugar, baking power, salt and butter.  Pretty standard stuff for white cake.

Cake #2 is similar but replaces the whole milk with buttermilk and swaps the vanilla extract for vanilla bean paste.  Cake #2 also has less butter in it.

The methods for mixing up the batter are different as well... #1 mixes all the dry ingredients with the butter and then adds all the liquid.  #2 mixes the sugar with the butter, adds the eggs and then alternates the dry ingredients and buttermilk.

To try to keep things consistent, I cut each recipe into thirds (I don't have nearly enough friends or coworkers to get rid of two full size batches of cupcakes - especially since this isn't the only flavor I made) and baked both cakes as standard sized cupcakes.

So, how did they come out?  First, let's talk about appearance.  To your left is Cake #1 and to your right is Cake #2.  I don't know what was going on with #1 but it's like it shrunk while it was baking and separated from the cupcake liners.  What?  I don't know why this happened but it wasn't pretty.

Next, let's address texture.  Both cakes were super light and fluffy.  The crumbs were delicate and moist.  Honestly, I think they were very evenly matched in the texture department.

Of course, we have to talk about taste.  Both of them taste really, really good.  Cake #1 was definitely more buttery, which I like.  CA thought this once was sweeter too but I disagree with that.  You could definitely tell that Cake #2 had buttermilk in it, but in a good way.  You get a nice tang when you first bite into it.  CA said it tasted like a biscuit but in the best, cakiest way possible (what?). 

The overall verdict???  I'm not entirely sure.   If I were making cupcakes again, I would definitely go with #2 since it's prettier which is sometimes important.  It's not important if it tastes gross, but if two things taste good and one is prettier the prettier one wins.  If I were making a cake, pretty wouldn't matter so much since you're trimming the layers anyway and I liked the buttery flavor of #1.



Soooooo... I think I'll keep both in the line up for different occasions.

Here are the recipes for you....  You're welcome.

Cake #1
Cake #2

The only adjustment I made was to Cake #1 - I left out the almond extract and increased the vanilla extract to 2 tsp.

Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 33: Dulce de Leche Eclairs

These eclairs are freakin' out of control.  There's a ton going on in them so here's the low down on what they've got.

1. Eclair Shell
2. Dulce de Leche
3. Diplomat Cream
4. Candied Pecans
5. Carmelia Rectangles

That is a lot of stuff!!!

I'm not even going to talk about the eclair shells.  I've already discussed them twice so that horse is dead and I refuse to beat it.  You can check out the previous posts here and here.
Don't get grumpy about it, all you have to do is click the link.  Sheesh!


I am going to talk about Dulce de Leche because making this stuff blew my mind.

Dulce de leche is like caramel cream and it's crazy delicious.  You can buy it already made in stores, which I've done, but I've never made it myself and the process is creepily easy.

You basically take an up-opened can of sweetened condensed milk, put it in a pot full of water, boil it for 4 hours and you've got dulce de leche. I don't know how this works but it does.  I'm sure it has something to do with science.   Who figures this crap out?  The one thing you HAVE to do is make sure that the can is always completed covered in water because if it's not it can explode.  That sounds bad, so don't do that.

Next up on the agenda is diplomat cream.  Diplomat cream is essentially pastry cream that is lightened up with whipped cream.

This is the third time I've made the pastry cream recipe in this cookbook and I finally managed not to overcook it.  FINALLY!  Basically when the recipe says "Once you see bubbles breaking the surface, cook for about 5 minutes longer" it means "Once you see bubbles break the surface, stop cooking it immediately."  That's the same right?


Combining pastry cream with whipped cream makes rainbows, singing angels, unicorns, genies, puppies, leprechauns with pots of gold and anything else that is wonderful and amazing.

This stuff is what I wanted pastry cream to be the first time I made it.  It's SO good.  It's rich and sweet and creamy and fluffy.

I want to sit down with a giant spoon and a bowl of it.  The recipe made quite a bit so I thought I'd have a lot leftover that I could curl up with but I actually used it all in the eclairs.  Bummer.

The fourth component of the dulce de leche eclairs came with an easy, solid recipe... candied pecans.

The pecans get toasted in the oven while you melt water and sugar together on the stove.  Once the sugar is melted and the pecans are hot, they get stirred together until the pecans have a white, crystallized appearance.  It's pretty easy and they taste (and look) really good.  I actually think these would make a nice little hostess gift if you packaged them in a cute little bag.  I need to remember that.

