Are you as ready as I am to move past the showers and onto the flowers?
I thought it would be cute to use the
new pan I got from
CSN stores for this post.
CSN gave me the opportunity to choose an item from one of its stores to review, and after much deliberation I selected the
Nordicware Petits Fours pan. I was really impressed with the service and how quickly the pan arrived and will definitely consider CSN for future purchases. (I just wish CSN didn't send so many follow-up and sale emails.)
The pan features flower-shaped molds the size of mini cupcakes. It took me quite a while to decide what kind of cake to make in the pans. I wanted something that would show the details of the flowers, unlike a chocolate cake. Eventually I decided on a lemon cake because it was stuck in my head after being around it at the bakery all week, and I thought the light-colored batter would work well for showing off the floral details of the baked cakes. I used
Rose Levy Beranbaum's recipe for Woody's Lemon Luxury Layer Cake.
Woody's Lemon Luxury Layer Cake (adapted from Rose's Heavenly Cakes)
Ingredients
6 ounces white chocolate (preferably Ghirardelli baking bars)6 large egg yolks1 cup milk1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract3 cups sifted cake flour (sift flour into the measuring cup)1 cup plus 3 tablespoons superfine sugar4 1/4 teaspoons baking powder3/4 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon lemon zest9 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray Petits Fours pan with non-stick baking spray.
Melt chocolate in small bowl in microwave in 15-second increments, stirring after each. Set aside to cool.
In medium bowl, whisk yolks, 1/3 cup of the milk, and vanilla until combined.
In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest on low speed, just until incorporated. Add the butter and remaining 2/3 cup of milk. Mix on low until dry ingredients are moistened, and then raise speed to medium and beat for 1 1/2 minutes.
Next, add the egg mixture in three parts, and beat at medium speed for 20 seconds after each addition.
Scrape down the bowl, and add the melted chocolate. Mix until incorporated.
Scoop batter by 1/2-tablespoonfuls into prepared Petits Fours pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown and until toothpick inserted in center of one of the middle cakes comes out clean and cakes spring back when lightly touched.
Let cool in pan for 5 to 10 minutes, until pan is cool enough to handle, and then transfer cakes to wire cooling rack. Repeat with remaining batter. If you get tired of scooping 1/2 tablespoons of batter into the Petits Fours pan, you can do what I did and pour the remaining batter into a cake pan and make a cake! Baking time will vary based on how much batter you have leftover and what size cake pan you use.Things to keep in mind for the above recipe: For the first round of baking, I overfilled the pan -- who knew a tablespoon of batter would rise so much?
I went with about a half tablespoon of batter for the next round of baking.
That seemed to be the perfect amount; however, I didn't get the result I wanted, which was well-defined flowers. I bet you can't even tell from the pictures that these are flowers. I consider them lemon-yellow blobs. They tasted pretty good though.
After baking two batches of flower blobs, I still had a ton of batter leftover, so I simply poured the rest of the batter into a round cake pan and baked it off. I initially thought I would serve the lemon cake with berries and homemade whipped cream, but after more consideration and more drooling over the picture of Woody's Lemon Luxury Layer Cake in
Rose's Heavenly Cakes, I decided to try to make the lemon buttercream that goes with the cake.
The buttercream consists of a white chocolate custard base, lemon curd, and butter. I cut the buttercream and white chocolate custard recipes in half and determined that I would only need to make one-third of the lemon curd recipe, which I started working on first. (I only had two lemons in the house, so that was my motivation for making only a small batch of the buttercream.) It turns out that the recipe was incredibly easy to follow. The only issue I have is that my curd was overly thick, so I'm guessing I must have overcooked it. That kind of bothers me because I followed all of the directions and took the curd off the heat when I could drip it onto itself as the recipe instructed, so I'm not sure why it thickened up significantly more after that. Maybe it has something to do with only making a very small amount.
