Bringing a little Autumn into the Summer Heat

On Monday, I made my first ever pumpkin pie for one of the managers at Barnes & Noble. It's his favorite type of pie and it was his birthday.

The filling was not going to be difficult. I just followed the recipe on the can. (I accidently bought pumpkin pie filling instead of just regular canned pumpkin last fall, so I didn't have to search long and hard to find pumpkin in the middle of summer.) The thing I was worried about was the crust. The most perfect pie filling is only as good as the crust. And a good pie crust recipe is one to treasure. I am still on the hunt for the perfect pie crust recipe.

I decided to give one of the many recipes I have collected over the past two years a try. It turned out really well. I was really happy with how easy it was to work it. I want to try it again only this time with a fruit filling to see how the double crust tastes.

Because the filling was so easy to make, I wanted to give it that Cloud 9 touch. I made a cinnamon whipped cream to go on top. Oh my, was it wonderful.

I really enjoy making whipped cream. I like the idea of adding different flavors to make each batch unique. It's also gotten me thinking about making my own marshmellows. But again, that might have to wait until the temps actually start dropping. Until then, I will have to experiment with homemade ice cream to beat this crazy heat we are having.

Trying something new

Recently, I have been playing around with different flavor combinations for cookies. Last month, I made Almond Joy cookies. I took my earthy chocolate chip cookie recipe and adapted it for adding toasted almond pieces and shredded coconut. They are really good and I don't think there is anything to change as far as the recipe is concerned. For once, I am really happy with the first attempt of an original recipe.

After making the almond joy cookies a couple of times, I wanted something new. I found dried cherries while shopping at Costco and instantly thought about combining white and dark chocolate chips with the dried cherries. I wanted the dough to be more of a sugar cookie dough, not the brown sugar dough that the earthy cookies are made with. I decided to try substituting equal parts white granulated sugar for the brown sugar in the dough recipe. It worked pretty well and the cookies were good, but really sweet. I was already thinking of ways to change them when Alison suggested adding some nuts for a crunch in the cookie. I really liked the idea and will definitely add some toasted almonds to the batter the next time I make those. (Which, knowing me, will probably be really soon.)

Friday, my mom and I made lemon bars with homemade lemon curd. I had made the lemon curd before, but had never made lemon bars, even from a box. They are so good and tart. Very refreshing on a hot summer day.

While we were making the lemon bars, I took dried pineapple and rehydrated it using banana liqueur. I allowed it to sit until yesterday afternoon. They were a main ingredient in Pina Colada Cookies. I took the same sugar cookie base from the Black & White Chocolate Cherry Chip Cookies and replaced most of the vanilla extract with white rum, used coconut milk instead of regular milk, added shredded coconut, the rehydrated pineapple, and some toasted almonds pieces. I really like toasted almonds in cookies if you didn't already figure that out. I like the flavor in these cookies, but I was not happy with how thin the cookies came out. The batter spread a lot while baking. I'm not sure what's causing it, but you can bet that I will find out. Bring on lots of experiments.

Cakes. cakes, and more cakes

The last few weeks have been quite busy for Cloud 9 Pastries. The middle of June marked the 30th anniversary of employment for one of my co-workers at Barnes & Noble. We had a surprise party for her and I was asked to make the cake. In fact, I got to make my very first formal invoice. Since it was a surprise party, I had to be sneaky about how I asked her what flavor of cake she would like to have. In the end she suggested the chocolate cake I have made in the past is wonderful and that she would recommend that flavor to other people. So chocolate cake it was. It had almond buttercream frosting and the chocolate cream filling. Here's a picture of the cake:

Two weeks later, I made two sheet cakes for my Nana's 80th birthday party on June 26th. The party went very well. Everyone commented on how great the food was especially my Mom's brisket and the chocolate cake.

The chocolate cake was the same recipe as for Carolyn's cake, but I reduced the recipe a little bit so the cake wasn't so tall and therefore much easier to cut. It was just as moist and delicious as ever though.

In addition to the chocolate cake, I made a white cake with lemon filling and lemon-scented vanilla buttercream frosting. The white cake was good. The lemon filling went really well with the white cake. But it still was not my favorite. I was not extremely pleased with it in the end.

Also, I was commissioned to make a light, summer, cake with fresh fruit for my uncle's mother-in-law, in which he delivered to her on the morning of Nana's party. I made a 7-inch white chiffon cake. In between the two layers I spread strawberry preserves and homemade whipped cream. I repeated the jam and the whip cream on the top and topped it with fresh strawberry halves. I left the sides unfrosted and it looked kinda like a large strawberry shortcake.

Friday marked the wedding day for Ashley and Bryan. The bride and groom requested a two-tiered offset square cake. The bottom tier was white cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and the top tier was red velvet with the chocolate cream filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. I was worried about the white cake. Since it was the majority of the cake, I didn't want it to turn out like the previous white cake. I made sure to mix the batter well and they both came out of the oven perfectly. They felt moist and soft. A little relief set in. I had made the red velvet in cake form previously and was not worried too much about that.

The most nerve wracking part of the whole night was carrying it from the car up into Dave and Buster's. I had a slight problem arise when getting off the escaltor, and my arms felt like Jell0 so much that I was worried about dropping it. Thankfully one of the managers carried the cake back to the room for me.

The cakes were a hit though. Everyone loved both kinds. The red velvet was gone pretty quickly that I didn't get a chance to eat a piece. I did eat a piece of the white though. Oh my goodness, was it 100 times better than the cake that I made for Nana's party. The cake was moist and fluffy. It had excellent flavor. The frosting was quite good too, especially in between the two layers. I was very pleased with how the cake turned out both the flavor and decoration. The bride wanted minimalistic decorations. The frosting was to be smooth with a black ribbon trim.