The last, but not least, part of these eclairs are the Carmelia rectangles.  Carmelia is caramel flavored chocolate.  It's different because, unlike most caramel flavored chocolate, it's not mixed with carmelized sugar, but with actual caramel that has milk and butter in it.  This makes the chocolate crazy creamy.  (Yes, I looked that up on the Internet... I don't actually know anything myself)  I had to hide it from myself so I didn't eat it all.  I used Valrhona brand and it's probably some of the best chocolate I've ever had.

The chocolate gets melted and spread out super thin, then once it's set it is cut into rectangles that are used to garnish the eclairs.

Ok - we've got a ton of crap lined up to put on these eclairs so it's time to assemble.  You start by slicing the top third of the eclair off.  The dulce de leche goes on first and is topped with heaven diplomat cream, candied pecans, more creamy gold diplomat cream, then the carmelia chocolate rectangle.  Thomas instructs you to throw away the top part of the eclair that got chopped off but I put it back on like a little sandwich which made the eclair easier to eat.

Usually I'm disappointed by baked goods that have so many components and take so much time to make.  The expectations are just too high.  These are an exception.  It's absolutely one of my favorite recipes from this cookbook so far.  I'm 99.9% sure it has to do with the diplomat cream but I can't be sure.

Julie

BTW - I haven't mentioned in a while that if you want any of the Baking Bouchon recipes, just let me know.  I'm not going to post them on the blog but I'm happy to share them with you individually.

Ball Week! - Day 6: Lemon-Lime Sugar Cookie Balls

Welcome to the final, bonus day of Ball Week on I'll Bake It, You Eat It!  I've had so much fun with this theme that I need to think of a new series to work on.

If you've been keeping up with Ball Week, you already deduced that these Lemon-Lime Sugar Cookie Balls were selected to be served along with Peanut Butter Balls, Cheesecake Balls and Nutella Rice Krispie Balls at my friend's upcoming wedding.  I'm so glad because these are definitely one of my favorite balls of the whole bunch.

I didn't expect to like these balls as much as I did.  I picked them because I thought it would be nice to have something light and summery on the dessert station.  Plus, these are covered in white chocolate instead of dark chocolate which is different from most of the other ball options presented.

I used a recipe from Sing For Your Supper as a guide, but made quite a few adjustments so I'm going to post my version of the recipe at the end of this post. 

I started by making a batch of my favorite sugar cookie recipe - it's the recipe I use all the time for sugar cookie cut-outs and I'm a big fan.  I added lemon and lime juice and lemon and lime zest to the dough to give it a nice citrus flavor..  I increased the amounts from the original recipe significantly because I didn't feel like it had quite enough citrus flavor in it and I'm happy that I did.

Instead of making individual cookies, the dough is spread into a baking pan and baked like a brownie.  It took a lot longer to bake than I expected but, in hindsight, I probably should have used a bigger pan so the dough was thinner and baked more quickly.  Regardless, it firmed up eventually and worked perfectly.

Once the cookie bars cool you crumble them up into tiny little pieces and mix it with cream cheese. Lemon, lime, sugar and cream cheese.  Yes, please.

At this point, I tasted the mixture (OK fine, I tasted the cookies by themselves too... and the cookie dough - stop judging me) and thought it still might not be lemon-limey enough.  At this stage in process adding more juice would have made the balls too loose so I added more zest.  Good decision.  Not only did it add a bit more flavor, it also left pretty little yellow and green specks in the ball.

Once everything is mixed together, it gets rolled into balls, thoroughly chilled and dipped in white chocolate.  The result is good... really good. 

For the sake of aesthetics, I am going to add sprinkles to the top of the balls for the actual event - it's festive and it covers up any imperfections in the chocolate covering process but at the time of night that I finished making all these balls the idea of sprinkles was quickly thrown out the window.  It was late... very late... and I spent all day making 8 kinds of balls.  Decorations were the last thing on my mind, finding my bed was the first.

Once our trusty tasters had their fill of these balls, I told CA to promptly remove them from the house.  He had to take every last leftover ball to work because I would have eaten them until I was sick.  I told you they were my favorite.

The cookie is just sweet enough and the cream cheese adds this amazing creamy and slightly tart flavor.  Plus the citrus juice and zest shines to make you think these aren't nearly as heavy as they probably are.  Plus, look at those pretty zest speckles.  They're so cute! 