Lemon Curd (adapted from Rose's Heavenly Cakes)Ingredients
1 teaspoon lemon zest1.33 fluid ounces egg yolks (or one-third of 7 yolks)6 tablespoons sugar2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juicesmidgen of salt
Preparation
Place lemon zest in a medium bowl, and set a strainer over the bowl.In medium saucepan, whisk yolks, sugar, and butter until well blended. Whisk in lemon juice and salt. Then place pan over medium-low heat and stir constantly with spatula. Watch for the mixture to appear yellow on the spatula rather than translucent. And be sure to regulate the heat so the mixture does not come to a boil. To test whether the curd is done, drip some of it off the spatula onto itself and watch to see if it pools thickly. Once this happens, pour the mixture through the strainer, and then stir the zest into the mixture. Allow the curd to cool for 30 minutes.I transferred the curd to a bowl and let it cool slightly. Then I pressed some plastic wrap against it and left it to chill in the fridge while I made the white chocolate custard base. This consists of melting white chocolate and butter together in a double boiler and then whisking in some eggs.
White Chocolate Custard Base (adapted from Rose's Heavenly Cakes)Ingredients5.3 ounces white chocolate (preferably Ghirardelli baking bars)5 1/4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened2 large eggsPreparationIn top of double boiler, melt white chocolate and butter, stirring often with rubber spatula until smooth. Beat eggs lightly in separate bowl, and then whisk them into the chocolate and butter. Continue whisking and heating until mixture reaches 140 degrees (use an instant read thermometer). Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate for 45 minutes. Stir every 15 minutes, until cool.With the curd and white chocolate base prepared and cooled for the appropriate durations, I was ready to compose the buttercream.
White Chocolate Lemon Buttercream (adapted from Rose's Heavenly Cakes)Ingredients5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softenedWhite Chocolate Custard Base (recipe above)Lemon Curd (recipe above)PreparationIn bowl of electric stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat butter on medium-low speed for about 30 seconds. Gradually beat in the White Chocolate Custard Base until stiff peaks form. Cover and set aside for 1 1/2 hours. The mixture should thicken and become slightly spongy.Beat on medium-high speed for 30 seconds. Then add the lemon curd and beat just until combined.Now for the fun part. I sliced through the cake taking off about the top third. I brushed some lemon syrup (lemon juice and sugar, heated in the microwave until the sugar dissolves) on the exposed cake (because I actually decided to frost the cake two days after I made it and wanted to make sure it would still be moist), and then I layered the inside with strawberries and raspberries and replaced the top.
Unfortunately, the top was a little too thin, so it broke on me. But it wasn't a big deal. I just flipped the cake over and top became the bottom. It was kind of a blessing in disguise because now I had the nice flat bottom of the cake as the top, which would be much easier to frost.
I covered the top and sides of the cake with the lemon buttercream.
Then I decorated the cake with more raspberries and strawberries.
I can't think of a better way to welcome the month of May -- filled with warmth, flowers, and sunshine, hopefully -- than with this luscious, lemony cake packed with juicy, red fruit.
Those of you who know me well know of my distaste for white chocolate, so you might be wondering why I used a recipe that's so heavy on white chocolate. I was just really, really drawn in by the photograph of the cake, and I kept my fingers crossed that the lemon flavor would overpower the white chocolate flavor -- and it did!
Do you have any big plans for the month of May?
Sometimes it's nice to get out of the city and it's always nice to see family. I have LOTS of family. It never seems to stop growing. This Connecticut trip my sister and I were visiting my Dad's older brothers family; my Uncle Steve and Aunt Donna, whose kids are Jen, Amy, Billy, and Meg. Though none of them are actually kids anymore. Between Jen, Amy, Billy and their spouses, they have 10 kids of their own! The oldest is 18 and the youngest are 2 year old twins. Meg has over 100 "kids" whom she teaches dance at her company: Nutmegs Dance & Theater Co. This includes some of the 10 kids referenced above (her nieces and nephews, my second cousins.) We were lucky enough to score tickets (awesome seats, thanks Jen!) to the Company's Saturday evening sold out performance of "All We Need is Love."
