Strawberry Fraisier Cake with Mango Glaze

Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasier’s inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.

This is my first challenge at Daring Bakers. The challenge is to make a cake with exposed fruits, edible flowers, etc. around the sides of the center layer. All the components (cake, Bavarian cream, syrup, and glaze) were all made from scratch by myself.

This is the first time I ever made a frasier cake. I must say it was an experience but because I had to bake and come up with creativity this was so much fun for me. I am my worst critic so next time, oh yes I will be making this again, I will make some changes to the presentation.

I decided to do an orange sponge cake, layered with strawberries, infused with a Bavarian cream and finished with a mango glaze.

It tastes great. I feel like I am back home in the islands again with the different tropical flavors in this cake.

I hope you like!

White Vanilla Cupcakes

My inspiration for my cupcakes is the color white.

I believe white is a classy and sexy look. Now I still feel black is hot but white just looks peaceful and sweet. If I did not have kids my whole house would be in white. When I look at design magazines and see a white room I just dream that is my house. White in fashion is also hot. Now I know why LisaRaye McCoy loves white. This woman can wear a white outfit and look hot. When I was younger before I got kids, I wore a lot of white, my fiancé aunt use to tease me saying you trying to convince my nephew to marry you in all this white. But I did not care I felt sexy in white.

But this weekend all I could think about is some vanilla cupcakes. I just wanted some plain sweet and moist cupcakes. But I did not want a normal cupcake with no fancy swirl frosting. It has to be upscale, something that you would love to see at a wedding.

So I got out my fondant, and embossed some fondant. These are the creations I made. I think they are hot and sweet of course. Now tell me would you not love to see these at your wedding?

Butterbeer Whoopie Pies

Hi everyone. Today is Whoopie Friday. I know I have been deserting you guys for a while but Never Dessert you is back on track. Today Whoopie Friday is for the Harry Potter series movie that premiers today. I am not a Harry Potter fan but I will bake anything just for an occasion. Over the past few days the sweet tea is butterbeer. If you was like me at first I was like I am not sure about this. But I never had a butterbeer so I can’t judge. I saw a lot of recipes like butterbeer cakepops from Amybites and Butterbeer cookies from Bake at 350. So I said why not try a whoopie pie. First of I never made a whoopie pie, and never had a whoopie pie. But the idea came to me when I went into Starbuck and saw their mini sweets selection. So I thought to myself hell yeah I am going to make some whoopie pies. And they came out GREAT. Next time I would add a marshmallow creme to give it that puff look.

For those die hard Harry Potter fans, these are the perfect treats for you. It’s has the perfect butter flavoring, and a sweet butterscotch filling.

Butterbeer Whoopie Pies

Makes 24

For the Pies:
2 1/4 cups all- purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon butter flavoring
1/2 cup buttermilk at room temperature
1/2 cup cream soda

Preparation: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silpat baking liner.

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

2. Place your butter in the bowl of your stand mixer with a paddle attachment and cream light and fluffy. Add your sugars and beat until well-combined about 4-5 minutes.

3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then mix in your vanilla and butter flavoring.

4. Starting with the flour mixture, alternate with the buttermilk and cream soda, adding mixtures to the batter in three additions. Mix well until all are well incorporated.

5. Place batter in pastry bag fitted with a round tip and pipe onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart. To flatten the peaks you can wet your fingertips and just firmly hit the tip or use the back of a spoon. Bake (one sheet at a time) for about 10 minutes, or until the cookies spring back when gently pressed.

6. Let cookies cool for about 5 minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool.


For the pastry cream:
1 package butterscotch chips
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon butter flavoring
pinch of salt teaspoon salt
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
Splash of cream (as needed)

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Combine butterscotch chips and heavy cream in a double boiler (heat-proof bowl over a pot of simmering water on the stove), and stir until combined and smooth. Set aside and cool to room temperature.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add in 1/3 cup of the butterscotch mixture, vanilla, butter flavoring until well combined. Add in confectioner’s sugar ½ cups at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl in between additions. Add in cream as needed to reach your desired consistency. With mixer on medium speed, beat for another minute or so, until the frosting is smooth and fluffy.

3. Transfer the filling to a piping bag and pipe a small amount on the flat side of one cookie for each pair. Sandwich the cookies together, and press the filling to the edges.

Recipe slightly adapted from Amibites.