Lemon-Lime Sugar Cookie Truffles
adapted from Sing For Your Supper

Makes approximately 45 balls

Ingredients

2 ½ cups All Purpose Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

½ tsp Salt

1/8 tsp Cream of Tartar

¾ cups (1 ½ sticks) Butter, softened

1 cup Sugar

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Juice of 2 Lemons

Juice of 2 Limes

Zest of 3 Lemons (divided)

Zest of 3 Limes (divided)

12 oz. Cream Cheese (1 1/2 blocks), at room temperature

1 package White Chocolate Candy Coating

Sprinkles (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and cream of tartar.

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter with the sugar, beating on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, lime juice, half the lemon and half the lime zest and mix on low speed until combined.  Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined.

Spray a 9x9 baking pan with cooking spray.  Spread the batter in the pan and bake for 30-40 minutes until the cookie dough is fully baked.  Allow the cookies to cool completely.

Finely crumble the cookies into the bowl of your stand mixer and add the cream cheese and remaining lemon and lime zest.  Using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed until the cream cheese is completely integrated.  Roll into 1 – 1 ½ inch balls.  Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.

Line a baking sheet with waxed paper.  Melt the white chocolate by microwaving in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until completely melted.  Dip each ball in the chocolate and place it on the prepared baking sheet, top with sprinkles if desired.  Let the chocolate harden and store in the refrigerator.

I hope you enjoyed Ball Week as much as I did.  If you have any ideas for future series, please let me know.  I love a good theme!

Julie

Ball Week! - Day 5: Pecan Shortbread Balls and Coconut Shortbread Balls

Welcome to day five of ball week and it's another two for one ball day.  Today we will be discussing Pecan Shortbread Balls and Coconut Shortbread Balls.  These recipes are quite similar so I decided to write one post on both of them.

Both of these recipes are different flavored shortbread cookies that are rolled into balls, baked and rolled in powdered sugar.

I selected these two cookie balls as options for my bride and groom's reception because all the other options have one thing in common... chocolate.  Both of the peanut butter balls, the Nutella Rice Krispie balls and the cheesecake balls are all dipped in chocolate and the bourbon balls have melted chocolate in them.  Because of that, I thought it would be nice to have something a little different to choose from.

The Pecan Shortbread Balls have about 64 aliases.  I've seen very similar cookies called Italian Wedding Cookies, Russian Tea Cookies, Pecan Sandies and Butter Balls.  Fine, that's only four.

These cookies are made by creaming butter with powdered sugar and vanilla, then adding flour and ground pecans.  There are no eggs in these cookies which is what allows them to hold their shape and what makes them dense, crumbly and shortbready.

The dough gets rolled into balls and baked.  I used this recipe for the Pecan Shortbread Balls from Searching for Dessert but I did add more flour to the dough... a lot more flour.  The recipe calls for 1 cup and I used 1 1/2 cups.  You see, I wanted to be extra sure that the cookies maintained their ball shape.  When I made the dough following the recipe it just seemed WAY too soft so I was worried it would spread out while it baked.  I am so glad I made this adjustment because the balls held their shape perfectly!  Hooray!!




After the cookies are baked, they get cooled completely and rolled in powdered sugar.

Let me tell you that rolling cookies in powdered sugar is ten times faster and easier than coating balls in chocolate so this step was a relief after dipping everything else.

One beautifully round, nutty, sweet and powdery cookie ball down and one more to go.

The recipe for Coconut Shortbread Balls is essentially the same as the recipe for Pecan Shortbread Balls, you just trade out the ground pecans for coconut.

At the risk of repeating myself... cream the butter with the powdered sugar then stir in the flour and coconut.  Easy.

I used Martha Stewart's recipe exactly except that I chilled the dough for about an hour before I baked the cookies which I think helped them to hold their shape while they baked.

These smelled stupendous while they baked!  The smell of baking coconut makes my mouth water so it took a lot of discipline not to eat one of these warm, straight out of the oven.  I did, however, manage to control myself and I waited for them to cool and rolled them in powdered sugar before I gobbled one up. 

The veridct?

Me - I liked them both very much.   The cookies were dense, crumbly and not too sweet.  The powdered sugar on the outside added the perfect touch of sweetness.  If I was forced to pick, I think I'd go with the coconut because I've had a lot of pecan shortbreads in the past so the coconut version was a bit more unique.

The Happy Couple - those chose neither.  They have no issues with having all chocolate options on the dessert table and I'm cool with that.  I also think they were a bit worried that a guest (or member of the bridal party) would get powdered sugar on their pretty dress or suit.

