Sphinx Birthday Cake

I went to the Penn Museum's 100th anniversary party for their giant sphinx. It's my favorite thing ever. I love its goofy party hats and I love that the university made it (and us) cake. No, it wasn't sphinx-shaped, but it was still adorable and I tried to be cheeky with these pictures.

Bourbon Peach Pie

It was unseasonably warm so I decided it was still peach weather and the farmers' market agreed with me. I had guests this weekend so it was the perfect excuse to bake with peaches again. I don't know why, but I got it in my head that I NEEDED to make a lattice pie. So I did (suck it, imaginary reader).

Total time: This is not something you just whip up. Peach preparation is more messy and tedious than you'd think. I want to say set aside 4 hours if you don't have a crust already made and ready to go. With a crust, give yourself 2 hours, 3 if you want a completely cooled pie.


VERDICT: Made this Friday and I don't remember there being much left by Monday. I wish that the bourbon came through more, but a clean pie tin speaks for itself?

Bourbon Peach Pie

adapted from Mark Bittman's recipe in How to Cook Everything, makes 1 8" pie

About 2 pounds of peaches, or a little more (whatever, just eat the leftovers)
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
About 1/2 cup sugar, more if the peaches are not quite ripe, plus a little for the top
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon bourbon
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 pie crusts (I used the shortening recipe from What's Cooking America)
Milk as needed (I used almond milk, but I'm sure regular milk will work).


1. Preheat the oven to 450F.
2. Prep peaches:  bring a pot of water to a boil and drop the peaches into it, a couple at a time, for 10 to 30 seconds, until the skins loosen. Plunge into a bowl of ice water. Slip the skins off, using a paring knife to ease the process. Pit, slice, and toss with lemon juice.
3. Mix together the sugar, cinnamon, and bourbon. Toss the peaches with this mixture. Pile into the rolld-out shell, making the pile a little higher in the center than at the sides. Cover with the top crust (or lattice it). Crimp the edges with a fork or your fingers.
4. Put the pie on a baking sheet and brush the top lightly with milk; sprinkle with sugar. Use a sharp paring knife to cut two or three 2-inch long slits in the top crust to steam to escape (skip this if you go the lattice route).
5. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350F and bake for another 40 to 50 minutes, or until the pie is golden brown. Err or the side of over-baking if you must. Cool on a rack before serving warm or at room temperature.

There should be some bubbling of the filling and it should have a thick, syrupy consistency.

Bourbon Peach Upside Down Cake

I have been even worse at updating and baking than usual. I've been meaning to make something summery for the better part of a month and I nearly had an anxiety attack when I saw mums and acorn squash outside of Whole Foods last week. Seriously fall, back off. I am not ready for you yet and I want at least another week to laze around and be on semi-vacation mode all.

I was in Connecticut visiting friends over Labor Day weekend or, as I like to call it, Last Weekend of Summer. I decided to commemorate my last trip of the summer with a cake. Nothing says summer like peaches and my go-to summer whiskey: bourbon. This bourbon cake was really a multi-tasker. I failed to bring a gift and it was an excuse to go to the liquor store and find some Hudson Baby Bourbon, which I had been hunting down all summer because it's handmade in New York (first home state bourbon!) and it's the first whiskey made there since Prohibition. A bit pricey at $40, but it was totally worth it.

Total time: 1 hour for baking, plus 10 minutes for cooling.

VERDICT: Having never made an upside down cake, I was rather pleased with how it turned out. The topping really caramelizes in the oven and the brown sugar gives it this intense taste that stands up to the bourbon. My peach slices were 1/4" thick. I would go for a thicker cut so that there's more peach flavor. My only other regret was not having some vanilla ice cream over a warm slice of cake (yum).

Left: Cake. The peaches slide when the sauce is poured. Not the prettiest, but it gets the job done.
Right: The inspiration. Hudson Baby Bourbon and fresh peaches :)

Bourbon Peach Upside Down Cake

adapted from "Whisky Peach Upside Down Cake" recipe from Crepes of Wrath, yields 1 8"X8" cake

Topping:
3-4 ripe peaches, sliced 1/2" thick
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons bourbon
1/2 cup butter

Batter:
1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon whiskey vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup bourbon

1. Preheat oven 350F. Butter bottom and sides of baking pan (my host had a square one, feel free to use a round one).

2. Prepare topping. Melt butter in saucepan on low-medium. Add brown sugar and simmer for 5 minutes. Take off heat and stir in bourbon.

