Valentine's Day Surprises

It seems that I have found myself with A LOT of free time on my hands lately. It's been almost 2 months since I graduated and I have yet to find a job--not even so much as an interview. I have turned to baking in order to distract myself from the unfortunate circumstances. I keep on applying and I keep on baking...I have all the time in the world.

Valentine's Day was this past weekend and I decided to make special treats for some of my lovely lady friends. Two of these ladies live on the West Coast so they only received cookies, but the ladies who live in my area received cookies AND cupcakes. Then I gave Tim the leftovers to take into work. And everyone got a handmade card (well, except for Tim's co-workers). I spent last Tuesday baking 2 dozen cupcakes and 9 dozen cookies. I present you with the fruits (sweets) of my labors:

Valentine Cupcakes:

Basically, I made a standard white cake mix. The twist, however, is that I added 2 tbsp. of sprinkles because I LOVE funfetti cake!!! Then I iced and decorated them in a special Valentine's way:

P.S. I found the cutest cupcake boxes in the world, but more on that later...

Valentine Sugar Cookies:

I'll be the first to admit that cookies are not my forte, but I decided to give them a whirl anyway. They aren't my best work. They were supposed to be heart shaped, but I got in a fight with the rolling pin and decided just to plop them on the baking sheet and go from there.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a bowl, stir together flour and baking powder. Set aside.
3. In a larger bowl, cream the butter. Add sugar and beat again until well combined. Then beat in eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture.
4. Refrigerate dough for 3 hours.
5. Drop onto a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until slightly browned.
6. Allow them to cool completely and then ice them.

Icing:

2 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar
3 or 4 tablespoons of water
few drops of food coloring

1. Mix the sugar and water together until desired consistency is reached.
2. Spoon or spread (depending on consistency) over completely cooled cookies.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cookies


Ingredients:

12 oz. white chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
seedless raspberry jam
1/2 tsp. shortening

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet. Set aside. In a heavy small saucepan melt 4 ounces of the white chocolate chips over low heat, stirring constantly. Cool.

2. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer about 30 seconds or until softened. Add the sugar, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined. Beat in eggs and melted white chocolate chips until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour with a wooden spoon. Stir in the 4 more ounces of white chocolate chips.

3. Drop dough from a rounded teaspoon 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned around edges. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute. Transfer cookies to wire racks. Cool completely.

4. Melt the raspberry jam in a small saucepan over low heat. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of jam atop each cookie. In a heavy, small saucepan combine the 3 ounces white baking bar and shortening. Melt over low heat, stirring constantly. Drizzle each cookie with some of the melted mixture. If necessary, refrigerate cookies about 15 minutes or until chocolate mixture is firm.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Now here are the little packages I put together for my ladies:

And these are the cards I made :)

All in all, I think everyone enjoyed them...except Kate because she still hasn't gotten hers. All in good time, even though that makes for stale cupcakes, haha!!

White Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Filling

As most of you know, Tim just started a new job. Unfortunately for me, this new jobs involves some traveling. In early January he was gone for 12 days between Miami and LA. In order to keep myself busy, I did A LOT of baking. I started with a chocolate chip layer cake of which I have no pictures to share. Then I made 4 dozen m&m cookies and mailed them to Alee in Seattle. Then I made the glorious cake that I am about to share with you.

This cake was beyond decadent and a very pleasant surprise for Tim upon returning home from his trip. Admittedly, the decorating could use a little work; I am not the best cake icer in the world as this was perhaps the most difficult cake I have ever tried to ice. The raspberry jam kept gooing out the sides and turning the white chocolate icing into a pink color, which needless to say was not the desired effect. I tried to distract from this by compensating for it with fresh raspberries and white chocolate curls.

There is someone special to whom I owe tremendous thanks in her assistance with this recipe. I received her as a Christmas gift from Mom Ford and I love her like she is my child. Readers, meet Pearl:



One final note...I am on a diet. Good for me, yes, but the baking of cakes will have to stop until I reach my 8 pound goal. However, once this happens (if it happens) I plan on stepping up the blog and focusing mostly on delicious cupcake recipes. Stay tuned.... So, here's the yummiest cake I ever did make:

1. Gather all of the ingredients you will need for the cake. (flour, sugar, salt, eggs, butter, vanilla, white chocolate, half and half, baking powder, and salt)



2. Begin by separating the yolks from the whites of 4 eggs, but save both components. Allow the egg whites to sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.


3. In a small mixing bowl combine 1 3/4 cups of flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, and 1/4 tsp. of salt. Whisk these ingredients together and then set the mixture aside.


4. Melt 3 ounces of the white chocolate baking bar (broken down into smaller chunks) with 1/4 cup of the half and half in a saucepan over very low heat, stirring constantly just until the chocolate begins to melt. Remove from heat and continue to stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Stir in 1/2 cup of half and half and allow mixture to cool.


5. With your version of Pearl, beat 1/3 cup of butter for about 30 seconds and then add 1 cup of sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla. Then add the 4 egg yolks one at a time.


6. Alternately add the flour mixture and the white chocolate mixture, beating just until combined.




7. In a separate mixing bowl beat the 4 egg whites with a hand mixer until stiff peaks begin to form. This will take a few minutes and look something like this when finished, although the picture can't really capture the peaks that you are looking for.


8. Very gently fold the egg whites into the batter.


9. Pour the cake batter into two 8 or 9 inch pans and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

(nevermind the gorgeous insides of my oven...)

Meanwhile....

Prepare the icing...

1. Gather your ingredients: milk, white chocolate baking bar, vanilla, butter, salt, powdered sugar, and whipped cream.


2. Melt 4 1/2 ounces of the white chocolate (broken into chunks) over a double boiler. Then stir it until smooth and allow to cool to room temperature.


3. Sift 1 3/4 cup of powdered sugar into a mixing bowl.


4. Add 1/4 cup of milk, 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, 6 tbsp. unsalted butter, and a pinch of salt. Beat until combined.



5. You could stop here and have delicious icing, but I like my icing a bit more fluffy, so i added about 3/4 cup of whipped cream. After mixing the icing to your liking refrigerate it for about 30 minutes.

Now to put it all together...

After the cakes have COMPLETELY cooled, place the bottom layer into your cake plate. Cover it with about 1/3 cup of seedless raspberry jam and a thin layer of the white chocolate icing. Place the top layer on top of the cake and frost the entire thing with the icing.

To decorate the cake, I used fresh raspberries around the bottom and curls of white chocolate all over the top. To make the curls, take a vegetable peeler to the remaining 1/2 ounce of white chocolate and let it fall where it may.



Alas, I present my White Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Filling:


***As a reminder, do not judge my cake by appearance alone, but rather by how good you can only imagine it tasted....Absolutely Delicious!