Besides the obvious, teaching dance, Meg is the artistic director / choreographer / mastermind behind it all. However, each family member plays an integral role in putting on the show. They have been coming together to make this magical event happen every year since 2003.
The choreography was absolutely incredible. The songs and costumes were so much fun. The dancing was spectacular. From the two year old twins in their first stage performance, to the younger girls carefree numbers like "Escapade" (Janet Jackson) & "Send me on My Way"(Rusted Root), followed by a Hairspray Medley that fills my heart right up (something about the motion of the ocean and the rain from above that puts a huge smile on my face every time.) There were some intense Bollywoods, some moving contemporary pieces, and the older girls lit up the stage in Broadway numbers like "You Make My Dreams" (Hall & Oates) and "Don't Stop Believin" (GLEE). The younger boys had a rockin "Bye Bye Bye" ('NSYNC) hip-hop routine and there was even a re-staged "Put a Ring On It" (Beyonce) number staring Nutmeg herself. There were all those and so so many more amazing dances! The finale had the Senior boys and eventually the whole company dancing to Thriller. I was hooked from beginning to end, awed and inspired. I'm going to focus on the food and drink pictures of the weekend as I'm sure any / all interested parties got their fill of DANCE via my facebook album.
It all began at Ruby Tuesday across the street from my Grandpa's House in Bloomfield, CT. Leah and I had some time to kill before meeting up with my Dad, Lisa, and Caycee. We opted for a seat at the bar. I had a Bloody Mary and Leah had a Mango Mojito.
Did I mention these cocktails only cost $5 each?! What a deal they've got going. The bartender was a super friendly gal who muddled and shook a mean drink, which even came with chunks of fresh mango and a sugar cane. Jillian's could learn a thing or two about mojitos from this casual franchise! We put in an order of the Four Way Sampler to share. I was pleasantly surprised with how fast it came out and how good everything tasted.
Here we have: Southwestern Spring Rolls, Chicken Strips, Fried Mozzarella and Fire Wings w/ celery sticks. I am pretty sure this location is the only Ruby T's I've ever been to. From my limited experiences, munching on apps and drinking at the bar, they consistently live up to their motto printed on every awning. And the service has always been great!
The next good eats of the weekend were after the show at my cousin Jen and her husband Rob's business, Rome's Place. The wrap party was held here, where much to my amazement, some of the girls who just put on a 3 hour performance, continued dancing till the wee hours of the night. You can't stop the beat. These kids eat sleep and breathe dance. I think it is awesome, especially since I can't dance for anything. I ate some fresh veggies, delish homemade pizza, some fried dough, and we drank Coronas. 
I had a blast catching up with my older cousins and enjoying the continued dance performances by my younger (second) cousins and their friends. The next morning came too soon for all of us. Aunt Donna and crew put together the perfect brunch spread complete with a Bloody Mary and mimosa bar. 
Does my family know how to throw a brunch or what?!
We had bagels galore, lemon pound cake, fruit salad, scrambled eggs, homefries and croissants (w/ Nutella!) We ate on the huge wraparound porch.
Afterward, Leah and I went for a walk around the farm. 
My cousins own some 40 acres of land!
I've always loved this place. Such a good environment to raise kids, or to have a wedding. Billy and Meg both got married here. In fact I have some pictures in the vault from Meg and Tyler's wedding 4 years ago. 
This was in July of 2006. I had graduated college in May and just moved to Boston. I was living in Back Bay. I hadn't even met Adam yet. I remember Meg's wedding like it was yesterday.
The ceremony outside was gorgeous. They had a mojito bar on the porch, buckets of beer all over the yard, we danced until 2am, and then some of us sat around a bonfire till the wee hours.
Leah and I didn't want to leave Granby, but after a few more hours of visiting we knew it was time to hit the road. We made a smart move and stopped at Target for gallons of water. 
In CT we didn't have to fight anyone for these! The Weston water main break has left oh just about 2 million of us in Boston and surrounding communities without clean water. Should be an interesting week.....