3. Line bottom of baking pan with peaches. Pour butter and brown sugar sauce over the peaches.

4. Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
5. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

6. Beat in eggs, one at a time, to butter mixture. Add vanilla.

7. Alternate flour mixture with bourbon and mix until just blended. The batter may look slightly curdled; this is fine.
8. Spoon batter evenly over peaches. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Let sit for 5-10 minutes before inverting and serving cake.

Piña Colada Cupcakes

It was National Piña Colada Day on the 10th. Admittedly, I rarely want a a fruity drink as I'm more of a brown liquor person, but I LOVE pineapples and coconut. To commemorate this very important day, I decided to make a truly boozy treat this weekend as I had been slacking lately in that department. That and I attempted to celebrate with a friend on the actual day, which resulted in us having to resort to going to Ruby Tuesday's because normal bars apparently are unequipped to make piña coladas (but that's neither here nor there). Anyway, I attempted to create a cupcake that captured the tropical goodness of this drink during the Bastille Day celebration, which consisted of me pregaming while I baked and resulted in FOUR permutations of a piña colada cupcake (we're past questioning my sobriety at this point aren't we?).


Total time: 1 hour, includes letting cupcakes cool and frosting.


VERDICT: I'm not totally thrilled with the results of this particular experiment. The creamy coconut part of the piña colada didn't shine as much as I would have liked, but my last minute decision to incorporate pineapple chunks into the batter worked out. If I had to do it again, I'd try using coconut cream and maybe a pineapple liquor or jam to give it some extra oomph. Overall, it was a good cake. It was fruity and boozy, but I don't think it really captured the spirit of the cocktail as well as it could have.  Also, I should have let the frosting set in the fridge before tweaking it and frosting the cakes. The alcohol REALLY comes through after chilling the frosting, though not in an unpleasant way.

Left: coconut cream cheese frosting. Right: pineapple buttercream frosting.

Piña Colada Cupcakes

adapted from "Blue Hawaii Upside Down Cupcakes" and "Piña Colada Cake" from Boozy Cakes, yields 1 dozen cupcakes

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup pineapple juice 

1/4 cup coconut rum

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup finely chopped pineapple (I used canned)

1. Preheat oven 350F. Line cupcake tin with liners.

2. Sift flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. Stir and set aside.

3. Cream butter and sugar together, make sure there are no lumps of butter or sugar.

4. Beat in eggs, one at a time, to butter mixture. Add vanilla, pineapple juice, and coconut rum.

5. Add flour mixture to batter, 1/2 cup at a time. Alternate with chopped pineapple. Mix well.

6. Fill cupcake tins 3/4 with batter and bake for 20-25 minutes or until just set. Cool before frosting with either pineapple buttercream or coconut rum cream cheese frosting.

Pineapple Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup butter

3 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup pineapple juice

3-4 tablespoons rum (I used coconut rum)

1. Soften butter and sift powdered sugar to remove clumps.

2. Combine rum and juice.

3. Add powdered sugar to butter, 1 cup at a time. Alternate with juice and rum in small batches. You may need more or less juice to get your desired consistency.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8oz) package cream cheese

2 cups powdered sugar

3-4 tablespoons coconut rum

1. Soften cream cheese and sift powdered sugar to remove clumps.

2. Add powdered sugar to butter, 1 cup at a time. Alternate with rum in small batches. You may need more or less powdered sugar/rum to get your desired consistency/booziness.

The original inspiration. Yes, that is my dress.

Booze: it's what's for dinner

In light of the fact that it is summer (yes, the summer solstice isn't until the 20-22nd, but socially summer starts after Memorial Day), I am obsessing over not having rolls of fat like anyone else with a pulse in North America. Thus, I have decided to switch things up a bit and incorporate booze into some non-cake items in an attempt to lay off dessert and be slightly more healthful (I don't envision this lasting very long). Last week, I used up the Kahlua for some boozy mocha brownies for a study date.* In keeping with the spirit of cleaning out bottles, I made some whiskey-marinated steaks.

