July 26, 2013 by tastytreats13

Guest Post: TastyTreats13’s Lemon Curd Marbled Cheesecake

I am so proud to participate on the guest post! Thanks Fae! This was a lot of fun!

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TastyTreats13 has been creating desserts since she was six. She decided to start her blog in February 2013 and is delighted to have made so many new friends during her time blogging. Her blog is part of a project at school and she brings in her desserts that she makes on her blog for her classmates, every week. But baking is not her only interest. In addition to baking, she likes to swim, play tennis, and play the violin. TastyTreats13 has never had any formal cooking classes but she once participated in a cooking class in Bali, Indonesia, with her family. She hopes to one day, do volunteer work with kids and inspire them to bake.

I am enchanted to introduce TastyTreats13 as my ‘Sweet’ Guest Post Presenter!

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Hello Everyone!

For the guest post, I decided to make Lemon Curd Marbled Cheesecake. I am very happy to…

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July 22, 2013 by tastytreats13

Awards!

Wow! I was so honored to get these two awards! The first one was from my friend, Fae’s Twist & Tango! She has such a great blog which I love! Check it out: http://fae-magazine.com/

Shine on Award

The rules for Shine On Award are:

1 Visit and thank the blogger who nominated you.
2 Acknowledge that blogger on your blog and a link back.
3 Share 7 random interesting things about yourself.
4 Nominate up to ? bloggers for Shine On Award, provide a link to their blogs in your post, and notify them on their blogs.
5 Copy and paste the award somewhere on your blog.

7 random things about me:

1. When I get older, I want to travel to lots of cool places
2. One of my favorite places to be is the beach! The other is England!
3. I have been making dessert creations since I was about six years old
4. I love fruit. I know this seems like a boring fact but I could eat so much fruit in a day! Maybe an entire box of blueberries! 🙂
5. One day, when I am old enough, I will go sky diving. Don’t worry I’ll tell you all about it
6. I have a dog and a fish. The fish can do tricks, like balance its food on its nose!
7. I am loving this blog and am so thankful that you guys are interested in it!

Here are my nominations for The Shine On Award! Congratulations!

Sophie’s Foodie Files

And the second award was the Kreativ Blogger Award from the lovely rabbitcancook! Rabbit has a great blog and is so talented so I advise that you take a look at her bog, http://rabbitcancook.wordpress.com/. Thanks again, Rabbit!

Kreativ Blogger Award

THE RULES

1 Visit and thank the blogger who nominated you.
2 Acknowledge that blogger on your blog and link back.
3 Share 7 random interesting things about yourself.
4 Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers for the award, provide a link to their blogs in your post, and notify them on their blogs.
5 Copy and paste the award somewhere on your blog.

7 RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME

1. I recently got a new Kitchen Aid mixer! Yay! This is very exciting for me because I am used to a hand mixer.
2. I ran a 5K a couple months ago, my first! It was very exciting!
3. I have trouble keeping my spaces neat. It takes a lot of effort for me to keep my locker clean! But I think I’m improving!
4. I love to write stories but unfortunately I never finish them.
5. Though I like to read, I am very picky about which books I read. One of my favorite series is the Harry Potter books.
6. I am taking Spanish in school, so I speak a little bit of Spanish!
7. After watching a video in science class, I now only eat humanely raised meat!

My nominations for the Kreativ Blogger Award are:

At350degrees

Fae’s Twist & Tango

Cupcake Artist

The After School Chef

Little Poppits

The Hungry Mum

Ohlidia

Thanks again to both Fae and Rabbit! In other news, as I mentioned, I got a new mixer! I am so excited about it!

July 17, 2013 by tastytreats13

Vanilla Pots de Crème

I feel like I should begin this post by saying that I’m sorry. I haven’t been posting for a while but I have an excuse. This week I’ve been playing tennis all day in the hot hot weather. It’s really hot and tiring and this is why I haven’t been keeping up with my blogs.

Moving along, I made Vanilla Pots de Crème!

These were heavenly! The recipe calls for ramekins however I don’t own any so I used jam jars. Here is the recipe:

2 cups heavy cream, light cream, or half-and-half
2 vanilla beans or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
Method
1. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Pour cream into small saucepan. Split vanilla beans in half lengthwise and scrape seeds into cream. Put pod in cream, too. Heat cream until steam rises. Cover pan, turn off heat and let steep for 10 to 15 minutes. If using vanilla extract, just heat cream and let it cool while you proceed.
2. Beat yolks and sugar together until light. Pour about a quarter of the cream (remove vanilla bean pod) into this mixture, then pour sugar-egg mixture into cream and stir. If you are using vanilla extract, add it now and stir. Pour mixture into 4 6-ounce ramekins and place ramekins in a baking dish; fill dish with water halfway up the side of dishes. Cover with foil.

3. Bake 30 to 45 minutes, or until center is barely set. (Heavy cream sets fastest; half-and-half more slowly.) Chill, then serve.

Now I used jam jars so they were pretty full. I advise that you eat half, and save the other half for later. But these were fantastic!

Thank you very much to: http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/recipe-of-the-day-vanilla-pots-de-creme/

July 9, 2013 by tastytreats13

Cream Puff Cake and classic chocolate cake

Some good friends and I are very big fans of cream puffs and we made a cream puff “cake” for a celebration we were having! We used some homemade whipped cream, cream puffs, strawberries, blueberries, and topped it off with chocolate covered strawberries! It was very tasty!

The chocolate cake was easy and simple but who doesn’t love a good chocolate cake? Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup margarine

1 3/4 cups white sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups milk

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

For my frosting, I used the same recipe as the Vanilla Cupcakes with Rich Chocolate frosting. It is one of my favorites!

Both cakes were a success! Thanks to: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-moist-chocolate-cake/?scale=12&ismetric=0

July 1, 2013 by tastytreats13

Summertime Blueberry-Lemon Cakes

I saw this recipe in a Williams-Sonoma catalouge. Also, http://www.lovinghomemade.com has been doing some lovely looking desserts in pots. When I saw the recipe, I wanted to try it right away. Here it is:

Baked in mini jars, these picnic-perfect desserts offer the ultimate in portability. They can also be made in individual ramekins instead of jars. If you don’t have a convection oven, bake in a conventional oven at 375ºF; you may need to add a few minutes to the baking time. The recipe can easily be doubled to make 12 cakes.

Ingredients
2 cups blueberries
1/4 cup plus 6 Tbs. sugar
1/3 cup water
1 tsp. cornstarch
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/4 cup buttermilk
5 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
Directions

Preheat the oven to 375°F convection. Grease the insides of six 5.4-oz. jars. Line the oven’s baking tray with parchment paper.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the blueberries and the 1/4 cup sugar and cook, stirring until the sugar is mostly dissolved, 3 to 4 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk together the water and cornstarch and stir into the saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and the 6 Tbs. sugar.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, butter, lemon zest and lemon juice. Add the flour mixture, whisking until the batter is just combined.

Spoon 1 Tbs. blueberry mixture into the bottom of each jar. Top each with 1/4 cup batter and then 1 Tbs. blueberry mixture. Place the jars on the prepared baking tray and transfer to the oven. Bake until the tops are lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Let the cakes cool completely in the jars before serving. Serves 6.

Williams-Sonoma Kitchen

I really loved this recipe! I highly recommend it!