Look, a lot of people might be done with COVID-19, but COVID-19 isn't done with us. It's going to be awhile until I'm going to be okay with going to a restaurant. I also live in one of the big hotspots, Arizona. It's a hotspot for two reasons - coronavirus and the heat.
As I've been staying inside, I've been baking more. I've always wanted to be a good baker, so hey, this is the perfect time to practice.
A month or so ago, I wrote the part one of this food journal where I featured orange creamsicle cake, dill and cheddar sourdough, and peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies.
Check out what yums I've made recently:
Poke Cake:
My mother wanted to make this cake as her mother made it when my mother was a kid. My grandparents weren't rich - they have five kids - so whatever flavor of gelatin that they had in the cupboard at the time, my grandmother would use in this cake. Honestly, I was a little afraid of this recipe as I am not a fan of gelatinous consistency (coming from someone who makes marshmallows every year). I avoid jello, pudding, flan, raw tofu - basically anything that jiggles I am very hesitant toward. However, it wasn't jello like. It was delicious and pretty light. Our base for the cake was our family recipe of a Hot Milk Cake, then we poked holes and poured our gelatin in. To top it off - Reddi Whip!
Raspberry Mango Cake:
For my grandpa's birthday, I made this small cake for him and my grandma. I also made another one for my family and I since this was a new recipe. Ours wasn't as pretty though as I really just wanted to put my effort into the one for my grandpa. I differed a little bit from the recipe that I found from Liv for Cake. There is a cake recipe that my family uses and it's very tasty and when I search for new cakes to make, I know that I'm just going to use the Hot Milk Cake base and go from there. So, for this cake I used the Hot Milk recipe and added in raspberry flavor to the batter. For the frosting, I followed Liv for Cake's recipe.
This cake uses Swiss Buttercream and it's light and fluffy and I think it's perfect for summer (even though it's kind of a hassle to make). When I was making it, I felt really worried about how buttery it smelled as the recipe called for SO MUCH BUTTER. I like butter, but a lot of it makes me worried that that is all you'll taste. Thankfully, it wasn't as overwhelming as it smelled. Liv for Cake's recipe also really went for it with the frosting and the colors and I used natural color dyes and I was afraid to use too much as I didn't want the pink frosting to taste like beets. When you looked at the cake in real life, you could see the slight pink and yellow of the frosting. I also added a seedless raspberry jam layer and honestly, that's what made this cake for me. It was delicious.
Bakewell Tart:
I was recently searching for Mary Berry treats to make. I love me some Great British Baking Show. I've watched all the seasons on Netflix. I found this Bakewell Tart. The two main flavors in this treat are raspberry and almond - using raspberry jam, almonds, almond flour, and almond extract. I love almond extract as it reminds me of almond puffs. As my mom and I were serving it, we realized we were forgetting an important piece - the glazing (just powdered sugar and water)!
Fruit and Seed Bread with Nectarine Caprese:
So technically, again, anything that is a bread that includes sourdough starter, is not me - my mom makes it. I had to include it though as it was so soft and just so... good. My mother bought a mix of dried fruit that included sour cherries and cranberries and such and it gets baked in the bread. We had it on the side with the nectarine caprese and I had the bread for breakfast this morning with strawberry cream cheese. It's delicious. Just like the last bread recipe, this one also comes from the book, Artisan Sourdough Made Simple by Emilie Raffa.
For the nectarine caprese, you don't really need a recipe. It's just nectarines (or peaches but we didn't have any), fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, basil, and balsamic vinegar. Honestly, I love fresh mozzarella and caprese so much.
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Stay safe, everyone! Wear a mask. Dismantle the police system and the patriarchy. Keep baking.
xx