Hold on a minute...  Ball Week is supposed to be over and there are only three selections... Peanut Butter Balls, Cheesecake Balls and Nutella Rice Krispie Balls.  If you remember from the first Ball Week post, I said that the almost newlyweds picked four different kinds of balls to be served at the reception.  Oh no!

Well, I tricked you.  There's a bonus day to Ball Week and you'll just have to wait until Monday night to see the final selection.

Julie

Ball Week! - Day 4: Nutella Rice Krispie Balls

We've got another winner!  Nobody stands a chance against these balls - they're just too good.  There's nothing about them that anyone could dislike.

This recipe is another super easy one to execute - it's just Rice Krispie treats with Nutella mixed in.

You start by putting marshmallows, a bit of butter and Nutella in a bowl and microwaving it for a minute or so until the marshmallows are puffy and melty.  Then you mix that together to form a sweet, chocolatey, nutty combination and stir in the Rice Krispies.

Now is the point when you've got a decision to make.  You can just take the mixture and spread it into a pan to make Nutella Rice Krispie Treats and everyone will be perfectly happy.  I actually made this recipe in bar form long before I made it in ball form and people gobbled them up faster than you can say yum.  They were so tasty and sweet that I worried that dipping them in chocolate would make them too sweet... I was wrong.

If you are opting to make Nutella Rice Krispie Balls instead of Bars (good for you!), you'll want to scoop the mixture out and roll it into balls.  There's a fine line to walk here...  The mixture will still be very warm at first and you might think it's too hot to handle, but if you wait too long to start rolling your balls the mixture will cool before you're finished and will be too hard to roll.  I opted for immediate rolling and risked a few burns.  There was no permanent damage.

Once you've got everything rolled, let it cool to room temperature before dipping it in chocolate.  That way the balls hold their shape really well.

Man, that was so easy!  I love it when you make a recipe that is so simple and still so, so good. If you'd like to make these brown beauties yourself, you can get the recipe at Erica's Sweet Tooth.

So, if you're keeping track of my Bride & Groom's ball selections we currently have Peanut Butter Balls, Cheesecake Balls and Nutella Rice Krispie Balls on the menu.  There is still one left to select... The suspense is killing me.

Julie

Ball Week! - Day 3: Cheesecake Balls

Why don't I eat more cheesecake?  I ask myself that question every time I eat a really good cheesecake and then I forget about it as a dessert option.  Growing up my mom made this orange cheesecake that, at the time, I thought was the fanciest dessert in the world.  She only made it on special occasions and I loved it!  I've made it a few times myself but, for some reason, it was always better when she made it.

I rarely order cheesecake in restaurants either... maybe that's because CA is lactose intolerant so he can't split it with me and I can never eat the whole slab myself. (That's a lie... I definitely could, but I shouldn't)  Plus, there's a lot of bad cheesecake out there that's too dry and heavy.... and then for some god-forsaken reason people want to top it with canned pie filling.  Bleck!

These balls are really just cheesecake dipped in chocolate.  I used a tutorial by Bakerella for Cheesecake Pops as a guide but you don't need complicated instructions because there's really nothing to it...

Step 1: Bake or buy a plain cheesecake
Step 2: Scoop the cheesecake into balls
Step 3: Roll the balls in graham cracker crumbs
Step 4: Cover the balls in chocolate

DONE!

I opted to make my own cheesecake and used Alton Brown's Sour Cream Cheesecake recipe.  The reason I selected this recipe is because I just watched him make it on an episode of Good Eats and it seemed like a good, basic cheesecake recipe.

The good news is that this cheesecake is delicious!!!  It is the lightest, fluffiest, most flavorful cheesecake I've ever made.  It baked up incredibly well and didn't even try to crack.

The bad news is that the cheesecake was SO light and fluffy that I had a heck of a time getting it to roll into a ball.  Even after scooping and freezing the cheesecake, it was still too soft to roll into a uniform ball.  When I proceeded to dip it in the chocolate, it melted a bit and tried its very best to hang onto the fork.

Despite all of the difficulties with these balls, they tasted ridiculously good and the bride and groom selected these to be served at their wedding reception.  I am excited they did so that I can make them again with some adjustments.  I plan to find a recipe for a New York style cheesecake because those tend to be denser.

However, the next time I make cheesecake just for the purpose of eating cheesecake, I will be using Alton's recipe again.

So, we've got a pair of balls on the menu for the wedding reception... peanut butter and cheesecake... and we've got four more versions to come.  What will they pick?  Pecans, coconuts, citrus or krispies?  So many choices... 

Julie