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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Baseball Birthday Bash

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout;
Dean is turning two -- Scott and Annie hit one out!

Baseball Birthday Cake
Erin found this recipe on Epicurious and decided it should be tailored to meet the needs of a baseball themed 2-year-old's birthday party!  Erin hit a home run and decided to make a baseball cake with a red, white, and blue layers.


For red velvet cake layers:
  • 2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour, not self-rising (sift before measuring) 
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa (such as Hershey's; not Dutch process or extra-dark cocoa)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 (1-ounce) bottle (2 tablespoons) red food coloring
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons white or cider vinegar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup sour cream mixed with 1/4 cup water







For white & blue cake layer:
  • 2 2/3 cups sifted cake flour, not self-rising (sift before measuring)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 6 large egg whites
  • 1/2 cup sour cream mixed with 2 tablespoons water
  • 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoon grated lemon zest (best done with Microplane zester or grater)
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract








For cream cheese frosting:
  • 2 1/2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese (20 ounces total), softened
  • 2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

Make red velvet cake layers:
Heat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans, then line bottoms with rounds of wax paper. Butter paper and dust pans with some additional flour, knocking out excess.
Resift cake flour together with cocoa, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.

Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer (fitted with paddle attachment if using stand mixer) at medium-high speed until combined well, then add oil and beat until very pale and creamy, about 3 minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, and beat in food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla extract.
Reduce speed to low and mix in flour mixture and sour cream mixture in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture, and mixing until batter is smooth.
Divide batter between pans (about 3 cups in each) and smooth tops. Rap pans on counter a couple of times to expel any air bubbles. Bake in middle of oven until a wooden pick comes out clean and cake begins to pull away from sides of pans, 25 to 30 minutes. Keep oven on.
Cool layers in pans on racks 10 minutes, then run a thin knife around edge of pans. Invert layers onto racks and peel off wax paper. Cool layers completely.
Make white cake layer while red velvet layers cool:
Butter two 9-inch round cake pan, then line bottom with wax paper. Butter paper and dust pan with some additional flour, knocking out excess.

Resift cake flour together with baking soda and salt into a bowl. Whisk egg whites in another bowl with sour cream mixture until combined.
Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer (fitted with paddle attachment if using stand mixer) at medium-high speed until combined well, then add oil and beat until very pale and creamy, about 3 minutes. Beat in zest and vanilla extract.
Reduce speed to low and mix in flour mixture and sour cream mixture in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until batter is smooth. Transfer batter to pan and spread evenly. Rap pan on counter a couple of times to expel any air bubbles.
Bake in middle of oven until a wooden pick comes out clean and cake begins to pull away from side of pan, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a thin knife around edge of pan. Invert layer onto rack and peel off wax paper. Cool layer completely.
Make the Frosting:
Beat together cream cheese and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixture until creamy and s

mooth. Beat in lemon juice, vanilla extract, and salt.
Sift confectioners' sugar into a bowl and add to cream cheese mixture. Mix on low speed until incorporated, then increase speed to medium-high and beat until smooth. Separate about a 1/2 C of the frosting.
Frost cake:
Brush loose crumbs from cake layers with a pastry brush.
Put a red velvet layer, bottom side up, on a cake plate or stand. Spread 1 cup of frosting over layer. Cover with white layer, bottom side up, and spread with another cup of frosting. Top with second red velvet layer

, bottom side up.
Spread a thin layer of frosting around sides and over top of cake. (This is called crumb-coating. It tamps down any loose crumbs to keep them out of the top layer of frosting and fills in any crevices. This is particularly important with red velvet cake layers.) Chill or briefly freeze cake just until frosting is firm.
Spread sides and top of cake with remaining frosting. Chill or briefly freeze cake just until frosting is firm.  If you are running low on frosting, take some from the 1/2 C you set aside, however, leave some for decorating.

Add red food coloring to the frosting you set aside.  Add enough so the frosting turns red, like th

e stripes on a baseball.  Mix well.  If you have a pastry bag, then add the red frosting to the bag and decorate the top and sides of the cake to look like a baseball.  If you don't have a pastry bag, you can use a ziplock bag.  To do this, add the frosting to a ziplock bag, and cut off the corner.  Squeeze the frosting through the corner of the bag to draw the baseball lines.
Cracker Jacks
1/2 cup unpopped popcorn kernels
1-12oz can of Spanish Peanuts
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 (or 2 or 3) large cookie sheet, greased
 In an air popper, pop the kernels according to your machine’s manual. My machine only allows you to pop 1/3 cups at a time, so make sure you follow your machine’s capacity instructions. You should have almost 4 quarts of popped popcorn using 1/2 cup of kernels. Dump the popcorn and the Spanish peanuts in a clean tall paper grocery bag. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. In a medium sauce pan, combine brown sugar, corn syrup, butter,and salt over medium heat and allow to gently boil for 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Turn off heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla. Carefully and immediately pour caramel sauce into the paper grocery bag and stir the sauce, popcorn, and nuts with a wooden spoon until the sauce is evenly distributed. Take the popcorn mixture and evenly scatter it between both greased cookie sheets. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring the popcorn every 15 minutes. Allow to cool and break up the pieces (if desired). Store in zip lock bags or airtight containers. Enjoy! *

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