Time: 5 minutes to prepare marinade, 15 minutes to cook steak.

VERDICT: surprisingly tasty, subtle hint of whiskey at the end of each bite. I suspect this would work really well for something on the grill or something that involves more sauce like steak tips. It'd probably also work really well in a barbecue chicken type situation.


*The brownies came out a little dry so I don't think they're worth writing about until I get them right.

Yes, those are shot glasses.

Whiskey Marinade

1 part whiskey (I used Jack Daniels because that's what I have excessive amounts of)

1 part soy sauce

1/2 part Dijon mustard

1 part brown sugar (I had a clump left in the pantry, white sugar probably works too)

1 part chopped green onion

1/2 part garlic

1. Dissolve sugar in whiskey and soy sauce. Combine with other ingredients in a large mixing bowl or Tupperware and coat meat evenly. I opted to not put precise measurements because I wanted to be able to scale up/down easily later.

2. Depending on what kind of meat you're working with, let the meat marinate between 2 hours-overnight (I cut up a round roast slab into smaller portions so I let them sit overnight).

I suspect the combination of fat marbling and whiskey is what made this tasty.

The finished product. And some veggies in the back.

Strawberry Champagne Shortcake (and Cocktail)

It was the roommate's birthday and, as already established, she loves all things pink and sugary. Last year, I was overzealous with the party cake making. This year was a much more toned down affair. I basically re-hashed the cupcakes from New Year's (day jobs get in the way sometimes, sorry) into a loaf cake. 

Time: 1 hour, includes letting cake cool and having a glass of champagne... or two.

VERDICT: I had the cake in the oven for 40 minutes, which was probably too long, but the strawberry topping hides a multitude of baking sins. The champagne cake batter is a surprisingly versatile one. It paired really well with fresh fruit and whipped cream. And who hates strawberries, champagne, whipped cream, and cake?

It's hard to get a picture when your layers are sliding.

Strawberry Champagne Shortcake*

Champagne cake batter (I used store bought pink sugar in place of regular sugar and rosé champagne)
1 quart strawberries, washed and hulled
1/3 cup of sugar
4 tablespoons champagne
whipped cream (I used store bought)

1. Preheat oven 350F. grease loaf pan.

2. Fill pan, smoothing out any surface lumps. Bake for 30-35 or until toothpick inserted into middle comes out dry (no batter should stick).
3. While cake bakes, slice berries into 1/4" to 1/2" slices (you can be as precise or imprecise as you want). Coat evenly with sugar and champagne. Set aside and chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

*I know that the definition of a shortcake is contested and there are some who insist that a shortcake involves a biscuit of some kind topped with strawberries. I have never been a fan of the biscuit posing as cake and the only people who persist in perpetuating this cake charade are from the South so I'm going to be Yankee about it and disregard the biscuit business.

So pink! And yes, that is André. Save the good stuff for DRINKING.

Strawberry Champagne Shortcake Cocktail

aka: the Shampagne Cocktail (S is for SHalls)

Rosé champagne
Splash whiskey vanilla
3 tablespoons strawberry-champagne syrup (the run-off from the cake topping)/strawberry liqueur

In a champagne flute, pour in syrup. Add whiskey vanilla. Fill remainder with champagne. Optional: before pouring syrup dip rim in water and bowl of sugar. Garnish with strawberry.

Boozy Bears Part II

In case you were waiting with baited breath after reading Part I of this post, the results are in! No, it did not take a month for the bears to soak up the vodka. It just took me an absurdly long time to muster up the brain power to get a ruler from my room and measure a bear.

Time: 12-24 hours to let bears soak up vodka.

VERDICT: Easiest boozy treat ever. You basically get little bear shaped jello shots (they are rather potent). I recommend that you use separate containers to soak each gummy bear flavor because you are after all putting them in an  organic solvent. No one wants weird puce-colored, unspecified fruit-flavored bears.

After: 2.6 cm bear