Kaiser Rolls - Awesome for burgers!

I've been a a roll lately, pun intended.   I love Kaiser Rolls for burgers.  Since I can make my own wheat bread I thought I would give these a try, I mean, how hard could it be?

It wasn't hard at all.  They turned out fluffy inside and crusty outside.  You can use any kind of burger you want but I made a lentil burger which was "dyno-mite" according to my hubby.

I recommend toasting the buns lightly on a grill before filling with burger and veggies.  It is super tasty and helps keep the bread from getting soggy.

For the Kaiser Roll recipe just click on the link.  I found it on Taste of Home which has many yummy recipes that I have used in the past.

I'll try to get the lentil burger recipe up soon.  That is if I can remember it.

Challah - Bread With Meaning

 

 

 

 

This is my first attempt at Challah, a bread the Jewish families make on Friday to welcome in the Sabbath with their meal.  They light candles, pray the Sabbath prayer with special blessings and enjoy a tasty meal together. Being Seventh-day Adventist I have kept the Sabbath all my life. My daughter, Casey, and I wanted to do something fun from another culture that would highlight the beginning of the Sabbath and so we did the Friday night Shabbat meal.

In order to be ready for the Sabbath all work is completed beforehand. Cleaning, cooking, shopping, business, etc. That makes it easier to sit and really enjoy without pressures to get things done. The TV is off to keep us from distractions. We set the table with candles, silver, and special plate settings.  I bought flowers to adorn the table. All this was done and ready before sunset.

I made the bread around early afternoon.  I discovered you can make the first part and then freeze it.  You need to let it thaw for 5 hours before baking. This is a very rich eggy bread.  I found the recipe posted by Joan Nathan, "My Favorite Challah". It yields 2 loaves. (This represents the two portions of manna that fell on Friday.)

I found on line a video that would show me how to braid the bread.  Just click on the link to watch.(The strands that are rolled to braid represent, arms intertwined, symbolize love, truth, peace, creation, freedom, harmony, family connection, unity and justice.)

Our menu was potato soup, salad plate, cheese, and of course Challah.

I did some reading about the Challah and discovered it is full of symbolism and meaning.  Certain forms of Challah are used for different occasions and holidays.  It is a "sacred" bread. The Jewish Faith doesn't much care for those who mess with this bread in other ways than originally intended.  It's main symbol was to represent the manna God gave to Israel during their years of wondering in the wilderness.  We talked about this at the meal. My grandsons were very interested in what manna was and how it was used.  It was great to find wonderful things to discuss at the table.

Don read from Isaiah 58:13, 14.  It is a perfect text for this type of meal.  He had a prayer and blessed our family and meal.  My oldest grandson also had a prayer and it was the most beautiful prayer I have ever heard him pray. 

I'm so glad we did this fun activity and I think we just may make it a tradition!  Shabbat Shalom!

Camping Cake

 

 

A friend of mine is going to be quite surprised to get this cake tonight at her birthday party.  A group of girls are getting together to help her celebrate at the local Bistro in town.  When I first thought about this cake I was going to do Tulips or flowers for a woman.  But that didn't seem to sit well and I couldn't come up with a design.

 
 

One thing I have learned about cake making is that the cake is most appreciated when it reflects something about the person.  They appreciate it so much more and it suddenly becomes a memorable and special cake. This is a homemade chocolate cake that you can find the recipe by clicking on the link. The chocolate buttercream frosting recipe is below.

 

My friend loves the out of doors and camps a lot when the weather permits.  She also takes her beagle with her.  I tried my hand at making a dog and realized it was a terrible failure.  I went on line and found a tutorial on making gum paste dogs.  I watched it once at night when I was in bed and I could hardly wait to get up and make the dog.  This dog was hard because of the size.  He is very small and he doesn't look much like a beagle, however he is cute and makes the statement about my friend.

 

I like to have my cakes look good from all sides and I need to show this picture and her ponytail so you would know this is a girl!!!

 

I love the fire pit.  I used some gold sprinkles for "coals" and fondant for flame.  The marshmallows are fondant on match sticks.

Chocolate Frosting

1 stick butter (1/2 cup) melted

2/3 cup cocoa powder

3 cups powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar)

1/2 cup half and half

1 teaspoon good vanilla

Melt butter.  Stir in cocoa.  Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating on medium speed to spreading consistency.  Add more half and half if needed.  Stir in vanilla.  Makes about 2 cups.

I let the beater really work on it for at least five minutes.  Makes it really glossy and spreads well.



Gold Rush Cake

 

 

I made this Gold Rush cake for Sebby's 9th birthday.  We watch this program together and he loves it. We bought the rock truck, loader, and diggers from the dollar store.  I made the workmen, rocks, and trees out of gum paste and fondant mixed together 1 to 1. I used butter cream frosting.  There was a huge sale on boxed caked mix so to save time I just used that.  Preferably I like to make cake from scratch. This was a fun cake to make and I took direction from Sebby how to put it together

 

I found the cool "grass" sprinkles at Walmart. The bear doesn't look too scary!

 

For the dirt I put chocolate Graham crackers in the food processor until it looked like fine dirt.

 

Since Gold Rush is filmed in Alaska I had to do a bald eagle!

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Caramel Sauce

I decided to try my hand at making a real cheesecake and chose a flavor fit for the season - pumpkin!  This one I found while surfing the web at Taste of Home. I have to say it turned out quite tasty.  

I also wanted to try my hand at making real caramel sauce to drizzle on the top. This turned out to be fairly simple but you do have to pay close attention to the recipe and have everything ready as it goes fast.  

For my first attempt this turned out really tasty.  The one thing that I had to change was the baking time.  At my altitude, 7600 ft it took about an hour and 20 minutes to bake. I watched it very carefully and checked every five minutes to make sure I didn't over bake the cake.  Otherwise I didn't change anything else in the recipe.

I used some of the ginger snap cookies to decorate the top and I used real whipped cream whipped to almost butter but not quite so that I could  pipe it in nice swirls around the cake.

Click on any of the highlighted links above for the recipes. Let me know what you think.  Please leave a comment.

Rustic Sunflower Wedding Cake

I made this cake for a wedding up in the mountains.  It is the Butter Cake recipe I made for my grandson's birthday.  It has a Chocolate Ganache filling in three layer cakes stacked into three tiers.  I made a small topper on the left for the Bride and Groom to take on their honeymoon. I used Butter Cream Icing.  The bands around the cake are navy blue ribbon with a burlap and lace ribbon on top of that.  The flowers are real.

Corn Cob Cake Design

A friend of mine called me yesterday and asked if I could make a last minute cake for his wife's birthday this Friday.  I usually like at least a weeks notice.  I like to put the cake in the freezer for a day or so before decorating. This makes it easier to work with when covering with fondant. Also if I have to do some carving it is so much easier than trying to work on a crumbly cake. I told him I would give it a try.  He said he wanted a corn on the cob on top because his wife collects Shawnee corn dishes. I had all the ingredients and I forged ahead and this is what eventually emerged.

I made the chocolate cake that I did for my son's wedding and used a raspberry rhubarb jam for the filling.  I made the homemade marshmallow fondant recipe that I usually use when making cakes that I know have to travel some distance. It was an 8" round double layer cake. 

I didn't have a plan in mind I just started with the corn cob.  I think it turned out pretty good.  I make these daisies a lot so it didn't take long to get them done.  I used petal dust to give them character. I also have a leaf form cutter which makes it super quick.  

I will tell you that if I keep making cakes I need to invest in a sheeter for rolling out fondant.  I'm getting to old to roll this stuff out by hand, but I am sure it gives my arms a good work out.